Hurry.
Even if Harriet had been delayed by doing first aid on that wound Trevor had inflicted, she was probably close to the cottage now. When she got there, it could be only a matter of minutes until Harriet and Doane decided to make their kills.
Eve.
Panic shot through her, piercing the agony.
Eve could die.
They were so close to saving her, yet all that bitch, Harriet, had to do was to pull the trigger, and she would die.
As Trevor had died.
No, Harriet, not again. Never again.
Her foot stomped on the accelerator, and the car jumped forward.
Driftwood Cottage
“SHE’S NOT HERE.” DOANE’S EYES were glittering with anger as he stormed back into the cottage. “Harriet promised me that she’d be here by this time. The arrogant bitch is probably keeping me waiting on purpose. I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s always played games like that.”
“You mean she’s not eager to witness the grand execution,” Zander said mockingly. “What an insult to me.”
“And to you,” Eve said to Doane. “Do I detect a lack of trust?”
“Shut up, both of you.” He was dialing his phone. “I won’t have her spoiling everything. I’m not going to let her—” He spoke harshly into the phone as she came on the line, “Where the hell are you? I’m not going to wait any longer. You can’t do this to—” He broke off, listening. “I don’t care what happened to you. I don’t believe you anyway. Fifteen minutes. You’d better be here. I won’t wait a minute longer.” He punched his finger savagely down on the disconnect. “Excuses. She said that she’d been hurt and had stopped at an emergency clinic to get the blood stopped. Bullshit.” He headed for the door. “She told me she was nearly here, that she’d just started over the hills. If she’s telling the truth, I should be able to see her headlights from the beach.” He glared at them over his shoulder. “If I don’t see them in ten minutes, I’m coming back here.” He smiled savagely. “And all the bitch will see when she gets here will be two corpses.” The door slammed behind him.
“I believe it’s time we got out of here,” Zander said. “It appears that Doane isn’t going to wait until Harriet darkens his door.”
“I got that impression,” Eve said. Her heart was pounding hard. She hadn’t thought she’d be this frightened. She had known this moment was coming. “By all means, if you can pull a rabbit out of your hat and get us free, I’ll be interested to see it.”
“No rabbit. But you’re in the right ballpark.” His brow was furrowed with concentration. “I’m working on it. These handcuffs aren’t easy with this broken arm.”
Eve stared at him. “You really think you can pick the lock?”
“No. Not in a reasonable amount of time, anyway.” Zander shifted, and suddenly both hands popped up in front of him. His left hand was entirely free of the cuff.
Eve’s eyes widened. “I thought you said—”
“I didn’t pick it.” He showed her his hand, which looked horribly malformed. “I dislocated my thumb and little finger. It’s something I learned a while back from a very talented escape artist in Thailand who had aspirations to be Houdini.”
“It looks painful.”
“Not nearly as painful … as popping them back.” He used his other hand to move his thumb and finger into their joints.
He winced. “Now for the other one. The right hand is a little more difficult because of the swelling due to the cast on my arm.”
Eve watched in amazement as he did the dislocation on his other hand and slid off the remaining handcuff. He popped his thumb and finger back, then flexed both hands like a master pianist who had just finished a challenging concerto.
He grimaced. “Not pleasant. But in my profession, it comes in handy on occasion.”
“I can imagine.” She pointed down to his leg cuffs. “But I doubt if you can dislocate your toes.”
“Even if I could, it wouldn’t help. But fortunately I can easily access these locks.”
Zander reached behind him and yanked sharply on the carpet. It separated from the floor. He felt the underside of the edge and pulled up a single carpet staple, which he proceeded to bend in two places. He inserted it into the lock of his left leg cuff.
“These look daunting, but larger locks are often easier to pick than smaller ones. More room to work in.” He frowned in concentration. The left cuff fell to the floor. He repeated the motion with the right leg cuff. It was off even faster.
“Now let’s get you out of these ropes.” He jumped to his feet and ran behind her chair. He worked at the complicated knots for a moment, then was quickly unwinding the ropes from her body. “Come on.” He grabbed her hand and jerked her to her feet. She almost fell as the blood rushed back to her legs. He grabbed her by the waist and half carried her toward the door. “You’ll be okay in a minute. We’ve got to move. We don’t know how long we have before Doane decides to give up on Harriet.”
He might have already done that, Eve thought. He had been angry and impatient and ready for the kill. The beach wasn’t that far away from the cottage.
He might be on the other side of that door with a gun in his hand.
Oregon Coast
JOE CUT THE POWERBOAT’S ENGINE and raised his high-powered binoculars toward the shore. “That’s the cottage. We can’t risk taking the boat any closer.”
Gallo stood up, his gaze on the shore. “We’re still miles away.”
“If Eve is there, and Doane sees us coming, it’s all over. We can’t risk it.”
Catherine took the binoculars and looked for herself. “Those objects on the beach … that’s driftwood?”
Joe nodded. “Some of those pieces are probably ten, twelve feet tall. Amazing, aren’t they?”
“Disturbing. They look like giant talons clawing up from the sand.”
Joe pulled a package from a canvas bag and placed it over the side of the boat. He yanked the pull cord and a gray, six-foot raft inflated. He tied the raft to a cleat and started loading weapons into it.
Gallo studied the raft. “Quinn, I don’t see how there’s room in there for us and all that artillery.”
“There isn’t. We’re swimming.”
“Interesting. You’re not joking?”
“No joke. We’d be too easy to spot in there anyway. I’ll attach a towline to my belt and drag it in. You and Catherine can drag yourselves in.”
“We weren’t Navy Seals like you, Quinn.”
Catherine unzipped her jacket to reveal a wet suit that accentuated her sleek, toned figure. “Stop giving him a hard time, Gallo. You swam nearly that far when we were trying to reach that sub off the coast of China.”
He smiled. “But I had you standing by to aid and assist.”
“If you think I’m towing you into shore, you’re crazy.”
“Too bad. It would have been fun. I suppose I can manage it by myself.” Gallo turned toward Joe. “But I have to point out that one phone call from Catherine, and we could have an entire squadron down here backing us up. Providing you want to trust Venable again.”
“I do not,” Joe said curtly. “We’ve already been down that road. It almost got Eve killed. If you’re not in, Gallo, just stay here. Catherine and I can handle it.”
“I think you know better than that,” Gallo said quietly. “I felt I had to state the options. It’s too important to rush in because that’s what we want to do. Do you think I don’t feel the same way you do, Quinn?”
Joe met his eyes. “No, you don’t feel the same. You couldn’t. But I’ll grant that you may feel something approaching it.”
“I won’t argue with you. I’ve told you how I feel about Eve. She’s my friend and the mother of my child.” Gallo pulled off his shirt and slid into a blue wet-suit top that matched the bottoms he was already wearing. “One way or another, we’re getting her back today.”
Joe nodded. “Damned right we are.” He finished packing the raft and jumped into the water. He clipped the tether to the belt of his wet suit as Catherine and Gallo joined him. Joe started toward shore with long, powerful strokes. “Let’s go get her.”