Silencing Eve

Margaret.”
    Margaret darted a mischievous glance over her shoulder as she strode away. “But I’m probably the only one who has an idea where we should be going. Therefore, it’s you who are coming along with me. ”

 
    CHAPTER
    5
    Starlite Motel
Casper, Wyoming
    THE MOTEL ROOM WAS DARK, and Eve could smell the musky scent of Doane’s body in the next bed. He’d tied her wrists to the posts of the headboard, and she felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
    Go to sleep, she told herself. It was easy to be ambushed by fear in the minutes before sleep came to rescue her.
    Rescue. But she mustn’t expect rescue. She had to save herself.
    The telephone calls. Was there a way to find an out through this Cartland Doane had called?
    “You’re not sleeping,” Doane said mockingly from the other bed. “What’s wrong, Eve? Anxiety at last? It must have been terrible to watch your lover, Quinn, grieving for you. Did it make you feel lost? You are lost, you know. It’s only going to be a few days more, and it will be over.”
    “I’m not lost. And the reason I can’t sleep is that I can smell the stink of you in this tiny room. It makes me sick.” She paused. There was a strange intimacy about talking to him in this darkness. Did he feel it, too? Would it help loosen his tongue? Test it. “Are we going to Vancouver after I finish repairing the reconstruction on your son? Do you really think that Zander is still going to be there? Not likely.”
    “Why not? He thinks we’re both dead. There’s no reason for him to close up his house and take off.”
    “Except that he’d be afraid that it wouldn’t be safe since Venable and Joe would both know that Zander lived there. I imagine a hit man has to be careful of the number of people who have that information. You’re probably not the only one who wants to get to him and cut his throat.”
    “But I’m the one who’s going to do it,” he said. “And I’m not going to stumble into his lair without checking. That’s not good planning.”
    “Oh, yes. Your great planning ability. How could I forget? So far, it doesn’t seem to have panned out too well. Everything has gone wrong for you, hasn’t it? And now you’re stuck with me in this fleabag of a motel making more great plans. Who’s going to check on Zander for you? You killed Blick. You’re alone now.”
    “I’m not alone. I’ve just had to readjust my plans, and that takes a little time. Did you really think I was just going to burst into Zander’s home and kill you the minute I saw him?”
    “Yes.”
    “No, it has to be done with a certain subtlety.” His tone hardened. “And now there’s a price to be paid. I’m very angry with Venable. He was supposed to protect me, and I think he tried to kill me in that ghost town. I thought I had him under control, but I can’t trust him any longer. So he has to be punished. They all have to be punished.”
    She stiffened. “All? Who else?”
    “You’re afraid I’m going to go after Quinn and your Jane. It might happen, but I can’t waste my energy on them now that they’re no longer a danger.”
    Thank heavens that it was dark and he couldn’t see her relief. He’d pounce on any hint of weakness to hurt her. He was so volatile that he could change his mind in a heartbeat. “But you can target Venable.” She paused, then asked again, “Who else?”
    “All the sons of bitches who were responsible for that bullet that Zander shot into my boy. They could have saved him. They should have saved him. Kevin told them that if they let him go and gave him enough money, he’d give them the names of the other people in the sleeper cell.”
    “Cell?” She was confused. “You mean that disk that dealt with the embedded agents in Pakistan trying to find Bin Laden?”
    “That had little importance. Kevin offered it to them in the beginning as an opening bid, but General Tarther made such a stink about the death of his daughter that Kevin knew he had to up the ante. He decided he might have to give him the sleeper cell.”
    “What sleeper cell?”
    Doane was silent, and she was afraid that his brief loquacious period had come to an end. Then he spoke, “You think I’m going to tell you something that you can use against me and Kevin. You still think that you’re going to get away from us.” He chuckled. “You should be resigned by now, Eve. I’ve taken away every person you might have hoped could help you get free. I have total