Silencing Eve

and expect her to meekly accept that philosophy.
    She would not accept not being given her due. She’d always had doubts that Kevin might be making a mistake in dealing with Tehran, but she’d not been able to convince him. But he’d been full of dreams of power, and she’d given in to him and helped him as she’d done since the moment he was born. But she’d made preparations for disaster as well as triumph, and she’d known she might have to run and start a new life.
    But Kevin’s dreams had died, murdered by those bastards who had killed him and thrown him into the fires of that furnace.
    No, his final dream had not died, she had not permitted it to be destroyed. It had just been put on hold until the time was right.
    And that visit from Jane MacGuire had been the signal that the time was most certainly right.
    Her cell phone rang, and she went back into the bedroom to pick it up from the bedside table. She grimaced as she checked the ID. James Doane. It was the second time he’d called in the last hour, and she’d ignored the first one. It was always best to keep the upper hand with him. She’d learned that during their first year of marriage and had kept the reins firm and taut.
    But it was time to make sure he wasn’t doing anything that would jeopardize her own plans. She answered the call. “Do you have Zander yet? Thanks to you, everything is falling apart with the life I’ve built over the years. I won’t have it be for nothing, James.”
    “Not yet. I’ve been busy.” He added sourly, “It’s your fault. I told you that we have to arrange to have those devices activated. I’ve been scrambling to set it up with Cartland.” He added harshly, “And going at it blind. He keeps asking where Kevin hid those devices, and I have to put him off. When are you going to tell me?”
    “Soon. Has Cartland arranged for my passport and line of credit at a bank in Samoa?”
    “Yes.” He added with barely contained anger, “You’re treating me with no respect, Harriet. Kevin would not like that. He’d be angry with you.”
    “How would you know? You never really knew him. In any disagreement between us, Kevin always took my side. He thought I was right, and you were wrong.” She said coldly, “And the only reason he tolerated you at all was that you helped him with those disgusting episodes with the little girls. It was so dangerous for Kevin, and yet you encouraged him. I’ve never forgiven you for that, James. I knew that someday they’d find out about him and that he’d have to have somewhere to run. You forced me to leave him, so that I could prepare a hiding place and an escape route for him. Do you know how I hated to leave him?”
    “You told Kevin often enough,” he said bitterly. “How you were sacrificing yourself for him. How you’d always keep him safe.”
    “It was a sacrifice. And he loved me all the more for it. You may have given him what he wanted, but, in the end, he trusted me. He confided in me, let me help him, accepted my suggestions.” She paused. “He even let me choose where those nukes were going to be hidden. You should have heard him laugh when I told him where I thought he should put each one. He said that it was just like me to choose—” She broke off. “But he never told you, did he?”
    “He was going to do it.”
    “Maybe. If he thought you could help him.”
    “I was closer to Kevin than you ever were. I’m still close to him.”
    James was getting defiant, and she should not have been this argumentative. It wasn’t to her advantage to make him angry. She was just frustrated that Jane MacGuire had forced her to make a move so quickly. “I won’t argue with you about who Kevin loved more. That’s all in the past. What’s important is making sure that Kevin is properly revenged. I want Zander dead.”
    “Zander’s death isn’t enough. I always told you that those cities should be Kevin’s funeral pyre.”
    “Then give me what I want and need. And I’ll give you what you want. Have you forgotten that’s how your arrangements with me always have to go forward?”
    “How can I be sure that you’ll do it? You can say that safe in your little cave in Muncie.”
    “I’m not in Muncie any longer. I had to leave. I’m in Chicago. That’s why I have to make sure that you arranged for me to get out of the country the minute we’re finished with Zander.” She paused. “You didn’t tell me that Kevin had a journal. Why?”
    Silence.