“Perhaps later.” She was heading toward the door. “Right now I’m going to go upstairs and place a Skype call to Eve. All this talk about Fiona and everything she probably went through has made me want to tell Eve how much I love her and the rest of my family.” She glanced back at him and deliberately winked. “And that I know how lucky I am to belong to them and not to the MacDuff clan.”

*  *  *

Dimak Palik called Caleb thirty minutes after he’d hung up from MacDuff. “Bohdan has left the Congo and headed for Rome. Word is that he was searching for a couple of MI6 agents that his men told him were meeting with their chief. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“I know that I told Jennings not to go to that meeting,” Caleb said grimly. “I told them to hide out and screw the report until I could take out Bohdan. Do you know if the bastard has his hands on them yet?”

“I know that there was an unidentified body found in the Tiber River last night. It was pretty well chopped up, but I’ll check to see if it was one of your MI6.”

“Not mine,” Caleb said. “I wanted to go in alone. But the MI6 chief wanted insurance and sent a team. It’s almost sure to be Jennings in that river.”

“I could have told them to let you do it your way,” Palik said quietly. “Next time I’m available for references. Why did you even agree to do the job?”

“I don’t like the idea of bullies, and I didn’t see why an entire country on the edge of starvation should have to kowtow to Bohdan and his General Rozkor.” He shrugged. “And I hadn’t done anything for MI6 for a long time while I was occupied with doing that favor for Jane’s brother and her parents.”

“Ah, the wonderful Jane MacGuire,” Palik said. “Say no more. How is she?”

“The same. Safe, I think. She’s at MacDuff’s Run and well protected. There’s a good chance that Bohdan won’t even know that she has any connection with me.”

“You think?” Silence. “You never just think when it comes to Jane MacGuire. You know or you find out. Or you have me find out. Which is it?”

“You’ll have one of your men keep an eye on MacDuff’s Run. A very good man. If there’s even a hint of a threat there, I’m to know about it.”

“I hear you,” Palik said. “But I’m surprised you’re not going yourself. Is there something I should know?”

“Maybe that I’m Bohdan’s prime target and don’t want to lead any of his goons to Jane if they manage to track me?” Caleb asked caustically.