“It’s our time, and you’ve been well paid for it.” Joe jumped out of the boat before helping Eve. “We’ll be back in a minute, Dufour.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Eve asked in a low voice as she followed him onto the platform.

“I saw Dufour press a button on his cell phone right before we turned the last bend in the bayou. It was probably a signal to Hebert. I’d bet he’s waiting for us up ahead.”

“And why are we here?”

“I’m getting rid of an encumbrance.” Joe stood gazing out at the bayou. “You.” Eve stiffened. “Encumbrance?”

“You don’t like the word. But I’m not going to be polite. You’ll be in my way.

You’re staying here.”

“The hell I am. You pushed me out of that car in New Orleans. You’re not going to do it again.”

“Yes, I am.” He turned to face her and a ripple of shock went through her. His expression was colder and harder than she had ever seen it. “I’m not going to let either one of us die because you don’t want to be left out. This is my job, not yours. I don’t interfere when you’re doing the work on your skulls. Don’t interfere with me now.”

“I’m just supposed to let you go out and maybe get yourself killed?”

“I’d be more likely to be killed if I had to worry about you getting in my way.

That’s not going to happen.”

“And how are you going to stop me from going with you?”

“I’ll put you down for a little nap if I have to. Don’t make me do it, Eve.” And he would do it. She could see it in his expression. Joe had been heading in this direction since they had entered the swamp. The subdued excitement she had sensed had now broken free. Eve had never seen him more alive… or more dangerous. He was the hunter, the stalker, the warrior. “You can’t wait to dive in and go after him.”

He nodded. “I’m not like you. You want Hebert to be taken out because he’s a danger, because it’s necessary.”

“And you’re happy as hell to get the opportunity.”

“You’re learning a lot about me that you didn’t know before.” He smiled crookedly. “For instance, I never told you why I left the SEALs. You didn’t want to know about that part of my life. It was too violent for you.”

“Why did you leave the SEALs?”

“Because I liked it too much,” he said simply. “And I was getting too close to the line no one should cross. I was a killing machine.”

“That’s not true. That’s not you.”

“It was me. It could be me again. It could be me now.”

“No way. You couldn’t—”

“Hey, Quinn,” Dufour shouted from the boat. “Are you going to be all day?”

“He’s getting impatient.” Joe smiled. “Or maybe Hebert is impatient. We mustn’t keep him waiting.” He reached in his jacket pocket and handed her his gun. “Just incase.”

“Are you crazy? You’re going after Hebert without a gun?”

“I won’t need it.” He glanced down at the machete holstered on his belt. “In the swamp, guns aren’t my weapon of choice.” He turned and crossed the platform.

“Keep cool until I get back.”

“Joe, dammit.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “You know I’m right. You know you’ll be an albatross and could get me killed. You know you’d have to shoot me to keep me from going after him.”

“I might do it.”

He shook his head as he jumped into the boat. “Move, Dufour.”

“Joe.”

“You shouldn’t leave the lady alone,” Dufour said. “What if a snake—”

“Go,” Joe said.

Eve’s hand clenched on the butt of the gun as she watched the boat glide away from the island. Joe’s head was lifted as if he was scenting the wind. Maybe he was.

Nothing would have surprised her in this strange, fierce Joe.

She shouldn’t have let him go. She should have found a way to stop him.

Yet he was right. Joe knew what he was doing, and she could have put him in terrible danger if she’d gotten in his way. No matter how much she wanted to help, logic told her that going with him would have been a mistake.

Screw logic. She hated feeling this helpless.

She crossed to the edge of the platform, her gaze straining to get a last glimpse of Joe. Too late. The boat had already turned the bend of the bayou and was out of sight.

Come back.

Be safe, Joe.

Come back.

“It should be right around the next bend, Quinn,” Dufour said without turning around. “A few minutes. No more.” Where was that bastard Hebert? Dufour didn’t want to be the one to take out Quinn. He didn’t like the vibes the man was sending out.

Hebert had promised him things would go smoothly, and yet Quinn had already taken the woman out of the situation. He’d tell Hebert that he wasn’t to blame, that it wasn’t his fault.

Another moment passed.

No Hebert.

He would have to do it himself.

“There’s your island. On the left.” He cut the engine and gestured with one hand while the other reached surreptitiously into his knapsack for his gun. “It’s not much of a place. The house is burnt to the ground, and look at that—” He whirled with the gun in his hand and fired.

“What the—”

No one was there! Quinn’s jacket and boots were on the bottom of the boat, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Then Dufour saw him, beneath the water on the left side of the boat, moving fast.

Shit. Lightning fast. Toward the boat, not away from it.

Dufour carefully aimed and fired.

Eve glanced at her watch. Jesus, it had been only fifteen minutes. It had seemed like an hour. She couldn’t take this. What was she going to do? she thought bitterly.

Go swimming after them through the swamp? She should never have let—

A shot.

Her heart leaped in panic. Joe didn’t have a gun. It was here in her hand.

Another shot. Then another.

Oh, God.

“There’s a very good chance he’s dead, Eve.”

She whirled to the right from where the voice had come, raising the pistol.

A bullet shattered the barrel of the gun, the force of the vibration whipping the weapon from her grip. She got a lightning glimpse of Hebert as she dropped to the ground. He was sitting in a canoe, pointing a rifle at her.

“So much violence. I would never have thought it of you.” He cradled the rifle in his arm as he paddled closer to the pier. “And when I was trying to be merciful and give you a little more time. I could have killed you before you even knew I was here.

You didn’t hear me coming, did you?”

“No.”

“That’s because I don’t believe in using motorboats when I’m in the swamp. A paddle can be whisper-silent if it’s wielded by someone who knows what he’s doing.

Now, I’m going to get out of this boat. Don’t move or I’ll be forced to blow your head off.” Hebert stood up and jumped onto the pier. “There. You can get up now.” Eve slowly got to her feet. “Where’s Joe, Rick?”

“You recognize me? But then, my disguise wasn’t that elaborate. I thought you’d been too ill that night to pay me much attention. Still, I did make Rick Vadim a likable fellow, didn’t I?”

“Where’s Joe?”

“The last time I caught sight of him, Dufour was going around a bend near the research island. I was going to take Quinn out, but I couldn’t get close enough to him without him seeing me.”

“We thought you’d be waiting there on the island.” Hebert shook his head. “No cover. I had to get some distance away. But then I saw you weren’t in the boat, and I knew he must have dropped you someplace. So I decided to let Dufour take his chances with Quinn and come back and find you.”

“So you found me. Now what?”

“You heard the shots. We wait to see if Dufour comes back alone.”

“Or if Joe comes back alone.”

“There’s always that possibility. I hear Quinn is very good.”

“Better than you. Better than anyone.” Eve’s nails bit into her palms as her hands clenched into fists. “He’s not dead.”

“Then he’ll come back for you. And I’ll be here. You shouldn’t have come here. It was useless. Do you think I wouldn’t have come back and made sure there wasn’t any evidence?”