Iris Johansen - Eight Days To Live

Eve shook her head.

“Don’t argue. They’ll kill you.” She was sobbing. “They kill everybody. They killed my boy.” Her hand grasped Eve’s arm, and she pulled her out into the courtyard. “Get out the gates and run.”

“Can’t run-sick.”

She flinched. “I know. I had to do it. They had my son. They said the only way I could save him was to do what they said. They lied.” She put her arm beneath Eve’s shoulders. “I’ll help you.” She glanced at Lina. “Can you walk?”

Lina nodded.

“Come. Hurry. They’re going to-” The housekeeper arched, her eyes widening with shock. Blood was staining her white blouse. She fell to the stones of the courtyard.

Dead. She’d been shot, Eve realized.

But she hadn’t heard the sound of the bullet.

A silencer.

Men were pouring out of the stable. Some were heading for the gates carrying automatic weapons.

Rotors. A helicopter was overhead…

Two men were coming toward them. One was tall, burley, dark. Thick lips, hook nose. She recognized that face from the photo. Millet.

A low ping of sound.

Lina gave a low cry.

Eve turned and saw Lina staggering backward, clutching her upper arm.

She was shot, Eve realized. Lina was falling to her knees.

“Finish her, Medford,” Millet said as he came toward them. “She’s no use to us.”

The other man lifted his gun.

“Stop!” Eve turned, dove in front of Lina, and took her down.

Pain exploded in her upper body.

“You fool,” Millet shouted. “Not her. You killed Eve Duncan.”

Death?

Darkness.

Tel Aviv, Israel

“WHAT NEXT?” GILLEM ASKED as he pulled up in front of the hangar. “Do you need me for anything else?”

“No,” Jane said as she got out of the car. “We’ll handle it from here.” She turned to Jock. “I want you to call Venable and tell him to get an expert out here to find a way to X-ray this bottle so that it won’t damage anything inside.”

“Providing there is anything inside,” Caleb said. “Why don’t we take it back to MacDuff’s Run and have it done there?”

“Because if we don’t come up with the jackpot, I’m going to go back to that field and try again.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” He turned to Gillem. “It seems there is something you can do. Arrange someplace safe for us to stay until we get some answers.”

“That won’t be easy on short notice. Venable didn’t tell me I was supposed to do anything but get you in and get you out.”

“But a good agent always reacts to the situation,” Caleb said. “Isn’t that right?”

Gillem reached for his phone. “I’ll find a place.”

Jane was unfastening her backpack and gently taking out the bottle she’d swathed in heavy plastic. It appeared to be intact, she realized with relief. Amazing after that headlong race across the field.

“Curious? Not even a peek inside?” Caleb asked.

Curious? She was practically biting her nails. “I can’t risk it. It has to be incredibly fragile. We’ve just got to hope that Venable can get that expert here in a hurry.” She glanced at Jock, who was still on the phone. “And that the expert won’t be tempted to call the local authorities when we try to take a priceless artifact out of the country.”

“That depends on whether there’s a document in the bottle that would authenticate. Otherwise, he would have no idea that he was looking at anything other than a couple of ancient Aramaic items.”

“In that case I might be tempted to invent a document of my own if it will lure Roland to take the bait.” She grimaced. “You seem to know a lot of people who aren’t exactly lilywhite. You could probably point-” Her cell phone rang, and she glanced at the ID. “MacDuff?” Her heart stopped, then went into high gear. She punched the answer button. “What’s wrong, MacDuff?”

“God, I wish I could tell you that there was nothing wrong.”

Her hand clenched on the phone. “Answer me. What’s wrong? Is Eve okay?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Is Eve-” She closed her eyes. Let him talk. Don’t jump to conclusions. Never that conclusion. She opened her eyes. “Tell me.”

“I know she was shot. I don’t know how bad or if she was killed. They took her with them.” He paused. “I promised she’d be safe. I lied. I failed. There was activity in the hills, and I went up to check it out. Dammit, it was a red herring. I thought the castle was secure. I left good people in charge. Millet was more clever than I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember the inner staircase from the stable that leads down to sea?”

She had used that passage herself years ago. She had just spoken of that escape route to Eve yesterday. “Of course, I do. But no one knew about that entrance but your most trusted people.”

“My housekeeper knew about it.”

“Mrs. Dalbrey? She betrayed you? Millet bribed her?”

“No, she would never have done it for money. I’m guessing Millet kidnapped her son and told her that he would kill him unless she let him through that stable door that led to the sea entrance and did whatever else he told her to do. She gave Eve and Lina the sedative he provided her, but evidently not enough. It made them sick but didn’t knock them out. They tried to get to the gates but only managed to get down to the courtyard before Millet showed up.”

The thought of Eve sick and helpless, struggling to get away, made Jane go cold. “And Millet shot her?”

“Not intentionally. Lina said they were trying to kill her, and Eve stepped in front of the bullet.”

“And Lina doesn’t know how badly Eve was hurt? Why the hell not?”

“Lina was shot too. Upper arm. We believe she’s going to be okay but she was barely conscious when they took Eve away in the helicopter. She thinks that she saw Eve move, but she can’t be sure.”

Celine pinned to the oak door .

Blood flowing in a stream from a white flower box .

“If Eve’s not dead now, he’ll kill her.”

“No, if she’s not dead, we’ll get her back,” MacDuff said. “I promise you.”

“You promised to keep her safe.”

He was silent a moment. “You have a right not to believe in me, but I’ll move heaven and earth and I will get her back. I won’t let Millet beat me. He killed two of my men at the gates and one guarding the stable exit down to the sea. We found my housekeeper’s son in the stable with his throat cut. They only waited until they managed to get through that stable door before they killed the hostage. Mrs. Dalbrey was shot trying to help Eve and Lina get to the gates. Those were my people. That’s a big score for me to settle even without Eve.”

“I don’t care about your big score.” Her voice was shaking. “All I care about right now is Eve. If she’s alive, I have to keep her that way.”

Brilliant butterfly pinned to the door .

But now she kept seeing Eve instead of Celine on that door.

“I can’t talk right now. I’m going to give the phone to Jock. You tell him how you’re going to bring Eve back to me.” She had another thought. “Have you called Joe?”

“No, I’ll do that next.”

“Yes, right away.” No one was smarter than Joe or loved Eve more. “I’ll talk to him later.” She handed the phone to Jock. “You heard me. Millet’s got Eve.”

“Lord, I’m sorry, Jane.”

“Don’t be sorry. Just find a way to get her back.”

Jock nodded and turned away as he spoke into the phone. “What the hell happened, MacDuff?”

Jane walked away from him. She was shaking, and the muscles of her stomach were clenching with fear. She took a deep breath, then another.