Oliver was staring at the vial with the implant, shaking his head and speaking to himself as much as to Gina n't believe Duncan would do such a thing.

Well maybe to the committee members . . . I could see that . . . I mean, after Lisa died he went a little crazy, made all sorts of threats . . . but you . . . he thinks the world of you . . . he'd never .

. " - Poor Oliver, she thought. His heroic image of his older brother is coming undone.

"He knows I'm on to him, " Gin said softly. "And he knows I'll be in the way tomorrow Qliver's head snapped up. "Tomorrow? Oh, no! You don't thinkhe wouldn t!

"Yes, he would. That's why he did this to me. To give him a clear shot at the president." He got to his feet. "I've got to go see him stop him. I can talk to him. He'll listen to me.

"Will he? I wouldn't count on it."

"He'll have to. Now two people know. And soon more will. He grabbed a jacket that had been hanging over the back of a chair. "He's beaten.But still I've got to see him." Anger flashed in his eyes. "Using my implants for something like this! I've a good mind to . . . " He didn't finish the thought.

Instead, he pointed to the bottle on the table.

"Can I take that with me? " Gin grabbed it and held it tight in her fist.

"No. Sorry. This is the only proof I've got that I didn't make all this up. I'm not letting it out of my sight. And you realize, don't you, that as soon as you confront him he'll know how you found out and he'll know where I am. And since I have the only hard proof against him, I think maybe I'll disappear for a while."

"Good idea. Don't even tell me where you're going, just in case'' He shook his head to clear it. "Who'd ever believe I'd be thinking this way about my brother? " "I know how you feel. Can you call me a cab?

" Another shiver rattled her teeth as Oliver was phoning the cab company.

She was definitely getting a fever. She hoped whatever was infecting her wasn't penicillin resistant.

'"They'll have one here in about ten minutes, " Oliver said. "I'm going to call Duncan. ' '"No! " "Just to see if he's home. No sense in going over there if he's not in." He dialed, waited, then said, "Duncan. It's me. We need to talk. No, in person. I'll explain when I get there. See you in a few minutes. ' He hung up and bustled toward the door. "Wish me luck, " he said. "And lock the door as you leave. ' Gin shivered again as the front door closed behind Oliver.

It was almost over. Duncan was at his place, Oliver was on his way there, a cab was on its way here. But where was she going?

Not another hotel. She couldn't stand the thought of another strange little box with a bed and a TV that pa.s.sed for a room.

Her folks' place? The old homestead. The thought comforted her.

She'd make a quick stop at her apartment for a change of clothes, then head over to Arlington. She'd be safe there. Another chill wracked her. And warm.

Where was that cab? She took a look our the window but the driveway was empty.

She went down the hall and found Oliver's bathroom. On the top shelfof the medicine cabinet she found a thermometer. She rinsed it off, shook it down, and stuck it in her mouth. After a couple of minutes she checked it, 102.4 degrees.

No wonder I'm shivering, she thought. I'm sick.

Well, she had two grams of amoxicillin perking through her bloodstream.

It had to kick in soon. She'd left her Tylenol at the hotel, so she took a few of Oliver's.

A car horn honked outside. She hurried back to the living room and peeked out a corner of the front window. Her heart was pounding, from fever as much as fear.

If I've fallen into a B movie, she thought, there'll be a black Mercedes idling out there.

But no. It was a Diamond cab. She hurried outside, thinking that if she were in a real schlock movie, Duncan would be behind the wheel, disguised as the driver. But a black face peered out the driver window as she approached and pushed open the rear door from inside.

'"Where we going? " She gave him her address and they were off. She huddled in the back seat, shivering.

"Would you mind turning up the heat? " she said.

She was so cold her teeth were chattering.

Duncan sat mute, shaken. Oliver's arrival had taken him completely by surprise. He'd never seen his brother like this. He'd burst in and immediately launched into a blistering verbal attack. Duncan didn't know which shocked him moreOliver's nakedX self-righteous anger, or the fact that Gin had reached Oliver and told him everything.

The words poured out of Oliver in a steady, rapid-fire fusillade. Not just his anger, but the story of Gin slicing open her own leg in that hotel room and removing an implant with drugstore equipment.

Despite his ongoing shock, Duncan had to admire the unwavering determination and pure guts Gin had shown. He doubted he'd have been able to do the same had situations been reversed. But he was glad he hadn't underestimated Gin. He'd half antic.i.p.ated this. That young woman did not know the meaning of the word quit. And she was as intent as ever on stopping him.

And she just might. His whole world seemed about to crumble around him.

Visions of headlines and courtrooms and, Lord, prison swirled around him. Everything was falling apart He shook off the visions. He had to settle down and deal with Oliver.

The situation was still salvageablebarely. He'd have to move fast.

But before he could do anything, he'd have to neutralize Oliver.

"What did she tell youwhat exactly did she say she removed from her leg? " Duncan said.

"An implantone of my implantsfilled with TPD, of all things. "

Duncan shot from his seat and adopted a fiercely indignant pose. "And you believe this fantastic story? " But Oliver wasn't backing down.

He leaned into Duncan's face.

"She's got the b.l.o.o.d.y implant in a bottle. She showed me. She's got a fresh incision on her leg. She showed me that too.

She knows about TPD, Duncan. How could she know about TPD if she didn't find it in your office as she says? And on the way over here, I remembered our discussion about my rogues' gallery earlier this year and telling you about TPD. You were very interested, wanted to know all about it. And tonight I couldn't find my sample bottle in the gallery.

Where's my TPD, Duncan? " d.a.m.n it. He was caught. No way to deny this. But worse was the look in Oliver's eyes. The almost worshipful regard was gone, replaced by anger and . . . fear.

My brother fevrs me.

That hurt. But no less than he deserved.

Don't fear me, Oliver. Even if I can't explain the TPD.

TPD. That was the rock-steady anchor of Gin's story. He could ascribe everything else she'd said or done to mental illness of one form or another. But that d.a.m.n TPD . . . that was real. Oliver knew it better than anyone. And he'd already guessed that on one of his visits to his home, Duncan had crept down to the bas.e.m.e.nt and removed the world's last remaining sample.

"Answer me, Duncan, Oliver said. "Where is it and what have you been doing with it? " No sense in denying he'd taken it. He slumped his shoulders and sighed.

"It's downstairs." He turned and began walking away. "I'll showyou.

" Duncan's admission worked a dramatic change in Oliver's demeanor.

Suddenly he was solicitous.

"You've been working too hard, Duncan, " he said as he followed him to the cellar. "I've warned you about that. You need a long rest and .

and maybe some . . . maybe you could talk to someone." '"You mean psychotherapy? " "Well, yes." Oliver was obviously uncomfortable telling his brother the doctor that he needed to see another doctor.

"I think that might be a good idea. I've been under terrible stress lately. And I never did get over Lisa's death . . .

finding her like that."

"I know, Duncan. You've been through a lot.

" Duncan turned on the lights. The bas.e.m.e.nt was finished but dusty and musty. The previous owners had set it up as a game room but Duncan rarely set foot down here. He led Oliver to the center of the room, then stopped and looked around) feigning puzzlement.

"Now where did I put that? " He turned in a slow circle, then snapped his fingers. "I know. Walt here." He hurried for the stairs and bounded back up to the main floor where he shut the bas.e.m.e.nt door and locked it. He heard Oliver rush up the steps, try the k.n.o.b, then start pounding on the other side.

"Duncan! Duncan, don't do this! This is insane! " "Just one more thing left to do, Oliver, " Duncan said as he wedged one of the heavy kitchen chairs under the doork.n.o.b as a precaution. He braced the kitchen table behind that for extra insurance. "Make yourself comfortable down there. I'll let you OUt later when I'm through." No windows down there, no phone. Oliver would be neutralized until Duncan had finished what he had to do.

"She's not at my house, if that's what you're thinking. I told her to disappear to someplace safe and I don't even know where. So if you're thinking of finding her and destroying the evidence, forget it. You'll never find her." '"We'll see about that, " Duncan said.

A good chance Gin wouldn't go into hiding without stopping at her own place first. Especially if she felt safe.

He checked his coat pocket to make sure he still had his minitransducerwith him, then he hurried to the garage.

Yes, as Oliver had guessed, he was certainly interested in retrieving The implant Gin had excised from her leg. That was hard evidence against him. But that wasn't the only implant involved here.

Good thing he'd had the foresight last night to place two in her thigh.

Gin felt as if her apartment were filled with water. Every move was an effort. The very air around her weighed her down. It was an ongoing test of her will to resist crawling into her bed, still unmade from this morning, and pulling the covers over her head.

At least she'd managed to change her sweaty clothes and underwear. A shower would have been wonderful but she couldn't risk the TIME She'd take one in Arlington, and give her folks some excuse about having the flu or something to explain her sickly looks.

She was feeling weaker than ever as she finished packing a small gym bag with another change of clothes. But at least the chills had stopped.

As a matter of fact, she was beginning to feel warm. Hot even. Maybe the amoxicillin was kicking in. Or maybe the Tylenol was breaking the fever.

She was actually a little clammy now.

And then a cool draft wrapped around her feet and she thought she heard a click from the front room.

The front door?

Oh, no. It couldn't be.

Trembling, feeling weaker with each thudding heartbeat, she stepped to her bedroom door and peered into the front room. It looked empty. But it was dark, full of long shadows cast by the light from her bedroom.

She'd left it dark so that anyone pa.s.sing by wouldn't see the lights and know she was home.

Her gaze darted to the mantle where she'd left the bottle with the implant. Still there. She shuffled over and grabbed it. Yes. Same bottle. And there was the implant, safe inside.

Suddenly the gla.s.s tingled against her skin. Gin watched in horror as the implant shriveled and dissolved into a puddle of liquid. The membrane was gone, leaving only the TPD and a few floating streaks ofdried blood.

She heard a rustle behind her and Duncan was there, stepping out of the shadows, the pager in his hand. Tears streaked his cheeks, his expression was tortured, his voice husky, hovering on the edge of a sob.

She turned to run, to scream for help, but she could not. Her mouth was dry, and she was so weak. Without taking her eyes off him, she reached out a shaky hand and found the edge of the couch. Two steps were all she could manage before she slumped onto the cushions.

"I'm sorry, Gin. You've left me no alternative. This is something I must do. Not just for me. For all of us." Gin opened her mouth but could not speak. Her body was bathe in sweat. She could feel it running down her skin in rivulets. An angry buzz was growing in her head.

Duncan stepped forward and took the bottle from her slick, nerveless fingers.

"I know you'll never forgive me, Gin. But I hope someday you'll understand why I had to do this." The buzzing grew louder as Gin tried to lift herself from the couch, to reach for Duncan, claw at him, but then the already darkened room went completely black, and the buzz exploded into a deafening roar, and she felt herself falling back .

But she never landed.

FRTOAY DUNCAN HAD LOST ALL HEART FOR THIS SCHEME.

Feeling utterly miserable, he drove through Chevy Chase in the predawn grayness and thought about Gin. He'd thought of little else since last night. He wondered how she was. He'd called 911 from the first public phone he found after leaving her and gave the operator Gin's address, saying there was an unconscious woman in the apartment.

The E.M.Ts would come and take her away. He hadn't stayed around. The police would be noting any onlookers, wondering which one had made the call. Duncan couldn't afford to be seen.

Placing a second implant in the trocar after he'd pierced Gin's thigh had been a last-second decision. A subhmlnal voice, more aware of her tenacity and relentless determination than his conscious mind, must have whispered to hlmX urging him to buy himself some insurance whereGin was concerned. Whatever it was, it had been right on the money.

Gin had cut her own leg open and dug out one of the implants .

But only one. Duncan had dissolved boththe one in the bottle and the one still in her thigh. The evidence was gone, and so was a brilliant mind. It would be years before the effects of the TPD wore off. Gin would find it almost impossible to get licensed when she recovered.

All her years of training, worthless. All her hopes for a career in medicine, dashed.

Duncan had sobbed like a child all the way home. He'd had to sneak into his own house so he wouldn't have to speak to Oliver. He knew his brother was comfortable down in the bas.e.m.e.nt. It was heated and had its own bathroom, the extra fridge was down there, filled with juices and soft drinks. Every convenience but a phone.

Oliver probably spent a more comfortable night than I did, Duncan thought.

Duncan had lain awake the entire night on the couch, hearing Oliver occasionally shout his name, and watching over and over against the backs of his eyelids the replay of Gin's wounded, terrified expression before she pa.s.sed out.

For a while he considered dropping all his plans. He could call that Secret Service agent who'd given him his card, Decker was his name, and tell him the surgery was off. Or call Dr. VanDuyne and tell him to tell his patient, the president, to go to h.e.l.l and find another surgeon to fix his G.o.dd.a.m.n eyelids.

But after all he'd gone through, he couldn't allow himself such a luxury. Not after what he'd done to Gin. Unconscionable, but he'd done it for a cause. To fail to follow through would mean he'd made her suffer for nothing. And that would be monstrous.

That was why he was driving to the surgicenter at 4, 3O A. M. , half an hour earlier than planned. Oliver was still locked in the bas.e.m.e.nt at home. As soon as the president left for Camp David, hopefully carrying an implant in his thigh, Duncan would return and release Oliver. What happened after that would be up to his younger brother.

Possibly he could convince Oliver to keep quiet. He'd return the remaining TPD and swear he'd done nothing to the president. He'd say he'd suffered through a period of aberrant behavior but he was better now, and he was going into therapy. He'd profess to know nothing of Gin's condition, and swear again that he'd gone looking for her last night but had been unable to find her.Oliver would suspect, but he couldn't know. After all, Gin had removed the implantOliver had seen it himself. And if Duncan could convince him that he was on the straight and narrow from now on, that they should put all this behind them, Oliver might go along.