But he wanted the bitch dead. Lisa was proof of his failure, and he did not fail. He shifted the sight to Jane MacGuire, who was sitting sketching now. No, not her yet, either. All his work and he couldn’t touch either of them until he got Teresa’s okay.
His finger caressed the trigger, his gaze on a point in the center of Jane MacGuire’s temple. She had been there on San Leandro with Caleb and been part of his humiliation in front of his men. He had decided that night that no one who had witnessed that degradation was going to live to tell about it. “I’ll have you, too,” he murmured. “Just not right now.”
He took out his phone and punched in Teresa Romano’s number.
“I’ve found your Lisa,” Santara said as Teresa picked up the phone. “I located the little bitch today. I traced her through Jane MacGuire, who had to show her passport at the inn on Zakyos when she checked in. She’s some kind of artist, and I went to her gallery in London and questioned the receptionist and found out she’d been submitting paintings of a lake in the Highlands of Scotland for the last two years. That’s where I am now, and lo and behold, who would I find but MacGuire and Lisa Ridondo.”
“But not Seth Caleb?”
“I haven’t caught sight of him yet. But I can’t move around too freely. This place is too well guarded.”
“Of course it is,” Teresa said with disgust. “Caleb wouldn’t leave her anyplace that wasn’t safe. I’d bet that he stashed her away and then took off looking for you.” She added harshly, “And me. He’ll have put most of it together by now and he’ll be on the hunt.”
“He won’t be able to find out anything about Haroun. We were too careful.”
“You’d better hope you didn’t make a slip. Because if you did, he’ll find it. I won’t have all my plans ruined by your incompetence.”
His hand tightened on his phone. “No slip. All the people I put in place are beyond reproach. No one will talk. Now what do you want me to do? I’ve told you that I’ve found Lisa and the MacGuire woman. It would be really difficult, but I might possibly be able to pick off one of them to send a message. Or I could get some guys from Liverpool and try to go in and get Lisa. The only problem with that is MacDuff, who owns this property, is some kind of bigwig and it might bring the local magistrates down on us.”
“That’s all we need,” she said sarcastically. “And that would mean Interpol and publicity.”
“What do you want me to do?” he said through set teeth.
“What do you expect me to say? What did I hire you for? Find a way. Find out everything you can about how to get to Lisa.”
“I’d rather go after Caleb.”
“Ask me if I care. You’re so angry that you might try to damage him. That’s the last thing I want. He’s the key to Haroun.”
“You could use me instead. I could do what you want if I’m given enough time.”
“And you had so much success with Lisa?” She paused. “Haroun is scheduled for two weeks from tomorrow. If you don’t manage to find me a tool to get Caleb here and cooperative by two days before that time, I’ll put all the money I’ve agreed to pay you for this job as a bounty on your head. How long do you think you’ll last among your very greedy and bloodthirsty cronies?”
“Longer than you will, if I decide to go after you.”
“We’ll see. It would be more sensible not to put either of us to the test. I’m going to concentrate on finding a way to correct this catastrophe. Do your job, Santara.” She hung up.
The bitch would do as she threatened, he thought savagely. He struggled to smother the anger and the bloodlust. Later.
Now he would work and give the cobra what she wanted and decide later how to make it bite her in the heart.
He put his rifle down and punched in a number on his cell phone. “Jacob, I need you here in Scotland. Bring your equipment.”
CHAPTER
10
“They’re coming back early.” Lisa was frowning as she watched MacDuff and Jock walk out of the heavy mist. “It’s not even sundown. Yesterday they didn’t show up until almost nine. Do you think that something went wrong with the lights?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. Something always appears to go wrong with the lights.” Jane looked up from her canvas with a mischievous grin. “Admit it, you’re not really worried about the lights. You’re frantically doing math and ingredient adjustments in your head to make certain your dinner won’t take a hit because you thought you had more time.”
“It would have helped if they’d called and let me know.” She grimaced. “Dear God, did that come from me? Only three days and I sound like the nagging wife in a sitcom. It’s good that I’m almost well.”
Not so good, Jane thought. It was true that Lisa had made tremendous strides in the last three days, but she wasn’t as well as she claimed. She was just impatient and had conquered every challenge she had set herself. She knew that Caleb had kept his word and called Lisa every evening, but when she got off the phone, she was always restless and brooding. For heaven’s sake, she was only nineteen. What could she expect? But she wasn’t about to argue with her right now. Tackle it later, when she knew what problems MacDuff was facing.
“Well, neither of them appear to be too depressed.” Jane put her brush down and watched them come around the bank. “Maybe it’s just a little glitch.”
Lisa brightened. “And maybe it’s something that I can turn into a new job opportunity. What do you think?”
“I think that you’re optimistic. You hit MacDuff with that yesterday.”
“But today, something changed.” She gave Jane a sly glance. “Maybe Cira told him she’d chosen me to be his primary gofer out in the mist. You said yourself that your Eve told you that—”
“And you only believe what you want to believe. You’re very cynical for a youngster.”
“But you told me you were a realist, too.” She was cocking her head and looking at Jane’s canvas. “But that’s not true. That picture of your little brother is like a love song. Very soppy. No kid looks like that.”
Jane’s lips twitched. “No?”
“No, some of them are cute. But they don’t—”
“I yield to your vast expertise on the subject,” she said, interrupting Lisa. “You’re right: I’m merely a sister who sees qualities in him because I’m besotted.”
“You’re making fun of me,” Lisa said. “Okay, my mother used to tell me I saw things in Seth that weren’t there, either. She was wrong. It doesn’t matter. It’s going to be a wonderful portrait anyway.”
“Thank you. Then you won’t mind if I continue to see him from the heart and not the mind?”
She shook her head. “It’s kind of … nice.” She turned to Jock, who was now only several yards away. “Is something wrong? You said the transformers were going in well.”
“They are, but MacDuff got a call while we were in the middle of installing them and said we had to get back to camp.” Jock smiled. “I made no objection. I think you promised us some exotic delight of a Calcutta dish tonight, didn’t you?”
“Which takes time. I might have to put it off until tomorrow.”
“I think you’ll have time,” MacDuff said as he came up behind Jock and unslung his backpack. “As long as you keep the coffee coming for a while. Or maybe I’ll break out the wine.”
“Wine?” Jane’s gaze narrowed on his face. “Is this a celebration?” Her eyes widened. “Did you find something in the mist today?”
He chuckled. “Aye, this is a celebration. And, no, I found nothing but that constant damnable cold and dampness today.” He turned to Lisa. “But don’t the meals you’ve been serving deserve fine wines?”
“Of course. I was going to suggest it. But wines should breathe, and you’re usually hungry when you come back from the mist,” Lisa said. “And that’s not the celebration, is it?”
“No.” He looked at his watch. “It’s more of a surprise for Jane. The call I got was from Darren, one of the perimeter guards.”
“A surprise?” Jane was frowning. She looked at Jock. “What’s this about?”