asked if there was still a telephone connection at 4961 Rosecreek Drive.
Yes.
Private number.
Joe waited for the operator to call Washington on another line and check his authority. Five minutes later he had the number.
Name of party holding the service?
Edna McVey.
Brian McVey had never changed the name and evidently occasionally still used the house.
Okay, phone the number he’d been given?
If Eve was there, then she’d be given time to leave before he could get there.
He strode out of the house and jumped in his car.
THE MCVEY PLACE ON ROSECREEK Drive was a pleasant two-story cottage only a few hundred yards from the edge of Lake Allatoona. Its gray sideboard needed painting, but there was a cane rocking chair on the wide porch that gave the place a comfortable ambience.
There was light gleaming from windows on the first floor.
Joe cursed softly. Nothing like leaving a welcoming beacon.
He parked his car a good distance away from the house and moved silently into the woods.
He was a hundred yards to the rear of the cottage when he knew someone was following him.
He paused, listening.
To the left, in the brush.
He faded into the stand of trees to the right.
A sudden crashing of shrubs to the left.
Definitely following him.
He circled swiftly, silently, to the left to get behind the pursuer.
A male figure in a black Windbreaker was now moving ahead of him.
Now.
He covered the distance between them in seconds and brought him down.
The man started to struggle frantically.
Joe’s hand tangled in his hair and jerked back hard as the edge of his knife was pressed to the man’s throat. “Don’t move, or I’ll cut your throat.”
The man froze. “For God’s sake, Quinn. What are you doing? Let me go.”
McVey.
“Why should I, you son of a bitch?” He deliberately pressed the edge of the knife a little harder so that it broke the skin. “I’m a little angry with you. Maybe you can tell.”
McVey went rigid. “I can tell. But I don’t think you’re pissed enough to commit murder.”
“But you told me that I was so good at it.”
“Let me up, Quinn. You know you’re just toying with me.”
Joe drew a deep breath. “Toying”? McVey didn’t know how close he’d come. All of Joe’s training, his instincts, the savagery that had been both his friend and his enemy had come racing back in that moment.
“Let him go. What are you doing, Joe?”
He looked over his shoulder to see Eve standing with a gun pointed at him.
“A gun, Eve? Did McVey give you that gun? He probably thought you’d need it if you were going to have to rely on him.”
“I asked him for a weapon,” Eve said as she lowered the gun. “But I don’t need to use it against you, Joe. Dammit, you scared me. I thought you were going to- Let him go.”
Joe shrugged and took the knife from McVey’s throat. “It was a close call for him. I was mad as hell, and the bastard decided to follow me. I thought he was a threat.” He got off McVey and stood up. “As much threat as a day-old Chihuahua.”
“You cut me.” McVey’s fingers were on his throat and came away with blood on them. “You knew who I was, and you still cut me.”
“I cut you
“None of this was McVey’s idea,” Eve said. “It was all mine, Joe. I called him and sketched it out to him.”
“And he jumped at it.”
“Of course, I did,” McVey said as he got to his feet. “Do you think I’d turn my back on a chance like this? I told you that I’d do whatever I had to do.” He glared defiantly at Joe. “I didn’t go out of my way to cause a killer to go after her. That wasn’t my fault. But I wasn’t going to say no if she wanted to run the risk. Hell, if we catch Zeus, it might mean that we’d save some other kids. What’s wrong with that?”
“You sound almost noble, McVey.”
“Stop this, Joe.” Eve turned to McVey. “Come back to the house and I’ll try to find something to put on that cut.” She glanced at Joe. “You’re not going away, are you? I can’t convince you.”
“You can’t convince me.”
“Then I suppose you’ll have to come with us, and we’ll talk.” She turned and strode toward the house, with McVey at her heels.
Joe watched them until they reached the porch, then faded back into the brush.
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” Eve was standing waiting on the porch when Joe came toward her twenty minutes later. “I didn’t know what had happened to you.”
“Were you worried? Good. I was worried about you, too. And with a hell of a lot more reason.”
“Where have you been?” she repeated.
“You decided to declare war on Zeus. This evidently was going to be your first battle site. I know about war. First, you familiarize yourself with the terrain and the places that lend themselves to ambush. While you’re doing it, you make sure the enemy isn’t already within the gates.”
“That’s what McVey was trying to do.”
“Not well. He’d have had his throat cut, and the way to you would have been open. Where is he?”
“Inside. He’s calling in tomorrow’s story.”
Joe muttered a curse.
“Do you want to go in and cut him again?” she asked sarcastically.
“It’s tempting.”
She shook her head in exasperation. “For God’s sake, be civilized. This isn’t his fault.”
“But there’s a wide streak in me that isn’t at all civilized. I think you’ve always sensed that. If you’ll be honest, you’ll admit that’s one of the reasons that you thought that I could help you find Bonnie. You didn’t want some slick, dutiful cop who would make all the right moves. You wanted
She stared at him, her expression a mixture of frustration, anger, and something else that he couldn’t define. “Damn you, Joe. Okay, come in and talk. But don’t you dare hurt McVey.” She turned on her heel and opened the front door.
“I’ll try to resist.” He followed her and glanced around the living room. Nothing fancy. The furniture was
