The Survivor (Eve Duncan #30)

“Without a doubt,” he said gently. “I knew that would be the direction you’d be going. Anything else?”

“And Kagan is part of the team now, too. I don’t want anyone to be alone. We’re all in this together. I don’t want to leave anyone out.” She called back over her shoulder, “I’ll call you after we talk to Kagan.”

“Before you drop in, I suggest you call him, too,” Cade said as he turned away. “It might save you some time. If I remember correctly, he usually sleeps nude.”

“I’m glad you gave me a call,” Kagan said as he opened the flap to let Maya and Riley into his tent. “It gave me time to make coffee.”

“Really?” Riley said. “Cade said it would give you time so that you wouldn’t be totally naked.”

“That, too.” He grinned. “It was like Cade to try to lighten the situation when I was trying to be cool and debonair. He has a habit of doing that.”

“Because you know each other so well,” Maya said. “And I notice you’ve no problem handling anything he dishes out.” She took the cup of coffee he handed her. “And if we show up in your tent in the middle of the night, we deserve whatever we get. Riley did explain that Eve Duncan has agreed to help with doing the follow-up on Silvana. She’s so good that we can’t afford to let her get away, but she’s concerned about the preservation procedure.”

He nodded. “I’ve heard of her.” He shrugged. “And she has a right to be concerned. But there’s a chance that the drug could work. It depends on how much faith you have in Silvana and her ability to dig out talent from everyone around her. She said she found someone who could give her what she needed. Do we believe her?”

“I want to believe her,” Riley said. “But Eve sent me to you. It’s such a bizarre drug that even Cade thought you were kidding when you were talking about possibilities. Were you?”

“I was just telling him he shouldn’t reject anything without exploring it.” He handed Riley her coffee.

“And where would he explore it?” Maya asked. “Chile?”

“It’s not as if I’ve ever heard about this forever drug,” Kagan said. “It just reminded me of a climb I took in the Andes several years ago. I ran across a village priest who wasn’t much of a climber, but he was a hell of a good storyteller. He told me about some Incan children who had been sacrificed maybe seven hundred years ago to the Sun God. Tragic story but according to this priest, the children weren’t sad at the time. They were treated royally during the year before the sacrifice, and they weren’t afraid when the time came. The priests fed them coca beans and an exotic drink that was almost surely a potent drug or narcotic. The children went to sleep and that was the end of their story.” He smiled. “Except that the priests wrapped them in fine wool and kept them in a special altar room in the temple in the mountains and in time forgot about them. They were discovered by university students on a field trip, who found the three children were perfectly preserved and looked exactly the way they had when they were sacrificed seven hundred years before.”

“Interesting story,” Maya said. “Is it going somewhere?”

“It did for me,” he said. “I was curious. On the way back from the climb, I stopped at Santiago and did some research. It wasn’t a fairy tale; the children were real, and the bodies were sent to a prestigious university in Nassau where they’re displayed by the science department several times a year.” He paused. “And the drug that was still found in their bodies was sent to a lab at Johns Hopkins, where it’s still being examined and tested. No results yet, but there’s always hope. They won’t give up.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Because that doesn’t happen when it’s a forever drug.”

“You think it might be the same drug that Silvana found?” Riley asked.

“I think it could be similar,” he corrected. “It’s a big world and there’s no reason why not. We should be very careful with it.”

“You’re an optimist,” Maya said.

“I try to be.” He grinned. “And as I said, why not? Did I forget to mention that the place where those children were found was very high in the Andes? Extremely thin air, rather like Zokara Mountain.” He added quietly, “No matter what the odds, you can never give up, Maya.” He turned to Riley. “So you can tell Eve about those children and have Joe call Johns Hopkins and see if they’ve found out anything she might be able to use.”

“She’ll probably pull in Joe’s ex-wife Diane to do research, too. It’s just Diane’s cup of tea. She practically reformed public health. Why not this? I’ll do it,” Riley said. “Joe is very good with applied pressure. Subtle, but effective.” She put her coffee down. “And I agree with you. We can’t give up.”

“I haven’t given up,” Maya said. “I’m only a little tired tonight. I’ll bounce back.” She handed Kagan her cup. “And Silvana was sharper than any of us. If she said she found someone she could trust to give her that drug, I believe her.”

“Good for you,” he said softly.

She was trying to ignore the surge of warmth those words gave her as she moved to leave. “Don’t be condescending. I’ll see you in the morning, Kagan. Drop by and see Bailey. She said she missed you…”

“I like him,” Riley said. They fell into step together as they headed for their separate tents on the hill. “I think you would, too, if you let yourself. You’re not giving him much of a chance.”

“I don’t have to,” Maya said. “Everyone is willing to give him all the chances he wants or needs. I recognize he’s very intelligent and appealing, but I can’t let him take over my duty here on the mountain. I have an obligation.”

“No one is trying to interfere with your duty, Maya,” Riley said quietly. “We all recognize that we couldn’t do nearly as good a job. I hope you don’t think I’d ever try to get in your way. I was hoping that we might be going after Silvana together.”

“And I would have liked that very much. It would have been my honor.” Then she shrugged. “But this isn’t about me. I realized I couldn’t do everything. When I made that deal to bring you and Cade to the island, I knew I might have to give up control. The important thing is to get the job done with all the efficiency and respect it calls for.” She looked her in the eye. “I trust you and know you’ll do that, Riley.”

“Yes, I will.”

Maya smiled. “And I’ll stay here and tend to Bailey and the herd and try to keep Kagan from having his way about every single detail.” They had reached her tent, and she nodded at the guard on duty before she opened the flap. “But don’t expect me to make it too easy for him, Riley. I do have to wring some satisfaction out of this situation!”

CHAPTER 10

Riley had just finished talking to Eve when Cade came back to their tent an hour later. He tossed a cardboard box down near the tent flap. “How did she take what you told her about Kagan’s story about the Inca kids? Still in emperor mode?”