Silencing Eve

millions, but he kept most compartments of his life strictly private. That was fine with Stang, he had no desire to know too much about Zander’s dealings. It could prove dangerous, if not fatal. It was only lately that Zander had let Stang into his confidence. He had seemed to want him to know about the kidnapping of Eve Duncan by Doane. “What kind of electronics voodoo do you want Weiner to perform?”
    “Something a little less than voodoo. Cameras are much more pedestrian.”
    “Cameras?”
    “In the past, I’ve had Weiner track targets for me using public and private cameras. I give him an area, and he creates a huge wall-mounted map and uses a highlighter pen to track a designated vehicle.”
    “How?”
    “Municipal traffic cams posted at major intersections. Most cities keep at least a few weeks’ worth on their servers’ hard drives. Live highway cameras feeds are available to anyone on the Internet these days, but Weiner takes it a step further by tapping into the Department of Transportation servers to review history. Then there are private-business security cameras. ATM cameras facing the roads. Toll-gate cameras…” He waved his hand. “It goes on and on.”
    “So much for privacy on the road.”
    “A few years ago, this kind of tracking would have been impossible. The camera feeds would have been recorded on videocassettes and stored at each place. Now the images are recorded on hard drives, usually networked, and thus vulnerable to remote hacking and snooping.” His lips twisted. “And Weiner’s network connections are truly impressive. Once he knows which road or direction Doane is traveling, he’ll be able to follow his path using Google Street View, looking left and right at businesses, banks, etcetera, to see security cameras he can hack.”
    “Why tell him to focus on Colorado and Wyoming? For that matter, why are we holed up in this modernistic Taj Mahal instead of going back to Vancouver?”
    “A hunch. That jump down into the cavern and the trip downstream was pretty rough. I’d think Doane would want to hole up and recuperate a little before he took to the road. First, he’d want to see if his little scam had worked; and then he’d start pulling a new plan out of his hat.” He nodded at the memorial service broadcasting on the TV set across the room. “This should reassure him that he’s safe to move.” He smiled. “And it will also be the signal for Quinn to go after me and try to grab me as bait for Doane.”
    “It sounds like a good plan to me,” Stang said.
    “I’ll make a decision on how to handle Doane when I make the approach.”
    “It seems to be the only way to keep Eve Duncan alive. Why not go along with Quinn?” He met Zander’s eyes. “And don’t tell me that you don’t care whether or not Eve survives. I’m no expert about analyzing your reactions. God knows, you’ve had decades to grow that hard shell, and I’ve just accepted that it has become part of you. But I watched you after that saloon blew up, and everyone thought Eve and Doane were dead. If you’re capable of caring about anything, you cared that night. You cared, Zander.”
    Zander gazed at him without expression. “Maybe I was angry that I didn’t get my chance at Doane.”
    “I don’t think so. You let me read Eve Duncan’s dossier. You talked to me about Doane and his son, Kevin. That was completely unlike you.”
    “Was it?”
    “Yes, you wanted me to know about Eve Duncan. You wanted someone to be on her side, to try to convince you to go after her and try to save her.”
    “You think I’m that complicated?”
    “I think that you’re an unsolvable Rubik’s cube.”
    “That you’ve solved?”
    “No, but perhaps you’ve given me enough clues to see a way to do it.” He grimaced. “Maybe. You’re fighting so hard not to care about Eve. For God’s sake, she’s your daughter. It’s pure instinct to care about her.” He gestured to the TV. “And there are dozens of people at that damn memorial service who will testify that she’s a life worth saving. She’s a very special person, Zander.”
    “So eloquent. You must have been storing that dissertation up for a long time.”
    He was silent a moment. “It’s what you want to hear from me, Zander. Now accept it and go save her.”
    “Is that an order?” he asked silkily.
    Stang found himself tensing. He was on very shaky ground at that moment. “Yes, and a plea. She must have gone through hell. She