Текст книги "Pandora's Daughter "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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"That's what your mother said," he said quietly. "It was the last thing she said to me. She was fighting admitting it until the end."

Not Pandora. Not Pandora. Not Pandora.

"And you knew it." His gaze was narrowed on her face. "I thought you did. That's why I didn't want you to read this part of the report when you were alone."

"She was dying. Why would she—"

"Because she was a Pandora, but she didn't want to admit it. If she accepted that she was a Pandora, then she'd have to accept that you'd probably become one. A Listener was bad enough, but a Pandora was big trouble. It had already destroyed her life."

"How?"

"Molino. She killed his son." Megan shook her head. "No."

"She did it, Megan. She didn't stab him or shoot him, but she did kill him." He held her gaze. "No one deserved it more. I told you she was raped when she was held captive. It was Molino's son who did it, many, many times and with great brutality. That last night he brought her out by the campfire and started to rape her in full view of Molino and the rest of his men."

"You've already told me this," she said shakily. "I don't want to hear the details. It... hurts me."

"And I don't want to tell them to you. But I have to do it. It's time, Megan."

"I won't listen. I can't stand thinking about—" It didn't matter what she wanted or her own pain. This was her mother he was talking about. She had to listen. She braced herself. "Go on. Do it."

"There's not much more. It must have been like being surrounded by a pack of wolves for her. There was shouting and laughing, humiliation, and pain. She'd been raped by him before, but this was even more hideous. I don't know if it was an accumulation of the horror or if she just couldn't take it any longer. Something must have snapped in Sarah. She screamed. Then she grabbed hold of Molino's son's hand to stop him from touching her and screamed again. Everyone was laughing at her. It was a big joke." He stopped. "And then Steven Molino started screaming. He got off Sarah and backed away from her as if she had the plague. He was shrieking and crying and muttering curses. He ran off into the jungle. When they found him an hour later, he was still running, still trying to get away from Sarah. They brought him back to the camp and Molino arranged for a helicopter to pick them up. He was completely out of his head and muttering things that his father was thinking, that the other men in the camp were thinking."

"Mind reading," Megan whispered.

He nodded. "Evidently his latent talent. But it must have exploded in him like a rocket when Sarah grabbed his hand. Molino hustled his son on the helicopter and flew out to Nairobi to get him medical help. When they got off the copter, he was distracted for a moment when he was talking to the doctor who had met the flight." He shrugged. "A moment was all it took. Steven Molino turned and walked back into the rear blades of the helicopter. Not a pretty way to die."

"Good," she said fiercely. "I wish I could have been there to finish the job with a machete."

"So did I when we took Sarah back from them and I heard what happened from one of Molino's men we captured. But it wasn't necessary." He paused. "Sarah had taken care of it herself."

"Just because Molino's son went bonkers? That's pretty flimsy evidence that my mother had some kind of malignant power that sent him over the edge." She was trying to think clearly, logically. "Maybe it was guilt, or it could be he was schizophrenic anyway."

"Perhaps."

"But you don't believe it."

"The second page I was withholding from you was the report that Michael had compiled on your mother before Molino's son's death. Her DNA blood tests confirmed that she was connected to the core DNA family."

"How could you know that?"

"Jose Devanez was buried at his estate in Spain after his suicide." His lips twisted. "Not on hallowed ground, but I don't believe he would have cared considering the circumstances. I'm not sure what strings Michael pulled but he managed to get a DNA sample from Jose's remains."

"Even if she was a Devanez that doesn't mean my mother could destroy someone just by touching them. Rosa's story could be a fairy tale."

"Or it could be truth. The witnesses to that slimeball's death were sure that Sarah had driven him to it."

"And I'm supposed to believe a bunch of sadistic bastards who cheered when my mother was raped?"

"You'll believe what you have to believe. My job was to lay the facts before you. If you're the daughter of a Pandora, then you need to be prepared." He added roughly, "Your mother let you blunder through life ignorant and blind. I'll be damned if I'll let it go on."

Her hands clenched on the cup. "You'd rather I be terrified all my life of killing someone accidentally?"

"Ignorance breeds fear. If there's a chance the danger is there, then you should know about it and how to control it. If it took repeated rape to cause Sarah's gift to explode, then this facilitating can't be that easy. As far as I know, it never happened again with her. She didn't want the gift and she shunted it away from her. She refused to admit she possessed it."

"Perhaps she didn't. Perhaps Pandoras don't exist." He shook his head. "Lord, you're as stubborn as your mother. Whether you want to believe it or not, realize that Molino believes it. He saw what happened to his son, he saw Sarah turn his son into a madman. And when he stole the copy of those records from Michael's library, he made the connection. Oh, yes, Molino believes Pandoras exist. He regards them as a scourge upon the earth."

"Pot calling the kettle black," she said bitterly. "For God's sake, he's as bad as those priests who thought Rosa was an archdemon sent to destroy the world."

"He's worse. At least, the priests thought they had some reason to fear Rosa's gift. Your Johnny Appleseed comparison wasn't far off the mark. Indiscriminate facilitation could be a disaster. What if Hitler had had the power to see the future? Could he have changed it and won the war? What if Sadaam Hussein had the ability to read minds? Would he have been able to unite the Arab world against the West? Think about it."

"I don't want to think about it."

"Do it anyway. There may be other people who want to destroy you as much as Molino does if they become convinced you could be a chess piece in the enemy camp." He paused. "Or you could be killed because some idealistic do-gooder thinks they're going to save civilization by ridding it of a threat."

"Me? Ridiculous." But there were a lot of crackpots in the world. Grady's suggestion wasn't all that far-fetched, she thought with a shiver. "You're not being very encouraging."

"If the talent is a two-headed coin as Ricardo said, then it could be either hideous or wonderful. Since we don't have any concrete evidence of the pros and cons, you'll have to define them for yourself. Providing you don't choose to close your eyes and ignore the truth as Sarah did."

"My mother was happy and she made me happy. Maybe that's the way to go."

He smiled. "Don't give me that bull. I can't see you content to drift along, hiding from reality."

What he called reality right now was confusing and frightening. She didn't want to hide but she needed time to absorb and decide how much to believe and what to do next. She stood up and held out her hand. "Give me those last two pages."

"You don't believe me?" He went to the desk and picked up the fax sheets. "By all means, study them carefully."

She did believe what he had told her was the truth. "I have to see it for myself. Interpretation can alter everything. It's the only way it will sink home to me." She took the pages and turned toward the door. "Good night, Grady."

"If you need me, I'll be here," he said quietly. "Thank you."

If you need me. Those words would have had an entirely different meaning earlier in the evening when she had been lost in a haze of sexuality. She gave him a ghost of a smile over her shoulder. "How quickly things change."

"Nothing's changed." He said curtly. "Not really. Give me any encouragement and I'd have you in bed in a heartbeat. But I'm not fool enough to think I have a chance while you're this upset. I can wait."

She felt a ripple of shock. "Evidently I was giving you too much credit for sensitivity."

"You want sensitive? I'd give you sensitive. Hell, I'd like to comfort you. But you're too defensive to accept it. So I'll take what I can get. You like sex. That's fine with me. My God, it's more than fine."

She had a sudden memory of the description of a Pandora in Ricardo's confession. "Don't believe everything you read. I'm no Pandora and any sensuality I possess is both normal and healthy."

He grimaced. "You see? Defensive. That's what I was afraid would happen when you read the Tribunal's report."

"Dammit, you've just told me I could be some kind of walking time bomb. I have a right to be defensive."

"Yes, you do. But not with me. I'm on your side. Believe me, other than the possibility of the Pandora talent, I think you're beautifully normal in every way. I don't give a damn what's in that report. You're no carbon copy. But I'm not going to ignore the fact that I know you like sex. I've been linked too closely to you not to realize that. And whatever you want, I'll give you." He added curtly, "And you'd better get out of here before I start elaborating. The line between sympathy and erotica are a little blurred in my mind right now."

Erotica. Grady's fingers caressing her throat. Her body changing, tensing, coming alive.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving. Good night." A few seconds later the door closed behind her. She hadn't needed those last few moments of sexuality thrown into the mix. She was confused and upset enough. Yet, in a way, that raw earthiness had grounded her after all the talk of Pandora and the horror her mother had undergone. Had that been Grady's intention? He was clever and he knew her very well.

Don't analyze, don't try to make excuses for Grady. She had to read these last pages and then think about what they meant to her. Wildly improbable? Yet in the beginning she had thought being a listener was beyond belief. Was her skepticism based on fear?

Then come to terms with it. Grady had said he was into controlling talents instead of letting them run wild. It made sense. She couldn't let herself be terrorized by her own helplessness to cope. She had conquered her fear of Listening. Well, almost. It was coming.

And it was doubtful that this Pandora thing would ever affect her in any meaningful way. As she had told Grady, as a doctor she had exhibited no signs of being a so-called facilitator. She might be worrying over nothing.

God, she hoped that was true.

"BET THEM, PAPA. I HATE THEM ALL. Why haven't you killed them yet?"

Another dream? But his son was standing there, gazing at him accusingly. "I'm trying, Steven."

"It's been too long. You have to kill all those freaks. Look what they did to me."

Steven's mangled face. His son's head flying from his body as the rotors struck him.

"Oh, my God." Molino was sobbing. "I know. I know. Forgive me."

"I'll forgive you when you kill the freaks." Steven smiled at him. "I'll help you. Together we can do it. We'll get all of them. We'll butcher the freaks."

"Yes. Together." Exhilaration flooded him. "We'll do it, Steven."

"You asked me to wake you if we heard from Falbon."

Molino sluggishly opened his eyes to see Sienna standing in the doorway. For a moment he thought Sienna was the dream figure instead of Steven. "What is it?"

"Falbon says the chartered plane landed in Munich. He's on his way there now."

Molino sat up in bed and shook his head to clear it. "Munich. Who did we have on the suspect list in

Munich?"

"Renata Wilger. Edmund Gillem was seen with her on his last visit through Germany."

"Then Grady will be searching for her. Tell Falbon he has to find her first." He lay back down again and closed his eyes. "I want a report when I get up in the morning."

Sienna turned out the light and closed the door.

I'll help you, Papa.

Yes, help me, Steven. Molino was suddenly filled with boundless confidence. Who was to know if his son had not been able to break through the barriers of death to join with him? The freaks shouldn't have a monopoly on power.

Help me, and we'll butcher them all.

CHAPTER TWELVE

RENATA COULD HEAR THE FOOTSTEPS behind her. They slowed when she slowed, quickened when speeded up.

Bastard.

Molino? No, probably not. One of his men.

Keep calm. She had prepared for this eventuality and she would meet it with the same strength that Edmund had shown.

The hell she would. Edmund had been a martyr. She wasn't going to let them force her to do anything she didn't want to do. She was only twenty-three and had her whole life before her. She was going to live.

And there was only one man following her. It didn't have to be one of Molino's scumbags. He could be a masher or a thief. It was after midnight and this wasn't the first time she'd had men try to follow her the two blocks from her office to the lot where she parked her car.

But this man wasn't trying to get closer. He was keeping her within view but not attempting to make an approach. She didn't like that. Not at all. Okay, let's bring him out in the open.

She turned left at the next block and ducked into the vestibule of a shop.

He came around the corner a few minutes later, a heavyset man in his forties with thinning brown hair. He stopped cautiously, his eyes searching the street in front of him. His hand reached into his jacket pocket. She caught the gleam of metal.

A gun.

She didn't give him the chance to bring the gun out.

She jumped out of the vestibule and struck his arm with the edge of her hand. The gun dropped from his nerveless hand to the street. Then she followed through with a fist to his stomach.

"Bitch," he gasped. "I'll cut you to pieces, you—"

She gave him a karate chop to the back of his neck. He crumpled, but he had drawn a knife by the time he reached the ground. He lunged upward toward her.

Lord, she hated knives. She'd always had a horror of cold steel going into a body. She dodged to the left and then brought her palm crashing up under his nose. This time he didn't get up.

Dead?

Oh, yes. The splintered bones of his nose had entered his brain. She fell to her knees beside him and started searching through his pockets for ID and found a passport. Raoul Falbon.

"I saw a police car cruising a block behind us. I believe we'd better forget gathering the spoils and get out of here."

She stiffened, her gaze flying to the man who stood watching her a few yards away. She tensed, ready to spring, her hand moving toward the gun Falbon had dropped on the ground.

"Oh, dear." He drew a gun from his jacket. "I'm no threat but I really don't want to be treated to the same punishment as that poor fellow on the ground, Renata. Now shall we go? You don't want to talk to the police, do you? I certainly don't."

"Who are you?"

"Jed Harley. And I have no connection to Molino. To prove it, I'm graciously ignoring the fact that you're considering going for that gun on the ground. As soon as we have time to talk, I'll put my gun away.

Deal?"

She shrugged. "Sure. I'd be very stupid to—" She dove forward in a roll and struck him in the knees and brought him down. The next moment she was on top of him.

"No, ma'am." He backhanded her and then bucked her off him.

Dizzy. She shook her head to clear it even as she dove for the gun beside Falbon.

He reached it before she did and threw it skittering down the street.

She bit his arm and reached for the gun still in his hand.

"Ouch. You little cannibal." He clipped her on the side of the head with the gun.

Pain. Ignore it. She came at him again and went for the jugular.

He grabbed her, spun her around, his arm around her neck jerking her head back. "Listen. I could break your neck. I don't want to do it."

"Because then I'd be useless to you," she said fiercely. "I couldn't tell you what you want to know."

"No, because my orders are to find you and keep you safe from Molino until you can talk to Neal Grady. Breaking your neck would be frowned upon." He added wistfully, "Though it might almost be worth it."

If she kicked backward, she might get him off guard. His grip had to loosen just a little and then she'd—

He sighed. "You're not going to give up, are you? I guess I'll have to resort to dire methods." He took her hand. "Stop struggling. You're getting what you want." She felt him closing her hand around something hard and metal. Then he released her and stepped back. "Okay, go for it."

She stared down at the gun he'd placed in her hand. "What are you doing?"

"You obviously have to be on top or you won't listen." He spread out his arms. "I'm at your mercy, Renata Wilger."

She frowned. "Is the gun empty?"

He smiled. "My God, I believe you're disappointed. Is it too easy for you? No, the gun has bullets and they're not blanks. What are you going to do now?"

She wasn't sure. The move had taken her by surprise. He had obviously meant to take her off guard and disarm her mentally if not physically. But she had never known a man who would take a chance like that.

"May I make a suggestion? I interrupted you while you were going through that deceased gentleman's wallet. Why don't you continue?"

"I have his passport and his name is Falbon. That's all I need to trace him."

"Then why not leave the scene of the crime and come with me to the Sheraton to see Grady and Megan

Blair?"

"I don't consider killing Molino's men a crime." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Megan Blair? She's here in

Munich?"

"At the hotel." His gaze narrowed on her face. "How do you know about Megan? Does that make a difference?"

She didn't answer either question. "Dammit, she shouldn't be anywhere near me. She might have led Molino here."

"Then tell her that yourself. She's not going to listen to me. I'm going to phone her." He slowly took out his phone, making sure that she could see that it was not a weapon. "Okay?"

She hesitated. Then she nodded her head. "But I won't go into the hotel. Tell her to meet us across the street in the park."

"Very smart. Then you can check her out and make sure that I'm not leading you down the garden path." He dialed the number. "Grady, I need you and Megan to meet me at the park across the street from the hotel in about an hour. I'll bring Renata Wilger." He listened for a moment and then smiled. His gaze wandered from Renata, still aiming the gun at him and then to the dead man crumpled on the street. "Oh, yes, I'm sure she's the right Renata Wilger."

HARLEY WAS WAITING UNDERNEATH a street lamp by a park bench when Grady and Megan came through the gates. He was alone.

Disappointment surged through Megan. "Where is she, Harley? Did you lose her?"

"No, and she didn't lose me." He took her arm and pulled her into the light. "Lift up your head."

"What are you doing?" Grady took a step forward.

"I'm not hurting her." He called out into the darkness. "Here she is. Delivered as promised. Come out, come out, wherever you are."

"That sounds like a children's game," Grady said.

"Hide-and-seek." Harley nodded. "But hopefully the seeking is over and she's not exactly hiding. She just doesn't trust us. That's why she has a gun trained on me. My gun."

"Your gun?"

"It's a long story." Harley called again, "Renata, you've had time to get a good look at Megan. Is it yes, or no?"

"How would she even recognize me?" Megan asked.

Harley shrugged. "Ask her." He was looking beyond her toward the bushes. "My dear girl, I understand your concern but it's really not polite to point guns at strangers. It makes them nervous."

"I'm not pointing the gun at them," the woman coming toward them said. "I'm just ready. How do I know that Molino isn't staking her out?"

Renata Wilger was younger than Megan had thought she would be. She was perhaps in her early twenties, small, slim, red-haired with a sprinkling of freckles over the bridge of her nose. Her brown eyes were glittering with fierce intensity as she stared at Megan. "And if you're not being used, you're either stupid or criminally negligent for coming here. Get the hell out of Munich and away from me."

What a little tigress. "You wouldn't have decided to come out of the bushes if you'd really thought Molino was using me to trap you. And I'm not going anywhere until I get what I want." She glanced at the gun Renata was holding at her side. "So give Harley back his gun and let's talk."

"Why should I want to talk to you? You've probably already ruined things for me here. I'm going to have to go on the run."

"Maybe not."

"She's right," Harley said. "She had another tail tonight besides me. She'd already disposed of him by the time I made an appearance, but his ID was Raoul Falbon. I sent a picture on my cell phone to Venable, that friend of Grady's at CIA headquarters, and he just got back to me. Falbon is for hire to the highest bidder, but he works extensively for Molino."

"Disposed of him?" Megan asked.

"I killed the bastard," Renata said bluntly. "What do you think? That I'd give him a tap and have him come after me again tomorrow? That wouldn't have been smart."

"No, it wouldn't," Grady agreed. "And now Molino will have to send someone else. It will give us a little time."

"Give me a little time," she corrected. "Thanks to you, I'll need it now."

"We didn't lead Molino to you," Megan said. "There was no way he could know the name of the person we're searching for. I didn't know myself until a few days ago."

"Then he found out from the same source."

Megan shook her head. "No way."

"Don't tell me that. You don't know what he'd do to get what he wants."

"Believe me, I do." She stared her in the eye. "I've been there."

"Bullshit. You've been safely tucked away in Georgia all these years. You don't know anything."

"How do you know that?" She remembered something else. "And how did you know what I looked like?"

"It's in the Ledger."

"What?"

"Photos. Reports. Your mother was found and documented when she was in her teens. After that we were able to keep track of both of you until you slipped away when you were fifteen. It took a long time, but Edmund was finally able to trace you when you were in your second year in medical school."

"Edmund..."

"Edmund Gillem." She was silent a moment. "He's not alive any longer."

Renata's voice was steady, but there was such a wealth of pain in those words that it shook Megan. She wanted to reach out in comfort but it would have been like comforting a wolverine. "No, he died in that trailer in Rome. He was very brave."

"He was a fool. I told him to run." She drew a deep, shaky breath. "Like I'm going to do."

"Too many people have run from Molino."

"Do you think I don't want to stay and take my chances to get that son of a bitch? I can't. Not now."

"Because you have the Ledger," Grady said. "I didn't say that."

"No, that's true," Megan said. "But Edmund said it."

Renata went still. "You're lying. Edmund would never have told anyone. He would have died first."

Megan nodded. "You're right; he did die to keep anyone from knowing you had it." She added quietly, "And as he died, he prayed for you, Renata."

Renata stared at her for a long moment. "Oh, shit." She whirled on her heel. "Come on, let's walk, Megan."

"I take it Grady and I aren't invited?" Harley said. "Stay on the path so that we can keep you in view." Renata didn't answer and Megan had to hurry to catch up with her.

Renata's hands were jammed into her pockets and she was looking straight ahead. She didn't speak for a few minutes and when she did, her voice was no longer steady. "You're a Listener?"

Yes.

"In the Ledger it said you probably would become one, but we weren't sure." She was blinking quickly to keep back tears. "Edmund bet me that you'd develop the talent in the next few years." She swallowed. "I told him he was crazy and that if you hadn't shown signs by now it was going to skip a generation."

"I wish it had."

She nodded jerkily. "But then you wouldn't be able to tell me about Edmund, would you? When was it?"

"Three days ago. In his trailer outside Paris." Renata was silent again. "Was it... bad for him?"

She wouldn't lie to her. "Horrible."

"My God," She stopped on the path and closed her eyes. "I knew it. But I had to hear it."

"He was very brave and he was determined that no one else be hurt by Molino."

"He was such a fool. He'd agreed that even if there was even a hint of someone coming after him that he'd go on the run. But he didn't do it. When he came to see me three months ago, he said that it was just a feeling and it wasn't as if he could see the future. He laughed about it."

"But he felt uneasy enough to give you the Ledger." Yes.

"Will you give it to me? I promise I'll keep it from Molino."

She stared at her in astonishment. "Hell, no. Edmund died for that Ledger and he gave it to me for safekeeping. I'll never give it up." Her voice was vibrating with determination and passion. "Who do you think you are? You don't know anything."

"I'm trying to learn, Renata. Teach me."

"I don't have time. Just stay away from me. You're bad news."

"I can't stay away from you. I have to get Molino and he wants the Ledger. Grady says that Molino always stays in hiding and we have to draw him out. The Ledger may be the only way we can stop him."

"Then you'd better find another way. I won't risk the Ledger."

"It won't be a risk. We'd never let it—"

"No," Renata said curtly. "Back off."

Megan shook her head. "Okay, don't give us the Ledger. But don't run away from us. We'll protect you. God knows, we don't want anything to happen to you too."

Renata's lips twisted. "Because you're afraid then you'll never find the Ledger."

Anger suddenly flared in Megan. "Damn you. Is it too much for you to believe that I don't want you dead? Edmund must have cared about you. He prayed for you. He made me care about you. They tortured him, they did terrible things to him, and then killed him. I won't let anything else be taken from him. He wanted you to live and by God, you're going to live. If you run, I'll follow. If you hide, I'll find you."

Renata was staring at her in surprise. "I didn't mean that—Well, maybe I did." She lifted her chin defiantly. "But I have reason to doubt you. You're a stranger to me."

"Except what you read in the Ledger."

"That was bare bones. Edmund couldn't get a detailed profile on everyone. There are too many."

"Then I'll fill in the blanks. Because you've got to know me. You've got to trust me." She started walking again. "I won't let it be any other way. I don't want you to panic and dart away from me if there's any lingering suspicion. What do you know about Neal Grady?"

"I know he's been trying to find members of the family for a long time. He was CIA and he has a talent. Edmund thought it might be a good idea to approach him before he located any of us. He said that he thought he could talk to Grady. He liked what he'd found out about him."

"But he didn't do it."

She shrugged. "We're careful. We don't do anything on impulse. Edmund was going to give it another six months before he made a move."

What a tragedy, Megan thought. The two men had been gradually moving toward each other. If Grady had been two days earlier finding him, if Edmund had not been so cautious, that horror in the trailer might not have happened. "But he didn't have six months," Megan said. "How I wish he'd contacted Grady."

"He had to be sure. Grady wasn't the only one after us." Her lips tightened. "And it was through your mother that Molino found out that we even existed. That Tribunal Report on the family would never have meant anything to him if it hadn't been connected to Sarah."

"Do you expect me to apologize?" Megan asked. "Forget it. My mother never even knew about the Devanez family. She was just trying to survive and keep Molino's filthy hands off those helpless kids. And she went through hell doing it. So don't try to give me a guilt trip about your precious Ledger."

Renata was silent for a moment and then said slowly, "It is precious." She smiled faintly. "But so are children. And, you're right, I may have been trying to give you a guilt trip. I'm feeling defensive."

"No one is attacking you. You don't have to defend yourself."

"Yes, I do," she said simply. "It's a way of life with me."

Lately it had become a way of life for Megan too. She was beginning to feel a kinship with Renata Wilger. The woman was impulsive, distrustful, and from what Harley had said, violent, but she had cared about Edmund and she was willing to fight to keep his Ledger from being found. That last statement had possessed a poignancy that had touched Megan. "Then guard yourself from Molino. You're among friends here."

"Am I?" Renata looked away from her. "Do you trust Grady?"

"Yes."

"And Harley?"

"Yes. Though I don't know him as well."

"I don't trust any of you. So you might as well stop pushing me.:

Megan shook her head. "That's not going to fly. You will trust me. All right, we'll start at step one. You can't trust someone you don't know. You said you know only the bare bones about me? I don't like confiding in strangers. I'm a private person and it hurts me. But you're going to know as much about me as if you were my sister." She drew a deep breath. "And I have to start with my mother. She was kind and funny and she always made me feel safe. That was important to her but I didn't realize why until I."

"GOOD GOD, THEY'VE BEEN TALKING for over an hour." Grady's gaze was on Megan and Renata, who were now sitting on a park bench several yards ahead of them. "What the devil are they saying?"

"I wouldn't presume to guess," Harley said. "And I'm completely without curiosity." He gave him a sly glance. "But I'm sure it's driving you crazy. You have to be in control and it's very hard when you're shoved out of the picture. However, I'd bet that Renata Wilger is proving to be a hard nut to crack. Megan is probably doing well to keep her from running off. I'm surprised she's being this patient."