“What’s the Cabal?”
“It’s a secret society that’s been in existence since the early 1900s.”
“Secret society?” Galen said. “Be for real.”
“I couldn’t be more serious.”
“And the society is named the Cabal? For God’s sake, that means secret society. They must be seriously lacking in imagination.”
“They’re called that because their members are drawn from the top echelon of other organizations.” Nathan grimaced. “And they think of themselves as the ultimate secret society.”
Galen snorted.
“That was my reaction until I did my homework,” Nathan said. “There are hundreds of secret societies around the world, and the U.S. has taken them to its heart. The Freemasons, the Odd Fellows, Skull and Bones.” He studied Eve’s expression. “I know. They all sound a little ludicrous—unless you study the membership lists. Did you know both George Bush and George W. Bush belong to Skull and Bones, and George W.’s only comment about his membership was that he couldn’t talk about it?”
“So what? I assume there’s no proof that Skull and Bones is involved in any nefarious activities?”
“No proof. But there are also members in positions of power in the CIA and on Wall Street and practically every level of the business world. It’s not only Skull and Bones. The Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations have always been influential. The Bilderberg Group is supposed to be so powerful it can influence worldwide politics itself. Margaret Thatcher’s career took off like a rocket after she attended a Bilderberg meeting. The same thing happened to Tony Blair after he was invitedto a meeting in Vouliagméni, Greece. In 1991, David Rockefeller invited Arkansas governor Bill Clinton to a meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany.”
“Now wait a minute. I respect Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.”
“So do I. I’m not accusing them. I’m just trying to show you the influence a secret society could wield. Probably the great majority of the members of these societies are totally in the dark about the activities, unaware of the elite groups in their organizations. I don’t even know which groups are part of the Cabal. Maybe none of the ones I mentioned. Maybe all of them.” He shrugged. “Etienne didn’t know how many secret societies were involved. He only knew what Jules had told him, and that was that the Cabal comprised the highest echelon from several organizations, and that these elite members used their societies to influence the world economy.”
“How?”
Nathan shrugged. “How the hell do I know? But didn’t you find it weird that the gas prices went up so high recently when there was no lack of oil?”
Eve had been as angry as everyone else at that increase at the gas pumps. “And how could they do that?”
“Use your imagination. There are supposed to be members of OPEC, Wall Street shakers, and Japanese computer executives in the Cabal.”
“Supposed? That’s not good enough. Give me names.”
“If I knew who, do you think I’d be here? I’d be back home in New Orleans writing my story.” Nathan’s gaze searched their faces. “Dammit, it’s true. What else can I tell you? I watched the stock market before and after the Greenspan announcements. There was always a flurry of activity from the same banking quarters, and fortunes were made as soon as the announcement came through. They know what’s going to happen before it happens. Secret societies pervade our past and our present. They have power in every quarter. Almost every U.S. president of the twentieth century was a Freemason. Hell, George Washington’s inauguration ceremony was Masonic. Lyndon Johnson’s advisors were in the Council on Foreign Relations when he escalated the Vietnam war. The first peace negotiator for Bosnia was Lord Carrington, chairman of the Bilderberg Group.” Nathan drew a deep breath. “Okay, don’t accept what I’m telling you as gospel, just look at the possibility. When men of power get together, it’s natural for them to try to combine and push to increase that power. They work in the dark and behind the scenes, because if the public knew they were being manipulated they’d be yelling to the high heavens. It’s been that way since the first secret societies in Egypt and Samaria in the b.c.’s. The Cabal’s worked for decades to form a spiderweb of tremendous power, and they’re not going to let that power be jeopardized.”
Galen shrugged. “I don’t see how any organization composed of such powerful, renowned figures could even meet without attracting attention.”
“They usually don’t meet. They communicate by messenger and, more recently, on the Internet. The only exception is when something really big is going down and they have to get together to form a clear-cut majority. When they do meet, they schedule it at a place and time where it seems natural that they would all be present. Like a royal wedding. According to Etienne, the last meeting was at the Summer Olympics. No one suspected that they were there for anything else but to cheer on their national teams.”
“And was Etienne recruited by the Cabal?”
“No, his brother tried to persuade the Cabal to accept him, but they didn’t believe he was good material. However, they had a gem in Jules. Etienne said Jules was brainwashed until he believed that everything the Cabal said and did was right, that a strong guiding hand was necessary to preserve peace and the status quo. He became their dirty-tricks expert.”
“Assassin?”
Nathan nodded. “He was trained in a terrorist school in Libya, but he developed his own techniques. He became an expert, and worked for the Cabal for ten years before the Bently murder.”
“Murder? You’re sure he was murdered?”
“Etienne said he was there when it happened, and I have no reason to think he lied to me.”
“I thought you said he was refused by the Cabal.”
“But Jules trusted him and took him along on a number of jobs. Etienne was no problem to Jules until it came to Bently. Something bothered him about the Bently killing.”
“What?”
“He wouldn’t tell me. He just said it was wrong, and that why the Cabal was doing it was wrong, too. He didn’t like the murder, and he didn’t like bringing the skeleton back two years later. It must have worried him seriously to cause him to break with a brother he’d previously always followed blindly.”
“But not enough to go into detail.”
“He still hoped to change his brother’s mind about the Cabal, and he only wanted to use me as a safety net in case he couldn’t do it. He said someone had to know about the Cabal and stop them. He said we had to hurry.” He paused. “He was worried about something that Jules had been ordered to do in Boca Raton. He kept saying that we had to stop them before October twenty-ninth.”
“Why?”
“That’s all he’d say. I thought maybe it was a Cabal meeting, but there aren’t any scheduled events that would give them an excuse to be in Boca at that time. So maybe it has something to do with Bently.” Nathan grimaced. “It’s all guesswork. I was frustrated as hell. He told me they were going to bring the skeleton here, but not when or why. He said he’d call me again after the skeleton was in place at the church.” He paused. “He didn’t call me.”
“There was no skeleton,” Eve said. “Only a skull.”
“Really?” Nathan frowned. “He said skeleton. I wonder what happened to—”
“A skeleton has infinitely more possibilities for DNA,” Galen said. “The skull had no teeth, either. Etienne’s work?”
“Maybe,” Nathan said. “If it was, then I imagine Jules was a tad upset. I warned Etienne to be careful. Stealing a skeleton isn’t exactly the most cautious act.”
“But you didn’t try to stop him.”
“I’m a reporter, and this had all the earmarks of a great story. I won’t feel guilty about doing my job. Etienne was hardly as pure as the driven snow.” He smiled grimly. “But, unfortunately, I do have a conscience where innocent lives are at stake. That’s why I’m here.”
“It took you long enough to decide to come to warn us,” Galen said.
“I had to think about it.” He scowled as Galen lifted a brow. “It’s the truth.” His glance shifted to Eve. “Then I read about Marie Letaux’s death, and the article indicated you were struck by the same food poisoning. I tried to tell myself it could be an accident. Hell, it could have been. But when Pierre Letaux died . . . Too much coincidence, considering what Etienne had told me. I chewed on it for awhile, and then decided I couldn’t wait until you finished. I’d have to risk my story. So pack up your bags and get the hell out of here.”
Galen looked at Eve. “Not a bad idea.”
“You believe him?”
“Enough. The evidence is growing, and I don’t like it. Added to what Quinn told us tonight, I think we’d be prudent to fold our tents and flit away.”
She didn’t like it, either. Nathan’s story of secret societies with that much control over people’s day-to-day lives was both frightening and outlandish. And so was the fact that she’d been lured to this job by Melton, who could be in cahoots with the man who had used her daughter’s death as a tool. The thought brought a bolt of pure rage surging through her.
“Eve?”
“I’m thinking.” Galen was right. Whether or not the Cabal existed, the evidence for some sort of conspiracy was mounting. Capel’s and the Letauxs’ deaths should have been enough for her in themselves. It was only her obsession with finishing Victor that had kept her from admitting it.
Victor.
“We’re getting out of here,” she said. “But I’m not leaving the skull. Victor comes with us.”
“What?” Nathan asked. “Why?”
“Because she wants to do it,” Galen said. “And I’m beginning to want her to do anything she can to thumb her nose at those bastards. Eve, we can’t trust anything Nathan says until I check him out, but if you’re not going to be a cat’s paw, then you have to be on your own turf.”
“And take Victor with us,” Eve said flatly. “I’m not giving him up until I make up my mind what we’re going to do.”
Nathan shook his head. “You’re actually stealing him?”
“Just borrowing his skull for a little while. Until I make a decision, he’s mine. It’s my choice what happens to Victor. Not Hebert’s or Melton’s or any half-baked secret society. Let them all run around and kill each other. They’re not going to use Victor in their plans.” She glanced at Galen. “The church may be locked at this time of night, Galen.”
“Are you hinting I should get out of here and do a little breaking and entering?”
“You seemed to do well enough at Marie Letaux’s house. Will the church be a problem?”
Galen shook his head. “What do you need from your workroom?”
“Victor. My tools, the leather skull case, the box with the glass eyeballs. Rick is always at the church when I get there in the morning, Galen. If he’s there, I don’t want him hurt.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, but he may be part of this, you know.”
She didn’t want to believe that of Rick. “And maybe he’s not. Maybe he doesn’t know anything about this. Until we’re sure any of this is true, I don’t want him hurt.”
“Are you going to leave it to me where we’re going?”
“You said that your job was to provide what was needed. Provide.”
“Taking the skull is a mistake.” Nathan’s voice was harsh with intensity. “If you go away and hide, they may abandon the search eventually. Take the skull, and they’ll come after you. They’ll suspect you know something and they’ll never give up. Why won’t you listen to me?”
“Because we don’t have any proof you’re anyone more than a second-story man with a glass jaw,” Galen said.
But Nathan’s desperation was very convincing, and Eve felt a sudden frantic surge of urgency. “We are listening to you within limits. That’s why we’re leaving Baton Rouge. I’ll pack our bags and be ready to leave when you get back, Galen.”
Nathan sighed. “If you won’t do the sensible thing, then I may as well help you pack.”
“No, you’re coming with me,” Galen said. “I’m not leaving you alone in the house with Eve.”
“For God’s sake, after all I’ve told you, I think I deserve a little trust.”
“Words aren’t worth anything. Trust is earned. You’ll have to prove yourself.”
“By risking my neck at that church?”
“Good a way as any.” Galen glanced back over his shoulder at Eve. “Do you know how to handle a gun?”
“Yes.”
“There’s one in my duffel. Get it. I don’t like leaving you in the house alone.”
“Then let me stay, dammit,” Nathan said.
Galen ignored him. “Scoot, Eve. Get moving. We may be in a hurry when I get back. I need to get a couple items from the kitchen cabinet, and then Nathan and I will be on the road.”
Chapter 9
Where were they?
Eve’s gaze anxiously searched the darkness, but she could see nothing but the shadowy outline of the church.
It had been over thirty minutes. Surely they should be back by now.
Unless something had happened to them.
She wouldn’t let herself think that. Galen was too smart to have let himself be caught, and she had heard no sound of conflict while she had been standing here on the balcony.
“Let’s go.”
She whirled to see Galen coming toward her. At least she thought it was Galen. He was covered in mud and slime, and his wet clothes clung to his body. “What happened to you?”
“Not a tenth of what should have happened to him,” Nathan said bitterly as he entered the room. He was also wet and covered in slime. “He’s the craziest son of a bitch I’ve ever met. He made me swim that damn bayou.”
“What?”
“We would have been spotted as we crossed the bridge,” Galen said. “It seemed the easiest way around the problem.”
“Easy?” Nathan sputtered. “He pushed me in the water. What if I didn’t know how to swim?”
“The water was almost shallow enough to wade across.”
“It was not,” Nathan said, outraged. “And what about water moccasins, alligators . . . Anything could have been lurking in that foul mess.”
“Stop complaining. You didn’t get bitten by anything more dangerous than mosquitoes. You should be glad I let you stay on the bank instead of going into the church with me.” He went to the bathroom and got two towels and tossed one to Nathan. “Dry off. We don’t have time to shower.”
“Did you get Victor?” Eve asked.
He looked at her in surprise. “Of course. Everything you asked me to get is downstairs by the back door. He’s fine. I put him in a big Ziploc bag for the swim back, with a couple of inflated trash bags as floats. I took care of him, and I loaded Nathan down with the other stuff you wanted.”
“No trouble?”
He shook his head.
“You’re lying,” Nathan said sourly. “I saw a guard go into the church after you went in. He didn’t come out.”
“I’m not lying.” Galen gave him an annoyed glance. “I was just omitting an incident that might have upset Eve. I told the truth. He was no trouble. I got him before he alerted anyone.”
“Got him?”
“Don’t worry, it wasn’t Rick. Let’s go. We have to get out of here before they find out the skull is gone.”
“He’s crazy,” Nathan grumbled to Eve. “The bastard could have gotten us eaten.” He looked belligerently at Galen. “And I need a shower.”
“No time. Go as you are or not at all. You made your way here; if you want, you can find your own way out of it.”
“For this Jules Hebert to find?” Eve asked.
“He has to keep up with the program. My mum always said that what goes around, comes around.”
“I’m getting very tired of what your mum said. I think you make it up to suit yourself.” She headed for the door. “We’re taking him.”
He shrugged. “If you insist. But we both smell to high heaven, and two of us packed in that car will be enough to make anyone sick.” He passed her and hurried down the stairs in front of her. “We go out the back door and get to the car parked in the cypress grove a few hundred yards from the house.” He stopped at the kitchen door. “Stay here for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ve checked the area out. Most of the guards are located across the bayou at the church, but one rascal is a little distance down the bank of the bayou watching the house. I didn’t have time to take care of him when I went for the skull.” He glanced at Nathan. “And besides, Nathan was making too much noise complaining. We were lucky to get back to the house without anyone seeing us.”
“You were trying to drown—”
“Be ready.” Galen was out the door and moving to the side of the house. “And cross your fingers they don’t find that guard in the church . . .”
“Come on. Move.” Galen appeared at the door a few minutes later. “We’re on borrowed time.”
“The guard?”
“Taken care of.” He broke into a trot as they neared the cypress grove. “It’s the guard in the church we have to worry about. It’s been almost fifteen minutes. Someone will go and look for him.”
Eve stopped short. Galen’s brown rental car was not parked there as she had expected. Instead, there was a late-model gray Lexus.
Joe Quinn was standing beside it.
Eve whirled on Galen. “What the hell is happening?”
“I’m happening,” Joe said curtly. “Get in the car and let’s get out of here.”
Eve ignored him. “You called him, Galen?”
“Sure. Before I went to the church. I told you I might need him. I’d say the situation is escalating enough to bring him in. I can’t be everywhere at once. Pop the trunk, Quinn.” He put the cases in the trunk. “This is Bill Nathan. Get in the backseat, Nathan.” He turned to Eve. “Your choice where you want to sit, but Quinn is going with us. I’ve invited him along for the ride.”
“Galen, you’re taking too much on yourself.”
“It’s a habit of mine. I’m providing.” He opened the back door for her. “And that includes as much protection as I can manage.”
“For God’s sake, I’m not going to contaminate you,” Joe said roughly. “Get in the car.”
She hesitated, and then got into the backseat next to Nathan. “I don’t like this, Galen.”
“Sorry.” He looked over his shoulder at the church as he got into the passenger seat. “Nothing stirring yet. God, we’re lucky. Let’s go, Quinn.”
Joe got into the driver’s seat. “Where are we going?”
“South. I have a place just a little north of New Orleans. That should be safe for a time.”
“They won’t look for us there?”
“Well, when you’re in my business you don’t want the entire world to know where you make your home. The paperwork is buried pretty well.”
“Don’t be overconfident,” Nathan said. “Jules Hebert has the Cabal behind him, and that opens a lot of doors.”
“If this so-called Cabal even exists. Anyone can find anyone, given enough time. But we may have enough leeway for Eve to finish Victor.”
“Maybe.”
“Drive, Quinn,” Galen said. “He’s depressing me.”
Joe’s shoulders were squared; he hadn’t looked back at Eve for the entire journey.
And she had tried her best to keep her gaze off him by looking out the window or trying to chat with Nathan, who was less than communicative. Galen was no help. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet during the trip, only giving Joe an occasional direction. So there had been nothing to distract her from looking at Joe, thinking about Joe, during these hours on the road.
It seemed wrong to be back here, when she was always beside him. All those years when they had been best friends and then lovers . . .
Lovers.
Jesus, how she loved him to touch her. Her body was readying, just thinking about the last time he had entered her, driving deep and hard. And afterward was almost as good, being held as if she was wonderfully precious. She always felt so safe. . . .
She forced herself to look away from him. Life wasn’t sex. Life was trust and honesty.
And sex.
She hadn’t been away from Joe’s bed since they had come back from Arizona two years ago. It was natural that she would become used to his body, used to sex with him. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t do without it. It would be better once she got out of this damn car.
Okay, block him out. She had to try to decide what to do once she reached Galen’s place. There were too many important issues to resolve. What was best for Jane and her mother? Think about them instead of Joe. Hell, what was best for her?
An hour later Galen pointed to a huge wrought-iron gate mounted on an equally huge iron fence. “Turn in there. The house is beyond those cedar trees.” He pressed a button on his keychain and the gates swung open. “Thank God, we’re here. This wasn’t the most relaxing trip I’ve ever taken. I could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.”
“It’s all your fault.” Eve said her own prayer of thanks that the journey was over as she leaned forward to get a shadowy glimpse of the huge two-story yellow-beige stucco house. “For God’s sake, it’s a mansion.”
“I made the owner an offer he couldn’t refuse,” Galen said as they drove up the curving driveway to the two carved twelve-foot doors. “I thought it appropriate.”
“I hope we’re not going to be involved with the Mafia,” Eve said. “That’s all I’d need at the moment.”
“I was joking,” Galen said. “My job pays pretty well and I had Logan invest for me. I have a few shekels to rub together.”
“Quite a few,” Quinn said dryly. “One wonders why you’re still working.”
“When you grow up in the slums, there’s never enough money in the world to make you feel safe.” Galen got out of the car and opened the back door. “But I tried to stop about a year ago and I couldn’t take it. I was bored to death. As a matter of fact, that statement was pretty close to the truth. I started taking chances. Hell, I even took up mountain climbing. When I sprained my ankle on one of the kiddie slopes, I decided I was a sad case, so I went back to work. I figured it was healthier.” He helped Eve out of the car. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
“I’m not,” Nathan said. “I’m smelly and dirty and I think I have leech bites.”
“Really?” Galen’s brows rose. “Anywhere interesting? If you were attacked by leeches, then they’re probably still attached. Want help pulling them off?”
Nathan glowered at him. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Don’t be surly. You’ll survive. I doubt if you have leeches.”
“You’re such an expert?”
“Sure. Though I’m more knowledgeable about crossing piranha-infested rivers.”
Nathan snorted.
“You doubt me? You always cross the river at night when the piranhas are dozing, and you stay away from docks where—”
“I don’t want to hear about piranhas. Will you unlock that damn door?”
“Just trying to educate you.” Galen turned, climbed the four steps, unlocked the front doors and flipped on the hall lights. “No servants, Eve. I have someone from town come once a week and make a little headway in the dust. Other than that, we’re on our own. All the bedrooms are on the second floor. I think there are ten or eleven. Choose any that suits you.”
“The only thing I want is a shower.” Nathan went past him into the house.
“Wrap yourself in a sheet when you get out of the shower,” Galen called after him. “I’ll try to find some clothes of mine that are big enough for your rather Olympian frame.”
“I’m just a few pounds overweight,” Nathan said through his teeth.
“Grumpy, isn’t he?” Galen said as Nathan disappeared. “But I agree with him about the shower. However, I’ll make the supreme sacrifice and give you a glimpse of the room I think will be perfect for you to work on Victor, Eve. Come on.” He went into the house.
“Go on. I’ll get the bags.” Joe had moved around the car to the trunk. “I’m not all that eager to see Galen’s pad. I’ve had enough of him for the time being.”
“Then you shouldn’t have come.”
“You know why I came.” He met her eyes. “And it had nothing to do with Galen.” He opened the trunk. “Apart from the fact that I might get the opportunity to break his neck.”
“What about working in here?” Galen threw open the door of a room on the bottom floor. “Lots of light.”
“A kitchen?” She looked around at the huge room with stone floors, an ancient Aga range, as well as a fireplace big enough to walk into.
“It used to be a scullery in the last century. The man I bought the place from converted another room to a kitchen on the level above. This was impossible to update, and he liked his comforts. So do I.” He gestured to a butcher-block table. “You could put your equipment there. Okay?”
She shivered. “It’s a little cold.”
“That’s what the fireplace is for. I’ll keep it stoked for you. So should I bring your stuff down?”
She hesitated, tempted, and then shook her head. “I don’t think so. I did some thinking on the way here.”
“Second thoughts?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you decide?” Joe asked from the top of the stairs.
“That I’m being a damn idealistic idiot to even consider going on with this reconstruction.”
“Good.” Joe came down the steps. “That’s what I’ve been telling you.”
“If I work all my life, I can’t get through all the reconstructions for people who really need me. Bently may have been a good man, but there are other good people in the world. People are being killed all around me. How do I know it won’t touch my family?” Her lips thinned. “Yes, I’m sorry at the idea of not finishing Victor, but I’m not going to be stupid.”
“Well, you seem to have made up your mind,” Galen said. “How do you want it handled?”
“I don’t trust Melton. He lied to me.”
“The FBI?” Joe asked.
“Maybe.”
“I know, you don’t trust them, either.”
“You used to work with them. Do you know anyone who has the reputation of being incorruptible?”
“Incorruptible isn’t easy to find. Let me think about it and make a few calls.”
“Since I’m not needed, I’m going to see about that shower.” Galen turned and started up the stairs. “If you like, I could bring Victor down and you could have one more go at him before you turn him over.”
“No!”
He stopped in surprise. “It was just a suggestion. I thought you might like—”
“She’s afraid,” Joe said. “She thinks if she starts to work on him again, she won’t be able to give him up.”
Dammit, Joe could always read her. “I’m not stupid. I know what’s important.” But Victor was important, too. He was lost, and she could find him. If she worked on him just a little longer she might—“Don’t set Victor up.”
Galen nodded. “Try to get some rest, Eve. It’s been a long night.”
“Are you giving me orders, Galen?”
He started back up the stairs. “Perish the thought. I know I’m in your bad books. But I stand by my decision to bring Quinn along.”
She hurried after him. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with Joe. “Are you going to check on Bill Nathan? He seems okay, but nothing has been as it seems since I left Atlanta.”
He nodded. “Right after my shower.” He smiled slyly. “I wonder if he really does have any of those cunning little leeches . . .”