Hunting Eve

Zander dropped to the ground and leaned against a pine tree. “It can’t take a while. We haven’t got the time.”

“Tell me where Eve is,” Joe said.

“You’re afraid I’ll pass out or die, and you won’t get the information you need?” Zander asked dryly. “I won’t die. I don’t promise I won’t pass out for a while. And you don’t go anywhere until I come around. I won’t have you blundering in and causing Doane to scatter before I’m ready.” He looked at Stang. “Keep him here.”

“Who? Me?” Stang glanced at Joe. “Not my area of expertise.”

“Do it anyway.” He said to Eland, who was preparing a hypodermic, “Painkiller? I’ll take that but nothing that will put me out for more than a few minutes.”

“Be quiet,” Eland said. “This is going to be excruciating, and if you hadn’t given me such a bad trip, I’d almost feel sorry for you.” He administered the shot. “It won’t take effect fast enough to help much, but you’re in a hurry.” He reached in his backpack and started taking out his surgical equipment. He glanced at Joe. “You look fairly strong. Will you hold him down? I can’t have him moving.”

“I won’t move,” Zander grated through his teeth.

“My pleasure,” Joe said as he dropped to his knees and grasped Zander’s shoulders and upper arms and pi

Eland was wiping his hands on an antiseptic towel. “You do have such kind and sympathetic cohorts, Zander.”

“Kind, no.” Zander was looking up at Joe. “But somehow familiar. It’s like looking in a mirror. Only something changed for you and made you—” He broke off and jerked his head toward Eland. “Do it!”

His back arched with agony as Eland set the bone. He didn’t scream, but the blood ran from his lower lip as his teeth bit into it.

He passed out.

*   *   *

THE FIRST TENTATIVE PEARL GRAY of dawn was lighting the sky, Zander noticed, as soon as he opened his eyes.

Not good, dammit.

“How long have I been out?” he whispered to Stang. “And where the hell is Qui

“You’ve been out almost two hours.”

“What!”

“Eland gave you another shot as soon as you passed out. He said that it was stupid to have you go through all that pain when he was going to have to work on you for a while,” Stang said. “And he put you in a cast to keep the bone from shifting.”

“Good. That arm wasn’t doing me any good anyway.” He added grimly, “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to have a word with Eland about disobeying orders.”

“Eland said to tell you that you’re going to need extensive follow-up surgery if you don’t want to do permanent damage. He didn’t know how you managed not to go into shock with the amount of pain that break is causing you. He wants to check you into a hospital right away.”

“No way.” He glanced around the clearing. “Qui

“He’s just exploring the general area. He’s not going to go after Eve until he has an idea where he’s going.” Stang smiled faintly. “He may be going through hell, but he’s not going to risk Eve. He’s even willing to put up with you if it has a chance of helping her.”

“That held a hint of disrespect.” Zander’s eyes narrowed on Stang’s face. “Something’s different about you.”

“Because something’s different about you. I’ve never really been able to fathom Lee Zander, but I am begi

“Don’t insult me. I refuse to be so transparent.”

“Transparent you are not. Maybe just a little less opaque.” He paused. “Why did you tell me to come along? Why me, Zander?”

“Maybe I thought I might need a business—” He shrugged. “You have a personal interest. You want Eve Duncan to live.”

“Because you wanted me to have a personal interest. You wanted someone around you to spur you to save her.” He tapped his chest. “I was the chosen one.”

“Ridiculous.”

“You’re a very complicated man, and most of the time, I don’t have a clue as to what makes you tick. But I think in this case somewhere there was a battle going on that even you didn’t know about.”

“Convoluted nonsense.”

“Convoluted. Yes, that’s an accurate description of you.” He nodded. “And I think I have the answer to my question. You’re going to go after Doane, and it goes against your grain not to do that with complete ruthlessness. But you wanted a safety net for Eve Duncan.” He tapped his chest again. “The chosen one. You should be happy that I brought someone along who’s better qualified. Of course, you can’t control him. That will bother you. But you might be able to reason with him. He’s very, very smart. He has only one goal. He’ll let you kill Doane if you’ll protect Eve.” He added softly, “Protect your daughter.”

“I have no daughter. Ask Eve, and she’ll tell you that.” He paused. “Qui

“Yes, not really a confidence. It just came out. I doubt if he’ll confront you with it.”

“Yet you’re confronting me with it.” He tilted his head. “You’re not afraid of me any longer.”

“Yes, I am. I’ll probably always be afraid of you. But I’m so used to it that a little fear is exciting.”

“That’s sick.”

“You don’t really think that’s true. That edge is the only thing that’s kept you alive during these last years.”

“I don’t believe I like you psychoanalyzing me,” he said with silken menace. “Particularly since I’ve never been sure if or when you might decide to kill me. Why don’t we discuss that bizarre behavior on your part, Stang?”

Stang shook his head. “Someday, maybe. If I live that long.”

“If you live that long,” Zander repeated. “Now why don’t you go find Qui

“I told you that he’s smart and won’t—”

“Tell me where that trail along the upper slope leads.” Joe was striding toward them. “I was going to follow it myself, but I decided to give you another chance to fill me in on what I need to know.” His gaze coolly raked Zander. “You don’t look in such great shape. You should have Eland help you back across that mountain to the helicopter and let me handle Doane for you.”

“Screw you.” Zander struggled to sit up against the tree. “You’d go straight for Eve and Doane would skip out and I’d have to deal with him later.”

“You’re right, I’d make the right choice. Where does that trail lead?”

“I’ll take you there.” Zander got to his feet. “If you can exercise a little restraint.”

“No promises. Not if Eve’s at the end of that trail.”

“She may be. I can’t be sure. I tried to track them on the trail, but the heavy rain washed the signs away. I kept passing out, and I couldn’t risk being helpless if Doane stumbled over me. He kept her at a house, an old coin factory, before she managed to escape. But I gave her my knife and, if Doane found it on her, alarm bells would ring.”

“You gave her your knife?” Stang asked. “Why?”

“It seemed to be the thing to do at the time.” He was picking up his backpack. He pointed toward a row of mountains to the left. “If you follow the trail over that ridge, you’ll find yourself in a valley. It’s shaped like a punch bowl. The only possible road spirals downward from its rim to an old ghost town at the bottom. But several miles back on this side of rim, we can hike to a cabin that I believe Doane occupied. It used to be a coinery. It was probably built up there so that the miners wouldn’t have to go all the way to town to cash out.”

“You might be proving valuable.” He tilted his head. “I may be glad I stuck around.”

“Let’s get moving. With any luck, they’ll still be at the factory. If they’re not, I have a few other ideas.”

“But now that I know where the trail leads, I don’t need you,” Joe said. “The last thing I want is to be saddled with someone who can’t function. Go back to the helicopter with Eland.”

Stang’s eyes widened, and he gave a choked gasp.