Night and Day (41 page)

Ivan nodded. “I'll do it. But you'd do better to get Kaskov to pull his strings. They're much more effective.” He got in the driver's seat of the black Mercedes at the curb. “Get in and let's go.”

Her hand went to the handle of the passenger door.

“Not there,” Ivan said. “Backseat.”

“What?”

“Backseat,” Kaskov repeated as he leaned forward to look at her from the rear seat. “With me, Natalie.”

She stiffened in shock. “Daddy?”

He reached over and opened the rear door for her. “Come along. We have to hurry.”

She was completely confused, but she didn't like this. “What are you—”

“Get in, Natalie.”

She knew from that steely note in his voice that she was going to have to deal with something. It would have to happen now, when she had no time for it. She got in the car, trying to put the pieces together. “What are you doing here, Daddy? We have a small problem, but I can—” Ivan had lied to her, and he must be involved in this nightmare with her father in some way. “It's just as well you're here. You should know that Ivan isn't as loyal as you think he is.”

“I'm aware of that. But I'm going to give him a chance to make reparations.” He looked at Ivan's reflection in the rearview mirror. “He's always been a person who knew what was in his best interest. When I called him tonight, he realized that he really didn't want to go out on his own when I furnish him with everything he could ever want. Drive, Ivan.”

Ivan started the car and pulled away from the curb.

Betrayal. “He lied to you,” she said quickly. “Did he tell you about that treasure Duncan was supposed to have found? I would have mentioned it to you, but I knew it was lies. All she wanted to do was hurt me and Cara.” She put her hand on his arm. “But we can see if there's any truth in it, if you like.” She smiled. “We could do it together.”

“Do you know, Natalie, I'm not particularly enthralled at the idea of that gold.” He smiled back at her. “I have more than enough in my accounts to give me anything I could conceivably want. These days, I'm more interested in control and power.”

She couldn't believe he could be that stupid. It was so clear to her. “But power would come with that kind of treasure,” she said gently. “Surely, you can see that, Daddy.”

“I see many things, Natalie.” He leaned back in the seat. “A few that I've been ignoring because I didn't want to admit that they might be true.” He took her hand and looked down at it. “Such a beautiful hand. You've always been exquisite. You really take after my mother, you know. Her face was almost as beautiful as the music she played. Did I ever mention that?”

“You never talked much about her.”

“Because you never seemed interested. Your brother, Alex, was more intrigued about family matters.” He paused. “He even had an affection for you, Natalie.”

“He betrayed you.”

“No,” he said gently. “He did not. You found Alex expendable, and you framed him.”

She inhaled sharply. Bad. This was bad. How had he—“That's not true.” Tears. There had to be tears. But she was so shocked, she was having trouble bringing them to her eyes. “How could you ever believe something so terrible?”

“Because you told me.” He dropped her hand. “As you told me about Jenny and Cara.”

“You're crazy, I would never have told you—it was Ivan, wasn't it?”

“I suppose you might say he had a part in it.” He added, “But it was you. And Eve Duncan.”

“That bitch,” she said viciously. “Lies. All of it lies.”

“No, the truth. I can separate the truth from lies. It just takes me longer when my family is involved.” He looked out the window. “It's one of my idiosyncrasies, that the idea of family is important to me. I've been alone most of my life, and I truly like the concept.”

“You have a family.
I'm
your family.”

“No, I've heard a recent description of what a family should be, and you're nowhere near it, Natalie. I'm afraid I'll have to look elsewhere. And, if you're not family, then all my rules of conduct apply. Unfortunately, you've broken quite a few of them.” He leaned forward. “Pull over when you find a place, Ivan.”

“Right ahead, sir.”

Natalie's heart was beating hard. “It was all lies, Daddy. What do you think you're going to do?” She smiled shakily. “You love me. You have to believe me.”

“Do I? I don't think so. I'm not the fool you thought me.” He looked at her. “And I don't know if I still love you or just the memory of what I wanted you to be. I might never know.”

He was sounding frighteningly final. “If you think I did something bad, you
have
to forgive me. We'll give it a little time. We'll talk about it. I'll make it up to you.”

“Forgive you?” He was silent, thinking about it. “I might have done it. As I said, family is important to me. Do you know that my mother sat watching and did nothing when that guard was breaking my hands at the work camp? She was too afraid.” His lips twisted. “I forgave her. Later, I gave her a good life until the day she died.”

“Then forgive
me
.” Her hand clenched on his arm as Ivan pulled the car to the side of the road. “Please, Daddy.”

He shook his head. “Alex. Jenny. Cara. It's such very bad form to kill family, Natalie.” He opened the car door. “I can't tolerate that kind of mistake.”

He was actually going to do it. She couldn't believe it. “You fool! What did any of them matter? I did everything right. Just give me another chance, and I can make you see how right I was.”

“Good-bye, Natalie.” He slammed the car door and started walking down the side of the road. He called back over his shoulder at Ivan, “Don't indulge yourself. You may be angry with her, but I want it quick.”

“Yes, sir.” Ivan was out of the driver's seat and coming around to the rear door.

She still had a chance. The gun in her handbag …

She dug frantically through the bag.

She couldn't find the gun.

It wasn't there!

Ivan opened the door. “I had twenty minutes after Kaskov called me to get rid of it.” He took out his magnum. “I'm sorry he isn't going to let me enjoy myself. You've caused me a good deal of trouble, and now I'll be scrambling to get back in his good graces.”

“Don't.” She screamed, “The treasure! Think of the gold. You can have it all. Just let me—”

He blew her head off.

*   *   *

Nikolai pulled up beside Kaskov in the limousine. He jumped out and ran around the car to open the rear door for him. “Home, sir?”

Kaskov nodded as he got into the limousine. “It's been a long night, Nikolai.”

Nikolai gazed back at the Mercedes still parked at the side of the road a few hundred yards back. “Ivan Sabak? He did break your rules.”

“Yes. Let it go. Not right now.” He could still hear the sound of that shot. Would he always hear it? No, he was stronger than that. Block it out. “Tomorrow will be soon enough.”

Nikolai nodded as he got back into the driver's seat. He hesitated before he started the car. “May I say that I'm … sorry about your daughter, sir.”

“Daughter?” Kaskov leaned wearily back on the seat. “I have no daughter, Nikolai.”

SOUTH GLASGOW UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

“What was the report? Was the antidote Kaskov gave you the right thing?” Jane asked as she hurried down the hall toward Joe. “Did the doctors say that it will work?” She stopped in front of him, trying to read his expression. “We're so close to saving her. Give me some good news, Joe.”

“Slow down. They think it will work,” Joe said. “But there are still problems. They want to do some more testing, but Eve's run out of time. If they don't administer that antidote in the next six hours, the capsule will release its dose.” His jaw was set. “And it's not only the capsule; they have to keep the blood flow from picking up micrograms of the poison after it's dissolved and carrying it to her vital organs.” He paused. “And Michael. A complete blood transfusion would be safest, but controlling and isolating the poison in the bloodstream while that's going on could be a nightmare.”

“Six hours? Then they can do some more tests, can't they? They've got all these high-powered doctors and specialists here. They can find something to make it safer for her.”

“Eve's made it a little more difficult for them,” he said huskily. “She's already told them that if it comes down to choosing one of them, it's going to be Michael.”

Jane inhaled sharply and closed her eyes. Of course that would be Eve's choice. They were so close to saving her, and she wouldn't be saved if it meant Michael was going to die. She opened her eyes and went into Joe's arms. She could feel his pain as well as her own.

It will be so hard for him, Eve had told her.

She had given Jane the task of taking care of both Michael and Joe that day in the hospital.

But only if Eve wasn't around to do it herself.

Eve
had
to be around, dammit.

She pushed Joe away and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “They're both going to live, Joe. We're going to see to it.” She turned away. “Talk to those doctors and see what you can do.”

She walked away from him.

And she would see what she could do.

LOCH GAELKAR

“I need to talk to you, Caleb,” she said jerkily as she walked toward him across the bank of the lake. “It would have helped if you'd been at the hospital with the rest of us instead of making me track you down.”

“I was expecting you to be too busy to notice the lack of my humble presence at the family gathering.” He tilted his head. “Much less have you come to find me. What do you need?”

“Need?”

“Yes, I'm the outsider here. No one generally seeks me out unless they need something.”

How could she argue? He was right. He was too dangerous, too … different. “But there have been times when you've offered to help. We didn't have to ask.”

“When it suited me.” His gaze was narrowed on her face. “What are you trying to say, Jane?”

“Eve may have trouble when they administer that antidote. They're afraid the blood will still transfer some of the poison to her vital organs or to Michael.” She moistened her lips. “You know all about blood. Could you keep that from happening until they manage to do a complete blood transfusion?”

“It would be difficult.” He thought about it. “But possible. It would be a matter of regulating, filtering, and blocking the blood flow at the same time. Difficult balance, but I believe I could do it.”

Thank God. She had been terribly afraid that even with Caleb it couldn't happen. “How certain are you that no poison would get to them?”

“No promises. As I said, difficult.”

“I
have
to have a promise.” She took a step closer to him. “They have to live, Caleb. I know you told me from now on that there would always be a price. I'm okay with that. I'll do anything you want. Anything.”

He went still, then stood there, gazing at her. “Motivation? Not just assuming I'd do it anyway to help Eve?” His lips twisted and then he smiled recklessly. “No, of course not. That would be what you'd expect of someone like Trevor. Not me.”

There was something in his expression … Had she hurt him? She could never tell with Caleb.

“Anything I want?” He savored the words. “That's too tempting to pass up. True motivation.” He turned and started up the slope to the road. “If it's at all possible, I'll save your Eve and her child. Call Quinn and tell him I have to be in the operating room during the entire procedure. He may have trouble convincing her doctors that I have any business there.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “And you might stay away from me while I'm taking care of doing this. You're a distraction. All that motivation…”

SOUTH GLASGOW UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
GLASGOW

The first thing Eve saw when she opened her eyes after the transfusion was Joe looking down at her. His face was pale, but there was no pain. “Michael?” she whispered.

“The doctors think you both made it through with no bad effects.” He took her hand. “They won't commit to the long haul. We'll have to wait until Michael is born before we know for certain that no poison reached him.”

“Months … That's a long time.” She smiled unsteadily. “But maybe Michael will let me know before that. I've got a good feeling about this, Joe.”

“Me, too.” He bent down and kissed her cheek. She could feel a faint moisture on her cheekbone when he raised his head. “I've got to go to the waiting room and tell Jane and Cara that you're going to make it. There were a few doubts floating around.”

“I had a few myself.” She looked at the chair across the room, where Caleb had been sitting during the entire transfusion. “But not after Caleb showed up. Where is he?”

“He stepped out a few minutes ago and told me to come in and see you.”

“I think Michael owes him, Joe.”

His hand tightened on hers. “I think
I
owe him. Hey, how about hopping on a plane and going home to wait for Michael's arrival?”

Home. The lake cottage. Her work. Her life.

“That sounds wonderful.” She frowned. “But what about Toller?”

“We'll still have to deal with him about Cara.” He paused. “But Palik says that there's been no sign of Natalie since yesterday. No one is even talking about her. It's as if she didn't exist. Cara may be missing an acceptable legal guardian in the eyes of the Justice Department. I don't believe Kaskov would qualify.”

“Missing.” Eve had been too busy with worries about keeping Michael alive to even think about Natalie. “I can't believe she's out of our lives. I wasn't sure that Kaskov would forgive and forget. Maybe he did, and she'll show up later.”