“LINA’S STIRRING,” CALEB SAID. “Maybe you’d better take the AK-47 up there. It might be too accessible when she comes out of it.”
“Take your chances,” Jane said. “You’re the one who knocked her out.”
“You were being too polite. It wasn’t going to work with Lina. She wasn’t going anywhere.”
“So you gave her a karate chop.”
“It ended the discussion.” He met her gaze. “And admit it, you were glad I didn’t use more ‘unusual’ methods. You were ready to jump me.”
“Hell yes. I’d just seen what your persuasion did to Weismann.”
“I was in a hurry, and I didn’t give a damn. I would have been careful with Lina. If I’d chosen to do it.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I didn’t want to tamper with her. I know Lina. I like her. It wasn’t fair to take the advantage. I don’t intrude with personal relationships unless I can’t do anything else.”
“Your code again?”
He shrugged. “When I can go along with it. As you saw tonight, it’s a very loose code.”
“Exceptionally,” Jock said. “Almost nonexistent.”
“And you didn’t seem to be overly worried about it.”
“I was too busy watching and sifting through your weird vibes.”
“I’m glad you held your-Shit!”
His hand closed on Lina’s wrist and jerked her hand away from between his legs. “Dammit, are you trying to tear off my balls?”
“Yes,” Lina said fiercely. “You bastard. You hit me.”
“And I guarantee that you hurt me just now more than I hurt you.”
“Good.” She straightened in the seat. “And I’ll hurt you again. As soon as I get a chance.” Her eyes were blazing in her white face. “I didn’t think you’d-I don’t trust many people, but I thought that you were-”
“I didn’t have time to argue.” He paused. “This seemed the least intrusive way to move you.”
“Well, it won’t do you any good. Let me out. I’m going back.” She glanced out the window. “We haven’t reached the pass yet. It will only take a couple hours to hike back home.”
“And you’ll be welcomed by Millet and his men,” Jane said. “A few things happened while you were unconscious, Lina. They’re not far behind us.”
“Let-me-out.”
“Okay.” Jock stopped the car. “Get out, Lina.”
“No,” Jane said sharply.
“You can’t convince her. She has to make the decision.” His gaze was on the rearview mirror. “Or have it made for her.”
“You’ve already tried that,” Lina said as she opened the car door and got out. “And I don’t appreciate it. This is my life. I don’t want your protection or your pity. I take care of myself. I won’t have-My God.” She was staring at the southern sky, which was glowing orange-red in the darkness. “Fire.”
That’s what Jock was staring at in the rearview mirror, Jane thought as she got out of the car and joined Lina on the edge of the road. That’s why he stopped the car and let Lina get out. The hillside was wreathed in smoke, and the cottage and outbuildings were being devoured by flames. “It’s your place, Lina,” she said gently.
“I know that,” she whispered. “I’ve driven this road hundreds of times, and knew I was almost home when I reached this point.”
Jane put her hand on Lina’s arm. “I’m sorry. It’s senseless destruction. There was no reason for them to do it.” She added bitterly, “But that doesn’t seem to matter.”
“I could have stopped them.”
“No.” Jock got out of the car. “Those are trained killers, and there are too many of them. You might have slowed them down, but this wasn’t the place to stand your ground. If it had been, we’d have stayed.”
Her gaze never left the burning cottage. “I’d have found a way.”
“Headlights.” Caleb suddenly said, his gaze on the valley below. “Get going, Gavin.”
Jock got back in the car. “And this isn’t the place to stand our ground either, Lina. We can’t risk Jane. Will you come with us?”
Lina didn’t answer.
“I’m not going to knock you out again,” Caleb said. “But Jane is wasting time she doesn’t have on you. She’s not going to leave you.”
“That’s her decision.” Lina glanced at Jane, then turned on her heel. “Oh, hell, I’ll go. For now. Get in that car. Let’s get out of here.” She jumped in the car. “But if that car has any speed, it could overtake us in ten minutes if you keep on this road.”
“You should know. It’s your car they stole.”
“Then it has the speed. I made sure of that when I bought it.”
“According to the map, there’s no other road,” Jock said.
“There’s a road. Go straight ahead.” She turned to Caleb in the seat beside her. “And you’ll never be in the position to knock me out again. I trusted you enough to let you near me. I won’t do that a second time.”
“You never know,” Caleb said. “Circumstances usually dictate response.”
“I know.” She leaned forward, and said to Jock, “Around the next curve is a little lay-by on the right that disappears into the brush and trees. Go off the road and into the brush. In about forty yards you’ll see the road. It runs parallel to the main road. But go very slowly and be careful to stay on the road. Four feet on the other side is a three-hundred-foot drop to the valley below. You won’t be able to see it because of the tree cover.”
“How did you learn about the road?” Jane asked.
“I don’t like not to have options. It makes me nervous. I went to the government highway planning office and did some research when I moved into the cottage. It was built by the Swiss government along with several other roads during World War II and leads directly to the highway. Switzerland was neutral but evidently they don’t like not to have options either. They conveniently forgot to list the road when they put out the new maps the Germans requested. It stayed forgotten after the war.” She pointed to the right. “There. Quick. I think I hear their car.” Her lips tightened. “My car. Bastards.”
Jane could hear it, too. Were they that close, or was the air so thin that sound traveled with extra clarity?
Then they were in the lay-by, pushing through the overgrown shrubbery. The BMW jounced wildly over the rocky ground, and branches hit the windshield.
“You’re sure we’re not heading for the cliff?” Jock said. “I can’t see a thing.”
“Cut the lights,” Lina said. “They’ll see us when they come around that curve.”
“Great.” Jock turned off the lights. “Now I’m sure that I won’t know when we reach the edge of the cliff.”
“I will. The road is gravel. As soon as you reach it and feel the crunch, turn left immediately and hug the left side of the road.”
Darkness.
They were surrounded by trees and brush and couldn’t see two feet in front of them.
Jane’s heart was beating hard, her chest was tight.
They had to be heading straight for the cliff. How did they even know that the road still existed? Maybe it had washed away or something.
Crunch.
“Turn left.” Lina said sharply. “Quick.”
Jock jerked the wheel. Gravel flew as the BMW moved onto the gravel road.
“Now slow,” Lina said. “Very slow. The cliff winds a bit here, and we’re right on the edge.”
A beam of light speared the darkness above them.
“They just turned the curve,” Caleb murmured. “At least I think they did. All I can see is that blur of a headlight through the trees.”
“Then they shouldn’t be able to see us at all.” Jane said. Lord, she wished they were off this road. It was like walking a tightrope blindfolded.
As long as she could hear the crunch of the gravel on all four tires, then they were safely on the road.
Just listen for the crunch of the gravel.
The lights above them had disappeared. They must have gone ahead. Perhaps it would be safe to go back on the main road.
“They could come back,” Caleb said as if reading her thoughts. “When they find out they’ve lost us, they’re going to wonder why.”
“Or they might decide that we made it through the pass to the highway,” Jock said. “But I’m going to give it five more minutes, then make an executive decision. I’m going to turn on the headlights. I don’t like this option you found for us, Lina.”
“It works,” Lina said curtly. “Don’t argue.”
“If I can keep this car from going over the cliff,” Jock murmured.
The BMW suddenly teetered uncertainly.
No crunch under the right-side tires.
Jock cursed and jerked the wheel to the left.
“I told you the cliff curved around,” Lina said.
Gravel under all four tires again.
Jane breathed a sigh of relief and tried to catch her breath. “Jock, that executive decision? Implement it now, please.”
“Right.” Jock flicked on the headlights. “I’ll keep them on dim.”
Even with the lights on, there was little to see but brush, tall grass, and trees encroaching on the narrow road. But at least they could see the direction of the gravel stretching ahead.
“How much farther, Lina?” Caleb asked.
“Fifteen minutes. We would have been at the highway by now if we’d kept on the main road.”
“Which means that Millet has already reached the highway,” Jane said. “The question is whether he’ll assume we’re still ahead of him or cruise back to see if we’re behind him?”
“We’ll see in fifteen minutes, won’t we?” Caleb said.
IN SIXTEEN MINUTES, THEY made the turn that left the edge of the cliff and wandered up through a forest of evergreens. Two minutes later they were gazing down at the traffic racing on the four-lane highway.
“Civilization,” Caleb murmured. “Or what passes for it.”
“There’s nothing civilized about Millet,” Jane said. “And we’ve got to hope that he’s ahead of us still in chase mode and not waiting for us somewhere along the highway.”
“We’ll play it safe and get off at the first exit that has a good-sized town,” Jock said. “Thanks to Weismann, Millet probably has a description of the car and license plates. We’ve got to get out of this BMW. Can you take care of that, Caleb?”
“Not right away. I’ll have to work on it.”
“I’m disappointed,” Jock said as he entered the highway. “I was expecting you to meet our every need.”
“I’ll work on it,” Caleb repeated. “First, let’s get off the highway and find a hotel where we can stay for an hour or so and assess the situation. That will give me a chance to see what I can do about transportation.”
“Studgard,” Lina said. “Two exits down. There are three hotels in the town.” It was the first time she had spoken in the last twenty minutes. “The Merrier is a lower-income motel and would probably be less public.”
“Thank you,” Jock said. “The Merrier. You haven’t steered us wrong yet.”
“I don’t want to help you. I have to do it,” Lina said coldly. “You’re the lesser of two evils right now. And if I decide that I’d do better without you, then I’ll walk away. I’m just a little confused right now, and I need time to clear my thinking.”
Of course, she’s confused, Jane thought sympathetically. She watched the life she had so painstakingly built from disaster destroyed in the space of less than an hour. “I tried to bring some of your personal things when we left the cottage, but I didn’t know what you’d want. I cleaned out your desk drawers and grabbed some clothes. I looked for your photo albums, but I couldn’t find them.”
Lina frowned. “Photo albums?”
“It’s what I’d want to take with me if I was ever forced to leave a place. Memories.”
“I have no photo albums.” Lina looked out the window at the stream of passing cars. “I prefer to live in the present.”
Jane felt again that surge of pity. She had not lived an easy life, but she had good memories of good people. Lina had been brutalized and cut off from family and country. Jane could not imagine being stripped of her memories of Eve and Joe. “But the present is tomorrow’s memory. I guess we just have to make it as good as possible.”
“I did make it good,” Lina said. “And it just blew up in my face.”
“I’m sorry that we were involved. I can’t blame you for resenting us.”
Lina’s gaze shifted back to her. “I don’t know how I feel right now. I have to think about it. I know I resent you interfering with my free will. I do blame you for that.” She glanced at Caleb. “Or rather, I blame him.”
“No, blame me,” Jane said. “I’m not sure if I would have been desperate enough to give you a karate chop, but I suspect it might have come to that. I couldn’t have left you there. And when it all comes down to basics, I’m the one who this is all about. Jock and Caleb are only helping me, trying to keep me alive.”
“What a splendid whitewash,” Caleb said. “I feel like a knight in shining armor.”
Lina ignored him. “You don’t defend yourself?” She studied Jane’s face. “Curious. Everyone is sure that what they do is right even when it isn’t.”
“Not in my world,” Jane said. “You try to do what’s right and hope. Life is too complex to be certain of anything.”
“This Millet is certain that you should be killed.”
“But he doesn’t belong to my world. He’s a monster who hovers in the shadows.”
Lina closed her eyes for an instant. “He didn’t hover tonight. He came out and destroyed my-” Her eyes opened. “I believe that’s a sight that I will hold in my mind for a long time. I must erase it.”
“How?”
“What’s difficult to erase, I find a way to replace.” Her lips tightened. “I don’t like to remember failure. I refuse to do it.” She leaned forward again to speak to Jock. “Next exit.”
“Right.”
She turned to Caleb. “Now. Where is my gun?”
“WE’RE ON HIGHWAY 6, but we’ve lost them,” Millet said to Roland on his cell. “I don’t know how. We were right behind them. Dammit, they just vanished.”
“Weismann didn’t take care of them?”
“I told you, we’ve lost them. The cottage was deserted… except for Weismann.”
“And you took care of that problem?”
“I roasted the son of a bitch. Not for you, Roland. For me.”
“I don’t care why, just so it was done. Did you find any sign of the tablet?”
“Nothing. They must have taken it with them. If we find them, we find the tablet. You have the make and number of that BMW, find someone to locate it. We’ll stay in the area and zero in as soon as I get a call from you.”
“I can’t create miracles, Millet.”
“You can call Ned Simpson at NORAD and have them do a satellite scan of the area for the car. He’ll do it. I saw him sucking up to you at the last Offering.”
“It will mean putting his job in jeopardy. You’re sure you can’t find them without Simpson’s help?”
“What does his job matter? We’re on the side of the angels.”
Millet always uses that religious bullshit when he wants to justify doing anything he wants to do, Roland thought. “His job matters because we can use him in little difficulties like this. But you’re right, we should let him help us. Doing this job will cement him firmly under my influence.”
“Then do it,” Millet hung up.
Roland smothered the flare of anger. Things were not going well, and he needed that prick Millet right now. But at least Millet had killed Weismann before he could talk. Now if Millet could get his hands on the MacGuire woman, he’d work on manipulating both her and that tablet out of Millet’s hands.
Roland reached for his phone and started to look up Col. Ned Simpson’s number.
Now what was the best way to persuade him that it was really the angels and not Millet who wanted him to send that satellite over Switzerland in the next few hours?
THE MERRIER INN WAS A MODEST one-story redwood structure, and Caleb had to wake the young desk clerk in the office to check them into the motel.
“Around the corner of the building.” He got back into the driver’s seat. “Two units side by side for Lina and Jane. One end unit that I’ll take, and Jock has one a little farther down.” He drove around the corner. “With any luck, we’ll get a little rest before we have to check out.”
“Is it safe? You had to show the clerk your passport, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but I have a spare in a different name.”
“Of course, you do,” Jane said with irony. “Doesn’t everyone?”
“It would be chaos if they did,” Caleb said. “And I do like to be special.” He handed out the keys. “It’s the middle of the night, and the town seems to be locked up tight. But the clerk said there were kitchenettes in all the units. Gavin, will you call Venable back and see if he has any information we need to know? The team he sent to pick up Weismann must have gotten to the cottage by now.”
Jock nodded as he headed for his end unit. “Suppose we agree to meet in an hour in Jane’s room? That will give us time to clean up and relax a little. I don’t think we can spare more time than that.”
He meant that Millet was still on the hunt, Jane realized. They had probably only evaded him for a brief time before he caught the scent again. She felt the tension tightening the muscles of her neck and lower back as she unlocked the room. It had been a wild, violent night, and she was still reeling from it.
She glanced at Lina, who had just gotten out of the car. Lina’s night had been as devastating as the one Jane had undergone. No, probably more devastating. “I wish I could tell you that you’re safe now, but that wouldn’t be the truth. Millet knows that you probably learned more than he wants you to know while you were translating that ledger. If we can arrange for you to disappear somewhere, we’ll try to do it. But please don’t run away from us.”
“ ‘Disappear’? I spent years of my life in hiding before I learned how to protect myself.” Lina opened the door of her room. “I won’t do it again.” She slammed the door shut behind her, and Jane heard the slide of the bolt lock.
“She’s not going to run,” Caleb said.
She turned to look at him. “How can you be certain?”
“She’s very intelligent. She’s not pleased with us, but she can see that we’re not the destroyers, Millet is the enemy. She’ll just have to decide how to handle it.”
“The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt her,” she said wearily. “Millet would have killed her, wouldn’t he?”
“Yes. But he didn’t kill her. He destroyed her possessions, not her. Possessions can be replaced.”
She knew that was true. “But I still don’t like being responsible for their loss. She’d worked so hard to make a life for herself. I want to help her.”
“May I suggest you worry about yourself at the moment? You’re the one whose heart Millet wants to carve out of her chest. Everyone else is second in line.” He turned away. “Lock your door. I’ll see you in an hour.”
Jane shot the bolt and leaned back against the door. She would take a moment to get her breath. The adrenaline that had kept her going was beginning to ebb out of her. She had to face the fear and tension again but not yet. For an instant, in this little box of a room, she felt like an animal who had found a cave in which to go to ground. She was safe. She could close everything out.
But she couldn’t close out what Lina had told them of her translation. The information kept tumbling through her mind.
Hadar’s Tablet.
Judas at the right hand of God.
Coins that could shake the Christian world.
Sacrifices to Judas that had taken place for centuries and were still taking place.
Guilt.
She shook her head and straightened away from the door. Try to make her mind go blank. Wash. Rest. Maybe make a cup of coffee.
And get ready to face the chase again.
LINA KNOCKED ON JANE’S door thirty minutes later. “I need to talk to you.” She came into the room and sat down. “Or rather I need you to talk to me.”
“What is it?”
“You’re the key. I want to know everything about you.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve decided that I need to kill this man, Millet.” Her hands clenched together on her lap. “I’m very angry with him. And I would be safer with him dead.” She smiled mirthlessly. “No Millet, no more disappearing. True?”
“If Millet were the only one to worry about. But you’re the one who told us about that hideous cult.”
“I’ll worry about the rest of those maniacs later. Millet is the one who burned down my home.” She sat down in the chair at the table. “I know only what was in Adah’s ledger. I need to know everything I can about him. You have an important connection with him. Killer and victim. So you must tell me everything about yourself.”
“Oh, must I?” She smiled faintly. “And are you going to tell me everything about yourself?”
She looked at her in surprise. “No, I did you no injury. You owe me. I do not owe you.”
“You have a point.” She was discovering that Lina had an almost childlike clarity of vision that was both innocent and brutal in scope. It was a strange facet of character in a woman who had gone through the hell she had experienced. “Very well, I have fifteen minutes before Jock and Caleb should be here. I hope that I’m not shallow enough to bare my entire soul in that time, but I can give you the broad strokes.” She went into the kitchenette. “I’ve just put on a pot of coffee. Would you like a cup?”
“Not now. Talk to me.”
Jane looked over her shoulder. “In a minute. I need the caffeine even if you don’t.”
“But I want you to-” She stopped. “I’m antagonizing you by being too demanding. It is a habit of mine. I will try to curb it.”
Jane smiled. “And I will try to hurry through my cup of coffee. That’s what compromise is about.”
“I’m not good at that either.”
“I’ve been known to have a few problems with it, too. We’ll work on it together.”
“OKAY, MILLET. SIMPSON’S ZEROED in on the BMW,” Roland said. “And it’s stationary at the moment. They’re sitting ducks. I’m sending you the coordinates on your phone.”
“How close?”
“In the general area where you are. I went to a great deal of trouble convincing Simpson to do this. I’m going to owe him, and that pisses me off. You’d better make it worth my while. Don’t bungle it.”
“Don’t threaten me. Simpson should be doing this for the glory of the Offering. So should you, Roland.”
“How pure. May I remind you that you’re the one who lost the tablet because you couldn’t keep your hands off Adah Ziller?”
“I’m the Guardian. It is my privilege to take any woman I wish in any way I wish. Just as it is my privilege to cut her heart out if she betrayed me.”
“Then you should have done it in a way that didn’t get in the way of our arrangement. Get the tablet and Jane MacGuire.”
Millet glanced at his phone screen and he forget anger as satisfaction surged through him as he saw the blip. “I’m on my way.”
JOCK’S BROWS ROSE AS HE gazed at Lina sitting relaxed at Jane’s small table. “I wasn’t sure that you’d be here. I was prepared to have to chase you down.”
“You wouldn’t have found me. But I decided that it would be more efficient to have MiIlet come to me than go after him.” She glanced at Jane. “Or to come to Jane. From what she tells me, he will do a great deal to try to find her. That is good.”
“I don’t believe I’d describe it quite that way,” Jane said dryly.
She smiled faintly. “I’m very good at languages. Not so good at tactfulness.”
“We’ve found that out,” Jane said.
Jock looked from Jane to Lina. “I detect a slight lessening of abrasiveness between you. Or am I mistaken?”
“With knowledge comes understanding,” Jane said. “We had a talk. But knowledge only goes one way at the moment. So understanding is tentative at best.”
“And I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” He paused. “Have you heard from Caleb?”
She stiffened. “No, he should be here any minute.”
“I knocked on his door, and there was no answer.”
“What?”
He shrugged. “Maybe he was in the shower.”
Or maybe he was doing something that he didn’t want them to know about. It wouldn’t surprise Jane. Secretive bastard.
Or maybe something had happened to him.
The thought brought a rush of panic. She had been worried about everyone else, but Caleb always seemed to be invulnerable. Perhaps because she didn’t understand those psychic gifts that were such a disturbing part of him.
No one was invulnerable. Not with Millet on the loose.
There was a knock on the door before Caleb walked into the room. “Sorry I’m late. I had a few things to tidy up.”
She wanted to hit him. Of course, nothing had happened to him. And of course he wasn’t going to be explicit about those few things he had to “tidy.” “It doesn’t matter,” she said curtly. “We didn’t miss you.”
Caleb’s brows rose. “I’m crushed.” He went to the bar in the kitchenette and poured himself a cup of coffee. “But that will only make me work harder to please.”
Her displeasure had been obvious but had rolled off him like water off a duck. “You haven’t tried to please anyone but yourself lately.”
“That’s not true. I made a real effort to please you when I went after Weismann, but it didn’t work out.” He glanced at Lina. “And I had to balance keeping you alive or doing what you wanted, and I chose to keep you alive. Sorry.”
Lina said, “Screw you.”
“Then I’ll forget about offering apologies.” He paused. “Offering. That word brings to mind a few more current matters. Have you found out anything about Alan Roland from Venable, Gavin?”
“Wait a minute,” Jock turned to Lina. “Venable’s team arrived at your place thirty minutes ago. I’m sorry, there wasn’t anything left but ashes.”
Lina flinched. “I was expecting it.”
He glanced back at Caleb. “And there were some human remains in the toolshed. I guess Millet didn’t like Weismann any more than you did.”
“What about Roland?” Caleb asked again.
“Venable hasn’t had a chance to compile an in-depth dossier, but he gave me a brief sketch.” Jock said. “Alan Roland. Very important man. British. Mid-forties. Inherited wealth but he’s managed to triple it since he took control of the family fortune. Banking background. His father was reputed to be a mover and a shaker, and Alan has stepped into his shoes. In earlier centuries he would have been called a kingmaker. He has a passion for power and indulges it.”
“Any criminal record?” Jane asked.
Jock shook his head. “No record, not even a speeding ticket. And no obvious connection with Millet. He’s absolutely clean.”
“What about Syria? If he goes yearly to those Offerings at the temple, there has to be a record of it.”
“No, as a financier he’s out of London a good deal, but according to immigration, he’s never been to Syria.”
“I’d guess Roland may have a few passports, too,” Caleb said. “And handles those visits with great discretion.”
Jane frowned. “Very smart.”
“But you already knew that from Adah’s ledger,” Lina said. “He would have to be clever to be able to control Millet. From what you’ve told me, Millet is very volatile.”
Like a nuclear explosion, Jane thought.
“I don’t care about this Roland,” Lina said. “I want the man who burned my home to the ground. Tell me about Millet.”
“Well, I do care about Roland,” Jane said coldly. “Be quiet, Lina. Millet may have done the killings, but Roland is the one who pointed the way. No one is safe as long as Roland is out there. I won’t let them have any more of the people I care about. I want both of them. I’ll have both of them.”
Lina blinked. “Very well.” She didn’t speak for a moment. “You’re not what I thought. There were moments when I was feeling sorry for you. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about doing that any longer.”
“No, that’s not something for you to bother about,” Jane said. She didn’t know why that single-minded comment of Lina’s had caused her to suddenly explode, but now that she had started, she couldn’t stop. All the frustration and threat of the day had overflowed like a raging river over a dam. “Shall I tell you what we’re going to do? We’re going to find that temple where they kill children and anyone else who gets in their way. We’re going to stop them from ever doing that again. We’re going to find that pouch of Judas coins so that Roland won’t get his dirty hands on them. Then we’re going to trap Roland and Millet and send them straight to hell.” She got up, went to the closet, and pulled out the green garbage bag she’d stuffed at Lina’s cottage. “And right now I’d like you to concentrate on something besides what you’d like to do to Millet.” She pulled out Lina’s computer and tossed it on the bed. Then she took out the box containing the tablet and set it on top of the computer. “Earn your keep. We need to know exactly what’s in that tablet. Give me a translation.”
Lina didn’t move for a moment. Then she reached out and took both the box and the computer. “It will take time. I glanced at it at the cottage. The script is incredibly tiny, and I’ll have to be extremely careful with it. It’s more like a book than a tablet. And since it’s ancient Aramaic, I’ll need some reference books that I might not be able to find online.”
“Then we’ll get them for you,” Caleb said. “But you’ll need a place to work, and this isn’t it.” He glanced at Jane. “In spite of Jane’s hurry to push you forward, I’d prefer you be out of Millet’s path before you start.”
Lina gave him a cool look. “I don’t care what you prefer. Go to hell, Caleb.”
“No, that would only be an interesting diversion.” He lifted his coffee to his lips. “And Jane doesn’t want any detours. I realize you’re still angry with me, but you’re sensible enough to realize that I could be valuable to you.”
“I don’t need you.” She looked at Jane. “Do you need him?”
“No. I don’t need him.” She was still as shocked and wary of Caleb as she had been when he had thrown Weismann down at her feet. Yet she was feeling a curious reluctance to reject him that had something to do with the panic she had felt for him before he walked through her door tonight. “But this isn’t the time to send anyone away. We should stay together.” Jock was studying her with narrowed eyes, and she added quickly, “It’s safer for everyone.”
“Maybe.” Jock gazed at Caleb. “Tell me, is it safer for you?”
“Of course, I feel very secure with you keeping an eye on me.” He added, “And such a close eye.” He finished his coffee and checked his watch. “And now I think we’d better get out of here. We should be picked up in about five minutes at the front of the motel.”
Jane’s eyes widened. “And just who is to pick us up?”
“His name is Hans Wolfe. He works at the local gas station about two miles from here. A very pleasant fellow.”
“And how did you meet this pleasant fellow?”
“I was running an errand and asked him to help me out. He was very cooperative.”
“I imagine he was. What errand?”
“I’ll tell you all about it. But we should get moving.” He headed for the door. “Hans is going to take us to a small private airport about forty miles from here. I’ve called and arranged for a charter pilot, Marc Lestall, to pick us up there. He’s flying in from Paris. I’ve used him before, and he’s reliable and exceptionally discreet. He should be arriving shortly after we reach the airport.”
“All of this in one hour,” Jane said. “And without consulting us.”
“It didn’t hurt to set it up. I figured you could always refuse.”
She didn’t move. “Yes, we can. Where is this plane supposed to take us?”
“Anywhere you want to go. I suspect you might want to go to London first to pay a visit to Alan Roland. Or perhaps MacDuff’s Run to drop off Lina and Gavin. She’d be safe there while she’s translating the tablet.” He repeated softly, “Anywhere you want to go.”
She looked at Jock.
He shrugged. “It’s true that Lina would be safer at MacDuff’s Run.”
“Then let’s get to that plane. Get anything out of the rooms you need.” She turned and grabbed her jacket and bag. “By all means, we mustn’t keep Hans waiting.”
They had just left the room when the shock wave came. The earth shifted slightly beneath Jane’s feet, and she instinctively reached out to clutch Caleb’s arm. “What on earth was-”
Caleb’s gaze was on the trees in the distance that were glowing orange. “I believe that might be Millet exercising his venom and frustration.”
Jane’s gaze followed his to the trees. “What are you talking about?”
“That’s the general direction where I abandoned the BMW. Millet must have found it and got a little irritated that we were nowhere near it.”
“Millet?” Her gaze flew to his face. “How far?”
“Over thirty miles away. And not in the direction we’re going. He used quite some firepower to cause that kind of vibration.” He took her elbow. “But I do think we should accelerate our departure, don’t you?”