Your Next Breath (3 page)

“I haven’t seen Cameron since San Francisco, and he was never a part of my life,” she said.

“Debatable. But I agree he can take care of himself.” He closed the notebook. “And we have to hope that our list is the same as the killer who appears to be stalking you has.”

“That’s not good enough,” she said fiercely. “I won’t sit here waiting for him to pick off another person I care about. I have to find out who he is and go after him.”

“Absolutely.” He got to his feet and handed the notebook back to her. “So why don’t you make another list of all the people who hate you and have the resources and contacts to carry out a vendetta this elaborate. In the meantime, I will go and talk to Luke and Sam and tell them why we’ve been so rude as to ignore them.”

“You’re going to tell Luke about this?”

“Of course. Your instinct may be to protect him from knowing he’s a target, but that’s a mother’s instinct and has no basis in reality. He may be only twelve, but he’s led a life that has rid him of any hint of childhood. How can he protect himself if he doesn’t know that danger is out there?”

“I’ll protect him. Sam will protect him.” He was looking at her. “Okay, tell him. But he’ll only worry about me.”

“And so he should. It’s a son’s duty, and he must learn things of that nature.” The door closed behind him.

She leaned back in the chair.

Dammit, she was sad and shaken and didn’t want to have to handle this crisis that was looming over her.

And over Luke.

She looked down at the photo of Olena Petrov. You didn’t want to handle this either, did you, Olena? Such a terrible life, and we all thought it had turned around for you. It should have turned around. You shouldn’t have had someone come into your home and take your life just because you helped me when I was a little girl. It’s not right.

Jantzen. His little girl would never have him by her side again. Not right, either.

All of this scenario was wrong and ugly and looked as if it would continue if she couldn’t find a way to stop it.

So do what Hu Chang had told her to do. Look deep and find the name of the person who hated her enough to destroy everyone around her in order to hurt her before he took her life.

She flipped the notebook open.

Think.

Not as easy as the other list.

She was CIA, and she had made many enemies in her career. She had grown up on the streets of Hong Kong, and those years had not been free of conflict.

Weed through her life, which had been violent and brimful of people who might want her dead.

Give Hu Chang his list.

And then go after the vicious son of a bitch who had killed her friends.

*   *   *

“I think there are really only two possibilities,” she said when Hu Chang walked into the library thirty minutes later. “One is Charles Corliss, who was a gun runner in the Middle East. He also had a hand in smuggling chemical weapons out of Syria into Iran. Three years ago, I was instrumental in busting up his sweet little deal with Iran and in the process put a bullet in his kneecap that caused him permanent disability. Venable told me he’d put a price on my head.”

“And the other?”

“Tomas Santos. He was a kingpin drug dealer in Caracas and had a network of criminal organizations that extended from Venezuela to Mexico.”

“Had?”

“We managed to find enough evidence and witnesses not too terrified to testify to put him away for twenty years. He’s in a maximum-security prison in Caracas.”

“Then why is he a candidate?”

“You said to find someone who hates me. Santos hates me.”

“For putting him away?”

She shook her head. “I was one of the force who went to his penthouse to arrest him. He had a helicopter standing by on the roof to whisk him away to Iran, where he couldn’t be extradited. He tried to get to it. We stopped him.”

Hu Chang’s eyes narrowed. “But that’s not all.”

“No. I shot and killed his wife, Delores Santos.”

“An innocent bystander?”

“Innocent? Delores Santos stopped being innocent when she left the cradle. She was an active partner with her husband in all his drug trafficking and reputed to be as vicious as he was. At that penthouse shoot-out, she’d already taken down one of the local police detectives before I got off a good shot.”

“And knowing your expertise, it was a very good shot.”

“She died in Santos’s arms. He looked up at me, and I’d never seen such hatred.”

“Threats?”

She shook her head. “But I saw him twice during his trial, and there didn’t have to be threats. The hatred was still there.”

“But he’s in prison?”

“That doesn’t mean he couldn’t manipulate things from inside. He had tremendous power and money stashed away all over the world. Dorgal, his second-in-command, was almost slavishly loyal and could have arranged the kills.”

“Corliss or Santos? What’s your choice?”

She shrugged. “It could be either.”

“Gut instinct.”

“Santos. Hatred. Plus I killed someone he cared about. Evidently, Delores Santos was his alter ego or something. Maybe he thinks this is a fitting way to punish me.”

“It seems that could be a reasonable assumption.”

“There’s nothing reasonable about this. It’s all ugly and crazy.” She looked down at the notebook. “What did you tell Luke?”

“Exactly what I told you I would tell him. O’Neill is in the process of bringing in extra security from his friends among the ex-CIA elite. All will be well.”

She prayed he was right.

“Those other names on that list,” she said brusquely. “We have to protect them. Until this is over, I’d like Erin to leave Tibet and go to Chen Lu’s golden palace in Hong Kong. Chen Lu has enough of a security force to make it fairly safe. Can you arrange it?”

“But of course I can. Erin Sullivan is very stubborn, but she has a great regard for my vast intellect.” He smiled. “Is this what they called in the Old West encircling the wagon train?”

“That sounds very strange coming from you. Yes, approximately. I’ll call Eve Duncan and give her a warning. If Joe’s at the lake house, that will be security enough for her.”

Hu Chang nodded. “Joe Quinn has a reputation for being very competent in that area.”

“Exceptionally. He’s an ex-SEAL and a police detective. That’s an effective combination.” She picked up her phone. “Get busy, Hu Chang. You forced me to mentally go over those scumbags who want to see me dead, and I’m tied up in knots. All these years, I’ve managed to block them out of my mind and forget them, but that’s gone now. I can’t have any other deaths.”

“You’re calling Eve?”

“No, not right now. I changed my mind. I’m calling Joe Quinn. He’s a police detective with Atlanta PD, and there’s no way he’ll let anything happen to Eve. If I called Eve direct, she’d want to come here and help. The only help I want is for her to keep safe. Right after I talk to Joe, I’m calling Venable. I want to check on the status of Corliss and Santos.”

“Wise.” He turned toward the door. “And I will go call Chen Lu and tell her to circle her particular wagons and prepare for visitors.”

“Good.” Joe Quinn’s phone was ringing, then he picked up. “Joe, Catherine Ling. Look, God, I’m sorry, but I have a problem, and you and Eve may become involved in it.” She filled him in quickly. “If you can protect Eve without letting her know what’s hanging over her, it might be a mercy.”

“Eve and I don’t play those games,” Joe said quietly. “She wouldn’t thank me.” He was silent. “You’re okay?”

“I’m fine. Just take care of Eve.”

“No one will touch her,” he said flatly. “She’ll probably call you back. You’re her friend.”

“I thought as much. I just wanted to be sure that you were on top of it.”

“I’ll contact Venable and see if I can do anything to help out.”

“If you do, it’ll be from behind a desk or at your lake cottage. I don’t want you more than a few yards from Eve.”

“Bossy female.” There was a hint of amusement beneath the grimness in Joe’s voice.

“You bet. Bye, Joe.” She hung up.

CHAPTER

2

Catherine took a moment after talking to Joe, then dialed Venable.

“I expected to hear from you before this,” Venable said testily when he answered. “When I turned that information over to Hu Chang, it didn’t mean I was opting out. Jantzen was a good man, and I’m mad as hell.”

“Yes, he was, and so am I,” Catherine said. “Any more news about Slantkey?”

“A gold dog tag with your name in the pocket of his motorcycle jacket. He’s definitely one of yours.”

One of hers. One of the victims killed in her name. The casual words were cold, the responsibility even more chilling. “Hu Chang told you about Olena Petrov?”

“Yes, definitely a pattern.” He muttered a curse. “Jantzen was smart, he wouldn’t have walked into a trap if the bait hadn’t been presented with a cleverness that was impressive. It was a tip on an arms shipment that came out of the blue. It didn’t have anything to do with the mission he was currently working on.”

“And Olena wasn’t clever at all. She’d made wrong choices all her life. Maybe she felt safe in that home we’d given her and just threw open the door for her killer. Either way, they were both victims, and I have to find the bastards who killed them.”

“
We
have to find them,” Venable said. “I told you, I won’t let them kill my people and just walk away.” He paused. “And you’d be hard to replace. It would be easier just to take the son of a bitch down.”

“Sentimental, as usual. I’m touched.” She and Venable had been together since she was fourteen and selling information on the streets of Hong Kong and he was a CIA agent trying to strike a balance between the British and Chinese. He had trained her, schooled her, but he had never pampered her. She was an agent and took her risks. She would have thought it bizarre for him to do anything else. The job was everything to Venable. “I’m glad we’re thinking along the same lines. I came up with two names, Corliss and Santos. Give me an update on them.”

“Good choices,” he said dryly. “You pissed both of them off royally.”

“Corliss?”

“He’s off the list. He was killed in Pakistan over a month ago.”

“Then, Santos. He’s still in that prison in Caracas?”

“He was until three days ago.”

She went still. “What?”

“He received a release because two witnesses who testified at his trial recanted their testimonies.”

“Why didn’t I hear anything about it? Santos is big news.”

“Money, influence, threats. I’d make a bet both the witnesses and the judge who issued the release were scared shitless and wanted only to do what they were told, then fade into the woodwork.”

“But you knew about it?”

“I was there at the prison when they let him go. I felt helpless as hell.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was busy. I had an agent down. Jantzen was more important to me at the time.”

“Do you know where Santos is now?”

“I tried to get a trace on him, but it was a no-go. We think he left South America but don’t know where he was headed.”

“What about Manuel Dorgal? He’s practically Santos’s shadow.”

“He didn’t meet him at the prison.”

“No?” she said grimly. “He was probably busy with Olena Petrov and couldn’t get back for the grand occasion.”

“You’ve zeroed in on Santos?”

“Until I hear something different. Santos has been in that prison for two years, but the killings didn’t start until he was certain he was going to get out. He didn’t want to miss any of the fun. He’s been plotting and planning, and now he’s ready.”

“Ready for you?”

“Eventually. Hu Chang thinks that he’ll want to hit a few more people I care about before he gets around to me. I tend to agree. I saw his face after I shot his wife. He’ll want me to suffer.”

“Crazy son of a bitch.”

“That goes without saying.” She was trying to think. “But if he wants me to suffer, he’s going to want to taunt me, to take credit. It’s what I remember about his psychological makeup. He’ll call me or send me an e-mail or something. Put a trace on all my electronic devices.”

“Okay. But he’s not stupid. We may not get anything.”

“It’s the only thing I can think to do right now. Except warn the people I care about. I just called Joe Quinn. And I told Hu Chang to get Erin Sullivan to go to Chen Lu’s palace in Hong Kong.” She frowned. “But that may take too much time. I don’t know how much time we’ll have. Erin’s doing humanitarian work with the people in that village in Tibet. You have agents near there, and I remember that Les Caudell actually knew her. Can you tell him to keep an eye on her?”

“Why don’t you call on your friend Cameron? He knows Tibet like the back of his hand. As I recall, there was a connection between Erin and him, wasn’t there?”

“They’re … close.” Connection? That was both descriptive and an understatement when applied to Cameron and Erin. She had thought at first they might be lovers, but that was far from the truth. As security chief for the conglomerate for which he worked, one of Cameron’s duties was to recruit brilliant, idealistic people to the global movement in which he believed. As a Pulitzer Prize winner, Erin fell in that category, and their closeness came from an intimacy based on Erin’s gratitude to him for banishing the pain and terror of torture she was experiencing after her kidnapping by a warlord in Tibet. Soon, Erin had become caught up in the mystery that surrounded Cameron.

And Catherine had become caught up with both of them while freeing Erin from the warlord. Erin had become her friend. Cameron had become … she still didn’t know what Cameron had become to her.

“And Cameron’s not in Tibet at the moment,” she said. “The last I heard he was in Copenhagen. Besides, Erin wouldn’t want Cameron involved. She’s very protective of him. Just tell your agent to keep an eye on her until she gets to Hong Kong.”

“Okay. Anyone else who would be on Santos’s short list?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe Kelly Winters, who’s at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. She and Luke are friends, and she spends weekends with us sometimes. Assign someone to keep an eye on her.” She paused. “I thought I was a fairly solitary person, but we touch everyone around us. When I was going over the list of possible victims, I found that out. Someone I might not consider as close, Santos could decide was worth killing.” Her hand tightened on the phone. “I just have to find him soon. Get me phone numbers. Any way to trace him. Start searching, Venable.”