“Bitch.” Dorgal grunted. He was struggling wildly. “Chalce sold me out?”
“Not in the beginning. He didn’t know. I switched the poison you so kindly provided him.”
“Fool. I’ll kill him. I’ll kill you.” He rolled sideways and broke free. Suddenly, there was a knife in his hand, plunging at Caleb. He made contact, but Caleb slid away. And then the knife was gone, skittering across the floor toward the door.
The door was opening, and the knife was being snatched up by the man standing there.
“Get off him, Caleb,” Joe Quinn said grimly. “I want my turn with him.”
“Not now. We still have a use for him.”
“Tell that to Eve. She’s had enough of this charade. She wants someone to pay.”
“Later. Give me your cuffs.”
Joe reluctantly tossed his cuffs to Caleb. “He took the photos?”
Caleb nodded as he cuffed Dorgal’s hands behind him. “He was in a big hurry.”
“Santos will kill all of you,” Dorgal could feel the humiliation and fear tying his stomach in knots. Make a deal, then find a way to take them down. “He missed MacGuire this time, but he’ll get her the next. If you want to live, you need me.”
“Do I?” Caleb got to his feet and moved back toward the metal table where Jane MacGuire lay. “You’re right. You wouldn’t be alive right now if I didn’t have a use for you.” He looked down at Jane. “How do you feel?” he asked quietly. “Was it too much for you?”
“No.” She looked him in the eye. “Not exactly where I’d choose to spend the night. But it was necessary, wasn’t it?” Her gaze shifted to Dorgal. “He’s the one who gives the orders for Santos? He’s probably the one who arranged for me to be shot in the first place.”
“There’s a good chance,” Joe said. He looked down at the knife in his hand. “Maybe just a few minor but painful cuts?”
“No, not unless he doesn’t cooperate.” Caleb’s gaze had never left Jane. “We’ve got to get her out of here. Eve’s talked the doctor into ordering her to be slipped into an isolation room for the next couple days. Questionable, high-level contagion. Strictly limited access. As far as anyone but three members of the hospital staff on the ICU floor are concerned, Jane died of a drug reaction and remains here for the time being.”
“High-level contagion?” Jane repeated.
“Atlanta has the CDC. Lots of bad stuff. Even the hospital staff would be scared,” Caleb said. “A good choice.”
“Thank you.” Eve pushed open the door and came into the room. She scarcely glanced at Dorgal as she hurried past him on the way to Jane. “Hi.” She gently pushed a strand of hair away from Jane’s face. “How are you doing? He didn’t hurt you?”
Jane smiled. “No, I just held my breath when I heard him coming toward me, as Caleb told me to do. But then I thought he might get away when he started hurrying out, and I ruined my death scene.”
“She couldn’t resist expressing her displeasure with me,” Caleb said. “Only to be expected.”
Eve looked at Dorgal for the first time. “I would have been worried about his getting away, too. After all Jane had to go through for us to stage this little drama, I would have jumped him the minute he got near her.”
“I had to have the photos,” Caleb said. “That’s what this was all about, wasn’t it, Dorgal?”
“We need to make a deal,” Dorgal said. “Okay, you’ve got me, but I’m no good to you. Santos is the only one who can call off the killing.”
“Are you offering us Santos?”
“I can’t do that. Look, if you think that because you have me that you can bargain with Santos, you’re crazy. He doesn’t trust me. He doesn’t trust anyone.” He paused. “But I might be able to tell you where he’s located.”
“That’s no longer a valuable bargaining chip. Catherine knows where his compound’s located.”
“Then perhaps I can persuade Santos to—”
“I don’t believe that Santos is persuadable,” Caleb said. “Let’s call Catherine and see what she thinks, Eve.”
Eve reached into her bag and pulled out her iPad. “I promised I’d call her on Skype when it was over anyway. She was scared to death something would go wrong.”
“Skype?” Jane said.
“She wanted to see you,” Eve said. “Because she knew that she’d probably be forced to see Santos’s photos he received from Dorgal.” She made the connection. “Catherine. Everyone’s safe, and we’ve got Dorgal.” She turned the iPad toward Jane. “You see, she’s fine. In a few minutes, we’ll be taking her to a safe room in the hospital and tucking her in for the rest of the night.”
“Thank God,” Catherine said. “I’m sorry, Jane. I seem to be always putting you on the spot.”
“You’re trying to get me out of this particular spot. Stop giving yourself guilt trips.” Jane made a face. “And at least it was more interesting than lying in bed and feeling completely useless. Though when you called Eve and told her that you’d found out that Dorgal was heading for Atlanta and you thought that he and his henchmen were going to make another try at killing me, I admit I was a little shook.”
“I was tempted not to even involve you,” Eve said. “But Catherine said that she needed a reason to make Santos think that she was so terrified that she’d turn herself over to him on the condition he wouldn’t kill anyone else she loved.”
“So I had to be involved,” Jane said. “And preferably dead.”
Eve shuddered. “Don’t say that. This whole day has been a nightmare.”
“You did a great job pretending that nightmare was real,” Joe said. “Tears, near hysteria.”
“That wasn’t all pretense,” Eve said curtly. “After Caleb zeroed in on Chalce as Dorgal’s likely accomplice, I was terrified. I was scared to death that maybe Caleb hadn’t managed to switch that poison he found in Chalce’s apartment. That maybe we’d killed her.”
Caleb shook his head. “I would never have left her alone with him if I hadn’t been sure she was safe.”
Eve shrugged. “I was running every bad-case scenario on the planet.” She said to Catherine, “Anyway, Jane is safe. When Santos tells you that she’s dead, it’s a lie. We’ll keep Dorgal from doing any more damage. Go play your game with him and blow the bastard out of the water.”
“I’ll do my best.” She paused. “You’ve all been wonderful. When I called and gave you that hideous job to do, I wasn’t certain that—” She stopped. “But I should have known better. You’ve never failed me.” She smiled. “I’ll call you when I know something. Or after I give Santos his gift from you. Take care.” She hung up.
“What gift?” Jane asked, puzzled.
“Just a little remembrance.” Eve turned to Dorgal. “I’m sure he knows what she was talking about. Perhaps we should give one to you, Dorgal.”
“Maybe later,” Caleb said. “He has a few things to do first.”
“What things?” Dorgal said warily.
“First, you’re going to e-mail those photos of Jane to Santos.” He looked down at Dorgal’s cuffs. “Or I’ll do it for you. You appear to be incapacitated.” He took Dorgal’s phone out of his jacket, dialed up Santos, and texted, “Just a brief message. Chalce’s mission verified. Know you’ll be pleased.” He pressed the send on the photos. “Death does please Santos, doesn’t it? Sometimes it pleases me, too.”
Darkness. Violence. Ferocity. All were in Caleb’s face as he was looking at him. For the first time, Dorgal was afraid. “What are you going to do to me?” he asked hoarsely.
“I’m thinking about it. Nothing at the moment. I’ve got to go with Eve and see that Jane is safely settled in that isolation room.” He turned to Joe. “Will you take Dorgal to my car and wait with him until I get through? Please don’t kill him. I have a use for him.”
“I’ll try to restrain myself,” Joe said coolly. “It won’t be easy.”
“Where are you taking me?” Dorgal asked. “We should deal. I have money.”
“Blood money. I’m going to take you for a ride up the interstate to Louisville. I’m sure you have men there who are on watch at Catherine’s home. You’re going to identify every one and tell me what you have in mind for them if Santos decides to attack that house. You won’t miss even one because I’ll know.”