They reached the stream fifteen minutes later and got out to look up at the bluff. It was huge and Eve shivered as she looked up at it. 'Anyone on top of that monstrosity would have a great shot, wouldn't he?'
'Yes.' Montolvo moved forward. 'And that's why I'll climb up and take a look before you and Quinn start the path around the bluff.'
'And what's to keep him from picking you off?' Eve asked. 'Don't do it.'
He smiled back at her. 'Don't worry. I'm good at this. Give me fifteen minutes. Put your phone on vibrate, Quinn. I'll call and hang up and call again if it's safe.' He disappeared into the shrubbery.
Eve muttered an oath. 'Dammit, he shouldn't have gone.'
'You couldn't have stopped him. What a wonderful grandstand.' Joe drew her back into the shrubbery. 'He'll enjoy every minute of it.'
'Unless he gets killed.'
'Yes, unless he gets killed. That would put a crimp in his show.'
She was edgy as hell and Joe wasn't helping. 'Don't be an ass.'
He didn't speak for a moment and then he said, 'You're right. I was jealous. I want to be the one on that damn bluff and I'm down here on the ground looking up. I always seem to be stuck with that role when Montalvo's around.'
'Because you want to make sure I'm safe, and I'm no good at climbing bluffs. I'd say that's pretty much of a star role.' Her gaze went to the shrubbery jutting out of the bluff where Montalvo had disappeared. 'I don't see him any longer.'
'He's three-quarters up the bluff. That branch on the southern ledge moved a little as he went past it. He should be at the top in a few minutes.'
Her eyes strained to see Montalvo in the darkness, but she couldn't make out anything. It was incredible to her that Joe could see what was happening.
'There he is.' Joe's phone had vibrated until it went to voice mail. Then it began to vibrate again. 'No one's on the bluff.' Joe turned and started down the path. 'Stay behind me. Let me check the path out as we go.'
She hurried to keep up with him. The shrubbery was almost growing over the path, hanging over her, all around her, and she felt suffocated, as if she were caught in a verdant trap. Kistle could be anywhere in that growth. So close she would never see him.
'I'd hear him,' Joe called softly back to her. 'And if I didn't smell him, I'd sense him.'
She had felt that she'd sense Kistle when she was at the lake cottage, but this was different. She was disoriented and her heart was beating so hard she couldn't hear anything but that pounding.
'There's a break in the foliage just ahead,' Joe said. 'I think we've made it around the bluff.'
'Good.' Her pace instinctively quickened until she was just behind him. 'Going back I might just try my luck on the bluff.' Then she was out in the open and could draw a deep breath.
'Stay here a minute,' Joe said. 'You're out of rifle range if he's in that pine grove. And I can't see anywhere else he'd be able to take cover.'
Neither could Eve. She tensed as she saw the huge rock and behind it a little grove of pines. Other than those features it was all open area. 'How are we going to get to the grove without being seen?'
His gaze was raking the bluff. 'We don't. There's Montalvo.' He raised a hand and made a sweeping motion at the grove. 'He's angling in on the other side of the grove and checking it out. In the meantime, we move around outside firing range and keep Kistle distracted, if that's where he is.' He moved along the edge of the shrubbery bordering the clearing. 'Come on.'
She followed him but couldn't keep her eyes from the pine grove. Was that where Bonnie was buried? Was that where Kistle was keeping Laura Ann? Was that where Kistle was waiting with his rifle to kill all of them?
'VERY SMART,' KISTLE MURMURED. 'Don't you think so, Laura Ann? Isn't it fun to watch them at play? Oh, that's right, I had to gag you again. But I'm sure you agree with me.'
He couldn't see Montalvo, but he had probably gone over the bluff and was in the grove. He was glad he hadn't killed Montalvo off before the game actually began. It was exciting to deal with two such interesting opponents. He could feel his anticipation mounting more by the moment.
'Come closer,' he whispered. 'Just a little closer…'
MONTALVO CAME OUT OF THE grove twenty minutes later and motioned to them. He met them halfway across the clearing a few yards from the boulder. 'No Kistle.'
'You're sure?' Eve asked. 'There's no other place for him to hide.'
'He's not there. The grove isn't that big and I'm no amateur,' Montalvo said. 'He's not on the ground. He's not in the trees. He not there.'
She braced herself. 'Then I want to go into the grove and look around.'
'If Bonnie's buried there, you wouldn't be able to tell,' Joe said. 'Too much time has passed.'
'But not for Laura Ann,' Eve said. 'If he's killed her, the earth would be freshly turned. And he said Laura Ann would be near Bonnie.'
Montalvo nodded and turned on his flashlight. 'That's true. Okay. We'll take a look.'
'You take a look. I'll stay here. Kistle could be behind us on that trail.' Joe's gaze lifted past the boulder to the top of the bluff. 'Or he could be coming over the bluff as you did, Montalvo.'
'Eve?' Montalvo asked.
'I want to make sure there's no grave in those woods,' Eve said. 'I can't believe he would have brought us here if he hadn't set up a way to hurt me in some way.' She started for the pines. 'If the grove's that small, it shouldn't take long, Joe.'
Joe didn't answer and she looked back over her shoulder. He was staring intently up at the top of the boulder. Or was he looking beyond it to the bluff?
'Joe? Do you see something?'
'I thought I saw a sort of glittering on the top of that boulder.' He started to take a step closer and then stopped. 'Holy shit!' He dove to the ground and started rolling. 'Get down! It's a camera, and that means he may have-'
Montalvo jerked Eve to the ground. 'Booby trap!'
The earth erupted and the boulder exploded.
Rock flew in all directions.
Eve buried her head in her arms. She could feel sharp bits of rock stinging her arms like shrapnel.
Joe. Joe had been much closer to the boulder than either she or Montalvo.
She lifted her head to see Joe lying crumpled across the clearing.
'No!' She jumped to her feet and tore across the clearing. 'Joe…'
He didn't move.
She fell to her knees beside him.
'Don't move him.' Montalvo was beside her. 'That was a hell of a blast. We don't know what it did to him.'
'He's bleeding.' The blood was trickling from a cut on Joe's temple.
Montalvo handed her his handkerchief. 'So are you.'
'We've got to get help for him.' She started dabbing at the cut. 'This isn't too deep, but it may not be-'
Joe opened his eyes. 'Are you… hurt?'
Relief poured through her. 'No, but I thought you might be. How do you feel? Can you move your arms and legs?'
He tested one limb after another. 'No breakage.' He sat up. 'I'm sore as hell. I feel as if someone punched me in the back.'
'I was nowhere near you,' Montalvo murmured. 'It must have been the blast.' He looked at the boulder and gave a low whistle. 'Kistle must have packed a truckload of explosives under that boulder. There's not much left.'
'And there wouldn't have been much left of us if Kistle had pressed the detonator a few minutes earlier,' Joe said. 'He waited until you'd moved a little away from the boulder, Eve. He didn't care if I caught the blast, but he's obviously saving you for something more interesting to him.'
'There was a camera on that boulder?'
He nodded. 'Probably with a detonator programmed into it. That way he got to enjoy watching us try to catch
