One mile …

Bright moonlight on the lake below but only darkness here in the trees.

Joe was moving fast, smoothly, every step springy and catlike. He was making no allowances for her, but then he never did when he was on the hunt. He trusted her to keep up with him and not hold him back.

“I see a light,” he whispered as he stopped on the ridge ahead. He fell to his knees and took out his infrared binoculars. “But it could be only a decoy. Let’s take a look…”

“Walsh said another couple miles.” Eve knelt beside him. “Why would he lie about—” She stopped. Why was she questioning why Walsh would do anything? You couldn’t have any expectations about that murderer. You couldn’t believe anything he said. “Maybe he wanted to catch us off guard?”

Joe didn’t answer as his gaze raked the surrounding terrain, then he trained the binoculars on the steep, jutting cliff ahead. “The light’s being cast up from that cliff. But I don’t have a view of where it’s coming from. I have to get closer.” He was rising to a half crouch. “Stay here.”

“The hell I will.” She drew her gun and crawled after him. “Look, we see where he’s setting up his trap, but if it appears too dangerous we don’t go for it. Okay?”

Joe didn’t answer.

“Joe.”

“You want that reconstruction.”

“I want you alive. I’ll find another way to get the skull.”

“Not if he blows it up.” He pulled himself onto a boulder. “And, besides, the bastard annoyed me. He’s too sure of himself.”

She felt a chill as she recognized that tone. There was no one more competitive or deadly than Joe when he was zeroing in on the prey. “Maybe because he’s holding the best hand right now.”

“Possibly.” He’d lifted the binoculars to his eyes again. “But there’s almost always a way to get around that— There it is!”

Her gaze flew down the sheer face of the cliff to where he was staring.

A shallow ledge only twenty feet above the lake.

Two large Coleman lanterns illuminating an object sitting between them.

“What is it?” Her fingers dug into Joe’s arm. “Was he lying?”

He handed her the binoculars. “See for yourself.”

She raised the binoculars and focused.

At first she couldn’t make out the shadowy object because of the brilliance of the light blurring everything around the lanterns. Then, as her eyes became accustomed to the light, she began to see details.

Familiar details. Winged brows, high cheekbones, pointed chin.

Jenny.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” Joe asked. “I only saw the completed reconstruction for a few minutes, but she has a face to remember.”

She nodded. “It’s Jenny. He didn’t destroy the skull.”

“Yet,” Joe qualified. “But he has her set up as a target.” He paused. “I think we’d better go get her.”

“No!” She drew a deep breath. “How could we get down that cliff? There’s only that single winding road, and once we reach the ledge, we’d be the targets Walsh planned. I told you that if it was too dangerous, I didn’t want to make the attempt.”

Joe was staring thoughtfully down at the road leading to the ledge. “He’d expect me to go down that road. I’d bet he’s positioned himself to take the shot.” His eyes lifted and slowly traveled over the terrain. “Probably in those boulders near the road. Or maybe in those pine trees about ten feet down the slope of the cliff.” He tilted his head. “I’d bet on the pine trees and go down and take him out. But I can’t do that because if I guess wrong, he might have time to destroy Jenny’s reconstruction. Pity.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

He smiled. “I won’t. Because there’s probably another way.” He took out his phone and quickly punched in a topographical site. “He’s expecting us to knock on the front door. But that would be boring, wouldn’t it?” He smiled as he found what he was looking for. “That cliff juts out and then back in a few miles away from here. That side of the cliff doesn’t appear to have another road and no ledges, but if I can make it around or under that ledge from the other side, I might be able to snatch and grab.”

“It’s not worth it.” She moistened her lips. “Do you think that I could stand the thought of your dangling over that lake and risking getting shot just to get that skull for me? No way.”

“Not just for the skull,” he said quietly. “Not just for you, Eve. Maybe if I hadn’t spent most of the day looking at the photos of Walsh’s victims, you might have been able to convince me. But I don’t think we can let Walsh win even one battle from now on.”

She wasn’t going to be able to persuade him, and it was scaring her to death. “Don’t do this, Joe. Dammit, if you don’t care about the risk to yourself, think about what you’re doing to me. How do you think I’ll feel knowing it will be my fault if anything happens to you?”

“I’ll just have to make sure nothing does.” He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Stop trying to give me a guilt trip. Because you’re right, everything that happens to me is because of you. I chose that path a long time ago, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He turned away. “But it’s always my choice, Eve.”

“We were only supposed to explore the possibilities,” she said desperately.

“That’s what we’re doing. You stay here and keep an eye on that reconstruction and any move from Walsh.” He handed her the binoculars. “If you can manage to kill the bastard, that would be fine, too. I’ll go and explore the possibility of stealing Jenny away from him.”

“It’s only a skull, Joe. Jenny is dead.”

He slanted her a smile over his shoulder. “Not to you, love.”

He disappeared into the trees.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Her nails bit into her palms as she stared blindly into the pines.

She wanted to run after him. She wanted to shout and pound her hands on the ground.

What good would that do? Only an exercise in frustration. Once Joe made up his mind, he wouldn’t budge. All she could do was stay here in an agony of desperation and try to help however she could. Which meant do what Joe had said and watch and wait until she had an opportunity to move more actively.

If you can kill the bastard, that would be fine, too.

Yes, it would, and she had no doubt she would do it if given the opportunity, she thought fiercely. She hated violence, but Walsh was a monster, and that monster was a threat to Joe. Her hand instinctively closed on her gun. Then she forced herself to release it.

She wouldn’t be able to do anything to help unless she located Walsh. Joe was vulnerable, and so was she as long as Walsh was hovering over them like a threatening cloud.

Find him.

Neutralize.

Or destroy.

Find.

Joe had said either that clump of boulders or the pine trees on the slope.

Find out which one.

She started to move slowly toward the boulders.

*   *   *

Joe moved through the foliage, bending and contorting his body almost as if by instinct. His SEAL combat training taught him to move stealthily. The brush around him barely moved as he made his way up the steep hill.

He glanced back. Eve hadn’t been happy to be left behind, and knowing her, she was already taking a position to give him cover. He’d practically given her marching orders by pointing out the boulders and the row of young pines, but there were actually a half dozen other places where Walsh could be hiding.

Let me handle this, Eve. It’s what I do.

And he couldn’t deny the hunt was stirring all the adrenaline and excitement that it always did.

He half smiled as his pace increased. What was he thinking? Eve was going to do whatever the hell she wanted. Exasperating, yes, but also why he loved her so damn much.

Okay, Eve. That’s how we’ll play it. You’ve got my back, and I’ve got yours, just like always.

With certain limits …

He crouched and looked up at the reconstructed skull in the distance. He’d seen literally hundreds of Eve’s reconstructions, but there was something so luminous, so lifelike, about this one that it gave him an eerie feeling to see the disembodied head apparently floating over the hillside.