And a little bit of luck.

CHAPTER

10

Eve crouched low as she moved through the bushes, muttering a curse as every step crunched and crackled. If only she could move through the woods as silently as Joe. With all the racket she was making, how could Walsh not know she was coming?

She stopped, looking up at the reconstruction. Where would Walsh go to keep watch over his prize? Her eyes darted around the area. If it were she, where would she go? She looked up.

Of course.

A tree.

But which one? There were hundreds. Thousands. But she could immediately discount many of the smaller trees, and the ones without low-hanging branches to provide an easy foothold for climbing.

That still left a sizeable—

Boom.

An explosion rocked the woods, just a hundred yards west of her.

Joe!

Her head jerked toward the blast, which momentarily lit up the night sky. Oh God, Joe had been heading in that direction. Had he run straight into Walsh’s trap?

Maybe not, she prayed. There was a chance—

She had turned back toward the reconstructed skull.

The skull was gone!

It was like some kind of magic trick. It had been there just moments before, and now the two battery lanterns were aimed at …

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

She smiled.

Joe.

*   *   *

Walsh stared in disbelief at the spot where the skull had just been. The land-mine explosion had practically knocked him out of the tree, and by the time he recovered, Eve’s reconstruction had vanished.

There were two paths up there, and he’d secured both with explosive booby traps. And if anyone tried another route to the skull, he was ready with his rifle.

Except in the few moments after the land mine exploded behind him. Dammit. Had Eve or Quinn used his own explosive as a distraction?

Very clever, but it wouldn’t make any difference. Eve Duncan wasn’t leaving this forest alive.

Walsh slung his rifle over his shoulder, and he jumped to the ground.

*   *   *

Success!

Under the cover of darkness and the thick underbrush, Joe yanked his mosquito netting free of the two branches and wrapped it around the reconstructed skull. He’d been taught to fashion his mosquito net to capture small game in survival situations, but he’d never thought he’d one day use it to snag a human skull.

Thanks, SEAL Training Sgt. Peter Fallon, USN.

He’d dislodged the short blade from the mine with a single bullet, which bought him just enough time for a long-reach grab for the skull.

Joe bundled it under his arm and ran through the woods, dodging the obvious paths that might hold even more booby traps. After a few minutes, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Without breaking stride he glanced at the display. Eve.

He answered. “I have the skull.”

“Good.” Walsh replied. “And I have Eve.”

Joe stopped. “Walsh.”

“Oh, yes. And you also know there’s only one way I could have Eve’s phone.”

“Walsh,” Joe said slowly and precisely. “If you’ve hurt her, I will kill you in the most painful way imaginable.”

“Such violence. Joe Quinn the caveman, swinging his club to protect his mate … Does that kind of thing still work in this day and age?”

“Put her on the phone. Now.”

“So demanding … Especially when I’m holding all the cards.”

“Now.”

Eve’s voice cut in quickly. “Joe, take the skull and get the hell away from—”

She was abruptly cut off, and Joe heard what he was sure was the sound of a blow being struck. Walsh returned on the phone. “I never bluff, Quinn. I don’t need to.”

Joe looked toward the ridge where he’d last seen Eve. She had to be somewhere near there. He started moving as he spoke into the phone. “Then what do you want?”

“You’re holding it. Bring that skull back to me.”

“And you’ll let Eve go?”

“We’ll negotiate.”

“Why in the hell should I believe you? You already had the skull before this night ever began.”

“Conditions change. You brought about that change. Well done, by the way.”

“We’ve both been trained in the same school. If you hurt her, I’ll show you why I graduated cum laude.”

“You’re quite capable. I get that. Bring me the skull, and we’ll talk.”

Eve’s voice cut in again, this time in the background. “Joe, don’t! Get out of here.”

He pulled the phone away from his ear, but he didn’t hear Eve’s voice in the open air. They had to be farther away than he thought. He quickened his pace.

Walsh’s voice was muffled for a moment as he said something to Eve. Then he returned. “I suggest you do as I say, Quinn. Eve is starting to annoy me.”

“Where do I bring it?”

“There’s a small clearing just on the other side of the ridge.”

“You’ll be there?”

“Where I’d make myself a target? Be serious. But that’s where I want you to be. We’ll be close enough to see you. Do as I say, and you’ll see Eve.”

“I’d better see her unharmed. I’m warning you.”

“What happens to Eve in the next fifteen minutes entirely depends on you. Do as I say, Quinn.”

Walsh cut the connection.

*   *   *

“If you want to live through the night, you’ll let me go,” Eve said quietly. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with. Joe is in his element out here.”

Walsh tugged on her nylon wrist restraints as he pulled her through the woods. “You have a high opinion of your Joe Quinn.”

“It’s well-founded.”

“Your faith in him is touching. He was lucky. I’m better than he is. Look who’s on top now.”

“For the moment.” Eve studied Walsh, looking for weakness, as he pulled her around a clump of bushes. He held his handgun high in his right hand, and he used his left hand to guide her. “But all you’ve proved so far is that you were able to overcome me, and that was only because you took me by surprise.” He was very good. He’d appeared out of nowhere with a gun leveled at her head. A complete shock.

And, if they couldn’t find a way out, in a few moments, he’d have Joe and the skull.

“You were easy. A woman who sculpts faces on skulls? Though you did do an amazing job with reconstruction,” Walsh said. “You brought that little girl back.”

“No. There’s no coming back from what you did to her.”

A range of emotions suddenly played across Walsh’s face. Eve tried to decipher the expressions. Doubt. Fear. Anger. Was that a weakness? Probe a little and try to find out.

“Jenny had her entire life ahead of her,” Eve said.

“How do you know that’s her name?” Walsh snapped.

“That is her name, isn’t it?”

He was silent.

Eve smiled. “She told me.”

“Bullshit.”

“Believe what you want. I know the truth.”

And he knew it, too, Eve realized. Jenny had definitely reached out to him.

“We’ll wait here.” He stopped and pointed through the trees at a clearing. “That’s where your Joe Quinn will be meeting us. Don’t make a sound, Eve, and it may be over soon, with a minimum of pain for you.”

*   *   *

In less than five minutes, Joe appeared in the clearing. He was holding the bundle under his arm. Run, take the skull, and get the hell out of here, she wanted to tell him. But she had said it all before, and he wouldn’t do it now any more than he had then.

Joe looked around. “Walsh?” he called out.

Walsh responded, still in the cover of the surrounding trees. “Put the skull down, Quinn. And take the gun from your holster and throw it into the woods.”

“Let me see Eve.”

Walsh nudged her.

She called out. “I’m here, Joe.”

Joe tossed his gun, then rested the mosquito-net-wrapped bundle on the ground. He stepped back. “Here’s what you wanted. Now let her go.”

Bam.

Walsh fired his gun, and Joe went down.

Joe!

Blood spurted from his right side. He rolled over and looked up at Eve.