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Joe dragged the man several feet off the trail and covered him with two large bushes.

Then he checked his phone. No response. Another indication that something was disrupting cell phone service.

Evidently these guards hadn’t been in contact, so he’d just continue as planned.

He moved back to the boulders, where he didn’t immediately see Michael.

Oh, shit! He’d never forgive himself if anything happened to—

“Dad!” Michael popped up from behind the largest boulder and ran over to greet him. “What happened?”

“You were right. There was a man ahead who spotted us.”

Michael was gazing at him intently. “What did you do to him?”

“Only what I had to, Michael. He was about to report our position. We never would have found your mother if I’d let him do that.”

Michael thought about this for a moment and then nodded slowly. “I understand. You had to weigh what was best. We have to take care of Mom.”

“That’s right.” Joe put his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “And I hope we don’t have to make another decision like that anytime soon. But it was my decision, not yours. Remember that.”

“I will,” Michael said. “But you always give me a choice in what I do,” he added soberly. “And I have to remember that, too.”

“I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Joe said. “Let’s save this discussion for a time when we’re not so stressed.” He patted him on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go look for your mom.”

They walked another quarter mile until they approached the shed that Michael must have known all too well because he froze in shock when he saw it.

“Michael?” Joe murmured.

“This is it.” Michael moistened his lips. “I know it. It’s bigger than the other houses in the village, and there’s the well where I’d go for water. If we go in that main door, it will connect with the bedroom and the room where Mom worked on the queen.”

“Stay here,” Joe whispered. He unholstered his automatic and fired up his pocket flashlight. He went inside.

Blood.

Joe inhaled sharply.

Blood everywhere!

Please God, no. Eve…

“Joe?”

He went rigid with shock as he heard that voice he knew so well. “Eve?”

Then he was bolting back to the door and running outside. Eve was kneeling on the floor against the far wall with her arms around Michael. Joe crossed the room in a heartbeat and then she was in his arms. “Eve… I thought…”

“I know what you thought.” She kissed him and then hugged Michael closer.

“I was hiding down in the basement. I had to be sure that it was you before I took a chance on showing myself. Caldwell’s men have been through here.

All that blood. Not my fault. Celine did it. ” Tears were running down her cheeks.

It seemed almost too good to be true that not only was Eve now with him, she was holding their son tightly in her arms, both safe after all the horror he’d been imagining could happen to them today.

“It was Celine? Talk to me.” Joe didn’t want to let them go so he threw his arms around both Eve and Michael.

“I saw all that blood in there, and it scared the living hell out of me.” He kissed Eve once, twice, three times before finally drawing back.

He was trying to think. “You said Celine? Is she okay?”

She nodded. “That bloody mess is Jossland, Celine’s handiwork.

Caldwell’s men were here less than an hour afterward, and I’m sure Caldwell has been tearing this jungle apart looking for us ever since.

After we escaped, we called Kontara to tell her where we were heading.

She was already in the hills tracking Caleb, but when she heard I had something I wanted her to take to him to decipher, she came back and took the weapons and phones with her.

She told us you were heading in this direction and to hide here on the property until you made contact with them.

” She paused. “But that wasn’t an option for Celine. ”

“Why not?”

“Because the first thing that Caleb had told Kontara when he saw her was that Caldwell had sent word to all his soldiers that he’d put a bounty on Celine’s head because he’d found she’d killed his old friend Jossland. He was going to give her to the priest for punishment.”

Joe gave a low whistle. “Which would give Caldwell exactly what he wanted: the chance to please Zakira, take over his guerrilla armies, and steal him blind.”

Eve shook her head. “Do you think that Celine didn’t realize that the minute she heard what Kontara said?

I was supposed to go with her when we escaped to the hills, but as soon as she heard what was going on, she helped me find this hiding place.

And she refused to let me go with her because she was afraid that I’d be compromised. ”

“And you would have been,” Joe said.

“I don’t care,” Eve said. “They’ll find a way to kill her. We have to do something to help her. She’ll have to be smuggled out of Shafira or she’s dead.” She was rubbing her temple as she tried to see a way out. “But we’ll have to wait until it’s safe to do even that.”

“Maybe not as long as you might think,” Joe said.

“Things are looking a bit more upbeat at the moment.” He held up his hand as she opened her lips to speak.

“Look, I need to call Dominic right away and tell him you’re safe and what’s happening to Celine.

He might not know that the village has been deserted, which probably means that Caldwell is concentrating on other areas that we should shore up for possible attack. ”

“You mean like that damn celebration Zakira is planning for Celine?” Eve asked bitterly.

“Possibly,” Joe said. “Anyway, we need to know where there’s movement. I’ll tell you everything, but I want to get you and Michael to safer territory right away. We’re heading out of the village and going north to join Caleb’s strike team until we’re ready to make a move on Caldwell.”

Eve inhaled sharply. “And tell me that’s going to be soon?”

Michael moved a step closer and smiled at her as he took her hand. “Of course it is, Mom. Dad and I are a great team. I told you that we’d come and get you and here we are. You’ve got to trust us.”

“I do trust you.” She leaned down and kissed his temple. “And I’m flattered you’re letting me join your team. Now let’s go and see if we can find any other bad guys who might be bothering Celine.”

Dominic received a call from Seth Caleb hours later. “Are you busy? I have someone who wants to talk to you.”

“It better be Celine,” Dominic said. “I’ve been waiting since I heard that she was heading your way. Kontara said that Celine wasn’t going to take a chance on her call being traced but would call when she decided it was safe. Is she okay?”

“She looks fine to me,” Caleb said. “Though I don’t know why she’d want to talk to you when you can’t seem to keep track of her.”

“Be quiet, Caleb.” Celine was on the line.

“I’m grateful that you took me in but I don’t want Dominic to be any more annoyed than he has to be.

But you can see that I didn’t really have a choice, Dominic.

Even Kontara realized that I’d be safer up here in the hills.

Anywhere else near Shafira wouldn’t have been safe.

” She paused. “Not for me or anyone I care about. I’m a target, and I’m not about to forget it.

I’m not really safe here, either, but if I keep on the move, then I can risk an occasional contact. ”

“You could come to me,” he said hoarsely. “You can trust me to keep you safe.”

“But I can’t trust you to keep yourself safe,” she said gently. “I won’t be bait for you, Dominic. We’ve already played that game. You have to keep on doing what’s best to get rid of Caldwell and Zakira.”

Dominic muttered a curse. “Then will you stay in Caleb’s camp?”

“Until I don’t think it’s safe for him any longer. The same for Kontara. I’ve no intention of being caught again by those bastards.” She paused and then had to clear her throat. “I hope I’ll see you soon. I miss you.” She hung up.

He called Caleb’s phone back immediately.

Caleb answered. “Too late, Dominic. She’s gone.”

“I thought she probably would be. Keep an eye on her. Don’t let anything happen to her.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I know you will.”

“No threats? No intimidation? You must be in a very bad place.”

“You have no idea.”

“Oh, but I do,” Caleb said. “It’s good that we have a plan in place and a number of distractions looming on the horizon. I suggest we dive in and see what damage we can do…”

HELIPORT IN THE MOUNTAINS NEAR SHAFIRA

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER

Kaboom!

“What the hell!” The night sky was suddenly lit with firecrackers and drones. The sound of explosions echoed in the darkness as Dominic ran toward his helicopter.

As if in answer to his exclamation, Dominic was receiving a call from Seth Caleb.

“You appear to be having entirely too much fun over there in the heliport, Dominic. I think you’d be better served to come up to the mountains and let me and my team help a bit with the general cleanup. I assume you set off the fireworks?”

“Just as I told you I would,” Dominic said.

“But the explosives you set were a little more than I expected. I almost didn’t get back to my helicopter in time.

” He looked back at the burning helicopters on the tarmac.

“I don’t believe Caldwell will be going anywhere anytime soon.

Why are you calling? What’s happening?” Then he answered his own question.

“Don’t tell me they’ve located Celine? You said you’d keep an eye out for her until I could finish setting up the attack agenda. ”

“And that’s what I’ve done as far as possible, but it’s getting increasingly difficult. We took one of Zakira’s soldiers prisoner a couple hours ago, and he even gave us a description of the woman who’s been targeted by Caldwell. He mentioned her violet eyes. Sound familiar?”

“You know it does. How close are they to her?”