Chapter 18
“Here’s the first island.” Dufour pointed to the mound of mud looming ahead. “The one that your drug-dealing friends were afraid was too out in the open and decided to abandon. My cousin didn’t get much done on it, did he?” A narrow pier weathered by water and time led to an equally weathered platform that must have been meant to be the foundation of the research facility. “According to Jean, the next island should be the one where you’ll find your grave.” He grinned. “Or lack of one. You sure you want to go on?”
“We want to go on,” Joe said. “But pull over to this island first. I want to make sure cousin Jean wasn’t lying about the shell content.”
Eve looked at him in surprise.
Dufour shrugged. “Why not wait until you get to the right island?”
“Pull over.”
Dufour hesitated and then guided the boat close to the pier. “You’re wasting time.”
“It’s our time, and you’ve been well paid for it.” Joe jumped out of the boat before helping Eve. “We’ll be back in a minute, Dufour.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Eve asked in a low voice as she followed him onto the platform.
“I saw Dufour press a button on his cell phone right before we turned the last bend in the bayou. It was probably a signal to Hebert. I’d bet he’s waiting for us up ahead.”
“And why are we here?”
“I’m getting rid of an encumbrance.” Joe stood gazing out at the bayou. “You.”
Eve stiffened. “Encumbrance?”
“You don’t like the word. But I’m not going to be polite. You’ll be in my way. You’re staying here.”
“The hell I am. You pushed me out of that car in New Orleans. You’re not going to do it again.”
“Yes, I am.” He turned to face her and a ripple of shock went through her. His expression was colder and harder than she had ever seen it. “I’m not going to let either one of us die because you don’t want to be left out. This is my job, not yours. I don’t interfere when you’re doing the work on your skulls. Don’t interfere with me now.”
“I’m just supposed to let you go out and maybe get yourself killed?”
“I’d be more likely to be killed if I had to worry about you getting in my way. That’s not going to happen.”
“And how are you going to stop me from going with you?”
“I’ll put you down for a little nap if I have to. Don’t make me do it, Eve.”
And he would do it. She could see it in his expression. Joe had been heading in this direction since they had entered the swamp. The subdued excitement she had sensed had now broken free. Eve had never seen him more alive . . . or more dangerous. He was the hunter, the stalker, the warrior. “You can’t wait to dive in and go after him.”
He nodded. “I’m not like you. You want Hebert to be taken out because he’s a danger, because it’s necessary.”
“And you’re happy as hell to get the opportunity.”
“You’re learning a lot about me that you didn’t know before.” He smiled crookedly. “For instance, I never told you why I left the SEALs. You didn’t want to know about that part of my life. It was too violent for you.”
“Why did you leave the SEALs?”
“Because I liked it too much,” he said simply. “And I was getting too close to the line no one should cross. I was a killing machine.”
“That’s not true. That’s not you.”
“It was me. It could be me again. It could be me now.”
“No way. You couldn’t—”
“Hey, Quinn,” Dufour shouted from the boat. “Are you going to be all day?”
“He’s getting impatient.” Joe smiled. “Or maybe Hebert is impatient. We mustn’t keep him waiting.” He reached in his jacket pocket and handed her his gun. “Just in case.”
“Are you crazy? You’re going after Hebert without a gun?”
“I won’t need it.” He glanced down at the machete holstered on his belt. “In the swamp, guns aren’t my weapon of choice.” He turned and crossed the platform. “Keep cool until I get back.”
“Joe, dammit.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “You know I’m right. You know you’ll be an albatross and could get me killed. You know you’d have to shoot me to keep me from going after him.”
“I might do it.”
He shook his head as he jumped into the boat. “Move, Dufour.”
“Joe.”
“You shouldn’t leave the lady alone,” Dufour said. “What if a snake—”
“Go,” Joe said.
Eve’s hand clenched on the butt of the gun as she watched the boat glide away from the island. Joe’s head was lifted as if he was scenting the wind. Maybe he was. Nothing would have surprised her in this strange, fierce Joe.
She shouldn’t have let him go. She should have found a way to stop him.
Yet he was right. Joe knew what he was doing, and she could have put him in terrible danger if she’d gotten in his way. No matter how much she wanted to help, logic told her that going with him would have been a mistake.
Screw logic. She
hated
feeling this helpless.
She crossed to the edge of the platform, her gaze straining to get a last glimpse of Joe. Too late. The boat had already turned the bend of the bayou and was out of sight.
Come back.
Be safe, Joe.
Come back.
“It should be right around the next bend, Quinn,” Dufour said without turning around. “A few minutes. No more.” Where was that bastard Hebert? Dufour didn’t want to be the one to take out Quinn. He didn’t like the vibes the man was sending out.
Hebert had promised him things would go smoothly, and yet Quinn had already taken the woman out of the situation. He’d tell Hebert that he wasn’t to blame, that it wasn’t his fault.
Another moment passed.
No Hebert.
He would have to do it himself.
“There’s your island. On the left.” He cut the engine and gestured with one hand while the other reached surreptitiously into his knapsack for his gun. “It’s not much of a place. The house is burnt to the ground, and look at that—”
He whirled with the gun in his hand and fired.
“What the—”
No one was there! Quinn’s jacket and boots were on the bottom of the boat, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Then Dufour saw him, beneath the water on the left side of the boat, moving fast.
Shit. Lightning fast. Toward the boat, not away from it.
Dufour carefully aimed and fired.
Eve glanced at her watch. Jesus, it had been only fifteen minutes. It had seemed like an hour. She couldn’t take this. What was she going to do? she thought bitterly. Go swimming after them through the swamp? She should never have let—
A shot.
Her heart leaped in panic. Joe didn’t have a gun. It was here in her hand.
Another shot. Then another.
Oh, God.
“There’s a very good chance he’s dead, Eve.”
She whirled to the right from where the voice had come, raising the pistol.
A bullet shattered the barrel of the gun, the force of the vibration whipping the weapon from her grip. She got a lightning glimpse of Hebert as she dropped to the ground. He was sitting in a canoe, pointing a rifle at her.
“So much violence. I would never have thought it of you.” He cradled the rifle in his arm as he paddled closer to the pier. “And when I was trying to be merciful and give you a little more time. I could have killed you before you even knew I was here. You didn’t hear me coming, did you?”
“No.”
“That’s because I don’t believe in using motorboats when I’m in the swamp. A paddle can be whisper-silent if it’s wielded by someone who knows what he’s doing. Now, I’m going to get out of this boat. Don’t move or I’ll be forced to blow your head off.” Hebert stood up and jumped onto the pier. “There. You can get up now.”
Eve slowly got to her feet. “Where’s Joe, Rick?”
“You recognize me? But then, my disguise wasn’t that elaborate. I thought you’d been too ill that night to pay me much attention. Still, I did make Rick Vadim a likable fellow, didn’t I?”
“Where’s Joe?”
“The last time I caught sight of him, Dufour was going around a bend near the research island. I was going to take Quinn out, but I couldn’t get close enough to him without him seeing me.”
“We thought you’d be waiting there on the island.”
Hebert shook his head. “No cover. I had to get some distance away. But then I saw you weren’t in the boat, and I knew he must have dropped you someplace. So I decided to let Dufour take his chances with Quinn and come back and find you.”
“So you found me. Now what?”
“You heard the shots. We wait to see if Dufour comes back alone.”
“Or if Joe comes back alone.”
“There’s always that possibility. I hear Quinn is very good.”
“Better than you. Better than anyone.” Eve’s nails bit into her palms as her hands clenched into fists. “He’s
not
dead.”
“Then he’ll come back for you. And I’ll be here. You shouldn’t have come here. It was useless. Do you think I wouldn’t have come back and made sure there wasn’t any evidence?”
“You’re not infallible. You’ve made mistakes before. Evidently you made one here.”
“I’m not the only one who makes mistakes. Quinn made a big one leaving you here.”
“He thought I’d be safe. He wanted to protect me.”
“And he’s desperate to get back in your good graces. He wanted to fight the wicked monster and lay my carcass at your feet.” Hebert smiled. “You know, I was sorry at the time that I had to pull you into the reconstruction by using your daughter, but it does keep paying dividends.”
“Sorry?”
“I’m not made of stone.”
“You’re a murderer.”
“So is a Medal of Honor winner who kills the enemy in battle. It’s all a matter of means and ends.”
“You’re no hero.”
“I never said I was. I just fight for what I believe in.”
“And you believe it’s right to kill me.”
“I believe it’s necessary. But I’m a little sad to do it. I admire your strength. I’ll give you as long as I can before I put you down. I know how precious every moment can be.” Hebert’s gaze shifted to the bayou and he moved to the shadows at the side of the platform. “You just stand there where Quinn can see you when he comes around that curve in the bayou.”
“And you’ll pick him off.”
“If Dufour hasn’t done it for me. I paid him well enough to do the job, but I’m not sure he has the balls to tackle Quinn.”
Eve drew a deep breath. “Joe doesn’t have to die.”
“Of course he does. You know better than that. He knows too much. It’s my duty to keep the Cabal safe.”
“The FBI already knows of its existence.”
“Suspects.” Hebert smiled faintly. “There’s a difference. We have people in almost every FBI field office in the country. Evidence gets misplaced, information doesn’t get to key personnel, agents who know too much have ‘accidents.’ ”
“Like your brother. You killed him, didn’t you?”
His smile disappeared. “He betrayed me; he betrayed the Cabal.”
“How?”
“I made a mistake. Once I’d tracked them down, and found Bently and Simmons here doing research on fuel cells, I sent Etienne to work for Bently and Simmons to bring in supplies from the city. I thought it would be easier for him to destroy them and the prototypes from inside. They trusted him. Everyone trusted Etienne. He was everyone’s friend.”
“When he wasn’t killing people?”
“He never killed anyone. I took him along because I hoped if the Cabal could see how loyal he was, they’d accept him. I taught him everything I could, but he had no heart for it. Still, I wanted him with me. I was lonely.” He drew a deep breath. “I set the charge to blow up the facility, but Etienne was the one who went in to verify that they’d both been killed after the explosion. People were used to seeing Etienne go back and forth to the island, so it was less suspicious. He told me that he’d seen the bodies and buried them.”
“He didn’t?”
“He liked Bently and Simmons.” Hebert’s lips tightened. “He liked everybody. He was only a youngster, and it wouldn’t have been hard for a smart man to manipulate him. I thought everything was fine. Until four months ago, when our sources in Detroit told the Cabal that there were new purchases being made similar to the ones that were bought by Bently two years ago. The order came from Louisiana.”
“It could have been someone else experimenting.”
“That wasn’t quite all. During the last two months, three Cabal members from Louisiana have died under circumstances that were a little suspect. They could have been accidents, but all three were known to be against environmental restrictions. The Cabal doesn’t like coincidences, and they don’t like their members targeted.”
“Revenge?”
“It was a possibility.” Hebert smiled grimly. “Enough to scare Melton shitless. He was afraid he’d be next.”
“But how would Bently or Simmons know who the Cabal members were?”
“Haven’t you guessed? Bently belonged to the Cabal for over four years. He believed, as I do, that the power of the Cabal could work miracles. He was the one who brought Simmons’s invention to our attention. He wanted our help. Then when it was decided that the fuel cell had to disappear, he dropped out of sight and took Simmons with him.”
“They sent you after them.”
“And I found them. I always find them.”
“But this time you fouled up, didn’t you? You failed your precious Cabal.”
“I
didn’t
fail them,” he said, stung. “I made a mistake, that’s all. A mistake I corrected. After we heard from Detroit, we had to make sure that both the research and the men who’d done it were destroyed. Melton asked me if I was positive Simmons and Bently were dead. Of course I was positive. Hadn’t the person closest to me, the only man I trusted, told me that they were? But they asked me if I’d seen the bodies myself. What could I say? So they told me to go get the skeletons for DNA testing. I was in Barcelona at the time and I called Etienne and told him to retrieve the skeletons and meet me at Sarah Bayou near Baton Rouge. Melton had already arranged for a forensic anthropologist and DNA expert to meet us at the church, so that we could rush the tests.” He was silent a moment. “When Etienne showed up with the coffin, I could tell something was wrong the minute I saw him.”
“He didn’t have the skeletons?”
“Neither one. Just that damn skull. At first, he told me that the skeletons had been stolen. Then when he could see I didn’t believe him, he told me he’d destroyed both skeletons but had brought me Harold Bently’s skull.”