Countdown - Iris Johansen [104]
“He won’t think that.”
“Why not?”
“He probably already knows I’m here and that I haven’t been able to tell the laird anything. He’ll believe he’s safe.”
“Why would he believe that?”
“Because he told me I’d die if I told anyone where he was.”
“You mean he’d kill you.”
“No, I’d just die. My heart would stop beating and I’d die.”
“That’s crazy.”
“No, I saw it happen. Reilly showed—me.” He touched his chest. “And I felt my heart pound and pound and I knew that it would stop if he told me it would.”
God, it sounded like voodoo. “Only if you believe it. Only if you let him win. If you’re strong, it can’t happen.”
“I hope I’ll be strong enough. I have to kill Reilly before he kills the laird.” He headed for the door. “I wanted to die once, but the laird wouldn’t let me. Now there are times when I don’t mind being alive. Sometimes I even forget about—” He opened the door. “I’ll come to you tomorrow morning.”
“Wait. Why didn’t you go to MacDuff instead of me?”
“Because I have to do what the laird says. He’d want to go after Reilly alone, and if I found Reilly, he’d keep me from him because he wants to protect me. If you and Trevor are with us, you won’t do that. I’ll get my chance.”
“I’d try to protect you, Jock.”
He was silhouetted against the light of the hall as he opened the door. “Not like he will.” The next moment he was gone.
She stood there a moment, her mind whirling with a mixture of excitement and hope. There was no guarantee that Jock would remember Reilly’s location, but it was possible. He seemed to be coming back, and he’d already remembered it wasn’t in Colorado and might be Idaho.
And his answer when she’d asked him why he hadn’t gone to MacDuff had shown a maturity and perception that surprised her. He had clearly thought about the consequences and worked out his own solution. If he’d come that far, then there was hope indeed.
And they had to act on the gift he’d given them right away. Only tonight she’d told Mario how helpless she felt about finding another avenue to explore since discovering the gold was now in question. Well, now they had an opportunity, and they had to grab it and run with it.
But there were many pitfalls to just taking Jock back to the U.S. where MacDuff had found him with no preparations for fallout. They’d need all the help they could get.
She opened the door and went to the library to find Trevor.
16
We can’t just wander around the U.S. on the chance Jock will find Reilly,” Trevor said. “The Run is being watched by Grozak. We take off and we’ll be followed. If we’re followed, then Grozak will tell Reilly, and Reilly will close the deal and give Grozak what he wants.”
“Jock said that Reilly won’t be worried about him,” Jane said.
“I won’t bet on it. Jock broke through his training to escape Reilly. Reilly would have to be a true egomaniac to be positive that he wouldn’t ignore that self-destruct command.”
“Christ, that couldn’t happen, could it?” She shook her head. “It violates every law of self-preservation.”
“I’ve heard of suicide experiments by the Nazis in World War Two that were supposed to be successful. The mind can be a powerful weapon. At any rate, Jock believes it.”
“And he’s willing to risk his life to save MacDuff.” She was silent a moment. “And we’re going to let him do it.”
“To possibly save several thousand more people than Jock’s laird.”
“I know that. Why do you think I’m here? But I don’t have to like it.” Her hands clenched on the arms of the chair. “So how do we make it work? How do we get away from here without letting Grozak know we’re gone?”
“With great difficulty.”
“How?”
“I have to think about it. And there’s Venable, who’s practically parking on our doorstep. We can’t bring him into it or there would be no hope of keeping our departure secret. We can’t afford any leaks.”
“It’s the CIA, for heaven’s sake. They should be able to handle a clandestine operation.”
He looked at her without replying.
No, Jock had trusted her, and she didn’t want to shift that responsibility to strangers either. “Okay,