Taking Eve(30)

“What?” Jane glanced at the hangar and caught a glimpse of long metal cylinder emerge from the darkness of the hangar.

A rifle aiming in their direction.

“Down!” Margaret cried again as she ran toward Jane.

But Margaret was directly behind her, Jane realized. Any bullet would have to go through her to reach Jane.

“You get down, dammit!” Jane turned, pulled away from Caleb, and tackled Margaret to the ground.

She didn’t even hear the shot.

She only felt the pain.

And then even that pain was lost in the darkness.


Lake Cottage

5:40 A.M.

DAWN.

The rain had almost stopped, but the dark clouds made the gradually lightening sky retain its gloom, Eve thought.

Still, she was glad to have the night over. The two hours since Ben had left seemed more like years. She’d get dressed, then call Ben and make him come back to the cottage for breakfast. Then she’d phone FedEx and arrange the pickup for the reconstruction. She wanted it out of her hands because she was almost certain that she wasn’t going to twiddle her thumbs here when she was so disturbed about what had happened to Toby. She would go to Summer Island and try to find out what was—

Her cell phone rang.

Joe.

“You’re up early. I was going to call you. I’ve been thinking and I’ve decided I need to go to—”

“Jane’s been shot.”

Shock. She couldn’t breathe. “What?”

“I just got a call from Seth Caleb on Summer Island. He thought the news would come better from me.”

“She’s dead?”

“No,” he said quickly. “God, I’m messing this up. I’m scared to death, and I’m not handling this right. So much for me being the right person to tell you. She’s not dead, but they don’t know how bad it is. It just happened and they’ve taken her to the—”

“Who shot her?”

“Caleb didn’t know. It was a sniper shooting from a hangar at the airfield. Caleb couldn’t leave Jane to go after him.” He added grimly, “But you can bet he’ll be on his trail the minute it’s safe for him to do it.”

She didn’t care about that bastard right now. All she wanted to know was that Jane was going to live. “What kind of wound?”

“The bullet entered the back and exited the upper shoulder.” He paused. “She’s losing a lot of blood. They took her back to the veterinary research center for treatment.”

“Why not the village hospital?”

“No hospital on the island. Just a resident doctor and clinic. Caleb said something about Margaret’s saying that she’d get better first aid at the animal hospital at the center.”

“Who the hell is Margaret?”

“I don’t know. Someone who evidently has no faith in the village medical facility.”

“Then get Jane on a plane back to the States.”

“Caleb will do that as soon as he thinks she’s stable. I told you, she’s losing a lot of blood.”

“I’m so scared, Joe,” she whispered. That was an understatement. She was terrified. “I just talked to her a few hours ago. How could this happen?”

“We’ll find out. I’m not going to wait for Caleb to bring her back to us. I’m on my way to the airport now. I’ve rented a plane to take me to Summer Island.”

“Good.” She drew a shaky breath. “You’re closer to her down there in Miami and will be able to get to her sooner. Don’t wait for me. One of us has to be there for her right away. I’m heading for the airport here as soon as I hang up. It may be easier for you to arrange a plane to the island for me out of Miami. Though I hate like hell to have to change planes. I’ll call you when I get to the airport and let you know if I have a problem arranging a nonstop out of there.”

“Right. And I’ll make a few calls before I take off. I’ll call headquarters, and maybe the captain can pull a few strings to get you out of there.” He added, “Though she’s not going to be pleased I’m skipping out on that trial. Screw it. If they let the bastard off, I’ll go after him again.” He paused. “It’s going to be okay, Eve.”

“Maybe.” She closed her eyes. “She told me that Toby was poisoned, Joe. Who would poison a sweet dog like Toby? Who would shoot our Jane?”

“We’ll find out.” His voice was suddenly harsh. “Dammit, I can feel your—I want to be there for you.”

“Be there for Jane.” She cleared her throat. “I’ve got to go, Joe. I’ve got to tell Ben that I’m leaving and ask him to give the reconstruction to the FedEx man.”