Long After Midnight (25 page)

She could feel tears sting her eyes as she watched the coffin being lowered into the ground.

Someone took her hand and she looked up to see Seth. He was staring at the coffin too, and his eyes were glittering with moisture. “Good-bye, Noah,” he whispered. “Nice knowing you.”

She had known Noah for only a matter of weeks. He’d been Seth’s friend for years. Her hand tightened around his.

“I have to leave.” She turned to find Senator Migellin beside her. He squeezed her shoulder gently. “I’m sorry about this. I’m afraid the leak must have come from my office. They even seem to know when I go to the bathroom.”

She stared at him in bewilderment. She heard a muttered curse from Seth and followed his gaze to the gates of the cemetery a few hundred yards away.

A crowd was gathered outside the gates.

Demonstrators? My God, couldn’t they leave them alone even in this moment?

No, not demonstrators but reporters, cameramen. A TV van was parked at the curb.

“You’d better come back to the city in my car,” Migellin said as he started for the gates. “My aides are holding them back. They should be able to manage to get us to the limousine. They’re experts at cleaving through crowds.” He glanced at Seth. “Unless you want to stop and give a statement? It’s your chance away from Longworth.”

He took Kate’s arm. “Not today.”

No, not today. This was Noah’s day. She lowered her head and quickly followed the senator.

It was like being overwhelmed by wasps as soon as they went through the gates.

The crowd swarmed around them. Microphones were thrust in front of her face. She was torn away from Seth.

“Kate!” Seth called from somewhere behind her.

She could no longer see him.

She couldn’t see the senator ahead.

She fought to get through, but she was whirled away to the side and thrown hard against one of the reporters.

“Sorry.” She straightened. “Please let me through to—”

Ishmaru.

He smiled. “Hello, Kate.”

Christ, no.

She flinched back into the crowd of reporters.

She couldn’t see him anymore.

But he could be beside her in the crowd.

Or in back of her.

Or waiting until she broke through the crowd.

A hand fell on her shoulder.

She screamed and struck out with her fist.

“For God’s sake, Kate.”

It was Seth.

“Get me out of here. Get me away. . . .”

His arm was around her and he was shoving through the crowd.

A camera fell to the ground.

A reporter cursed.

Where was he?

The senator’s car was up ahead. Safety.

But Noah had thought he was safe that last day.

Noah was dead.

She was in the car.

“Now, what the hell made you panic?” Seth asked as he got in beside her and slammed the door shut. The limousine pulled away from the curb and sped down the street.

“Ish . . . Ishmaru.” She could barely get the word out. “Ishmaru.”

Senator Migellin frowned. “In the crowd?”

She nodded jerkily.

“Pull over,” Seth said.

“No.” Her hand frantically tightened on his arm. Not Seth. He would die just like Noah. “He’ll be gone now. I only saw him for a minute.”

“Are you sure you weren’t imagining things?” Tony asked. “He must have been on your mind today.”

“I wasn’t imagining anything,” she said fiercely. “I was practically in his arms. He smiled at me and spoke.”

“Okay. Okay,” Tony said soothingly. “It only seemed bizarre he’d risk coming to Noah’s funeral.”

“The son of a bitch is bizarre,” Seth said. “He’s crazy.”

“I’ll have the chauffeur radio the police to go back and check it out,” the senator said, then leaned forward and tapped on the glass.

“Too late,” Tony murmured.

“Why didn’t you tell me back there?” Seth asked. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me when I could have—”

“Shut up,” she said. “I was scared and I didn’t think of anything but getting away from him. I’m not a macho gun-running idiot who—” She had to break off to steady her voice. “And don’t yell at me again.”

“I didn’t yell.” But Seth’s voice was taut with tension, and the lines around his mouth even tighter. He turned away from her and stared out the window. “You made a mistake. I could have had him.”

“All right, I made a mistake.” Kate threw her purse and jacket on the couch. “I should have screamed or told you right away.”

“You’re damn right,” Seth said coldly.

“I was terrified. I didn’t think I would be, but he caught me off guard and I panicked. I promise it won’t happen again.”

Seth didn’t answer. He went in his room and shut the door.

He had a right to be angry. They’d had a chance to get Ishmaru and she’d blown it. God, she had acted like a sniveling coward.

Seth came back in the room carrying a pillow and blanket. He tossed them on the couch in the sitting room.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m sleeping here.”

“You don’t have to do that. I told you, he caught me off guard. I’m not afraid anymore.”

He ignored her. “Call room service and order dinner. I’ll phone Rimilon and do the daily check.”

He was silent all through dinner. She was glad to escape to her bedroom when it was over. She was not accustomed to an angry, remote Seth. She had not realized how she had leaned on his calm, easy, sometimes humorous support. She took a shower, put on her sleep T-shirt, and got her book. She would go to bed and block him from her mind.

She was still reading after midnight when the phone beside her bed rang.

“It was good to see you today, Emily.”

Ishmaru.

Her heart stopped and then began beating double time. “Why do you always call me Emily? My name is Kate.”

“Are you still trying to deceive me? We both know who you are. Where’s the little boy?”

Her hand tightened on the phone. “Safe.”

“No one is safe. We’re all on the edge. When you ran away from me today, I was very disappointed. It wasn’t like you. I was afraid Emily had left you.”

Who the
hell
was Emily? “I was startled. Why don’t you come here now?”

He laughed. “You want to trap me. No, I’ll pick my time. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the article in the paper. I was afraid I’d have to search for you for a long time, but there you were. You do know I could have killed you today? But it would have been too fast.” His tone sharpened. “I’m very angry with you, Emily. You sent your messenger to take away my guardians.”

“I didn’t send anyone.”

“You sent Seth Drakin to destroy me. Jimenez told me he did it, but I know it was really you. I don’t sleep now. But that’s all right, it gives me time to think of ways to hurt you. I was going to let you have a warrior’s death. I still might, but I want you to suffer first. You shouldn’t have taken them away.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you afraid to come to me?”

“No, but I want you to come to me.”

“Where are you?”

“Not now, soon. Soon you’ll come to me. But not until I hurt you as you hurt me.”

He hung up the phone.

“Seth!” She was out of bed and running to the sitting room.

“I heard it all.” He was replacing the receiver on the extension by the couch. “I picked up the phone at the same time you did.”

“Can we trace it?”

He shook his head.

“Then what can we do?”

“Wait for him. You heard him, he wants you to come to him.”

“He knew where I was.”

“We haven’t been trying to hide. We knew that wasn’t possible.”

“I want you to call Rimilon. I want to know Joshua is all right.”

“He asked where Joshua was.”

“I don’t care. How do we know he doesn’t know? He seems to know everything else. Call him.”

He sat up and reached for his digital phone. He punched in the number. “I know it’s late, dammit. Is everything secure?”

He hung up the phone. “Rimilon’s bunking near the entrance and there’s been no one near the site.”

“I want to talk to Joshua.”

He looked at her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. No.” She wanted Joshua to stay safe behind that steel door. She wanted to hear his voice. “No, I guess not.”

“Good.”

“He’s crazy,” she whispered. “He kept muttering something about his guardians. I took away his guardians. Dammit, I don’t even know what he’s talking about.”

“I know you don’t.”

Her gaze flew to his face. Her eyes widened. “But you do, don’t you?”

He nodded. “I know.”

“He called you the messenger.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“Dammit, what are you keeping from me?”

“I hoped you wouldn’t have to know. It’s not pretty.” His lips tightened. “How the hell could I guess he’d blame you?”

“What did you do?”

“I got his old buddy Jimenez to take me to a cave that he called his medicine tent. He’d go there to refresh his powers or when the dreams became too bad. He’d sit in the middle of the guardian circle and burn incense.”

“Guardian?”

He paused and then said curtly, “Scalps. Poles with scalps of his victims affixed to the top.”

Her stomach lurched. “God.”

“Before I came to the cabin, I went there and burned everything except for evidence I sent to the district attorney’s office. I don’t know why the bastard connected you to it.”

He seemed to blame her for everything, she thought dully. “Why does he call them his guardians?”

“I looked it up in the book I found in his cave. The Plains Indians believed in ghosts. If you kept the scalps of victims near you, they were rendered earthbound and powerless. He probably convinced himself that the circle was protecting him from at least some of his victims.”

“I want to see the book.”

“You probably don’t.” He went into his bedroom. He came back with the book and handed it to her. “He turned down pages and underlined. You’ll probably want to skip the passages on methods of scalping.”

She gingerly ran a hand over the faded cover. Ishmaru had touched this. Ishmaru had pored over this thing. She opened the book and her eye was caught by a yellow highlighted word.

Coup.

There were pages and pages about methods and rites for taking coup on the enemy.

I will have three when you are all dead.

She slammed the book shut. “You’re right, I don’t want to read this. Not now.”

He held out his hand for the book.

“No, I want to keep it. I have to read it. Just not right now.”

“Well, say something,” he said roughly. “Swear at me.”

“Why? You thought you were doing the right thing. You didn’t know it would boomerang. You were right to send those . . . things to the district attorney.”

“Bullshit. It’s probably the only law-abiding thing I’ve done in fifteen years.” His lips twisted sardonically. “And it hurt you. It hurt both of us. Serves me right.”

“Did Noah know what you’d done?”

“No, he didn’t want to know anything about Ishmaru after he got you to the cabin. He wanted to pretend Ishmaru didn’t exist.” He shrugged. “There wasn’t anything to be done, so I kept it to myself.”

“You should have told me.”

“Ishmaru had already spooked you. Telling you about the scalps would have scared you to death.”

The thought chilled her to the bone. “I have to know what I’m facing.” She paused. Where should she start? “I want to know who Emily is.”

“I’ll make some calls and try to find out.” He hesitated. “I don’t suppose you’ll forget all this and let me handle it?”

“You can’t handle it. I’m the one he wants to hurt. What could you do?”

“What I wanted to do since the beginning. Find him. Kill him.”

“Before he finds me . . . or Joshua?”

“Goddammit.” He suddenly exploded. “I won’t let it happen. Can’t you trust me?”

“I can’t trust anyone.”

His eyes blazed down at her. “Fine. Great.” He lay down and closed his eyes. “Then go back to bed.”

Just like that. Go to bed. Forget the monster. Wait for him to call again. “Don’t give me orders.” Her voice was shaking with rage and terror as she turned on her heel. “Don’t ever give me—I’ll do what I please. I know you think I’m gutless but I won’t let—”

His hand was on her shoulder and he spun her around to face him. “Damn you.” He pulled her into his arms. “Shut up, okay?”

“I won’t shut up.”

“Then will you stop shaking?” He buried his face in her hair. “Will you please just stop shaking?”

“Just turn it off and on? I’m not like you. You could probably sleep after you’d murdered the Pope. I’m human.”

“Oh, yes.”

“And you don’t have to sleep in here. I can take care of myself.”

“I’m staying.”

“I don’t want you here.”

“Tough.”

“Let me go.”

“In a minute.” He pushed her away and looked down at her. “I don’t think you’re gutless. I think you’ve got too much nerve for your own good. You’ve just blown up Ishmaru into your own private nemesis. Who could blame you?”

“Then why were you so damn mad at me?”

He cradled her face in his hands. “You almost got killed. I was supposed to keep you safe and I almost let that bastard kill you. And now everything I’ve done is blowing up in my face.”

She stiffened. “You were mad at yourself and you took it out on me? That’s just like a—”

“Hush.” He kissed her. Soft, gentle, not like Seth at all. “Hush.” He rocked her back and forth. “I’ll do anything you say, just be quiet and let me enjoy this.”

Enjoy the moment.

She was enjoying the moment. Heat was moving over her and she wasn’t shaking any longer. Or if she was, it wasn’t from fear. She had read somewhere that the desire for sex was most intense after extreme terror. Intense? Oh yes, this was intense all right. She could smell the scent of Seth’s aftershave and feel the muscular hardness of him.

“I’m nudging,” he whispered. “Can you tell?”

She could tell.

He pushed her away. “But not very hard. I’m feeling too guilty. You’ll have to nudge back.”

She could back away from him. She could go to her room and be sensible . . . and cold and lonely and scared.