But Michael had said that someone was close who could help.
Close enough, she thought desperately. And was it only hope and imagination ignited by the horror and stress Michael had been going through all this time?
She involuntarily cast a glimpse over her shoulder at the darkness of the surrounding swamp across the bayou.
He?
Jock? Kaskov? Joe?
She wished she could feel something, anything that Michael had felt. But she was only aware of that murky darkness and the silence broken only by the sound of the swamp creatures.
“Taking a last look at those alligators?” Norwalk asked mockingly. “They’re still there, waiting for the boy.” He pushed her inside the shack. “By all means, think about them.”
She couldn’t bear to think about them. Instead, she would think about Michael and all the joy he brought them. And she would try to think of a way that she could save him.
And wonder if that fragile hope that Michael had sensed was close enough to do them any good.
*
Control.
Jock’s hands dug into the stock of his Remington until they turned white.
Then he forced himself to slowly release his grip. No killing. Not now. No quick ending.
But he had hit her.
And Jock had seen the blood.
Breathe deep.
Forget how Cara had looked in that moment.
Embrace the ice as he always did.
Impossible. He was hot, he was burning. He had come back here by himself to scope out the shack where Cara and Michael had to be held because Joe wanted to be available to guide Eve to their location. He was already searching for a way to stop Norwalk’s attack on Kaskov. But Jock had brought the Remington because he’d thought he might even be able to stop Norwalk in his tracks with a single bullet.
Until he’d seen the belt of explosives around Cara’s body.
He still felt the shock that had torn through him. It should not have done that to him. There had always been that possibility. Optimism had nothing to do with reality. Admit that he’d not thought about it because he had known he’d have this reaction. Then seeing the son of a bitch hitting Cara had compounded the response.
Don’t think about it. Think about what he’d learned tonight. Think about how to make it work for them.
He took out his earpiece, shimmied down from the cypress tree where he’d been setting up the shot, and moved away from the island. He had to phone Joe. He had to plan and function. He wasn’t going to be good for anything else until he got his head back together.
He had hit her.
“Eve just got here,” Joe said as soon as he picked up. “Tell me it’s going to be easy to take Norwalk down so that I can keep her out of it.”
“Cara has a vest of C-4, and Norwalk has a remote he’s carrying around with him.”
“Shit.” He paused. “Michael?”
“I didn’t see him, but I don’t think so. Cara said something about her being the only one.”
“You spoke to her?”
“No, but I’d already set up the audio in the trees in the swamp across from the island. The bayou is very shallow and narrow there, and it’s only twenty or thirty feet from the swamp to the island dock. I was lining up my shots when Norwalk brought her down to the bank of the bayou. I was able to hear pieces of the conversation she was having with him.”
“Then we’ll have to take that vest into consideration. I was hoping that—”
“Screw hope,” he said harshly. “We should have assumed that Norwalk would do it when I saw all those explosives. We just didn’t want to think about her being that helpless, about us being that helpless. Well, it’s here, and we’ve got to deal with it.”
“And we will,” Joe said quietly. “And the first thing to deal with is that Eve said we can’t trust Kaskov not to meet with Norwalk and try to take him out. He’s not going to trust anyone but himself.”
Jock muttered a curse. “Then maybe I should take Kaskov out before he gets here. I can’t let him interfere.”
“And cause Norwalk to press that remote button because he has no reason not to do it if Kaskov is already dead?”
Jock knew that was the truth. He just wasn’t thinking straight. “Then call and tell Kaskov about that vest so he can be prepared not to do anything that might get her killed.” He added bitterly, “Providing he gives a damn.”
“And in the meantime, we try to take care of business ourselves,” Joe said. “Anything else Kaskov should know?”
“Norwalk won’t attack him while he’s in the swamp. He’ll do it on the primary bayou where the waters are broad and deep. Probably right before he actually goes into the swamp.”
“How do you know?”
“He was taunting Cara. Something about the Vikings. You’re familiar with how the Vikings prepared to go to their Valhalla?”
“Sure. They’re sent out to sea in a boat while their bodies burn on a funeral pyre on deck,” Joe said.
“And how better to destroy Kaskov than to have his only granddaughter sent out to meet him in a boat that will explode and kill both of them as soon as Norwalk judges her close enough to cause maximum damage?”
Silence. “Twisted as everything else about Norwalk.” Joe paused. “But I’d judge Kaskov should be on his way by now. That means that he should be here in four or five hours. You’re coming back here?”
“I’m on my way. We have to come up with something to work around that damn vest. And I’ll need more weapons to take down those guards. I left my automatic rifle at the boat because I hoped that I could concentrate on Norwalk.” He hesitated. He knew Eve was there listening, and he didn’t want to hit her with another horror prospect, but he had to prepare her. “And then we need to talk about Michael.”
“What about Michael?” Joe said quickly. “You said that he wasn’t wearing that damn vest.”
“He isn’t.” Later. “I should be back there in another twenty minutes.” He hung up.
And by the time he got to Eve and Joe, he had to have a plan that would keep Cara and Michael alive.
Explosives.
Detonator.
Use all that Reilly had taught him about killing and try to make it work for him.
Clear your head and come up with an answer.
What destroyed bombs?
Explosions that also killed.
Discard.
Think. Review. What else?
Detonator?
Remove the hand on the button.
And that could still press down and kill just as a reflex action.
Discard.
Or not …
Examine.
He had heard of one way that might be possible.
Slim. So damn slim.
Grab it.
No time for any other choice.
He reached for his phone and dialed Kaskov. “Listen, before you leave for Black Pool Swamp, there’s something you have to do.”
“You persist in giving me orders, Gavin.”
“Do you want me to beg you? I’ll do it, Kaskov.”
Silence. “No. I might go into shock. What do you want, Gavin?”
CHAPTER
18
FIVE HOURS LATER
“You’re sure it will work?” Eve asked Jock as she waited for Joe to finish packing the weapons to take to the island. It was an idiotic question, she realized. But it had been terrible waiting here for these last nerve-racking hours after Jock had told her what Norwalk was planning for Michael. “Sorry, Jock. I know there aren’t any guarantees. We’ll just do the best we can and hope that we can all survive.”
“We have a chance,” Jock said curtly. “With you and Joe on his side, the odds on Michael may be better than for Cara. Remember to remind Joe he has to get Michael out of that shack right away. It’s primed with explosives, and we don’t know what orders Norwalk has given his men if the camp is attacked.”
“Joe could hardly forget it,” she said dryly. “He knows what he’s doing, Jock.”
“I know. I’m just hoping Kaskov does.” He grabbed his rifle and checked it. “I’ll go around to the north side of the island and take out the two guards there. That will leave you and Joe with only the two on the south side. Their absence shouldn’t be obvious to Norwalk when he takes Cara from the shack and puts her in the boat. It’s dark, and there will be no sound.”