Eve - Iris Johansen [84]
“No, keep looking.” He was uneasy. Quinn was more than they’d bargained for. He’d been seconds away from putting a bullet into Gallo’s Jeep, and now they couldn’t locate him. “I saw him go into those trees, and he’s wounded. He can’t be moving fast.”
“All I can say is that I haven’t seen him, I haven’t heard him and I’m damn spooked about— Shit!”
Hanks stiffened. “Brock? Are you—”
The sound of metal on shale. Brock’s phone dropping? He didn’t know, but he’d better get over there.
Fast.
When he reached him, Brock was lying crumpled on the ground.
Dead? No time to check. Hanks moved into the trees, his gaze searching the darkness.
“Quinn,” he called. “This isn’t necessary. We don’t want to kill you. We had orders to stop you, and we did it. Give up, and we’ll talk. That’s all I—”
Quinn dropped down from the trees, knocking him to the ground.
Hanks struggled desperately beneath Quinn’s weight, trying to position his gun to fire.
“No way.” Quinn’s left arm was around his neck, jerking his head back. “Now we’ll talk.” His voice was low, fierce. “Tell me where Gallo was heading.”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not the answer I want to hear. I’ll give you thirty seconds, then I’ll break your neck.”
“I don’t know. John never told—”
“Fifteen seconds.” Joe jerked Hanks’s head back farther and angled it. “I’m pissed. Can you tell? I’m not—”
“Let him go, Joe.” Eve Duncan came into his line of sight. “You don’t want to do this.”
“The hell I don’t.”
“Then I don’t want you to do this,” she said. “Everything is crazy, but I don’t want more violence added to the pot.” She suddenly saw the bloody shirt wrapped around Joe’s arm. “And you’re hurt, dammit.”
“Let him go.” Catherine stepped out of the shadows, her gun aimed at Hanks. “I’ll take care of it. He won’t be a problem.”
Joe hesitated, then reluctantly released Hanks’s neck. “He’s already been a problem.” He got off Hanks. “I would have been able to stop Gallo if he hadn’t interfered. I had that Jeep in my sights.”
“And John’s Jeep might have gone off the road and tumbled down to the valley,” Hanks said as he sat up and scooted quickly away from Joe.
“I was aiming at the right tire. Gallo could have controlled the Jeep if he didn’t lose his head. I didn’t want him dead … yet.” He turned to Catherine. “You said you’d take care of him. Get him out of my sight. My arm’s hurting like hell, and I want to make him hurt, too.”
Catherine gestured with the gun. “Move, Hanks. I need to get you away from here.”
Hanks didn’t move. “Did you kill Brock, Quinn?”
“Brock?” Joe gave him a cold glance. “He’s the other one with you? No, I had to work quickly, and I didn’t want to shoot and give away my position. He’ll be waking up soon.”
Hanks felt a rush of relief. He had had an idea that they had barely tapped the skilled savagery in Quinn, and they’d been lucky. Damn lucky. “Then I want to take him back with me.”
“You’re pushing your luck, Hanks,” Joe said. “Get out of here.”
Eve was standing next to Quinn. “You should be the one getting out of here. I need to take a look at that wound as soon as we get back to the house.”
Joe nodded absently, his gaze still on Hanks. “Don’t let him go anywhere until I can talk to him, Catherine. He might know where Gallo was going.”
“I don’t have any idea,” Hanks said roughly. “Do you think John would tell me? Not likely. Not that I’d tell you if he did.”
“Go,” Catherine said. “You’re being stupid, and I’m through with dealing with stupid, macho men tonight.”
Hanks hesitated, then strode up the path.
* * *
“HOW BAD IS IT?” EVE ASKED, as Catherine and Hanks disappeared in the trees.
“I could function,” Joe said. “Probably not too bad.”
But he wasn’t sure, Eve thought, and she’d seen Joe close out pain and focus efficiently many times before. It was part of the discipline and experience of his SEAL training.
And the instinct of the warrior in battle. “Is it still bleeding?”
He impatiently shook his head. “Stop fussing. I need to get back to the house and search it. We may be able to find something there that will lead us to Gallo.