Bonnie - Iris Johansen [75]
He was hurting. She wanted to reach out and touch him, comfort him. It was hard for him to admit that pain to anyone.
“It would kill me if anything happened to Eve.” He glanced at Catherine and forced a smile. “I love her, you know. Oh, not in the usual romantic way, we’re past that. But we’ve shared too much not to feel something for each other, and that will go on. Can you understand that?”
“Yes. I’m not blind, Gallo. You should love her. She’s worth loving. I love her, too. Now let’s stop talking about how we’d feel if anything happened to her and set about keeping that from happening.”
“Rebuke accepted.” His smile was no longer forced as he started the car. “I can always count on you to blow away any sentiment that’s clouding the clarity of perception. I apologize.”
“You have a right to be a little less than clearheaded. But only a little, Gallo. We have to—” Her phone rang, and she glanced down. “Venable. I’ll put it on speaker.” She spoke into the phone. “What have you got, Venable?”
“The GPS signal led to a location about forty miles outside the town of Caryville, Georgia. Not in the town itself, but somewhere in the woods surrounding it.” Venable paused. “Then it disappeared entirely. We lost it. Do you want me to send a man from Atlanta to check it out?”
“No, we’ll cover it. Give me the exact coordinates.” She scrawled down the directions as he gave them to her. “Thanks, Venable.”
“No problem.” Silence. “I like Eve Duncan. If you need me, I’ll come.”
“If we need you, I’ll call. Danner isn’t stable. We have to be careful about spooking him with too much manpower.” She hung up. “Caryville, Gallo.”
He nodded. “I checked the GPS while you were talking. It’s about an hour south of here.” His foot pressed hard on the accelerator. “Or less.”
They arrived at the Caryville city limits in forty-five minutes.
Catherine glanced at the coordinates. “There!” She pointed at the lay-by with a strip of road leading off it. “He must have entered the woods there.” She braced herself against the impact as he drove down the rough road. “What the hell…”
“The trees are thinning up ahead.” He drove into the glade and screeched to a stop as he saw the truck parked by a tarp. “Down!” He drew his gun as he dove out of the car.
Catherine was already on the ground on the other side of the car.
No sound but the soft whir of birds and insects.
No shots.
“Danner!” she called.
No answer.
Gallo was on his knees on the ground behind the rear wheels of the truck. “I’ll check under the tarp. You look in the cab of the truck.”
“I think it’s okay. I don’t think he’s here.” But she was still tense as she pulled herself up to glance inside the truck. Danner might not be here, but that didn’t mean he might not have left Eve dead in the vehicle. She expelled a sigh of relief as she saw that neither Danner nor Eve were in the cab. “Empty.” She turned toward the tarp. “Anything?”
“No.” He was standing under the tarp and gazing at the neat stack of canned goods piled in one corner. “Supplies enough for a few days’ stay. He wouldn’t need more. He’s woods savvy.” He opened a metal box set against the tree. “Ammunition.”
“Weapons?”
“No, he must have taken them with him.” He was examining the cartridges. “A Magnum and an M16. The rifle is still here.”
“Taken them with him where?” Catherine asked. “And why take Eve? If he was going to get rid of her, this would be the place to do it.” She was examining the tire tracks. “He didn’t change cars and double back. He left the truck here and must have set out on foot.” She glanced at the woods surrounding the glade. “We just have to find his prints and track him.”
Gallo nodded as he moved toward the north. “And hope that he’s not waiting to pick us off.”
“It’s promising that you admit that’s a possibility, but I don’t believe there’s any danger. That’s why I wasn’t too worried that he’d still be in this glade. No matter what he feels about anyone else, it appears he still