Free Quicksand by Iris Johansen Page B

find her."
    "I'm doing my damnedest. But what if it isn't Kistle? What if we don't find Bonnie? I don't know how many more times I can stand by and watch you be disappointed. Every time it makes me die a little." He paused. "And sometimes it makes me wish Bonnie had never been born."
    She recoiled as if he'd struck her. "No."
    "I realize that's a terrible sin to you. I can't help it. You love her. You know her. But she died before I met you. Maybe if I'd gotten to know her I wouldn't feel this bitterness. I used to try to feel some of the affection you feel for her because she was part of you. I thought it would help me go on with this hellish search. But I can't feel anything for her but pity." His lips tightened. "And lately when I see what's happening to you, I can't even feel that."
    "How can you feel like that? She's innocent. She's the victim, Joe . . ."
    "See, I'm hurting you again. God, I don't want to do that. I'm trying to work it out, but it's hard. I just hope to God it was Kistle who killed Bonnie. We have to put an end to this."
    "You could put an end to it," she said unsteadily. "You're worried about hurting me? My God, how I'm hurting you. I told you once I was damaged and obsessed and you should leave me. Maybe you're beginning to realize that."
    "No way." He headed for the door. "I can't leave you. You're my center. We just have to find a way to survive."
    "Where are you going?"
    "I'm going to my room, shower, and get a few hours' sleep. Then I'm going to go back to Clayborne Forest. I'd bet Montalvo's already there."
    "He's supposed to be here tomorrow morning, you said."
    He nodded. "But he won't be wasting time. He has his eye on the prize."
    "You mean Kistle?"
    "Kistle's no prize, he's the target." He opened the door. "I'll see you in the morning, Eve." She had to blink back stinging tears as the door shut behind him. So much raw pain had been in his expression when he had spoken about Bonnie. She had never wanted to cause Joe pain. He had been her rock, her lover, and her friend. He didn't deserve to be unhappy. She had been shocked by his bitterness about Bonnie, but she couldn't condemn it. Of course he couldn't love a child he'd never known. It was a wonderful thing that he'd fought so hard with Eve all these years to find her.
    Yet she felt a twinge of loneliness that she couldn't share with him the love she felt for Bonnie.
    And a sudden fear that she would have to choose between them or watch him walk out of her life.
    Panic surged through her and she instantly rejected the thought.
    Not yet. They could still work their way through this. The only positive thing was that they had both been totally honest with each other. Joe had given her hints of what he was feeling, but she had never believed him to be this close to a blowup. It had been Kistle who had set him off. But it could also be Kistle who saved them.
    If Kistle had killed Bonnie. If they could catch him. If he could be forced to tell where she was.
    Too damn many ifs.
    IT WAS QUINN STANDING across the little clearing, Kistle realized. Quinn was in the shadow of the huge sweet gum tree. As soon as Kistle saw him, he was gone, vanished.
    He had thought Joe Quinn would be coming after him, and he was glad that he hadn't been disappointed. Quinn knew what he was doing in the forest and would be an interesting challenge.
    He could no longer see him and Quinn was making no sound. Silence and stealth. Kistle would have to be very careful. He knew Joe Quinn's background and respected it. It was good that he was going to be challenged by the best of the best. These other yokels would be a piece of cake and bore him in no time. But Quinn would not bore him.
    And neither would the hunter who'd crossed his path earlier in the evening. He'd been bigger, more muscular, but just as silent. Kistle had barely caught a glimpse of him, but he'd had the same phantom elusiveness as Quinn.
    A tracker they'd brought in to find him?
    Possible. At any rate,