“Very practical. Very Catherine.” He chuckled. “Our Erin would suffer and agonize with him and try to find a middle ground.”
“Which is admirable. I don’t have time to risk agonizing with him. I have a son.” She added deliberately, “And I have you, Hu Chang. Neither one of you is going to die because Montez won’t cooperate.” She got to her feet. “We’ve got a better grasp on Montez’s problems and the reason he’s on the run. We have to assume that Delores Santos was never cremated and that Santos made Montez do what he was paid to do. But we still don’t know where Delores’s body is now. If she’s with Santos, we may have the key to find him. Now I’ll have to use it to get Montez to do what’s right.”
“You’re going back to Guatemala?”
“If it’s necessary. I planted a few seeds before I left Montez. I’ll see if they take root. But I can’t give him much time.” She had the desperate feeling that time was running out. “I’ll try calling him to make contact. Dario is keeping tabs on him. He’d let us know if he was in danger.”
“And will Cameron go with you?”
“Perhaps. He says that I’m where the action is.”
“And he doesn’t have enough action in his life?” Hu Chang asked dryly. “Look deeper, Catherine.”
She didn’t want to look deeper. She was having enough trouble keeping their surface emotions in check. She knew the solution was to refuse to be with him.
It was a solution she didn’t want to accept. Even though the competitive edge was always there when she was with him, she always felt safe. It was as if when they were together, nothing could beat them, nothing could take them down. And the excitement of dealing with the unknown was there every minute. Why give that up when he was always an asset in the trenches? “I’ll let him know what we’ve figured out. He’ll have to make up his own mind what he wants to do.” She headed for the door. “But not before I try to get a nap. It’s almost morning.”
“But a bright day dawning?”
She smiled over her shoulder. “At least, it’s not as dark as it was when I went to bed last night. Together, we’ve shined a little light, haven’t we, Hu Chang?”
“Always,” he said softly. “That goes without saying. From the moment you found me when you were fourteen, the light came and never left us.”
She stood there, looking at him, taking in the darkness and the light. Intelligence close to genius, wry humor, philosophy drawn from life and the study of the world’s cultures. She remembered that first time when she’d run into his apothecary shop and thought that she was saving him from a street gang. Perhaps she had saved him, but he had also saved her a dozen times in the following years. What was just as important as the salvation he had given her was the barrier against the loneliness. “I’ve never regretted that day.” She cleared her throat. “Let me know if you find out anything else from Montez’s manual.” She opened the door. “I’ll tell Kelly what we’ve learned so that she can fill in a few of her dots and concentrate on where Dorgal might have really been going when he was island-hopping in the Caribbean.”
“Excellent.” He picked up the copy of Maggi again. “I’m not sure that I’ll be able to find out anything else of value, but I will see…”
She wasn’t sure that he’d be able to find out anything more either, Catherine thought as she started up the stairs. Unless you believed the value might lie in improving on Montez’s formulas. That was entirely possible. Hu Chang not only created his own chemical magic, but often took others’ dross and turned it into gold.
Though no one could call Montez’s work dross, according to Hu Chang. It had been good enough to have Santos draw him into Delores’s death fantasies. Montez had called Delores a monster, and she wondered if the judgment was based on the brief meeting he’d had with her or on the horror her vanity and ruthlessness had brought into his life. Perhaps a little of both.
Now that she knew the circumstances that had made Montez try to escape from the mistake he’d made dealing with Santos, perhaps she could use it to persuade him to help her.
She could only hope that he’d have had enough time to think about it before she made contact again.
CHAPTER
11
ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
“I’ll do it.” Dr. Basle was frowning. “It will still be an extremely difficult operation, but she has a limited chance for success. I admit I didn’t think I’d be saying this, Ms. Duncan. I thought you were desperate and this visit a waste of my time. I’m glad that I was wrong.”
“And I’ll be glad when you prove to be entirely wrong,” Eve said. “When can you operate?”
“Within the next four hours.” He looked back down the hall at the ICU. “It’s remarkable, you know. The artery appears to be strengthening and healing itself. No other physician has looked at her?”
She shook her head. “Only family … and friends.” That was almost true, she thought. Though Jane would not call Caleb a friend, Eve would accept him in that position for her. He had saved her, dammit. If that didn’t let him into the club, she didn’t know what would. “Nature is a wonderful and mysterious thing. When she came out of the coma, I thought you should take another look at her.” She smiled luminously. “Thank you for coming.”
He grinned. “Why do I feel that you and Joe Quinn would have come down to Houston and dragged me out of an operating room to put me on the next flight.” He turned and started down the hall. “You can stay with Jane for a little while longer, then we’ll begin the prep.”
She watched him disappear into the elevator before she hurried toward ICU. Joe was coming out of the room when she reached it, and a broad smile lit his face. “Basle told you?”