“You mean Erin.” She frowned. “Yes, he does consider himself her protector. Well, he can just stay out of this.”
“If he chooses.” Hu Chang looked down at his phone as it buzzed. “They’ve arrived at Chen Lu’s. Shall I set up a Skype on your computer for you to see for yourself that Erin is well?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
“Excellent.” He took her computer and set it up on the desk. “It will give you comfort and permit you to expend a little of that anger I can sense in you.”
“I just want to see that Erin isn’t badly hurt.”
“That, also.” He was adjusting the input buttons. “It will just take a moment…”
* * *
“What do you mean you didn’t take her down, Nagoles?” Santos said softly. “She was next on the list. It was one step closer.”
“I had to move too fast,” Carlos Nagoles said quickly. “That CIA agent was rushing her off the mountain. I had a bead on her when she turned to talk to some priest. I would have had her if she hadn’t bowed to the bastard. I shot the priest instead.”
“Stupidity.”
“I wounded her. I got Caudell in the shoulder.”
“Not good enough.”
“I’ll go after her. You said you think Ling will send her to Chen Lu’s palace?”
“It’s very likely.” Santos was trying to keep his temper under control. Nagoles was in an optimum position to go after Erin Sullivan, and he was usually competent. He’d been working for Santos for over eight years, and the kills had all been clean or bloody, whatever Santos preferred. He might have to get rid of him later, but he needed this kill. “I don’t have to tell you that I won’t tolerate another failure, Nagoles. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. Everything has to go smoothly.”
“It will. I had it all set up. It should have been easy. She had virtually no protection before Caudell showed up.”
But it hadn’t been easy, and it had to be because that bitch, Ling, had learned of the deaths and set up a stalemate to prevent any more. The thought sent the rage curling, searing, through Santos. She probably thought she had beaten him with this move.
As she had triumphed over him in that penthouse when she had killed his Delores. That sudden memory was like salt rubbed in a raw wound.
He couldn’t let even a temporary triumph stand. He had planned too long, researched too deeply, while he was in that stinking prison. She had to be shown who was the master. “It’s just going to be harder now that she has Chen Lu’s security forces at her disposal. But you will do it, Nagoles. I won’t have Ling think I’ve fumbled this kill.”
“She won’t. I’m already off Kadmus Mountain and on my way to the next mountain over, where you can arrange to send your helicopter to pick me up.” He paused. “I won’t disappoint you, Santos. Trust me.”
“I did trust you. From now, on you’ll have to earn it. I don’t have to tell you what will happen if you fail me again.” He hung up, turned to Manuel Dorgal, and said curtly, “She’s still alive. He bungled it.”
“You should have sent me.” Dorgal smiled. “Never let an errand boy do an executive’s job. I know how important Erin Sullivan’s death was to move your plan forward. Do you want me to go after her?”
“No, I’m giving him another chance. I have another job for you.”
“Whatever. But you’re very tense,” Dorgal said. “I brought you a pretty little sixteen-year-old when I came in from Caracas today. She may even be a virgin. Why don’t you try her? It will relax you.”
“Not now.” He got to his feet and moved toward the French doors. He had to get out of here. The taste of this failure was bitter, and he needed to take it to his love, to share it, as he always had. “I’ll talk to you later.”
The sun was on his face as he moved down the garden path. Hot. Soothing. The heat was making the blood pump in his veins. Taking away the coldness of defeat. Making everything exciting and right for him as he hurried to her.
Just as she always had made it right.
I’m here Delores. I’m coming to you. That fool, Nagoles, has upset me. I need you.
Then he was there, standing before the grand granite tomb that was covered with bouquets of fresh roses.
He immediately felt the easing, the feeling of coming home, of being welcomed into her arms.
It’s only a slight delay, Delores. I know you would have told me to just kill that bitch, Ling. But I can’t do that. She has to suffer for what she did to you, what she did to us. She mustn’t die until she’s suffered as much as I did when she took you away from me.
He looked at the names he’d written in black charcoal on the wall of the tomb. Slantkey, Petrov, Jantzen. He’d planned on adding Erin Sullivan today. Another surge of searing rage went through him. I didn’t mean to cheat you, Delores. Forgive me.
I promise I’ll make it right. But first maybe we should let Ling anticipate what’s in store …
* * *
The Skype picture of Erin Sullivan was bright and clear and showed both the strain on her face and the blood on the front of her shirt.
“What’s that blood?” Catherine asked sharply. “Hu Chang said that it was your leg that—”
“For heaven’s sake, Catherine, it is my leg,” Erin said with exasperation. “And it’s only a flesh wound. I just bled a bit. This blood is from Les Caudell’s wound. I had to help him into the helicopter. They’re working on his shoulder now.”
“And he’ll be okay?”
“Eventually. Not for a long while. The pain was excruciating. He kept passing out on the way here.”
Catherine bit down on her lower lip. “I’m sorry about this, Erin. I never dreamed that this would happen. It came out of the blue.”
“Or out of the depths of hell,” Erin said grimly. “A young priest was killed back on the mountain. He was only eighteen and was going to Hong Kong to study teaching. That bullet was meant for me.”
“If you’re looking for someone to blame, I come first on the list. I’m the prime target, Erin.”
“That’s what Hu Chang told me when he was setting up this Skype. Why?”
Catherine briefly went over both the facts and her own suppositions. “I’m thinking it’s Santos, but it could be someone else. Venable is trying to confirm.”
Erin was silent, thinking. “Santos would have the money, power, and the killers needed to bounce all around the world as needed to accomplish those three kills. And the attempt on me wouldn’t have been easy. I was working on a mountain in Tibet. Not the usual target for one of Santos’s goodfellas. He had to be motivated.”
“Santos can definitely motivate,” Catherine said. “And he’s not going to stop. He’ll try again, Erin. Stay with Chen Lu.”
“Not likely. Chen Lu’s palace is beautiful, and she’s wonderful, but I don’t belong here. I’m coming to you, Catherine.”
“Bullshit. Stay away from me.”
“I can’t do that. You didn’t stay away from me when I was being tortured and hunted down like an animal.”
“I was just doing my job.”
“No, you weren’t. It might have started out that way, but by the end, you were doing it because you wanted me to stay alive. Life is a great gift. I won’t be cheated of trying to return the favor.”
“Erin, I don’t—”
“And I won’t be cheated of the justice that sniper deserves for murdering that village priest. As soon as I make sure that Les Caudell is going to be okay, I’m on the next plane to you.”
“That’s not safe.”
“Then have Venable make it safe.”
“Look, stay there. I’m going to be on my way to Tibet to track down that shooter anyway.”
Silence. “I don’t think that will be necessary.” A flicker of expression crossed Erin’s face. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Of course, I do. He’s my only lead to—” She caught another flicker of expression, and her eyes narrowed. “Why won’t it be necessary?”
“I don’t think that sniper will be around much longer.”
“Erin.”
“Les kept blacking out on the way to Hong Kong.” She moistened her lips. “And I don’t know how to fly a helicopter. I had to find a way for both of us to survive.”