Iris Johansen - Eight Days To Live

“Jane, we have to systematically go down every path until we find the right one.”

“Systematically?”

“Not the word you want me to use, is it? I’d like to jump over all the hurdles, too. But we don’t have that option. We’ll just have to be patient.” He took her suitcases. “Jock is waiting outside in the car. Let’s get going.”

She didn’t move. He was talking about going to MacDuff’s Run and hiding away from those bastards. It had been a tolerable solution when she had thought that Venable could make strides in discovering what was happening. It was not tolerable now. “There has to be some way to-”

He shook his head. “No jump starts, Jane.”

“I heard you.” She headed toward the door.

Systematic. No jump starts. Be patient.

She stopped short as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

“What is it?” MacDuff’s gaze was fixed on her face.

“Probably nothing.” That was true. It was only a wild wisp of an idea that had occurred to her.

Or was it?

All it might take would be a phone call…

She went out the door and past the crime-scene tape to the car by the curb. Jock got out of the car and held open the passenger seat door for her. “Ready to go?”

She nodded and got into the car.

She was vaguely aware of MacDuff getting into the backseat.

Think.

Was it such a bizarre idea?

Bizarre, yes. But did it have a chance of working?

Consider all the choices. By the time they got to the airport she had to have an answer.

MacDuff had shifted over on the seat so that he could see her face, and she could feel his gaze studying her. He had caught her instant of hesitation, and his every sense was alert and trying to process it.

“We should be at the airport in about twenty minutes,” Jock said as he pulled away from the curb. “And we’ll be home by midnight.” He glanced at MacDuff. “I’ve missed the Run. It’s strange. No matter where you go, you wish to go back to your roots.”

“You could have come back anytime. It was your decision to stay away.”

“I leaned too heavily on you. I had to learn to stand alone.” He looked at Jane. “And Jane wasn’t there to protect me from your domineering ways.”

“I’ve noticed you do very well on your own these days,” Jane said. She fell silent again. Time was passing.

Think. Concentrate.

That wisp of an idea was taking on form and texture. But would it work?

And how to go about it if she decided that it had a chance?

“YOU AND MACDUFF GET ON THE PLANE,” Jock said as he pulled up in front of the hangar. “I’ll turn in the rental car.”

“Okay,” MacDuff said as he got out of the car. “Don’t waste any time. I want to get out of here.” He reached out to open Jane’s car door. “Come on. Let’s go.”

She braced herself. “No.”

He stiffened. “What?”

She didn’t move. “I’m not going. You get on that plane and go to MacDuff’s Run. I have something to do here.”

“No way,” he said with great precision. “You stay, I stay.”

“You can’t stay,” she said. “Eve and Joe will be there tomorrow. I promised them they’d be safe. You made the same promise. The Laird’s promise. You have to make arrangements.”

“Then you go, too.”

“I can’t do it. I have to find Weismann.”

“I told you that we’d find him. It will just take-”

“Time? Patience? I don’t have either one, MacDuff. I’m going to get my jump start.”

“How?”

“In a way you’d probably not believe and certainly not approve. But I’ve got to try it.”

“Try what, Jane?” Jock asked.

“I think I know a way I can find Weismann.” She gazed directly at MacDuff. “But it’s going to be a very delicate process, and I can’t have you getting in the way. So you get on that plane, and I’ll call you when I find him.” She turned to Jock. “Will you go with me? I know MacDuff’s not going to let me go alone, and I have to have him at the Run to keep Eve safe.”

“You’re taking Jock and leaving me out in the cold?” MacDuff asked roughly.

“You’d want to run things. Jock is more reasonable.” She asked Jock again, “Will you go with me?”

Jock glanced at MacDuff, then back at Jane. He was silent for a moment. “How could I resist? It’s not often that I’m chosen over the MacDuff.”

“This isn’t smart,” MacDuff said harshly. “Jock, tell her that as long as she stays out in the open, she’ll be a target. She’s obviously not listening to me.”

“She knows that she’ll be in danger,” Jock said. “But it’s worth it to her. She’s going to do it, MacDuff. We have to make adjustments to the situation.” He put the car in gear. “I’ll keep her safe. We’ll call you every now and then to keep you informed.”

“Every now and then?” MacDuff repeated in disbelief. “Damn you, Jock, you’ll call me every day, or I’ll break your head.”

“I can see why Jane chose me,” Jock said. “She’s right, you’re not at all reasonable.” He drove off before MacDuff could answer.

“You didn’t have to goad him like that.” Jane’s gaze was on the rearview mirror. MacDuff hadn’t moved, and his expression was forbidding. “He’s positively fuming.”

“It will be good for him,” Jock said cheerfully. “He gets his way far too often.” He glanced at her. “And you’re the one who started it. I didn’t initiate this particular rebellion. MacDuff doesn’t like to be left out of anything.”

“He’s not being left out. He’s going to take care of the people I love.”

“He would regard that as less than challenging.”

“It will be challenging enough. I told Joe and Eve I’d be at the Run. They’re not going to be pleased when they find out I’m not there.”

“And why aren’t you there? What is this all about?”

“I told you, I know a way to find Weismann.”

“What way?”

“Actually, I think I know someone who can find him.”

“With practically no information?”

“I think it’s possible.”

“Interesting. Who?”

“His name is Seth Caleb.”

“CIA? FBI?”

“No.”

“A private detective?”

“No.”

He looked at her inquiringly.

How to explain Seth Caleb? She had known it was going to be difficult. That was why she had not wanted MacDuff on the scene. Even with Jock, it was better not to go into great depth now. “He’s a hunter.”

“What kind of hunter? Animal? Big game?”

“Oh, yes. Very big game. He’s… unusual.”

“And how did you come to meet this… hunter?”

“Several weeks before I came to Paris, Eve and Joe were trying to capture a serial killer, Jelak. They thought he might have been the one who murdered her daughter, Bonnie, years ago. Caleb was after the same man. We formed a sort of uneasy alliance until they caught Jelak. Caleb was extraordinary.”

“ Extraordinary. Unusual . Not common descriptions, are they?” His gaze narrowed on her face. “But you don’t want to tell me why this hunter is capable of finding Weismann.”

“Not until I’m sure that Caleb will help me.”

“Money?”

“No, Caleb has plenty of money.” She shook her head. “Just let me call him and talk to him. I don’t want to keep anything from you, Jock. Caleb is hard to explain, and I don’t want to waste time until I know that he’ll come.”

“Then I’ll try to be patient.” He smiled faintly. “One of those words that you don’t like again. But I have no quarrel with it.” He pressed the accelerator. “But I’d better lose the man who is following us so that you can make your call.”

“Someone is-” Of course she would be followed. She had just been so absorbed she had not thought of the possibility. “Can you lose him?”