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Which could mean disaster for Salazar.

And he wasn't about to sit here and wait any longer for word from Walsh. If he hadn't completed the kill, it was time he was taken out himself.

He reached for his phone.

It rang before he could dial.

Ramon Franco.

Which did not bode well. When Salazar had begun to have his doubts about Walsh's efficiency, Franco was the young man Salazar had sent to shadow him and make certain he was performing effectively.

“Walsh is dead,” Ramon Franco said harshly as soon as Salazar picked up the call. “Killed. I just found out last night, and I've been scrambling to get information. I told you that you should have sent me to take care of that kid. He bungled the kill, and now there are police all over the place. We'll be lucky if they don't trace anything back to you.”

Son of a bitch!

Salazar's hand tightened on the phone as the fury tore through him. “That can't happen. I've spent eight years covering Walsh's incompetence. I won't let that bastard's death toss me into Castino's jaws for him to chew up. Who killed him?”

“Eve Duncan.”

So he had been wrong. Evidently the artist had a few more lethal skills than her credentials suggested. He had warned Walsh that she was a possible problem when the woman had gone on the hunt for him after he had stolen her reconstruction of Castino's daughter's skull. Now she was no longer a problem; she was a major pain in the ass. “For God's sake, Duncan is only a forensic sculptor, and she managed to put down Walsh? How many people has Walsh killed over the years? He should have been able to squash her like a bug. How did it happen?”

“It could have been an accident. Her statement to the police claimed they were fighting on the high ledge of a cave, and he backed off and fell to his death.” He added, “Or she might have outsmarted him. Castino's other daughter, Cara, was in the cave, and you told me she was the target.”

“The last target,” Salazar said bitterly. “And Walsh couldn't even manage to find and kill an eleven-year-old kid.”

“He found her in that cave, but he couldn't finish the job. Eve Duncan got in the way. He managed to kill her nursemaid, Elena Pasquez, but no one else. I would never have let that happen.”

“And when the police start digging into who that kid really is, they'll toss her back to her father, Castino, and he'll go after me. He's just waiting for a chance to break the coalition agreement.”

“Then we have to make sure he doesn't have a reason to do it until we're strong enough to bury him and all the rest of the men in his damn cartel. Give me the word and I'll erase Walsh's death and that little girl as if they'd never existed.” His voice was suddenly impassioned. “You haven't been fair to me. Haven't I always been loyal to you? From the time I was twelve, I did everything you told me to do. No kill was too hard. Yet you sent me here to Carmel to watch that bumbler, Walsh, just to make sure he was going to be able to finish the kill on the Castino kid. It was a job for a beginner. I may be young, but I'm no beginner.”

“No, I know you're not.” He tried to make his tone soothing. Franco's tone bordered on insolence, and he was tempted to cut him down to size, but he might need him. He was the man on the spot, with all contacts in place. Better to handle Ramon Franco with kid gloves. The young recruits always lacked discipline, but they were also the ones most eager to prove themselves in blood. He was only nineteen, but his kill record with the cartel was impressive. He was quick, lethal, and totally vicious. “That's why I trusted you to watch Walsh. I never knew when I would have to have someone good enough to take over. Walsh had the experience, but he was going downhill, and I couldn't trust him.” He paused. “Not like you, Franco. I see myself in you.”

“You do?” Franco was silent, then said haltingly, “I'm honored, sir. It's just that I don't understand. You told me so little about what was going on with Walsh. I felt … like an errand boy.”

Which was exactly how Salazar saw him. But circumstances dictated the errand boy be promoted until Salazar could take charge himself. “I don't want any of my other men to be jealous of you. Particularly not now. I'd rather you concentrate on getting me out of the mess Walsh made up there in Carmel. You're going to have to dance a fine dance to save the situation. But you're a smart boy, and I know that you can do it for me.”

“I'm a man, not a boy.”

“Of course you are. But it's not a bad thing that others believe you to be a boy, so they won't suspect how very deadly you can be. I've seen you use that ploy before.”

“Sometimes.”

“Often. Do you think I haven't been watching you? Use your brains and that smile the ladies like so much.”

“Then tell me what I need to know. Tell me what Walsh knew, what I should have known from the beginning.”

A definite touch of arrogance, Salazar noticed. “You know the beginning. You grew up with it. The drugs, the vice, that son of a bitch, Juan Castino, constantly moving into my territory. He acted as if his cartel was the only one in Mexico, and every time anyone came close to taking him down, he managed to come out on top. I had the brains and the plans but Castino had the contacts and was always just ahead of me. If I hadn't managed to form a mutual coalition of all the cartels in Mexico, he would have eaten me alive. I can rein him in as long as he knows I have the backing of the coalition behind me.”

“Until we find a way to kill him. That's the best way. Don't worry. I'll do it for you.”

So simple, so incredibly naïve. “I know you will. But it has to be staged very carefully. I can't let any of the other cartels know that I'm getting ready to jump Castino.” He paused. “Or that I yielded to temptation eight years ago to twist the knife and make him hurt. They might turn against me.”

“Because you arranged with James Walsh to kidnap Castino's two little girls and their nanny and kill them? They all probably wish they'd had the balls to do it.”

“They'd chop me up and serve me to Castino. And then move into my territory and split it up.” His voice was laden with frustration. “It was going to be so simple. Walsh would kill them, and there would be no bodies or anything to connect me to it. I'd be able to sit back and watch Castino suffer, then, when the time was right, I'd make sure he joined his little girls in the graveyard. But Walsh screwed it up. He left me hanging and vulnerable if Castino finds out I paid Walsh to kill them. We have to fix it, Franco.”

“I can do it if I work fast. I don't think that Castino knows anything yet. The kid's name on the police report is Cara Delaney, and Walsh is only suspected of being a serial killer. Nothing about Castino.”

Hope and relief shot through Salazar. “You're certain?”

“I paid a good deal of your money to bribe a look at those reports. No mention of Castino … or you.”

“Yet.”

“As you say. But there may be a way to keep you safe if we work fast. Eve Duncan hasn't made a statement yet. She's in a local hospital being checked out for concussion, and her lover, Joe Quinn, isn't letting her be interviewed.”

“Where's the kid?”

“She's being taken care of by a friend of Duncan's, Margaret Douglas.”

“Not at Child Services? They're big on Welfare shit in the U.S.”

“No, I'm sure. I knew you'd want to know where you could put your hands on her.”

“Oh, yes.” His hands around her throat to end this nightmare. “Then it appears you may have a multitude of targets in the near future. You need to find out how much Duncan knows about Cara Castino … and me. I have to know I'm safe from Duncan before I move forward again.”

“You'll be safe. It's only a question which target I hit first.” His voice was suddenly eager. “You tell me and it will be done. Duncan? Quinn? The kid?”

“You're moving too fast. I want you to go to that hospital and report back to me. Do you understand?”

“If I took out Duncan, it would stop the—”

“Report back to me,” Salazar repeated. “Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.” He was silent. “I didn't mean to argue. You're the
Pez Gordo
, the big boss. I'm just concerned.”

He was concerned because if Salazar and his cartel fell, he could be part of the collateral damage, Salazar thought cynically. It was obvious Franco was very ambitious. “Then it's time to use that concern in the way I told you.”

“I'll leave for the hospital right away. I won't disappoint you.” He hung up.

Franco was moving fast and was eager to please but Salazar still wasn't sure that he would obey instructions if an opportunity presented itself.

Oh well, Franco was a superb assassin, and Salazar was just angry enough with the way Eve Duncan had spoiled his plans that he was willing to take a chance that Franco wouldn't pay her a fatal visit in her hospital room without taking appropriate precautions. Salazar rather liked the idea of Duncan's lying helplessly in that bed in her room while Franco moved around that hospital like a lethal buzz saw.

But if Franco decided to do it, he'd damn well better do it right.

COMMUNITY HOSPITAL OF THE MONTEREY

“Cara has good instincts,” Eve Duncan said as she turned back to Joe after watching the child walk out of her hospital room. “You're not easy to read, Joe. I'm glad that whatever you're upset about wasn't about her. Though I'm not sure she believed you. It would have been difficult explaining a sudden change of heart. Do you know, I'm starting to look forward to having Cara staying with us for a while?” She shook her head. “Remember, we were talking on the day Jane left for London about how my life may be changing? Then all of this happened. Do you suppose Cara is the change?”

“Not necessarily.”

Eve went still. She couldn't miss that jerky roughness in his tone. “What are you talking about? What
is
wrong?”

“Not wrong. Strange. Bizarre.” He shook his head. “I don't know what else.”

“Stop playing around with words. Talk to me.”

“I don't know how to say it.”

“Just tell me.”

“The hospital has the results from all the tests they've been running on you. The doctor stopped me in the hall to go over them.”

“The results? Joe, I know you've been ramrodding everything connected to my treatment since you brought me to this hospital, but that's going a little too far. Why go over them with you and not with me?” She tried to smile. “Some terrible disease popped up that he thought you should break to me?”

“God, I'm not doing this right. No terrible disease. You're very healthy and ready to go home. He just didn't want you to leave the hospital without knowing.”

“Joe, what are you trying to tell me?”

“In my completely clumsy and inadequate fashion.” He reached out and took her hand. “I'm trying to tell you that you're going to have a child, Eve.”

*   *   *

“You're joking,” Eve said dazedly. “It's some kind of mistake?”

“No.” Joe's hand tightened around her own. “And no. To both questions. I wouldn't have dared come in here if I hadn't made sure the doctor had checked and double-checked. You're pregnant.” His teeth bit his lower lip. “And that goes to show how upset I am.
We're
pregnant. I can't quite take it in either. I went into shock when the doctor told me.”

“Tell me about it,” she said weakly as she sat up in the bed. “It wasn't supposed to happen. I thought it couldn't happen. It wasn't as if we weren't careful.”

“I didn't think so either,” Joe said. “We did everything right. Or maybe we didn't. But I don't know how we could have done anything different.” He shook his head. “I'm a little confused on that point at the moment.”

“Me, too.” She met his gaze. “I … feel lost. I can't quite grasp it.” She reached up and ran a hand through her hair. “How … long?”

“Barely. A few weeks. You must have conceived before we left the Lake Cottage to come out here to California.”

“I remember when I was pregnant with Bonnie, I didn't know for months.”

“Things have changed since you were sixteen. They can tell within five or six days now.”

She nodded. “The whole world has changed. My whole life has changed. I'm not the same person.”

“Yes, you are. You've just been tempered by experience.” He lifted her palm to his lips. “And this particular experience may do some more very intricate tempering. Just don't let it throw you. We'll think about it, then make decisions.”

“Decisions.” No, she couldn't make decisions right now. Her head was whirling, and all she could think about was the fact that in nine months she would bear a child. It was impossible. No, it was going to happen. “How do you feel about it?”

“As dazed as you.” He grinned. “Kind of … primitive. I've never fathered a child of my own. I suppose that's a natural reaction. I … like it.” His smile faded. “I never suggested it to you. After all you've gone through, I thought that it had to come from you. I know what you went through when you lost your Bonnie; when she was killed. After we adopted Jane, I believed that might be the way we should go.”

“So did I.” She moistened her lips. “And now I'm wondering why we never talked about having a child of our own. Did I just bury my head in the sand? My God, Joe, I must have sensed you'd feel like this. Was I so afraid that I avoided facing it?”

He didn't answer.

Because he knew it was true, she realized. She was his center, and he wouldn't allow her to be hurt even if it meant being cheated himself. “You should have spoken to me about it.”

He shook his head. “I have you. That's enough, more than enough.” He leaned forward and kissed her. “Now stop fretting about me, you have thinking to do.”