steps and determination in her demeanor. She looked like a warrior going into battle.
“I was right. She’s tough,” Jane said. “Is she as good as she thinks she is?”
“Better, probably.” And Eve was feeling a rush of relief about having Catherine moving quickly to find Gallo. Having Gallo out there was a double-edged sword. He’d be both a threat and temptation to Joe once he was in his right senses. And she was still experiencing the pain of that moment when Black had told her that Gallo was guilty. The bond between them as Bonnie’s mother and father had turned tight and bitter, but she found that it still existed. It was Eve’s job to go after Gallo and bring him to justice, but for the moment, she had a more important job in helping get Joe well. She could rely on Catherine to search in Eve’s place until she was able to turn her attention away from Joe.
“I’m going to call the Hyatt and get a room for you, too,” Jane said. “We’ll probably both be here at the hospital most of the time, but we don’t have to live here as you’ve been doing. It seems the urgency is gone.”
“Yes.” She again felt that profound rush of thanksgiving she had felt when Joe had opened his eyes. “The urgency has definitely been downgraded. You make your call, and I’ll go back to the ICU and try to get the nurses to let me go in and sit with him again.”
Jane smiled. “You feeling lucky? You said the rules were pretty stern.”
“Yeah.” Eve threw her cup in the disposal. “I’m feeling very lucky, right now.”
JOE WAS sleeping.
Catherine stood at the window and gazed at him and the nurse moving around the ICU.
His color was good, and the sleep appeared normal.
Catherine let out a sigh of relief. She had believed Eve when she’d told her Joe was on the mend, but she’d had to see for herself. It was too easy for love to paint a false picture.
And the love between Eve and Joe was very strong. Catherine had had moments of envy when she had seen them together. When Catherine had married, she was seventeen, and her husband was sixty-two. They had both been CIA, and it had been more a partnership than a love affair.
Not that she had not loved him. But it was a quiet affection rather than a passion. She would not have done anything any differently. If she had not married Terry, she would not have given birth to her son, Luke. Why would she change anything when she had been given that gift? Her son was everything.
But the love that Eve and Joe possessed appeared to have all the facets missing in Catherine’s marriage. Yet she had not even realized that they were missing until she’d met Eve and Joe.
Joe was opening his eyes. Did he see her?
Yes, he was smiling at her.
She blew him a kiss.
He smiled again and closed his eyes.
Yes, rest, my friend. Get well. I’ll stand guard over Eve. You can trust me.
She turned and moved down the hall toward the elevator. But first she had her own decks to clear before she went on the hunt.
She took out her phone as soon as she was in the car. She dialed her number at the house she rented in Louisville. It was after midnight, but her son, Luke, probably would still be awake. He read till all hours of the night and still managed to be up early in the morning. She’d tried to tell him it wasn’t healthy, but Luke would only look at her and not say a word. It was hard trying to convince him such an act would affect him in any adverse way when it brought him pleasure. Luke had not had much pleasure in his life. He had been kidnapped at the age of two from her home in Boston by Rakovac, a Russian criminal, as an act of vengeance against Catherine for undermining his mafia operation. She tried not to think of the torture and deprivation he had suffered until she and Eve and Joe had managed to free him. Nine long years. He had been two when he’d been kidnapped and eleven when they’d managed to free him.
It was no wonder that, now that he was safe and free, he was gobbling up experiences as if they would be snatched away from him in a heartbeat. He still didn’t totally trust her, but he was coming close. She had to handle Luke with the most delicate touch imaginable, so that he wouldn’t walk away from her.
She tried to make her tone light when he picked up the phone. “Luke, what the heck are you doing? Didn’t that tutor I hired give you a curfew?”
“Yes, Mr. O’Neill said that I had to get to bed before three. I’m in bed.”
Thank heaven that Sam O’Neill didn’t keep Luke to an ordinary child’s schedule. But Sam was too savvy to do that. That was why Catherine had chosen Sam as Luke’s tutor. He was not only ex-CIA and fully capable of protecting her son, but he was a wonderful teacher. After what Luke had gone through during his captivity, strictness would have been absurd. He had been stunted in many ways by his isolation, but his childhood had been stolen from him. His independence had to be respected. “But you’re reading. What’s the book tonight?”
“
“Yes, it is. But don’t give up on it. You might learn something.”
“I never give up.”
No, he had boundless stamina and determination, or he would never have survived those nine years. “What else are you and Sam doing?”
“Swimming. Tennis. Golf. I don’t like golf. It’s too slow,” he said quickly. “You’re going to tell me that golf is like
“You might. There are a lot of golf pros out there who don’t think it’s slow.”
He was silent. “Why did you call me in the middle of the night? Are you in trouble?”
“No.” She paused. “Can’t I call you without being in trouble?”
“Maybe I said it wrong.” He didn’t speak again, and she could almost hear the cogs turning. “I meant you think that I might worry about you being in trouble.”
“And would you worry, Luke?”
“You’re very strong and smart. It wouldn’t be reasonable for me to worry. Everyone says that you’re very good at what you do.”
“I didn’t ask if it was reasonable. I asked if you’d worry.”
He was silent, then said slowly, “I’d worry.”
She felt a warm rush of love and joy. Every admission from him of a growing affection between them was a triumph. When she had rescued him, she’d had to start at the beginning in earning his love. After his emotional deprivation, she could not push him, but slowly he was learning that there was a bond between them.
“I don’t mean to insult you,” Luke said. “But I’d be willing to come and help you if you need me. I’ve been taught very well.”
Taught the skills of weapons and guerrilla fighting, taught violence and cruelty, taught to bear pain without flinching. All the things a child should never have to face. Lessons that Rakovac had known would torture Catherine when he told her about them. And it had been torture, it had nearly broken her heart. “I know you have. But I’d like you to forget that now.”
“But how can I do that?” he asked in wonder.
She had responded instinctively. She wanted to block out all that ugliness, but she knew she had to deal with her own horror and accept what Luke had become through those experiences. “That was stupid of me. Of course, you can’t forget it. And thank you for the offer. If I find I need you, I’ll be sure to call.” She added lightly, “But I’d rather think of you having a good time with Sam. You like him?”
“I think so,” he said cautiously. “He knows a lot.” Another silence. “He smiles quite a bit. But I don’t think he’s laughing at me.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t dare. Maybe he’s just enjoying his job. He always wanted to go back to teaching.”
“I guess that could be why.”
“Did I tell you that Kelly was coming to visit you this week?”
“No, but she called me,” he said shortly. “She told me to get ahead in my studies so that we could have some time together. She’s very bossy.”
