The Survivor (Eve Duncan #30)

“You sound as if I was negotiating a moon landing. I was just doing my job, Joe.”

“No, you were innovating and planning and doing what you were meant to do to reach your potential.” He gazed down into her eyes. “But you’ve been drawing back lately and letting other things get in the way. I want to keep you safe, but I’m not going to let you smother that growth. It’s wonderful and should be nurtured. We’ll just find a way to work around it. Okay?”

He was the one who was wonderful. She had to clear her throat. “Very much okay,” she said huskily. “But there’s no reason I can’t do it all if I figure out—”

“There you go again.” He laughed. “Did I leave out the word together? Insert it and we’ll start from there.”

“We always start from there.” She cuddled closer to him.

“But I believe you’ve talked me into trying for another moon landing if they manage to get Silvana down from that mountain to a place where I can work on her. It can’t be on that island with Nadim hovering like a vulture.” She could feel the excitement begin at just the thought. “But there will be a lot of prep work to do. Maybe I’ll let you dip your toes into Riley’s problem, too.”

“Please don’t. It sounds very uncomfortable and terribly soggy.”

“No, it’s only research and you’re always great at that.”

“You realize praise will get you anywhere with me.” He sighed. “Where should I begin?”

“I’ll have to call Riley back, but I think you should begin with Chile…”

Two hours later Riley received the call from Eve.

“I know it’s the middle of the night there,” Eve said when Riley picked up. “That’s too bad. It’s your fault for stirring things up here. I have to get things settled or I won’t be able to go back to sleep.”

“What’s wrong?” Riley sat up as she saw Cade throw aside his covers and get to his knees. “Is your security still okay at the Lake Cottage?”

“It’s fine. I’m always stumbling over one of the guards when I go outside. But that’s another thing. We’re probably going to need more sentries.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would that be—”

“Because Joe says I need to make another moon landing and it might as well be getting Silvana off that island if we can do it. But we both know how difficult that might be, so we should try to do it as soon as possible.”

“Agreed.” Then she caught up with that first sentence. “Moon landing?”

“Never mind. You’d have to be here. But the important thing is that you need to make both the extraction and her new storage arrangement happen right away. I can’t help you with the extraction, but I’ll arrange for the temporary lab in this area where I can examine and perhaps even work on her. Cade will have to arrange security and take care of furnishing the medical expertise we might need. He’ll need more—”

“I’m here,” Cade broke in. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Of course you are,” Eve said. “Well, get to work. Riley, I’m worried about that drug we may have to deal with. We don’t know what we’re facing. We don’t even know if it worked for a short time or long time. Or if we’ll have to face the fact that without Egyptian or Roman embalming, we’ll be left with nothing at all in that coffin. Did you talk to Kagan about Chile yet?”

“That was two hours ago.”

“And I’ve been lying here thinking about that blank wall I’m facing. Why don’t you go and find out if he can help me?”

“I’ll be on my way as soon as I hang up.” She paused. “Eve, you don’t have to do this.”

“It seems I do,” Eve said. “It has something to do with growth and potential and innovation. Since it has nothing to do with you, don’t argue with me. Just get me the information I need and go get Silvana on a plane in the best possible shape you can manage. I’ll get back to you if I think of anything else.”

“We’re sure you will,” Cade said. “It will be as you command.”

But Eve had already hung up.

“She would have been a wonderful emperor.” Cade was starting to dress. “Or maybe a caretaker. Well, we have our orders. We should be ready to go after Silvana as soon as we can. It’s just as well since we’ll have Joe, Eve, and security on the other end. I’ll go to base camp and make arrangements for a troop to accompany us to that waterfall and tell Kirby to get a refrigeration unit put on the plane right away.” He glanced at her. “I could stop at Kagan’s tent on my way and tell him about Eve’s call. That might have been just a casual remark he made about Chile. Kagan has been all over the world and he has hundreds of stories about every place he’s been.”

“Maybe one of those stories will tell us what we want to know,” Riley said. “I promised Eve I’d go talk to him right away. I have to keep my word. I’ll go get Maya and take her with me to see Kagan. She knows more than any of us about what Silvana did that day.” She was throwing on her clothes. “Besides, Maya and Kagan have a right to know about any change of plans even if they’re staying here with the herd and not directly involved in them.”

“I wasn’t trying to keep anything from them,” Cade said. “It was only a question of priority.”

“I know that.” She was on her way out the door, but turned and gave him a quick, hard kiss. “But after tonight I suddenly realize how alone Maya must be feeling now. You’ve heard how I grew up in the jungles trailing after my father. I was alone then, too, but it didn’t bother me. There was always something to see, somewhere to go. And one of the things I saw was Maya’s island, and it was so beautiful with all those apple orchards and the towering mountains in the distance and the legends she told me. I laughed and told her it must be like living in Eden. But that was her home and her history in a way I could never know.” She could feel her throat tighten painfully as she remembered Maya’s expression tonight. “But Eden is going away and she doesn’t know how she’s going to stop it. I don’t know how any of us are going to stop it. The only thing I’m sure about is that we’re not going to leave Maya out of a single minute of anything we do that might make a difference to her. Got it?”