Текст книги "Pandora's Daughter "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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"Why involve my mother?"

"They had to locate him and then scoop him up when he was in a position where they could gather evidence with him. At that time he was moving around Africa with the speed of light and the usual informants weren't proving effective. So they borrowed me from my unit and set me loose on trying to track him." He shook his head. "But it wasn't my area of expertise. I can control, not locate. I called Michael Travis, head of a Psychic Investigation Group in Virginia, and asked him to send someone who could do the job. He gave me the name of a woman whom he'd run across about three years before. She had come to him because her daughter was exhibiting signs of being a Listener. She wanted to know how to block the echoes. She could block her own but she needed help in stopping the child's. She'd been able to do it when the voices had started when the little girl was seven, but after puberty the problem became too hard for her to handle alone."

"Me?" she whispered.

He nodded. "Michael Travis helped her as much as he could, but he said she was already stronger than he was. He tested her extensively and found out that she was amazingly multitalented. She was not only a Listener, she was also a Finder. Give her a glove, a scarf, a half-smoked cigarette and she could not only sense the person within a mile's distance but distinguish him in a crowd. He thought she'd be just what we needed if we could get her to cooperate. She didn't want to be involved with anything to do with psychic phenomena. She just wanted the tools to survive it and build a normal life for the two of you. Michael was very disappointed because he kept seeing hints of possible talents he'd rarely run across and wanted to do still more tests. She told him thank you, but no, thanks."

"She walked out on him?"

"He never saw her again. But he kept tabs on her because he felt it would have been irresponsible for him to ignore that potential."

"That sounds so... clinical." She shivered. "She wasn't 'potential,' she was my mother. She had a right to ignore your damn potential and live a normal life. You should have left her alone."

"We didn't force her. We told her the situation and left it up to her." His lips twisted. "I'm not saying that the CIA didn't persuade her with a few photos of the children that they'd managed to free from their owners. Two of them were already AIDS victims."

"Dear God."

"It was enough to make her agree to one job and one job only. She had to make arrangements for your care while she was gone and sent you to summer camp for six weeks. You were thirteen then. Do you remember?"

"Of course, I do. I didn't want to go to the blasted camp. I wanted to stay with her. She said I needed to be around people my own age." But she had never dreamed what her mother had been planning. Her mother was always urging her to be more outgoing and sending her to camp had seemed perfectly natural. "Where did she go?"

"Central Africa. Molino was to rendezvous with one of his bandit cohorts, Kofi Badu, for a payoff. That's where I met her. We became …close."

"How close?" She paused. "Lovers?"

"No. She was scared and I tried to help her. I was used to being a freak in everyone's eyes, but it was the first time she was exposed to it. She'd always hidden her gift." He met her gaze. "Is that what you thought when I showed up at the beach that summer when you were fifteen? That we were lovers?"

"Not at first. Yet sometimes you seemed to read each other's thoughts." And she had been jealous, she remembered suddenly. Her mother had been right. Megan had had a king-sized crush on Grady. From the moment she'd seen him, he'd caught and held her. He'd been her friend and teacher, yet she couldn't deny that he'd drawn her sexually. There had been moments when she'd only had to look at him to have her heart start pounding crazily.

For God's sake, she'd been only fifteen. It was an entirely natural response for a young girl when brought into contact with a man as physically attractive as Neal Grady.

"I assure you that if we read each other's thoughts it wasn't psychic-related," Grady said. "We lived in each other's pockets when we were in the jungle and that's bound to draw anyone close."

"And did my mother find Molino?"

"Yes." His lips twisted. "We furnished her with a red shirt Molino had left at one of his whorehouses in Madagascar and it was enough for her. We flew into the jungle where we thought the bandit, Kofi Badu, had a hideout, and spent three days there. She located Molino and went with the team to keep them on target."

"And that's where she killed Molino's son?"

"No, that was later. The raid proved a bust. They were waiting for us. We lost seven men …and your mother was captured."

She went rigid. "What?"

"We got her back two days later. But by that time the damage was done. She'd already killed Molino's son, Steven."

"I don't care about his son," she said fiercely. "What about my mother? Did they hurt her?"

"Yes. But she survived it and came out on top."

"What did they do to her?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Hell, yes."

"Molino's son raped her."

She felt sick. "Then I'm glad he's dead." Dear God, what her mother had gone through. "She never let me know. She didn't let it change her. When she came home, she was the same as the day she left."

"I told you, she came out on top. Sarah was strong enough not to let that filth make her any less than she was." He paused. "But when she came back home we decided to take precautions and have her disappear for a while. That's why we whisked the two of you away from Richmond the minute she came back."

"She said she had a better job."

"We wanted to give her new credit cards and documents in a new name, but she said that it wasn't necessary since Molino was on the run from the CIA. She said Molino might be caught any day. Sometimes Sarah believed what she wanted to believe. She didn't want you to know anything about him or the talent she'd been trying to hide from you all your life. I tried to talk her out of it."

"Why?"

"Molino is relentless. He digs until he reaches pay dirt. He went underground for a long time and Sarah was feeling safer and safer every week. All the time he was working, searching, bribing everyone to find out everything he could about her and where we'd found her. After her death we discovered that the day before Molino's men had raided Michael Travis's library at the think tank and stolen all the records pertaining to her." He shook his head. "Dammit, I knew he'd find her. He was raised to believe in the vendetta and he wouldn't quit until he'd killed Sarah and her entire family. As the years passed, Sarah was getting more confident and I was getting more uneasy. That was why I rented that cottage and stayed close to you both all that summer."

"Not that last day."

"No, Sarah wouldn't let me come. She was beginning to be impatient with having me near all the time. She wanted to forget what happened with Molino and I wouldn't let her."

"So she died."

Yes.

"Shit." Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Because of me. Right? She wanted everything to be safe and normal for me and they found both of us."

"It was her choice, Megan. None of this was your fault. You were the one person she loved in the world and she didn't want you to feel hounded because she'd decided to go after Molino."

"But she didn't stop him, did she? He's still out there selling drugs and children. He killed my mother and all she tried to do was for nothing. How can that be?"

"He's clever. He's rich. He has contacts in the governments of several countries. Corruption. Bribery. Fear." He shrugged. "His main headquarters is in Madagascar and it's as secure as a fort. And when he moves around to other locations he has the money to stay virtually invisible. The CIA has been trying to get their hands on him for years and they can never find the bastard. I almost had him twice but he slipped away."

"Had him?"

"Sarah was my friend. You don't think I'd let him kill her and live?"

"I don't know what to think about you, Grady."

"You knew what to think about me at one time." Summer Sun. Gentle Surf. Grady smiling at her. "You were pretending even then."

"Perhaps." He added wearily, "Perhaps not. Those were good days for me. I felt as if I had a family again. I had no business feeling like that. I was there to protect both of you and emotion always gets in the way. I should have ignored Sarah when she told me to stay away from both of you for a while. But I cared too much about what she thought and felt. I won't make that mistake again. Not with you, Megan. That's why I told Phillip to tell you that he was Sarah's half brother so that he could talk you into taking his name, changing your name from Nathan to Blair. I had to find a way to cover your tracks after Sarah's death."

"Phillip said that we should make a new start together and that would be part of it. We'd be a family again." She was shaking. She didn't want to believe Grady. She didn't want to feel this softening. "You don't have to worry about what I'm feeling. You have to worry about how to make sure I get my chance at Molino."

"To kill him?"

Kill. The word was ugly and foreign to her. She had spent years training to save lives and now she intended to kill.

He shook his head. "You see? It's not an easy choice for someone like you."

"He killed my mother. Phillip may never wake up again. The choice isn't that difficult. You can help me, can't you?"

"Yes, but there's always a price to pay. If you help me, I'll help you. I promise we'll get Molino." A price. He'd mentioned before that he wanted her help. "What do you want me to do?"

"I'm searching for a certain object. I believe you can help me find it." She frowned. "I'm not like my mother. I can't find people or things."

"Actually, Finding is fairly common. It often accompanies more significant gifts. You can never tell what talent is going to pop up." He shrugged. "But I'm not counting on you inheriting that particular one. All I need is a Listener. That will be harrowing enough."

She shivered as she remembered just how harrowing that episode in the cave had been. Now he wanted her to expose herself to that trauma again?

"And it will probably be worse than what you went through before." He was watching her expression. "Is it worth it to you?"

Dear God, of course it was worth it to her. She could bear anything if it meant that Molino would be destroyed. His grotesque presence was casting a shadow over her entire life. "I won't be your puppet. I won't do anything I regard as immoral."

"Then I'll have to make sure that I either keep your part of the project above reproach or lure you to the dark side." He continued briskly, "We'll have to leave here right away. Molino is having you watched and I want you off his scope so that we can move freely. I'm surprised he hasn't made another move since Phillip was shot. We're not going to give him another chance at you."

"Where are we going?"

"France. Do you speak French?"

"High school French. I've forgotten a lot. Will I need it?"

"I don't know."

"And I don't have a passport."

"No problem. I already have one for you."

She remembered what Phillip had said about Grady furnishing him with documents to prove he was her uncle. "How convenient. You must have been very sure of me."

"No, but I always like to be prepared. Like the Boy Scouts."

Sitting there, relaxed, dark, his posture gracefully indolent she was reminded of the comment her mother had made about him looking like a Renaissance prince with all the lethal radiance of that age. "You're definitely no Boy Scout." She pushed back her chair. "I'm going to go pack a bag and call the hospital and tell them I'm taking an extended leave. I'll be ready to leave in an hour."

He nodded. "I have a few arrangements to make too."

She headed for the door. "Not entirely prepared then." She stopped at the door to look back at him. "Have you told me the truth, Grady?"

"Absolutely."

Her gaze searched his face. "But you haven't told me everything, have you?"

He was silent a moment. "I should have realized you'd sense that. No, not everything."

"Why not?"

"It's not to my advantage. And ignorance won't put you in any more danger than you will be anyway." He wasn't going to tell her any more. "I'm going to find out, Grady."

"I don't doubt it. But not now, and not from me."

"I could make it part of the deal."

"Go ahead, call my bluff." He said quietly but firmly, "Not now, Megan."

She hesitated. She had no desire to do battle with him at the moment. She believed what he had told her was the truth. The rest could wait until she was more in control of herself and the situation. "I will find out, Grady. You'd better be prepared for that, Boy Scout." She strode down the hall and slammed her bedroom door behind her.

CHAPTER SEVEN

SHE PROBABLY WOULD FIND OUT everything more quickly than was comfortable for him, Grady thought with amusement, as he watched the door close behind Megan. He was just lucky that she had too much on her plate to concentrate on anything but Molino. It was going to be an interesting dance trying to keep her spinning fast enough so that she wouldn't have time to stop and think. He wasn't sure how much she had sensed in that cave as her mother had died and how much she had been able to understand through the haze of pain. It was incredible that she was willing to undergo that kind of pain again.

No, not incredible. He had been counting on that strength and determination when he had decided he had to have her help. No one knew Megan the way he knew her. From the moment he had met her at Sarah's beach cottage he had felt a bond that had developed and strengthened over that summer. He had tried to keep that bond safe and fraternal but he'd never been able to feel like a brother to Megan. She had always been mature for her age and so damn alive and glowing that it was hard as hell not to reach out and touch her.

He remembered one morning he had been watching her lift her face to the sun, her throat arching as if the breeze was caressing it. Lord, she had a beautiful throat and shoulders. He was young but no inexperienced boy, and he was so hot for her he'd nearly had a meltdown. He'd had to turn on his heel and walk away from her.

How many times had he had to walk away from Megan that summer? It had been a sensual, tender, bittersweet experience being with Megan those months. And after the link, in a weird way, he had felt as if she had become part of him.

Yeah, sure. If she was part of him, then he must be a masochist to plan on putting her through what was waiting for her in Paris. He was just along for the ride. She was the one who was going to suffer.

Then accept it and get the show on the road. He reached for his telephone and quickly punched in the number he had for Venable with the CIA.

"I may need some help," he said as soon as Venable picked up. "Megan Blair is being targeted by Molino and I don't know what's going to be coming down. I want you to be ready."

"In Atlanta?"

"Not right now. Probably Paris. We're going after the Ledger."

"Shit. Can't you keep her out of it?"

"No, I need the Ledger. Guilt feelings, Venable?"

"Hell, yes. I've always wondered if I could have prevented that nightmare with Sarah at that camp in the jungle. Maybe I could have done something different. I was so damn young and eager and I went by the book."

"We were both young and I've had a few second thoughts myself over the years."

"But not enough not to use her daughter."

"You've been after Molino for as long as I have. We have a chance to get him and the Ledger. I need Megan to do it." He paused. "I didn't call you to discuss this, Venable. Will you help me when I need it?"

"Dammit, of course, I will." He hung up.

It was strange that it was Grady who'd had to be the one to take the hard line about Megan Blair, instead of Venable who'd had years of working with the CIA. No, not really. That episode with Sarah had affected all of them. Venable was a fine agent and there was probably nothing that he could have done differently on the night of the raid. Grady had thought he'd done his best and yet it hadn't been good enough either.

But it mustn't happen this time. No mistakes, dammit. He quickly dialed another number.

MEGAN STOPPED IN SURPRISE IN the kitchen doorway. "What on earth are you doing here, Harley?"

"Waiting for you." Jed Harley grinned as he rose to his feet. "And catching my breath. Grady didn't give me much time to get over here." His glance went to the small suitcase she was carrying. "You're traveling light."

"My computer is in the suitcase and my medical bag is in the hall. I don't intend to make this an extended trip. Where's Grady?"

"He went ahead to prepare the way. He asked me to make sure you got safely to Paris." He gave a half bow. "I'm to deliver you physically intact and emotionally serene. What do you think my chances are?"

"How do I know? Probably not very good. Maybe fifty-fifty. Serene isn't how anyone can describe my mood these days."

"Then I'll have to rely on keeping you alive." He took her suitcases. "Let's go. I don't think you're too pleased about me substituting for Grady and being on the move may keep you from venting. I have very tender feelings."

He was right. She had felt disappointed when she had come into the room and seen Harley sitting in the chair Grady had occupied. She supposed she should have been relieved. The time she had spent with Harley in the waiting room had been comforting. She had found him very sympathetic in his slightly off-kilter way. On the other hand, there was nothing comforting about Grady. She was wary all the time she was with him. She was always on edge and walking a fine line between suspicion and tentative trust. Lord, it had better be tentative. He had already admitted that he had not told her the entire truth. Yet the disappointment still existed. Perhaps it was because every moment with Grady was a challenge, the challenge he issued and the challenge his presence made her confront in herself.

Harley sighed. "You're not rushing to pat my head and swamp me with sympathy. Usually that tender-feelings line gets a more enthusiastic response."

"Bull." She smiled. "You don't need anyone to pat your head. You wouldn't know what to do with that kind of hogwash."

"I could learn. You're not buying it? I guess I'll have to try another tack. Let me think about it." He took her arm. "On the way to Stockholm."

"Stockholm? I thought we were going to Paris."

"We are. By way of Stockholm. Grady needs a little time to pave the way."

"And you don't want Molino to know where we're going if he's following us?"

"Oh, he's following us. But he won't be for long. Once we're in Stockholm, we'll vanish in the mist. Come on, we'll miss our British Air flight if we don't step on it." He smiled as he took her elbow. "I promise I'll make the flight interesting for you. I didn't get the chance to display my wit in that waiting room. I was too busy being kindly and consoling."

"You did a good job." And he was doing a good job right now. She realized she hadn't been nearly as nervous and apprehensive since he had appeared. Harley was not only distracting her, but his gentle touch nudging her toward the door was giving her the same sense of comfort and ease as it had in that hospital waiting room. "But you should stick to what you're good at. Admiring someone's wit is too exhausting for me at the moment."

"What a relief. The pressure is off."

And the pressure was off her too, she realized. She had a long flight to think about all the elements that had turned her life upside down.

And many, many hours to prepare herself for the next encounter with Grady.

Was that Grady's purpose in arranging for Harley to take her to Paris? Possibly.

"Let's go." She went ahead of Harley through the door. "The sooner we start, the sooner we get this over."

"SHE'S ON A FLIGHT TO STOCKHOLM," Peter Sienna said as he turned to Molino. "Darnell said the plane took off forty minutes ago."

"Was she with Grady?"

"No, Grady left her house almost two hours before she headed for the airport. Darnell thought you'd prefer that he stay and watch the Blair woman. She boarded the flight with Jed Harley, the man who was with her at the hospital."

Molino muttered a curse. "Which is the same as her being with Grady. Harley has been working for him for the past four years. Who do we have in Stockholm?"

"No one. But Max Wieder is in Berlin. Should I call him and tell him to go to Stockholm?"

Molino nodded. "I want him at the airport when that flight arrives. They may board another flight from there and I want to know where they're heading." He grimaced. "Besides, directly toward Grady. This has to be his work."

"He's trying to protect her?"

"Maybe. But he wouldn't have to send her out of the country to do that. I'd bet he has her working on the Ledger."

"Working?"

"If she's a freak like her mother, she may be able to help him find it."

"Oh, I see."

Sienna's expression was bland but Molino could sense his skepticism and even perhaps a touch of scorn. He knew Sienna didn't believe in all this psychic mumbo jumbo. He wished to hell he didn't. Even when Steven had died, Sienna had thought it had been caused by normal means. What did he know? He had been in Miami when Steven had been killed. But Molino had known it was that bitch. He had watched it happen.

The remembered pain washed over him again. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. He had seen to it that she rotted in hell, but her daughter was still alive. And so were all the other ugly freaks who were like her.

But not for long.

He would ignore Sienna's scarcely hidden contempt as he had all these years. He could resent but not blame him for not believing that Steven had been a victim of that witch. Sometimes when Molino woke in the middle of the night he didn't believe it either.

But it was true until he could make it a lie. Until he could wipe out those freaks. Until he could destroy Megan Blair and find the Ledger.

"WE'RE BEING FOLLOWED," HARLEY'S GAZE was fastened on the rear view mirror of the rental car they'd picked up at Stockholm airport. "Black Volvo. One man, I think. That probably means surveillance, not murder."

"How comforting," Megan murmured. "May I point out that there was just one man in the car that ran me off the highway?"

"Yes, but I wasn't with you." He grinned. "My reputation would be much more intimidating. I'd strike terror in their hearts."

"I don't find you intimidating."

"Because I've made an effort to tone down my aggressive nature for you." He glanced again at the rearview mirror. "I'm going to have to lose him. I don't want him on our tail when we reach the dock."

"Dock?"

"We're taking a speedboat to a private airport up the coast. We'll be flying to Paris from there." He pressed his foot on the accelerator. "Hold on. Here we go."

Hold on was right, she thought as Harley made an abrupt right down a narrow street and then screeched a left down the second boulevard.

"He's still with us," Harley murmured. "He's pretty good. It's going to take a little skill. What a pleasure..."

Pleasure? The next fifteen minutes were like riding a roller coaster, Megan thought desperately. By the time Harley was satisfied that they had lost the Volvo and they had arrived at the dock, Megan was dizzy and completely disoriented.

"Don't they have traffic police in Stockholm?" she asked as she got out of the car. "I'm surprised we didn't get stopped."

"Actually, Stockholm is very law-abiding and the traffic control is very strict here. Which is why we should jump in that speedboat and get out of town. I'm sure we've been reported a dozen times." He helped her into the boat. "I don't think Grady would like us to be detained."

"You should have thought of that before you started driving as if you were at the Indianapolis speedway."

"No, those drivers are skilled, but they have no spontaneity. I'm much better at street driving than they are. Did I mention I was once a stunt driver in Hollywood?"

"No, you didn't. You said you were once an EMT driver. What else?"

"Oh, all kinds of things," he said vaguely as he started the boat. "I like change." He shot her a glance. "And I'm not like Grady or you, who are shackled by that psychic stuff. I do what I like and let other people tote the heavy burdens."

"How nice for you. But I have no intention of being shackled by anything but my own will. I chose medicine and that's what I intend to do."

"Good for you." He gunned the boat. "Then I only have to feel sorry for Grady."

GRADY WAS WAITING FOR THEM when their chartered flight landed at a small airport in Chantilly, a short distance outside Paris.

Megan felt the familiar tension tighten her muscles as she watched him cross the tarmac toward their plane. The wind was blowing his jeans and navy blue sweater against his lean body and there was something …different about him. Before he had given the impression of contained power, but now his stride was purposeful and charged with energy. The power was present but it was no longer contained. It was channeled, flowing, ready to ignite. She instinctively braced herself as if to combat that energy.

"It's okay," Harley murmured, studying her expression. "You can handle him."

Of course, she could. And that change in Grady's demeanor could be her imagination. She nodded, rose to her feet, and headed for the exit. "No doubt about it. He just looks primed."

"He's in action mode. He usually does." Harley followed her down the aisle. "But maybe not this much..."

"Any problems?" Grady asked Harley as he helped Megan from the plane. "A tail in Stockholm. I got rid of him."

"By driving like someone from an old Steve McQueen movie," Megan said dryly.

"I'm better than that," Harley protested. "That stunt driver would never have managed to shake that tail. He was pretty good." He glanced at Grady. "What next?"

"I've made reservations at an inn nearby. I've arranged for one of the cottages on the grounds. We'll stay there while you go check everything out."

Harley nodded. "I'm on my way. I'll rent a car and start tonight." He headed for the tiny terminal at the end of the runway. "Get her something to eat. She wouldn't have anything but peanuts on that flight from Atlanta." He grinned back over his shoulder at Megan. "I wouldn't want anyone to think I hadn't delivered you in tip-top shape. I take pride in my work."

"Whatever it is?" She made a face. "Now you're acting like a mother hen. I don't believe that was one of your previous occupations."

"God, no. Now that's scary. Much too much responsibility."

She found herself smiling as she watched him disappear into the terminal. Harley was odd and quirky and not like anyone she had ever met but she felt more at ease with him than she did with people she had known for years.

"You like him." Grady's gaze was fastened on her face. "It doesn't surprise me. Most people gravitate toward Harley."

"Gravitate? That's a strange word to use."

He shrugged. "It fits. He draws people to him like a sun does a planet."

"I think he'd laugh at that simile." She smiled. "Or maybe not. He'd probably be flattered and take it as his due."

"You did manage to get to know Harley well on the way here." He took her elbow and nudged her toward the waiting car. "I believe I'm a little jealous."

She shot him a skeptical glance. "And I believe you're lying to me. Why?"

"Because I'm detecting a hint of intimacy. For the past twelve years I've been the one living intimately with you." He stared directly into her eyes. "I don't like anyone else coming that close."

She felt a surge of heat move through her. His words had come out of nowhere, surprising her. So had her response to those words. "You may have been living intimately with me but it was completely one-sided. And do you think I haven't had genuine intimate relations with other men during those years?"

"Oh, yes. One of them was a lukewarm affair during your sophomore year in college. It didn't bother me at all. The other was with that young Latin boy. What was his name? Julio something." His lips thinned.

"Now your going to bed with him bothered the hell out of me. You were feeling too much. It was a cross between screwing you myself and erotic voyeurism. It was disturbing as the devil. After that I had to find a way to close myself off from you during intimate moments."

Her cheeks were stinging as the color flooded them. "Are you trying to embarrass me? Stop talking like this. You're almost a stranger to me."

"Almost." He opened the door of the car for her. "But that's the key word. You knew me very well that summer on the beach."

"I thought I did." She got into the car. "What are you doing, Grady? What are you up to?"

"My, how suspicious you are. You said you wanted me to be honest and aboveboard with you. I'm merely obliging."

And exerting that charisma and sexuality that had drawn her to him all those years ago. "Why now?"

"Because we're going to be very close in the next few weeks. I want to get everything out in the open so that you can focus. I don't intend for anything to get in the way. There's only one element that could cause immediate trouble." He got in the car and started the engine. "And there can't be any distracting subtle undercurrents. Sometimes they can be worse than—" He broke off as he backed out of the parking space. "You don't want to hear this, so I'll cut it short. I want to go to bed with you. I'd like to do everything that Medera kid did to you and more. From the moment I caught sight of you at the zoo, I wanted it to happen. Hell, maybe before."

She couldn't speak for a moment. "You're right," she finally said unsteadily. "I don't want to hear this."

"I'm almost through. If you see me looking at you as if I want to jump you, it's because I do. You're not going to have to wonder or worry about what I want or what move I'll make if you give me a chance. That part of me is purely basic and entirely selfish." He drove out of the parking lot into the street. "On the other hand, your primary value to me isn't between your legs. I'm not going to jeopardize having your help just to drag you into bed."