And Then You Die (5 page)

And everything must look normal, everything must go smoothly. Never mind that dead body stuffed in the drawer. Never mind Rico, whose life had been snuffed out.

“Do it. We have to get out of here. I left your Josie in the jeep and there's a chance she might wake up and start howling.”

Josie. Yes, she had to think of Josie.

She scrubbed her right cheek with the towel, then threw it on the counter.

He picked it up and hung it neatly on the rack. “Let's go.”

Within a few minutes they had climbed into the jeep and reached the guard post at the high gate surrounding the facility.

“Keep your mouth shut.” Kaldak leaned forward so that the light fell full on his face as the guard came out of the booth. “Open the gates.”

The guard hesitated.

“What are you waiting for? You know me,” Kaldak said. “Open the gates.”

The guard peered uneasily past him at Bess and then at the canvas bag at her feet. “I've no instructions about a woman leaving the facility.”

“I'm giving them to you now. Open the gates.” He smiled. “Or better still, let's call Esteban. Of course, waking him up will make him very angry. Almost as angry as this delay is making me.”

The guard hurriedly stepped back and pushed the lever to open the gates.

Kaldak pressed the accelerator, and the jeep leaped forward. The gates closed behind them.

“Will he call Esteban?” she asked as she reached down for the bag. She unzipped it and lifted Josie into her arms. She was still sleeping deeply.

“Maybe.” He pressed the accelerator harder. “Although Esteban wouldn't be surprised that I took you away from here. He wanted it clean. But everything will be blown the minute they discover the kid missing and the guard in the morgue.”

A chill went through her. Very little about her escape had been clean and smooth and neat. And fool that she was, she was driving away from the hospital with a killer. “Where are we going?”

He glanced at her and bared his teeth in a smile. “Scared? Good. You just sit there and think about it. At the moment I can't think of anyone whose neck I'd like to break as much as yours. I might have gotten around killing that guard but you had to take the damn kid, didn't you?”

“Yes, I did.” For some reason his anger caused some of her fear to ebb. After watching the cool precision with which he had killed the guard, she doubted if threats were part of his modus operandi. If he really intended to kill her, he would just do it. She hoped. She repeated, “Where are we going?”

“Away from San Andreas. Now, go to sleep. I'll wake you when we get there.”

“You think I'd trust you enough to go to sleep? You just said you want to break my neck.”

“It was only a passing thought. And you decided that I didn't mean it, didn't you?”

He read her too well. His perceptiveness made her more uneasy than his brutality. “I believe you're capable of anything.”

“Oh, I am. So shut up and don't provoke me.”

“Why did you help me leave that place?”

His hands clenched the steering wheel. “I'll make a bargain with you. If you'll just keep your damn mouth shut and let me think, I'll answer your questions once we get there.”

“Get where?”

“Tenajo.”

She stared at him in shock. “We're going to Tenajo? Why?”

“After we get there.”

“Now.”

“My God, you're stubborn.” He turned and stared directly into her eyes. “I'd think you'd want to go back. The last time you saw your sister was in Tenajo.”

“She can't still be there.”

“Then maybe she left a message for you. Do you have anywhere else to start looking?”

“I could start with you. What do you know about Emily?”

“If you don't shut up, I'll gag you until we get to Tenajo.”

This was no threat. He meant what he said. “How far are we from Tenajo?”

“Three hours.”

She slowly settled back in the seat and cradled Josie's small, warm body closer. Three hours and she'd be back in Tenajo. The knowledge swept over her like a dark cloud. Hold on. It would be all right. Don't start shaking.

Had the dogs stopped howling?

They reached the hill overlooking Tenajo. The same place Rico had stopped that first day.

No lights.

No movement.

No sound.

“What happened to the dogs?”

“The public health team swept through here yesterday. They rounded up all the pets and are keeping them under observation to make sure they aren't carriers. When the relatives of the dead are notified, they'll be given a chance to adopt the pets.” He smiled cynically. “It's one of those humane gestures that make politicians look good.”

“The relatives haven't been notified yet?”

Kaldak shrugged. “An entire town wiped out isn't small potatoes. The government wants facts before it exposes itself to the media.”

“They want to cover it up.”

“Probably.”

“What are they covering up? A nuclear waste foul-up?”

“No.”

“It wasn't cholera.”

“No, but that's what the CDC report will say.”

“How could––” She remembered the man pouring something into the fountain. “You contaminated the water supply yourself.”

He nodded.

“If it wasn't a waste foul-up, what happened at Tenajo?”

“Don't you want to go look for your sister?”

He had again hit on the one objective sure to distract her. Smart. Very smart. Every moment she was with him she was becoming more and more aware of the intelligence behind that frightening face. “Why have you come back?”

“Where do you want me to drop you?”

“Third house on the right.” Where Emily had found Josie. The little girl who had beaten the odds. Bess's arms tightened around the baby. “Were there any other survivors?”

Kaldak shook his head. “Just you.”

“I mean any townspeople other than Josie.”

“Not that I know about.” He stopped the jeep. “When you finish searching, come to the plaza. I'll pick you up there.”

She got out. “Aren't you afraid I'll run away?”

“It doesn't matter. I'd find you.”

The absolute certainty in his voice unnerved her. She felt a rush of fear that she tried to smother. “Why are you here? What are you looking for?”

“Money.”

She stared at him in bewilderment. “Money?”

“If you find any, don't touch it. It's mine.”

Five

Emily was not in the house.

But there were signs that she had been there. The huge pot of water for sterilization was on the stove and her leather medical bag was on the table.

Emily always took her medical bag everywhere. Why hadn't she taken it with her? Maybe she had not wanted to burden herself with the bag. Maybe she had just stuffed some emergency supplies in her pockets.

Bess carefully set Josie down on the couch, crossed to the table, and unfastened the bag. Everything was neat and nothing seemed missing.

But Emily was always neat, and Bess didn't actually know what Emily carried in the bag.

She crossed the room to the crib. It, too, appeared undisturbed. The mosquito netting was still thrown up the way Bess had left it when she had snatched Josie and given her to Emily.

Bess moved through to the next room, which bore poignant evidence of the people who had lived there. A wooden crucifix over the bed. Photographs of a smiling older man and woman on the nightstand. Josie's grandparents? Were they also dead?

Stop it. She had come for a purpose. She started to search. No note. No other sign that Emily had been there. Disappointment swamped her. She had told herself not to expect anything, but she had felt a fugitive hope that Emily was still in Tenajo. No, she must have taken Josie and run as Bess had begged her to do.

But Josie had been taken by Esteban. And the only way that could have happened was if Emily had been captured and killed by Esteban.

Or Kaldak. In the short time she had known him he had shown himself capable of anything.

No, she wouldn't permit herself to consider the possibility that Emily was dead. Just the thought of it caused her to panic. Emily had escaped.

A sound came from the other room. A whimper. Josie was stirring at last.

She knelt down beside the couch. Josie's big, dark eyes were open and she was smiling.

“Hi,” Bess whispered. “Here we are again. Now what am I going to do with you?”

Josie gurgled at her.

She stroked the baby's cheek. There was nothing softer or more satiny on earth than a baby's skin. “Where did you lose Emily? You'd be much happier with her. She knows a lot more than I do about babies. I'm a rank amateur.”

Josie reached up, caught a strand of Bess's hair, and tugged.

Bess laughed softly. “What the hell, we'll get along. We just have to decide what to do.”

And whom to trust.

She changed Josie's diaper and then went looking for food. She found a few jars of sealed baby food in one of the cupboards. She opened one and got half the minced beef down Josie before she started playing with her food.

“No games,” Bess told her firmly. “We've got serious stuff here.” She picked Josie up and carried her out onto the porch. She looked up at the hills. Was Emily somewhere in those hills, trying to reach the coast?

Lord, she hoped so.

She was tempted to run toward those hills herself. Well, why not? She had a good sense of direction and a certain amount of experience in rough country. Three years before she'd found herself stranded in Afghanistan and made it all the way to the Pakistani border. There was a good chance she could make it to the coast.

I'd find you.

Just try, Kaldak.

Josie whimpered and Bess loosened her grasp, which she had unconsciously tightened. No, this wasn't the time to run. Hiking through the hills by herself was one thing, but toting a baby around a wilderness was another. She had to be responsible and not act impulsively.

She would wait and see. Kaldak may not know where Emily was, but he understood more than she did about what had happened at Tenajo.

She went down the porch steps and started toward the plaza.

Kaldak was coming out of the cantina carrying a shiny metal briefcase when she reached the fountain. “That didn't take you long,” he said.

“She's not there. You knew she wouldn't be.”

“I knew it wasn't likely. So did you.” He glanced at Josie. “She woke up. Is she okay?”

“Fine. I fed her and changed her and she couldn't be happier.”

“You've been busy.” He paused. “Did you find any money?”

“No,” she said, repulsed. “I didn't look.”

“I haven't found any either.” He crossed the street to the general store. “Wait here.”

Robbing the dead. He was even worse than she had thought.

He was frowning as he came out of the general store a few minutes later. He clearly hadn't found anything. Good.

“Any money you find belongs to those poor people's relatives.”

He shook his head. “It belongs to me.” He was climbing the steps of the church.

She followed him. “My God, what are you doing? This is a church.”

“The priest is dead, isn't he?”

“Yes. And that makes stealing from the church all right?”

“You found him?”

She nodded.

“Where?”

She pointed to the spot. “Next to the poor box.”

“What poor box?”

She shrugged. “It was beside him. Rico kicked it.”

His gaze raked the area and then focused on the second pew. She stood watching in disbelief as he walked over, pulled the poor box from beneath the pew, and lifted the lid.

“Jackpot,” he said softly.

She moved closer and looked down into the box at stacks of violet-blue and lilac twenty-peso bills.

“You've found what you're looking for,” she said coldly. “May we leave now?”

He unfastened the metal briefcase. “Stand back a few feet.” She did and watched him empty the poor box into the briefcase. His expression was no longer impassive but filled with savage satisfaction. The amount of money in the poor box must have been substantial to stir a man like Kaldak.

“Let's go.” He picked up the briefcase and went out the door.

She followed him. “Why do you want that money?”

“So I won't have to go back to San Andreas and risk getting my head blown off.”

“It's not that much money. It wouldn't set you up for life.”

He didn't answer. “Get in the jeep. I'll make one more sweep and be right with you. We've got to get out of here. We've stayed longer than I like.”

She didn't move. “Where are we going?”

“Into the hills. Esteban has scouts all around here. We're bound to have been seen. We have to get out of town.”

“I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on.”

“I don't know how much to tell you.”

“You haven't told me
anything
.”

“I've probably told you more than I should.”

“For my good?”

“No, for mine.”

“Of course, why would I assume anything else?”

“You shouldn't. I've already done more for you than I should have. I'm an ass. I should have handled it better.” He started toward the general store. “Now there's only damage control.”

“And the money is damage control?”

“Get in the jeep.”

A chill went through her. Damage control could mean mending fences with Esteban by killing her and Josie. Why should she trust him? He was a murderer and a grave robber.

But who else could she trust?

Herself. Nobody but herself. Any other choice could be fatal.

She spun on her heel and started across the plaza. “I have to go back to Josie's house and get food and diapers for her. You can pick us up there.”

She could feel his gaze on her, but she resisted the temptation to look back.

The gesture would have looked suspiciously fugitive.

She was gone.

Shit.

Kaldak walked out of Josie's house and jumped into the jeep. She couldn't have been gone longer than ten minutes; she was on foot and had the baby. She shouldn't be that difficult to run down. Dammit, the situation was difficult enough without having to drag her with him kicking and screaming.

But if that was the way it had to be, then so be it. There was no way he could let her get away from him.

Kaldak and the woman were in the hills above Tenajo, but they had separated.

Esteban hung up the phone, leaned back in bed, and contemplated the report. Kaldak's recent actions added up to a disturbing total. Was he CIA? Very possibly. And, if he was CIA, how much did he know? How much had he found out here and how much in Libya?

He reached for the phone again and called Habin.

“There's a slight problem,” Esteban said. “The man you sent me has disappeared.”

“Kaldak?”

“He killed one of my guards and took the Grady woman out of the facility.”

Habin swore vehemently. “How could you let that happen?”

“You're the one who sent me Kaldak. I assumed he could be trusted. What do you know about him?”

“He came excellently recommended by Mabry in Iraq and he behaved impeccably while he was with me.”

“But you still shoved him off on me when you got the opportunity.”

“Not because he wasn't trustworthy. That would be cutting off my nose to spite my face.”

“Oh, yes, your fortune-teller.”

“Are you mocking me?” Habin asked.

Esteban retreated. Now wasn't the time to alienate Habin. “Merely a remark. How much does Kaldak know about your end?”

“Nothing. He had a job to do and did it.”

The idiot probably wouldn't have realized it if Kaldak had found out everything. “We need to know about Kaldak.”

“What if he's not CIA?”

“Then we'll hear from him.”

“You should have killed the Grady woman at once. It was dangerous to keep her alive.”

Habin was forgetting that he, too, had hesitated about ending her life. But Esteban chose not to argue. “That mistake can be rectified. They've not made it out of the country yet. They were sighted in Tenajo an hour ago.”

“Then what are you doing talking to me? Go after them.”

“That's my intention. Don't worry, I'll take care of it.”

“You had better be right. I can continue without you if you don't repair this bungling ineptitude.”

“I'll repair it. Just see what you can find out about Kaldak. He's our prime concern.”

Esteban waited politely for Habin to hang up first. It was difficult to display courtesy to assholes, but he had learned a discipline and control they would never know. He would be glad when he no longer needed them. His own plans were almost in place. He needed only a linchpin to launch the first phase, and Morrisey should be calling any day with the location of a suitable tool. He needed to be patient just a little longer.

“Perez,” he called.

Sergeant Perez appeared in the doorway.

“Order my car. I'm going to Tenajo.”

Perez nodded and vanished.

He wasn't as bright as Galvez, but he was silent and obedient and he lacked the curiosity and greed that had made Galvez dangerous. At least, Kaldak had gotten rid of that problem. Too bad he now presented a far greater one.

Still, it shouldn't take more than a day or two to find him and the woman. And then Kaldak would be vanquished. The thought sent a surge of excitement and eagerness through Esteban.

Where are you, Kaldak?

Suddenly Esteban had a vision of Bess Grady before him. Of course, the bitch had to die. It was absolutely imperative, but she was only a woman.

And women were so easy to kill.

They'd found her tracks again.

Bess wiped the sweat out of her eyes and moved to the side of the trail. The shale was slippery, but it left no mark of passing.

She could hear the soldiers calling to one another on the other side of the hill. Soon they would reach the crest and she would be in view. She had to find a hiding place before that happened.

She was so scared. She had thought she was home free when she'd lost Kaldak the second day, but then the soldiers had come. Had that been his doing?

Josie whimpered in the blanket sling Bess had fashioned. “Hush,” Bess whispered.

She couldn't blame Josie for complaining. Josie was as hot as Bess and hungry. She'd run out of food the third day and refused almost all the edible plants and berries Bess had found on the hillside.

But Josie mustn't cry now. Not now. To keep her silent, Bess had been forced to give her sedatives she had taken from Emily's bag. But the pursuit today had been so intense, Bess had had no time to administer a new dose, and the drug had almost worn off.

She skidded, fell, rose to her feet, and fell again.

A grove of trees lay ahead, balanced precariously on the sloping hillside.

The soldiers were closer to the crest.

She was almost there.

Oh, God, let there be somewhere she could hide.

She was in the grove.

Nothing.

The pine trees were leggy, the leaves sparse. Even if she climbed one of them she would be seen.

A fallen tree. Its branches spread over the ground.

She dove for it, under it, digging furiously in the hard earth to form a cover. The dead branches created a canopy, but she could still be seen by anyone who stooped and peered through the foliage. Or heard, if she couldn't control the harshness of her breathing.

Or if Josie didn't quiet down.

“Please, Josie. Please, baby.”

Josie's whimpers increased.

The soldiers were close. They must have entered the grove. They were talking.

Let them keep on talking. Maybe they wouldn't hear Josie.

They had stopped talking.

She held her breath.

Josie fell mercifully quiet.

The tree shifted above her.

She braced herself.

No, they were stepping on the tree, jumping over it. She could see their legs as they landed on the other side.

Josie stirred in her sling.

No.

The soldiers were talking again. They didn't like the heat or spending the day climbing hills. They didn't like Esteban. He was a son of a bitch.

Amen.

Josie whimpered again.

Bess's heart stopped.

A bird?

Perez turned to look back at the grove.

They should probably check it out. They'd been instructed to follow every lead. Esteban would be furious if they lost the woman. He'd sent everyone climbing these fucking hills, even him. Perez had thought he'd inherited a soft job when he'd been elevated to Galvez's position, but here he was again sweating and swearing with the rest of the ordinary soldiers.