Текст книги "Bonnie"

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

“I didn’t say that.” His hands clenched into fists at his sides. “You’re trying to trick me.”

Joe drew a deep breath. “Listen carefully, Ben. You don’t believe your friend, Ted, could hurt anyone. You may be right, but sometimes people can be kind to some people and unkind to others. Particularly if they’re sick inside. One minute they seem okay, then the anger comes.”

Ben nodded. “Like my dad.”

The boy had completely leapfrogged the explanation Joe had been trying to make. Try to bring him back around. “Was your father like that, too? Like Ted?”

“No, not like Ted. Ted never hurt me. Ted said my dad didn’t have a right to hurt me. He said he wouldn’t let him do it again.”

He stiffened. “Wait a minute. Danner knew your father?”

“No, he only said that when I told him my dad was on his way here to take me away from the camp. He’d gotten out of jail and wanted me to go back and help him.”

“But how would Danner stop him?”

Ben shook his head. “He said he’d tell him to go away.”

“And that would do it? I don’t think so.”

“You’re wrong. My dad never came to see me here. Ted met him before he got here and made him change his mind. He made him go away.”

Joe and Father Barnabas exchanged glances.

“Have you heard from your father since then?” Joe asked.

He shook his head. “But he might come back now that Ted has gone away.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that happening,” Joe said. He would leave it at that. The kid’s father was obviously a bastard who would use and abuse a boy like Ben, but the kid didn’t need to be made to feel any guilt about what had probably happened to him. “I think Danner probably frightened him away. That’s what I was trying to tell you about your friend, Ted. Sometimes, he can frighten people. If he frightened my Eve, she might try to run away and hurt herself. Some people deserve to be frightened, but not Eve. We have to find her and make sure that Danner doesn’t do anything to cause anything bad to happen to her.”

Ben shook his head. “He told me not to talk about him.” He turned and went into the tent.

“Very deftly handled. You were more diplomatic than I thought you’d be,” Father Barnabas said. “I’m impressed.”

“I’m not, I didn’t get what I needed. You thought I’d tear him up just to get what I want? Fate and life have done enough to that kid. For an instant, I was actually in full sympathy with Danner. I would have wanted to take down that bastard of a father, too.”

Father Barnabas shook his head.

“I didn’t expect you to agree,” Joe said. “But you’ll admit that Ted Danner could have been tempted to rid the boy of his father?”

“I’ll admit that Ted Danner has many temptations, and it’s difficult for him to know how to handle them.” His gaze went to the tent. “But it appears that the boy could be a help to us. He’s more familiar with Danner than anyone here. I was surprised that he said Danner took him when he went camping. All those people we interviewed were right. Danner was always a loner.”

“That’s what I’ve been hearing from everyone,” Joe said. “But maybe Ben didn’t represent a threat to him.” He remembered the boy’s luminous smile, which had reminded him of Bonnie’s in Eve’s sketch. It would have been hard for anyone to believe that smile hid anything threatening. “And Danner did have a relationship with Gallo when he was a boy. Perhaps he made some kind of connection.”

The priest smiled. “You’re analyzing. Would it be too difficult for you to accept that God might have brought them together for a reason?”

“But then that would mean that God wanted Danner to take out Ben’s father. Not exactly a merciful plan. How do you explain that?”

“I don’t. God has many faces, and I wouldn’t presume. I just believe that it’s easier to look at the big picture than try to take it apart. Though I’ve noticed you have a mind that tries to decipher at every turn. Since God gave you that brain, it would follow that He wants you to use it.” He glanced back at Ben’s tent. “So what’s your next step?”

“I go after him, I keep after him. There’s not much time. I have to find out where Danner is taking Eve.”

“You’ll be careful?” His gaze never left the tent. “I have a … feeling about him.”

And Joe knew what he meant. He’d been fighting that same protective instinct that Father Barnabas was experiencing. It was weird as hell. Ben was … unusual, like a light shining in the darkness. You wanted to make sure that light was never dimmed. In a way, that instinct was incomprehensible. The rough life the boy had evidently lived had never managed to extinguish that inner glowing. Why did Joe feel as if he had the responsibility of taking care of Ben? Was that what Danner had felt when he decided to guard the boy in his own lethal way?

Dammit, he didn’t want to worry about this kid. He had to find a way to use him to find Eve.

“I’ll be as careful as I can be.” He followed Ben into the tent.

The boy was cutting lengths of suede and didn’t look up when Joe stopped before him. “Go away.”

“I can’t do that. But I won’t try to persuade you to do what’s right. I’ll let Eve do that.” He reached in his pocket and drew out his wallet. “It’s hard to think of people if you only have a name. I thought you should have a face, too. This is one of my favorite photos of Eve.” He thrust the photo in front of Ben’s face. “It was taken at our home on the lake. She looks a little dreamy but there’s nothing really dreamy about her. She’s always thinking, always feeling. She had the dreams blown away a long time ago. I guess that’s why I like this picture. I want to give her back those dreams.”

“Dreams? I have dreams.” His gaze was on the photo. “They used to be bad. But now it’s different.”

“Is it? Because your father went away?”

“No, I don’t think so.” He put down the strip of leather and took the photo and stared at her. “She looks … nice. I think I know her.”

“You’ve probably just seen a photo of Eve. She’s in the papers a lot. She helps find lost kids.”

He shook his head, his brow knitted with a puzzled frown. “No, that’s not right. I know her.” He gave Joe back the photo. “I’ll remember. Sometimes I forget things, but I always remember.”

“You said she looked nice. She is nice, Ben. You don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“Ted wouldn’t hurt her.”

“But he won’t let her go. What if she fights him? What if she can’t persuade him that she—”

“You said that you wouldn’t talk about it.” He reached down and turned on his portable radio, and music suddenly blared. “I’m not listening to you.”

“Then I’ll wait until you decide to do the right thing for Eve.” Joe set the photo on the bench beside the boy. He dropped down on the floor and crossed his legs. “But there’s not much time, Ben. Accidents can happen very quickly.”

“I want you to go away.”

“I can’t do that. She needs me. You have to help the people who need you. You have to do what’s right.”

“Then stay. I don’t care.”

“I believe you do, Ben,” Joe said gently.

Ben lowered his eyes and began to work on his weaving.

Would the photo of Eve do it?

It was possible that it would. That photo moved Joe every time he looked at it. But Joe loved Eve, and she was a stranger to this boy.

Yet he had said she was not a stranger. Who knew what went on in the mind of a boy like Ben? Joe could only hope and risk a little time. Far better than using force and brutalizing the boy as his father had done.

But, as he’d told Ben, time was running out.

CHAPTER

13

“TAKE THE PHOTO AWAY,” BEN SAID.

It was the first time Ben had spoken in the last two hours. He had worked steadily, not looking at Joe, but Joe had seen his eyes wander several times toward the photo beside him on the bench.

“Does it bother you?”

“It mixes me up. You mix me up.”

“Then talk to me. Ask me questions. Maybe I can straighten it out.”

The boy didn’t speak, but his expression held a kind of helpless anguish.

“Okay,” Joe said. “I’ll ask the questions and try to work it out. You want to keep your word to Ted Danner. But you know that Danner’s taking Eve was the wrong thing to do. It was the kind of thing your father would do. Isn’t that right?”

“He won’t hurt her.”

“But you’re afraid of the accidents, aren’t you?”

“I don’t like accidents. They scare me.”

“Then the best thing to do is get her away from him. Then there won’t be an accident. But he won’t let her go, we’ll have to take her. To do that, we have to know where he’s going with her.”

“I don’t know that.”

“But you know where he went when he left the camp on weekends. I think he’s probably taking her there. Don’t you, Ben?”

“He … likes it there sometimes. Sometimes it scares him.”

“Why would it do that?”

No answer. Skip the questions before they caused him to skitter away. “We agree that it’s best that Eve doesn’t stay with him. Now we have to find a way to find her.”

He shook his head. “I promised him.”

Blank wall.

“You’re afraid I’ll hurt him.”

Ben raised his eyes and met his gaze. Joe was once again aware of the gentle clarity that seemed to see beyond and through him. Piercing vision. Knowing vision. “You want to do it,” he said. “No matter what you say, you want to hurt him. Because of the woman. Because you’re afraid for that woman in the photo.”

Joe couldn’t lie. If he did, the boy would see right through him, and he would lose any hope of cooperation. “You’re right, I want to stop anyone who would hurt her. And I would hurt Ted Danner if I thought he was going to do it.” He paused. “If it came to that moment, I believe you would find a way of stopping him, too. If you thought there would be an … accident.”

“I wouldn’t like it. I couldn’t do it.”

“No one is making you do it.” Ben was close, but Joe had an overwhelming barrier to overcome. “Suppose I do everything I can not to hurt Ted Danner. If I can take Eve away from him without hurting him, I’ll do it.”

“You will?” Ben’s gaze searched his face. “You promise?”

“I’ll promise that if he doesn’t hurt Eve, I won’t hurt him.”

“Ever?”

All he had to do was say yes. He slowly shook his head. “I’ll probably have to go after him, but I would do it anyway. It won’t be because you broke your promise. The only result of that will be that Eve will be safe.”

Ben’s gaze was on his face. “You didn’t want to tell me that.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing, particularly if it might hurt someone else.”

“Yes.” He looked down at the photo of Eve. “And it’s hard to know what’s right or wrong. What’s right for you may be wrong for me. It’s confusing. I don’t always understand.”

“None of us do, Ben.”

Ben lifted his gaze from the photo. “But lately things are becoming clearer. It’s like lifting a curtain, isn’t it?”

“Is it? And what’s causing that curtain to lift, Ben?”

“I’m not sure. I think it’s the dreams.…”

“Will you help me, Ben?”

He didn’t speak for a long time, then he slowly nodded. “I’ll take you to the place.”

“You don’t have to do that. Just tell me where it is.”

“No.” Ben got to his feet. “I have to go with you. I have to make sure nothing happens to Ted. That’s how it has to be.” He headed for the door of the tent. “I’ll go tell my supervisor that he needs to replace me for today.” He smiled. “Though it will be hard for him. I’m real good at my job. Everyone says so.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Joe said gently. “While you’re gone, I’ll let Father Barnabas know that you’ve changed my mind.”

He watched the boy wend his way through the tents on the way to the office. It had been difficult as hell to persuade the boy to go along with him. Even now, he wasn’t sure if he’d succeeded or if the kid’s troubled conscience had been the guiding influence. Whatever it was, he’d take it. He hadn’t expected to run into a boy like Ben here.

Like Ben? He had an idea Ben was unique. He might be slow and have to work his way through the complexity of the human condition and the world around him, but that was not really a handicap in Joe’s eyes. The world ran too fast, judgments were too quickly made, treasures too often lost.

And Ben would hold on to a treasure with all his strength as he was doing with his friendship for Danner. Even when his conscience was being tormented about the danger to Eve, he was still going to make sure no harm came to Ted Danner.

And could Joe keep his promise to Ben about not hurting Danner? He had hedged it, made conditions, but the promise had still been made. He had tied his own hands until he could get Eve free. A fine balance.

All right, accept it. Who knew what would go down when he caught up with Danner? The only thing certain was that Eve would live, Eve would be free.

“You found out what you wanted to know?” Father Barnabas had come to stand beside him at the entry of the tent.

Joe nodded. “I will soon. Ben’s going to take me to the place where Danner used to camp.” He gave the priest a sardonic look. “And I didn’t even have to use a rubber hose on him.”

“I’m a better judge of character than that,” Father Barnabas said quietly. “Under certain circumstances, I’m sure you could be brutal, but not to a boy like Ben.” He turned away. “I’m coming with you. Don’t argue.”

“The hell I won’t argue. This is the end of the line for you. I don’t trust you. If we’re getting close to Danner, I’m not going to have to risk looking over my shoulder every minute.”

“That’s your problem. I’m either going with you or following behind. Make up your mind.”

“I could put you out and there wouldn’t be a decision.”

“But you’d hesitate to do that. Because there’s a part of you that believes that I’m what I seem on the surface and not one of Danner’s demons.”

The priest was right, Joe realized in frustration. His time with Father Barnabas had allowed a strange, complex relationship to develop between them. He alternated between liking and believing him and a distrust that was probably what he should be feeling.

Father Barnabas’s gaze was on Joe’s face. He nodded. “I’ll get my sleeping bag from the car.”

“Sleeping bag? You came prepared.”

He smiled. “I’m the urban type. I don’t like sleeping on the cold ground. I might even let you and Ben take a turn using it.”

“I’m sure you’d consider that your duty,” Joe said dryly.

“Not necessarily. It might be my duty to strengthen your physical stamina or to strip you of all creature comforts to give you both time to contemplate your sins.” He grinned. “I have choices.”

*   *   *

STOP. REST. SLEEP

Those words had been repeating in Gallo’s mind for the last two hours. He had to ignore them. He had to keep going.

Stop. Rest. Sleep.

Crazy.

Perhaps it was just his body telling him that it was best to take a break.

“We can stop for a while and get our breath.” Gallo looked up at Catherine from where he was kneeling by the side of the path. “Danner stopped here and took another break. That’s the third in the last seven hours. He’s letting Eve rest.”

“Maybe he’s letting himself rest,” Catherine said. “He’s not a young man any longer, Gallo.”

“He hasn’t changed that much. You saw him at the bayou. He’s still very tough.” He leaned back against a pine tree. “We’re making good time, and he’s losing it with every stop. I figure we’ll be almost on top of him in about five hours.”

“Then we should keep on going. I don’t need to rest.”

No, Catherine would never admit to a lack of strength and endurance, he thought. Hell, maybe it wasn’t a matter of pride. She did have amazing staying power. Everything about her was amazing.

Stop. Rest. Sleep.

“It’s been over twenty-four hours. We have to be at the top of our game when we overtake them. Rest,” he said. “Forty-five minutes. If you can nap, do it.”

She shook her head. “I can’t sleep. I’m wired.” She sank down beside him before taking out her iPhone and checking the apps. “These last hours we’ve traveled right in line with the coordinates Joe gave us for that camp. That’s got to be where he’s heading.” She frowned. “No, not exactly in line. We’re a little east. But he might veer back.”

“Or he might not. Stop worrying. We’ll find out when we reach him.”

She was silent. “No, I can see you’re not worrying.”

He opened his eyes. “I’m not stalling so that we’ll lose him, Catherine. We can afford this rest.”

She studied his expression, then settled back against the tree beside him. “I know we can. I know all the rules about conserving strength and all that bull. It’s not a code-red situation. Danner has a destination, and he’s not mistreating Eve yet.” She added through her teeth, “But we’re not there, dammit. And this is Eve.” She drew a deep breath. “Okay, forty-five minutes. Though I’d be a hell of a lot more relaxed going full tilt after Danner. I don’t understand why you don’t feel the same way.”

“I do. I can’t tell you how much I need this to be over.” He closed his eyes again. “But this is the right thing to do, Catherine. I feel it.” And that feeling was tugging, nagging at him with increasing intensity.

Stop. Rest. Sleep.

“Well, I don’t feel it.”

“And you’re so damn tense that you’re about to break apart.”

“I’m not. I wouldn’t—” She suddenly broke off as he pulled her into his arms so that her cheek lay against his shoulder. “What are you doing, Gallo?”

He wasn’t sure. It had been an impulse. “Nothing carnal … I don’t think.” Though his body had responded the minute he had touched her. Block it. This wasn’t the moment.

Something else was coming that was far more important.

And where the hell had that last thought come from?

Stop. Rest. Sleep.

“Relax. I just want to hold you.”

She was still taut and resisting. Then she was suddenly relaxing, her body flowing into his.

That heat and hardening again.

Block it. Not now.

“Why, Gallo?” she muttered.

“I don’t know. I just want to hold you. I want you to be calm and … with me.” His hand was gently stroking her hair. “Your hair smells good.”

“You’re a little crazy, Gallo,” she muttered.

“So I’ve been told.”

“I can’t remember anyone ever wanting to just … hold me.”

“And considering the fact that you’re one totally desirable lady, you may never experience it again.”

She was silent a moment. “This is important to you, isn’t it?”

“It’s important.”

She shrugged. “I don’t understand it, but I guess it’s okay.”

“Even though you believe I’m a bit wacko.”

“People need different things at different times.”

“Close your eyes, Catherine.”

“They are closed.”

And he could feel the muscles of her body relaxing. “Forty-five minutes, Catherine.”

“You already said that.”

But she was quiet now, and his own body was still and no longer needing her. He could feel her strength but no disturbance. That was how it should be. That was how he knew instinctively that it had to be.

He could go on now.…

*   *   *

IT WAS HOT IN THE DARKNESS and he could smell his own sweat.

He opened his eyes and saw the manacles fastened to the wall and the dirty straw on the stone floor.

His heart jerked in panic.

He knew this place, this cell. Prison. North Korea.

The pain.

“I’m sorry. It will go away. I’ve never tried to do this kind of dream, and I’m not very good at it. I brought you in at the wrong time.”

Bonnie. Red curls shining under the light flowing into the darkness from the barred window, wearing jeans and a Bugs Bunny T-shirt. Sitting beside him in the darkness. As she had visited him all those other times during the seven years he was in prison.

And the pain was suddenly gone.

She smiled. “I told you so. The stink of this place is bothering you. I can take that away, too.”

“I thought … Oh God, I thought I was out of here.”

“And you are. I’m sorry. It won’t be for long.” Her smile faded. “I didn’t want to bring you back here, but it was the only way that I could be sure of reaching you. It was the only strong familiar time we shared. I had to be sure that I was here with you quickly. But this is only a dream. That time is all over. It’s only a dream.”

He drew a deep breath as the panic almost faded. “Or was that other time a dream, and is this reality?”

She smiled. “I promise you.”

Peace. Love. Bonnie.

A dream, just a dream of that nightmare place, and even the nightmare was gradually being shaded with strands of light. He could almost hear the sound of the songs she used to sing to him in this hellhole. “I thought I’d killed you, Bonnie. It wasn’t true, was it?”

“No, I tried to tell you. But you wouldn’t listen. I couldn’t get through to you.” She smiled. “All you wanted to do was jump off that cliff.”

“And you wouldn’t let me.”

“No, that’s never the way. It messes up everything.” She leaned back against the wall and looked around the cell. She whispered, “This is a terrible place. When I found you here, it made me so sad. You were so brave and strong, and they were hurting you. I wanted so to help you. I wanted you to know you weren’t alone. I wanted you to believe that someone cared about you.”

He remembered the dreams of Bonnie that had kept away the pain and made him fight to live. “You did help me.”

A brilliant smile lit her face. “I’m glad. I thought I did.” The next moment, the smile had vanished. “I’m slipping away. I have to talk quickly.”

“Slipping away?”

“I’m usually pretty good at this dream stuff, but I’m having to divide up my concentration now. I can probably only hold on for another few minutes.”

“Then why did you come?”

“I had to tell you something.” She added gently, “And you’re hurting. I had to let you know that I’ll try to help you.”

“Eve. Forget about me. Can you help Eve?”

“I’m trying to get near her. That’s why I had to use a dream to reach you. I have to use most of my effort trying to reach her. He keeps pushing me away. He’s so strong right now.”

Fear iced through him. “Will he hurt her?”

“I hope not,” she said soberly.

“Dammit, don’t you know?”

“I keep seeing Mama, then in his hand a knife.”

Gallo muttered a curse.

“That’s why I had to come to you now,” she said quietly. “I think he’ll use the knife. I think the decision to use it is what’s giving him his strength.”

“But you’re not certain.”

“And you don’t want to believe he’d do it. Neither do I. I’m scared for Mama. But Ted Danner’s not always the same. He changes. I think she’s safe now, but I don’t know for how long. When you get to Mama, you have to believe you may not be able to talk to him.” She paused. “You have to believe he’ll do it. In your heart and in your head.”

He could feel the tears sting his eyes. “Sometimes I have trouble with both. It’s … hard, Bonnie.” He tried to smile. “Hell, you’re a ghost. Isn’t there some great master plan that you can tap into and help keep her safe?”

“Oh, yes, there’s a plan. And sometimes I get glimpses of it. Sometimes I can help, and that’s wonderful.” She smiled radiantly. “But I’m only learning now. It’s not in my hands. There are so many things I don’t know yet. But I think that there are different ways that the plan can end if the soul has not crossed over. It’s possible we can change it. That’s why you have to help. You have to get to Mama. You have to help her. And I’ll help her, too.…”

She was gone.

He felt a wrenching regret and a piercing loneliness. And then the darkness of the prison and the memories it contained were gone, too.

Swirling. Vanishing.

“Gallo!”

He opened his eyes.

Catherine was looking up at him with a frown. “Your heart was going triple time. I shook you, but you didn’t stir.” She sat back on her heels. “Are you okay?”

He nodded and straightened. “I must have drifted off.”

“It was more like a tidal wave than any gentle drifting. Nightmare?”

“Sort of.” He stood up and reached down and pulled her to her feet. “It’s over now.”

“What’s over?”

The return to that ugliness of the past that had been transformed into salvation by the visits of one small girl. He wasn’t about to explain what had transpired to Catherine. She was having enough problems coming to terms with the stories and beliefs about Bonnie that were coming at her from all sides. “We have to get going.”

“I’m not arguing. But aren’t you being a bit erratic? It’s not as if you’ve been slacking. It’s been less than fifteen minutes.”

He’d thought it had been much longer. Or as if time itself had stopped.

I keep seeing Mama, then a knife in his hand.

He felt the same panic he had when Bonnie had first said those words.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m a little erratic. Live with it.” He strode into the brush. “We’ve got to get moving.”

A knife in his hand …

*   *   *

“HOW MUCH FARTHER?” EVE asked as she glanced behind her. “Are you ready to tell me where we’re—”

The metal of his knife was gleaming in Danner’s hand.

Eve stopped short, her breath catching in her throat. She watched him touch the edge of the blade with an almost caressing forefinger. He was looking down at the knife in total fascination, then his thumb was stroking the hilt as if it were alive. “Danner?”

He lifted his head and looked at her. His eyes were clouded, and she wasn’t sure that he recognized her.

This was not good.

What Father Barnabas had said about Danner shifting from sanity to madness in the space of a moment flew back to her. This could well be one of those moments. She had to be extremely wary.

“Why do you have the knife out?” She moistened her lips. “Do you need to cut this brush? It doesn’t seem any worse than—” He wasn’t listening to her. She had to break through the dark fog that seemed to surround him. It had caught her off guard. He had been silent for the last few hours, but he hadn’t said much since their journey had begun. She’d had no idea that such danger had been brewing. She had been focused on just getting to their destination, getting to Bonnie.

And she would never find Bonnie if she couldn’t control the actions of this man who seemed to teeter back and forth on a lethal tightrope.

Think.

If she ran, then he’d be after her in a heartbeat.

Danner had Ranger training. She had been taught to defend herself, but she was not Catherine and did not have her skills.

Okay, then it had to be verbal attack.

“You don’t want to cut brush with that knife,” she said quietly. “You want to use it on me. Why, Danner? I’ve done what I promised. I thought you wanted to take me to Bonnie. Why give it up now?”

“The demons,” he whispered. “They’re trying to get to me. I can feel them push and pull at me. But I won’t let them do it.”

Demons. Use the demons that obsessed him to control him. “That’s right, keep them away. But you’re not thinking straight. You said you wanted to give me to Bonnie. What good would it do to kill me now? You had a reason to take me to Bonnie, or you would have killed me when we were with Father Barnabas back at the church.” She wasn’t getting through to him. Try another path. “Or do you think I’m a demon too, Danner?”

“I’m not sure. I didn’t … think so. The little girl didn’t think you were a demon. She wanted you.” He was frowning. “But sometimes the demons take over, and I can’t tell the difference until they’re ready to pounce. They don’t always look like demons.”

“I’m not a demon.” She turned and moved slowly back toward where he stood. Not too fast. No threat. She could already see him tensing. She stopped before him. “As you said, Bonnie doesn’t think I’m a demon.”

“But maybe she’s one now, too,” he whispered. “Maybe they caught her when I wasn’t around to keep them away.” His eyes were suddenly glittering with tears. “I hope they didn’t. God, I hope they didn’t. I have to stop them. I have to stop all of you.”

His hand was tightening on the knife. Eve could see the muscles of his body tightening, readying to spring forward toward her.

She instinctively braced herself. No, stop it before she had to defend herself. “Bonnie isn’t a demon either. I’d know it if she had changed.” She stared him in the eye. “Remember, you said you saw us together and you could see how much we loved each other. Do demons love? I don’t think so.”

“No, hate,” he said hoarsely. “Only hate.”

“Then you wouldn’t have chosen to take me to her if you hadn’t been sure that she had love for me. Isn’t that right?”

“Maybe. I’m confused right now.”

But his hand had never loosened on the knife.

“That’s because the demons want you to be confused. They don’t want you to take me to Bonnie. They know that if I’m with her, I’ll protect her, that I’ll never let them have her.” She took a step closer so that she was only inches from him. “I’d keep all the forces of darkness away from my Bonnie. There isn’t an angel or demon who could stop me from doing that. Look at me, Danner. You’ll see it.” She reached down and lifted his hand grasping the knife until the blade was pressing against her throat. She held his gaze with all the passion and strength of will that was her love for Bonnie. “See it,” she repeated fiercely. “And if you don’t, then use that knife that’s at my throat.”

It was a gamble. His hand was shaking, and she could feel the blade prick her skin.

Believe me, she willed the thought with every bit of her mind and soul. I have to bring my Bonnie home. It can’t end like this.

His eyes were flickering, shifting, changing.

Help me, Bonnie. Help me, baby.

He stepped back, and the hand with the knife fell to his side.

Eve let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

The moment of danger had passed … for now.

Had she convinced him? Or had Danner’s madness, which always seemed to be hovering in the shadows, just retreated?

Or had Eve been given the help for which she’d prayed?

It didn’t matter. Danner’s eyes were clear, his expression as close to normal as she’d experienced since he’d taken her. She moistened her lips again. “You do believe me. That’s good. I’m glad that you’ve gotten over that particular misconception. I don’t usually have to defend myself against the charge of being a demon, and I have to really reach to do it.”

He was gazing at her in bewilderment. “You’re joking with me.”

“Purely involuntary. I admit to being a little shaken, and that’s how I generally handle it.”

“You’re frightened,” he said slowly.

“You caught me off guard. A knife usually has that effect on me.”

He was staring at her with an expression that had an odd element of regret. “I do have to kill you. I can’t do anything else. You didn’t seem afraid before. I was … surprised.”

“Get over it. As I said, you caught me off guard. This time self-preservation kicked in.” Her lips tightened. “You’re worrying that I’ll break my word about making it easy for you? You’re wondering if it’s worth it to you to wait and take me to where you want to … do it.”