“Innocent? Delores Santos stopped being innocent when she left the cradle. She was an active partner with her husband in all his drug trafficking and reputed to be as vicious as he was. At that penthouse shoot-out, she’d already taken down one of the local police detectives before I got off a good shot.”
“And knowing your expertise, it was a very good shot.”
“She died in Santos’s arms. He looked up at me, and I’d never seen such hatred.”
“Threats?”
She shook her head. “But I saw him twice during his trial, and there didn’t have to be threats. The hatred was still there.”
“But he’s in prison?”
“That doesn’t mean he couldn’t manipulate things from inside. He had tremendous power and money stashed away all over the world. Dorgal, his second-in-command, was almost slavishly loyal and could have arranged the kills.”
“Corliss or Santos? What’s your choice?”
She shrugged. “It could be either.”
“Gut instinct.”
“Santos. Hatred. Plus I killed someone he cared about. Evidently, Delores Santos was his alter ego or something. Maybe he thinks this is a fitting way to punish me.”
“It seems that could be a reasonable assumption.”
“There’s nothing reasonable about this. It’s all ugly and crazy.” She looked down at the notebook. “What did you tell Luke?”
“Exactly what I told you I would tell him. O’Neill is in the process of bringing in extra security from his friends among the ex-CIA elite. All will be well.”
She prayed he was right.
“Those other names on that list,” she said brusquely. “We have to protect them. Until this is over, I’d like Erin to leave Tibet and go to Chen Lu’s golden palace in Hong Kong. Chen Lu has enough of a security force to make it fairly safe. Can you arrange it?”
“But of course I can. Erin Sullivan is very stubborn, but she has a great regard for my vast intellect.” He smiled. “Is this what they called in the Old West encircling the wagon train?”
“That sounds very strange coming from you. Yes, approximately. I’ll call Eve Duncan and give her a warning. If Joe’s at the lake house, that will be security enough for her.”
Hu Chang nodded. “Joe Quinn has a reputation for being very competent in that area.”
“Exceptionally. He’s an ex-SEAL and a police detective. That’s an effective combination.” She picked up her phone. “Get busy, Hu Chang. You forced me to mentally go over those scumbags who want to see me dead, and I’m tied up in knots. All these years, I’ve managed to block them out of my mind and forget them, but that’s gone now. I can’t have any other deaths.”
“You’re calling Eve?”
“No, not right now. I changed my mind. I’m calling Joe Quinn. He’s a police detective with Atlanta PD, and there’s no way he’ll let anything happen to Eve. If I called Eve direct, she’d want to come here and help. The only help I want is for her to keep safe. Right after I talk to Joe, I’m calling Venable. I want to check on the status of Corliss and Santos.”
“Wise.” He turned toward the door. “And I will go call Chen Lu and tell her to circle her particular wagons and prepare for visitors.”
“Good.” Joe Quinn’s phone was ringing, then he picked up. “Joe, Catherine Ling. Look, God, I’m sorry, but I have a problem, and you and Eve may become involved in it.” She filled him in quickly. “If you can protect Eve without letting her know what’s hanging over her, it might be a mercy.”
“Eve and I don’t play those games,” Joe said quietly. “She wouldn’t thank me.” He was silent. “You’re okay?”
“I’m fine. Just take care of Eve.”
“No one will touch her,” he said flatly. “She’ll probably call you back. You’re her friend.”
“I thought as much. I just wanted to be sure that you were on top of it.”
“I’ll contact Venable and see if I can do anything to help out.”
“If you do, it’ll be from behind a desk or at your lake cottage. I don’t want you more than a few yards from Eve.”
“Bossy female.” There was a hint of amusement beneath the grimness in Joe’s voice.
“You bet. Bye, Joe.” She hung up.
CHAPTER
2
Catherine took a moment after talking to Joe, then dialed Venable.
“I expected to hear from you before this,” Venable said testily when he answered. “When I turned that information over to Hu Chang, it didn’t mean I was opting out. Jantzen was a good man, and I’m mad as hell.”
“Yes, he was, and so am I,” Catherine said. “Any more news about Slantkey?”
“A gold dog tag with your name in the pocket of his motorcycle jacket. He’s definitely one of yours.”
One of hers. One of the victims killed in her name. The casual words were cold, the responsibility even more chilling. “Hu Chang told you about Olena Petrov?”
“Yes, definitely a pattern.” He muttered a curse. “Jantzen was smart, he wouldn’t have walked into a trap if the bait hadn’t been presented with a cleverness that was impressive. It was a tip on an arms shipment that came out of the blue. It didn’t have anything to do with the mission he was currently working on.”
“And Olena wasn’t clever at all. She’d made wrong choices all her life. Maybe she felt safe in that home we’d given her and just threw open the door for her killer. Either way, they were both victims, and I have to find the bastards who killed them.”
“We have to find them,” Venable said. “I told you, I won’t let them kill my people and just walk away.” He paused. “And you’d be hard to replace. It would be easier just to take the son of a bitch down.”
“Sentimental, as usual. I’m touched.” She and Venable had been together since she was fourteen and selling information on the streets of Hong Kong and he was a CIA agent trying to strike a balance between the British and Chinese. He had trained her, schooled her, but he had never pampered her. She was an agent and took her risks. She would have thought it bizarre for him to do anything else. The job was everything to Venable. “I’m glad we’re thinking along the same lines. I came up with two names, Corliss and Santos. Give me an update on them.”
“Good choices,” he said dryly. “You pissed both of them off royally.”