“I can’t talk, Elena,” Cara whispered when she answered. “I’m in English, and they’ll—”
“Listen. Act as if you’re sick to your stomach and run out of the classroom. Do it now.”
“But I can’t—”
“Do it now.” She hung up and waited for a few minutes and called back. “Where are you?”
“In the bathroom down the hall. I thought that would be—”
“That’s fine. Look, you can’t wait until I come to get you. Something has— You can’t wait.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to understand. You just have to get out of there and go to the cave. We have to put the plan I taught you into effect. You still have the money I told you to keep in your backpack?”
“Yes.”
“Remember that trip we took after we moved into the apartment? The bus station, where to get off, how far to hike down to the beach?”
“I remember. You had me do it by myself, so that I wouldn’t forget.”
But she was frightened, she was sensing Elena’s own fear and reflecting it. “It will be fine. You’re very smart. I’ll be there as soon as I can. But you have to go now.”
Was the Toyota closer?
Maybe.
“If I don’t get there right away, don’t leave the cave. Try to hide if someone comes. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t get in any cars that aren’t familiar to you.”
“I can tell you’re scared. I’m scared for you. What’s going on?”
“Sometimes bad things happen.” She paused. “But we can beat this, Cara.”
Cara was silent. “It’s going to happen again?” she whispered.
“Not if we can help it,” she said. “But you have to do as I say. Get out of there. You know what you have to do. We’ve talked about it. Just follow the plan. Be strong. Call me when you get to the cave.” She was about to press the disconnect, but she couldn’t leave her like this. “I love you, Cara. I’ve … always loved you.” She hung up.
She drew a deep breath. It would take another fifteen minutes to get to Cara’s school, and, hopefully, Cara would be long gone by the time she pulled up in front of the building. But she still had to give her any extra time she could. She would wait there at least another thirty minutes before she left the school.
Then she would try to lose that Toyota before she made her way down Pacific Highway.
But she doubted if the driver would allow her to do it. If it was Walsh, then he was expert at all kinds of deadly games. He would have probably only been tailing her until she picked up Cara. Then he would have had both of them in his sights.
Don’t think about what might happen next. She had a gun in her glove compartment. The two of them had survived this long. They would get through this, too.
All she had to do was stall and give Cara time to get away.
CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER
Screw those databases, Joe thought, as he watched Eve walk down the hall. There wasn’t time to go through the effort again. He had stored enough information in his head; now he needed to analyze and put it all in perspective. Then he had to lay out the pieces of the puzzle and put them all together.
Fast.
Sounded simple, he thought grimly. It wasn’t going to be simple. There were all kinds of variables and possibilities.
But it had to be done. Eve was getting close, and that meant Walsh would be targeting her. He had to be ready for him. He couldn’t do that without knowing his strengths and weaknesses.
And his objectives.
He sat up in bed and reached for his yellow pad. Start at the beginning. List everything he knew about the main principals and locations. He drew three columns. WALSH. JENNY. Then he hesitated and added one more column. NALCHEK.
*