Eight Days to Live (37 page)

“That would be good.” She moved toward the bathroom. “I’ll go and wash some of this dirt and clay off me. Then I think I’ll call Venable myself and nag him about getting that expert out here.”

“If it would make you feel better,” Caleb said. “But I imagine that between Jock and Joe Quinn, he has plenty of pressure on him.”

“It will make me feel better.” She closed the bathroom door and leaned back against it in the darkness. Alone. No one to pity her. No need to be brave and capable. Not for this moment. Let the pain come.

She drew a deep, shaky breath, feeling the tears sting her eyes.

Eve.

It will be all right, Eve. I promise you that it will be all right. I’ll use everything I know and feel, and maybe some things that I don’t know at all about. I’ll reach out and grab anything I can to find you. I know you’re not afraid of dying. But we’re afraid of losing you. We
can’t
lose you.

One more minute. It was dangerous to indulge this wrenching sorrow. It could weaken her, and she had to be strong.

Eve . . .

She braced herself and reached out and turned on the light.

She was only a few feet from a basin and mirrored medicine cabinet.

Her face was pasty white, and she looked as if she had been through a war.

She straightened and crossed to the basin and started to run the water.

She hadn’t been through a war.

The war was yet to come.

“YOU LOOK BETTER.” CALEB
looked up as she came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later. “I found some tea bags. No coffee.” He was pouring hot water from a kettle into the cups. “Not classy but adequate.”

“Where’s Jock? Still on the phone?”

“No, he went out to reconnoiter the area and make sure the house is secure. But he said to tell you that Venable should have that artifacts expert out within two hours. His name is Professor Joseph Tischler, and he’s highly qualified.”

“Good. I wish it was sooner.”

“He had to get his equipment from the university lab.” He handed her a cup. “Venable told him that preservation was essential, and Tischler was arguing that he didn’t want to do the inspection on site. He wanted to take the bottle to the university and take his time.”

“There is no time.” She took a sip of the tea. It was bitter but hot. She needed the heat. “Two hours?”

“And then the time it will take to X-ray and give us his findings.” He lifted his cup. “We’ll hurry him along, Jane.”

But in the meantime she was going to have to sit here and do nothing but wait for him, wait for a call from Millet.

No, there was something she could do.

“I can’t waste the time.” She gazed directly into his eyes. “I have to go to sleep, Caleb.”

He went still. “Yes?”

“I’m so wired that I won’t be able to do that.” She paused. “Not without help.”

His eyes narrowed on her face. “Why do you want to sleep, Jane?”

“ ‘To sleep, perchance to dream,’ ” she quoted. “I have to dream, Caleb.”

He didn’t speak for a moment. “But aren’t you the woman who is too grounded in reality to accept that dreams are anything but bullshit?”

“Eve told me that I had to stop hiding and accept the dreams. She said my dreams had to do with the Judas coins years ago, and when they started again, it had the same connection. She said that maybe there was some kind of reason for it all. And you told me that I could be doing some kind of remote viewing. I’ve no idea if any of that is true.” She wearily shook her head. “I just don’t know. I don’t know if there’s some mysterious reason. I sure don’t know if I can do any of that CIA viewing bullshit. I don’t even know if I can reach Eve. All my dreams have been of past events. But if there’s a reason I’m having these dreams, then I’ve never had a greater reason than now. I’m going to try because they could be a weapon. I need weapons. Lord, do I need weapons.” She looked down into the amber tea in her cup. “I saw the sacrifice of a little boy in a dream. I saw the mosaic of Judas on the wall. I followed the boy and his mother from outside the temple to the sacrificial chamber. I’ve been trying to remember all the twists and turns
they took as they went down that corridor. But it’s not enough. Eve may not even be in that temple. I have to find out where she is.” She looked up at him again. “I have to dream about Eve.”

He stared at her thoughtfully. “You want me to go in and give you a suggestion to sleep?”

“A damn strong suggestion. I feel as if I’ll never be able to sleep again.”

“Oh, I can make you sleep.” His brow knitted in a frown. “But I can’t control the dream process. That’s out of my area of capability. Dreams are will-o’-the-wisps and can disappear as soon as they drift by.”

“My dreams aren’t will-o’-the-wisps.”

He smiled. “And that’s why we know that perhaps there’s a way to use them. But you’re the one who will have to do all the work. I’ll give you a suggestion about Eve, but you’ll have to run with it.”

“I don’t know how to do that.” Her lips tightened. “But I’ll learn. I’ll make it work.”

“I know you will.” He took the cup from her hand and put it on the bar. “Go lie down on the couch.”

“I thought I’d go to the bedroom . . . by myself.”

He smiled. “And close me out.” He shook his head. “I’m in this, Jane. I won’t do anything to you that I can’t monitor and make sure that you’re safe.”

“It’s just sleep.”

“And what do they call death? The long sleep. I won’t leave you. But you won’t even know I’m here.”

She hesitated, then went to the couch and sat down. “Very well. It’s not important.”

“No, it’s just your nature.” He pushed her down and tucked the couch cushion beneath her head. He went over to the easy chair and sat down. “I won’t leave you,” he repeated. “Whatever happens,
you don’t have to be afraid. It might help if you think about Eve. I don’t know. It’s alien territory to me.”

“It’s alien territory to me, too,” she said. “I keep wondering what if I’m wrong? What if Eve was killed at MacDuff’s Run. What if she’s dead?”

“Then if you do find her, this search may have an ending that’s both unusual and mind-blowing. Are you afraid?”

“No, not for her. She’s never been afraid of death. She’s gone through so much since she lost her daughter, Bonnie, that she came to terms with it. She might even look upon it as a wonderful adventure.” She whispered, “But I’m afraid for me. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

“You won’t have to worry about that. Remember, you said you’d know.”

“That’s right, and I have to stop having second thoughts.” She closed her eyes. “Do something. I don’t feel sleepy.”

He chuckled. “What a demanding woman. It will come. Gently. I have an aversion to any roughness connected to you, Jane. Which is pretty astonishing when you consider that gentleness isn’t my forte.”

“I’ve noticed.” She moistened her lips. “I didn’t thank you for doing this.”

“I accepted it as a given,” Caleb said. “And you’d have trouble not being a little resentful at giving up your will to anyone.”

“I’m not giving up anything. This
is
my will.”

“You see? You’re going down deeper. It’s time to start thinking about Eve.”

She had never stopped thinking about her. Not really. Deeper? She didn’t feel as if she was drifting off into . . .

DARKNESS.

No, misty grayness.

Sleep, but not sleep.

Eve.

She wasn’t here.

Bring her. Get past the darkness. Get to her.

But perhaps she was lost in that darkness. Maybe she was lost forever.

No, keep searching.

Eve!

VIBRATION. A FAMILIAR
hum of sound. Stale air
.

I’m on an airplane, Eve thought hazily. Her second thought was of the throbbing pain in her right shoulder. Why . . .

The courtyard at MacDuff’s Run
.

Millet
.

Her eyes flew open
.

“Are you comfortable?” Millet was standing over her, gazing down at her. “Medford told me that you’d regained consciousness. He was eager to make sure I knew that he hadn’t killed you. I was a little upset with him.”

“I can’t imagine your being upset about any kind of brutality,” Eve said. “You told him to kill Lina.”

“She wasn’t important.”

“She’s a human being, young, smart, with her whole life ahead of her.”

“And totally unimportant. She was helping Jane MacGuire, and that is a sin.”

She gazed at him in disbelief. “And what you do isn’t a sin?”

“I’m one of the chosen. I can do as I please as long as I serve the Master.”

“You’re certifiable.” She gazed around the interior of the plane. It appeared to be more of a cargo than a passenger aircraft. There were several wood boxes stamped with a crescent surrounded by a circle. Seven or eight men sitting on long hard benches on either side of the plane. She was lying on a stretcher close to the door that must lead to the cockpit. “How many people did you shoot back at the castle.”

“I didn’t count. Whatever was necessary.”

“Shooting Lina wasn’t necessary.”

“It was a way to get you into the helicopter faster. Then you stepped in front of that bullet and spoiled everything. I thought Medford had killed you.”

She looked down at her shoulder that had been roughly bandaged. “How bad is it?”

“Not too bad at all. You lost some blood, but you’ll survive to be useful.” He smiled. “And I may be able to play with you a little if I have time. I understand that Jane MacGuire cares a good deal about you. It would make her suffer to know that you’re in pain.”

She gazed at him coldly. “Don’t bullshit me. I’ve known men like you before. You don’t have to have an excuse to hurt and maim.” She paused. “Though it’s curious that you think that your master is going to protect you from every consequence when he’s probably in hell.”

“Liar!”

Her head snapped back as he slapped her with all his strength
.

The plane whirled around her, and it was a moment before it steadied enough so that she could focus on his face again
.

Ugliness. Pleasure. Eagerness. What a sicko, she thought dizzily. He was a crazy fanatic with his sadistic soul in overdrive. “Where are you taking me, Millet?”

“The temple. We should be landing fairly shortly.”

“Syria?”

“Yes. The situation may become tense, and I need to be on my own territory.” He smiled. “And I would have had to come anyway. The Offering is day after tomorrow.”

“And you’re hoping to have Jane as that Offering.”

“Not ‘hoping.’ I will have her. Roland has done extensive research on your relationship. I don’t think there’s any doubt that she’ll be ready to make a trade when I give her the opportunity.”

No, Eve didn’t have a doubt either, and it was scaring her to death. “Why bother with her? You have me.”

His brows rose. “You surprise me. You’ve already suffered a great deal, and now you wish to give your life for her? You’re very strong. You’re going to prove entertaining.”

“What difference does it really make? You and your scumbag cohorts won’t care who dies under the knife.”

“Oh, but we will. Jane MacGuire has to be made an example. More than one of the members has seen that photo of the painting and called me. She’s the Blasphemer, and it will please the members that she’s punished. Besides, I have to determine how she was able to duplicate the mosaic. I have to have my time with her.”

Torture. The bastard was practically salivating. “It was purely coincidental.”

“Perhaps. Since she hasn’t revealed the location of the temple in the time since she did the painting, there is that possibility. Or perhaps she was just afraid of my retribution.” His smile deepened. “I’ll enjoy the process of discovering the truth.”

And she couldn’t even give him an explanation more substantial than coincidence. He’d laugh if she told him that Guilt was born of dreams. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. He wanted his pound of flesh and would fight anyone who tried to cheat him of it. What was important was that she couldn’t convince him not to try to trade for Jane
.

So she had to find a way to get away from him
.

“You’re very thoughtful.” Millet’s gaze was on her face. “You’re a scheming bitch, just like her. I hear you work on skulls. Maybe I’ll give you MacGuire’s head to play with. Yes, I believe I’d enjoy having you do that.”

Keep cool. He was only trying intimidation, to play on her fear, to hurt her. But she was almost certain he’d follow through on any threat. “I’d rather work on yours. I think that possibility is considerably more likely.”

His smile faded. “I’m growing tired of your—”

“Captain Faruk said that we’re on the approach.” A dark, thin, man was at Millet’s elbow. “He asked if you’ll need him after we land or if he can return to Damascus. He’s received several requests from other members wanting to hire him to take them to the Offering.”