“And you’re still going to let me go into the house?”
He nodded. “At some point, I have to trust who and what I am.” He turned and got into the passenger seat next to Palik. “But I have to warn you, no matter how this plays out, if it puts Jane into more danger because she wanted you to stay alive, then you’re a dead man.” He motioned for Palik to go. “Think long and hard, Haroun. I hope you make the right choice.”
JUMAIRA, DUBAI
WEDNESDAY, 8:40 A.M.
“It’s time to go, Jane,” Teresa said as she threw open the bedroom door. She was wearing an elegant white suit and long pearls; a Vuitton leather carry-on was sitting on the floor beside her. Her blue eyes were sparkling and she was flushed, glowing with satisfaction. “It’s a new start for me. Today I erase all the failures of the past. Now you’ll see how well I can handle Caleb.” She smiled maliciously. “In spite of everything he says about being in control, he’s dangling like a puppet on my strings.” She looked over her shoulder at Santara. “Take her. You have your orders. You’ve already taken care of that other small matter?”
“No problem.”
“Good. Then when you call and tell me that Haroun is dead, I’ll transfer the final fee into your Cayman account. When you meet me at the airport, I’ll give you cash for these additional little jobs.”
“It had better be the correct amount, or I’ll be following you to Moscow.” His gaze shifted to Jane and he moved forward to cuff her wrists in front of her. “Here we are again. I’ve missed you.”
She ignored him and turned to Teresa. “You’re still going through with it? It’s crazy, you know. Nothing’s happened to make you change your mind?”
“What could do that? Haroun is being prepped for the operation now. Of course, it appears that the guards have been doubled and the hospital is under alert, but we expected that to happen. Haroun is such an important man. I talked to Caleb earlier and he said it won’t affect the job, though it will make it more difficult.” She smiled again. “He wanted me to assure you that he needed to take care of Haroun to make you as safe as he’d promised you’d be. And that it would be done.” Her smile deepened as she stared into Jane’s eyes. “So that’s what I’m doing. Just obeying him one last time. Good-bye, Jane. It’s been interesting.” Teresa turned and swept out of the room.
Jane felt a cold chill as she stared after her.
Hatred.
Teresa was going to kill her.
That was as clear to Jane as if she’d put it into words instead of that farewell that had dripped of self-satisfaction and malice.
“Come along. We don’t want to be late,” Santara said as he pushed her toward the door. “The queen bitch won’t be pleased if I don’t let this Caleb get his final glimpse of you so that he’ll complete the kill.”
And it will be after that glimpse that Santara will kill me, Jane thought. When the word came that Haroun had died on the operating table, he would take care of that one more task before he got his money.
Haroun. She felt suddenly sick. Caleb had told her he would try, but he’d made no promise. He’d only promised her she’d have her chance to live.
And Teresa was going to make sure that she would not.
And what about Caleb? Security had been doubled. After Haroun died, there would be craziness and Caleb would be in the thick of it.
After Haroun died.
Don’t think about it, she told herself. All she could do was pray for him now. And pray for Caleb’s soul for making that terrible choice.
Then try not to let Teresa win by allowing the woman to kill her. Santara didn’t realize that she suspected that Teresa was going to betray the deal she’d made with Caleb and kill her. There might be a way that she could use that.
Two of Santara’s men were digging behind the shrubbery in the garden.
She stopped short as she and Santara reached the Mercedes, and her gaze fixed on the black tarp-wrapped bundle lying on the ground beside the men shoveling.
Santara smiled as he waved at a giant bald-headed man who was overseeing the burial. “Just a little bonus job that Teresa authorized. Evidently she thought that the money she received for Haroun was enough for one but not for two.”
“Gino Romano,” Jane said dully, her eyes on that tarp. “She’s tying up loose ends.”
He opened the passenger door and pushed her inside. “He was useless to her. He was a weak link. I could see it coming.”
Jane hadn’t seen it coming. She hadn’t even seen Teresa Romano’s husband since she’d been brought here. He’d clearly stayed in the background and let his wife handle everything, as he’d done all through the years.
And she’d handled her husband’s own death with the same efficiency as everything else that she’d wanted to put behind her.
Now you’ll see how well I can handle Caleb.
Jane stiffened in shock as the words Teresa’d spoken before she left came blasting back to her.
It’s a new start for me.
Today I erase all the failures of the past.
And Caleb had been a major failure for Teresa.
So that would mean Jane would not be the only one scheduled to die today.
AMERICAN HOSPITAL, DUBAI
10:10 A.M.
“Where is that bastard?” Santara muttered as he drove up and around the ramps of the third-floor parking garage. His gaze searched behind the multitude of cars parked on either side of the row. “He was supposed to be here when I got here. It’s after ten and he should have already done the job.”
“Maybe he thought he had something more important to do than keep to your schedule,” Jane said. But she was looking for Caleb, too. She needed to see him. The world was spinning and it all seemed that it was in a purely downward spiral. “Or maybe he changed his mind and went directly to the fourth-floor operating room.”
“I thought he’d end up there anyway,” Santara said sourly. “That bitch Teresa tried to sell me a bill of goods about how he can do some kind of blood voodoo, but I know better. That’s all bullshit. He’s probably trying to sneak something into the anesthesia. That’s what I’d do.” He scowled. “And I’d do it better than Caleb. She should have given the job to me.”
“You appear to be very busy,” she said drily. “So she had to rely on someone who obviously doesn’t have your intellect or skill.”
“Sarcasm?” He shot her a look. “Did I tell you how happy I am that we’re able to be together today? It’s going to be— There he is!” The brakes screeched as he stomped down on them as Caleb walked out of the line of cars parked on the left side of the row. “Caleb!” He pulled into a parking space and stuck his head out the window. “Get over here. Where the hell have you been? You’re damn late.”
“I’ll ignore your rudeness. As it happens, I was making sure the third-floor linen closet was unlocked. I’m going to need to use it after poor Haroun breathes his last breath.”
“He should have breathed it ten minutes ago. Teresa wants the job done. You wanted to see Jane MacGuire? Here she is. Not a mark on her.”
“I see she is here.” He came over to Jane’s window. “But she still has a mark or two from your previous encounter with her. I want to make sure that Teresa’s been keeping to the terms of our agreement. She was a trifle irritated with Jane yesterday. Roll down the window, Jane.”
“That would be difficult.” She held up her cuffed wrists. “Santara seems to be afraid of what I’ll do to him.”
“Roll down her window, Santara.”
Santara rolled down the passenger-side window.
“Now take those cuffs off her. She’s uncomfortable.”
Santara pressed his gun against her side. “The hell I will.”