Iris Johansen - Eight Days To Live

Medford turned and strode back toward the cockpit .

“You see, everyone is excited to come to this Offering,” Millet said to Eve. “How could I disappoint them?” He turned and sat down in a seat across from her stretcher. “I’ll permit you to rest for a little while before we land. I’ve decided that I’ll let you walk to the temple. We have plenty of time. I’m going to let your Jane worry about you for a while. It will make her more amenable when I do call her.” His tone became mocking. “A strong woman like you would be insulted to be carried on a stretcher.”

Eve closed her eyes. Think. Is there a way of escaping after we land or would it be better to wait? Lord knows, I’m weak right now, and they will be more alert during a transfer. It would probably be smarter to be patient until they reached this temple and I can access the situation .

It was going to be hard to wait…

DRIFTING…

Darkness.

Gray mist…

No! Jane struggled desperately. She couldn’t leave Eve. She had to stay with her, help her.

But the grayness was now disappearing, too.

“Stop fighting it,” Caleb said softly. “You’re back, Jane.”

Her lids slowly lifted. It took a moment for her to focus. “I have to go back. I have to help her.”

“Not now. You were going too deep. I had to pull you back.”

“Help me.”

“I won’t help you. Not that way.”

“Dammit, she’s alone.”

“But not dead evidently. That’s a good thing.”

“Yes.” She sat up and brushed her hair away from her face. “It’s her right shoulder. It was throbbing. It looked as if it had been bandaged very clumsily. She’ll be lucky if it doesn’t get infected.”

“If we get her away from him quickly enough, we won’t have to worry about that.” He handed her a glass of water. “Now clear your head and let’s see if we can find a way to do it. You definitely made it through? You were dreaming about Eve?”

“Yes. And I think it was that remote viewing you told me about. It was too real to be anything else.” She drank a few sips of water and handed the glass back to him. “How long was I asleep?”

“Over an hour.”

Her eyes widened. “That’s odd. Dreams are supposed to last only minutes, seconds.”

“But then your dreams aren’t exactly run-of-the-mill, are they?”

She shook her head. That was an understatement if she’d ever heard one. “He told Eve he wants a trade. He’s not going to kill her just as a way to punish me the way he did with Celine.” Her lips twisted. “There’s not enough time to waste when he needs me for the Offering.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“She was on a plane on her way to the temple in Syria. They were almost there when I had to leave her.”

“And where is this temple located?”

“I told you, Syria. I don’t know anything else.” She gazed at him accusingly. “They hadn’t landed yet when you made me leave her.”

“It was necessary.”

She knew it was probably true, but it didn’t lessen her disappointment. “Okay, it’s done. There has to be something else I can use to find her.” Her brow knitted as she tried to sift through that ugly conversation Eve had had with Millet. “A man named Medford shot her. Millet wasn’t pleased with him. The plane they were on was some kind of a cargo aircraft. A few seats but mostly benches on either side of the plane. There were huge boxes that-”

“Any writing on the boxes?”

“Yes, but it was in Arabic.” She made a face. “There was no way I could decipher that script. But there was some kind of symbol under the writing. A crescent in a circle.”

He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small notebook and pen and handed it to her. “Draw it for me.”

As she began to draw the symbol, she suddenly stiffened, her gaze flying to meet his own. “I just remembered something else. Why the hell didn’t I zero in on it immediately? The pilot was a Captain Faruk,” she said. “He was going to return to Damascus to bring back other members to the Offering.”

“Jackpot!” he said softly. “Any description?”

She shook her head. “Eve never saw him. Medford was only talking about him.”

“Never mind. The name may be enough.” He got to his feet. “I’m going to go outside and get Gavin. I need to fill him in and have him stir Venable into getting us information about Faruk.” He opened the door. “Damn fast. You try to think of anything else we can use.”

As if she weren’t doing that already. But searching her memory word by word, the pilot’s name had been the only thing that even had a chance of being helpful. Excitement was beginning to build within her the more she thought about it. Faruk could be a major help to them. He wasn’t just a hired pilot. He knew about the Offering. Therefore, he must know the location of the temple.

And, in Damascus, he was relatively vulnerable and isolated from Millet’s gang of thugs.

As Caleb had said.

Jackpot.

“FARUK, AHMED,” JOCK SAID as he came into the house fifteen minutes later. “Formerly a copilot with Alitalia Airlines. He moved to Damascus four years ago and opened his own cargo line. He makes regular runs between Damascus and cities in Italy and does a bustling cargo and charter business out of Rome.” His brows lifted. “Now I wonder where he got the money to start his own business?”

“Does Venable show any connection with Millet?”

He shook his head. “And no criminal record. He’s clean.” He turned to Caleb, who had come in behind him. “Did you find anything else about him on the Net?”

“Only his home address in Damascus,” he said. “But that was really all I was interested in.” He inclined his head to Jane. “I believe I should take a run to Damascus and pay Faruk a visit.”

“No, Millet hasn’t even contacted me yet. What if something went wrong, and it got back to Millet? I don’t want to rush in and risk Eve unless we have a sure thing.”

“That’s not going to happen, Jane,” Jock said gently.

“As close to a sure thing as we can make it.” It was hard to be patient when all she wanted to do was rush forward as much as Caleb did. “Millet is letting me stew, so that he can have a maximum effect when he does contact me. We’ve got to take that time and try to turn it against him.” She turned to Caleb. “Look, find Faruk, zero in on him. Get ready to pounce. But hold off.”

He just looked at her.

The hunter, again.

Not now. She didn’t want to have to deal with that savage side of him. Dammit, he was such a complex blend of lethal aggression and sophisticated persuasiveness that she could never know which one was going to surface. It made her feel angry and helpless and she wanted to strike out.

She couldn’t strike out. The last thing she wanted was for him to strike back. She had enough battles looming on the horizon.

She drew a deep breath. “Please.”

He gazed at her for another moment. “That was extremely hard for you.” He shrugged. “If you like.” He turned and headed for the door. “I’ll head for the airport. I should be in Damascus within an hour or so, and I’ll locate Faruk. But keep in touch with me. I have to know that we’re moving or it becomes… difficult.”

“It may be difficult anyway,” Jock said as the door closed behind him. “What Venable knows, Joe Quinn will know. How are you going to keep Joe from going after Faruk? That would be the first thing I’d do. Caleb won’t let anyone else take his prey while you keep his hands tied. It could be major mayhem.”

Dammit, she hadn’t thought that far ahead. She seemed to be operating purely on instinct, and that wasn’t going to work. “I’ll have to call Joe.” She took out her phone. “In the meantime, can’t you see if you can get that artifacts professor here any sooner?”