couple minutes was parking next to a log cabin nestled in tall pines, overlooking a mountain lake that took her breath away.
Izzy got out of the car, let Hunter out. The dog took off running and barking toward the lake, as if he knew they were safe, as if he knew he didn’t have to protect her, as if he knew he could just be a dog for a while and chase whatever it was he smelled on the wind.
“ Home sweet home, such as it is,” Black said. “We’ll be safe here for a few months and with a little luck, that’ll give us enough breathing room to figure this all out.”
“ I can’t believe you’re not totally freaking out,” Izzy said. “I would be.”
“ Actually, maybe not, Dr. Eisenhower,” Lila said. “You seem to be doing okay.”
“ You can call me Izzy,” Izzy reminded her. “And yeah, but so much more has happened to him.”
“ You mean her,” Lila said. “And yes, it’s amazing. She’s great under pressure. You should’ve seen him, I mean her, when these bad guys came at me in a helicopter. She was awesome, shot ’em out of the sky. It’s kind of scary how quickly she adjusts.”
“ I’ll say.”
“ When you’re as old as I am,” Black said, “you learn to take life as it comes and when you’ve lived the kind of life I have, you learn to react without thinking.”
Izzy grabbed her upper arms, rubbed her hands up and down them. “It’s kinda cold.”
“ Let’s get inside,” Black said. “I’ll start a fire and fire up the sat phone, so you can make your call.”
But when Izzy called, all she got was a voicemail message. This was the first time she’d heard her son’s voice in more years than she cared to remember. He still sounded the same after all this time as he said they were out and to please call back after 6:00. She sighed. Nothing for it but to wait. She hung up without leaving a message.
“ They’re not home.”
“ That doesn’t sound good,” Lila said. “Your picture is all over the TV and your granddaughter looks just like you.”
“ The message sounded pretty ordinary, not like anything was wrong.”
“ I hope you’re right,” Lila said. Then, “I wonder if that detective is going to call it quits and head back to Reno.” She rubbed a hand through her hair. “So many people give their word when their back is up against the wall and go back on it later.”
“ He had an honest face,” Izzy said. “I bet he keeps it. I bet he gets in his car and goes home.”
“ Again, I hope you’re right.” Lila rubbed her hand through her hair again. “I really need a shower.”
“ Back that way.” Black pointed to a doorway. “Down the hall, second door on the right.”
“ Thanks.” Lila started for the bathroom, muttering, “I do really hope he goes home, because I’d hate to shoot a man with an honest face.”
Bob Mouledoux came out of it slowly, with a groan. His head felt like someone had dropped a refrigerator on it, his stomach like he had the flu and the inside of his mouth was bone dry. His tongue was like coarse sandpaper.
He forced himself off the bed, started for the bathroom. At the sink, he stuck his mouth under the faucet and drank, gulping water like a man who’d been too long in the desert. Thirst satisfied, he felt pain in his thigh, in the same spot a gangbanger had smacked him with a tire iron a year earlier. That left a bruise that hurt for days. This was worse.
And then it all came flooding back. Usually he was faster on the uptake, but his memory was vivid now as he remembered spotting the elusive Dr. Eisenhower in the parking lot as he was heading toward his room. He’d walked right up to her, pulled his piece without thinking and that had been stupid. There were two of them in the Fred Meyer store. He should’ve scoped out the situation.
But he hadn’t.
And that other woman had gotten the drop on him.
He limped to the bed, head a muddle. He assumed whatever drug he’d been shot with was messing with his thinking ability, because instead of calling it in, he was actually thinking about doing as he’d promised. Going home and forgetting about the two women.
But he banished that thought after he’d called Peeps.
“ Where are you?” his partner asked him without even saying hello.
“ At the Marriott Suites, in Medford, came back for a shower.”
“ You’ll never believe what’s happened.” Peeps sounded like a kid who’d just gotten what he’d wanted for his birthday.
“ Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“ Remember I told you Manny Wayne and I were friends?”
“ Yeah,” Mouledoux said.
“ He wants to meet you and trust me, you want to meet him.” Now Peeps Friday sounded even more enthusiastic, as if that were possible. “He’s been on top of this Isadora Eisenhower thing from the get go and now he’s got the means to catch her.”
Oh Christ, Peeps, what have you done, Mouledoux thought, but instead he said, “Tell me.”
“ We’ve got her granddaughter and her friend up at Mansfield’s place.” He sounded smug now and Mouledoux didn’t like where this conversation was going.
“ And why are you where you are and not at the station?” Mouledoux was afraid of the answer.
“ Because Manny Wayne just made me rich as God and he wants to do the same for you.” There it was. Peeps had sold out, was trying to trade Eisenhower for money. Obviously, Mansfield Wayne was chasing the Fountain of Youth. He had half a mind to tell Peeps just what he thought about him and his pal Mansfield, but he held his tongue.
“ Why me? What does he want with me?” he said, instead.
“ Because, with the exception of me and Manny’s hit woman Lila Booth, nobody else knows about what happened to Eisenhower and Manny wants to keep it that way.”
“ Can Wayne hear you now?” Mouledoux thought so, but he wanted to be sure.
“ Yes, he didn’t want me to tell you at first, but I told him you’re our kind of person, that you’d come on board.”
“ What’s he offering?” Mouledoux said, remembering the dead doctors and that dead lawyer. Maybe it wasn’t Eisenhower who’d killed them. If Peeps thought he was on easy street, maybe was dead wrong.
“ More money than you ever dreamed of and an eternity to spend it.”
Again, he thought about telling Peeps where to shove it, but he was a cop and he needed to see it through to the end. And, if at all possible, he needed to keep his word to Eisenhower’s protector, who must be this Lila Booth hit woman Peeps just told him about. But again he said the opposite of what he’d wanted to.
“ Tell Mr. Wayne I’m his man.” He bit his lower lip. He hated betraying his badge, even if only in a lie. “After all, who wouldn’t want to live forever.” He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he was going to get those girls free, without involving the cops or the feds. He’d given his word to this Lila Booth person and Dr. Eisenhower and when he gave his word, he kept it. Besides, Peeps was his partner. The last thing Mouledoux wanted was to see him arrested, tried and sent to prison. He sighed. He’d promised those women he’d stay out of it, but under the circumstances, he reasoned, they’d forgive his continued involvement.
“ That’s my boy,” Peeps said. “I knew we could count on you. How fast can you get up here?”
“ I’m five hours away, maybe a bit more.” He looked at his watch, 4:30. “Give me the address and I should be getting there around 11:00 or so.”
“ Great, let me put Manny on the phone.”
Showered and rested, Lila sipped at her tea. It wasn’t the Earl Grey she was used to, but in a pinch Lipton would do. She thought about her future as she took a second sip. This was the life; a wooden rocker in front of a fireplace, tea with cream, well, evaporated milk, but it was a good substitute, and not a care in the world.
Her house in Reno was secure, but even if it weren’t, there wasn’t anything there she couldn’t walk away from. Her savings were stashed away in Switzerland and the Caymans and that’s really all she needed. That, and the passports in her bag. With those, she could travel anywhere, start over anywhere.
