“Yes, we will, but it won’t be easy.” She turned back to Luke. “Good job. No, exceptional job, Luke. This is a big help.”
He smiled. “Yeah, Kelly and I did good work, didn’t we? It was kind of fun. Of course, she did all that high-tech stuff.” His smile faded. “I hope it helps. I should be down there with you. You take care of her, Cameron.”
“I wouldn’t let anything happen to Catherine. You have my promise. Now I believe that she needs to speak to Hu Chang.”
“Ah, I was waiting for my importance to be properly addressed,” Hu Chang said as he came into view. “Though I have to concur that these young people did a fine and valuable job. I generally prefer that Luke concentrate on chemistry and the rules of—”
“Hu Chang, Dorgal left Guatemala and is probably heading toward you,” she interrupted. “I don’t know whether he’s heading toward Louisville or Atlanta. We’re trying to find out. Warn Eve. I think Santos will escalate now that he has Montez tucked away.”
“It would appear likely. I have a feeling that the situation will turn even more nasty from now on,” Hu Chang said. “I will take it under consideration and act accordingly.” He paused. “You might make an effort to save Montez if possible. He has a fine mind, and I detest the idea of waste.”
“I’ll do what I can. Good bye, Hu Chang.” She broke the connection. “I want to be there with them.” She closed the computer with a click. “He wants me to try to save Montez? What about them?”
“We have a chance at Santos,” he said gently. “I know you’re torn, but you have to—”
“Stop trying to comfort me. It’s not like you. You don’t have to tell me where I have to focus. Cut off the head of the snake. But what if we don’t cut it off in time?”
“Okay, comfort over.” He shook his head. “You don’t have an alternative. So stop agonizing and start thinking how you’re going to kill the son of a bitch.”
“After we find him.”
“No, Luke helped out there. Just work on a plan.” He paused. “Or I will.”
And if he took over, she’d have to fight like hell to regain control. He knew that would be a goad. Stop thinking about all she might lose if she didn’t do everything right. Start thinking what she might win if she did.
“I’m working on it. Just get us to Trinidad. It’s probably the closest place to the island, since they flew directly there from Guatemala. We’ll follow the route Luke drew out of Port of Spain and hope it puts us closer than when Dorgal flew to one of those other Caribbean cities.”
“Logical. Reasonable.” Cameron glanced at her. “Did I scare all of that emotional trauma out of you by threatening to become a presence you might have trouble with?”
“Be quiet, Cameron.” The emotion and panic was still there, but she was trying to keep it subdued. “You told me that I had to think, and that’s what I’m doing.”
“And it’s probably the first and last time you’ll ever do what I tell you to do.”
She didn’t answer, her mind was shifting, moving, probing. So many things to consider.
Find a plan.
Was Dorgal heading for Louisville or Atlanta?
And how could they keep him from more bloodshed?
She was searching desperately for a way to keep the people she loved safe.
And still manage to cut the head off the snake.
ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
“Hu Chang says that Dorgal may be on his way here or to Louisville.” Eve hung up the phone and turned to Caleb, who was standing by the door of the ICU. “Or so Catherine thinks. She told him to warn us. She’ll call when she knows which one is his destination.”
“Then there’s probably good reason to pay attention.” He glanced back at Jane in the bed across the room, talking to Joe. “Not that we aren’t anyway.”
“She’s safe, isn’t she, Caleb?” Eve’s worried gaze followed Caleb’s to Jane. “Dorgal can’t get to her? She has all these guards Joe and Cameron arranged to watch her. Every one of the hospital staff who attend her has been checked out. Why would Santos think she’d be vulnerable?”
“Maybe because he has a giant inflated ego that’s telling him that anything he wants, he can have.” His lips tightened. “But he can’t have Jane. He’s lost her, and I won’t give her back.”
“Neither will I.” Eve crossed her arms across her chest to ward off the chill. “I lost my Bonnie when she was only seven years old, and I almost lost Jane. I’ve always been able to deal with loss, but while I’ve been watching Jane struggling these last days, it’s been tearing me apart. There’s nothing more precious than your own child, and I want to reach out and grab and hold on.” She smiled unsteadily. “You know, when Jane had to start traveling to promote her paintings, I thought that I was starting to lose her. In a way that was true, but only the way that children always leave their parents. She always kept in touch, she always came home. Not like my Bonnie. I was lucky with Jane, Caleb.”
“She was lucky, too,” he said quietly. “You found her in the streets, you took her in, you loved her. You were willing to sacrifice anything to keep her safe.” He smiled as he touched his chest. “Even calling on someone who you don’t really trust if there was a chance that I could help her.”
“And you did.”
“That’s past tense. It’s not over. I’d like to think it was. But I promise that I’ll be the one to finish it.”
“Excuse me, ma’am, would you please step aside? I have to get in to set up this equipment.”
They both turned to see an orderly in white pushing a stainless-steel cart. He was in his late twenties with a sandy crew cut, freckles, and a polite smile. Eve vaguely remembered seeing him on the floor but couldn’t recall his name. “Equipment?”