Night and Day Read Free Page A

have to—”
    â€œBurbank just called me.” Joe Quinn was striding down the slope toward the campfire. “They’ve located Natalie’s helicopter. They think it’s heading for Liverpool. Natalie will probably be switching to a private jet there. Let’s go.”
    Eve jumped to her feet. “Can’t Scotland Yard intercept them? After all, it’s a kidnapping.”
    â€œIt would be difficult. Proof. Family rights. Natalie is her mother.” Joe took Eve’s elbow and headed toward the road. “It’s probably going to have to be us.”
    Jane felt powerless. “What can I do to help?” Jane called after them. “Should I come along?”
    â€œNo, stay here and hold everything together,” Joe said over his shoulder. “The local police aren’t pleased at those booby traps on the road. They’re asking a lot of questions I don’t have time to answer. The first thing that came to their mind was terrorists. They’re going to ask a lot more if they find out we’ve blown up the top of one of those scenic hills, and there may be bodies to deal with.”
    â€œHow are you going to get to Liverpool in time?”
    â€œI parked the helicopter about seven miles from here when I arrived in that heavy fog. We’ll grab one of the cars and drive there and hop on it. Try to cover for us, Jane.”
    â€œI’ll do what I can.” She gazed after them as they hurried up the slope toward the road. “But I’d rather be with you. Be careful, Eve…”
    *   *   *
    Be careful …
    The time for being careful was over if they could manage to reach Liverpool in time, Eve thought, as she waved back at Jane in response and turned to Joe. “What are our chances?”
    â€œNatalie’s pilot is bound to reach there before we do,” he said curtly. “They have a big head start. But they may not be able to pick up a private jet right away. Burbank said they’d checked the rental companies, and there was no advance rental to Natalie or any Russian company or entity. We have a chance of getting there before they find one to rent.”
    â€œThat’s not like Natalie,” Eve frowned. “She planned everything else out to the last detail. Why would she slip up there?”
    â€œMaybe it wasn’t up to her.” Joe’s brows rose as he glanced at her. “You’re very sure. You seem to be on the same wavelength as Natalie Castino.”
    â€œHeaven help me if I am,” Eve said. “There’s no way I’d want to have any bond or similarity with Natalie Castino.”
    â€œBut you believe you know how she thinks.”
    â€œYes.” She and Natalie had only shared phone calls and one traumatic meeting that had ended with Natalie’s shooting Joe and giving him that flesh wound before taking Cara. But there was no doubt that Eve knew the woman in a very real and terrifying way. “And she knows how I think.” Her lips tightened. “Though she believes I’m a sentimental fool and will try to use it against me to get her hands on that chest of coins she wants so desperately.”
    â€œWhich she won’t be able to do if we can stop her at Liverpool. Then we can—” He stopped short as they reached the road. “Shit.”
    Eve’s eyes flew to his face and then followed his gaze to a black limo that had parked a good distance down the road behind the yellow tape put up by the local police. A man in a brown suit and graying hair had gotten out of the car and was walking down the slope toward the camp. “What is it? Who is he?”
    â€œAgent Jason Toller. Justice Department. Bad timing.”
    Worse than bad timing, Eve thought. Joe had told her that Agent Toller had been investigating Jenny Castino’s death after he’d received a tip the skeleton found in California was the daughter of drug Czar Juan