Silencing Eve

strong and heated. Ignore it.
    “Then if you’re fine, I’ll tell you that you shouldn’t have lowered your guard with Zander,” he said coolly. “And that you were an idiot not to tell us where you were staying.”
    “I wasn’t an idiot. I had a chance of manipulating the situation if I could keep control of Zander.”
    “But you didn’t keep control.” Joe’s eyes never left Stang. “And now Eve’s probably worse off because you didn’t. And how do you know Stang doesn’t know anything?”
    “You’ve dealt with me before, Quinn,” Stang said. “You know that Zander doesn’t confide in me. He didn’t tell me a word.”
    “And you didn’t suspect anything?”
    “Of course, I did. Zander was actually edgy. I even questioned him. He said he hated to wait.”
    “He was waiting for word to get to Doane so that he could set up himself as bait for Doane’s ambush,” Catherine said. “He knew that Doane wanted to kill Eve in front of him. He also knew that Doane’s wife has to be there at the execution. Zander wanted time to kill Doane and get Eve away before Harriet arrived on the scene.”
    “How, dammit?” Joe asked.
    She shook her head. “I don’t know. Stang says he always has a plan.”
    Gallo muttered an oath. “That doesn’t help us.”
    “It might help Eve,” Stang said quietly. “He doesn’t want her to die.”
    “But he risks her life because he won’t trust anyone but himself,” Quinn said. “Arrogant son of a bitch.”
    “Easy, Joe,” Catherine said. She knew the words were futile. He was as desperate and afraid as she was of the impetus Zander’s move might start in motion. “I may agree with you, but we just have to work around Zander.” She added grimly, “That’s what he was saying before he left. Backup. We have to find that cottage in case Zander and his wonder plan go down the tubes.” She brushed her hair away from her face. “He said we’d more than likely have between five and eight hours after Doane got his hands on him. He had to be thinking about the time it would take Harriet to get out here. We’ve got to make them count.”
    “I haven’t been twiddling my thumbs trying to find that cottage,” Joe said. “When we were at the Marine Museum, I didn’t get any solid answers, but the curator did remember seeing a book on artistry in driftwood that had some unusual designs.”
    “Headstones?”
    “Not that he recalled, but he was fairly vague. I’ve been searching every Web site and publishing house in Washington State to see if I could locate it. No luck.” He frowned. “But I’m beginning to wonder if we’re off base.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “We’ve been assuming since the nukes are supposed to be in Seattle that the cottage is near Seattle. What if it isn’t? You couldn’t get any answer about land purchase from Langley. We can’t find any mention of driftwood that fits the description. Not near Seattle. Not in Washington State. Why not look south, across the Oregon border? Kevin would have been safer if his hideout wasn’t right on top of a target city. It couldn’t hurt to take a look.”
    “Unless it’s a waste of time. Then it could hurt Eve very badly.”
    “If you’ve got any other suggestion, I’m listening.”
    She didn’t have any other suggestion. “We’ll try Oregon.” She moved back and sat down. “I’ll call Langley and set them to exploring the possibility of Kevin’s purchasing out of state. It might—” Her phone rang before she could dial. “It’s Margaret.” She accessed. “Margaret, may I call you back? Things are crazy here now and we’ve got to find a way to salvage it before they get worse.”
    “That’s not what I wanted to hear. This will only take a minute, Catherine. Jane asked me to call.” She paused. “I think we may have big trouble.”

 
    CHAPTER
    16
    Chicago
    “HAS SHE MADE ANY PHONE CALLS?” Jane asked Margaret, when they burst into Caleb’s suite twenty minutes later. “Is Harriet still in her suite?”
    “As far as I can tell,” Margaret said. “I heard her moving around the suite. She went to the bathroom. I heard water running. I didn’t hear the corridor door open or close.” She shrugged. “I’m glad you’re here. I listened to every nuance of sound, but I’m not accustomed to interpreting those damn machines the way you are, Caleb.”
    “You interpreted what was going on between Cartland and Harriet,” Trevor said. “That’s more