And the motivation had not been nearly this strong.
“Here we go, Dietrich,” he murmured. “You might help a little, if you can. I called Carlos Estefan and told him that he should launch the attack the minute they hear the shot. I’d hate to have egg on my face if I screw up.”
Dietrich. Patrick. All those other poor bastards who had been tortured by the man in his sights.
No way was he going to screw up.
He pressed the trigger.
Yes!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“What do you think you’re doing?” Salva asked Margaret as he stopped on the trail. “You’ve been winding in and out of these trails for the last twenty minutes and you’ve come up with zilch. You tried to convince Nicos that you could track Lassiter. Now do it, or I’ll call Nicos and tell him you were bullshitting him.”
“And get myself killed?” Margaret stopped on the trail and aimed the beam of her flashlight at Salva’s face. “That wouldn’t be smart, would it?”
“It’s going to end up like that anyway.” He smiled. “We both know that you’ll be able to fool Nicos for only so long. He’s not overly bright, but he has a wonderful sense of self-preservation and a certain cunning. But I admit it was clever of you to try to turn his venom on Brukman and me.”
“Try? How do you know I didn’t do it?”
“Brukman feeds his bloodlust. And I’ve made sure that Nicos knows that he needs me to survive.” He added mockingly, “Self-preservation, Margaret.”
“But you ignored his one characteristic that gives me a chance: ego.” She tilted her head, listening. Faint. Very faint. Perhaps … “I’ve noticed you’ve made that mistake before.”
“And when he finds out that you’ve fooled him, his ego will have him burning you at the stake back at the detention camp. We both know that you have no magic and you’re not going to find any tracks.”
“There’s magic, and then there’s magic.” She started back down the trail and shifted the beam of her flashlight on the rutted earth before them. “And I know it will disappoint you, but I’m very good at tracking. In fact, I’ve already found the track I was looking for.”
He stepped closer, his gaze on the ground. “You’re bluffing. I don’t see any—” Then he saw the fresh print Margaret was looking at. “Shit!”
No perhaps this time.
Not faint at all.
He was here.
Now!
This is my gift?
Yes. As I promised you. To seal our friendship. Not worthy, but it should please you.
A moment of appraisal and assessment.
It will do.
The jaguar leaped out of the darkness at the side of the trail!
Salva screamed as the big cat took him down. He struggled desperately to get out his gun.
Margaret warned the jaguar again, as she had when she had linked with him driving here. The sticks!
It had been the only term she could think of to describe the danger of a gun to an animal who had never seen one.
But he remembered and acted with lethal ferocity.
The jaguar’s strong jaws clamped down on Salva’s wrist and shattered it. The gun fell from his useless hand.
Then the jaguar went for his head.
Crunch!
Salva went limp.
Margaret was gazing down at that crushed, bloody head. She thought she would feel horror and she did, but it had nothing to do with Salva’s death. Salva was a horror in himself and deserved it. Block it. Someone might have heard that scream, and she had to protect the jaguar.
Go. Take him and go.
Of course, I always do. The jaguar was dragging Salva’s body toward the trees. Too many thieves in the forest to take what’s mine. I will take him up high until I finish with him. You will bring me other gifts?
I don’t know. Only if the gift is true prey.
I will be happy to see you.…
And the jaguar was gone.
She knelt there on the trail, shaking. It had been so fast, so violent, that she had barely had a chance to realize what was happening.
No, it had not “happened”; I’ve done this, Margaret thought. Don’t blame fate, when I planned and worked to make this occur. Get over the shock and horror and accept it. Salva had been almost as bad as Nicos. He had killed and made all the evil happen. He had stood by and watched Nicos torture Rosa. How many little girls had he brought to Nicos to curry favor? She reached out and touched a streak of blood on the path. Not much blood. It had all been too quick.
And then Salva was gone.
And she still couldn’t stop shaking.
“Very good, Margaret.”
Her head jerked up and she saw Nicos standing behind her in the middle of the path. “You saw it?”
He nodded. “I was right behind you. But I would have come running anyway when I heard Salva scream. It was quite bone-chilling.” He came toward her. “I gave you the opportunity and you took it. A wonderful demonstration. No guns. No knives. Just pure power … The big cats are so much more effective than dogs, aren’t they?”
There was something in the way he was looking at her.…
She got to her knees, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. “What’s wrong?” she asked warily. “I did what you said you wanted.”
“What’s wrong?” He smiled as he stopped before her. “As I said, a wonderful demonstration. But you can hardly pull a jaguar out of your hat on every occasion. What good would you be if I needed someone eliminated in downtown Miami or Bogotá? What would you do then?”
She met his gaze. “I’d find a way to do what I had to do.”
“I believe you.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun. “You have power and intelligence, and what you did to Salva was something of an eye-opener. I didn’t expect to feel that shocked. You were just a tool. But I watched that jaguar tear into him and it made me realize that it could have been me. Unexpected. Out of the darkness. No warning.”
He was going to kill her.
She could see it in his face. It was the same wild, intense expression she’d seen in those moments before he’d shot Rosa.
“But it wasn’t you,” she said quickly. “I only got rid of the man you told me to kill. You’re being unreasonable.”
“Am I? Somehow I don’t think so. I could keep you as a pet, leash you, think I was safe from you. But you’re not like anyone else. And someday there might be a moment like the one Salva just had. A monster attacking out of the darkness.” He raised the gun. “So I need to make certain that day never comes.”
Think.
Stop him from pulling that trigger.
Keep him talking.
Don’t let this end without keeping my promise to Rosa.
Find a way to take him off guard.
“You’re right. It could end that way. You’re very clever to realize that I’ll always be a threat to you.” She moistened her lips. “Do you know, I wasn’t certain who was going to be the victim tonight. You gave me two possible choices, but you were always in the running. I had several scenarios mapped out and you figured in most of them.”