Eight Days to Live by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page B

around and make sure that the area is secure.”
    “It’s not necessary. The police will probably still be outside.”
    “I know. But I can’t trust them.” He got on the elevator. “Duty . . .”
    Even MacDuff couldn’t understand why he was being so over-careful, Jock thought, as the elevator doors closed. The Laird knew him better than anyone in the world, but he hadn’t been in that room years ago when Jane had risked her life to pull him out of almost catatonic darkness into the light. Thomas Reilly had kidnapped and brainwashed him to become the assassin he could use to do his killings. When he had broken free, the posthypnotic suicide suggestion had kicked in and almost destroyed him. He had disobeyed and, therefore, had to put an end to himself. Jane had not been able to fight the suggestion with sympathy and understanding, so she had circled and gone at it with an aggression that could have been fatal.
    At that moment, he’d been swirling down, locked in silence,trying to fight against that bastard Reilly’s mental conditioning, but he’d probably never been more volatile or lethal. Before Jane had left the room that night his hands had tightened on her throat, and he’d come close to choking her before he’d realized what he was doing. She’d had to cover her neck for days to hide the bruises so that no one could see what he’d done to her.
    Later, when he’d fought back to normalcy, he’d realized that Jane might have been his savior, but she was no saint. She was honest and passionately caring, but she was mule-stubborn. She was smart, but she didn’t suffer fools gladly. Because of her street upbringing, she was cynical and had trouble trusting in any relationship.
    But none of that mattered.
    She was his friend.
    And no one was ever going to hurt her.
    “COME HOME,” EVE URGED JANE. “Get on the next plane. I’ll meet you at the airport.”
    “I’m leaving here, but I’m going back to New York.” Jane paused. “It will be okay, Eve. Stop worrying.”
    “I will worry. So will Joe. Come home so that we can take care of you,” Eve said. “This is incredibly ugly. We’ll get through it together.”
    “I’ll keep in touch.”
    “That’s not good enough.” Eve didn’t speak for a minute. “I’m feeling helpless. I don’t like to feel helpless. If you don’t come to us, I’m going to come to you.”
    “No,” Jane said sharply. All she needed was to have Eve involved in this nightmare. “I’ll work it out.”
    Eve hesitated. “You say MacDuff is there?”
    “And Jock. Venable is giving me protection. I don’t need you, Eve.”
    “You mean you don’t want me involved. I believe I’ve said that to you on occasion. It didn’t do me any good, did it?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “At least, you’re safe while MacDuff and Jock are with you. We’ll talk tomorrow.” She was silent a moment. “I’m sorry about your friend, Celine. You told me you liked her very much.”
    “I did,” Jane said. “You would have liked her, too, Eve.”
    “Does she have a family?”
    “Only a sister, Yvette, who lives in Lyon. I had to call her a few hours ago and tell her about Celine. She was almost hysterical. She’s coming to Paris tomorrow morning. I have to stay until tomorrow night and see if I can help her deal with things at the gallery. There are all those paintings of mine that Celine sold tonight. At least, I know where she keeps the records. She has a part-time assistant, Marie, who may be able to help Yvette with the rest of the final details.”
    Final. When several hours before Celine had all her life before her and had thought death was somewhere far in the distant future.
    That realization had returned and was hitting hard. She had to get off the phone before she broke down. “I’m going to bed now, Eve. I’ll be fine. I’ll let you know if there are any problems.”
    “We’ll talk tomorrow,” Eve repeated. “Good night, Jane.”
    That last sentence had