Shattered Mirror (Eve Duncan #23)(100)
“I’m sure.”
“And I’ll be sure after I take a look and see how close she came. Besides, Norwalk is the one who gives the orders. I blow his brains out, and his great plan falls apart.”
He didn’t wait for an answer but plunged into the brush.
Keep moving.
Five miles, and he’d know if Eve had guessed right.
Five miles, and he’d see if Cara and Michael were still alive.
Five miles, and he’d see who he’d have to kill.
Keep moving.
BELLE GRACE
“Nikolai says I have a call, Eve,” Kaskov said as he lifted the phone from his ear to look at her. “I imagine it’s our mutual adversary. Would you care to listen?” He smiled. “Never mind, I know the answer. Put him through, Nikolai.” He spoke into the phone. “What do you have to say to me, Norwalk? I’m a busy man.”
“Not that busy. You took the call, and you let Eve Duncan talk you into protecting her and the pretty girl I’m looking at right now. I’d say that you have an interest in what I’m going to tell you.”
“I’m mildly amused by all this furor. But it’s gotten out of hand. I stopped your inept twin from killing Cara because it was a question of family pride. But as you must know, I’m a man who never goes too far without stepping back and looking at the big picture. And I certainly have no intention of sacrificing myself for a granddaughter whom I have only known for a few short years. However, I might be persuaded to offer a ransom.”
“Not an option.”
“Too bad. Good-bye, Norwalk.”
No! Eve sat up straight in her chair. He couldn’t cut this connection. She wouldn’t let him—
“Bluff,” Norwalk said. “You may care nothing for the girl, but you wouldn’t want your reputation to suffer because you’d allowed me to take her away from you … and be killed in a most unpleasant way. All the crime families of Moscow would come after you with blades drawn to cut your empire into digestible pieces. You have to make the attempt.”
Silence. “Go on.”
“I’ll send you directions to where you can find your Cara. I’m sure you’ve discovered that she’s somewhere in the bayous, but that’s such a very large area. It would take you weeks, months to search for me. But I’m willing to help you. I’ll even send her halfway to meet you.”
“Generous.”
“Yes, but you can’t have all your very competent men with you. I realize that you won’t come alone, but I’ll permit only two boats, your boat and another occupied by no more than three other men. That will allow you a certain amount of security.”
“Not much. And allow us to be picked off?”
“Possibly. But that’s your challenge. When Cara joins you, then you whisk her away … if you can. Then you turn the tables on me and maintain your sterling reputation.”
“And you’ll have a number of dirty surprises for me along the way.”
“Without doubt. Just as you did when your men killed Sean. Dirty wasn’t the word for it. I not only couldn’t tell he was my twin, I couldn’t tell he was a human being. Is Eve there?”
“I’m here, Norwalk,” Eve said.
“I just wanted to assure you that I’m not leaving you and your son out of my plans. But you can see how I have to concentrate on Kaskov at the moment. However, I’ll permit him to bring you along if you so choose.”
“So that you have the chance to get two instead of one?”
“Actually, I’d rather deal with you individually, but I’m a practical man. And I’m remembering that you wouldn’t help me to put my brother back together after this bastard blew him apart.” His voice lowered to deep malice. “I’ll even try to arrange to make sure that you’ll get the opportunity to see your son one more time while we reminisce about it.” He paused. “Kaskov, I’ll put the directions on your phone in four hours. If you come, you have a small chance. If you send someone, Cara and the boy die. If anyone follows you, they die. And I’ll know if that happens. You’ve noticed I do make preparations.” He cut the connection.
“He sounded very satisfied, didn’t he? But he’s no fool. He picked out a way that he thought would force me to get in the crosshairs. He has obviously studied me extensively.”
“And was he right about you?”
“Yes and no.” He looked at her. “But he was right that it’s to my advantage to go after Cara. Providing that he made it a possibility that I’d survive.”
“He’ll not let you live. He won’t let Cara live. You know that’s true. It’s better to wait until we hear from Joe and see if they’ve located Norwalk’s island.”
“Perhaps. It depends entirely on what they find there. I’ll be interested in hearing from them.” He turned and headed for his office. “In the meantime, I have some advance preparations to make in case I decide to let Norwalk lure me into his trap.”
She went rigid. “Preparations? But Norwalk told you that if you made any move at all, Cara and Michael would die.”
“Then I mustn’t let him see them.”
“And if he does?”