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Caleb shook his head. “She can be like that sometimes. I tried my best. But you’ll have to deal with it.”
“No, he won’t.” Jane gave MacDuff a quick hug. “I won’t put him through it. It just had to be said.” She released him and took a step back. “But you will have to deal with the fact that I won’t let you go through this without me. I realize you can handle what happened here with your hands tied behind your back, but I can’t. You’ll have to let me help…after we take care of Bohdan.”
“That sounds reasonable.” His voice was gruff. “Now is all this emotional nonsense over? I wanted to tell you that you should move back into the castle. It will be repaired, and it’s now even better guarded, and you won’t have to worry about another attack.”
“I’m not worried,” she said. “There won’t be another attack unless we want it to happen.” Her lips tightened. “And it will never be here again. From now on we’re the ones who will be going on the assault.”
“We?” He glanced at Caleb again. “I’m not sure I like the way that sounds.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” he said dryly. “But I’d advise you not to go into it in-depth. You have enough problems right now.”
“When did I ever take advice from you?” MacDuff asked. “Occasionally, it’s true you can be useful, but everyone knows I’m much wiser. After Jane and I have a discussion, I’m sure she’ll agree with me.” He smiled down at Jane. “Now, where shall we go to have our talk? Could I get you a cup of tea?”
“No.” She smiled back at him. “And I have no intention of baring my soul to you. Caleb is right, I’m not giving you any more burdens.” She tilted her head. “Where shall we go? I’m going to let you take me around the property to all the unhappy places and destruction that will probably make me sad and angry. Caleb carefully avoided showing me any of those because he wanted me to see your brighter vision of the MacDuff’s Run to come.”
“Not a bad idea,” he said warily. “Better than usual for Caleb.”
“Kind,” she agreed. “But I have to see both sides so that I can be prepared for what’s on the horizon. I’ve always loved the Run. Iwillhelp you heal what they did here. However, I have to know the damage before I can do that.” She headed for the door. “Let’s get it over with. You’re a busy man.”
MacDuff followed her; his brows rose as he passed Caleb. “Join us?”
Jane answered for him. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. He’s also a busy man, and he has calls to make and plans regarding what we need to do about Bohdan. I wouldn’t want to take up more of his time.”
“Jane,” Caleb said.
“It’s true.” She glanced at him over her shoulder. “I’ve made demands you don’t like. I had to do it, but you don’t have to hold my hand through all the hours of the day.” She paused. “Campbell. Please, Caleb. Check on Campbell.”
She didn’t wait for an answer but left the library.
***
“Yes and no. No direct word on Campbell,” Palik said when Caleb reached him. “We know he disappeared from his home one evening after his office files were rifled by two thugs that afternoon. Jane had been seen going into the office by the owner of one of the food carts in the streets outside the building. The receptionist in the office was interrogated by them and identified Jane’s photo. She was beaten badly, but not killed. They must have been flashing that photo all over the village.”
“It was their second visit to the village and Bohdan was impatient,” Caleb said grimly. “Where does the ‘yes’ come into this?”
“We showed some photos ourselves, and we were just as determined as Bohdan’s scum. We had several photos of Campbell that we took from his home. We covered the village and all the outlying areas, and we got lucky because Campbell is also well known around the village. He appears to be a nice guy who has delivered quite a few babies to the villagers over the years. It became clear that the pier was out. He wasn’t taken anywhere by boat. But four separate people in the hill country thought they’d seen him walking with two other men toward the northern fishing lakes. One of them knew Campbell and spoke to him. He thought it strange that Campbell hadn’t answered him.”
“Did you follow up on it?”
“Of course. But that’s a lot of territory and it’s filled with small farms and those lakes where city folks come to spend weekends fishing. It will take time.”
“I don’t know how much time we’ll have,” Caleb said slowly. “I’m finding it a little odd that you were able to locate Campbell that easily.”
“I haven’t located him yet. Still, I see where you’re going. Only two men to hold a valuable prisoner? And we managed to do the initial tracking with no problem. Add the area where Campbell is presumably being held is going to be very difficult to explore or negotiate.” He paused. “Which means it could be a trap.”
“Very likely. And if it is, they’ll want to set the bait up in an appetizing way so that I’ll be lured into the trap,” Caleb said. “Which means if you send a sharp enough team down to the lake area and tell them to keep their eyes open, they should be able to spot Campbell.” He smiled sardonically. “Then we can only hope that we can pluck the good doctor out of the lion’s den before Bohdan lets loose the big cats.”
“You know as well as I do that it all could be for nothing. What do you think our chances are?”
“I’ve no idea. All I know is that we’ve got to try. Even if Campbell isn’t the good guy you tell me he is, Jane has a vested interest in keeping him alive. I won’t let her down.”
“Second question. Do you want me to be the one to go in and pull Campbell out?”
“No, I’ll do it myself. Just set up the operators to locate the place they’re hiding Campbell. You do what you do best and run the teams. You never can tell when a job is going to go to hell, and a little fine-tuning might become necessary.”
Palik was frowning. “I’m not sure that I should let you go in alone.”
“I beg your pardon?”
