Countdown (27 page)

H
er bedroom was dark and she tossed her purse on the chair by the door before reaching for the light switch.

“Don’t turn it on.”

She froze.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Jock.

Her heart was pounding, but she drew a deep breath and turned to the corner of the room from where he’d spoken. The moonlight pouring in the window was faint and it was a moment before she could make him out. He was sitting on the floor, his arms linked about his knees. “What are you doing here, Jock?”

“I wanted to talk to you.” She could see his hands clench into fists. “I had to talk to you.”

“And it couldn’t have waited until tomorrow?”

“No.” He was silent a moment. “I was angry with you. I didn’t like what you said. For a little while I wanted to hurt you. I didn’t tell the laird that. He’d get upset with me if I hurt you.”

“Not nearly as much as I would.”

“But you couldn’t get upset; you’d be dead.”

Was there a touch of black humor in those words? It was impossible to tell since she couldn’t see his expression. “Does hurt automatically mean killing, Jock?”

“It turns out that way. It happens so fast. . . .”

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Rei—Reilly.” He stopped and then said again, “Reilly. It’s hard for me to talk about him. He—doesn’t—want me—to do it.”

“But you’re doing it anyway. That makes you stronger than he is.”

“Not yet. Someday.”

“When?”

“When he’s dead. When I kill him.” The words were spoken with utmost simplicity.

“You don’t have to kill him, Jock. Just tell us where he is and we’ll let the authorities take care of it.”

He shook his head. “I have to do it. It has to be me.”

“Why?”

“Because if I don’t, the laird will try to do it for me. He won’t wait for anyone else. He’s . . . angry with him.”

“Because he’s an evil man.”

“Satan. If there’s a Satan, it’s—Reilly.”

“Just tell us where he is.”

“I—don’t know.”

“You have to know.”

“Whenever I try to think of it—my head—it hurts so bad I think it’s going to explode.”

“Try.”

“I tried last night.” He was silent. “I got—pictures. Flashes. Nothing else.” He paused. “But maybe—if I went back I might remember.”

“Back to Colorado?”

“Not Colorado.”

“That’s where they found you.”

“Not Colorado. North. Maybe . . . Idaho?”

She felt a leap of hope. “You remember that much? Where?”

He shook his head. “I have to go back.”

It was a step closer than they’d been before. “Then we’ll go back. I’ll talk to Trevor.”

“Right away.”

“Tonight.”

He rose to his feet. “And we have to find Reilly soon or the laird will start looking for him. He’s not going to wait much longer.”

“We’ll start out as soon as we can make arrangements.” She frowned, thinking about it. “But no one can know you’re with us or Reilly might decide that his position is compromised and flee.”

“He won’t think that.”

“Why not?”

“He probably already knows I’m here and that I haven’t been able to tell the laird anything. He’ll believe he’s safe.”

“Why would he believe that?”

“Because he told me I’d die if I told anyone where he was.”

“You mean he’d kill you.”

“No, I’d just die. My heart would stop beating and I’d die.”

“That’s crazy.”

“No, I saw it happen. Reilly showed—me.” He touched his chest. “And I felt my heart pound and pound and I knew that it would stop if he told me it would.”

God, it sounded like voodoo. “Only if you believe it. Only if you let him win. If you’re strong, it can’t happen.”

“I hope I’ll be strong enough. I have to kill Reilly before he kills the laird.” He headed for the door. “I wanted to die once, but the laird wouldn’t let me. Now there are times when I don’t mind being alive. Sometimes I even forget about—” He opened the door. “I’ll come to you tomorrow morning.”

“Wait. Why didn’t you go to MacDuff instead of me?”

“Because I have to do what the laird says. He’d want to go after Reilly alone, and if I found Reilly, he’d keep me from him because he wants to protect me. If you and Trevor are with us, you won’t do that. I’ll get my chance.”

“I’d try to protect you, Jock.”

He was silhouetted against the light of the hall as he opened the door. “Not like he will.” The next moment he was gone.

She stood there a moment, her mind whirling with a mixture of excitement and hope. There was no guarantee that Jock would remember Reilly’s location, but it was possible. He seemed to be coming back, and he’d already remembered it wasn’t in Colorado and might be Idaho.

And his answer when she’d asked him why he hadn’t gone to MacDuff had shown a maturity and perception that surprised her. He had clearly thought about the consequences and worked out his own solution. If he’d come that far, then there was hope indeed.

And they had to act on the gift he’d given them right away. Only tonight she’d told Mario how helpless she felt about finding another avenue to explore since discovering the gold was now in question. Well, now they had an opportunity, and they had to grab it and run with it.

But there were many pitfalls to just taking Jock back to the U.S. where MacDuff had found him with no preparations for fallout. They’d need all the help they could get.

She opened the door and went to the library to find Trevor.

16
                                                                                          

W
e can’t just wander around the U.S. on the chance Jock will find Reilly,” Trevor said. “The Run is being watched by Grozak. We take off and we’ll be followed. If we’re followed, then Grozak will tell Reilly, and Reilly will close the deal and give Grozak what he wants.”

“Jock said that Reilly won’t be worried about him,” Jane said.

“I won’t bet on it. Jock broke through his training to escape Reilly. Reilly would have to be a true egomaniac to be positive that he wouldn’t ignore that self-destruct command.”

“Christ, that couldn’t happen, could it?” She shook her head. “It violates every law of self-preservation.”

“I’ve heard of suicide experiments by the Nazis in World War Two that were supposed to be successful. The mind can be a powerful weapon. At any rate, Jock believes it.”

“And he’s willing to risk his life to save MacDuff.” She was silent a moment. “And we’re going to let him do it.”

“To possibly save several thousand more people than Jock’s laird.”

“I know that. Why do you think I’m here? But I don’t have to like it.” Her hands clenched on the arms of the chair. “So how do we make it work? How do we get away from here without letting Grozak know we’re gone?”

“With great difficulty.”

“How?”

“I have to think about it. And there’s Venable, who’s practically parking on our doorstep. We can’t bring him into it or there would be no hope of keeping our departure secret. We can’t afford any leaks.”

“It’s the CIA, for heaven’s sake. They should be able to handle a clandestine operation.”

He looked at her without replying.

No, Jock had trusted her, and she didn’t want to shift that responsibility to strangers either. “Okay, no ideas?”

“I have a few glimmers.” He leaned back in his chair. “Let me think about it.”

“Can we use MacDuff?”

He smiled. “He’d deny that anyone could use him. But we’ll almost certainly have to bring him into the mix. We’d have to kidnap Jock to get him away from his laird.”

“I’m not sure about that. He didn’t want MacDuff near Reilly.”

“And you believe MacDuff wouldn’t raise hell and track us down if we tried to interfere with Jock without his supervision?”

“No, I guess not.”

“And I made a deal with MacDuff about Reilly.”

“Reilly’s head on a platter?”

“Let’s say I promised him that if I found Reilly, he’d get his chance at him.” He tilted his head. “It was a bargain I had no qualms about making considering Reilly’s character.” He reached for the phone. “Sorry to wake you, Bartlett. We have a situation. Will you come to the library?” He hung up. “Don’t talk to Eve or Quinn for the time being, Jane.”

“Why not?”

“When I called Venable tonight, he said that his tech crew intercepted an unknown electronic signal in the area yesterday. Grozak may have been able to get a fix to tap the phone line.”

“That’s great,” she said in disgust. “That’s all we need right now.”

“We’ll get around it. We may even be able to use it.” He spoke to Bartlett as he came in to the room. “We’re going to the U.S.”

“You want me to arrange transport?”

“Not yet. I’ll let you know. We can’t be seen leaving here, so we may have to meet the pilot somewhere away from the Run. We’ll have to use a different pilot this time. Probably Kimbrough. He operates out of Paris.”

“When do we leave?”

“You don’t leave. You stay here.”

Bartlett frowned. “Why should I? I’m doing nothing here. I’ve been very bored lately.”

“I’ve an idea that that won’t continue.” He turned to Jane. “You’d better get to bed.”

Was he trying to get rid of her?

He shook his head as he saw her expression. “Tomorrow may be rough sledding. You can stay if you like, but I’m just going to go over the routine running of the security of the castle and my business affairs with Bartlett.” He smiled faintly. “I promise I’m not going to go anywhere without you.”

She stood up. “You bet you aren’t.” She headed for the door. “When are you going to talk to MacDuff? I want to be there.”

“Eight?”

She nodded. “Eight.”

B
ut it was only a little after six the next morning when Bartlett knocked on her door. “I’m sorry to wake you,” he said apologetically. “But MacDuff just blew into the library like a hurricane and Trevor sent me to get you.”

“I’ll be right there.” She jumped out of bed and grabbed her robe. “Give me a minute to wash my face.”

“I’ll wait.” He watched her run to the bathroom and called after her. “But MacDuff seems very impatient. He’s not waiting for anyone to vent. I believe Jock must have decided to break his news to him.”

“I’m not surprised.” She was dabbing at her damp face with a towel as she came out of the bathroom and headed for the door. “I don’t know how unpredictable Jock was before, but he’s volatile as hell now.”

“No more than MacDuff,” Bartlett murmured as he hurried after her.

She saw what he meant when she entered the library. MacDuff was standing, hovering over Trevor like the wrath of God. His lips were tight and his eyes glittering as he turned to her. “Why did I have to hear it from Jock? Were you trying to shut me out?”

“I considered it. Jock didn’t really want you along,” she said curtly. “But Trevor said he’d made a deal.”

“How honorable,” MacDuff said with sarcasm. “Am I supposed to be grateful? Our deal was for you to find Reilly. It turns out Jock is going to find Reilly for me. I don’t need you.”

“But Jock won’t find Reilly for you,” Jane said. “He’s afraid for you. He wants us along.”

“So he told me.” He scowled. “I could push him.”

“And do you want to do that?” Trevor asked. “He appears to be pretty finely balanced. He could break or slip over the edge.”

MacDuff didn’t speak for a moment. “Dammit, I don’t want you interfering.”

“Tough,” Jane said. “You’re not the only one affected by that scumbag. Jock wants us and we’re going.” She met his gaze. “And I don’t care about your deal with Trevor. You’re apparently willing to disregard it to get rid of us.”

“True,” Trevor murmured.

MacDuff continued to glare at her for another moment before he said through his teeth, “Very well. We go together. But I don’t promise it’s going to stay that way. If Jock tells me where I can find Reilly, I’ll leave you in my dust.”

“Then I think it would be fair for us to have the same choice,” Trevor said. “But I believe we should put our minds to getting away from here unnoticed rather than what will happen after we zero in on Reilly.”

“No CIA,” MacDuff said flatly. “Nothing that will tip Reilly off and scare him into making a move to stop us.”

“No argument,” Trevor said. “And Grozak is watching the castle— there’s a good chance he has our phone tapped now. We can’t just call for a helicopter to pick us up.”

“No, we can’t.” MacDuff turned on his heel. “Pack what you have to carry and meet me at the stable in an hour.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” MacDuff glanced over his shoulder. “If we have to leave, we’ll leave.”

“I told you that we—”

“We’ll leave. This is
my
castle,
my
land. I won’t be kept a prisoner by anyone. Not your fine CIA or Grozak or anyone else.”

Jane flinched as the door slammed behind him. “He’s a little irate, isn’t he? But he doesn’t seem to have a problem with the logistics of the situation. Do you think he can come up with a way to get out?”

“Evidently he thinks he can. It won’t hurt to meet him at the stable and see what he has to say once he’s cooled down.” He got up from his chair. “Get moving. Pack and meet me in the hall. Stop by and give a heads-up to Mario and tell him we’ll be in touch.”

“What are you going to be doing?”

“Bartlett and I have set up a little diversion.” He smiled at Bartlett. “We should have enough time to do the final.”

She moved toward the door. “I don’t know how Mario’s going to take this. He’s not pleased about being stuck in that study since his father was killed.”

“Too bad. You seem to be the negotiator these days.” He crooked his finger for Bartlett to come in. “Persuade him.”

Persuade him, she thought in exasperation as she climbed the staircase. Mario was bound and determined to avenge his father, and she was supposed to tell him he should forget it and stay at his desk. The only thing that had kept him at work so far had been the promise of making him competent enough to exact that revenge successfully. Now his work was almost completed and they were leaving him to—

She stopped outside Mario’s study and drew a deep breath before she knocked on the door.

N
o,” Mario said curtly. “Hell, no. I’m going with you.”

“Mario, we don’t even know where we’re going or whether we’ll find Grozak or Reilly.”

“You have a lead.” He got to his feet. “And that’s more than you had before.”

“You can’t help.”

“How do you know?” He took the top paper from the pile on his desk and shoved it into his pocket. “I’m going.” He shoveled the rest of the papers into the top drawer. “No arguments.”

“I am going to argue. And so will Trevor.”

“As you please.” He patted his pocket. “But you’re not going to make any headway. And you might ruin your chance of reading the translation I just finished.”

She stiffened. “You finished it?”

He nodded. “And very interesting it is. There were a few surprises.”

“Did she mention the gold?”

“Absolutely.” He headed for the bedroom. “I have to brush my teeth and take a shower. I’ve been working all night. I’ll meet you at the stable.”

“Mario, dammit, what did she say?”

He shook his head. “If I’ve learned one thing from this horror, it’s that weapons are important, even against the people you believe are your friends. We’ll talk about Cira after we find a way to get Grozak and Reilly.”

“We may be able to negotiate with Reilly if you can tell us where the gold may be.”

“I don’t want to negotiate. I want to chop off those bastards’ heads like they did my father’s.” His lips tightened grimly. “Ugly, isn’t it? The priests would be praying for my soul now.” He opened his bedroom door. “But then, no one was there to pray for my father’s soul, were they?”

“We’re not going to put up with this, Mario. We can’t. Trevor will take that translation away from you in the blink of an eye.”

“If he can find it. By the time you go get him I’ll have it tucked away so well that Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t be able to come up with it. Maybe I’ll even destroy it and re-create it later.”

She stared after him for a moment with a mixture of pity and frustration before heading for the door. He’d made up his mind and was willing to withhold Cira’s scroll to get his way. In her heart she couldn’t blame him. She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have done the same thing.

J
ock was standing in the doorway of the stable when Jane and Trevor arrived an hour later. “The laird said to tell you he’d be back soon.”

“Where is he?”

“He had to talk to the guards. He said it was important.” He turned to Jane. “He’s not angry with me. I thought he would be, but he’s angry with you instead. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. He’ll just have to get over it.” She watched MacDuff stride toward them. “He’s feeling as frustrated as the rest of us, and he cares about you.”

“My, how generous,” Trevor murmured.

“It doesn’t take generosity. Understanding, maybe. MacDuff may be hard, but he’s doing all this for Jock. In a way, that’s admirable.”

“I’ll admire him too, if he can get us out of here,” Trevor said. “What about it, Jock? Can he do it?”

“Of course.” Jock said to Jane, “I watered my plants, but do you think you could get that Bartlett to do it again in a few days if we don’t come back?”

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to.” She turned and started back to the castle. “I’ll run back and tell him to—”

“Where are you going?” MacDuff was only a few feet away.

“Bartlett needs to be told to water Jock’s plants.”

“I’ve already told Patrick,” MacDuff said. “No one else need be involved in Jock’s business.”

“What were you telling the guards?” Trevor asked.

“That they’re to behave absolutely normally, as if we were still here.”

“Can you trust them?”

MacDuff gave him a scornful glance. “Naturally. They’re my people. If anyone approaches the castle, they’re to deny entrance.” He paused. “Even if they claim to be CIA.”

“I’ve no objection. I phoned Venable this morning and told him that he might not hear from me for a day or two since Mario was close to finishing the scrolls and everything was on hold until we found out if we had anything to work with to find the gold.”

“And what if he phones you?”

“Bartlett and I worked out a voice-over substitute last night, and he’ll take the calls.”

“What do you mean?” Jane asked.

“It’s a very clever little gadget you attach to the phone and it makes anyone talking on it sound exactly like you.” He smiled. “I assure you it works. It’s not the first time Bartlett has had to cover for me.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Jane said. She braced herself and said to MacDuff, “Mario is coming with us.”

“The devil he is.” He whirled on Trevor. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Don’t blame me.” Trevor held up his hands. “I had the same reaction, but Jane says that Mario finished the scroll and may have a lead on the gold. He won’t come through with the info if we leave him behind.”

“A lead on the gold,” MacDuff repeated. “Do you believe he’s telling the truth?”

Jane nodded. “But I’m not sure. He’s changed. He might even be manipulating us to suit himself.”

“To get his father’s killer.” MacDuff was silent a moment, thinking. “The gold is important. If Mario comes, you’ll have to be responsible for him not getting in the way, Trevor. I’m going to be too busy with Jock to hold his hand.”