expect him to-”
“Yes, I can,” Kelly interrupted. “It’s a part of his pattern. He survives. Do you think he would have lasted this long if he didn’t have that drive? I’ve been thinking about him since we began to get hints from Rakovac that he was still alive. He’s Catherine’s son, and that would count a lot toward making him like her. He’d have her strength and endurance. And he learns from his mistakes. Two years ago, he knew enough about this place to help Natalie escape. And he was smart enough to know that he couldn’t go with her unless he had enough money to keep himself hidden from them. Luke thinks and waits and takes whatever is done to him.” She looked him in the eye. “But you don’t give up, do you? You never give up.”
He didn’t answer.
“Did they punish you for helping Natalie?”
“Yes.”
“Badly?”
“Yes.”
“But then you waited and started planning again.”
“Yes.”
Kelly looked at Eve. “So don’t tell me about this poor defenseless kid. His pattern is as strong as Catherine’s. If he wants to do it, he can help us.”
“Could you help us get out of here?” Eve asked Luke.
He nodded.
“Will you? Do you want to do it?”
He gazed at her without answering. Then he said slowly, “I don’t know. You come in here and tell me things that are confusing me. I don’t like to be confused. I don’t know if I can trust you.”
“And I don’t know how to make you trust us,” Eve said. “But it’s important that you do. Can’t you see that you have to trust someone?”
“No.”
Of course he didn’t, Eve thought. He hadn’t been able to trust anyone but himself for his entire life after he’d been taken from Catherine.
“We can help each other,” Kelly said. “We’re not like Natalie. You felt sorry for her. You don’t have to feel sorry for us.”
“I didn’t feel sorry for her. They were just hurting her, and she was like me. I couldn’t leave yet, but I could take her away from them.” His lips thinned. “I want to take everything away from them.”
“Good. I wouldn’t mind being taken away from them,” Kelly said dryly. “Can we start with that thought?”
“Why? You’re not like me, and I don’t feel sorry for you.” He leaned back against the wall and was once again lost in the dimness. “But I may need to use you to help me get away. I was able to steal some money from Mikhal, but I don’t think it’s enough. I don’t know much about what things cost. But I don’t think I can wait any longer. I think he’s coming to the end.”
“End?”
“Rakovac will kill me,” Luke said simply. “He’s always told me that it was coming. I just never knew when.”
Eve shivered as she thought of a child living forever under that constant chilling threat. Kelly must be right. Luke was indeed a survivor. “Then if you think that we can help you, by all means use us.”
“If I can trust you.”
“Well, you can’t fool around trying to decide,” Kelly said impatiently. “Make up your mind.”
“What can we do to help, Luke?” Eve said. “She’s right, we don’t know how much time we have. Rakovac may be on the way. What do you need from us?”
Silence. “You’re…strangers,” Luke said. “I don’t really know who you are or where you came from. I don’t know you.”
“Then we’ll tell you anything you want to know.” Eve leaned back against the wall. “But it goes both ways. There are things we want to know about you, too. Will you answer questions?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s not fair, Luke,” Kelly said.
“Maybe,” he repeated. “Take it or leave it.”
Kelly settled back on her heels. “You’re going to learn that you can’t get away with that kind of-” She stopped. “Go ahead. Ask your questions.”
Luke hesitated, obviously thinking about it.
Let Kelly handle it, Eve thought. She was neither diplomatic nor particularly sympathetic. It was Catherine to whom she gave her sympathy and loyalty. But she was young and smart, and Eve could see that she was reaching Luke on his level.
“Well, what do you want to know?” Kelly demanded. “Anything.”
“Stop pushing me.” He thought again. “One thing. That word…What is…brainwashing?”
The first thing that Joe saw when he arrived at the farmhouse was the blood.
A huge smear of red on the stones in front of the doorstep.
Fresh blood.
He drew his gun, jumped out of the car, and moved to the left of the door that had been left a little ajar.
He kicked it open and dove into the room and to one side of the door.
No shots.
Darkness.
Silence.
His heart was beating hard, fast. God, he was scared.
“Eve.”
No answer from the darkness.
There was something liquid and sticky running against his wrist that was braced against the floor.
Blood?
Eve?
He had to know. He carefully reached up to the light switch on the wall beside the door. He hit it, then rolled sidewise behind the couch.
No shots.
The room was empty.
Except for the woman huddled beside the front door, covered in blood.
He was kneeling beside her in an instant.
Not Eve. Natalie.
And a few feet away, the body of Kelsov.
That didn’t mean that there weren’t more bodies in the bedrooms. Eve and Kelly Winters were still not accounted for.
He was on his feet and moving.
“Quinn,” Venable was behind him in the doorway. “Don’t go-”
He ignored him.
No bodies in either bedroom.
Nor in the bathroom.
“What the hell happened here?” Venable asked.
“How do I know?” Joe was looking around the room. “No sign of a struggle here. Natalie and Kelsov were killed outside and dragged into the house. Where’s your agent who was supposed to have been here?”
“He’s not answering his phone.” Venable paused. “We haven’t found him yet.”
Not a good sign.
Dammit, he should have been here. “I should never have left her alone.”
“She wasn’t alone. You thought she was safe.”
