“Heaven forbid.”
“Time’s important. I can’t stand the thought of her being there any longer than she has to be,” she said. “I thought it was probably safe to ask questions about the island on the Net. I didn’t want to risk making any inquiries about San Leandro or that house with the tower. The last thing I wanted was to have Santara know we might have found out where he’s keeping Lisa. He might have whisked her away somewhere.” She added deliberately, “Or he might have set the trap for you that appeared to be his intention from the start.”
“We might just oblige him,” Caleb murmured. “I believe he might deserve to meet me.”
“No.” Jane had seen that flickering, lethal recklessness before and she had no intention of dealing with it now. “I know you’re tempted to indulge yourself, but back off, Caleb. I didn’t bring you here to turn you loose on this Santara. I want Lisa out of that house in as safe a manner as possible.”
“Providing that’s where she is,” Caleb drawled. “No proof. I might have to go in and determine it for myself. We wouldn’t want to disturb the neighborhood for nothing, would we?”
“Back off,” she repeated. “As you say, no proof.” Then she added fiercely, “But it’s where she is, dammit. Everything fits together. And you think so, too, or you wouldn’t be so eager to go in and cause your particular brand of mayhem. Admit it.”
He glanced away from her. “Perhaps.” Then he looked back at her. “I humbly admit it. You did well, Jane.”
Her eyes widened. “Humble? You?”
He smiled. “I only threw that in to catch you off guard.” He added quietly, “Very smart, Jane. My small contribution about the Romanos pales in comparison. Yes, I’ll have to check it out, but I’ll bet you’re right.” His smile faded. “And my particular brand of mayhem is going to be necessary from now on. So step down, Jane.”
“The hell I will. Do you think I didn’t know that you’d react like this as soon as you were convinced?” She glared at him. “I even thought about not calling you. Jock would have been willing to help me.”
“That would not have been a good move,” he said softly. “I like Jock.”
“But that wouldn’t have stopped you from doing exactly what you wanted to do. Mayhem or not.”
“It might have. But I would have had to think about it.”
“But now you don’t, because Jock isn’t involved. But that isn’t why I didn’t ask him. Lisa is your sister and you share something that no one else does. You have the right to help her. She’s wrong about keeping you away from it.”
“I believe I’ve made my agreement known on that score,” he said drily.
“And you have a greater stake in this than anyone else … except maybe me.” She wearily shook her head. “No, more than me. Except that Lisa pulled me into this and made me responsible. You say that she belongs to you? I believe she belongs to me, too, now. I think about her all the time. I worry about what’s happening to her. I don’t think she’s been telling me everything. Every time I see one of those damn bruises, it nearly kills me. That’s why I called you and told you to come and pick me up. I can’t bear to see her hurt any more than she has been and know that I had a chance of stopping it.”
“You have stopped it. Turn it over to me now.”
“No, I promised her that I wouldn’t let you come after her. I lied to her and she’s not going to forgive me. But there’s no way that I’ll let you go into that house. She’d fight you; she might not even go with you. Her first impulse will be to push you away. She might even run from you. I’ve had a demonstration of how stubborn she can be.”
“Then I’ll take care of it.”
“No, you won’t. You’ll stay outside that house. I’ll go in and get her and bring her to you. I’ll keep that much of my promise.”
“No,” he said sharply.
“Yes,” she said fiercely. “You plan something clever and foolproof to get us away from Santara and keep Lisa alive. But if she thinks there’s a chance of your being hurt because of her, she’s not going to budge from that place. And she’ll be so upset that there’s no telling what reaction it will trigger. She might go after Santara herself. Possible?”
“Possible,” he said slowly. “You’ve gotten to know her very well.”
“I’ve never even seen her in person. But, yes, I know her,” Jane said. “Now, can we get any help? Santara is supposed to have three men on the island.”
“I’ll check it out. It could be more dangerous to Lisa if we call in the local gendarmes. Santara’s been paid to do a job. If threatened, he may decide to cut his losses and get rid of her and go on the run.”
“You’re saying he might kill her.”
“I’m saying we have to think about it. We don’t know anything about him yet.”
She didn’t want to think about it. It frightened her too much. “Three men, plus Santara,” she repeated. “And Lisa thought he might have more men in the north sector, where she wouldn’t see them.”
“I’ll make a decision once we’ve reached Greece. The only thing that seems clear is that we should probably use that island as a place to launch any action. You were right: We need to find out more about it on the flight down there.”
“I told you that I’d do it.”
“Okay.” Caleb glanced at her. “But you still haven’t convinced me that I should let you do this.”
“I don’t have to convince you. I’m the one who invited you. If you don’t go along with the rules I make, we part ways once I get off this plane in Greece.”
“Unless I decide to tie you up and leave you in the plane.”
“You won’t do that. You’re not Santara.”
“There are people who believe I’m much worse.”
“I’m not one of those people.” She paused. “Neither is Lisa. Don’t prove either of us wrong.”
He chuckled. “That sounded almost like a threat.” He held out his hand. “Pull up that Google map on your computer again and let me study it. I can at least memorize the outbuildings and natural features while I’m winging my way toward Lisa.”
She handed him the computer. “I’m right, you know. If you walk into that house, she’ll go ballistic. It has to be me.”
“So she’s been saying.” His lips tightened as he glanced down at the computer screen. “But just because she’s willing to sacrifice you on my altar, I find I’m not inclined to do it. She doesn’t realize that you have a certain value to me that would be made totally invalid if you ended up dead.…”
5:40 A.M.
“Go get cleaned up and grab something to eat,” Caleb said as he opened the door of the aircraft after he’d landed at a private airport near Athens. “I have details to arrange and a few calls to make before we head for the island.”
“Are you going to try to slip away from me?”
“So suspicious.” He smiled. “I wouldn’t stand a chance. I may be a hunter, but you have a determination that’s beyond belief. I was merely being considerate. You look completely exhausted and I don’t want you fading away on me.”
“I’m fine.”
He shook his head. “Go in the terminal and eat.” He was going down the stairs to the tarmac. “I’ll come and get you at the restaurant when I’m ready to move.”
“How far are we from Zakyos Island?”
“About an hour and forty minutes by speedboat.”
“I knew you couldn’t take the jet, but I thought that you’d choose a helicopter.”
“Too noisy. I have to take a look at the coastline of San Leandro, and a speedboat will probably be more efficient and definitely less suspicious.” He turned and looked up at her. “You did your job. You gave us a chance to get to her.” His lips tightened. “Now take a break and let me do what I have to do if I’m going to let you go into that house without me. Okay?”
It wasn’t okay. Her nerves were stretched taut and she wanted to move at warp speed now that she could almost see a way to free Lisa.