Countdown - Iris Johansen [144]
“Maybe.” She looked out the huge glass windows at the planes parked at the gates. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
“You can’t do anything for Jock now. Focus on what you can do.”
“Finding Mario’s translation.” He was right. If MacDuff had abandoned the search because he didn’t want to find Jock and reveal his presence to the other searchers, then she was even less likely to be able to help Jock right now. She glanced down on the chair beside her at Reilly’s briefcase containing the copies of his Herculaneum documents. “And afterward I’ll go through these and see if I can find out anything that Reilly knew about Herculaneum. He mentioned that one of these documents made him look at Cira in an entirely new way. . . .”
MacDuff was right. The guards at the gate of MacDuff’s Run challenged them at once, and only when MacDuff got out of the car and they recognized him did they let the car go in to the courtyard.
MacDuff waved at Trevor to go on without him and turned back to talk to Campbell, the guard.
“We’re in,” Trevor said. “I was wondering if we were going to have a problem with MacDuff honoring that commitment.”
“He was just playing with us. He’s not stupid. This place and his family name mean too much to him to risk being accused of not keeping to a contract.”
“You seem very sure.” He parked the car in front of the castle. “But then, you’ve gotten to know him pretty well through Jock.”
She did feel as if she knew MacDuff. He was tough and hard and he’d never been either easy or tolerant with her. Hell, who wanted tolerance? Tolerance was degrading and made her want to punch someone in the nose. She’d always wanted to be accepted on level ground with all her merits and faults. “He’s hardly an enigma.” She got out of the car. “Like the rest of us, he does what he has to do to get what he wants.” She wrinkled her nose. “He just happens to want a bloody castle.”
Trevor changed the subject as he followed her into the castle. “Do you know where you’re going to look for the translation? Did Mario give you any hint?”
“Not much.” She started up the stairs. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ll have to think about it.”
“I’ll be up to help you as soon as I finish checking with Venable on their progress in finding Jock. He brought in some trackers from Special Forces. They’ll probably be able to locate him.”
“You think so? Who is it that compared him to Rambo? I’m not so sure.”
“And you don’t want them to find him.”
She stopped on the stairs to look down at him. “Do you?”
He shook his head. “But even though MacDuff destroyed Reilly’s records about him, there could still be a backlash. Jock showed how dangerous he could be. It might be a good idea for him to get hospital care.”
“The hell it would. Do you want him to try to commit suicide again?”
“Maybe he’s healed enough to not—” He shrugged. “Okay, it would be a chance.” He headed down the hall. “But I don’t want him dying in a snowstorm either.”
It was what she had been worrying about too. “I believe he’ll be all right.” Jesus, she hoped he would be. “He’s tough. And maybe Reilly’s training will save his life. God knows, he deserves some payback from that bastard.” She started up the stairs again. “If Venable’s men don’t corner him and make him react instead of think.”
Trevor had already gone into the library and didn’t answer.
She opened the door of Mario’s study and stood there looking at the familiar room. The desk piled high with papers. The statue of Cira by the window. The chair in the corner where she’d spent so many hours. Everything was the same and yet everything was different. Nothing was as she’d perceived it to be.
Snap out of it.
She straightened her shoulders, threw the briefcase containing Reilly’s Herculaneum papers on a chair by the door, and strode toward the desk. Finding Cira’s letter was first on the agenda. She started to go carefully through the papers on Mario’s desk. Ten minutes later she gave up and went to his bedroom.
Nothing there either.
Dammit, he hadn’t had that much time to hide that translation. Maybe he’d destroyed it. . . .