“You’re sure of that?” Joe asked, his eyes narrowed on Caleb’s face. “How?”
“I gave Basle a smooth road for the graft. I checked his credentials, and he should have no trouble doing it.”
“I saw you talking to him before they brought Jane into the operating room,” Joe said. “What did you say to him?”
“Do you think I threatened him?” Caleb’s brows rose. “Why, I wouldn’t do that. I needed his hands to be steady and skilled. I just introduced myself and told him that it was exceptionally important to me that Jane get through this operation with flying colors. He seemed to understand.”
And that aura of hypnotic intensity and danger that Caleb always cast could not have helped but to make an impression, Eve thought. “I’m sure he did,” she said dryly.
He shrugged. “That was only a preventative measure in case Santos had managed to get to him. There was the slightest possibility. And I checked out everyone in that operating room to be certain that everything would be safe.”
“So did I,” Joe said.
“I thought you would. It didn’t matter. I had to be sure.”
Joe stared at him for a long moment. “I still have problems with you, Caleb. But I’m beginning to think we may have a lot in common.”
Caleb shook his head. “You have a few savage elements yourself, but you have much better control. You’re one of the good guys, like Trevor.”
“And what are you, Caleb?” Eve asked quietly.
“What do you think I am? Aren’t we who we are perceived to be? Ask Jane.”
“I prefer to form my own opinions. And Jane is on the defensive. But you may be right about perception being—”
The doors of the operating room burst open, and Basle strode out into the hall. Eve jumped to her feet, and she and Joe rushed toward the doctor.
He’s smiling, she saw with relief. Thank God, he’s smiling. “It went well?”
“Excellent. Better than I hoped. She’ll have a few more nights in ICU, then I think we can move her to her own room.”
“No.” Caleb was suddenly there beside them. “Talk to him, Quinn. He has to put out a statement that the operation didn’t go as well as he hoped, and she’s still hanging on by a thread.”
“I won’t do that,” Basle said. “It’s not true, and besides, word would get out from the nurses and doctors in that operating room that it was a lie.”
“Talk to him,” Caleb said. “If you don’t, I will. And I won’t be worried about his hands shaking now. The minute Santos knows that she’s on her way to recovery, it will give him a green light to send someone to take her out.” He was suddenly smiling recklessly. “Not that I might not enjoy that. But Eve wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t take a chance with Jane.”
“Doctor Basle’s right,” Eve said. “It will be hard to keep the news from spreading in a hospital. It’s a community in itself.” She turned to the doctor. “But we’ve got to try. We need your cooperation.”
“And we’ll get it,” Joe said grimly.
“You don’t understand,” Basle said. “It’s not going to—”
“You deal with him.” Caleb turned and moved toward the door of the operating room. “While I have a chat with the nurses and the assisting doctor. I’ll bet they’ll be much more cooperative.”
Basle was looking warily after him. “Who the hell is he?”
“A friend of Jane’s. I believe he introduced himself to you,” Eve said. “And he can be very persuasive.” She smiled at him. “I only hope that we can be just as persuasive. We need your help. Did I tell you how grateful I am that you saved my Jane? I know it’s not fair to put you on a spot and risk damage to that wonderful reputation, but you’ll understand after I explain.” She took his arm and led him toward the coffee machine. “Let Joe and me get you a cup of coffee and we’ll talk about it.”
RAIN FOREST
GUATEMALA
“What do you mean you can’t find him?” Dorgal tried to keep his temper. Juan Pablo was usually clever and an expert tracker, and he was the one Dorgal had chosen to take over the hunt for Montez. However, unless Pablo could show some active progress toward finding Montez, Dorgal would have to face Santos’s rage and charges of incompetence if he left Pablo in charge. Then he would be stuck here in this damned rain forest instead of getting to a position where he could wriggle himself back into Santos’s favor. “Have you gone back to the monastery and questioned those monks again? I can’t believe they don’t know something. Montez lived with a priest for almost two years. He’s a religious nut.”
“We searched the monastery twice. He’s not there.”
“Then tell me where he is,” Dorgal said through his teeth. “The bastard’s an inventor and a doctor, he shouldn’t have been able to hide out in that forest for more than a few hours before you caught him.”
“He’s gone to ground somewhere.” Pablo shrugged. “We’ll find him eventually.”
“Santos doesn’t understand the word ‘eventually.’ If Montez has gone to ground, give him a reason to bolt out of his hole.”
“He knows we’ll gather him up the minute he does. What reason is good enough for him to risk his neck?”
“You have no imagination.” Dorgal moved out of the shrubbery to the edge of the hill and gazed down at the red clay roof jutting out of the trees. “It may not be that hard at all.”
*
“Good morning,” Cameron said as he watched Catherine come down the stairs. “You look bright-eyed and wide-awake today. I’m glad. Does that mean we can stop spinning our wheels?”
She stiffened. His words had been more attack than greeting and so was his demeanor. She could feel his impatience. “It’s only been one day. Sorry you’ve been bored. You don’t have to stay here, Cameron.”