Iris Johansen - Eight Days To Live

She couldn’t argue. “Everything is different now. I’m just trying to keep everyone alive.”

“So am I,” Caleb said quietly. “That’s why I think I should work on overcoming this-”

“No!” She finished her coffee. “Let’s get out of here. It’s almost time for Millet to call me, and I don’t want to take it here with all these men in the bar looking daggers at me.” She stood up. “One bastard at a time.”

JANE AND CALEB HAD BEEN sitting in the car outside the bar for only fifteen minutes when Jane’s phone rang.

“Have you been waiting for me?” Millet asked. “I imagine you’re very torn. It’s not every day that anyone is given the opportunity to make the ultimate sacrifice to save another. You’re very special.”

“And you’re very nuts.”

“Ugly.”

“Did you hurt Eve?”

“I’d like to say yes, but I decided that I should save myself for you, Jane.”

Relief surged through her. Roland must know Millet very well to be able to manipulate him to this extent. “May I talk to Eve again?”

“No, I’m not feeling generous. No contact until the exchange.” He paused. “If there is to be an exchange. Is Eve going to live, Jane?”

“Yes.” She moistened her lips. “But I don’t trust you. You’ll kill Eve, too, if you get the chance. I’m not going to walk into your trap until I’m sure Eve is out of it.”

“I have no use for Eve Duncan.”

“That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t enjoy tearing her limb from limb. I’ve seen your work, Millet.”

He chuckled. “Yes, you did. I was exceptionally artistic when I was working on Celine Denarve. I did enjoy that evening enormously.”

Poor butterfly, caught, pierced, pinned.

“It’s not going to happen to Eve. What are your plans?”

“I’m going to have you flown here to the temple and send Eve Duncan out on the same plane.”

“Good God, do you think I’m that gullible?”

“No, but I thought I’d try. Sometimes desperation robs one of common sense. Suppose we meet somewhere in the desert and do the exchange. That should be safer for both of you.”

“I’ll consider it.”

“Arrogant bitch.” His voice had harshened. “If I weren’t short on time, you’d have no choice at all. I’d kill Duncan, then go after you. It wouldn’t be long before I’d have it all.”

“But I do have a choice. Not much of one, but I’m not giving it up.”

“I need you at the temple by seven tomorrow night for the Offering. The exchange has to take place in time for me to get back to the temple before that. Five, six, at the latest. Do you understand? I need an Offering and I won’t quibble about taking Eve Duncan if I can’t have you.”

“I know you won’t.”

“I’ll call you in four hours, and you’d better have set a place for the transfer. I’ll need to send my men ahead to make sure you’re not setting a trap. That wouldn’t be wise, Jane. One sign, and I slice your Eve’s throat.” He hung up.

Her hand was shaking as she pressed the disconnect. It was what she had been expecting, but the violence and ugliness was striking hard at her. Millet’s vicious intensity had been like an exploding bullet. Everything had been leading up to this time and she had a crazy feeling that it was inevitable that Millet would triumph no matter what she did.

Tomorrow was the first of April.

Judas’s birthday.

The day of her death.

“Jane?”

She turned to look at Caleb in the seat next to her. “Four hours. I have to tell him where we’ll meet in the desert. He wants the exchange by five tomorrow evening.” She tried to keep her voice even. “He doesn’t want me to be late for the Offering. That wouldn’t be polite.”

Caleb muttered a curse. “He got to you.”

“No… Yes.” Her lips were trembling. “He’s such a monster. They’re all such monsters. Sometimes I can’t believe it. Blasphemer . They keep using that word. Cults and sacrifices and archaic words that shouldn’t even exist any longer. They should all be in the Dark Ages. It doesn’t seem real. I thought it was bad the night that Celine died, but it’s been going on so long. Tomorrow will be eight days, Caleb. Every minute has been like a dagger stabbing at me.” She tried to keep her voice steady. “I’m ready for it to be over.”

“And it will be.” His hands were gently cupping her face. “You’ll go through it all and come out clean and bright. It will be fine. I promise you.”

“I’ll be better soon.” She should move away from him, but she felt warm and treasured with his hands cupping her cheeks. She needed to feel as if she was more than the pawn in Millet’s dirty game. “I have to think how we’ll be able to handle this. I should call Roland, but nothing is clear right now.”

“It will be clear soon.” He was looking down into her eyes. His own eyes were dark and soft, and she couldn’t look away from them. So much gentleness, so much sensuality, so much intensity, that she was caught, held. It was flowing over her, around her, within her.

His hands left her face and moved to her shoulders. “Stop fighting. You don’t have to be strong right now. It’s not going to make any difference. I’m the only one here, and I’ll never judge you.” He was pulling her close. “You helped me. Now let me help you.”

She could hear his heart beneath her ear, and she didn’t move. She was safe, wonderfully content, enfolded in velvet darkness.

“That’s right, Jane,” he whispered. “Come dream with me…”

MILLET IS COMING, EVE thought hazily. She could hear his footsteps on the marble tiles in the hall. Concentrate. She had to focus. It was difficult with her shoulder throbbing with hot pain. Fever. It must be getting infected .

Ignore it. She had to concentrate on doing what Jane needed from her .

“You and your dear Jane are going to be reunited,” Millet said mockingly as he unlocked the door and entered the room. “She’s going to do the right thing and save you from the knife like a good daughter. I couldn’t wait to rush here and tell you.”

“Because you knew it would hurt me.” She slowly sat up on the cot. “You’re chock-full of malice and satisfaction and who better to share it with than a victim?”

His smile faded. “But you’re not giving me all the satisfaction that I hoped. Where is your fear? I thought that if I gave you time alone, you’d have to time to think and anticipate.”

“And dread?” She met his gaze. “Because it doesn’t matter what deal you struck with Jane. You’re not going to let me go. You’ll kill me the minute you get your hands on Jane.”

“That’s not true,” he said softly. “I won’t have time to toy with her before the Offering. I feel cheated. It’s only right that I keep you alive for a short while to amuse me.”

“And then I’ll end up on the altar, too?”

“A private Offering. It will be convenient. You’re here. Your death might as well be dedicated to the Master. His light will shine brighter on me.”

“How can you believe that?”

“How can I not? Look how far I’ve climbed. In the village, I lived with a father and mother who beat me and told me that I would never climb out of that dungheap. Now I’m the Guardian. I can have anything or anyone that pleases me. It had to be Judas showing his pleasure in everything I do.”

She shook her head. “You just changed dungheaps.”

His lips tightened. “Arrogant bitch. You’re just like Jane MacGuire.”

“Thank you.” She had to curb her tongue. This wasn’t the way to find out anything but what a degenerate scumbag he was. She was silent a moment. “You think you’re king of this pile of crap you call a temple. When you brought me here, I didn’t see anything impressive about it. It’s small, not much ornamentation, a copy of a dozen other temples I saw in Greece. That makes you king of nothing.”