The Eye of Shiva

CHAPTER 39

"What's the plan?" Lamont said.

The three of them huddled around a glowing heater fed by a large propane tank. Outside the houseboat, it was cold and dark. Heavy fog had drifted in off the lake soon after the sun disappeared behind the mountains. The fog sucked up sound and light. It felt as though the world was rolled up in a thick, wet sock.

"We have to assume Cobra's guy is coming after us," Nick said.

"Ijay," Selena said, "and his leopards."

"Right. We don't know how many he has in his zoo but I doubt that it's more than a half-dozen at the most."

"He has to find us first," Lamont said.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem for him. For one thing, that van has a GPS that lets the rental company know where it is. All he has to do is tie into that and he'll know exactly where we are. Here."

"So much for this being a safe house," Selena said. "We should just go back into town and rent a hotel room. Somewhere with hot water and a bed and no rats."

"For now, this is perfect," Nick said. "We're isolated, away from the city. It's darker than the inside of the devil's closet out there, there's no one nearby and the fog will muffle any noise. It's a lot easier to deal with a problem here than in the middle of town where there are cops and witnesses."

"You want to set a trap for him?" Selena asked.

"That's exactly what I want to do. Ijay has no reason to think we know he's coming. He won't expect us to be waiting for him."

"When do you think he'll come?" Lamont said.

"If I were him, I'd wait until later. After midnight for sure. By then we'd probably be asleep."

"Since we have nothing to worry about because no one knows we're here," Selena said.

"That's right."

"Gonna be a problem for them to see the boat in this stuff," Lamont said.

"We'll leave a light on for them," Nick said.