"He just hated not being in control of me. That's why I went to work for people with a much better grasp of the big picture."

"People who give you carte blanche to run roughshod over anyone who stands in your way?"

"Like I said, you just have to be smart about it." He smiled faintly. "And avoid trying to do it to the Kendra Michaelses of the world. It doesn't work." He started the car. "Now, if you're finished probing old wounds, I'll take you home, so you can get some sleep. It's been a long day."

"We're not going back to Rancho Bernardo?"

He smiled. "You're a glutton for punishment. I doubt if we're going to spot any of that Pineland Hibiscus at this hour."

She supposed he was right, but she wasn't sure if she could sleep even if she tried. Every nerve was alert, and her mind was on edge and working double time. "I'm not going to find Jeff or help that woman in the hospital if I keep bankers' hours. I want to get back to teaching my kids, and I can't do that until this is over."

He shook his head ruefully. "It's almost one in the morning. I don't believe anyone can declare that as bankers' hours. I'm going to go back to my place and get a few hours of shut-eye. We'll start again in the morning." He saw the frown on her face, and said gently but firmly, "In the morning. We may have more to work with by then. I've already put in a request for video from all the traffic cams up there. The Bureau A/V guys will hate me for it, but I'll have them scan the tapes for Jeff's car. Maybe they can give us a better idea where he went." He paused. "And see if there is any more of that Pineland Hibiscus in the area."

She gazed at him with narrowed eyes. "Are you throwing me a bone to get your way, Lynch?"

"Do you think that's what I'm doing?"

"Yes."

He chuckled. "That bit of deduction was too easy for you. I'll do better next time. I wouldn't want you to get rusty." His brows rose. "Home?"

Her adrenaline was still high, and she most certainly did not want to stop yet. But he was being disappointingly reasonable, and she knew that sometimes she was driven to the point where there was only the goal ahead, and she trampled everything else in its path.

She stared at him for a brief moment before slowly nodding. "Home."

CHAPTER.

9.

IT WAS NEARLY ONE THIRTY when Lynch pulled into the parking s.p.a.ce in front of Kendra's condo.

"I'll see you in the morning." Kendra reached for the handle of the door. "Unless you've changed your mind about-"

"I've not changed my mind." He got out of the car and strode around it to open her door. "But I'm not leaving you until I've checked out your apartment."

"That's not necessary. I have an alarm system, and I can take care of myself. I let you go through my condo after the attack on Jimmy and me, but I don't need you to protect me, Lynch. Jeff made sure that I knew how to defend myself in any situation."

"I hate to offend your sense of independence, but dead bodies seem to be dropping all around us. I'm going to take a look around."

"Why now? Why weren't you this worried last night?"

"Actually, I was." He took her arm and walked with her toward the condo. "I didn't want to make you nervous about the possibility, but I wanted to be sure. So I stayed in the parking lot for thirty minutes or so and watched the lights go on and off in the rooms in your condo."

"That's kind of creepy. Sort of like a Peeping Tom."

He chuckled. "Only you would think that I was creepy to try to protect you." He watched her unlock the front door. "Though I admit my imagination was working a bit overtime as I mentally followed you around that condo. I was making bets with myself what you were wearing or not wearing when you left that bathroom to go to bed."

"What did you decide?" she asked suspiciously.

"A San Diego Padres baseball nightshirt."

She went into the condo and turned on the overhead lights. "Search away."

He headed for the bedroom. "Aren't you going to tell me if I was right?"

"Nope."

He sighed. "Cruel." He disappeared into the bedroom. He came out in only a few minutes and moved toward the kitchen. "Unless the nightshirt is in the wash, I think I was wrong."

"I don't appreciate your pawing through my things." She gave him a cool glance. "Particularly since it's only to satisfy your licentious curiosity."

"'Licentious,' that's the same as 'l.u.s.tful,' right?" He opened the pantry and checked the back door. "Yes, that's definitely where I was at."

"Over a baseball jersey?"

"What can I say?" He was coming back across the room to where she was standing. "Ask any guy what turns him on the most. s.e.xy lingerie or a woman naked beneath a sports jersey or a crisp white man's shirt." He stood looking down at her. "I'll get out of here. You're safe now."

She didn't feel safe. She was tingling, aware of Lynch's closeness, the warmth of his body, the smell of his musk-based aftershave. d.a.m.n, where had that flood of sensation come from? One moment she had been slightly annoyed, even a little indignant and the next she was feeling this melting and thinking about how close they were to the couch across the room. She should have been more wary of Lynch. She had known from the moment she had met him that he was dangerous to her in every way. Intelligence, intuition, a boldness and power that she always found attractive in a man.

And he was reading that effect on her, she realized. His eyes were narrowed on her face, and he was smiling. "Say thank you, Lynch," he said softly. "Go on, it's easy."

Nothing was going to be easy with Lynch. Her relationship with Jeff should have taught her a lesson. He had been driven and completely ruthless about using her, but Lynch put him in the shade. Lynch was larger-than-life and would try to manipulate her in any way he could.

And she was already afraid she was letting him do it. She would be crazy to also let him have s.e.x as a weapon over her.

She stepped back and opened the door. "Screw you, Lynch. You were only protecting an investment. Good night."

He laughed. "You're wrong, you know. I'm self-serving, but I'm not that cerebral." He went out the door and paused. "Lock it behind me. I'll pick you up at eight."

"Nine. I have calls to return from my mother and Olivia. I don't seem to have time during the day."

"Your decision. You're the one who's been keeping me hopping. Not that I'm complaining." He moved down the hallway. "In certain areas, you're very entertaining."

She opened her lips to make a scathing reply, but he had already rounded the corner.

She slammed the door and turned the lock. Block Lynch from her mind. Forget those last few disturbing minutes and get to bed. She turned out the top light in the living room and kitchen and went to the bedroom.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks.

"I watched the lights go out one by one."

Could he be- She strode to the patio door overlooking the street and threw it open.

The Ferrari was still sitting in the parking spot, engine turned off.

She couldn't see his expression.

But she heard him chuckle, dammit.

She stepped out under the patio light and deliberately shot him the bird.

And his chuckle became full-bodied laughter before he started the car's engine.

She went back inside and locked the door again.

She was smiling faintly as she stood there in the dark, listening as he drove away. He was outrageous, out of control, and she should not be amused. But her responses to Lynch were never what they should be. He stirred to life the Kendra she had been during those years when she was as volatile and wild as a summer storm.

What the h.e.l.l? That wasn't so bad. It was sometimes good to revisit what you were so that you could compare it to what you had become.

And what had she become? Was she heading perilously close to being her mother? Didn't they say that all daughters ended up that way? That wouldn't be so terrible. Her mother was brilliant and certainly unusual and she loved her.

But it would be terrible for Kendra. No matter how she tried, she would not have been able to stand her usual day-to-day routine if it hadn't been for the kids. In her heart, she was still that gypsy she had been all those years ago.

And Lynch had managed to resurrect that gypsy. It was only another indication of how dangerous he could be to her.

Or not. If she kept her balance and called the shots, maybe she didn't have to be careful. Maybe she could just enjoy Lynch and play his games with no harm.

She shook her head, the smile still lingering as she headed for the bedroom. She would have to think about it. In the meantime, she had to get a little sleep. She needed to check her voice mail for possible news on Jimmy, then make her personal calls as soon as she got up in the morning.

And she would not think of Lynch until she saw him tomorrow.

OSCAR LAIRD GLANCED AROUND the deserted lot as the motorcyclist pulled up alongside his car. There was no way not to draw attention when that monster machine was roaring like a sick dragon, he thought with annoyance. He'd done the best he could by choosing the lot of a sad, half-completed office complex just off the I-805 freeway, but he'd better make the meeting brief and get out of there.

Tommy Briggs dismounted from the motorcycle and walked around to Laird's pa.s.senger-side door. "h.e.l.l of a place to meet," he said as he climbed into the car. "What the h.e.l.l's wrong with Rancho Bernardo?"

"I decided this was safer. The feds have been nosing around the area."

"s.h.i.t."

"We don't think they know where our lab is located, but we need to be careful with our comings and goings." Laird reached into the console and pulled out a sheet of paper with a color photo printed on it. "And you need to be careful everywhere. Those feds who almost took you down have been showing this up and down Highway 138."

Briggs's eyes widened as he stared at the photograph of himself. "You have to be kidding. Where the h.e.l.l did they get this?"

"It came off a McDonald's security camera on the morning you opened fire on those two agents on Devil's Slide. Good picture of your friend, Leon, too, though I seriously doubt if he'd have been eating at McDonald's if he'd known it would be his last meal."

Briggs was still staring at the photo. "How the h.e.l.l...?"

"You and Leon took it upon yourselves to declare war on a federal agent. They tend to take that kind of thing seriously."

"I told you that we didn't know who they were. They were heading right for our spot, and Leon panicked."

"Then you panicked and killed Leon."

"I didn't have any choice. If I'd left him there, he'd-"

"Relax. Killing him was the one thing you did right. And the feds never found your burner bench. I thought it was foolish to spend all that money on the false door to that sealed mine, but it fooled 'em. We cleared it out a couple nights ago."

"But we didn't finish the last batch."

"No, you didn't. We had to do it for you. And that will be reflected in your payment."

Briggs tossed the paper down. "That's bulls.h.i.t."

"We had an agreement, Briggs. You didn't fulfill your part of it."

"I did way more than I bargained for on this job. You hired me to stay close to Leon and be the muscle to keep the project going. I didn't sign on to stand over him while he was cooking up your concoction out in the middle of freaking nowhere in 110-degree heat, fighting off scorpions and snakes every d.a.m.ned day while you guys worked in those air-conditioned palaces in the suburbs."

"Hardly palaces. And your working conditions were built into your payment."

"And what about killing Leon? Was that built into my payment, too?"

"Spare me." He gave him a sardonic glance. "You did that to save your own skin."

Briggs flushed with anger. "You think I liked doing that s.h.i.t? I liked Leon. He made me laugh, you know?"

"Were you laughing when you blew his head off?"

"Screw you."

Laird made the effort to restrain his anger. Briggs was only a tool that had to be used. "And we both know that Leon isn't the first man you've killed. You've been lucky not to have been picked up before this."

Briggs opened his lips to deny it, but when he met Laird's eyes, he closed them without speaking.

"You'd do better to stop lying and trying to shake me down and concentrate on the fix you're in. The feds are probably going to know who Leon was in the next couple days. When that happens, will they be talking to anyone in Leon's circle who might be able to point at you?"

"Maybe." Briggs thought about it. "He's spent the last few years working at Schuyler's factory outside London, but he has a sister here, and we all went out for drinks one night. But how are they going to find him? He's never been arrested, never been fingerprinted that I know about."

"The feds have their ways, and you ran into a couple of particularly savvy agents. Could they trace you through Leon?"

"Not my home address."

"They'll find it. They'll find out everything. They won't give up until they do."

Briggs began to curse. "How in h.e.l.l did they find us?"