Shattered Mirror (Eve Duncan #23)(96)

Yes, give him a moment.

*

“Cara. Wake up. I need you!”

Michael?

But she couldn’t wake up, she wanted to tell him. She was too far away, and she couldn’t come back. She might not be able to ever come back.

“Yes you can. I need you, Cara.”

Michael needed her. She had to come back to be with him. She fought desperately, and finally her lids lifted.

Michael’s face above her. Michael’s brown eyes staring down at her.

A dream. It had to be a dream. Michael couldn’t be here. But miracles did happen, didn’t they?

“Hi,” she whispered. “Awfully sleepy, Michael. Can’t keep my eyes open. Maybe we should both go back to sleep…”

He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cara. Norwalk was mad that you didn’t wake up. He told that Brazoff man it might mean he’d given you too much, and it might kill you.”

“Norwalk…” She was suddenly jarred to full awareness that something was terribly wrong. She glanced around her. A crude wood shack, the smell of wet grass and peat. Michael? She tried to think, to fight through the haze.

“Where’s … Norwalk now?”

“Outside on the bank yelling at Brazoff. He said he wasn’t going to pay him for you. He only came in to fasten that vest on you.”

Vest?

She looked down at her body.

She inhaled sharply, her heart jumping to her throat. The canvas vest was tight, and had neat pockets in which cylinders had been inserted. She suddenly couldn’t breathe as she realized what those cylinders must contain. She had never seen one before except in movies, but she knew what this vest was, what it had to be. In the movies, it was usually an explosive suicide device.

No dream.

A nightmare.

But she was not alone in this nightmare. Michael was here. She glanced quickly at his body. No vest, she realized with relief. Deal with anything else later. But he’d said he needed her, and that was the only thing important at this moment. “Come here.” She held out her arms to him. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I’ll find out about that later. I need you, too, Michael. I’ve been so worried about you. Let’s just hold each other right now.”

Then she inhaled sharply. What was she doing? She was telling him to get close to her when she was a walking bomb? How cruel of Norwalk to have her make the choice of comforting Michael or trying to push him away from her for his own safety.

Not that there was anywhere in this small shack where he would be safe if Norwalk set off these explosives. They would both die, so there was no real decision to be made. But the choice was a torture in itself and worthy of Norwalk.

“I’ve missed you. I’ve been lonely.” Michael came into her arms and nestled close. “And I’ll tell you all I know about this place, and that might help keep you awake. Right, Cara?”

“I’m sure it will.” Her fingers were gently stroking the silky hair on his nape. So dear, so alive. After all the frantic worry, he was here in her arms, and she was going to have a chance to bring him home to Eve in spite of that damn vest. And until she found a safe way to distance herself from him, she would give what she could—love, comfort, a companion to keep away the loneliness. “But Norwalk was wrong, I’m not going to die, Michael. And neither are you. It will be—”

She stiffened as a gunshot echoed from somewhere outside the shack.

He was yelling at Brazoff. He said he wasn’t going to pay him for you.

Except with a bullet?

“Cara?”

“It’s going to be okay.” She held Michael closer. “We’re together now, and we just have to figure out how to help each other get away from here…”





BELLE GRACE


“What else do you know?” Jock asked Kaskov as he strode into the parlor two hours later. He glanced at Joe and Eve standing by the window before he added, “I talked to Joe while I was on the road coming here and he told me about Brazoff. The bastard is your man, you must have an idea how to get your hands on him.”

“I’m working on it.” Kaskov’s lips twisted. “Nikolai is definitely motivated. All of my cars have LoJack and he’s been able to trace the car he took from the property to a pier on Lake Pontchartrain. But the car was abandoned, and there was no sign of Brazoff or Cara.” He paused. “But one of the boat owners on the next pier said they saw a motorboat leaving the pier earlier this morning.”

“No definite direction, Jock,” Eve said. “Brazoff was heading east, but that could be anywhere in those bayous.”

“The bayous again,” Jock said. “I was concerned that Norwalk might be leaving a false trail, but not this late in the game. He’d know that Cara’s disappearance would bring Kaskov front and center into the mix.”

“Joe told you that I was sure that’s where Michael was being held,” Eve said quietly. “I can’t expect anyone else to have any confidence that it’s true, but I believe it, Jock.”

“I’d have more confidence if you could tell me how I could get to them,” Jock said harshly. “I’ve seen amazing things happen while I’ve been around you, Eve. And Cara has told me about how close you are to Michael. I’d like to believe you. You gave Joe descriptions on how the camp is set up, but it’s no good to me if I can’t find it in those swamps. I’ll believe black is white if you tell me that.”