Hide Away by Iris Johansen Page A

wrong.”
    â€œRight and wrong is often a question of opinion. Joe and I aren’t always on the same page.”
    â€œBut most of the time?”
    She nodded. “Most of the time.”
    â€œAnd you trusted him to do what was right for us.”
    â€œYes, and I always will. It just may not be the way I would do it. Joe has great instincts, and he’s sometimes way ahead of the curve.” She paused. “And you can trust him, too. If the time comes when he wants you to do something crazy like blow up a Toyota, you go ahead and do it. He’ll have a reason.”
    She chuckled. “But you still thought it was crazy to blow up the car?”
    She sighed. “I loved that Toyota. It was like an old friend.”
    â€œBut you know he’ll be able to convince you it was the right thing to do.”
    â€œWe’ll see when he—” She broke off, her head lifting. “Shh, I heard something…”
    Cara stiffened. “Maybe I should—”
    â€œIt’s Joe.”
    Joe had moved out of the shadows behind them. He pulled her to her feet, and his arms went around her. “Everything okay?”
    â€œYou tell me.” She gave him a quick kiss. “We didn’t run into any trouble, did we, Cara?”
    â€œNo.” Cara scrambled to her feet. “Hello, Joe.”
    â€œHello, Cara.” He took off the backpack he was wearing. “I want you to know getting your violin into this backpack posed major difficulties. Everything else had to go around it.” He set it on the ground. “But I figured I might not be able to get you to budge unless it went with you.”
    â€œWent with her where?” Eve asked.
    â€œEdinburgh.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI called Jane and told her you’d made your decision, and you’d be flying out tonight.”
    â€œWait a minute. My decision?”
    â€œWell, I let her believe that you were in agreement. And when she heard what was going on, she was in agreement, too. All you have to do is say no, but it would spoil all my plans.”
    â€œWhich involved blowing up the Toyota,” she said grimly. “And causing me to almost have a heart attack while you were driving all the way back here with that bomb underneath it. Not to mention sending Cara and me into the woods while you did your fancy staging for Franco.”
    â€œGuilty of all of the above.”
    â€œThen tell me why.”
    â€œI decided that Margaret was right, hiding in plain sight was too dangerous. I could do all the scouting and take all the safety precautions, and there still might be a slip. You and Cara would be squarely in the bull’s-eye. I checked those cars for possible explosives when they were sitting in front of the cottage. When Franco couldn’t safely get near them, he waited until you left the property and went to a place where he could access them.” His lips tightened. “That can’t happen again. You won’t be safe, and I won’t be able to concentrate on getting Salazar or Franco because I’ll have to be standing guard.”
    â€œSo you staged that bonfire to make Franco think he’d managed to kill Cara and me.” Eve shook her head. “But they’ll find out that there were no bodies in that car.”
    â€œNot for a while. That bomb was very powerful and meant to make it very difficult to obtain either dental records or DNA. In short, there would be a possibility of vaporization, or at least huge difficulty finding body parts. You can be safely in the Highlands before anyone realizes you’re alive and gone.”
    â€œAnd where will you be?”
    â€œWherever Salazar is. He controls Franco. I need one to get the other.”
    â€œMexico City.”
    â€œMaybe.”
    â€œDammit, we’re going to be at opposite ends of the world from each other.”
    â€œNot quite. And only if Franco and Salazar stay on my side. The minute one of