Silencing Eve

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.”
    “Would you like help?” Zander asked. “If you’ll undo these handcuffs, I’d be glad to volunteer.”
    “Do those cuffs bother you? Do you feel powerless? That must be maddening for you. You are powerless, Zander. Those are the finest military handcuffs, and they’ll hold you until the bullet goes into your brain.”
    “Then I take it my offer is refused?”
    Doane’s smile lost a little of its malicious pleasure. “You arrogant bastard.”
    The front door slammed behind him.
    “I thought for a minute that he’d take that shovel to your head,” Eve said dryly.
    “There was a possibility but not a very great one. It would have spoiled his precious finale. He’s exceptionally single-minded.”
    “I’ve noticed that.”
    “And he won’t complete the show until Harriet is here.” He was staring thoughtfully at the door. “It would be much easier to take Doane out before she arrives on the scene.”
    “Oh, would it?”
    “But, since she apparently may be more dangerous in your eyes, I’d have trouble convincing you to run the risk of her blowing up Seattle and Chicago if she became upset that we had shifted the balance.”
    “Yes, a good deal of trouble, Zander.” She shook her head. “And I’m having trouble with believing this discussion. You’re talking as if it’s a done deal.”
    “No, there will be difficulties. It might be nice to have skilled assistance if it proves very dicey. We’ll have to see if Catherine comes through.”
    “Catherine?”
    “I told her that she had to redouble her efforts to find this lovely cottage.”
    “And what did she say?”
    “Well, nothing really. That was about the time when I knocked her unconscious.” He smiled. “But I’m sure that she’ll do as I suggested.”
    “I’m not certain those circumstances would lend to compliance. Catherine doesn’t appreciate force.”
    “But she does appreciate you. I think she probably weighed her anger at me and her affection for