"Did he just talk to me?" Jack reached for her gun again.

"Brett," Dario said quickly. "I'm talking to you, Brett." The whole situation was so comical Chase had to do her best not to laugh. G.o.d, how she'd missed Jack. "You'll be fine," she told Heather.

"You want her to babysit me."

"I want her to make sure you're safe."

"Are you implying I might hurt her?" Dario asked, trying to sound offended.

"Never, being the sweet soul you are," Jack replied. "We're just worried she might slip and fall in the shower."

"Why does she get to talk to me?" Dario asked no one in particular.

* 310 *

The elevator opened on the fourth floor and they got out. Chase handed Jack one of the key cards. "The three of us need to talk before we quit for the night. Your room."

"What do you want to do about the creep on wheels?"

"He's coming with. I'm not leaving him alone in case Rozsa decides to call."

"This late?" Heather asked.

"Crime knows no time." Jack glanced at Dario as she unlocked the room. "Right, creep? And don't talk, it was rhetorical." They all entered the s.p.a.cious room, which had a pair of double beds, a table and two chairs, and a balcony. Though it was clean and modern and had the usual amenities of any four-star hotel, the room lacked the opulence of Dario's suite in Beijing.

"Mediocrity is the elephant in this room," Dario said, looking around.

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Chase asked as the others dropped their bags.

"No, why?"

"Because I'm about to cuff you to the radiator."

"That's absurd."

"So is your occupation."

"I'm a cripple, isn't that handicap enough?" Dario asked. "Why do you have to detain me?"

"Your disability hasn't been an obstacle as far as causing trouble is concerned. You seem to manage just fine." Chase secured one handcuff to Dario's left wrist, the other to the st.u.r.dy steel radiator.

"I'm going to step out on the balcony. I'll be able to see your every move."

Dario tested the cuffs. "I'm not exactly in any position to escape."

"Where's your cell?"

"Why?" he asked.

"Where is it?"

"I'm not comfortable with any of this."

"I'm not concerned with your comfort level," Chase said. "Just tell me where the d.a.m.n thing is."

* 311 *

"Want me to frisk him?" Jack asked. "I'm very thorough." Dario pulled it out of his pocket with his free hand. "Here." He gave it to Chase. "What if Rozsa calls?"

"I'll hand you the phone."

Heather frowned. "Are you going to leave me in here with him?""We'll be just outside," Chase said.

"Call me if Hot Wheels bothers you." Jack gave Dario a menacing look, which he pretended not to see, staring instead at the ceiling.

Heather flipped on the television as Chase and Jack stepped out onto the balcony.

"Do you want to tell me why you seem so upbeat or should we skip to business?" Chase asked. "Although, I have to admit, your bright att.i.tude is a bit disconcerting."

"You go first," Jack said. "I can't wait to hear why the peanut gallery is here."

Chase caught her up on Dario finding the wire and how he had Heather arrested for cocaine possession, and the deal she made with Dario to get to Rozsa.

"Of course, just because he said he'd play nice doesn't mean he will," Jack said when she'd finished. "He could still have his goons go after Rozsa and throw our hides in for good measure. I doubt his sister wants any witnesses."

"I told him to call his men in France off, and as far as I heard he did, but you know how it works."

"Yup. Say one thing to your men and mean another."

"And that's why Heather is here," Chase said. "I don't want her back in the States before this is resolved. I'm going to have Pierce get the feds to relocate her and her brother after we give them Rozsa."

"h.e.l.l, if we deliver Rozsa, the feds will do our laundry and windows."

"That's right."

"I'm gonna guess Heather didn't take it too well."

"Well..." Chase sighed.

* 312 *

"Yeah. I didn't think so."

"The money drop-off is tomorrow. Rozsa hasn't called yet, but I'm sure he's not going to make it easy."

"He didn't invent a virus, kill millions, and run with my girl by being stupid."

"Chances are we're going to have to deal with both Rozsa and Dario's men."

"Yeah. But come h.e.l.l or high c.r.a.p, I'm getting Ca.s.s back. We don't have to deliver Rozsa alive, right?"

"Pierce never said."

"Good," Jack replied. "Because the guy has the life expectancy of a bad sitcom."

Heather tried to distract herself by flipping through the channels, but the few mildly interesting possibilities were in French. Now and then she'd glance over at Dario, sitting across from her. She had his undivided attention and didn't like it. It was creepy being alone in a bedroom with him now, with him watching her, so much so she deliberately chose a chair instead of relaxing on the bed. "Why are you staring at me?" she asked.

"Because you are like a puzzle to me, Heather."

"Whatever."

"With all due respect, I would think that someone in your line of business would be a bit quicker to see when they are being used."

"My line of business."

"Someone who's...been around." He smiled knowingly.

"You do enjoy rubbing that in, don't you?"

"Why shouldn't I? I have a lot of respect for what you do."

"Have done."

His feigned look of apology was pathetically transparent. "Of course. In any case, it takes a strong individual to decide to follow your particular path. A determined, selfless woman more concerned about the well-being of her brother than her own." He was up to something. She just didn't know what it was.

"What are you trying to do?"

* 313 *

"Do? Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm merely impressed and at the same time surprised by your choices. A puzzle." Heather lowered the sound on the TV. "What are you saying?"

"While I am impressed for the reasons I just mentioned, I can't help but feel surprised at how impaired your reasoning has become as far as..." He pursed his lips. "Let's play along and call her Brett...is concerned. There's no reason why she'd give me her real name, and let's face it, she doesn't look like a Brett." He gave her a chummy conspiratorial smile, like two good friends who could see through a lie.

"Brett," she said with emphasis, "has not impaired anything." He shook his head. "I doubt that. She is more or less a complete stranger to you, who-"

"No, she's not," she lied. "I know her well enough."

"Not well enough, or you wouldn't have been surprised at how she lied to you. She spied on you while you were with me and denied it."

She didn't respond.

"I wonder what else she's lied about. Don't you?"

"What do you care?"

"I care because I can see what they are doing to you."

"That's rich. You care so much you had me arrested."

"I felt betrayed. I trusted you. I sincerely liked you and still do, now that I realize how innocent you really are. But when I found out about the wire, I...I felt hurt. I asked you to join me in China because, like I told you then, you're different. Compa.s.sionate.

I never meant to hurt you, but I reacted like any deceived lover.

I lashed out. I'm sincerely sorry, but only now do I realize how stupidly compa.s.sionate you really are. So much, as a matter of fact, you can't see the game they're playing and how it's going to end."

"What do you mean?"

"You're delusional if you think they're going to let you live.

You've seen too much and know too much."

* 314 *

ChaPter thirty-Four.

I think you're officially the first operative to find their biological parent." Chase still couldn't believe Jack's revelation. Jack had relayed the amazing story of meeting her mother and what she'd learned: how her parents had met and how her mysterious father took her away but kept tabs on her.

Chase had stopped wondering about her own past and roots after her teenage years; she knew only that she came from some orphanage in Norway. But she couldn't help feeling happy and jealous that Jack had managed to discover some of her history. "I suppose I would be in good spirits, too, had I found my mother."

"What's funny is how easy it is to consider her just that," Jack said. "I don't know if it's because we look alike or because she was never replaced. It's not like the kids at the organization ever get adopted by new parents."

"No. A corporation adopts us. Hardly the same. Will you see her again?"

"Yeah." Jack smiled. "We'd both like that."

"Are you going to look for your father?"

"Wouldn't know where to start."

"Do you care?"

Jack leaned against the balcony rail and gazed out at the distant Mediterranean, a vast, black void dotted here and there with the twinkling lights of anch.o.r.ed or pa.s.sing boats. "I'm not sure. I somehow always pictured him as a strong, heroic figure. Someone * 315 *

who gave me away against his will. Turns out, my mother was the heroic figure who wanted to keep me. He was just some guy who had his fun and left her, even when he found out they had a child."

"But he took you with him."

"Only to give me away again. As far as I'm concerned, he can screw himself."