“What kind of repercussions?”

“Unpleasant,” Hanks said vaguely.

So Hanks wasn’t going to be entirely frank with her after all. She’d have to push until she hit a wall, then keep on pushing.

Hanks indicated a painting on the wall. “John said you’d want to see the painting. It’s pretty good, isn’t it?”

And it was definitely one of Jane’s. Though she recognized the brushstrokes and technique, it wasn’t a painting with which Eve was familiar. It was a forest wreathed thickly in mists, and it was both mysterious and terribly lonely. “Very good.”

“She called it Lost,” Hanks said. “John said that she got it right.” He was leading her down the shining cherrywood-paneled hall. “I think he would have bought it even if it hadn’t been painted by your daughter. He said you adopted her when she was ten?”

“Or she adopted me. We’ve never been entirely sure how it came about.”

“She’s very young to be so successful.”

“Yes.” She added deliberately, “But it’s not Jane I want to talk about.” She glanced around the hall. “This is quite a place. Luxurious. John Gallo has money now?”

Hanks nodded. “He always says that money has more power than an AK-47. He made sure that he was stocked with that particular ammunition.”

“And how did he get it?”

“He made the U.S. government pay generously for his six years in prison. Then he took the money and did a tour of gambling casinos around the world and ran up his cash reserve into the stratosphere by counting cards.”

She frowned. “How did he do that?”

“Card counting? He taught himself in prison. He was always smart, and he had a lot of time on his hands. It kept his brain sharp. It was real bad there.” He paused. “And it was one of the ways he kept himself from hanging himself in that cell.”

She could picture his desperation, the searching for anything to occupy the mind and replace the horror surrounding him. “I see.”

“No, you don’t,” Hanks said baldly. “You can’t. I was only in that place for five months before John took me with him when he escaped. I’ll never forget it. The smell, the heat, the pain. I still wake up in a sweat. And John was in there six years.”

She was silent, trying to understand the scope of that horror. “He told me … he’s crazy. Is it true?”

Hanks didn’t answer directly. “Aren’t there times when we’re all a little crazy?”

“You’re dodging. He said you might try to protect him.”

“He has … moments. Uncontrollable fits of rage that’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. John said that those fits are like those he’s read about in histories of the Vikings. Berserker. They don’t come as often these days.”

“And Queen and Army Intelligence know about them, too?”

“Yes; in the beginning, they encouraged them.”

Her eyes widened. “Why would they do that?”

“They aided his performance.” He stopped before a bedroom door and turned to face her. “After he got out of prison, they were still trying to use him. They sent him out on missions that involved assassination or extraction of personnel from hostage situations.” His lips twisted. “He was very good at it. Picture Rambo on speed. And that berserker bullet could cause him to go into almost superhuman overdrive.”

“They knew he had mental problems, and they still sent him out?”

“John thought they probably wanted to get him killed with the least amount of trouble. He didn’t care. It didn’t matter if he lived or died. During that period, right after he escaped Korea, he had a bloodlust that wouldn’t stop. All he wanted was the opportunity to vent it.”

Bloodlust. Berserker. And that period right after he’d gotten out of prison was when Bonnie had been taken.

“I can see you drawing into yourself,” Hanks said quietly. “You wanted to know. He told me to tell you.”

“When did he stop working for them?”

“After a couple years. Maybe he worked it out of his system. Or maybe he managed to heal himself. They sure weren’t going to do it for him.”

“But he evidently still has a connection with them.”

“Yes, but now the tables are turned. They don’t use John, he uses them.”

“And why do they allow it?”

He shrugged. “That you’ll have to ask him. I’ve never discussed it with John. There are some things I’d rather not know. It’s safer for me. If I had to guess, I’d say he knows where a few very dangerous bodies are buried. At any rate, Queen jumps when John snaps his fingers.” He opened the door. “If you need anything, give me a call.”

“How? I don’t know your blasted codes.”

He smiled. “I won’t be far. John said that I was to take care of you.”

“And keep me from escaping?”

His smile faded. “It will only be for a little while. I think you’re safe.”

“Think? What if I’m not?”

Hanks didn’t answer.

“John said you were loyal. That covers criminal activities? Why? Does he pay you that well?”

“He took me out of that prison. He didn’t have to do it. I had a shattered leg and a fever. He had to carry me a good portion of the way to the coast. He would have been safer on his own.” He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’m loyal.”

That couldn’t be more obvious. John had clearly bought that loyalty in a way that would ensure that it was unbreakable.

“Any more questions?” Bill was smiling again. “Last chance.”

“One more.” She met his gaze, bracing herself. “Were you in Atlanta with John that month before my daughter was taken?”

He shook his head. “I was still in a hospital in Tokyo. They practically had to rebuild my leg. I didn’t hook up with him until almost a year later.”

“But you knew about her?”

“No, John never spoke about her or you until later. I never even knew he had a kid. The first I heard of your Bonnie was years later, when he was pressuring Queen to keep a dossier on you.”

“You weren’t curious?”

“John sets limits, and I don’t step across the line. You might follow my example.”

Her lips twisted. “Or he might go berserk?”

He turned away. “It hasn’t happened for a long time. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen.” He was moving down the hall. “The dining room is back the way we came and to the right. John has a great cook he hired away from a casino in Las Vegas. Those clothes on the bed are a loan from her. You’re a little thinner than she is, but they should come close.”

Eve glanced at the worn jeans and oversized black sweatshirt with MIRAGE CASINO emblazoned in white. “They should be okay. Thank her for me.”

“Thank her yourself. Judy’s not shy about making her presence known. But she makes terrific Mexican fajitas.” He slanted her a smile. “And she’s very loyal to John, too.”

“Did he break her out of prison, too? I thought you said he hired her from a casino.”

“He did. But there are all kinds of prisons, aren’t there? She had a three-year-old and an abusive husband. John sent the husband packing and brought Judy and the kid here where she couldn’t be bothered.”

Eve stood in the doorway and watched him disappear down the hall. Bill Hanks had been a treasure trove of information, but he had not alleviated her uneasiness. John Gallo might have become a man who deserved gratitude and loyalty in some quarters, but he was also an assassin and a man prone to violent fits of passion. She was still feeling the chill that had shaken her when Hanks had told her of those berserker episodes.

Get over it. She had told Gallo she would not be afraid of him. She had to work her way through any fear and get to the truth.

She turned, closed the door, and glanced around her. Comfortable, even elegant room, oak furniture, black watch plaid coverlet on the king bed, a bouquet of intricate brown twigs in a gold vase on the carved chest. The décor had Western elements, but it was definitely not a designer room. It appeared too strong, too individual. She glanced at the plaid coverlet on the bed.