"Yes."

They stared at each other silently.

"Do you recall a honeymoon-" "-in the Caribbean," she finished the sentence for him.

He looked as if he was going to ask another question. But he closed his lips, and Noel felt a sense of loss she didn't want to examine too closely.

Instead, she tried W:

describe the way the manufactured memory played in her mind.

"It's like remembering a movie I saw." A terrible feeling of emptiness hit her then, and she tried to stifle a broken little sob.

His hand came out toward her. He touched her briefly and withdrew. "I'm sorry."

She wasn't sure what she was seeing in his eyes; she only knew that if she kept staring into them, she'd come up done

"Afber my uncle was shot. You took me away and pumped me for information,"she said to fill the silence and then stopped short, her face taking on alook that as a mixture of incredulity and horror. " " My God. And Ilqeshooting. I-I remember everything right up to the :q. :. q . , ,. q qat's good: ' q "Is it?.. Hefore she could get lost in the rememberedsorrow, he ood up. " Come on. You need to get out of here for a qile. Getready, and we'll find a pub. " _" Is that safe? " " It should be, sinceMontgomery will assume we didn't iclc around here. " " Noed was surprised tofind it was late afternoon when W emerged from their cottage. :q'I paid foran extra day while you were asleep," Jaa ezplained. " We don't have to leaveuntil tomorqa :l took a deep breath of the fresh country air. "I q t knowhow much I needed to et out of that m;" she said softly. g CYou needed abreak. " qqas a short ride to the village pub-the Boar's Head.

Noel stared at the brass letters riveted to the side of the stone building.

They said Courage. " " "Courage, " ' she read aloud, marveling at the aptness

"A brand of ale," Jason explained. "The company owns the pub: '

Even though he'd said it was safe, he had her wait in the car until he'd gone in and had a look around. Then he came and got her.

They ate jacket potatoes-hers with cheddar cheese and his with baked beans.

He ordered ginger beer for her and ale for himself.

Once or twice during the meal, they both looked up at the same time. Astheir eyes met, Noel would feel a little rush of pleasure. Then she'dremember what was real and what wasn't and look quickly down at her food.

Why were the feelings still there? Even when she knew they were manufacturedin a Swiss lab? Apparently it was going to take awhile to convince herselfthat there was no true bond between herself and Jason.

"Now that you've had some time to adjust, do you think you can tell the differenoe between what's real and what isn't?" Jason asked after they'd driven back to the cottage once again.

Noel swallowed, wishing the question weren't so close to what she'd been thinking earlier. " " I hope so. "

"Let's try." He began to call up a rapid series of scenes. After each one, he asked if it had happened.

She did her best to cooperate. Usually an answer came to her immediately.

Occasionally an image she knew was false was so appealing that she had to clench her fists to drive it out of her mind.

She breathed a sigh of relief when Jason finally called a halt. "Do I have it right?"

"As far as I can tell."

Noel sighed deeply, feeling a small bit of the tension ease out of her should en q'Do you ran ember saving me from Montgomery's men? " he asked suddenly.

"Yes: Her hands curled inward as if feeling again the coId metal of themachine gun. Again she saw a man qrhirl toward her. Bright splotches of redappeared on his shirt as he slid to the floor. Her hands flattened againstqer face. " Oh, Lord. I killed him "

"To save me," Jason said in a low voice.

Stqe saw him take in a deep draft of air and let it out tloqwly. "Noel, I'm going to tell you some things that put my life in your hands just as effectively as if you were still qing a loaded gun: '

Her head jerked up.

"I'm in the middle of a very dangerous game. I qdn't tell you anything about it before because of the qqip in your head. Sir Douglas is planning to question q. With the controller in place, all he'd have to do was the right button to get you to play back everything told you " 'd been conoentrating on trying to feel normal. he was forcing her to confront the rest of her prob "Jason, this morning you told me I didn't know Now you're telling me you're still taking me to Sir Frye? "

iy? Why should I agree to go there with you? " , a low curse, he sprang across the space that sept hem , and grabbed her by the forearms. " Sir s Frye is a cold-blooded killer who will do anyqr money. And I mean anything. Start civil wars. q the know-how for biological and chemical weapons. If it's profitable, he does it. He's been consolidating his power for the past twenty years. But now I'm i.

going to put him out of business. "

Noel wanted to believe him. Still she knew how dangerous it was to simply swallow his explanation whole.

"But you work for him."

"He thinks I'm grateful that he gave me a job. He thinkr I'm loyal to him. He thinks I like the money and power I've earned in his employ. I've spent almost four years of my life laying that groundwork and gaining his trust."

She tried to absorb everything he was saying. "You're taking some big risks going against him."

"It was my choice. I volunteered for the assignment.

And the U. S. government is paying me a very large sum of money to do it. "

"Didn't you tell me the U S. government was out to make sure you couldn't get another job?"

He nodded. "It's true. But it was planned that way. I was busted for dealing dnigs to recruits at Camp Lejeune and spent a couple of months in the stockade. Aocording to the scenario we worked out, none of the buyers would testify, so I got off with a dishonorable discharge. But it was all staged-all part of the plan to make Frye confident he was recruiting a ruthless, bitqer man, and that he had something to hold over me."

" Are you saying this. . scheme has been in the works for years? " "Yeah. It's that kind of operation. Like when the Russians used to put agents in a country and let them work up to a position of authority-doing nothing until they got the signal to act. Frye's information sources are so extensive he wouldn't have fallen for anything superficial "Hopscotch ' 153 She sat in stunned silence, trying to imagine what his life must have been like over the past few years. Then, carefully, she said, "That's an awful lot to swallow."

"I'm hoping it makes you understand how carefully this whole thing has been set up. And if you want a character referenoe for Frye, think about what he did to you," he continued. "And your uncle. He kept Henry Marconi in virtual bondage for years. Didn't you think it was strange the way your uncle used to disappear for weeks at a time? Didn't you wonder why he never got close to anyone?"

Noel had always felt that there was some painful secret hidden by Uncle Henry's jovial exterior. "What about Flora?"

"" Iqe Sovereign's invention. You don't remember your uncle ever mentioning her before, do you? "

"No. Mom had told me he'd been stationed in Englsnd in the fifties. That's why Flora's story seemed to fit.

But Uncle Henry never volunteered any information about his past, and the few times I asked, he made it clear qt the were parts of his life he didn't want to diswss : '

"Noel, right now, I can't prove every detail I've told you-although my trial is a matter of public record.

What you need to understand is that you've gotten qyourself caught in the middle of a very elaborate plan to put Frye out of business. I'm damn sorry you're involved But it's too late to call it off, even if I could. If it qts cocked up now, a lot of people are going to die. "

She stared at him, unable to respond. yq~-:-"I'm sorry. I'm pushing you too fast." He stood qqly. "You'd better get some sleep, and we'll talk "What are you going to do? "

"Think about how to get us out of this alive."

HE cuRsq qtsEi. F' for giving her too much to deal with all at once, when she was still coping with the aftereffects of the chip. But now that he'd told her about Frye, he desperately needed her cooperation if he was going to pull off this operation. The other things he needed from her, the more personal things-well, there was hardly a chance that she'd give him any of those. But he had had a day with her-and a night.

Long after Noel had fallen asleep, he sat in the armchair staring at her face, sifting back over every detail of the time when she'd thought she was married to him, remembering her warm little glanoes, her gestures, her loving words. He'd craved that from her more than he'd wanted to admit. Craved it enough to make the mistake of letting her seduce him.

But at least he had something to be grateful for. Noel's mind was mending.

s.

He'd already considered and discarded altero ate plans.

She'd be in more danger on her own. From Frye, for starters.

He shuddereq, thinking of things he'd seen the Sovereign do. If he didn't take Sir Douglas out now, Noel would never be safe. The man was capable of tracking her to the ends of the earth to make an example of her.

And in the short run, there was Montgomery. And the British authorities. At this point, they might well shoot first and ask questions later.

There was only one way the two of them were going to work their way out of this cursed situation. He had to play the hand he'd been dealt. And he had to hope he was a better poker player than Sir Douglas Frye.

Carefully, in calculated, detailed terms, his mind devised and rejected a half-dozen ways to stack the deck in his favor. Then he realized there was something he hadn't considered. The chip he'd taken out of Noel's head.

After retrieving the little package, he slowly unwound the gauze and stared at the implant. Then he picked up the innoqnt-looking rectangle in a pair of tweezers and held it to the light, examining the network of fine lines etched into the silicon.

Pulling a powerful magnifying device from its case, he Iook a better look. , t As he followed the well-defined paths, his gaze woqked its way to the edges of the implant. There was something in the right-hand coroer that he would have missed altogether without the light and the powerful magnification.

His body went rigid, and the breath solidified in his lungs as he looked from the chip to the sleeping woman in the bed.

NoEr. oPqv qt EvFs and saw Jason sprawled in one of the armchairs, his dark hair tousled, his shirt wrinhled He was asleep, his long legs crossed at the ankles and shetched to their full length, his back at what looked lite an uncomfortable angle. An image of another time he'd fallen asleep in a chair leaped into her mind. On their honeymoon. He'd gotten a phone call. He'd been qrorried about Her mind came up against a blank wall.

He'd been worried about The memory flitted away, leaving her alone with the man. Her gaze probed his features. They were taut with fauguq and shain that sleep hadn't erased.

Why wasn't he in bed with her, she wondered with a aqsh of warmth and conoero. Anxious to take him in her arms, she shifted toward him. The bed creaked. His eyes snapped open, and his gaze locked with hers-burned into hers.

In that blinding setond, she remembered what her conscious mind had blotted out. Half-asleep, she'd been confused. No longer.

He grimaoed as he straightened, his eyes going to the closed blinds where a strip of watery sunlight filtered into the room, and then back to her. "How do you feel this morning? " " " Better. "

"Good. I wish-" He stopped abruptly and swiped back the dark hair that had fallen across his forehead. " " What were you going to say? "

"I should have let my brain catch up with my mouth. I was going to say I wish' we had some way of knowing whether you're completely back to normal."

His uncertainty brought a tingle of fear. Last night, she'd started to believe she had come out of it in one piece. But how long was she going to have to question every thought she had? She covered her disquiet by standing up, striding toward her luggage and looking for something to wear. After pulling out a pair of jeans and a knit shirt, she took a deep breath and straightened. "So what's next? "

"Let me have a look at the incision."

Noel stood very still as he came toward her. Dipping her head, she waited for his touch. It was very gentle as he pushed her hair aside and examined her scalp. " " Well? " she managed. " " It looks good."

His fingers moved against her scalp in a gesture that would have been a caress-under other circumstances. For just a moment Noel rested her forehead against his chest. Then she pushed herself away. It didn't make sense that she should want to be close to him, that she should crave the comfort that gave her.

They both turned back to the business of getting ready.

As she searched for her toilet articles, Noel's fingers brushed the jewelry bag she was supposed to have delivered to Flora. My God. She'd almost forgotten.

With jerky movements, she opened the zipper and shook a brooch, a locket and a wide bracelet into her hand. They were all overblown nineteenth-centurypieces, although each was very different in character. The bracelet wasfashioned from one curved piece of silver, circled with a raised design ofrepoussq work. The brooch was shaped like a Nile lily and studded withlapis. The locket had an oval door that swung open on recessed hinges. Noelhad examined and put a valq on each pieoe before she'd left Baltimore.However, she hadn't seen aqthing unusual about any of them.