Captive, p.15
Captive, page 15
“Come on, Jocko.” She turned the horse toward the trail leading up the mountain. “You’ve been a wonderful friend, but now it’s time to rest. I know a place that will suit you. Let’s see if we can find you something to eat. No oats, but you’ll like the grass in these hills.”
* * *
It was fully dark, but the moon was shining brightly when Caleb parked the Range Rover in the trees at the bottom of the foothills. “Wake up, Rodland.” He put on the brakes and got out of the car. “Gather wood and build a fire. Then you can put on some coffee.” He added caustically, “If it wouldn’t be too much of a strain.”
“No, I feel much better.” Rodland smothered a yawn. “And I assume you’re not going to make me hike through these hills in the dark. By morning I should be almost normal.”
“I’ll decide whether we go on after I check the trails to make certain this was her destination. This would be my best bet. She knows these Highlands inside out. But she might have decided to come this far and then taken another road in another direction to fool me.”
“You believe she’s capable of that?”
“I believe she’s capable of anything when she makes up her mind,” Caleb said. “And she’s probably more upset now than I’ve ever seen her. I don’t know how I can change it. But I’ve got to. I’ll use anything I have on hand to turn this around.” He turned and headed up the path toward the mountains. “I don’t know how long I’ll be. I’ll be back as soon as I’m sure that she’s somewhere near here.”
“And then you’ll tell me what you’re going to do?”
“No.” He smiled faintly. “I’ll tell you what you’re probably going to do.”
* * *
Rodland handed Caleb a cup of coffee when he came back to the camp two hours later. “It took you long enough. You had trouble locating her?”
He shook his head. “She was on the horse. As soon as I saw the hoofprints, I knew she’d have to take care of him. I could have followed her, but that would have been dangerous for her. She would have run from me. The mountains can be lethal at night.”
“Not for you.”
“We’re not talking about me.” He took a drink of coffee. “Chasing her in daylight is still going to be a risk. I’m not going to make it harder for either one of us.” He added ruefully, “And Jane might make it difficult as hell for me to capture her. It’s not as if I don’t have to pull my punches. She knows I’d never do anything to hurt her.”
Rodland started to laugh. “My God, you’re helpless. I never thought I’d see it.”
“I’m glad you’re amused,” Caleb said through set teeth. “I’m not helpless. I just have to figure a way to do what’s needed.”
“Well, you’re almost helpless.” He was still chuckling. “I can see the problem. My sympathy.”
“Another word for sympathy is pity,” Caleb said softly. “I really wouldn’t use either one when referring to me.”
“Certainly not.” Rodland’s smile vanished. “I’m not that stupid. Let’s talk about how I can help. You did mention that, didn’t you?”
“I believe I did.” He cradled his coffee cup in his two hands. “I want you to call Jane tonight and talk to her. She doesn’t know what’s happening and she’s probably feeling alone and unhappy. She’s very much on edge and I need you to make that go away.”
“I beg your pardon? Shouldn’t that be your job?”
“You’re damn right it should,” he said roughly. “But right now, I can’t do it. She won’t accept anything I can do for her. She might have accepted it from MacDuff, but she believes she hurt him and that blows that. But for some reason she trusts you. So it’s up to you.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“I don’t care. Anything. Just make her feel better. She’s aching, dammit. I can feel it.”
“Okay.” He took out his phone and started to dial. “I’ll do my best. But you stay out of it, Caleb.”
“Whatever.” He was staring into the fire. “Evidently that’s what she wants anyway. Do it right and I won’t cause you any trouble.”
Chapter
10
Jane hesitated as she checked the phone ID. Rodland. She was tempted to not answer. There were probably several reasons why she should ignore it. But she wanted to know if his wound was better, and she was feeling very isolated at this moment. It wouldn’t hurt to talk to him for a few moments. She had no doubt that the call was connected to Caleb but that might not be bad. She couldn’t hide from him indefinitely, and going through Rodland might be less painful. Rodland’s relationship with Caleb was complicated but he had always been honest about it. His relationship with her had been equally aboveboard…yet less complicated. Keep it that way.
Decision made.
She answered the call. “Hello, Rodland. How are you?”
“Okay. The gunshot wound was nothing. But the doctor said my head wasn’t as hard as I’ve been told.” He paused. “I was wondering if you were going to answer. You took your time.”
“You probably know why. Are you with Caleb?”
“Yes, and you’re on speaker, but he said that you don’t have to talk to him. He can take a hint. You made it fairly clear. He assigned me to make contact.” He added, “For tonight. Tomorrow all bets are off.”
She stiffened. “How close are you?”
“Closer than you’d like. I believe I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than these Highlands. I’m eager to see these hills in the daylight.” He added quickly, “But I just got a frown from Caleb. He’s afraid that I’m going to send you on the run tonight. He’s already warned me that these mountains could be dangerous in the dark. There’s no way he’ll go after you until after dawn.” He chuckled. “You have him over a barrel. I admit I’ve been enjoying it.”
“Don’t enjoy it too much,” she said. “It would be like baiting a panther. Though you may be an exception. He’s already saved you once. He might not want to spoil his record.”
“Well, tell me that you’ll hold out until dawn before you take off so that I won’t get on his bad side.”
“I’m not about to break my neck to avoid being caught by Caleb. I know these hills as well as he does,” she said. “Maybe a little better. I stayed at MacDuff’s Run long before I became close to Caleb. And I’d have no compunction about using everything I know about Caleb or the Run if I had to.”
“I guess that’s a yes,” Rodland said. “I still think you might have an edge on him. Women can be ruthless. That’s why I wasn’t sure I could trust you at Kilgoray.”
“Which you promised me you wouldn’t mention.”
“And I won’t. It will be up to you from now on. I’ll keep my word.” He went on, “But now that we’ve settled that, I should go on and do my duty by filling you in on what happened at the castle. Caleb said you’d want to know. Five dead. Two guards, three MI6, damage to the gates and the stones of the courtyard and fountain. The front door was scorched and will have to be replaced. They didn’t get inside the castle. No damage to the paintings in the gallery or any of the furnishings. The attack only lasted a short time and then they were gone. MacDuff notified the local police and Her Majesty’s Coast Guard, but Bohdan’s forces were gone before they caught up with the two yachts.” He was silent for an instant. “And we know what happened with the staff resident houses outside the gates.”
“Yes, we do.” She shivered. “The entire attack was terrible. My fault. I should never have been there.”
“Caleb doesn’t agree,” he said. “He’d staged an attack on one of Bohdan’s prime assets in Italy to lure him into a trap. He’s sure that triggered the strike on the property.”
“Of course he is. He’s mistaken. I could have said no. For that matter, I could have said no when he called me and told me how things had gone wrong in the Congo. I didn’t do it. I could have walked away. And I should have remembered that Felicity might be vulnerable. I keep thinking about her. Have you heard anything about the investigation?”
“No, but I’m sure MacDuff is questioning Nojer. We might know something soon.”
“Maybe. I made wrong choices. But I’m not the one who had to pay.”
“Bullshit.”
“No, you had to pay, too. You could have been killed.”
“But that was my choice. You can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. For the most part I enjoyed being sent to the Run to fetch and carry for you.”
“Even Kilgoray?”
“I admit Kilgoray was a challenge. But that was even rather interesting. And I liked doing the Fiona research. Though I preferred digging deep on Farrell MacClaren. I found I could identify with him.”
“Digging deep? How deep?”
“Ah, I knew I could intrigue you. I told you that I was almost there before we left Jamie’s house. But thanks to Maisie bouncing me on my noggin, I had a little more time to loll around and make more phone calls.”
“It was the sniper, not Maisie to blame,” she said absently. “Almost there? What about MacClaren?”
“What about him? Which would you prefer? Sit up there in the mountains feeling sorry for yourself, or have me tell you about MacClaren’s adventures in America?”
“I’m not feeling sorry for myself, I’m feeling sorry that I couldn’t—” She broke off. “What are you up to, Rodland?”
“Obeying instructions. Caleb doesn’t like the idea of you being depressed. I’m supposed to distract. I thought this might do the trick.” He paused. “He’s frowning at me again, but I told him that he was to leave me alone if I was going to do this. He didn’t like that.”
“But I’m certain you liked saying it to him.”
“You take pleasure where you find it. Do you want to hear about MacClaren or not?”
“You know I do.”
He nodded. “Because you’re curious. Farrell MacClaren grew up on the border. He was a town boy; his father was an alcoholic, and his mother died when he was ten. He was always a brilliant artist from the time his mother gave him a pad and pencil when he was a toddler. But he was a wild kid and he spent most of his time roaming the countryside drawing and selling his work wherever he could. That’s where he met Fiona. She was the daughter of gentry and four years younger than he was. But she was as wild as MacClaren, and they found something in each other that they evidently could find nowhere else. They became friends.
“But when MacClaren was seventeen, he ran away from home and took passage on a ship to New York. When he reached there, he earned his living the way he’d earned it all his life. On the street corners and in bars sketching. He even started to paint and saw his work begin to come to life. But he couldn’t afford the paints and time it took so that led him to another adventure. He started to work for the railway. First in New York and Boston, but then he realized they were building railways all over America. Sometimes the pay was better if you went out west. He found it far more interesting. Cowboys, Indians, and gold miners, and buffalo…”
“And Cowboy Bob catching the dangerous train robbers,” she murmured.
“Yep, you got it. MacClaren started to do the illustrations for the dime novels. If you check the credits on that novel, it was written and illustrated by D. B. Ward. That was one of the first novels MacClaren wrote and illustrated. He sent a copy to Fiona as a present.”
“He kept in touch with her?”
“She was both family and friend to him. Neither of them could give up that tie. MacClaren traveled all over the West and had adventures and love affairs and did everything that young men dream of doing. He made his living doing the dime novels and occasionally he painted a portrait or landscape. But principally he was involved with life and learning how to best live it.” He shrugged. “And then he heard from his old friend Fiona about Jamie’s plans for her. Now, how could Cowboy Bob ever let that happen to the only family he’d ever known?”
“He came back to her?”
“And because they were both clever and determined, they managed to find a way to fool Jamie into hiring MacClaren to paint Fiona’s portrait. But somewhere along the way friendship became love and they had another problem to face when they realized that Jamie would never permit Fiona to break off with Graeme. He’d hunt her down no matter how long it took. What a conundrum.”
“And?”
He chuckled. “That will be the next installment. But I promise you that it didn’t involve Fiona being thrown down a deep well in the forest.”
“I may strangle you,” Jane said.
“But it did involve her bringing MacClaren to this mountain hideaway. So enjoy the anticipation, and next time I’ll end the story for you.”
“Maybe I’ll find out on my own. I still have the letter.”
“And that would provide your own distraction. I’m sure Caleb would consider that fair. That would work…if the letter tells you the entire story.”
“You’re impossible. Good night, Rodland.”
“Wait. Caleb is holding out his hand for the phone. He wants to talk to you.”
She tensed. “Then by all means let him talk. Hello, Caleb. I’ve already said what I wanted to say to you. I haven’t changed my mind.”
“And you won’t as long as I can’t corner you and keep you from running away. You’re going down the wrong path, and I have to stop you.” He added harshly, “For God’s sake, I’m not trying to keep you prisoner. But we can face this together.”
“And you’ll still try to step in front of me and keep me safe,” she said fiercely. “I may not be a prisoner, but I feel like a damn captive that everybody is trying to protect no matter what the cost. Well, the cost is too damn high. Do you wonder why I’ve been so intrigued by Fiona lately? It’s because we’re alike. We’ve both been taken captive and we’ve been fighting to get free. She had everything against her, and I don’t want her to have lost her battle. I’m luckier than she was, and I have no intention of losing mine. But the stakes are getting higher and higher. And you could die, like those other people have died.”
“You’re not listening,” he said thickly. “And we have to talk. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Maybe.” She had to steady her voice. “Is that all you wanted to say to me?”
“Yes, though I knew how stubborn you’d be. It didn’t matter to me.” He added quietly, “I just wanted to hear your voice.”
And she had desperately wanted to hear his voice. It was the only reason she hadn’t refused when Rodland had turned the call over to her. She couldn’t speak for a moment. “Good night, Caleb.”
* * *
Rodland immediately turned to Caleb. “I think I did very well. You couldn’t have done better. You have to admit she was distracted.”
“You’re a regular Scheherazade,” Caleb said caustically. “But you did a decent job.”
“Scheherazade.” Rodland made a face. “I’ve heard she was a magnificent storyteller, but I prefer a more manly description of my own talents. Though she was supposed to be very persuasive, and I’ve always considered my own skill in that arena to be extraordinary.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.” Caleb threw the rest of his coffee into the fire. “When you tell me about Kilgoray. Why did you go there?”
Rodland slowly shook his head. “You’ll have to get that from Jane. That’s why I warned her you were on speaker. She made me promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone about our trip there.” He added, “Besides, why should you be curious? She told me that you’d visited there with her before.”
“The only thing that meant for either of us was a pleasant day away from the Run. But why take you there? And why at this particular time?”
“I made a promise. Ask her.”
Caleb’s lips tightened. “I will. Count on it. Tomorrow.”
“Then am I off the hook?”
“For the time being. Go to sleep.” He was looking into the fire again. “Dawn will come soon enough.”
* * *
Jane hung up the phone and sat there gazing into the darkness. That talk with Rodland had been both upsetting and oddly bracing. She had needed to know what she had to face, as well as what she had to make right. The cost of Bohdan’s attack had been staggering and it must be paid. She just had to figure out how.
She wearily rubbed her temple, then spread the blanket she’d taken from Nojer’s camp before the fire and curled up for the night. It had been an exhausting two days; she needed to rest and try to prepare for what waited tomorrow.
She had known she would have trouble explaining to Caleb why she had gone on the run instead of letting him talk to her. Everything had seemed to bombard her after she had witnessed the deaths caused by those drones; her guilt had seemed enormous. It had brought home to her all the depths of terror she’d been experiencing about losing Caleb. But she’d known he was so damn persuasive, and it would have been like arguing with herself if she hadn’t made the choice to run. She knew he only wanted to protect her, and she desperately wanted to stay with him. But how could she allow herself to do that as long as she was the bait that might kill him? She had to rely on herself. She had to stay as far away from him as possible until one of them managed to take Bohdan down.
Caleb had said dawn, but she had to be ready for him before that. She had already started when she’d first arrived here in the hills after settling Jocko. She had taken the time to look over this section of the Highlands before dark and refreshed her memory of the time she’d spent here. Now it was only left to rise early so that she’d be ahead of the game.
Only it wasn’t a game. She and Caleb had played games before in these hills. Wild, passionate games that had seemed to have no beginning and no end. This was something entirely different and she wasn’t sure that she could make Caleb understand that the rules were different now.
Because God knows she didn’t want to live without him.
* * *
Next Day
