tapes would light a fire that could cause a gigantic bonfire.
Accept it. Stop this clinging and weeping and wailing that wasn’t going to help.
But Kimbro…
“All right. Then let’s find Varak.” She turned and headed for the door. She added fiercely, “But you keep your promise, Novak. I’m holding you to it.” She paused at the door. “How quickly can we expect those tapes to explode in our faces?”
“Not long. I wouldn’t say that either Zahra or Varak have a great degree of patience, and their underlings will know it. It’s possible they could be seeing them in the next few hours.”
“And then we wait for the explosion.”
“Or attempt to cause one of our own.” His gaze was scanning her face. “Are you okay now?”
Her lips indented in a ghost of a smile. “No, but I’ll be better when we figure out how to cause that explosion. I don’t like to feel this defeated. It’s got to change.”
* * *
“Michael just called, Eve,” Joe said grimly when he came into the museum. “He was phoning from the dig site in the middle of the day. I believe that constitutes big-time worry on his part.” He shook his head. “Though I managed to stave off any action, Jane might have to face problems later.”
“Dammit.” Eve frowned as she turned to face him. “How did he sound?”
“Calm. Reasonable. Just trying to talk me into bringing him here to see you. He’s worried, not panicking. Being Michael.”
“And even when he panics, we wouldn’t know it,” Eve murmured. “He’d just do what he thinks he should do. Which scares me to death.” Her lips twisted. “And he has perfect timing, doesn’t he? You want me to go to London. He’s putting pressure from his end. I’m caught in the middle.”
“No conspiracy, Eve.”
“I know.” She sighed. “I’ll call him back and try to reassure him. But he can read me like a book. Honesty is great except when you have to deal with someone like Michael.”
“It will help if he just hears your voice,” Joe said. “The vibes are always there between you, but just talk to him.” He moved over to stand beside her. “It always helps me.” His hand reached out to caress her cheek. “Even if you say the wrong thing.”
“And even the times when you turn a deaf ear.” She held his hand to her cheek for a moment. “But you must be more concerned about him than you’re letting on if you ran here right after you talked to him.” She looked up at him. “Or did you consider it an opportunity?”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t use Michael as a pawn, no matter how much I want my own way.”
“I didn’t think you would, but you really wanted me to get out of Dodge.” Her gaze was searching his face. “What else, Joe? How bad?”
“Not good. Right after I hung up from Michael, I got a call from Jill. It seems that her friend Kimbro is dead, and the gallery tapes were taken.”
“She must feel terrible,” Eve said, sick. “I know she was worried.”
“She should be worried,” he said. “We should all be worried about those tapes.”
“Are you blaming Jill?”
“Why should I blame her?” he said impatiently. “She was only trying to help. I’m the one who left those tapes in the gallery. I should have found a way to get them out of there myself.”
“Sure, you had so much time, and nothing at all was happening around you,” Eve said. Joe’s first instinct was always to shoulder the burdens. “Forget it. How can we make it right?”
“It might be too late. As soon as they view those tapes, they’ll go after me, and that will lead to you. The only thing we can do is brace ourselves for the impact. We’re already doing all that’s possible to go after Varak at top speed.”
Brace for the impact. Eve shuddered at the words. Brace for Varak’s striking out at them like a vicious rattler. Brace for Zahra’s moving forward, sleek and dangerous and totally without conscience. “At the moment, it doesn’t seem like top speed to me.”
Varak wielding his glittering machete in that schoolroom.
Varak striking out at those helpless children.
He likes to kill the children.
She inhaled sharply as she remembered Jill’s words.
“No!” Her hands closed into fists. “I don’t have to wonder what else the son of a bitch might do. He uses children, Joe. That’s why he staged the massacre at the schoolroom. He wanted to lure their parents to