“Czadas and Rakovac were monsters, but there are other monsters out there. I could help you to recognize them.” She held up her hands helplessly. “You see, I can’t stop trying to persuade you. Will you think long and hard about coming with me, Luke?”
He stared at her for another moment. “Yes.” He turned on his heel and headed for the door. “I don’t want to be here anymore right now. You’re confusing me.”
Catherine stared after him as the door closed. “I was clumsy. Did I drive him away, Eve?”
“You weren’t clumsy,” Eve said as she came down the stairs. “You were honest and had more restraint than I would have had. You can’t blame him for being confused. His whole world has changed in a few hours. And I don’t believe that he’s going to run away from here right now.”
“I’ll see that he doesn’t.” Kelly moved past them and headed after Luke. “He won’t run away from me. I annoy him, but I’m no threat.”
“Be careful, Kelly,” Catherine said. “We have to give him space.”
Kelly snorted. “You’re both treating him as if he’s made of glass. Luke is probably stronger than all of us.”
“I hope that she’s right,” Catherine said, as the door shut behind Kelly. “I pray that she’s right.”
“She’s right.” Eve hesitated. “If Luke decides not to go with you, he can come to me, Catherine.”
“Thank you.” Catherine’s lips twisted. “You’re always offering to take in my strays, Eve. At least Kelly is civilized. I don’t know what kind of problems you’d have with Luke.”
“But you’d accept them in a heartbeat.”
“Oh, yes.”
“So would I.” Eve smiled luminously. “He’s alive. This one, we managed to bring home alive, Catherine. Do you know how wonderful that is? What difference does it make that we’re having a little trouble getting him to decide where that home is going to be?”
Catherine took her hand and smiled back at her. “No difference at all. What am I thinking?”
“We’ll work it out,” Eve said. “But now we need to go and see if that thumb drive is giving Venable and Joe the information they need.”
When they walked into the study, it was clear that the thumb drive had been the key they’d hoped it would be.
Venable was on the phone barking out orders. Joe was printing out from the computer. Another one of Venable’s men was on another phone, with a list in front of him.
Eve asked the question anyway. “You got it?”
Joe nodded. “It was to start tomorrow at six P.M. Eastern Standard Time. A simultaneous attack that would make sure that at least ten of the targeted thirteen cities would be affected.”
“Ten?” Eve was stunned. “So many? How is that possible?”
“Precise planning. They wanted to strike a massive blow, and it’s been in the works for a long time.” Joe’s lips twisted. “And Rakovac no doubt had been invaluable to Dabala’s cause.”
“Bastard,” Catherine murmured.
“One who we’re all grateful is no longer walking the earth,” Joe said. “You did well, Catherine.”
“It was my pleasure.” Catherine’s gaze was on Venable. “You don’t have much time. It’s close to nine P.M. here. That means it’s already one P.M. in the U.S. That only gives us five hours. Give me something to do to help. There have to be phone calls to make. Agents to whip into shape.”
“We had to pull the FBI into it. We have no authority within any of those cities. I called the director, and he gave us permission to call the FBI field agent in every targeted city with the name of the airline employee who was going to facilitate the boarding of the explosives. They’ll keep the explosive handoff from happening,” Venable said. “We’re hoping that we can keep our movements quiet from Dabala so that we can pick up the suicide bombers at flight time.”
“I’m calling my own FBI contacts,” Joe said. “Those FBI agents may have other contacts for you to call for them. Venable is delegating as much as possible, but I’d rather trust it to you.” He handed her a list. “Get to work.”
Eve held out her hand. “Give me one, too. I’ll leave Catherine to whip everyone into shape. I’ll just make sure that they know why it’s being done so she can go on to the next one.”
“Right.” Joe handed her the list and went back to the printer.
They didn’t finish the phone calls till close to midnight. Even then, Venable was still on the phone with Homeland Security when Eve, Joe, and Catherine walked out of the house to get some fresh air.
The air was not only fresh, it was chilly.
The coolness felt good to Eve. She took a deep breath. “I think we got to everyone. Lord, I hope no one slipped through the cracks.”
“We had the identity of the cities. Their airports will be on alert, too. It’s all we can do,” Joe said. “And if there’s a leak, maybe it will scare off Dabala from trying to ram through an attack.”
“Maybe,” Eve repeated.
“Probably,” Joe substituted. “It’s been a lucky night. I don’t think that luck’s going to go sour on us now. We’ll know pretty soon.”
“Where are Kelly and Luke?” Eve’s gaze was wandering around the grounds. “I haven’t seen them since Kelly stopped by the study about midnight. She said Luke didn’t want to come back inside, and she’d stay out here with him.”
“I don’t blame him for not wanting to go back into that house. It was a prison,” Catherine said. “Hell, I’d probably camp out in a tent if I were him.”
“Not surprising,” Joe said. “I recall you camped out at our place in one. He evidently shares your-” He stopped, his gaze on the hill leading down to the lake. “There’s Kelly coming back. I don’t see Luke.”
“I’ll go meet her.” Catherine was already gone, halfway down the hill before she finished speaking. Kelly was trudging slowly along the rocky bank, and Catherine reached her in less than a minute. “Where’s Luke? Is he-”
“He’s cool.” Kelly held up her hand to stem the flow. “Actually, he’s probably cold. He decided to go skinny- dipping. Though he didn’t recognize the term for it. I told him to go ahead. I wasn’t about to follow him into that lake.”
“Will he be all right? I don’t even know if he can swim.”
“He can swim. Like a fish.” Kelly hesitated. “I saw his back, Catherine. He has scars. He didn’t even try to hide them. It was as if he assumed everybody had them.”
“Oh, shit.” Catherine could feel the tears sting her eyes. She wished Rakovac was still alive, so that she could kill him again.
“Don’t feel sorry for him,” Kelly said. “I’m not sure if he’d know how to handle it. I don’t think he’d know what it was all about, and it would make him uneasy. He’s a strange kid, Catherine.”
“No wonder you two are getting along,” Catherine said. “You’re not the usual run-of-the-mill kid yourself, Kelly.”
“No, I’m weird.” Kelly smiled. “But I’m coming to terms with it.” She looked out at the lake. “He looks like he’s coming back in. Why don’t you go down and be there when he gets out? You don’t need my help with him any longer. I only wanted to come to meet you to tell you about Luke’s back. I didn’t want you to burst into tears and embarrass both of you.” She glanced back at Catherine. “Don’t do it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good, I’m going to the house and see if I can find something hot to drink.” Kelly started up the hill. “I spent the last year in Colombia, and I’m feeling this chill. I’ll see you when you come back.”
“Yes.” She called after her, “Thank you, Kelly.”
“Sure.” Kelly waved but kept on walking and didn’t look back.
Catherine stood staring after her for a moment. So small and delicate and yet full of strength. Who would have known when she’d first seen Kelly huddled in that tent in Munoz’s camp how close they would become in such a short time.
She turned and looked out at the lake. The moonlight was streaking it with silver, and she could see Luke’s head bobbing as he swam back toward the bank. He appeared very small from this distance.
He was not small, but he was only a child.
Her child.
