“But I don’t want to—”
“Don’t make any hasty decisions.” Eve opened the door. “Think about it. None of us can afford to reject love in any form. There’s not enough of it around. Sleep well, Beth.”
CHAPTER
13
5:45 P.M.
THEY WERE STILL THERE!
The car was exactly where Quinn had parked it when they’d arrived at the Tudor.
Drogan felt a surge of fierce pleasure as he lowered the binoculars. He’d guessed that he would have enough time to double back before they took off, but he hadn’t been positive. Quinn was an unknown element, and he could have decided that he had to get Beth Avery out of the area immediately.
Quinn.
Smother the flare of rage. Now it was time to plan, to hunt, then to strike.
First, he had to get to Quinn’s rental car and plant a bug to make sure he could track him. He wished he had a bomb to blow up the son of a bitch. Or, better still, bury him alive, as he had Mama Zela. The Snake God knew how to deal with Drogan’s enemies. But he could wait for that final vengeance; he just had to be able to track him when he took off.
His thumb throbbed with pain as he started to wriggle up the side of sand dune on the north side of the house. That fool of a doctor had amputated the tip of it and given him pain pills, but he had not taken them. He couldn’t afford not to have a clear head. Keep close, don’t show himself. He’d like to wait until dark, but he couldn’t risk it.
His phone vibrated in his jacket pocket.
Not now. Ignore it.
No, he couldn’t do that. The prize was too big to risk the losing. He took out the phone and glanced at the ID. He froze where he lay on the dune. Then he picked up the call.
“Dammit, I can’t do everything at one time. Leave me alone. I’ll do what I promised, but it has to be on my schedule. And I can’t talk now. I’ll call you back.” He hung up.
He had his list. He’d carry out his job. But he wouldn’t put destroying Quinn on hold to do it.
He had his own private list now.
And the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of burying Eve Duncan in that coffin with the rattlesnake instead of Quinn. He had chosen a very special snake and begun to prepare it for duty. He had captured it near his house in the desert, and it was almost ready.
A very shallow grave.
So that Quinn could hear her screaming as the snake writhed around her body, striking and striking …
He would hold that thought close as he faced all the delays and was forced to creep forward at a snail’s pace.
There was no question that he would kill Beth Avery, but she had suddenly taken on a minor importance. First, Eve Duncan, then Joe Quinn.
The Snake God was hungry.
Valencia, California
THEY DID NOT ARRIVE in the L.A. area until 11:40 that night. Joe had insisted that they stop at a rental-car agency to get a second car. He didn’t like the idea of their movements being hampered by a lack of transportation. Newell gazed critically at the Spanish-style house, with its palm tree and row of plants dotting the front yard as he got out of the dark blue Toyota. “This isn’t bad, but every house in the subdivision looks the same. It reminds me of the setting of those early Spielberg movies. My safe house was much better.”
“Who knows? Maybe it was used by Spielberg. Don’t be a snob,” Eve said as she got out of the Mercedes. “It’s very nice. Joe was lucky that he had contacts and was able to get this for Beth on short notice.”
“All I cared about was that it had three bedrooms, and it’s not that far from Beverly Hills.” Joe slammed the car door and strode toward the front door. He located the house key underneath the decorative porch bench to the left of the entrance and unlocked the door. “I’m hoping to move fast enough that we won’t have to be here long. If we can get Gelber to give us an affidavit that will incriminate Pierce and protect Beth from being thrown back into that hospital, we won’t have to worry about keeping her under such tight security.”
“The hell we won’t,” Newell growled. “What about Drogan? No one should know better than I how single-minded he is. He’d been paid for a job, and he’ll do it. He’s not going to care about what Gelber does.”
Joe nodded. “But I may have managed to divert his attention from her.”
Newell thought about it. “It’s possible.”
“That’s not what I wanted,” Beth said tightly as she walked past them into the foyer. “All I ever hoped was that I’d find a place to hide until I could figure out what was happening to me. Now you all seem to be targets. It’s not right. I think I have to do something.”
Eve’s gaze narrowed on Beth’s face. She didn’t like that remark. Beth had been very quiet on the long trip down to L.A., and Eve could sense the fragile state of her emotions. Beth was feeling guilty and unsure … and afraid. She had put her fate in the hands of three people, two of whom she considered strangers. But then, everyone but Newell was a stranger to Beth, and that must be even more frightening. “What you can do is go with us to question Gelber. Maybe if he actually sees you as you are now, he’ll get a few qualms of conscience, and we might cop a break.”
“Appeal to his tender heart?” Joe asked sarcastically. “Not likely. Maybe an appeal to his wallet. I might try a bribe if we’re not getting anywhere.” He turned on the lights and illuminated a cozy living room-kitchen combination. “The bedrooms are supposed to be upstairs. I’ll make a pot of coffee and we’ll get settled.” He turned to Eve. “I’d like to go pay our call on to Gelber tonight, but I have a little research to do on the security system in his residence. He has a house in Beverly Hills about three blocks from his office. I’ll go out and take a look at it in case I decide we need to spring a surprise visit on him at home.”
“Will he see us in the middle of the night?” Beth asked.
“No.” Joe smiled. “But we could wake him up and persuade him. It would be more efficient to catch him off guard.” He shrugged. “But if it’s not a feasible option, then we’ll go after him tomorrow morning after his autographing. He’s signing his new book at ten tomorrow at Century Mall.” He grimaced. “But I’d rather run him to ground where we don’t risk an audience in a mall parking lot.”
“You’re worried about that security system?” Newell asked.
“I can manage to disarm most alarms,” Joe said. “If it gets dicey, I’m probably going to regret not having Kendra’s buddy, Sam, to help.”
“I know a little about—”
“No,” Beth said sharply. “You’ve done too much already, Billy. You’re not going with us.”
“The hell I’m not.”
“I don’t need you, Newell,” Joe said quietly. “But if you want to be helpful, you can go in another direction. You can try your hand at breaking into Gelber’s office and accessing his computer records on Beth. You said you managed to pull up most of Pierce’s records on her. I’m hoping to drag Gelber over there and get him to hand them over himself, but a backup is always good. I could drop you off at his office on my way to his residence.”
“I want Billy entirely out of it. You’re not listening to me,” Beth said, frustrated. “He could get into trouble.”
“Have a little faith.” Newell smiled at Beth. “I’ve been trained very well. This should be a piece of cake.”
“Coffee,” Eve said firmly as she saw Beth’s expression. “Newell, go to the car and get the bags.”
“I don’t like this,” Beth said between her teeth. “I feel like I’m being bulldozed.”
“You are,” Eve said. “But all done with the best of intentions. Newell would follow Joe if he left him behind. He might as well take a useful role off the front lines. That’s all I can promise you.” She checked her watch. “It will probably be a couple hours before Joe will know if he can breach the security at Gelber’s residence. There’s no use our going to bed, but we can wash up and have some of that coffee while we’re waiting. We’ll go out on the patio and try to relax. It’s important not to let your nerves start playing tricks on you when you’re waiting for the game to start.”