“If,” she repeated. “Who knows? Doane is crazy. We just have to take what we’ve been given and try to get out of this. Though we haven’t been given a hell of a lot.” Her brow wrinkled thoughtfully. “Doane mentioned Kevin’s mother, Harriet, out of the blue. What do we know about her?”

“That she’s in control, that her dainty little finger is on the detonator, and she’s only waiting to set it off until she sees Doane blow my head off. And that she’s probably going to be here very soon to take care of that little matter.” His brows rose. “Is that enough information?”

“More than enough. How soon?”

“She’s in Chicago, so we may have a little time.”

“Doane hates her. We may be able to use that.”

“Divide and conquer? Don’t count on it. Where my imminent demise is concerned, they stand united. I killed their beloved Kevin.” He added, “But all is not lost. Catherine will be scouring the coastline for a cottage with a graveyard of driftwood.”

She stiffened. “What?”

“Providing there really is a macabre collection of driftwood outside? Since I was unconscious when Doane brought me here, I wasn’t able to verify its existence.”

“Yes, it’s there. How did you know?”

“Bonnie evidently knew about it and passed the description along.”

“Bonnie…” She felt a rush of warmth and love. “And you believe it, Zander?” For some reason, she desperately wanted him to believe that Bonnie’s soul still lived.

“Don’t be rid—” He stopped as he saw her expression. “Perhaps. I shouldn’t, of course. Ghosts are mere hallucinations, but I find myself wanting to believe what you believe. I’ll have to see how accurate she is about that graveyard before I pass judgment.” He glanced at the door. “I don’t know how much more time Doane’s going to give us. He’s too erratic. Look, we can’t wait until Harriet gets here. That would be cutting it too close. We have to make our move before that.”

She stared pointedly down at her bound wrists. “And how are we supposed to do that?”

“Why, just follow my lead…” For an instant, she thought she saw a twinkle in his eye as he smiled mockingly. “Like a good and obedient daughter.”

CHAPTER

17

VENABLE CALLED JANEWHEN they’d been in the air over thirty minutes. “Change course. We’ve just found out that Harriet’s not heading for Sea-Tac Airport. Her pilot’s flight plan calls for her to land at Sandhurst Airport. It’s a small coastal airport southwest of Seattle.”

“Tell me you won’t have anyone there to meet her,” Jane said. “You’ll keep your word.”

“Unless something happens to indicate that Harriet’s plans are escalating. Then all bets are off.” He changed the subject. “You promised to tell me the location of those nukes. I need that info, Jane.”

“But you won’t act on the information while we still have a chance to get our hands on Harriet and Doane? That’s first on the agenda, right?”

“I’ll get a force together, and we’ll be poised to move to defuse those nukes at the first sign that there’s any immediate danger.”

“In your opinion.”

“In my opinion. Give me the locations.”

“We can’t be certain. According to Kendra, there’s a good chance that the one in Seattle is somewhere in the King Street Station. You’ll have to explore to find out exactly where.”

“Got it. As long as we know the approximate location, I can arrange a flyover by a plane with terahertz spectroscopes. They can detect plutonium signatures at great distances,” Venable said. “What about Chicago?”

“The Wrigley Building, where there’s another clock tower. We think it’s on the lowest floor, but we can’t be—”

“I think I’ve found it,” Margaret said from across the aisle. She held up a security video.

“Wait a minute, Venable.” Jane asked Margaret, “What did you find?”

“There’s a small room down there where the Wrigley executives used to store boating equipment. I don’t know if it was supposed to be emergency stuff since the complex is on the river or if the executives once did some public-relations gigs on the water. Anyway, there are black-and-white photos on the walls that show them standing at the rail of various craft and having a good old time.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“That it must have been decades ago. Everything is covered with dust except for the oars and various pieces of equipment that are covered by plastic.” She made a face. “Very well chewed plastic.”

“What else?”

“Half of a life preserver. The rats really must have loved the material that was used to make that preserver. W and R were the only letters left of the original Wrigley.” She paused. “It was leaning against the wall beneath a large wood panel that had ships carved on it. I couldn’t tell if there were any burned-out wires in the area.”

“If it was a room that had been deserted for decades, it would be a safe place to hide that device,” Trevor said. “Maybe your rats are more reliable than you thought, Margaret.”

“They’re not my rats,” she said flatly. “But they may have come through for us. Though I guarantee that wasn’t their purpose. They only have one purpose.”

“Talk to Venable. He’ll want to know everything there is to know about that room.” She handed Margaret her phone. “It might be a good idea to skip the bit about the rats.”

“No, he has to take me the way he finds me,” Margaret said. “He’ll survive it. Venable has had to deal with me before.” She started to speak into the phone.

“I have to go up to the cockpit and tell Caleb of our new destination,” Jane told Trevor as she unbuckled her seat belt. “You heard me try to pin Venable down. He wasn’t having it.”

“I think he’s trying.” Trevor reached out and gently stroked her cheek. “He likes Eve. If he can, he’ll give her every break.”

“If he can,” she repeated. For the briefest instant, she rested her cheek on his hand. He had strong hands, wonderful hands, she thought. Hands that brought pleasure and built that golden cocoon that shut out the world and made everything safe and good. As safe and good as Trevor was himself. She gave his palm a quick kiss and rose to her feet. “I can always count on you to make me see the bright side.”

“That’s what I want for you. The bright side all the way.” He smiled. “So give Caleb his new marching orders and come back, and we’ll work on it. We have a few hours we can steal before we have to hit the ground running. I’m going to use every one of them.”

Jane’s smile lingered as she headed for the cockpit. A few hours to steal. A few hours to be close to him and build a few more memories.

Loving memories. Bright memories.

Driftwood Cottage

“HARRIET’S ON HER WAY.” Doane’s face was flushed as he came back into the cottage. “She should be here within a few hours. You’re a dead man, Zander.”

“You’ve been saying that for too long. Repetition is boring.”

“You won’t be bored when I blow her brains out.” Doane took a step closer to Eve and touched her hair. “All that ugly brain matter tangled in this pretty hair…”

“Crude. Why do you persist in thinking that it will matter to me?”

“When it gets down to those final moments, it will matter.” He smiled down at Eve. “Harriet wanted me to just kill you and get you out of the way. She just never understood how unsatisfying that would have been. She never admits she’s wrong.”

“When will she be here?”

“Beginning to be frightened? I’d say perhaps three hours. You have time to bond a little longer.” He went to the cabinet. “And I have time to dig two graves out in Kevin’s garden.” He pulled out a shovel. “Those places I chose will do very well, Eve. I’ve never dug a grave for anyone but Kevin’s little girls. Well, there was that agent who got in my way back at your lake cottage, but he didn’t matter. There was no pleasure in it. This one will be different.”