Iris Johansen - Quicksand

Joe jumped onto the bank from Montalvo's boat ten minutes later. "Go on," he told Montalvo. "Get the kid and Miguel back to the dock. I'll take care of Eve."

"She seems to take fine care of herself." Montalvo turned the boat. "But I envy you the opportunity."

Joe didn't answer as he fell to his knees beside Eve. "You've got blood on your jacket. You didn't mention you were hurt."

She shook her head. "No. He shot me, but he made sure it was a flesh wound." She smiled crookedly. "He wanted to make certain that it wouldn't interfere with what he planned for me later." Her stare shifted back to the water. "I killed him. I don't regret it. Monsters like him shouldn't be permitted to live."

"You're right, I'm just sorry that it had to be you who did it." Joe took her in his arms. "I'm still a little wet, but I want to hold you. Okay?"

He was damp, but his skin was warm from the hot summer breeze and she nestled closer. She needed warmth right now. "Megan was right. I saw the graves. So many…"

He was stroking her hair. "Bonnie?"

"He said that she wasn't there." She closed her eyes. "I don't know, Joe. He lies…" No, it was past tense now. He was dead. She had killed him. "I could never trust anything he told me. He wanted to hurt me, to make me think I'd failed again."

"You didn't fail. Laura Ann is safe."

"Yes, she's safe." Her eyes opened. She had to think of that one true positive. No, there was another one. Kistle would never be able to kill another child. "We should get back to Megan."

"Did she bandage your shoulder?"

"No, when I went to the boat to get your gun she was sitting there like a statue. I couldn't get her to answer me. I don't believe she even knew I was there. I just put a bandage on the wound and took off. I had to find Kistle." She pushed him away and stood up. "I have to get back to her. I have to make sure she's all right."

Joe got to his feet. "She was probably safer than any of us, staying in the boat."

Eve shook her head as she remembered Megan's face that last moment before she had gone after Kistle. "I wish I could be sure of that."

EVE'S FIRST THOUGHT WASthat Kistle had somehow found the boat and killed Megan.

Megan was no longer sitting upright but lying huddled beside the seat.

"No sign of a wound. But she's unconscious." Eve checked Megan's pulse. "She's ice-cold and her pulse is thready."

"Shock." Joe jumped into the boat. "We've got to get her back to the dock. Was she this bad before?"

"After Bobby Joe?" She shook her head. "I don't think so. This is…" She didn't know what it was. But Megan's almost coma-like state was scaring her. "She kept saying there were too many. I saw what it was doing to her. I made her come to the island anyway."

"Stop the guilt trip," Joe said curtly. "She came because she thought she should do it. She's a strong woman and you wouldn't have been able to browbeat her into doing anything. It's done and we have to do damage control. At least she doesn't have a bullet in her like you do."

"Small favors," Eve said wearily. "It wasn't her war. Though she still looks in worse shape than I feel. We don't even have anything to drink or blankets to cover her to fight that shock."

"It will only be twenty or thirty minutes back to the dock. As soon as we get under way, we need to call Phillip Blair and have him have an ambulance at the dock when we arrive." He cast off. "Can you drive the boat?"

She nodded. "This wound is barely a scratch."

"Then change places. I'll hold her and try to give her my body heat." He took off his shirt and drew Megan to him. "You always said I was a furnace."

"Yes, you are." Eve started to back the boat away from the island. "But I wasn't sure you'd want to share anything with her."

"Then you were wrong," he said shortly. "I'm not sure what the hell went on with her tonight, but I know what she did was for you, not herself. I don't want her checking out and making the nightmare any worse for all of us."

Checking out. Surely Megan wouldn't die because of this night. But what did Eve know about the trauma the other woman had suffered? There was no doubt Megan Blair was in dire straits and people did die of shock.

She looked back at the island where all those children had met their end. Had Kistle lied again? Was Bonnie one of those children buried there? One of the voices that had sent Megan spiraling downward until she crashed and splintered? She didn't know, but she knew that Megan needed more than body heat and the medical care that waited for her on the dock.

I don't know if you're there, Bonnie. If you are, then you know Megan tried to help you. Or maybe you're not there but the others are holding on to Megan. Things were terrible there on the island and everyone was hurting, so maybe you don't realize that you're taking Megan with you. Let her go now .

Help her .

PHILLIP BLAIR WAS WAITINGwhen they arrived back at the dock.

His fists clenched when he saw Megan.

"My God," he said unsteadily. "What the hell have you done to her?" He held out his arms as Joe carried Megan from the boat. "Give her to me."

"Where's the ambulance?"

"It should be here any minute. Give her to me."

Joe transferred her to Phillip's embrace. "It's shock. She wasn't wounded."

"Maybe not physically. How do you know what you did to her? My wife spent years in an institution fighting those damn voices. And you made Megan go searching for them. I told you to take care of her."

"We didn't make her go," Joe said.

"Yes, we did." Eve got out of the boat. "No, I did. I didn't force her, but I used every way I could to persuade her. I wouldn't take no for an answer." She stood before Phillip. "So if you want to blame someone, blame me."

"I do blame you." He looked at the blood soaking her shoulder. "But Megan wouldn't blame you. She'd want to fix your damn arm." He turned away. "So you'd better come along to the hospital with us."

"HOW ARE YOU?" MONTALVO METEve as she was coming out of the emergency room. "Any problems?"

"No, they cleaned it, bandaged it, and sent me on my way. After telling me that I had to make a report to the police department because it was a gunshot wound. How is Laura Ann? They told me she was in a room down the hall."

"Bruises, scratches, and hungry. The bastard didn't feed her." He smiled. "But she felt much better after she talked to her mother on the phone. She's on the road now, driving down to pick up her daughter."

"That's good. After what Laura Ann has been through, she'll need her mother close for a while."

"Right now Miguel seems to be filling the maternal role. She won't let him out of her sight."

"How are his hands?"

"Bad. The stitches are torn out and he's having to have shots to fight infection from that swamp water. We'll have to start all over."

"That's too bad. But he did save that little girl. I don't think he could have made any other choice."

"No. And they seem to have formed a bond dangling in that tree over those alligators. He doesn't mind playing surrogate mom for a while and he'll be able to keep the media away from her. They're bound to get the news anytime now that she's been found. Where's Quinn?"

"He dropped me off and then went directly to the local police department to make a report on Kistle's death and what they're going to find on that island." She shuddered. "I don't even want to think about the scope of that burial ground." But she would think about it for the rest of her life. There would be no forgetting one minute of this night. "I asked him not to mention Megan Blair's part in this. She's been through enough and sure as hell doesn't need the kind of notoriety this would bring her. I don't even know what all this did to her. She's still unconscious and the doctors didn't like her condition when we brought her into the emergency room." She shook her head. "They couldn't understand why they couldn't bring her back. I could tell them why. But they wouldn't believe me." She moved down the hall. "I'm going to her room and stay with her until she regains consciousness." She made a face. "If Phillip Blair will let me near her. He wanted to take a hatchet to all of us when he saw what I did to Megan."