“No, and you’ll forgive me if I’m not looking forward to it.”

“I forgive you nothing. You’ve given Kevin and me a hellish time. But I’ll always remember you, Eve.”

“And I’ll forget you as soon as you go join your beast of a son.”

“I’m not going anytime soon. Kevin says that we’re stronger because I’m on this side.”

“Maybe he just wants to try to take you over. I’m not saying I believe that Kevin is the spirit you say he is. But if that’s true, he’s a demon who cares nothing about you except to use you.”

“He loves me. You have no idea how close we are. And we’re getting closer every minute.”

“Because you’re losing your soul to make room for him to come back. It’s all for nothing, Doane.”

“Liar.” He didn’t speak for a moment, then whispered, “But that wouldn’t be terrible, would it? The son is supposed to be better than the father. All the books say so. And Kevin was always special. He’s so much more brilliant than I ever could be. He has such power. I wonder what it would be like to have that power.”

Eve felt a chill. It was the first time she realized that Doane actually wanted to be his son. Not like Kevin, be Kevin. Kevin was evil incarnate; therefore, that was Doane’s ambition. “I’m sick of talking to you. I’m going to sleep. Your son is dead. He has no power.”

“You’ll see,” Doane whispered. “Seattle, Eve. Seattle…”

Seattle.

She had learned a great deal tonight. She might learn more later, but she had to concentrate on what she had already gleaned from this talk with Doane. Not about Kevin and his gradual merging with Doane. That was something that was drifting phantomlike in the darkness.

The two cities.

Cartland, the cell member Doane had mentioned.

Seattle, one of the cities that were to be targeted.

And the city that Doane had chosen as the place Eve was to die.

How could she make use of it?

They would be leaving tomorrow as soon as she put the final touches on Kevin’s reconstruction.

She could only hope that Joe and Venable were tracking them and would show up soon. She couldn’t believe that Joe’s efforts of the last few days would be limited to that memorial service. Venable was an unknown quantity at present. Doane had thought he might be betraying him, but Venable had not been either truthful or open during these last five years.

But she had to have faith that they were moving forward, and that somehow Venable had been forced to reveal the same story to Joe as Doane had told her.

And find a way to let them know where Doane was taking her. Not an easy task when Doane watched her every move whenever she was in the same room.

The bathroom?

Some way of writing on the mirror?

Steam? She had no lipstick.

No, that was strictly B-movie stuff.

Besides, Doane would undoubtedly check the bathroom before they left.

Think about it. Figure out a way.

Because now it wasn’t only her and Zander’s lives that were at stake.

Millions, Doane had said. Men, women, children caught in a deadly web through no fault of their own.

Innocents.

Find a way to save the innocents.

Lake Cottage

Atlanta, Georgia

VENABLE SAW CATHERINE coming toward him, and he must have read the expression on her face. He smiled at the man to whom he’d been talking. “Excuse me. Business.” He took Catherine’s arm and started across the grounds toward the parking area. “Though he probably doesn’t believe me. You’re not a woman to bring to mind the thought of business.”

“Oh, it’s business all right,” she said grimly. “Believe me, I’m not in the mood for social conversation. Where are we going?”

“My car. It’s private. You’re practically sending out sparks, and you’ll attract too much attention.”

“You’re right, I don’t give a damn how much attention I attract at the moment. You’ve been dodging me since I arrived here, and I decided to put an end to it.”

“You’ve been more patient than I imagined you’d be.” He opened the passenger door of the Lexus for her. “You’ve probably been talking to people and assessing the situation.” He got in the driver’s seat. “And now you’re ready to pounce.”

“Why didn’t you tell me when Eve was taken? You know I would have wanted to be there for her.”

“You were on a mission. Which you completed very successfully, by the way.”

“Screw it. I could have arranged to leave Colombia. You could have sent someone else to replace me.”

“But not as efficiently. You’re remarkable, Catherine.”

“Eve helped me when I needed her. She deserved the same from me.”

He was silent for a long moment. “I know she did. But I couldn’t let that matter. Not this time, Catherine. I couldn’t bring you home.”

“Why the hell not?”

“For the same reason I didn’t want to send anyone to replace you in Colombia. You’re remarkable.” His lips twisted. “A little too remarkable. You would have dug deep. Turned the world upside down searching for Doane and Eve. I couldn’t afford to have you do that.”

She stiffened. “Dirty business, Venable?”

“Needful business, Catherine.”

“Kendra said that she didn’t trust the way you behaved at that ghost town. She wasn’t sure it was in Eve’s best interests.”

“She was probably right. Kendra’s very smart. I guess you found that out.”

“Why the hell would you do something that wasn’t in Eve’s best interest? Did you want to get her killed?”

“God, no. That’s the last thing I wanted to happen. I like Eve. I did everything within the boundaries that I was permitted to save her.”

“What boundaries?”

“I had to make my first priority to kill or capture James Doane. I had no choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“You see? That’s why I didn’t bring you back to hunt for Eve. I wouldn’t have been able to control you.”

“Not if it meant letting her die because you wanted Doane’s scalp. Company business isn’t that important to me.” She added grimly, “I should have known that it would be to you. You’ve spent most of your life playing their games.”

“Yes, I have. Because it’s worth doing. You believe that yourself, or you wouldn’t have become an agent or stayed with it this long. Does it get dirty? Hell, yes. But we’re lily-white compared to the other side.” He paused. “And this time it was so nasty that I had to make decisions I didn’t want to make.”

“Eve’s life for Doane’s head?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. “If necessary.”

“You son of a bitch.”

“Yes.”

“Why? What was so important about getting Doane?”

“I had to shut him down. One way or the other.”

“It was that urgent? It was worth Eve’s life?”

“One life, Catherine. I had to put it in the balance. There wasn’t any choice when I did that.”

“What are you telling me, Venable?”

“Two cities, two nuclear devices, Doane with the knowledge of where they are and how to activate them. Is that clear enough? I had to take him out one way or the other. I had a chance at that ghost town in Colorado. I didn’t do it. He got away and took Eve with him. The crazy bastard’s out there somewhere, probably trying to make contacts to destroy those cities.”

“Which cities?”

“Homeland Security wasn’t able to find out both the target cities. They determined that one was Chicago, but we have no idea about the other one.”

Chicago was a huge population center, Catherine thought. If the second city was equally populated, it could hardly be worse. “How bad is this device?”

“Powerful enough to take down a quarter of the city. And dirty. Our information isn’t good enough to judge how dirty. They were planted over five years ago.”

“And Homeland Security hasn’t been able to locate them in all that time?”

“No. Doane’s son supposedly hid them before he was murdered and evidently did a stellar job. But now we’re sure that Doane knows where those bombs were placed. All he has to do is get in touch with Kevin’s old al-Qaeda buddies who were in the cell in charge of setting those devices off and tell them where they are.”