Johansen Iris - Hunting Eve: An Eve Duncan Novel

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to Roy Johansen, my son and cocreator of difficult and brilliant Kendra Michaels. Hes always there to save me from drowning in her complicated and fascinating personality.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

Rio Grande Forest
Colorado

IT WAS DOANES MOUNTAIN.

He was the hunter, she was the prey.

Was he still behind her?

Eve tore through the underbrush at the side of the trail, lost her balance, fell, then struggled to her feet again.

She mustnt give in to this weakness. She seemed to have been running through this wilderness forever. No, it couldnt have been as long as it appeared to her. It had been late afternoon when she had broken free of Doane and the house where he had been keeping her, and darkness was only now falling.

But why was Jim Doane still behind her, dammit? He was no young man, and she should have been able to lose him long before this. As a painful stitch stabbed her side, she paused and drew a deep breath, listening.

A crashing in the brush behind her!

She started running again.

I hear you, bitch. Doanes breathing was harsh, labored. Come back to me. If you do, I may not kill you yet. But youre making me angry and I may lose control. I dont want to do that. It would spoil everything for Kevin.

Kevin, Doanes son, whose reconstructed skull Eve had hurled off this mountain, less than an hour ago, to distract Doane. Doanes obsession with his dead son was deepening with every passing moment. Did Doane actually think shed trust him? Kevin had been a serial killer, a monster without a hint of conscience, and his father, Doane, had been his enabler, the one who had made it possible for him to kill all those helpless children who had crossed Kevins path. While Eve had been Doanes prisoner after he had kidnapped her, she had begun to wonder whether it was father or son who had been the true monster.

Perhaps it was both. There had been moments when shed had the eerie feeling while working on his forensic sculpture that Kevin was trying to break through the bonds of hell and death and merge with his father.

Crazy. Imagination.

Or truth.

It was hard to tell the difference in this nightmare into which she had been drawn.

You shouldnt have thrown his skull off into that ravine. Did you think Id go after it and let you escape?

It was exactly what she had hoped. That damn skull was everything to Doane, and shed gambled that hed go down the side of the mountain to try to retrieve it.

Shed been wrong.

She felt the twinge in her side become actual pain. How long could she keep running?

Stop whining. Shed run as long as she had to run. She was far younger than Doane. She was strong, and she was frightened. Panic was a great spur.

And did she have Bonnie helping her?

For a little while she had thought that her daughters spirit had been there beside her, putting speed and wings to every step. It had been a comforting thought

But now there only seemed to be Doane and her in this deadly race. No loving presence that might warm and save her.

Its okay, Bonnie. I know you tried. Theres nothing he can do to me that will matter in the end.

The stitch in her side was easing.

She was running faster.

She should have known Bonnie would not let her falter, she thought ruefully. Not if Eve showed even a faint hint that she would not do her best to keep herself alive.

I wasnt going to opt out, Bonnie. I wouldnt do that to Joe and Jane. I was just trying to be an understanding mother. I know you cant do everything. Well, I dont really know what a ghost can or cant do, but you seem to have some limits. Ill keep going.

As long as she could. Her heart was beating so hard that it hurt. She felt sick to her stomach.

She could hear Doane cursing behind her.

Farther behind than he had been before. Was he faltering?

Yes.

He was shouting at her, each word broken and harsh. Dont think youre goingto get away. These are my mountains. Kevin and I spent months out here when he was a boy. He particularly liked to kill the deer. How do you think he qualified to be in the Special Forces? I taught him to be a hunter.

And had he taught him to hunt down those little girls and kill them?

Do you hear me? Im going back to the house and get my equipment and my gun. Ill hunt you down like Kevin and I did the deer. I just hope that hypothermia doesnt get you before I do. It gets cold in these mountains at night.

She knew it was true, but it was hard to believe when her entire body was hot and perspiring from exertion.

I can hear every move you make in that brush. Do you know how easy youre going to be to stalk?

She was pulling more away from him with every second. Close him out. She was winning.

And then well go get Kevin and take him to that butcher who murdered him. Ill let Zander see how it feels when I kill you in front of him. Theres no greater agony than a father feels at the death of a child.

More madness. Lee Zander, the hired assassin Doane was sure had murdered his son, was not her father. How could he be? Eves father had disappeared long before she was born, and her mother was never even sure of his identity. This particular insanity Doane had thrown at her when hed been enraged after she had tossed Kevins reconstruction off the cliff to distract him. He had thought it would hurt her in some way to know she was a killers daughter and that she was to pay for Doanes sons death. It was just one more sign that Doanes cold-blooded, calculated pursuit and abduction of her was completely bizarre and totally without reason.

Forget that nonsense. She was not the child of a murderer who was probably more deadly and ruthless than Doane. It was all part of Doanes wild hallucinations. She just had to concentrate on getting out of these mountains or contacting someone to help her.

Do you know how many people get lost in these mountains? Doanes shout sounded still farther away. Some dont survive the bitter cold and the animals and the mudslides. You might be glad to come back to me after a night or two.

Not bloody likely.

Do you think your Joe Quinn or Jane MacGuire will be able to locate you out here? You could be out here a week, and no one would catch sight of you. Youd have had a better chance staying at the house. Im the only one who knows youre here and how to find you. And I will find you, Eve.

Keep running. He might be trying to fool her into thinking hed temporarily stopped the hunt. Dont trust his words.

It was pitch-dark now. She couldnt see anything but the shrubs directly in front of her. This was too dangerous. Shed be lucky if she didnt tumble off the mountain.

She stopped and tried to hear something besides the pounding of her heart.

No sound.

Doane?

She stood there, listening. No rustle of brush. No harsh sound of his breathing in the stillness.

Safe?

Good God, no. There was no way she was safe, but maybe shed have a brief respite from the fear that had been with her since shed been taken from everything she knew that was safe and good.

Joe, Jane, the cottage on the lake where theyd lived so many years.

She could still hear nothing but the flap of an occasional birds wings and the wilderness night sounds. But they werent the same sounds as the ones she heard in the forest on the lake. This was wild country.