Into Dust. B.J. Daniels

been only one thing to do after she’d failed at suicide and called him. He had wiped away the years with Buck and her children and taken her to Brazil to keep Joe from killing her.

      “So,” Joe said now. “Are you going to be able to control her like you said you could?”

      “So far she has done exactly what you require. She’s gotten close to Senator Buckmaster Hamilton again, encouraging him in his race for president.”

      “She was briefly engaged to some cowboy named Russell Murdock,” Joe said angrily. “That wasn’t exactly in the plan.”

      “But we took care of that when we exterminated the senator’s wife, Angelina. Just as I predicted, Sarah broke her engagement and moved onto the ranch.”

      “I want them married,” Joe said through gritted teeth.

      “You also want him to win the election or all of this would be for nothing,” Venable pointed out. “You got me back to handle this, so let me.”

      “Even if you can get the two of them married and Hamilton wins, I’m not convinced that you can make Sarah do what we need when the time comes. If she no longer believes in our cause...”

      That was putting it mildly, Venable thought as he rubbed the gray stubble at his chin. There were days he felt just as she did. Like Sarah, he’d been on fire with fanaticism all those years ago. He’d believed that a handful of people could change the world. That they owed it to themselves and the world to make that change. He’d been full of confidence and brazen disregard for everything and everyone but the members of The Prophecy, the group he’d started since he was the oldest of them.

      It was Joe, though, who not only adopted his radical views, but also pushed the others to do what they had to in order to get the attention they deserved.

      When one of their bombs had killed innocent people and Mason Green and Wallace McGill had gone to prison, Venable had wanted to stop. This wasn’t what he envisioned.

      It had been Sarah who had insisted they couldn’t quit. They owed it to Mason and Wally. They owed it to the lives they’d taken. They owed it to their country to try to change the things that were wrong with it but to do it peacefully.

      That’s when she’d come up with the plan to make a real difference from the inside. Joe had been against it, but he’d gone along thinking Sarah would come back to him.

      “From my source inside Hamilton’s campaign, I understand that Buckmaster is also having doubts,” Joe said. “We can’t let him do what his father did. He can’t pull out of the race.”

      Venable thought of JD Hamilton. Sarah had done her part beautifully. No one could have predicted that JD would fall in love with some young girl and be willing to give it all up. Love, he thought with a curse.

      “There are always variables that have to be considered. We can’t control everyone,” the doctor said.

      “But we can control Sarah. That’s why I’ve taken things into my own hands to make sure she holds up her end of the bargain,” Joe said.

      Fear wedged against his heart. Joe, bitter over how things had turned out with Sarah, had become a hothead who acted before he thought things out. “What have you done?”

      “Taken necessary steps to see that Sarah doesn’t weaken. Otherwise, she is going to lose one of her daughters.”

      “You kill one of the daughters and I can promise you Buckmaster will pull out of the race,” Venable said, furious with Joe. While the doctor had started The Prophecy, Joe, who was younger, stronger, more charismatic, had taken over. Joe hadn’t had the brains, but once he hooked up with Sarah, the two of them were a team and Venable had lost the anarchist group he’d founded—and any power he’d had. He had never been more aware of that than he was right now.

      It made him question what he was still doing with them. He was an old man. He’d given his life to his research and The Prophecy. “You could destroy everything with this...maneuver,” he said, unable to hide his anger.

      “No one said anything about killing her,” Joe assured him. “Unless it becomes necessary. Same with Sarah. You already protected her once. I suggest you not do that again.”

      Venable swore. After Sarah had tried to kill herself all those years ago, and failing, had called him, he’d saved her by taking her to Brazil. Unfortunately, Joe had found out where they were and insisted Sarah be returned to Montana because Buck was talking about running for president.

      He’d had no choice but to go along with it. Joe had made it clear that he would kill them both.

      Now, though, he feared Joe was going to land them all in prison. “Joe, you can’t—”

      “Don’t worry about it, Doc. You just do your part.”

      He heard what Joe didn’t add. “Do your part—or else.” He hated the fear that crowded his lungs and made breathing next to impossible. He wasn’t sure how many days he had left.

      But he knew one thing for sure. He didn’t want to die at Joe’s hands. If he couldn’t control Sarah, he knew Joe would. For her sake as well as his own, he had to get through to her. If he didn’t, her former lover would.

      * * *

      CASSIDY FLOPPED INTO the passenger seat of the pickup and closed her eyes. They’d run the last block in the darkness, the only sound the pounding of their soles on the pavement.

      Now she tried to catch her breath. Her heart hurt it was thumping so hard. This was too real. She’d seen the man’s gun. She’d heard him on the phone. Jack was right. Nothing was going to stop them.

      She opened her eyes and looked over at Jack as he started the engine and pulled away from the curb. “What do they want with me?”

      “I would imagine money. But with your father apparently a shoo-in for the presidency...” He glanced over at her as he took a turn, then another through the empty industrial area.

      There weren’t any other vehicles on the dark streets, making it seem even more sinister. Cassidy realized she was shaking. Nothing like this had ever happened—nothing even close. Maybe she should call her father. Or even the police.

      Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the glint of the metal box Jack had found in the locked drawer. “You think the answer is in there?”

      He shrugged as he took another turn. His gaze kept going to the rearview mirror.