Iris Johansen - Quinn

Eve wanted him alive. Catherine silently took her dart gun from her backpack and inserted one of Hu Chang’s special darts. Not as special as some others her old teacher had made for her. But the mamba venom and a few other lethal poisons weren’t applicable in this case. This sedative would put Gallo out for a solid five minutes and give him another fifteen of lethargy.

“Come on, Gallo,” she whispered. “Let me give you a little nap.”

One minute.

Two.

He didn’t come out of the trees.

Five minutes.

Dammit, where was he?

And then she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck in the most primitive of signals.

Someone was watching her.

He was watching her.

She instinctively dove behind the boulder and waited.

Where are you, Gallo?

Her heart was pounding.

She could feel him out there in the darkness.

Or was he behind her?

She wasn’t sure. She listened.

She couldn’t hear him. God, he was good.

But she couldn’t stay there when he knew her location, and she didn’t know his. Since she was trying to get him without a lethal commitment, she was at a disadvantage.

Fade away. Disappear. If she caught a glimpse of him, then try to line up the shot.

If not, give up the opportunity and come back another time.

She dove into the bushes that bordered the scraggly line of pines beside the boulders.

No sound.

Move swiftly.

She no longer felt his eyes on her.

But that might only mean he was close but could not see her.

And she couldn’t see him, dammit.

Put distance between them.

Damn, she hated to run from Gallo.

She’d almost had the bastard.

She would have him.

Only an opening foray, Gallo.

The battle is yet to come…

Two Days Later

SHE WAS GETTING CLOSE again, Gallo realized.

He felt a rush of excitement as he caught a fleeting glimpse of Catherine before she disappeared into the pines.

She was probably going to circle and come at him from behind. He was still, listening for a sound.

There was no sound. But he’d bet that she was in motion.

Stay and confront her? Risky. She had almost gotten close enough to take him out twice in the last few days.

Why not stay? What did he care?

But he did care, or he would have plunged off the cliff into the lake in those first hours after he’d gone on the run.

Bonnie had made him care.

And he cared because Catherine Ling’s pursuit had pierced the wall of despair and desperation that surrounded him and injected him with a shot of pure adrenaline. The hunt brought back memories of the missions that had been his life for so many years. Memories that enabled him to block out the more recent painful recollections.

The missions had been brutal, fast, deadly. Hunt, find, kill.

But Catherine Ling’s pursuit had not been brutal. In the few glimpses he had caught of her, he had thought she was like a black panther, stalking, graceful, beautiful.

But, yes, definitely fast and deadly.

So did he run again?

He started moving. As silent as Catherine. As fast as Catherine. He could feel his heart start to pound, the excitement electrifying every muscle.

Follow me.

Let’s play the game a little longer.

Who knows? I may let you win it.

One Week Later

SHE NEEDED A BATH,Catherine thought as she woke in the cave where she’d sheltered for the day. She slept from dawn until late afternoon because the hunt was at night. She’d taken a chance and swum in the cold lake on the property the day before yesterday. She couldn’t afford to do it again anytime soon. She had thought she sensed Gallo and had quickly returned to shore.

It could be imagination. It seemed she was always sensing Gallo these days. His presence was all around her, in the trees, the hills, the lake.

He was the last thing she thought of before she went to sleep and the first thing when she woke in the morning. Not that she slept much.

Not since she became aware that Gallo was also stalking her.

The realization had come to her about two weeks after she had found and begun to stalk him. This hunt had been like nothing in her experience. He was like no one she had ever targeted. A phantom, silent, swift, moving all around her and yet only permitting her brief glimpses, the slimmest of opportunities.

After that first encounter he could have chosen to leave the area, but he hadn’t done it. He had stayed and let her stalk him. Then, as time passed, she was aware that it had become a duel. He was no longer content to be the prey.

Why?

She didn’t care any longer. She had been swept up in the dance, and every minute was charged, every hour was electrified by the knowledge that any minute she might see him again.

And that minute might be her last.

Her phone vibrated, and she pulled it out of her jacket.

Eve.

“You haven’t called me in the last two weeks,” Eve said.

“I’ve been busy.”

“And you sound funny.”

“I just woke up.” And she hadn’t spoken to anyone for the last two days, when she’d called home and checked on Luke. “How is Joe?”

“Better all the time. He’s out of bed and in therapy. He may get released soon.” She paused. “I hoped I’d hear something positive from you before that.”

“So did I. Nothing yet.”

“You still think he’s in those woods?”

“Oh, yes.” She gazed at the shrubs several yards away. He could be as close to her as those trees. But she didn’t think so. She would feel him. These days, every nerve, every muscle of her body seemed attuned to him. “He’s here. I may be getting closer.”

As close as a lover.

“Well, you may have company soon,” Eve said. “I won’t be able to keep Joe away from there for long. Then we’ll both be up there to reinforce you.”

“No!” The rejection was sharp and instinctive, and it had nothing to do with protecting Joe, she realized. This dance with Gallo belonged to her. She didn’t want anyone else to cut in before the end. “Do your best to keep him away.”

Silence. “Are you all right, Catherine?”

“I’m fine. I’m dirty, I stink of sweat and dirt, and I know this forest better than I ever wanted to know any place. But other than that, I’m doing well.” She added, “I’ll try to call you more often. Give my best to Joe.” She hung up.

She took a protein bar out of the knapsack. Eat. Find a creek to wash her teeth and face, then start out again.

The eagerness was beginning to sing through her as she bit into the bar. It was going to end soon. She would find him and put him down.

Or Gallo would find her.

Either way, it would be the end of the dance.

Eight Days Later

CATHERINE’S BREATH WAS COMING hard and fast as she ran up the hill.

He was no more than a football field ahead of her. She had caught a brief glimpse of him on the lower slopes, then another a few minutes ago.

He was getting careless. He could have stayed deeper in the brush, and she might not have seen him. Are you getting tired, Gallo? I’m not. I can go on forever.

As long as the adrenaline of the dance kept her moving.

But he’d reached the top of the hill and disappeared into the trees.

She slowed, and her hand closed on her dart gun.

Her catching sight of him could have been a deliberate ploy on his part to lead her into a trap.

She darted into the trees, her gaze searching the darkness.

No Gallo.

She moved carefully toward the opening in the trees near the top of the hill. Where was he?