Santara was standing by the French doors, a gun in his hand—the gun Teresa had dropped when Jane had stuck the hypodermic in her shoulder.
“Stop, hell.” His eyes were glittering in his pale, strained face. “You stay away from me, Caleb. Don’t you touch me, you freak. I have money in Cayman, and there’s a plane landing now that can take me out of here.” He swung the gun to cover Jane. “You take one step and I’ll put a bullet in her. I want to do it anyway. In fact, I may come back and do it later.” He turned toward the open French doors. Then he suddenly whirled back and fired directly at Caleb.
But Caleb had already dropped to the floor, jerking Jane with him.
Santara didn’t stay to risk another shot, but dashed out of the house.
“Son of a bitch.” Caleb was up and after him in a heartbeat. Jane was on his heels.
Santara was on the runway, close to the jet, and waving at the pilot to lower the steps.
The steps swung down just as Santara reached them.
But someone reached Santara before he could start to climb them.
Dark hair flying, dark shirt and pants, slender body taut and lithe as she launched herself in a tackle at Santara.
Lisa.
Jane gazed in horror as Santara’s gun lifted, pointed at Lisa’s head as she covered him with her body, her hands flat on his chest.
But he wasn’t pressing the trigger; he was screaming, his spine arching in horrible pain. He was thrashing back and forth, his eyes on Lisa’s face.
Then he was still, frozen rigid with pain even in death.
Jane stopped short on the runway, stunned.
Then she saw Caleb beside Lisa, lifting her gently off Santara’s body. He held her for a brief moment and then set her on her feet.
The sight shattered Jane’s shock and she ran over to her. “Dear God, Lisa.” She didn’t know what else to say as she stared at her. The shock she was feeling was nothing to the frozen expression she saw on Lisa’s face.
“He was going to get away,” Lisa said dully. “I couldn’t let him get away, could I?”
“No.” Jane took her into her arms. “You couldn’t do that.”
“And he hurt people.” Her body was stiff against Jane’s. “He liked to hurt people. He hurt you, Jane.”
“Let’s get you back to the house to sit down.”
“Not now.” She moistened her lips and pushed Jane away. “I have to see if Joe needs me. There were still a couple of Santara’s men we hadn’t found. They might have run away, but we have to be sure. Joe says you always have to be sure.” She brushed her hair away from her face with a shaking hand. “I shouldn’t have left him. But I saw Santara and I had to come.”
“I think Joe can do without you,” Jane said gently.
“He shouldn’t have to do without me. I promised him I’d obey orders.” She turned and started back up the hill. Her back was rigid, as if she would crumple if she didn’t keep it very straight. “I’m fine. I can help.…”
Jane whirled on Caleb. “Why did you just stand there? Why didn’t you say something to her? You saw what she did and what it did to her.”
“There wasn’t anything to say. Not now.” His gaze followed Lisa. “And she’s right to go help Joe. It will help her, too. Hunter instinct.…”
“She’s not a hunter. She’s a nineteen-year-old girl.”
He shrugged. “We’ll see.” He took Jane’s arm. “And now we’ll go and see if we can also help Joe and do something to make these bodies go away before we have diplomatic problems with Dubai.”
She was immediately brought back to a horrible reality. “And get you out of Dubai before they find out about you and Haroun. I can’t let you take the blame. It wasn’t your fault. It’s mine. You did it for me.”
“Nothing I do is any fault but my own.” He smiled faintly. “But I knew you’d feel like that. I can manage to shoulder almost any guilt, but I find I can’t permit you to do it.” He paused. “So we’re fortunate that Haroun made it through that operation with flying colors.”
She stopped, her gaze flying to his face. “What?”
“I told you I’d do my best.” He grimaced. “And Haroun required my best. He was a very hard sell, since I couldn’t give him names or any info regarding you. But he eventually allowed me to persuade him under certain conditions.”
“Persuade.”
“Oh, I used that, too. But he was more interested in getting the names of the moneymen in the royal family who had funded his assassination. I had to make a few promises to get him to arrange to fake his death.”
She was dazed, trying to make sense of it. “But Asad Kadir, that orderly who reported to Santara that he’d seen Haroun’s body?”
“Staged. And the rest was pure Persuasion to make his panic appear authentic to Santara.” He grimaced. “Much easier than Haroun. The bastard even had me on a time limit. He agreed to give me only five hours before the rumors that he’d died on the operating table had to be refuted. He was afraid the stock market would plunge at the news and hurt Dubai’s economy.”
“But he’s alive.” The relief was overwhelming. “Dear God, Caleb. He’s alive.”
He nodded. “More alive than most people I’ve met. He’s fairly exceptional. I was glad it worked out.”
“And you couldn’t tell me, dammit?” Then she shook her head. “No, I know you couldn’t. It would have been a risk you couldn’t take if I hadn’t thought he was dead, too.”
“Judgment call,” he said quietly. “Not one I wanted to make.”
“I know. I know. I’d probably have done the same.” She swallowed to ease the tightness in her throat. It was hard to think, hard to absorb everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Death and pain and violence, and yet a good man who might have died had survived.
And people she loved had also survived.
So think of the good things that made life worth living.
She whirled on Caleb. “Do one more thing for me.”
“What?”
“Call Haroun and tell him to pull some strings and get us out of here as soon as possible. I don’t care if you reason or blackmail or even use that damn Persuasion. Make it happen.” She turned and started back up the hill. “Just get me back to Loch Gaelkar to be with Eve.”
CHAPTER
20
DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
The strings that Haroun had pulled had been both efficient and magically speedy, Jane thought eight hours later as Joe drew up at the terminal in front of Caleb’s Gulfstream.
“I’ll run up and file the flight plan,” Caleb said as he jumped out of the car and headed toward the jet. “I’ll contact you later, Quinn. If there’s any trouble, call me and I’ll try to straighten it out with Haroun.”
“I don’t believe I’ll require your help,” Joe called after him drily. “Just get Lisa and Jane back to Gaelkar safely and leave all the diplomacy and legal stuff to me. At least no one is going to hire a hit man to take me out. I’m not too sure about your prospects.”
Caleb gave him a wave and disappeared into the plane.
“How long will you have to stay here, Joe?” Jane asked as she and Lisa got out of the car. “I thought we were almost finished.”
“We are,” Joe said. “The local police just want reports filled out and all the details explained. We tried to blur what had been going on, but explanations will come better from me, since I’m a cop, too. With any luck, I should be only eight or nine hours behind you. I called Jock and asked him to pick you up in Edinburgh when Caleb flies in.” He turned to Lisa and said quietly, “You did very well. You can play on my team anytime.”
“Thank you.” She smiled faintly. “Told you so. Good-bye, Joe.” She moved toward the steps. “I’ll see you at Gaelkar.”
Joe was frowning as he watched her climb the steps. “She’s too quiet. She’s been like a zombie since we left Mleiha. I don’t like it.”
Neither did Jane. But she hadn’t had time to think about a way to get through to Lisa during the past hours. “I’ll work on it.” She turned and went into his arms and held him tightly. “I want you back at Gaelkar, Joe. I want us all together, with no exotic bazaars or burning sands or people wanting to shoot each other. You know I’m going to have to answer to Eve if I show up without you.”