*
“You whisked me out of there as if you were afraid I’d deck him,” Joe said as he gazed through the glass of the ICU room from the hall. “I told you that I wouldn’t object to your bringing Caleb here. Not if he had a chance of saving Jane.”
“You wouldn’t object,” Eve said as she watched Caleb pull a chair closer to Jane’s bed and sit down. “But you would have interrogated him and made him more impatient than he is right now. You have a perfect right to do that, but Caleb is explosive, and I didn’t want to cause a disruption. This is a medical facility. You have better things to do than cross-examine Caleb.”
“For instance?”
“Talk to the doctors and nurses and run interference for him. Caleb is liable to do anything he wants to do at the moment. He’s wilder and less disciplined than I’ve ever seen him.”
“I couldn’t judge,” he said dryly. “You didn’t let me stay around him that long.”
“No, we have to leave him to it. Neither of us can help her.” She stepped closer, tucking herself against his strength. “I wanted to stay in there, too. It was hard to go.”
Joe slid his arm around her. “But we’re together out here in the cold.” He pressed his lips to her temple. “Come on. Buy me a cup of coffee, then we’ll go and try to convince the medical staff that Caleb isn’t as weird as we know he is. Maybe we can tell them that he’s a psychologist trying a new technique to reach her in that coma.”
“It’s as good a story as any.” Eve looked back at Caleb, leaning forward, holding Jane’s hand, his gaze fixed intently on her face. His entire body and mind appeared to be focused, riveted, on her.
Heal her, Caleb.
Heal her body. Heal her mind. Heal her heart.
And then please don’t turn around and destroy her.
“Eve.”
She turned back to Joe. “It’s going to be okay. We’ve got to believe that.” She kept her gaze from returning to Caleb, sitting so close to Jane. “I was just wondering what he was doing to her…”
*
Disturbance.
Jane could feel it move her, jerking her from the path.
Darkness.
Flames.
Caleb.
No!
“Yes,” Caleb said. “Why did you think I’d let you go?”
“Because Trevor’s there, he’s waiting for me.”
“Too bad. He lost you. He even knew that he’d lost you as he was dying. He wasn’t trying to take you with him. He knew better. He was trying to release you. But you’re too stubborn to let him go.”
“Not my fault. I’m in a coma. I’m dying, damn you.”
“And not fighting it. Just meekly going into the night. Meekly? Not like you at all, Jane.”
“It is if I want it to be,” she said defiantly.
“Not if it’s not what I want it to be. You’ve got a fine, strong body, and I can make the blood heal itself. It won’t be easy. Particularly since you’ll probably be fighting me, but I can do it. I will do it.”
“No, the doctors say you can’t. They told Eve that it’s not possible.”
“And Eve told me that she’s not going to accept a death sentence for you. Think about her, not yourself. She doesn’t trust me worth a damn, but she told me to bring you back.”
“She doesn’t understand. I fought it, but it’s okay if I give up now.”
“Bullshit. You’re coming back with me.”
“The hell I will.” She began spiraling downward toward the golden path that was ultrasmooth and had only one ending.
“You’re wrong. It has a hundred, a thousand endings, and I can show you all of them.”
“I can’t hear you.”
“Yes, you can. But I’ll let you rest for a little while. So shall I tell you how it will be?”
“No, I can’t hear you.”
“First, I’ll work on the healing. Santos messed you up big-time. I’ll have to pull a few rabbits out of my hat before you’ll be in any shape for that arterial graft. Then I’ll work on bringing you out of that coma. I’ll show you reasons to live that would make angels leave Heaven and come down to Earth.”
“Delusions and hallucinations.”
“Life.”
Go deeper. Caleb’s words were taking her away, making her think, making Trevor dim in the distance.
“You can’t go deeper. I won’t let you. But I’ll let you stay where you are for a little while. You have to take what you can get. But you’ll always know I’m here. It’s not Trevor who is waiting for you, it’s me…”
GUATEMALA CITY
“Catherine Ling is here, Santos,” Dorgal said as soon as Santos answered his cell. “And she’s not alone.”
“Venable?”
“No, someone else. Alfredo Ruiz showed up when I was searching the sister’s house for information. We disposed of him, but when we checked, we found out he works for Rafael Dario. I had our people check the local grapevine for who was funding them.”
“Who is it?”
“Richard Cameron.”
“The same man who took out Nagoles,” Santos said. “He appears to be moving very swiftly to help our Catherine Ling. I believe we need to know much more about him and what he is to her.” He chuckled. “She may have furnished us with another target. Wouldn’t it be amusing if I can take a lover away from her? Just as she took away my Delores from me.”
“I’m already working on finding out more about him. I’m tapping our informants in the CIA to see what they know about Cameron.”
“Good. But that’s not as important as making sure that Ling doesn’t get her hands on Montez. The sister talked?”
“It took hours, but in the end, she told us he was in the hills near San Esposito. But she died before we could get an exact location. I had to tear her house apart to find any other information. That’s why Ruiz found me there when he came looking for her.”