Hunting Eve

The front door closed behind her, and a few minutes later, Joe heard her car pull out of the driveway.

He sat down again and stared at the capsules in the glass.

All the time and painstaking effort Doane had made to take Eve was exemplified in those listening devices.

Son of a bitch.

The anger and helplessness were growing by the moment. The little pieces of information and leads that they were finding were not enough, dammit.

But at least Kendra had found out a few things that were promising.

Maybe.

His phone rang. Seth Caleb.

What the hell? “Qui

“I’m with Jane at the hospital. I was bored, so I thought that I’d come out here in the hall and call you. She told me she’d call you again later, but I decided I’d take it off her list. She’s going to be busy.”

“Is she sleeping now?”

“No, she dozed for a while but now she’s wide-awake and in work mode.”

“Work mode? You are not to convince her to leave that hospital, or I’ll strangle you.”

“I couldn’t be less concerned about you, Qui

“Not if Jane’s not resting.”

“She’ll rest eventually, and the work she’s doing will keep her at the hospital, where the doctors can keep an eye on her.”

“What work?”

“Something she’s evidently done before. She mentioned Cira.”

“What?”

“She had a dream about Eve, and she was in some mountain location. Jane is going through computer files and books to see if she can find any matching terrain.” He paused. “She doubts if anything is going to come of it, but she said it had results when she was searching for Cira. She’s pretty desperate.”

“She would have to be. Even when Jane’s dreams of Cira seemed to have substance, she was still trying to find a practical reason why that was so and why she was having the dreams. She has problems with anything that’s not reality-based.” He added wearily, “But then we’re all getting desperate and ready to embrace anything that gives us hope.”

“What about you, Qui

“Hell, yes. Do I believe that experience would translate to help for Eve? I have no idea. I haven’t a clue why Jane’s dreams of Cira seemed to have historical and geographic details of which she would have no possible knowledge. I used to be a total realist like Jane, but these days, I only know that there’s nothing that’s not possible. I keep bumping into impossible.”

“I’m surprised you admit that to me.”

“Why? I don’t give a damn what you think about me. As a matter of fact, you’re one of the impossibles, with that blood thing.”

“Point taken.” He paused. “I encouraged Jane to pursue this avenue. It seemed interesting and a way to keep her sedentary. I thought I’d let you know. I’m sure Jane will give you a call if it proves promising.” He hung up.

Promising? Joe pressed the disco

Maybe.

If desperation was driving her as Joe thought, then she might become frustrated and give up the search for this dream location.

But that wasn’t like Jane. She had bulldog tenacity when she was fighting for anything. It would be an obsessive determination if she was fighting to find Eve. He wished he could believe that dream of Jane’s would give them a hint, a lead, a path. Maybe what he’d told Caleb wasn’t entirely true and there were still strong elements of logic and realism that made him cynical of anything else.

“I saw Kendra driving down the road.” Venable stood in the doorway. “Where was she going?”

“Airport.” His lips twisted. “And then to Goldfork. Make sure your agents welcome her with open arms.”

“I’ll see to it.” He came into the cottage. “She’s sharp, very sharp. Extraordinary. I don’t know if she’ll be able to find anything that my guys missed, but I’m willing to let her take a shot at it.” He went to the kitchen. “Mind if I grab a cup of coffee? It’s been a long night.”

Joe nodded at the glass sitting on the coffee table. “She’s already found one thing. It appears that everything that’s happened in the cottage has been monitored.”

Venable glanced at the devices in the water. “Shit.”

“Yes. How long before you’re able to identify that metallic stuff from the trunk?”

“I put a rush on it, but it takes as long as it takes.” He took his coffee cup from beneath the automatic coffeemaker and lifted it to his lips. “And I promised Kendra I’d call her as soon as it came in.” He made a face. “Otherwise, I think she’d have been down at the lab harassing the techs.”

“No doubt about it,” Joe said. “Kendra’s philosophy is that you throw everything you have at the wall and hope something sticks. She threw that metallic dust, and she’s going to want to know if it stuck.” He looked down at the glass with the capsules. “She also said she couldn’t do anything more here. I don’t think I can either, Venable.”

“And?”

“Splinters. Kendra was talking about splinters. How we were all working at different points for the same goal, finding Eve. She’s right. One of those splinters was here. The car and any evidence we could locate. Then Kendra branched off to Goldfork. Another splinter, we knew that Doane would try to kill General Tarther and Lee Zander because they were responsible for the death of his son, Kevin. You even tried to protect the general.”

“Tried. The bastard got to him anyway.”

“But as far as we know, Doane hasn’t been able to kill Zander yet.” Joe’s lips twisted. “That’s a very sharp splinter to explore.”

“More than you dream.” Venable’s eyes narrowed on Joe’s face. “It could be fatal.”

“Why are you trying to ward me off Zander? You’ve been doing it since you told me about Zander and the general. He’s an assassin.”

“I don’t want you dead.” He added, “At first, it was just that five years ago I’d made Zander a promise that I’d keep his identity secret if he didn’t go after Doane. I keep my word. Now, I’m having regrets about opening my mouth and not just trying to handle him myself.”

“I want Zander’s address,” Joe said to Venable. “Now.”

“Not smart, Qui

“The hell I will,” Joe said. “I have to get on the move. I can’t sit here any longer. Kendra is on her way to Goldfork, Doane’s safe house. You can’t get me that damn tower location and the general was picked off as cleanly as if you didn’t have anyone there protecting him. It’s all been on Doane’s side. I have to change it.”

“Zander may not even be there.”

“But someone will be there?”

“Stang, his accountant and personal assistant.”

“Then I’ll find out where Zander is and if he has any idea where Doane has Eve.” He added grimly. “And if Doane is going to go after Zander, then I’ll stay there and stake him out myself.”

“What about Jane?”

“Stop trying to put obstacles in my path. Seth Caleb is there watching that she’s not doing too much. He said he’d keep her occupied.” He grimaced. “Which isn’t very reassuring, considering the source. And I think Mark Trevor called Jane yesterday and told her he’d be coming here within a day or two. Jane will have more help than she’s going to want. Give me Zander’s address.”

Venable hesitated.

“Venable.”

Venable reached into his pocket for his phone and accessed Zander’s information. “I’ll send it to your phone.”

“Good.” Joe turned. “Then I’m on my way.”

“Qui

“Don’t try to stop me.”

“I know better. Just be careful.” He hesitated. “Oh, hell. I can’t let you go without telling you. It could be a game changer somewhere along the way.”

“What could be a game changer?”

“The reason Doane took Eve in the first place.”