‘We move around the side of the house,’ Ryker said. ‘To the car. Slowly.’
Eva nodded again. Ryker held his hand out to her, his feeling of hostility toward her thawing, given the immediate threat of a common enemy. She took his hand.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
CHAPTER 52
Either the Red Cobra was hiding or she’d already scarpered – Ryker didn't see any sign of her as he and Eva cautiously worked their way around the mansion to the front. Ryker hopped onto the driver’s seat of the executive Mercedes, and Eva tentatively followed onto the front passenger seat.
As Ryker edged the car along the driveway and onto the road, he wondered what kind of response he was about to receive from the security guards at the outer gates. Had the Red Cobra already killed them on her way in or out? If not, then would they be springing to alert because of the gunshots from the Kozlov residence?
It turned out to be neither. As they approached the exit, Ryker spotted one guard sat inside a patrol Jeep, on the inside of the gates. He was casually reading a newspaper. A second guard was tootling along by his hut on the outside. They barely paid any attention as the Mercedes approached. Ryker could only think that the distance between the gates and the Kozlov house meant neither of the guards had heard any of the commotion and didn't yet suspect a thing.
Ryker slowed the car to a crawl. ‘How do we open the gates?’
He looked over at Eva. He could see the doubt in her eyes. He’d rescued her from the clutches of the Red Cobra but did she really want to be driving around with Ryker? She could scream out and get the guards’ attention, he realised. But if she did that she’d be putting not just her life at risk but the guards’ too. Ryker gave her the chance. In the end she made the right call.
‘Here.’ She reached into a small compartment within the central armrest and pulled out a key fob. She pressed the button and the gates swung open. The guards both looked up. The windows of the Mercedes were tinted and Ryker doubted the guards would have a good view of who was inside. Eva lowered her window a few inches and casually waved to the men. Ryker could only guess that was normal protocol as the men’s only response was to give a cursory smile and wave in return.
‘Who was that?’ Eva asked a couple of minutes later as Ryker steadily weaved the car through the thickening traffic onto the country roads that led back up into the mountains.
‘Someone who wants you dead.’
‘Me? What did I do?’ Eva sounded angry as much as she was surprised or upset.
‘You tell me.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘To get you safe.’
‘But... why are you even helping me?’
Ryker thought about that for a moment. ‘Because it’s the right thing to do.’
And that was the only explanation Ryker could give. He’d never trust Eva. There was a good chance she’d tried to set him up at the bullring, and minutes earlier, she’d screamed that he was a dead man. But then he had been pointing a gun barrel at her skull.
The fact was Ryker didn’t know why the Red Cobra would want Eva dead. The only thing Ryker was sure Eva had done wrong was to have an affair with a married man. Hardly an offence punishable by death. Yes, her father was a crook, and she knew far more about what had been happening in Andalusia then she’d let on, but you don’t get to choose your parents. For all Ryker so far knew, Eva was nothing more than an observer. Until proven otherwise he would treat her as such.
Ryker took out his mobile phone and made a call to Green. He kept the conversation brief, simply saying that he had someone Green needed to look after and to meet at the hotel where Inspector Cardo had taken a dive.
‘You saved my life,’ Eva said. Ryker looked over and saw the emotion in her face. She was in shock he knew. For all of her usual confidence and bravado, what she’d witnessed – two men being so savagely killed in front of her – had taken its toll.
‘Where’s your father?’ Ryker asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Eva said looking down.
‘You’re lying.’
‘I’m not! He’s... somewhere safe.’
‘Why?’
‘Because of that mad woman! I told you at the bullring, everyone is on edge, looking over their shoulders – ever since Cardo was attacked. My father has chosen to keep out of sight. He knows he’s a target, though he doesn’t know why.’
‘So why were you in the house still then? Why aren’t you somewhere safe like your father?’
‘I was supposed to be. That’s what we were doing. I had to get my things. We were only there a few minutes. Why is she doing this to us?’
‘You really have to ask that question?’
‘Yes. I do. I’ve never hurt anybody.’
‘Kim Walker? You were sleeping with her husband. I’d say that would hurt.’
‘I didn’t mean hurt like that. I mean like stabbing people. Spilling their guts on the floor!’
‘And what about Sergei? Where is he?’
‘Sergei? I haven’t a clue. Why would I know that?’
‘In Ronda yesterday and then in Malaga this morning, I suddenly found myself staring down gun barrels. And I don’t believe in coincidences. Someone wants me dead.’
It was a thought that had struck him as soon as he’d laid eyes on Sergei in Miguel Ramos’s home. They’d known Ryker was there. But how?
‘That’s nothing to do with me! I told you yesterday I didn’t set you up. But then you went ahead and attacked me anyway.’
Ryker glanced at Eva’s swollen face. He didn’t feel even slightly bad for what he’d done.
‘Not long ago, I watched Sergei gun down a fifteen-year-old boy. Some great company you’ve been keeping there.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Eva was shaking her head. Genuine confusion and shock, Ryker believed.
‘If you know where Sergei is, you tell me. Because I’m going to find him, and I’m going to kill him – and anyone who gets in my way.’
Ryker looked over again. Eva stared back.
After that, the journey carried on in silence. They reached the hotel and Ryker pulled the Mercedes into the car park. He parked up and then stepped out from the air-conditioned car into the baking heat. Eva followed and Ryker studied the look in her eyes. ‘You know this place.’
‘What?’
‘How? Why’d you come here?’
‘It’s somewhere I’ve been to. The food’s good. You should try it.’
‘You can’t get good food in Marbella?’
‘Yes. You can. But that doesn’t mean I have to eat there and only there.’