Wrong.
“She might be okay, Quinn.”
“And she might not.” Get a grip. Stop being negative. Think. He went back into the bedroom. Eve’s suitcase and belongings were still in the room.
Including her gun.
He didn’t recognize any of Kelly Winters’s belongings, but her duffel was still here.
Joe ran out to the barn.
No one there either.
Venable lifted his brows inquiringly as Joe came back into the living room.
“If they left here, it was in the clothes they were wearing. They took nothing with them.” His gaze raked the room. “Kelly didn’t even take her computer. It’s still there on the kitchen table.”
“Then maybe we’d better go and talk to the neighbors and see if they’ve seen anyone-”
The computer.
He strode over to the table and opened the program Kelly had been working on. Rakovac’s surveillance report. Catherine’s phone calls from Rakovac.
Patterns.
Dates. Names. Notations. Nothing that he could figure out.
A yellow note pad was beneath the computer.
Kelly’s scribbling all over the top sheet. A graph with Catherine’s name on the top of each peak and below it another name.
Czadas.
He tensed. “Holy shit.”
Venable was at his side. “You found something?”
“Yes, and I think Kelly found something.” His index finger ran over the graph, outlining the peaks. “Dates. Catherine’s name. Other names. Then city names.” He punched his finger down. “Then this at the end of the graph.”
Joe tore off the sheet of paper and thrust it at Venable.
“Czadas. What do you know about him?”
Venable’s brow furrowed as he tried to remember. “Georgian revolutionary. Been on the scene for years. Takes every opportunity to strike out at the Ossetians and Russia. Nasty character, but not important enough to deserve special attention.”
“He might have been important enough to deserve Catherine’s attention. See how fast you can find out more about him. Where does he live?”
“I don’t remember.”
Joe remembered the name scribbled on top of the graph. “Sergriev?”
“Maybe.”
“Find out.” He headed for the door. “Get us a helicopter. I want to be there in a hurry.”
“You think Eve was taken there?”
“I hope she was,” Joe said. “It’s the only logical answer. I’d like to think that she went there on her own, but that would be too good to be true. Kelly thought she’d found out where Luke was being kept. Rakovac threatened Eve several times on the calls to Catherine. If he was going to put an end to his cat-and-mouse game, then he might want to include Eve on his agenda.” It was all supposition, but it was all he had, and the alternative was making him panic.
He got into the car. “Just find out where Czadas lives.” He had a sudden memory of the photo of Luke in Rakovac’s study. “And if the place is on a lake.”
St. Basil’s Cathedral was just ahead.
Catherine’s hands tightened on the wheel of the rental car as she saw the splendid onion-shaped towers of the cathedral come into view.
Rakovac could be there. If not, then one of his men who would take her to him. Take her to Luke.
After all the years of torture and waiting, it was going to happen.
Was she ready? There was no doubt that she would be searched thoroughly. Would they find it?
Stop having second thoughts. She had made both her decision and her plans over a year ago. If it didn’t work, if Luke died, then she’d have to make another decision, and that would be easier.
She drew close to the curb a half block from the cathedral.
Get out. Let them see you.
She stood by the car for only a few minutes before she got the call.
“Right on time,” Rakovac said.
“Where are you?”
“Not anywhere near you. Get back in your car. In a few minutes a black Volkswagen will come around the corner driven by a black man wearing a blue muffler. Follow him. As soon as we determine that you’re not being followed, he’ll bring you to me.”
“I’m not being followed. I wouldn’t take that chance.”
“I hope that’s true, because the situation has changed. You have much more to lose now.” He hung up.
She was frowning as she got back into the car. How could she have more to lose than her son? Bluff? She didn’t know, but her tension was increasing by the second as the Volkswagen came around the corner.
Twenty minutes later Rakovac called once again. “Very good. You haven’t wasted our time. That would have been regrettable.”
“I’ve been driving in and out of every street in this city. When are you going to surface?”
“You sound a bit upset. Nerves, Catherine?”
“Where are you?”
“You’re being led to me right now. I’ve decided that you should leave your car and let me take you to Luke.”
“No, I told you that I wouldn’t do that. I’ll follow you.”
“Your desperate bid to have a little control of your destiny? I don’t want you to have any control, Catherine. I want you totally subservient to my every whim.”
“Screw you.”
“You have no choice. I’m tired of being indulgent with you.” His voice hardened. “I’m sending you a photo that may interest you. I’ll call you back after you have time to access it.”
Luke? She had a chilling memory of the last photo of the skeleton he had sent to her. Had he done something to Luke?
She accessed the photo.
“Shit!”
Kelly and Eve, hands tied, standing in front of a huge oak door.
“No!”
It couldn’t be worse.
Calm down. Yes, it could. Rakovac had taken them prisoner, not killed them.
Yet.
Her phone rang.
“Why?” she asked Rakovac when she picked up. “They have nothing to do with what’s between us.”
“They annoyed me. I told you that anyone who helped you wouldn’t be safe,” Rakovac said. “And I knew Eve Duncan would want to compare her likeness of Luke to the real thing. Wasn’t it kind of me to give her the opportunity?”
“Let them go.”
“Too late. But you can stretch out their lives for a little while longer if you do as I say. I’m parked on the edge of the road about two miles from where you are. You’ll stop, abandon your car, and get in the passenger seat of mine. If you show any resistance, I’ll give the order to kill one of your friends. The young girl, I think. She’s of lesser importance. If you continue, Eve Duncan will take her turn. Isn’t it better to relinquish control to me and let them
