Chasing the Night - Iris Johansen [71]
She needed to be part of that purpose. She took a step closer to take back the—
“I think I’ve reached something,” Catherine said. “The bastard must have tossed just enough dirt to cover him.” She was slowly moving the earth now. “Be careful, Joe.”
“I’m not going to damage him,” Joe said gently. “But we have to move fast, Catherine.”
“I’ll help.” Eve was kneeling beside the grave and shifting the wet earth away from the bones with her bare hands.
Damn Rakovac.
Poor child.
Lost child.
Let this child not be Luke.
“We can’t reach Calbre,” Russo said as he came into Rakovac’s office. “Ten minutes ago he tried to phone in but was cut off.”
“Calbre was in charge of guarding the grave at Svedrun?”
Russo nodded. “There’s been no trouble since we left there.”
“Evidently there’s trouble now.” Ah, clever Catherine. He hadn’t expected that she would be able to put together the pieces quite so soon. “Have you been able to contact any of his men?”
“We’ve made the attempt.”
“That means you’ve failed.”
“I can have someone there in the marsh in thirty minutes. We have people we can call on in a small town just outside the marsh.”
“You haven’t done so?”
“I was waiting to ask our position in the matter. It has to be Catherine Ling. Your reactions haven’t been predictable where she’s concerned.”
“Our position is to kill Catherine Ling if we can, as well as anyone who is helping her. I expect that she has very good help if they’ve been able to get this far along.” Joe Quinn. Eve Duncan. Who else? Kelsov had been a thorn in his side since he had been released from prison and had helped Catherine in the past. Yes, Kelsov was probably with her, too. “Is that clear enough, Russo? Now I’d suggest you make that call.”
He smiled as Russo left the room. The man didn’t understand the subtleties of the game. No, Rakovac didn’t want Catherine to die yet, but there would be no satisfaction in the finale if the threat was not genuine. Let her run from the hunters, and he would accept it if he was cheated.
But he would not be cheated. He believed in fate. It was meant that she be killed by him in the most painful way possible.
He looked at the photo of her on the desk.
“Run, Catherine,” he said softly. “Run until you drop. I’ll be there to pick you off as you fall.”
His cell phone rang.
He glanced at the ID. It was the call he’d been waiting for.
Lima, Peru.
So small, Eve thought. The bones of a child were so delicate, so easy to break. Her Bonnie was only a little older when she’d been taken. Had her body been flung carelessly into the ground to become—
“Eve.”
She tore her eyes from the little boy’s skeleton to look at Joe.
Empathy.
Tenderness.
“I know,” he said. “But we need you to hurry.”
Yes, no time for pain. No time for memories or comparisons. She jerked her attention back to the task she had to do. “I need more light. Catherine, get the lantern out of my backpack.” She crawled closer to the skeleton. The pelvis and teeth definitely indicated a male of four or five. Bones appeared aged and weathered, but probably preserved by being buried near the peat marsh. The skull…Rakovac had said that he’d shot the child.
“The light,” she said impatiently. “I have to examine the skull, Catherine.”
“Sorry,” Catherine said hoarsely. “Here it is.”
The lantern was shaking as she gave it to Eve. No, it was Catherine’s hand that was shaking. Her gaze flew to Catherine’s face. It was pale in the lanternlight, and her lips were trembling.
“Sorry,” Catherine said again. “I didn’t think I’d fall apart like this. He’s so little.”
“Yes, that’s what I was thinking.” And Catherine had the additional heartache of thinking this might be her son. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”
She shined the beam of light on the skull. “Bullet hole. Very clean. More clean than the photo indicated. It’s lucky it didn’t shatter the skull or we’d be spending a lot of time just in the initial reconstruction. It should be