He’d dislodged the short blade from the mine with a single bullet, which bought him just enough time for a long-reach grab for the skull.
Joe bundled it under his arm and ran through the woods, dodging the obvious paths that might hold even more booby traps. After a few minutes, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Without breaking stride he glanced at the display. Eve.
He answered. “I have the skull.”
“Good.” Walsh replied. “And I have Eve.”
Joe stopped. “Walsh.”
“Oh, yes. And you also know there’s only one way I could have Eve’s phone.”
“Walsh,” Joe said slowly and precisely. “If you’ve hurt her, I will kill you in the most painful way imaginable.”
“Such violence. Joe Quinn the caveman, swinging his club to protect his mate … Does that kind of thing still work in this day and age?”
“Put her on the phone. Now.”
“So demanding … Especially when I’m holding all the cards.”
“Now.”
Eve’s voice cut in quickly. “Joe, take the skull and get the hell away from—”
She was abruptly cut off, and Joe heard what he was sure was the sound of a blow being struck. Walsh returned on the phone. “I never bluff, Quinn. I don’t need to.”
Joe looked toward the ridge where he’d last seen Eve. She had to be somewhere near there. He started moving as he spoke into the phone. “Then what do you want?”
“You’re holding it. Bring that skull back to me.”
“And you’ll let Eve go?”
“We’ll negotiate.”
“Why in the hell should I believe you? You already had the skull before this night ever began.”
“Conditions change. You brought about that change. Well done, by the way.”
“We’ve both been trained in the same school. If you hurt her, I’ll show you why I graduated cum laude.”
“You’re quite capable. I get that. Bring me the skull, and we’ll talk.”
Eve’s voice cut in again, this time in the background. “Joe, don’t! Get out of here.”
He pulled the phone away from his ear, but he didn’t hear Eve’s voice in the open air. They had to be farther away than he thought. He quickened his pace.
Walsh’s voice was muffled for a moment as he said something to Eve. Then he returned. “I suggest you do as I say, Quinn. Eve is starting to annoy me.”
“Where do I bring it?”
“There’s a small clearing just on the other side of the ridge.”
“You’ll be there?”
“Where I’d make myself a target? Be serious. But that’s where I want you to be. We’ll be close enough to see you. Do as I say, and you’ll see Eve.”
“I’d better see her unharmed. I’m warning you.”
“What happens to Eve in the next fifteen minutes entirely depends on you. Do as I say, Quinn.”
Walsh cut the connection.
*
“If you want to live through the night, you’ll let me go,” Eve said quietly. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with. Joe is in his element out here.”
Walsh tugged on her nylon wrist restraints as he pulled her through the woods. “You have a high opinion of your Joe Quinn.”
“It’s well-founded.”
“Your faith in him is touching. He was lucky. I’m better than he is. Look who’s on top now.”
“For the moment.” Eve studied Walsh, looking for weakness, as he pulled her around a clump of bushes. He held his handgun high in his right hand, and he used his left hand to guide her. “But all you’ve proved so far is that you were able to overcome me, and that was only because you took me by surprise.” He was very good. He’d appeared out of nowhere with a gun leveled at her head. A complete shock.
And, if they couldn’t find a way out, in a few moments, he’d have Joe and the skull.
“You were easy. A woman who sculpts faces on skulls? Though you did do an amazing job with reconstruction,” Walsh said. “You brought that little girl back.”
“No. There’s no coming back from what you did to her.”
A range of emotions suddenly played across Walsh’s face. Eve tried to decipher the expressions. Doubt. Fear. Anger. Was that a weakness? Probe a little and try to find out.