Iris Johansen - Stalemate

The decision was made. Good-byes were always hard. If she didn't go today, she would go tomorrow or the next day. She knew herself too well not to know that.

She just had to hope that Joe didn't turn on the light.

She got a call from Galen when she was boarding the private jet at the Atlanta airport.

"Do you have a minute, luv?" he asked. "I need to talk to you."

"I have time. You've found out something?"

"Not as much as I'd like. Enough to make me uneasy."

"You? Uneasy? It takes a lot to rattle you."

"I'm not rattled. Don't insult me. I'm merely a bit troubled."

"And what about Montalvo made you troubled? We all knew he was bad news."

"We didn't know that there was a connection with Ramon Diaz."

"Diaz… the name's familiar, but I can't-"

"Colombian drug lord. Scum of the earth. Very powerful. He controls half the politicians in the government."

"And Montalvo is his buddy?"

"I don't know. Digging for information about Montalvo is a study in frustration. I need to go down there and do the job myself."

"No," she said sharply. "That's not what I asked. I want you to stay home and do any digging long-distance."

"I may have sounded like a hausfrau yesterday, but I still do my job, Eve. Long distance isn't cutting it."

"What did you find out?"

"I think he's forty-two and was born in a village in the south. I can't trace his parents yet. As far as I know, he could have been hatched. The next info places him with the rebels when he was in his twenties. Very good. Very lethal. That's all until he emerges years later as this weapons guru."

"And Diaz?"

"I don't know. My informant says it's only a whisper, not a fact. But that whisper keeps repeating over and over."

"Maybe it's like the telephone game. It starts out as one thing and ends up completely different."

"Maybe. But if there's any connection at all you want to get as far away as possible from him. Diaz shoots priests because they preach against growing coca. I don't know how nasty Montalvo operates, but if he works with Diaz, he's bound to be an ugly customer."

"A whisper."

Galen was silent a moment. "And you don't want to hear that whisper, do you? Why not?"

"I'm listening."

"I can hardly hear you with all that background noise. Where are you?"

"I need to hang up anyway. Call me if you hear anything concrete." She was climbing the steps of the jet. "But don't you leave Elena and Elspeth. I don't need the information that badly."

"You sounded fairly urgent before. What's different?"

The difference was that bad or good, she was going to find out for herself. "Thanks for trying, Galen."

"I don't try, I do. You know that or you wouldn't have called me in the first place. I'll get back to you when I know more. Good-bye, Eve."

"Good-bye, Galen. Remember what I-"

He was gone. Dammit, she'd unleashed Galen's boundless curiosity, and coupled with his pride in his profession, she'd never be able to call him off until he was satisfied.

The pilot came out of the cockpit. "We need to take off, Ms. Duncan."

"Fine." She settled in a seat and fastened her seat belt. It wasn't fine. In a matter of hours Joe would be home and getting the note she had left. Galen might decide to leave his family and go to Colombia and she was on her way to a man who was not only a criminal in his own right, but hobnobbed with scum like Diaz.

No, nothing was fine at this particular moment.

The note was propped up on the coffee table where Joe couldn't miss it.

He muttered a curse as he tore it open.

Joe,

I had to do it. I'm on my way to Montalvo. Don't come after me. It will be much riskier for both of us if you're on the scene. Montalvo doesn't want to hurt me. He needs me. I won't answer my phone for a while but I'll keep in touch. Just don't come after me. Please.

I can see you now, angry and frustrated as you read this. You're thinking I'm stupid and blind and you're asking yourself why I fell for the line he gave me. I fought it but in the end I couldn't do anything else.

He promised me Bonnie.

I love you.

Eve

Shit.

Joe's hand slowly crushed the note. He wanted to strike out, to crush more than this damned piece of paper. He should have known that she was on the edge, preparing to move. Eve was always up-front and eager about sex, but last night she had been almost aggressive.

And damn wonderful.

If good-bye could ever be wonderful.

The son of a bitch. He had dangled the one bait Eve could never resist and done it with a cleverness that made it almost acceptable to her.

Yes, she was safe while she was working on the reconstruction. But she knew as well as he did that once the work was done, all bets were off. She didn't care. The chance to find Bonnie was worth the risk to her.

Pain surged through him. Well, it wasn't worth it to him. He wouldn't lose her.

And her plea for him not to follow her was crap. No way.

He pulled out his cell phone. No use to call Eve. If she said she wouldn't answer, she wouldn't do it.

He dialed Galen and said when he picked up, "I need to know everything you can find out about Montalvo's compound, how it's manned, any weakness."

Galen was silent a moment. "How soon?"

"Yesterday."

Galen gave a low whistle. "Not easy. Would you care to give me a reason for the urgency?"

"Sometime tonight Eve will be going through the gates of that compound."

"Shit."

"Exactly. She left me a note to tell me to stay home and tend to my knitting."

"Fat chance. I can't believe she'd take that risk. Particularly after I told her about Diaz."

"Diaz?"

"I called her this morning and told her that there might be a connection between Montalvo and Diaz. It would be a very nasty combo. Drugs and weapons." He paused. "I think she was at the airport this morning when I called. The noise…"

Diaz. Jesus. What Joe had heard about him was ugly and lethal. "Montalvo is nasty enough. He played Eve like a maestro."

"Eve doesn't manipulate easily."

"He promised her Bonnie."

"Christ. That would do it. I'll get on the phone and see what I can find out for you. When are you leaving?"

"Tonight."

"Call Venable before you go and see if you can find out any information from him. It can't hurt. We may need all the help we can get."

"We?"

"I'll meet you in Bogota and we'll go from there."

"No."

"Screw you. I'm going with or without you. Eve asked me to do a job and I haven't finished it. You try to operate without me and you'll be going in blind. My sources wouldn't trust anyone but me."

And Galen had the best information sources Joe had ever run across. "Then I won't argue with you. Eve probably would. She was looking very mushy and sentimental when she was talking about your Elspeth."

"I've no intention of not coming back. We go in, we get Eve, and we get out." He paused. "If we can persuade her to go. That's up to you."

"Thanks. She'll come back with us if I have to tie and gag her. I'll call you when I have my flight information." He hung up and sat there for a moment. Fight the panic. Galen was right. The big battle would be to persuade Eve to abandon her deal with Montalvo and come with them.

He'd find a way. He had to find a way. Stop sitting here and start moving. He'd call Venable on the way to the airport. He stood up and headed for the door.

San Cristal

It was after midnight when the helicopter Eve had switched to in Bogota set down on the landing strip of the small village that was only a dot in the middle of the blackness of the jungle.

She drew a deep breath, trying to ease the tenseness of her muscles. Now wasn't the time for nerves. Being here was her choice. So she felt isolated and uncertain. Suck it up and face it.