Chasing the Night - Iris Johansen [104]
“I will.” Eve dropped down in her chair and took out her phone. “But first I’ll call Joe.” She started to dial. “He may be able to find out more information before—”
“No,” Natalie said. “Don’t call him.”
“Natalie, I know you’re concerned about Kelsov, but this will only—”
“No,” Natalie said sharply. “Hang up.”
The girl looked desperate, Eve thought. Why couldn’t she see that this might be a way to solve their problem? She had to convince her. She was getting Joe’s voice mail anyway, so she hung up. “Look, Natalie, Czadas may be the answer. We can rescue the little boy, and Kelsov will get what he wants, too.”
“It’s too late for the little boy. Rakovac will never let him go.” Natalie was moistening her lips as she reached into the cooktop drawer. “He told me so.”
Eve straightened, her eyes widening. “Told you—”
Natalie was pointing a .38 caliber pistol at them.
Eve froze. “What are you doing, Natalie?” Eve asked quietly. “Put that gun down.”
“You can’t tell anyone about the boy. Rakovac wouldn’t like it.”
“It doesn’t matter what he’d like. You’re confused. You told me you hate him, Natalie.”
“Oh, I do,” she whispered. “But that doesn’t matter. He’ll hurt me. He always hurts me. I tried to run away, but he found me and hurt me again. When Kelsov took me out of that…place, I knew he’d find me again.” Her grasp was shaking on the gun. “And he did.”
“Rakovac found you after Kelsov and Catherine freed you from that house?” Eve asked. “When?”
“Six months, seven…I don’t know.”
“I said, put that gun down, Natalie.”
“I can’t. You’ll call Joe Quinn and tell him about Czadas and the boy. You can’t do that. Rakovac told me if you got close, I had to stop you.”
“Wait.” Kelly was gazing at Natalie. “You’re saying that Rakovac knew where Kelsov was staying all this time? He knew about this place?”
Natalie nodded.
“And he knew that Kelsov was trying to hunt him down? Why didn’t he come after him and kill him?”
“Kelsov was helping Catherine. Rakovac knew that he only had to reach out to grab Catherine if she was with Kelsov. That was all he cared about. He knew she would come back. He thought it was funny that she thought she was safe here.”
Eve could see how Rakovac would get a malicious pleasure from having that power to scoop up an unknowing Catherine at any time. It would be a part of his damn cat-and-mouse game with her. “But she wasn’t safe from you, was she, Natalie? She helped Kelsov free you from that house. Didn’t that mean anything to you?”
“I didn’t want to hurt her,” Natalie said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. But I have to do what Rakovac tells me. He was angry with me when I didn’t tell him that you’d gone to the marsh. I was so afraid he would hurt Kelsov.” She added eagerly, “But he says he won’t bother Kelsov if I do everything else he wants.”
“And you believe him?”
“I don’t know. I guess I have to believe him.”
“You don’t want to do this, Natalie.” Eve slowly stood up. If she could get close enough, she could dive for that gun. Though that might be just as dangerous as trying to get her to lay the weapon down. The woman was shaking as if she had a fever. No, not a woman, a child who had been so brutalized she might never emerge from that terrible cocoon where Rakovac had imprisoned her.
But Eve mustn’t let pity sway her now. Natalie was dangerous to Kelly and to her. Perhaps to all of them. Thank God, she hadn’t told Natalie or Kelsov about the possibility that the NSA phone trace might hold for them. Just move toward her and keep Natalie talking and her attention occupied. “What do you know about Czadas, Natalie?”
“Not much. Rakovac took me to his place once before I ran away from him. Savrin House. It’s on a lake somewhere in the north. Czadas is like Rakovac. He likes to hurt people.”
Eve took a step nearer. “Luke?”
She nodded jerkily. “And me. Rakovac gave me to him for a few nights. That’s when I knew I had to run away. The boy helped me. He heard me screaming, and he hit Czadas on the head with a wine bottle. Then