Smokescreen Read online

  Michael was silent. “Sometimes it seems to be easier for me to keep an eye on her. But, okay, whatever you say. Good night, Dad.” He cut the connection.

  She’s got to be safe.

  And Michael had been very worried that Eve wasn’t safe.

  So was Joe supposed to rush out and take the next plane to Jokan because his son was getting some kind of psychic vibes that all was not well with Eve’s world?

  Why not? It was what Joe wanted to do anyway, and Michael’s instincts had been almost a hundred percent correct in the past.

  But that meant trusting Michael’s instincts over Eve’s explanation. Which would definitely not please her.

  Okay, he didn’t like it, but he’d give Eve the twenty-four hours she’d requested and talk to her tomorrow night. She’d be honest with him. If something was wrong, she’d tell him then.

  Or he’d be able to know just by looking at her face. As he would have tonight if she hadn’t sent him that damn text instead of Skyping.

  It was really bad, Dad.

  * * *

  Robaku

  3:40 A.M.

  Machete!

  Varak liked killing children, Jill had said.

  And he was there in the schoolroom waiting for Eve to come so that he could show her that bloody machete.

  She didn’t have to look over her shoulder, she could see him now, smiling, waiting…

  But she couldn’t see him clearly because she didn’t know his face. She could see the evil, but how could she stop him if she didn’t know his face?

  And he was raising that machete…

  * * *

  Eve jerked wide-awake, her heart pounding. She was panting, unable to get her breath. She sat upright on her cot.

  Only a nightmare. Only? She felt as if she’d been there that day and been helpless to stop that carnage. She got sluggishly out of bed and went to the bathroom. She drank a glass of water and stood there looking in the mirror. She was pale, and the hand holding the glass was shaking. She looked as helpless as she’d felt when she’d faced Varak in that nightmare.

  She wasn’t helpless. She couldn’t be helpless. She steadied her hand as she put the glass down on the vanity. And she wouldn’t let herself spend her life looking over her shoulder, wondering if he was still there, waiting with that bloody machete.

  Eve grabbed her phone and punched in Jill’s number the minute she left the bathroom. “I want you over here. I want Novak, too. Right now. If I can’t sleep, I’m not going to let either one of you sleep, either.”

  “Twenty minutes,” Jill said. “And I’ll find a way to get Novak there.”

  “I know you will. I’ll make the coffee.”

  Silence. “That sounds promising.”

  “Not necessarily. I desperately need the caffeine, and I want both of you to be awake enough to give me answers.” She cut the connection.

  * * *

  Jill arrived fifteen minutes later. “Novak is right behind me.” She went over to the cot and pulled it into the center of the room. “If you don’t mind, I’ll try to avoid sitting on the floor at your feet this time. I don’t mind being humbled, but I have an idea I might need all the dignity I can gather together for this session. You really should have Hajif find you a few more chairs.”

  “You do it.” She gave Jill her coffee. “I like the idea of your being humble, considering what you’ve put me through.” Her lips twisted. “Though I can’t see Novak being humbled in any situation.”

  “He pretends well.” Jill sat down on the cot. “But you’re right, he knows what he wants and goes after it.” She glanced at Novak as he walked into the room. “I’ve saved you from groveling, Novak. Come and share my cot.”

  “How can I resist? I’ve never had that invitation from you, Jill.” He strolled toward Eve. “But I think we should get down to business before pleasure. Since you summoned both of us, I assume you do mean business?”

  “My business,” Eve said. “I had one hell of a night. I have to be sure that Varak won’t ever come back. And the only way I can do that is to do a reconstruction and see for myself that I don’t have to worry about it.” She added, “Which could get me into all kinds of trouble. You’re going to go after that skull tonight?”

  “That’s the plan,” Novak said. “We’ll try to keep you from being hurt by this. All you’ll have to do is perform the reconstruction and the computer measurements and photos. We’ll keep your identity confidential.”

  “Which will be fine if this skull is Varak’s. It will be bullshit if it’s not,” Eve said. “We all know that my identity will be secret only if we return that skull to the U.N. vault before the switch is discovered. You won’t do that if you think that I’ve proved Varak is alive. You’ll want to take the next step and find the person who falsified the DNA.” She looked him in the eye. “And then you’ll try to hunt down Varak and trap or kill him. Isn’t that right?”

  He nodded slowly. “I’ve told you that I would.”

  “And that’s why it’s a miracle she’s even considering doing it,” Jill said.

  “More than considering,” Novak said softly, his gaze studying Eve’s face. “She’s going for it. She only wants us to tell her the best way to do it.”

  “Wrong. I want to tell you how I’m going to do it,” Eve said. “When you leave here, I’m going to start on the reconstruction of the six-year-old girl who’s next on my list. I’ll get as much done as possible today and tonight before you give me the Varak skull. I hope to get past the measuring to the initial sculpting. At that stage, a layman can’t tell how much is being accomplished. Then I’ll start work on Varak. That will be slower; depending on condition, it may take me up to three days. If I’m interrupted or have to leave the museum for any reason, I’ll hide Varak away and put the six-year-old on the dais in his place.”

  “Only three days?” Jill leaned forward, tense. “Are you certain?”

  “No, not if the damage from the explosion is more extensive than I think. But they would have had to have found some kind of basic bone structure to even begin to identify Varak and start to search for DNA. You said there were five passengers on that helicopter?”

  “Including the pilot,” Novak said. “But according to my interrogation of Varak’s men we captured after the explosion, Varak was wearing a leather jacket that day. There was melted leather in the rubble near the remains of the body.” He grimaced. “Which was basically the skull.”

  “And the jacket led you to the right victim,” Eve said. “How convenient that they didn’t have to waste time beginning their search for the DNA. Particularly since the whole world was so very eager to know that Varak was dead.”

  “Do you think that didn’t occur to me?” Novak asked. “But the French forces had made the kill and were in charge of the investigation. The U.N. told us to back off. Why do you think I even listened to Jill when she came to me with that story about Hadfeld?”

  “Because you’re not an idiot,” Jill said. “Though you should have—” She broke off and turned back to Eve. “If the skull isn’t too degraded, it will only be three days. That would be enough time. Novak said that the safe is only opened for a visual check every five days.”

  “Only? You appear to like that word. I’m glad you think it’s going to be so easy,” Eve said dryly. “It doesn’t seem like that much time to me to do the reconstruction, determine if it’s Varak, then erase all signs I’d even done the work so that you can slip it back into the safe as if it had never been touched.” She added grimly, “And, if it’s not Varak, then everything will probably blow up in my face.”

  “Our faces,” Jill said quietly. “You’re not alone in this. Anything that happens to you happens to me from now on.” She smiled faintly. “If you get tossed into jail, they’ll have to give me the next cell.”

  “I’d prefer to avoid that possibility,” Eve said. “I have a son to raise, and I don’t want to leave it up to Joe.” She glanced at Novak. “Which brings me to what
I have to do to keep Joe from going ballistic about this. Joe told me that you’d met him. Did you actually think you could keep him out of it?”

  “I was hopeful. But I was considering options. Unfortunately, developments are escalating.”

  “You mean because I was poisoned yesterday? You mean because no one told me what had happened to Jill before she drew me into this nightmare? Yes, I think either one of those events might have caused Joe to believe the situation here had escalated out of control.” She added, “And I haven’t told Joe any of the details about either one, but I’m going to have to do it. Jill gave me your name to reassure Joe, but he’s not going to be reassured by the fact that I almost died and you can’t find the chef who was responsible for the poison. Has that changed?”

  “No, Gaillon hasn’t shown up back at the hotel. I suspect he might have taken a bribe and skipped the country, or he might have proved embarrassing to whoever hired him and was taken out. I’m exploring both possibilities. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.”

  Eve was shaken for a moment by Novak’s coolness and complete lack of expression. But then she should have expected it. Jill had told her he was ruthless, but she found she wanted to disturb that coolness. “How nice of you. But you can see how Joe wouldn’t believe you’re particularly efficient.” She glanced at Jill. “Look what you let happen to her.”

  His lips tightened, but there was only a flicker of expression in his eyes. “That’s true. So what’s your remedy for the situation? How do we keep him out of this?”

  “We can’t. It’s too late. If there were any way that I thought I could keep him in London, I’d do it. But the minute I ended up in that hospital yesterday morning, I knew it was the end. Even if I left this place, he’d be back here checking out that hotel and why it happened to me. Joe never lets go, it’s not his nature.”

  “I repeat, do you have a remedy?”

  “I can’t keep him out, so I tell him the truth.” She paused. “And we invite him to help clean up this mess. He’ll be here anyway the minute he hears what’s been happening.” She shrugged. “And he can be a great help, he’s a superb detective. Give him all the facts and turn him loose. You’ll be surprised how good he is.”

  “I don’t doubt it. He has that reputation. I would have ordinarily welcomed his help. But I remembered that when I met him, I thought he’d probably be a difficult man to control, that he’d always go his own path.” He was searching her face. “And you don’t want him here, do you?”

  “You’re damn right I don’t. But I can’t go away until I know about Varak. And Joe will come regardless when he knows I was targeted.” She added curtly, “And I might still be targeted. You can’t deny that, can you?”

  “Not as long as you’re working on the skull. After that, you might be safe.”

  “Might?” She shook her head. “Then your job is to keep Joe so busy that he’s nowhere near me while I’m working on that reconstruction. Otherwise, you can forget about my doing it. I won’t risk him. Do you understand?”

  “I understand. Anything else?”

  “Evidently you don’t trust me to Skype him. Get me a satellite smartphone that’s virtually impossible to hack. And make sure my security is good enough that Joe will feel comfortable about leaving me alone here.”

  “I would have done that regardless.”

  “I had to be certain. Joe would notice.”

  “I imagine he would,” he said. “But you should know that Gideon is fully capable. After his parents were killed, he came to me and asked to be sent to a training camp the CIA runs in Afghanistan. He did very well.”

  “You mean he’s fairly lethal.” She nodded. “I can see he’d be motivated. But he just doesn’t give off those vibes.”

  “He’s complicated,” Jill said. “He adapts to the situation. I think you’ve found that out.”

  “Yes, I have.” She added, “But then so do you, Jill. But I don’t think you persuaded Novak to send you to a training camp to increase your kill quotient.”

  “I was tempted to blackmail her into it at one time,” Novak said grimly. “I still might decide to do it. She’s damn vulnerable.”

  “Back off, Novak,” Jill said. “I’m not that vulnerable. I made one mistake. You keep coming back to it.”

  “Because I can’t forget it,” he said grimly. “Though you appear to have managed.”

  “Do I?” Jill asked. “No, I haven’t forgotten. Though I try very hard.”

  Novak muttered a curse as he turned back to Eve. “I’m supposed to take possession of the skull at eleven tonight. Can you put off talking to Joe Quinn until I’m certain the switch has gone through? You might not have to bring him here. That guard, Swanson, is very edgy, and even the prospect of retiring with a fortune may not overcome his nerves. I might have to start all over if he panics.”

  “I can’t believe you’d let that happen,” she said caustically. “Joe said you were the CIA’s go-to man.”

  “Which only means in situations like this I can’t delegate, I’ll have to be there tonight when the switch is made.”

  “Then you won’t let this Swanson change his mind.” She shrugged. “I’ll wait, but the result will probably be the same. Once I let Joe know how sick I was, it will be all over. If I don’t tell him I’m on my way to him, he’ll be coming here.” She stared him in the eye. “So handle it, Novak. Having Joe hovering over me while I complete that reconstruction would be suspicious to say the least. Joe’s reputation is remarkable, and no one would believe he’d fly here from Scotland Yard just for a conjugal visit.”

  “I’ll handle it,” Novak said. “Just stall him. Okay?”

  “No, it’s not okay. And it won’t work for long. Get me that phone so I can talk freely to him, or it won’t work at all.” She made an impatient gesture with her hand. “Now both of you get out of here. I have to start to work.” She got to her feet and strode over to the row of leather boxes on the shelf. “Did I tell you how much I hate these boxes? But no more than I hate everything else that happened here.” She took down the box with the skull of the six-year-old girl that she’d set aside in preparation. “Her name is Mila. She has a right to expect my full attention, but instead I’m making her part of this charade.”

  “You’ll make it up to her,” Jill said quietly as she got to her feet. “And I believe she wouldn’t mind that she has a role in catching the man who did this to her and her friends. Do you, Eve?”

  “No.” Eve opened the box and gazed down at the small, blackened skull. “Very clever, Jill. Just the right thing to say.”

  “Not clever. It’s what I feel. From now on, that’s what you’ll get from me.” She headed for the door. “Now I have to get back to my apartment and change. I’m supposed to be back here for that press interview Gideon has set up for this morning.” She smiled as she stopped at the door. “It’s good that you’ll be in the midst of working on a new reconstruction. I’ll be able to be admiring and ask dozens of questions.”

  “Not dozens.” Eve was frowning with exasperation. “And I completely forgot about that damn press interview.” Too much had been going on that was more important. “I have to work. Tell Gideon to get everyone in and out within an hour.”

  “Don’t worry. It will be just long enough to make me appear to be only another journalist out to get a feature story. Along with trying to convince Zahra that it was Gideon and not me who was behind bringing you here.”

  “Zahra’s going to be at the interview?”

  “It would surprise me if she wasn’t,” Novak said as he joined Jill at the door. “She seems to be ever present. She’ll want to take some of the media attention away from you and focus it on herself.” He glanced at Jill. “And her agent, Bogani, is still following Jill everywhere she goes.”

  “She’s being followed?” Eve frowned. “Why? Just because she’s trying to keep Zahra from swallowing up this village?”

  “Interesting question,” Novak said. “I’m looking
into it. I’ll see you this evening, Eve.”

  Eve turned to Jill as he left the museum. “Why?” she repeated. “Novak may be ‘looking’ into Zahra Kiyani, but I think she’s weird as hell, and I want more than a look. I wouldn’t put anything past her and her ‘food tasters.’”

  “Gideon told me about that conversation.” Jill shrugged. “Novak’s ‘looks’ are very thorough. But I agree she’s a piece of work. It seems to run in the family. Remind me to tell you about Kiya and her journal. It’s enlightening.” She lifted her hand in farewell. “I’ll see you at the press interview. You won’t have to suffer through it for too long. Gideon is a master at this kind of bullshit. He was trained from childhood to be head of the Gideon financial empire. This is nothing.”

  “No wonder Zahra wanted him as prince consort,” Eve murmured. “Well, all I want is for him to get those reporters and Zahra out of here and let me keep on working.”

  “He’ll do it.” Jill turned to leave. “One hour. No more.”

  * * *

  One hour.

  Jill had kept her word, Eve realized, as she watched Gideon whisk the six reporters he’d invited out the door. He’d managed to get them all individual interviews with her that were at least five minutes long, and he hadn’t allowed them to take control or ask her any awkward questions. More important, he’d made Jill just one of the crowd with no special privileges, and Jill had played her part to perfection. She’d been eager, intelligent, and no one would have been able to guess she’d ever met Eve before today.

  Then he’d turned the spotlight on Zahra Kiyani and switched the reporters’ focus to her. Thirty minutes of Zahra’s exuding charm, and he’d started herding the reporters toward the exit.

  “He’s very good, isn’t he?” Zahra was suddenly at Eve’s elbow. Then she frowned. “Though I could have used a few more minutes with the media before he decided to get rid of them. But it’s difficult to control Gideon.”