The Survivor (Eve Duncan #30)

“You were pretty well out of it when I got you out of the lake,” Loring said from the driver’s seat. “And we just wanted to get you to the hospital. It was clear the bastards were aiming at you.”

“But Eve didn’t tell me.” She was looking back at the ruined boathouse. “Not a word. Why didn’t she tell me?”

“You know why,” Cade said.

Yes, Riley knew why. They were now pulling up in front of the cottage. She threw open the rear door and was running up the stairs to the sunporch where Eve was waiting. She ran into her arms and gave her a tremendous hug. “You didn’t tell me about what they did to the boathouse,” she said hoarsely. “It’s ugly now. It was so neat and pretty and you had so many memories of Michael and Joe and—”

“Hush,” Eve said. “It’s only a place. The memories will never go away. We’ll make new ones when we rebuild it.” She looked over Riley’s shoulder at Cade. “Did you have to show it to her?”

He nodded. “I thought it best. There were reasons.” He smiled. “One of them was to show her what a good friend you are. But that wasn’t all. About an hour after you left me with Riley, I got the ID and report on the sniper who was killed doing the shooting here.”

“And?”

“Kamil Zukov. Not a member of any of the local criminal gangs operating out of this state or anywhere else in the U.S.,” Cade said. “Born in Moscow but worked in Central Africa when he first started his ugly career. Later he ran with a gang of poachers and artifact thieves who operated out of India and Tibet.” His face tensed. “Zukov was very dirty and sometimes worked with another sniper named Paul Lagman. Lately they’ve both been in India taking orders from a poacher who’s been killing animals to sell their body parts for medical research.”

Riley tensed, and she suddenly couldn’t breathe. “Who?” She took a step toward Cade, her gaze on his face. “What was his name?”

“Does it matter?” Cade nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Yes, I believe it does.” He enunciated very precisely. “Aden Nadim.”

“Shit.” She moistened her lips. “Yes, it matters.”

“I thought it might.” His lips twisted. “Though I hoped you hadn’t left me in the dark to that extent. But it seems you did.”

Her eyes widened as she looked at him. “You thought it—” She broke off. “You knew about Nadim?”

“I didn’t have a name until I received it from Interpol,” he said curtly. “But I knew enough to suspect that the attack here had nothing to do with kidnappers or ransom and everything to do with the fact that your loyalty to Maya Fallon could be a danger in itself. I just had to have it confirmed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She shook her head in bewilderment. “It seems you weren’t the only one in the dark.”

“I’m telling you now,” Cade said. “And I judged it wouldn’t have been the best time to have this discussion the minute you woke in the hospital. The last thing I wanted was for you to feel as if I was attacking you, too. I brought you to Eve where you’d feel you had support.”

“How did you find out that—”

“Joe,” Eve interrupted. “It had to be Joe who told him everything you’d told me. It’s not as if Cade was trying to deceive me. I asked him who he’d questioned when he was on the hunt for answers, and one of the names he gave me was Joe’s. We both knew what that meant.” She glanced at Cade. “And the minute he said it, I knew that he’d probably gotten anything he wanted to know from Joe. Joe wouldn’t see why he shouldn’t tell Cade anything he asked when you’d been attacked and he was desperate for answers. He would have felt obligated to help him.”

“And I would have felt the same if the positions had been reversed,” Cade said. “The minute there was a danger to Riley, there was no way I was going to be shut out.” He looked Riley in the eye and repeated, “No way.”

“You sound as if you’re accusing me,” Riley said. “We didn’t know that attack was ordered by Nadim. Even Loring thought it was probably a threat from one of your enemies, or a ransom attempt. I hadn’t even agreed to help Maya. I had no idea what she was actually asking me to do or what was involved.”

“But you were intrigued enough to try to find out,” Eve said flatly. “Duty or curiosity, it was drawing you.”

“Yes, it was,” Riley said. “Though it wasn’t a done deal. But I owed Maya help if I could give it, and that meant at least listening to her proposition. That was what I was going to tell you yesterday when they blew up the boathouse.” She felt the anger returning as she remembered the sight of that wreckage. “Bastard. Nadim evidently didn’t want Maya to get help from anyone. How the hell did they know she’d even contacted me?”

“We need to know the answer to that question,” Cade said. “As well as a multitude of others. Your friend Maya Fallon has been a little too vague for my liking. She makes a call and reminds you of how grateful you should be to her and says she needs you, but no details. That’s not the way I operate. We’re going to know every player and every liability facing us.”

“Facing me,” she corrected. “I don’t want you involved, Cade.”

“Obviously,” he said. “But I’m already involved. They tried to take something of the utmost value from me. I don’t permit that. I also need to remove Zukov’s partner from the planet in the most painful way possible.” He held up his hand as she started to speak. “We’ll discuss the rest after we clarify the final stakes with Maya Fallon.” He glanced at Eve. “Could we use your home as a temporary safe house for the next day or two? I think Riley would prefer to be with you until things are more settled. I promise there won’t be any more damage. I’ve already arranged to have Loring’s men guard the property.”

Eve gave him a speculative glance. “You appear to have everything under control.” She paused. “How under control? Why do you need a safe house? Why not return to London?”

He smiled. “Because as I’ve said, we need a meeting of minds, and I don’t want any of those minds scattered over the hemispheres. This is as good a place as any for us to gather. I’ve already arranged to bring the most important person of our group here. I just had to get your permission.”

“The most important person,” Riley repeated. “What are you up to, Cade?” Then she snapped her fingers. “Maya? Of course you’d want Maya front and center. But did Joe tell you how important Maya is to those villagers? She won’t come when you whistle.”

“I’d never be that rude,” Cade said. “I just called her from my Gulfstream after I talked to Joe. I asked her if she’d come and visit you since you were wounded and in the hospital. She appeared not to know anything about it and was quite upset. She said she’d try to make arrangements.”

“Guilt trip?” Riley asked.