CHAPTER 15
“Where’s Jane?” Eve fired the question at Logan as soon as he picked up the ringing phone the next morning. “You said they’d be safe. Damn you, where’s Jane?”
“What?” Panic spiked through him. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Jane. Joe just called me and told me that Jane’s missing.”
“Missing from where?”
“My mother’s house in Atlanta. Joe dropped her off there last night when I asked him to fly out here today. When my mother went into Jane’s room to call her for breakfast, she was gone. Goddammit, you said they’d be safe.”
“Was there any sign of forced entry?”
“No, I don’t think so. Joe’s on his way over there to talk to my mom and check out the house.”
“Could she have run away? She’s been upset lately.”
“Not enough to run away.”
That was Logan’s impression too, but he’d been reaching. Any other explanation scared him shitless.
The comb wasn’t for Sarah.
Rudzak’s words had been clawing at him since the previous night.
Had it been for little Jane MacGuire?
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Eve demanded.
“I was thinking. Let me get off the phone and call Galen. He wouldn’t have let Jane be dropped off without putting a guard on your mother’s house.”
“Then phone him and call me back.” Eve’s voice was uneven. “You get my Jane back, Logan. I won’t lose another daughter.” She hung up.
“What’s wrong?” Sarah had come into the living room. “What about Jane?”
“She’s disappeared from her grandmother’s house.” Logan was punching in Galen’s number. “Eve’s nearly frantic.”
“Of course she is,” Sarah said. “It must bring back Bonnie’s kidnapping and all the horror that—”
“Galen, who the hell do you have in Atlanta? Jane MacGuire’s missing.”
“The kid? No way. I stationed two good men at her grandmother’s last night. They would have reported anything wrong.”
“Well, your two good men fouled up. She’s missing. Call them and see what the hell they know.” He hung up. “Galen didn’t know anything about it. He said the house was guarded.”
“Rudzak,” Sarah whispered.
“I don’t know.”
“She’s only a little girl, Logan.” She shuddered. “But those kids at Apache Lake were just children, too, weren’t they? He doesn’t care.”
“No, he doesn’t care.” His lips tightened. “But we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”
“Why not? With that monster out there?” She reached for the phone. “I’ve got to call Eve.”
“Not now.”
“I brought her here. If she’d stayed with Jane, this might not have happened.”
“And what are you going to say? That you’re sorry? Is that going to make her feel better? Keep her line open in case someone needs to reach her.”
“Like the police,” she said dully. “Isn’t that what they say when a child is missing?”
“Quinn is on the job, trying to find Jane. He’ll be calling Eve as soon as he hears even a whisper.” He paused. “It doesn’t have to be Rudzak, Sarah.”
“And this is just a coincidence? Isn’t that what you told yourself about Kai Chi?”
He couldn’t deny it. “Don’t jump to conclusions.”
She headed for the door. “Not until we find one of Chen Li’s artifacts beside Jane’s body?”
He was glad that she had left the room. He wasn’t about to tell her what Rudzak had said, but she might have read something in his expression.
The comb wasn’t for Sarah.
“Any news of the kid?” Margaret asked as she walked beside Sarah to the front door.
Sarah shook her head. “Galen’s men swear they didn’t see anyone near the house.”
“That’s good news.”
“It only means Rudzak’s smart. I can’t wait any longer. I’m going to drive out to the cabin to see Eve.”
“You can’t do any good there.”
“I can be there for her. For God’s sake, it’s almost dark and they found out she was gone this morning. I was hoping we’d hear something right away.”
“Wait a little longer,” Margaret coaxed. “We’ll go for a stroll with Bassett, and if Logan hasn’t found out anything by the time we return, you can scoot out of here and I’ll cover for you with Logan.”
“I don’t need anyone to cover for me.”
“Then you can cover for me for not doing my job and keeping your mind off Jane.”
“Is that what Logan told you to do?”
Margaret shook her head as she opened the door. “Some jobs are implied. There’s Bassett waiting already.”
Sarah shrugged. Another fifteen minutes would do no harm. “Okay, once around the grounds.”
“Super.” Margaret passed Bassett at a fast clip and started for the back of the house. “Get the load off, Bassett. Get that circulation moving.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Bassett winked at Sarah as he followed Margaret. “Here I go again. The woman’s the bane of my life.” He sobered. “Logan told me about the little girl. Have you heard anything?”
Sarah shook her head as she fell into step with him. “Galen flew to Atlanta this afternoon.” And he and Joe should be meeting by now.
“She may be okay. Kids are funny. Maybe she’s hiding or trying to make them worry about her.”
“That’s not Jane.”
“Well, maybe her grandmother is making—”
“Hurry up.” Margaret waved at a security guard standing by the front gate some distance away. “Hi, Booker. Did you ever see two worse wimps in your life than these two?”
The security guard grinned. “Do you really expect me to answer that?”
“Coward.” Margaret started to turn onto the path leading around the house. “Come on, exercise isn’t any good unless it raises your heart rate.”
“Coming.” Bassett’s pace quickened. “Right behind you.”
They weren’t right behind her. Margaret actually was yards ahead of them. She turned and gave them a scornful wave. “I told you that you had to hustle to—” She stiffened, her gaze on the front gate. “Booker?”
The wolf was howling again. Eve felt like howling too.
Oh, God, let Jane be all right.
Go check on Maggie, make sure she’s okay. It was something to do. She moved toward the back porch and stuck her head in the door. The wolf glared at her resentfully and raised her head to howl again.
“I can’t help you,” she whispered. “I can’t bring them back.”
And she couldn’t help herself.
Or Jane.
Dammit, Logan, find her.
She stiffened as she heard a knock on the door.
She slowly moved across the room.
If they’d found her, they would have called immediately. People came in person to give you bad news. Policemen knocked on the door and said how sorry they were that your little girl was dead.
Bonnie.
No, this was Jane, and God wouldn’t let it happen to her again. There had to be some universal law that forbade—
Another knock.
The wolf howled.
She leaned her forehead on the door for a moment. Face it. She stepped back and threw open the door.
Herb Booker was clinging to the gate, staring straight ahead. Blood was pouring from his shoulder. His whole body suddenly jerked.
“Christ, he’s been shot.” Bassett ran past Margaret down the driveway. “We’ve got to help him.”
A shot? Panic surged through Sarah. “Bassett, stay away from the gates!”
“Drop to the ground.” Margaret was already running toward Bassett and the fallen Booker. “Stay low, Bassett.”
“What the hell’s happening? Booker’s been—” Bassett spun around clutching his wrist.
Another shot.
And Sarah saw blood gushing from Margaret’s chest as she slowly sank to her knees. “Sarah?” she whispered in disbelief.
Sarah screamed and ran toward her.
“Call security,” Bassett said, dazed. He was clutching his wrist and blood was running through his fingers. “For God’s sake, call—”
“Hit the ground and stay there,” Sarah yelled at him. “You can’t help. Monty, stay with him.”
A bullet whistled by her cheek as she knelt beside Margaret, who had slumped to the ground. “Margaret?”
Margaret’s eyes were staring straight ahead. “Stay . . . low . . .”
She was still giving orders, Sarah realized. Should she move her? What if the bullet shifted?
Help. She needed help.
She opened her mouth and screamed.
“I know you’re going to be mad at me.” Jane straightened her shoulders belligerently. “That’s too bad. I’m here and I’m going to stay here. You can’t just go away and not expect— Let me go. I can’t breathe.”
“Too bad.” Eve’s arms tightened around Jane’s thin body. “I’m not letting go.” She cleared her tight throat. “Well, not for a minute or two. Then I’m going to murder you.”
“I knew you’d be mad. I would have told Joe or your mother, but I knew they would have stopped me from coming. They think I’m a kid.”
“You are a kid, dammit.”
Jane looked at her.
“Okay.” Jane was no more a child than Eve had been at her age. They had both grown up on the streets where youth had been stolen from them. “Then you should have been adult enough not to worry me to death.”
“You wouldn’t have let me come.” She stepped back. “And I’m here now. You should call Joe and tell him I’m here, shouldn’t you?”
“Yes.” She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to stop looking at her daughter. “How did you get here?”
“I bought an electronic ticket on the Internet and charged it to your credit card. I owe you money.”
“They let you on the airplane by yourself?”
“I managed. Is that the wolf howling? Where is she?”
“On the back porch. And how did you get here from the airport?”
“I hitchhiked.” She held up her hand to stop Eve’s protests.
“I know it’s dangerous. I picked an old man and his wife and they lectured me all the way here.
They stayed outside in their truck until you opened the door.
I want to see the wolf.” She started toward the door Eve had indicated.
“You call Joe and then you can yell at me later.”
“Count on it.” She headed for the phone. “And stay away from Maggie. She’s crabby.”
“Why?”
“I think she’s lonely.”
Jane looked at her over her shoulder. “That’s a bad thing to be. It . . . hurts.”
“Yes, it does.”
Jane looked away. “Call Joe.”
Another shot tore by Sarah’s ear as she huddled over Margaret’s body, both hands pressing above the wound.
“Sarah!” Logan was running toward her from the house with Juan Lopez behind him. “Get yourself and Margaret into the trees, dammit.”
“I’m going to. Go take care of Bassett and Booker. They’ve both been shot.”
“Lopez, call 911,” Logan shouted.
There was a screech of tires outside the gate, and a dark Camaro tore down the street.