Against the Wall
Against the Wall
Lyn Stone
One minute she was tending an injured patient. The next, her familiar world had vanished and Dr. Solange Micheaux was on the run with Special Agent Jack Mercier, his reluctant partner in a deadly race against time. But his powerful sensuality posed a far graver threat.She was in the wrong place at the wrong time–Jack had no choice but to take her with him. Now Solange was critical to the success of his mission. All he had to do was keep her safe. But as the hours ticked down, the stakes were rising. For each passion-filled moment they shared could be their last….
“This mission could be deadly if you don’t know what you’re doing, Solange. Tell me now if you aren’t sure, and I’ll get you out of here.”
Jack’s hand on her arm gripped with increased intensity. Solange realized he was afraid for her. Really afraid, to the point where he might abandon the mission if she seemed reluctant.
“I know what to do,” she assured him, putting more conviction into her answer than she truly felt.
In a surprising move, he put his arms around her and held her close. “I wish to God I had left you where you were. You’re not cut out for this.”
She pushed against his chest until she could look him straight in the eye. “Don’t underestimate me, Mercier.”
He smiled down at her, still holding her in his arms. “My mistake.” Then he lowered his head and kissed her.
Solange felt it to her soul.
Dear Reader,
Once again, Silhouette Intimate Moments has a month’s worth of fabulous reading for you. Start by picking up Wanted, the second in Ruth Langan’s suspenseful DEVIL’S COVE miniseries. This small town is full of secrets, and this top-selling author knows how to keep readers turning the pages.
We have more terrific miniseries. Kathleen Creighton continues STARRS OF THE WEST with An Order of Protection, featuring a protective hero every reader will want to have on her side. In Joint Forces, Catherine Mann continues WINGMEN WARRIORS with Tag’s long-awaited story. Seems Tag and his wife are also awaiting something: the unexpected arrival of another child. Carla Cassidy takes us back to CHEROKEE CORNERS in Manhunt. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and only the heroine’s visions can help catch him—but will she be in time to save the hero? Against the Wall is the next SPECIAL OPS title from Lyn Stone, a welcome addition to the line when she’s not also writing for Harlequin Historicals. Finally, you knew her as Anne Avery, also in Harlequin Historicals, but now she’s Anne Woodard, and in Dead Aim she proves she knows just what contemporary readers want.
Enjoy them all—and come back next month, when Silhouette Intimate Moments brings you even more of the best and most exciting romance reading around.
Yours,
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Editor
Against the Wall
Lyn Stone
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
LYN STONE
loves creating pictures with words. Paints, too. Her love affair with writing and art began in the third grade, when she won a school-wide prize for her colorful poster for Book Week. She spent the prize money on books, one of which was Little Women.
She rewrote the ending so that Jo marries her childhood sweetheart. That’s because Lyn had a childhood sweetheart herself and wanted to marry him when she grew up. She did. And now she is living her “happily ever after” in north Alabama with the same guy. She and Allen have traveled the world, have two children, four grandchildren and experienced some wild adventures along the way.
Whether writing romantic historicals or contemporary fiction, Lyn insists on including elements of humor, mystery and danger. Perhaps because that other book she purchased all those years ago was a Nancy Drew.
This book is dedicated to
retired Special Agent Frank Hudson, Dorothy and Jim.
We miss you guys!
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Prologue
“I don’t see how we’re gonna be much help to Jack fifteen clicks away,” Joe Corda said. He immediately lowered his voice when he heard the echo bounce off the old masonry walls. “That’s lethal stuff he’ll be dealing with. Not like bullets. One hit and he’s dead. If he were going in alone, I wouldn’t worry so much, but he’ll have that doctor along. And the kid.”
“He’ll need tickets and they’re it. I’d have gotten us closer, but we’d stick out like M&Ms on a sushi plate anywhere else around here,” Holly Amberson argued. “As it is, the locals won’t even blink at us. They’re used to weirdos renting this place. Artistes!” she hissed with a flourish of her fingers.
He looked around as he put down two of the suitcases. “This dump looks like something out of a really bad French novel.”
“Oh, yeah, like you’ve read so many of those,” she muttered. “But I will admit a Bela Lugosi butler wouldn’t be out of place.”
He leveled her with a look. “We are the help, remember?”
“Not you, slick.” She smirked. “You are the gigolo. Man, I do hate that shirt. Which pimp’s closet did you raid anyway?”
Just outside, Martine Duquesne Corda was busy issuing imperious instructions to her bodyguard, Eric Vinland, and chauffeur, Will Griffin. Holly laughed. “Martine’s really getting into her role. You let her boss you around like that?”
“Sure.” Joe shrugged, hands on his hips, preoccupied with taking in the rustic, old-world charm of the faded mansion in France’s Lorraine region. “She does have an image to maintain. How do you like her disguise? She’ll be just that beautiful when she does reach sixty, I bet.”
In an abrupt change of topic, Holly commented, “Where the heck are the outlets in this barn? I need a place to hook up.” She hefted the case containing assorted gadgets and her laptop and set it on a scarred marble-topped table near the door.
They both moved aside as the others entered. She waited until Will had closed the door. “All the rooms been swept?”
“Clean,” Eric assured her. “We’re good to go.” He turned to Martine, clicked his heels and bowed, looking more like a muscle-bound kid on spring break than the bodyguard he was supposed to be. “Our reclusive Madame D’Amato may proceed with her work uninhibited.” He peered over his wire-rimmed glasses and winked at Joe. “As well as her play, of course.” Caught off guard, Martine laughed and blushed.
Holly pointed to the mound of luggage now piled near their feet. “You guys cut the bull and set up the global positioning system. Let’s check Jack’s location. We need to know exactly when to expect him.”
Will, quintessential agent, the quiet man, finally spoke. “His ETA’s eleven-thirty, give or take five. He’ll be here.”
“Verify.” Holly was running this end of the mission. Joe reached for the case with the GPS instruments. His duties consisted of whatever Holly ordered him to do. And also protecting his wife, not an official member of the Sextant team but a contract language specialist who was central to their cover. Holly, Will, Eric and he were masquerading as her entourage. Clay Senate was maintaining Stateside control while the boss, Mercier, had assumed the lead.
The Sextant team consisted of agents recruited from various government organizations expressly for the purpose of preventing terrorist activities around the globe. This suspected bio-terror threat was the first of its kind for Sextant.
Identify, Infiltrate, Analyze and Eliminate. That first part, they had all had a hand in. The second and most difficult order of business was about to go down within the next few hours if all went as planned. The primary agent was about to insert.
Joe looked up at the peeling paint on the fancy plaster ceiling and—seriously lapsed Catholic that he was—uttered a devout prayer that they would all survive. He was known for his hunches, and he had a really bad feeling about this.
Chapter 1
Jack Mercier entered the hospital wing of Baumettes Prison with the barrel of a submachine gun resting at the base of his spine. While he loved humanity—in fact, had devoted his life to the protection of it—he had decided since coming to this place a week ago that he was not that crazy about people. Especially Claude Bujold, his least favorite guard.
Maybe he was rationalizing the fact that he wanted to kill the man, but he didn’t think so. Claude considered beatings a form of entertainment, the more helpless the victim, the greater the rush. Misuse of power really pushed Jack’s buttons.
Jack was supposed to be awaiting arraignment, accused of conspiring to ship illegal weapons into France. Bogus charges, of course, faked to get him into this place.
He had escaped most of the vicious harassment by bribing Claude. The promise of money from Jack’s attorney had gotten Jack the promise of medical attention today.
Jack waited until they entered the small ward, empty now except for one patient and the doctor attending him at the far end of the room. Today was the day.
The white-clad doctor who was bending over the patient stood and turned. Jack stopped in his tracks. Wrong doctor. Most definitely, wrong doctor.
Should he postpone? Too late. With everything else in place, it was now or never.
Claude prodded him down the aisle between the rows of beds. “Hey, Doc, this piece of filth has been complaining of chest pain. Would you—”
Jack whirled, grasped both of Claude’s wrists and pinched the nerves that controlled his fingers. He rammed the top of his head beneath Claude’s chin and heard a satisfying crack.
The machine gun fell, hitting the floor a split second after Jack’s knee connected with Claude’s groin.
The guard crumpled with a cry. Jack delivered a blow to the side of the head that would keep Claude unconscious for a while. Unfortunately, the bastard had to be left alive.
The doctor rushed him but he heard that coming. He waited, caught her upraised arm and easily removed the syringe, her impromptu weapon.
“Where is Dr. Micheaux?” he demanded.
She sputtered as she struggled to break free. Her small fists bounced off him, inflicting no pain. She was not very strong, he noted.
What the hell was this delicate little flower doing in a prison hospital? And what had happened to the doctor he had expected to find in here?
Now he would either have to incapacitate her like the guard, or take her along. Either way, she might be blamed for aiding the escape. Besides, he had to have a doctor along. She’d just have to do.
“Be still or I’ll have to kill you,” he snapped.
All motion ceased. Her wide blue gaze, full of fear and anger, settled on his. Every muscle in her body was alert and tensed for further action if he presented her a chance. Bold little thing.
“I admire bravery but not stupidity. Nod if you comprehend.” He spoke to her in French, assuming that she was.
Her chin remained raised, her glare defiant. But Jack could see she understood. She was pretty, he noticed. Blond, sky-blue eyes, skin untouched by the sun. This one didn’t spend her off days on the Riviera, that was for sure. Too busy saving lives, he guessed. He’d bet she worked here for nothing in her spare time. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Prepare your patient to leave the prison. Is he ambulatory?”
“No,” she said emphatically. “You are not taking him anywhere.”
Jack inclined his head toward the exit that led to the alley where a truck was waiting. “We are all leaving through that door in less than five minutes.” He glared at her. He had no time for her spitfire attitude, so he added, “Dead or alive. Your choice, lady.”
For a long moment she studied his eyes, then looked back at the bed where her patient lay sleeping. “You won’t hurt him?”
“No. Or you, either. Not if you behave and do exactly as I tell you.”
She exhaled the pent-up breath she was holding and nodded once, no doubt cursing the abominable lack of security in French prisons. This one was even more short-handed than usual today thanks to Will Griffin.
Jack released her and reached down to pick up Claude’s weapon. “Get to it, then, while I take care of the garbage. Do as I say and neither of you will be harmed. My word.”
He ignored her scoff. In seconds he had bound the unconscious Claude’s hands and feet and gagged him with a roll of gauze.
Jack regretted having to take the doctor along, but he really had no choice. Since the boy was drugged, someone would have to verify how he’d been rescued. Besides that, he obviously needed medical attention, and the kid’s father would hardly appreciate Jack’s getting the boy out of prison if the little fellow died in the process.
“You have the boy ready?” Jack demanded as he approached the sickbed where the prisoner lay.
“Yes. Why are you doing this?” she demanded.
Jack ignored the question. “Take as much of his medication as you have with you. Hand me your bag.”
“I am not coming,” she informed him.
“Poor choice.” He started raising the machine gun. She gasped.
“Change your mind?” Jack asked. Again she nodded, her eyes clenched in resignation.
“Then help him up. He’s small enough you should be able to manage. Is he really that hurt or just sedated?”
“Of course he is hurt. His injuries are numerous and he is on morphine.”
As she spoke, she raised the boy to a sitting position, eased his legs off the bed and tried to encourage him to stand up. She managed, but only just. The kid was pretty much out of it. He was very slightly built, almost delicate. Though he was seventeen, René Chari seemed younger. His sallow complexion and adolescent fuzz of a mustache only enhanced his look of vulnerability.
“Brace your shoulder beneath his and pull his arm around your neck,” Jack told her, grasping the boy beneath his other arm as they shuffled him to the door. “We have only a short way to go.”
“This door is kept locked,” she told him.
“Not today,” Jack replied as he reached for the handle and shoved the door open. “Go ahead of me. And if you run, I will shoot.”
She did as ordered and they were soon in the alley. No windows graced the inner walls that faced them between the wings. A heavy chain-link gate topped with concertina wire barred the only way out. “Hurry. Let’s get him inside the vehicle.”
The truck provided, a megaton monstrosity used for delivering supplies, would easily roll them to freedom. Several blocks away, a vintage sedan waited, souped up and ready to transport them to their eventual destination.
He placed the machine gun across his lap, cranked the starter, floored the accelerator and gunned it, ramming straight through the chain-link barrier.
The alarm was immediate and deafening. He sped away from it, taking side streets until he approached the wooded area of the park.
He pulled up behind the car Griffin had left him and slammed on the brake. In minutes he had loaded both patient and doctor into the gray Saab and they were off.
“Jail break accomplished,” he said to himself, ticking off tasks to be completed. It was an old habit. He turned to the doctor who looked pale as a bleached sheet. “Are you doing all right?”
She shot him a look of disbelief that he would ask such a ridiculous question. “I have been abducted at gunpoint. No, I am not well at all.” She swallowed hard, almost gulped. “Do you mean to…kill me?” she added, still defiant.
Her bravery, useless as it was, touched something in Jack. She was so totally defenseless and yet she refused to cower. A kitten backed against a wall, facing a bulldog, ready to claw for all she was worth if attacked. He felt faintly ashamed of himself. “Did I hurt you when I disarmed you?”
She flexed her wrist. Faint red marks discolored the pale ivory of her flesh where he had grasped it to relieve her of the syringe. She tucked that hand beneath the other and began rubbing the wrist slowly, absently. “No, but you did not answer my question.”
“I have no plans at present to harm you at all if you cooperate. You’ve not asked me once to release you since we escaped. Why is that?”
Her gaze left him as she glanced into the back seat. “There is René. He needs continued care and I doubt you intend to give it. What do you plan to do with him?”
“Take him home to his father,” Jack told her. “What happened to Dr. Micheaux?”
“I am Dr. Micheaux,” she replied with a haughty look. “Solange Micheaux.”
Damn. The daughter of the other doctor. He remembered a mention of her in Micheaux’s dossier, but nothing about her working at Baumettes. “Where is your father today?”
She refused to answer.
“He was supposed to be there and had promised to help,” Jack said, hoping that might gain him a little cooperation.
“You lie! My father would never assist in such a thing.”
“This is more than a run-of-the-mill escape, Doctor. Now where is your father?”
Her frown deepened, and she remained silent for a minute before answering. “In Paris.”
“Why wasn’t he at the prison today?”
She sighed. “He is in Broussais Hospital. He was injured in an accident yesterday morning.”
Either the team had not heard anything about this development or hadn’t been able to get word of it to him in his cell. “What happened?” Jack asked. “And are you certain it was an accident?
He heard her swift intake of breath. “He…he was hit by an automobile as he crossed the street. You…you are saying it was not an accident?”
“No. It probably was,” Jack said, but he was far from sure of the answer. “How badly was he hurt?”
She glanced out the window and continued to rub her hands together. “Broken femur, a concussion, bruises. He will recover.” Then she faced Jack, her eyes imploring. “Let me go to him. We can take René there, as well. You could leave us at the emergency entrance and be well away in no time. I promise—”
“Save your breath,” he said, interrupting her. “That’s not going to happen. I have to get René to his father no later than tomorrow. Do you know where he lives? Has the boy told you?”
“You do not even know where you are to go?”
Jack almost laughed. “Of course I know. I need to know if you know already. If René has said anything at all to you about his home or his family.”
She sighed, then looked out the window at the passing scenery. “No. René has not been living with his father. The boy has rooms near the Sorbonne where he attends classes,” she muttered, as if to herself.
Jack nodded. “Art student. Has he talked about his family? His father in particular?”
“Not to me and Father did not mention his discussing anything of that nature.” Her interest in the passing landscape ended abruptly as she turned that electrifying blue gaze on him again. “Why all of these questions?”
“I’ll tell you later. What of you, Dr. Micheaux? Will you tell me about yourself?”
“Why should I?”
“Because I ask.”
She scoffed. “You already know my name and who my father is. Even that is too much.”
“I am Jacques Mercier. Now you know mine. I was imprisoned to await trial. Wouldn’t you like to know why?”
“No. It is nothing to do with me. Are you attempting to cultivate the Stockholm Syndrome with this foolish exchange of information? I promise you I will never become attached to an abductor no matter how friendly you try to be.”
She faced away from him again. “Stop looking at me that way.”
Jack hadn’t realized he was making her even more uncomfortable. It would be difficult not to look at her. She was something to see, that was for sure.
He should try to put her at ease, as much as he could. “You’re very brave, that much I already know. Instead of a mere profession, you have a calling, I believe. Anyone else would be begging me for their freedom. Instead, you are willing to go along to care for our young friend in the back seat. Are you afraid?” He knew she was terrified, but he also knew she would never admit it.
“Of course I am afraid,” she confessed, surprising him. “Only a fool would not fear you. I saw what you did to that guard.”
“I could easily have killed him,” Jack said in a slightly defensive tone.
“I know,” she replied, not quite hiding a shiver.
He could see that that thought relieved her only a little. “You need not worry about rape, either,” he told her. “I believe I can restrain my animal instincts.”
She tried to cover her relief with a mirthless laugh. “I have offended you by thinking you might?”
“Do you care whether I am offended?”
She didn’t bother to answer. Jack knew she cared. She had to worry if she had made him angry, that he might change his mind and show her who was boss here.
“You’re safe with me,” he said, and meant it, too. Not just about his leaving her alone physically. He felt a need to protect her, even from the worry she must be feeling at the moment.
For an instant he considered stopping the car in the next village they reached and letting her go. Bad idea, and he couldn’t imagine why he had even thought of doing it. There was the mission to consider, and she was crucial to the success of it. Without her help, the plan would fall apart before it got underway.
That had been the point of waiting until the doctor was with the boy to take him. The problem was that her father had eagerly agreed to help with this. The man had experience in this sort of enterprise, had worked with intelligence before. The daughter had no clue what was going on.
“We’ll have to lie low for a day,” he said, knowing she would assume the police would be giving chase. There would be no all-points bulletin on them, of course. Holly Amberson could take care of that with a few choice phone calls and a bit of hacking with her magic laptop.
“Open the glove compartment and get the phone,” he commanded.
After eyeing him with suspicion for a few seconds, she complied. He took it from her before she could punch in any numbers and pressed the precoded digit.
When Holly answered, he kept his message brief and to the point. “We have a substitute. See that Dr. Solange Micheaux is officially listed on emergency leave. Arrange for someone to handle her duties and cover for her. Her father is an accident victim, a patient at Broussais. Check on his condition.” He paused. “And make sure it really was an accident.”
Amberson did not waste words either. “So we are still on?”
“Unless the mission is compromised. Are things all set at your end?”
“Right on schedule,” she replied.
That meant word would soon be out that the son of Ahmed Chari had escaped Baumettes Prison with a little help from a fellow inmate. This way, Chari probably would not be surprised by his son’s arrival if he heard about the escape on the news. The police would not bother to question Chari. They would be informed there was evidence that his son and his accomplices had left the country immediately.
Jack would use the downtime to become better acquainted with the doctor and determine whether she could be trusted with the truth or if she should go in blind.
Taking her in her father’s stead bothered him. It shouldn’t. She was just one person, expendable in the big scheme of things. The big scheme here was to save lives. Many of them. If sacrifices were necessary to accomplish that, then he would just have to live with it.
Solange realized she had dozed when the car stopped. She ran her hands through her hair and shook off her grogginess. How on earth had she managed to fall sleep in such a predicament as this?
Before she fell asleep, she had been marking their route visually. They had headed north from Lyon, with the central highlands to their left and the Swiss Alps to their right. Vineyards and fruit orchards lined their way along the wide path cut by nature.
When she looked out now, there were no landmarks or identifying characteristics on the eerie, moonlit landscape. He might have changed direction entirely. They could be anywhere in France by now.
“We’ll stay here for the night.”
She looked at the man who had kidnapped her, then out the window again. “Would you tell me where we are?”
“A safe place,” he replied cryptically.
He got out, opened the back door and gently lifted René in his arms. Solange hopped out quickly and hovered, cautioning him to be careful not to jostle her patient any more than he could help.
The night was chilly for mid-May, but that was not what caused her to shiver. She rubbed her arms briskly.
“Look under the mat there and find the key,” he ordered, his voice curt.
She hurried to find it and unlock the door to the old house, feeling for the keyhole with trembling fingers. What would happen once they were inside?
Where was this place? The moon was high enough that she could see they were not in a town or village. In fact, she could see no other buildings except this old cottage they were entering.
Could this man be intending to hold René here for ransom? And, if so, what would happen to her? If René remained unconscious during all this, he could not identify his kidnapper. But she could. Perhaps she would live only so long as René needed her.
If she found an opportunity, she would escape. Then she could go to the police and have them rescue René.
“There should be an oil lamp and matches on the table. Careful you don’t knock it off and break it,” he said, moving farther into the main room.
She heard the rustle of movement as she discovered by feel the lamp and a box of matches where he had said they would be. She struck fire and lifted the old-fashioned globe.
When she had adjusted the flame, Solange carried it over to where he had laid René on a shabby, but comfortable-looking couch.
“See to him. I’ll go and get your medical bag,” Mercier told her.
“Is there water in here or must we go outside to draw it?” she asked.
“Running water. The bath is off the hallway. Kitchen’s through that door,” he said pointing.
She knelt beside the couch and began checking René’s pulse. It felt steady and strong enough. He breathed normally and seemed to be quite comfortable. She lifted his lids and examined his pupils in the lamp light. A crocheted afghan lay draped over the foot of the couch and she used that to cover him against the chill of the room.
Mercier returned quickly and handed her the bag. “How is he doing?”
“No worse than he was.”
“His pain was severe enough for morphine?”
She hesitated. “First answer me one thing. Are you holding René for ransom?”
“No,” he declared shaking his head. Then he seemed to think about it. “But I can see why you might think that’s what I’m doing. No, I’m returning him to his father as soon as I can. I was escaping, anyway, and thought I might as well take the boy out of there with me.”
“On the hope of a reward, perhaps?” she asked.
He shrugged. “That and a place to hide once I got out. I’m hoping Chari will offer me a job.”
“You said my father agreed to help you? Why?”
“Even before he was beaten, the boy was not strong enough to survive long where he was. Your father knew that, and I suspect you know it, too.”
Satisfied he was not lying, she answered his question truthfully. “René was hurt, yes. He could have borne it well enough with pills, but my father wanted him bedridden, to seem worse off than he was.”
Mercier’s dark eyes softened as he crouched beside her on the threadbare rug. “To protect him? So he wouldn’t have to return to the cells?”
She nodded. “He has been at the prison for over three weeks and this is his second beating. That is why Father gave him morphine. If René remained unconscious, he would have more time to heal. When my father told me of his condition, both of us tried to intervene on René’s behalf, plead his youth and size to someone in authority. But neither my father nor I could get in to see anyone in the prefecture or the warden’s office. Even if we had, they probably would have laughed at us. He is simply another prisoner to be locked away. Why should they care?”
“But you care.”
“Of course I care!” she exclaimed, glaring at him. “He is hardly more than a child. Look at him. A gentle boy. How could they put him in with all those monsters?” Oh God, what had she said? She had just included this man in that insult.
But instead of outrage, she saw full understanding in his eyes. “Good for you. Your father and you outwitted them.” He smiled at her then, a gentle expression she would not have expected from such a man.
“We do what we can, though it is never enough.”
He nodded. “Baumettes is a three-hour drive down from Paris. Do you come to work at the prison hospital often?”
“Whenever my schedule permits, I assist my father in his volunteer work. Since his retirement, he spends a good many hours at three of the prison facilities.” She could see no point in going into their reasons for doing what they did.
He sighed. It was more a gust of resigned frustration. “One of my people is checking on your father’s condition and you’ll be advised how he is tomorrow. Try not to worry about him, though I’m certain you will, anyway.”
“Then I must thank you for that, I suppose.” Solange slumped, burying her face in her hands. She felt like weeping but knew she must not.
She took a deep breath and raised her head again, meeting his eyes. “I am very tired. Would you mind if I lie here on the floor beside the divan and sleep for a while? I had duty in the emergency last night and was unable to rest.”
He straightened and held up one finger. “Wait just a minute.”
Before she knew it, he was dragging in a single-bed mattress. “Here you are,” he said, positioning it next to her. “I’m afraid there are no linens. But here is a pillow and it’s new.”
She took the pillow from him and lay down.
Her captor offered her a reassuring smile and went to sit on the floor beside the front door. Somehow she knew that was the only exit that she would be able open.
It would be useless effort to try to escape tonight. He would only come after her, and she had no idea which way she should run even if he did not bother. Perhaps tomorrow would afford her a chance.
It was more than she could manage to stay awake and worry or react to any leftover fear. She would simply have to trust the angels as her mother used to say.
In the dream that followed close on the heels of her surrender to sleep, Solange felt one of them brush a wing over her face to comfort her. It rested lightly on her head for a long moment, a blessing, a promise to ward off evil. She smiled and felt safe.
Chapter 2
Jack stirred the bacon, careful to do it precisely as Holly had once shown him. He was not much of a cook but had been trying to learn. Since Holly was the only woman who worked with him and the only person he knew who didn’t exist on junk food and the occasional outing at a restaurant, she had volunteered.
Holly was slipping in under his guard, and he would have to watch that. Nothing sexual going on, but he was damn close to regarding her as a friend, not just one of the team.
Come to think of it, he had been spending a little too much of his free time with the others, too. Camaraderie was one thing; getting to be buddies was quite another. Maybe this mission would put things back in perspective.
He liked field work, but missed the daily routine in the office. Sometimes he could pretend for days he was just an average nine-to-fiver, fighting the traffic to work where he’d spend all day arranging investments and contacting clients. Visit his parents when it proved convenient. Maybe meet some interesting female for drinks after hours once in a while, get it on later if she seemed interested.
That was his life for about two weeks out of twelve. The rest of the time he was checking out rumors of terrorist rumblings and trying to stamp out trouble before it got underway. So far they had been successful beyond their best expectations going into this.
He thought about the woman in the next room, the pretty little doctor who had inadvertently become involved in this mission. Solange Micheaux was the least likely person he could imagine for getting wound up in any intrigue. What an open book. No guile whatsoever. She was so totally unlike the women engaged in this business, she could blow the whole op and ruin everything.
He pretty much lived for his job now, that of SAIC, or Special Agent in Charge, of a fairly new team called SEXTANT, consisting of six specialists recruited from different U.S. Government agencies. Organizations that had previously spent a great deal of their time bickering over jurisdiction and jealously guarding from each other the info they dug up. With the team’s respective contacts within their old jobs, and full allegiance to the new one, intelligence had a fighting chance of getting combined and doing some good.
Jack was formerly with the National Security Agency, the NSA, fondly dubbed No Such Agency because of its covert nature. The others were from the FBI, DIA, CIA, DEA and ATF.
They all had their own specialties, though they usually teamed up to make use of unique talents. As a rule, only one actually went in undercover. That depended on who was most suited for the job. In this instance, Jack’s French was best, learned at his mother’s knee instead of books or tapes. So was his ability to resolve matters without the use of weapons.
Jack had handpicked the agents on his team. He admittedly chose several of them for their psychic abilities. Paranormal gifts had always fascinated him. While these talents weren’t officially listed on their résumés, their extrasensory perceptions had been extremely helpful so far.
Jack wished he possessed a little mind-reading capability right now so he could decide whether Dr. Micheaux would become a help or a hindrance.
He stirred the bacon some more, then flopped it onto the waiting plates. The eggs were going to be a problem. He always had trouble with eggs.
“What are you doing?”
He eyed the eggs again, reluctant to turn around and face her. She would look soft and deliciously rumpled, he knew. She even sounded that way. Damn, she was attractive. And very distracting.
What was she doing to him? He had to get a grip. Must be her French, that faint Parisian-born drawl like none other, he guessed. Could be she reminded him of his mother a little. She sounded a bit like her. She even had that little one-shoulder shrug he remembered his mother using. Only on Solange, it looked a damn sight more interesting.
“I’m making breakfast,” he answered, his words a little more gruff than he intended. No, it was not Mama he was thinking about at the moment. Not even close.
She brushed past him and reached for the coffeepot sitting on the stove and poured herself a cup. When her arm touched his, he nearly jumped, catching himself just in time. He wasn’t exactly Mr. Cool this morning, he thought with a grimace.
Jack kept doing what he was doing, shoring up his internal defenses, cracking eggs and trying to concentrate on how Holly had taught him to do that one-handed. He nearly crushed the first one and stifled a curse.
“Move out of the way,” Solange ordered and took the bowl of eggs and fork out of his hand.
He watched the impatient little shake of her head as she took over. In no time she had turned out a perfect, fluffy omelette, which she neatly halved and slid onto the two plates he’d put out on the table.
Then she sat across from him and they ate, wordlessly eyeing each other in the way two strangers might do who had shared a night together and could find nothing to say when morning came.
Essentially that’s what they were, he supposed. There was even a faint sexual undertone present, though he had scarcely touched her at all and never with that intent. He wanted to, however, and that was the problem. She couldn’t know that, of course. And definitely wouldn’t share the feeling or appreciate his telling her about his. When they had finished eating, she gathered up the dishes and began to wash up.
He knew he had to gain her trust, and so far he hadn’t done much in the way of accomplishing that. He also decided he would trust her. Maybe it was the tender way she treated the boy and how she had leaped to his defense. There was a goodness about Solange Micheaux that seemed to emanate from her pores like a sweet fresh scent.
“Would you leave that and sit down again?” he asked politely. “We need to talk.”
Immediately she dried her hands on a towel and complied. Why wouldn’t she? He was her captor, or at least she thought of him that way.
She leveled a questioning look at him but didn’t speak.
“There is something I need to explain to you.” Still, Jack hesitated and looked through the doorway at René Chari. “Are you certain he’s still unconscious?”
“He is asleep.”
“Would you check on him and see if he’s conscious?”
“I did before I came in and he is not. His vitals are acceptable under the circumstances. I expect he will recover completely, but not anytime soon.”
“My point is, are you certain he can’t overhear what I’m about to tell you?”
“Why?” She frowned, and the expression tugged at him, made him want to erase it and put a smile there. He had not seen her smile and imagined it would be like sunlight on water.
Jack shook off the thought that was a little too poetic for comfort. “Just tell me if there’s any chance he’s awake right now.”
“None. I doubt he will awaken for hours.”
Jack relaxed a bit. He needed to bring her in on the plan. She would be able to sink him with a word when they encountered Chari, but he was literally betting his life that she wouldn’t. “I have to trust you,” he told her. “May I call you Solange?”
“No, you may not. Are you going to explain now why are you doing this?”
“Yes, Doctor, I’m getting to that if you’ll give me a chance.” He took a deep breath and made the plunge. “I work for the government.”
Her blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Which government?”
“Yours and mine in this instance. I am an American.”
“Well, that explains much. Are you annexing France or what?”
Jack smiled at the jab. “Not right now. We received intelligence about a month ago that a man called Ahmed Chari has set up a laboratory where he’s concocting a deadly virus that he intends to sell for use as a biological weapon.”
She gasped, covering her mouth with the fingertips of one hand. “No!”
“Yes. There’s a possibility that he plans to test it here. If he sells it to the groups that will want it most, Americans everywhere will be at risk. It’s possible he’s only a puppet for some larger power that could be using him and others like him to establish a supply of bioweapons. We have to find out.”
“But…but this is terrible!”
“And unfortunately, true.”
“Who told you this?”
She had trouble believing it. It did sound far-fetched unless you dealt with these monsters on a regular basis and knew what they were capable of. “Someone with inside information. Unfortunately not enough information. What he related about the supplies Chari had purchased for that purpose proved to be true. Your intelligence people have been performing surveillance, and two agents have attempted to infiltrate. They haven’t been seen since. I need to work my way into his operation and see how far he’s been able to take it. And what else or who else might be involved.”
“Why not simply go in by force and arrest this man?” she asked.
“I told you. We need to know whether he is working independently or if his setup is but one of a number of labs doing this. Also, we have to find out who is to receive his product, where they are located and, of course, their affiliation.”
“If you have him in custody, surely you could force him to reveal all of this.”
“Torture?” he asked. “We have to suppose he would never talk, even on pain of death. If he is a fanatic, he would fight to the death. Or kill himself as we go in. If he is just a supplier with no ideological motive, he and those working for him would be more afraid of his clients than of us. These people use families as leverage. As you must know, truth serum’s vastly overrated. So, we have to extract the information, all of it, by other means. In this case, by gaining his trust if we can.”
“And after you do?” she asked breathlessly.
“Perform what damage control we can, destroy the product and put him out of business permanently.”
“Kill him?” she asked in a broken whisper.
“Yes, if necessary,” Jack replied. “At least lock him away where he’ll present no further threat.”
“I do not believe you. This is not real.” But he could hear the horror in her voice. She didn’t dare not believe him and they both knew it.
“We had planned for your father to go in with me when we reach Chari’s chateau,” he told her. “Someone would need to explain how I managed to get René out of Baumettes. The boy cannot do that, since he was drugged and unaware. I want Chari to hire me to work for him out of gratitude.”
“How can you trust he will do that? Do you know anything about this man?” she asked, hitting squarely on his main problem.
“Not as much as I would like. If you go in with me to verify details of the escape, you will probably be confined once we arrive, kept only to minister to Chari’s son, until we have this resolved. It shouldn’t take long. All you would need to do is keep the boy sedated and comfortable and stay where they put you. It’s highly unlikely you would be hurt.”
“Unless what he is working on is mishandled and we all die from it!” she snapped.
“The substance should be relatively safe unless you sniff it, swallow some or get it on your skin. As I’m certain you know, we have serum that works against ricin, smallpox and several other dangerous agents. You would be given that beforehand, of course. Because of what he has purchased, we believe what he has is ricin or something similar.”
“You believe? Pardon me if I entertain some doubt. Even if the intelligence you received is credible, suppose he is attempting to alter the substance so that the immunizations will not be effective?”
Jack looked at her, sympathizing with her fears. The awful part of this was that she could easily be right.
He watched her as she sipped the remainder of her coffee, now probably tepid. But she wasn’t tasting it, only going through the motions to conceal her nervous tension.
With a sigh he took the cup from her and got up to refill it. He couldn’t do this after all. Too risky. She was totally unsuited for this kind of thing. And God only knew what she might suffer if Chari or his men turned out to be hostile toward women. The man was half Iranian. Too much depended solely on Chari’s gratitude, his love for his son. What if he hated the kid and didn’t care whether his son had a doctor’s care?
Jack plunked down the cup, sloshing a few drops onto the bare table top. “I can see you aren’t going to work out.”
“No!” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “I will. It is simply that I had to digest all that you have told me.” She managed a crooked little smile. “It does not go down well, but I see how important—no, vital—it is that you succeed. That we succeed. I must help you, of course.”
He was already shaking his head. “Admirable of you to agree, but I’ve changed my mind, Solange.”
“It is too late for that, Mercier…Jacques,” she said, offering him a smile that was a bit more confident than the last. Not a full sun-on-the-water smile yet, but he saw a glimmer that could draw him in deeply enough to drown. What was it about this woman?
“You’re too…honest or something. Too innocent, maybe. The boy and I will go in alone.”
“I am going with you,” she said decisively. Now there was fire in her eyes and a determined lift to her chin. “My father had agreed to do this and now that he cannot, I must. You need me. It is too late to alter your plan.”
For the remainder of the day Solange continued to argue with Mercier when she found the chance. He shushed her whenever they were anywhere near her patient, which was most of the time.
René had roused for a while. Though he was mostly incoherent, he did manage some of the tinned soup she had heated for their midday meal. He moved more easily now and seemed improved over the day before, despite the ordeal of being shuffled from his bed at the prison.
After he had eaten she administered more morphine. When he drifted off again, she renewed her assault on Mercier’s decision to leave her somewhere and go on alone with René.
The more she considered her father’s decision to assist Mercier and his people in this mission, the more determined Solange became to do so herself in his stead. Her resentment at being kept in the dark about it had faded completely. Father would have been ordered not to confide in anyone. And, of course, he would have known she would be frantic for his safety if he had told her.
She couldn’t afford fear now, not for herself. There was too much at stake.
This was the first time she had really had a chance to study Mercier and take his true measure. He wore this rough exterior, his disguise, she supposed. Even that scruffy two-day beard, slightly unkempt hair and prison clothing could not conceal his real persona, not now that she knew him better.
He took total control of his surroundings. His self-confidence seemed inborn or thoroughly ingrained early in his life. There was a charisma about him that would draw people to him, make them trust him. It had worked on her to some degree even before she had known why he had abducted her and René.
There was something about this man that was unique and compelling. She suspected that it would affect almost anyone who came in contact with him. She would need to be very careful that she did not let these burgeoning feelings of hers generate anything further that could be hurtful to her. Such as an infatuation with him. She was well aware that his qualities appealed, not just to her but all women. And he would know this, of course, and use it.
Her one attempt at a relationship had failed miserably even when she’d had her emotions under strict control. The mere thought of flinging caution to the wind with Mercier unnerved her. If ever there would be a time for that, it certainly was not now.
So she argued with him. Not only to set a precedent that she would remain independent and self-sufficient, despite his penchant for control, but because she had a legitimate reason to disagree.
Mercier kept changing the topic of conversation, insisting on hearing all about her school days, her trials of internship and residency and her father’s work and how she had assisted him. She shared all of the details, hoping to convince him that she had the necessary fortitude and experience with adversity to do what must be done.
Later, when darkness fell, they left the cottage and took to the road again. She would have continued trying to change his mind, but he silenced her immediately with a whispered warning. If René became privy to his plans, he told her, all could be lost with regard to this scheme.
Perhaps he believed she had given up. But Solange had made her decision, and that was all there was to that. They rode for what seemed hours, each lost in thought. He was probably working out an alternate solution in his mind, one that did not require her help.
They entered a village called Tournade, according to the road sign illuminated by the headlamps of the Saab. It was then Mercier declared his intention. “I’m leaving you here with my people. That way you’ll be nearby if the boy takes a turn for the worse.”
That said, he drove up a narrow winding street, parked on the cobblestones in front of a huge, Italianate three-story stone structure and got out. He motioned for her to do the same.
Solange did so, reluctant to leave the sleeping René. She wondered whether she would see him again if she were forced to stay in this house. It would have to be at the point of his gun. She meant to go with him.
The dark old house looked forbidding. Mercier lifted the ring on the lion’s head doorknocker and rapped once, paused, then tapped four more times in rapid succession.
A tall figure opened the door and emerged immediately, a mere shadow in the weak light of the moon. The doorway and the windows of the house remained dark. Solange noted the silhouette of a weapon in the man’s hand. “You’re late. We’d begun to worry,” he said to Mercier in English. “Everything go okay?”
“Not exactly. Will, this is Dr. Solange Micheaux, the old doctor’s daughter who was filling in for him. You stay here with our passenger while I get her settled upstairs. There’s no point moving young Chari any more than we need to.”
“Ma’am,” the voice acknowledged. “How is the boy?”
Mercier answered for her. “Not as bad as I thought.”
“Great. Then he’ll be able to vouch for you with his father.”
“I’m afraid he slept through everything,” Mercier said, taking Solange’s arm and ushering her inside the dark building.
He led her up a winding stairway to another door and knocked again in the same sequence. A woman answered. She was armed, but when she saw Mercier, she smiled and tucked the pistol into the holster at her waist and stood aside for them to enter. The room was warmly lit, the one window completely covered with heavy black fabric that had been taped securely to the frame.
“It’s about time, boss. We were getting ready to come looking for you.” Her dark brown gaze landed on Solange, who had elected to remain slightly behind Mercier and as unobtrusive as possible.
“Holly Amberson, this is Dr. Solange Micheaux,” he said, stepping away so the woman could see her better.
Solange admired her looks, even as she experienced a twinge of envy. Amberson was an unusual beauty with skin the color of pale caramel. Sleek black hair clipped in a short cap clung to a perfectly shaped head. Her dark brown eyes were long-lashed and slanted upward, giving her a faintly exotic expression. Her figure looked toned for strength beneath her black leggings and cropped chenille sweater. Though she stood only an inch or so taller than Solange’s five-three, she exuded self-confidence.
Jacques Mercier must find this Holly person terribly attractive. Were they involved?
He spoke up then and dispelled her musings about Amberson. “The Chari boy’s still in the car. Solange has him heavily sedated.”
The woman nodded. “So he missed the whole rescue op he was supposed to tell his daddy about. And our option, the elder Dr. Micheaux, is in the hospital. We verified the accident last night. The driver who struck him was a plumber on his way to a job and in a hurry. He checks out clean, no ties to anyone connected with Chari. It was just an unfortunate turn of events. Tough luck, but not insurmountable. She’ll do just as well.”
“No, she’s staying here.”
“What is my father’s condition? Have you heard?” Solange demanded.
“He’s doing very well. Better than expected. You need not worry about him.”
“Thank you for finding out.” Solange knew he would recover. She had checked his condition herself before she had gone to the prison. But it was her prerogative to worry, anyway. Their housekeeper, Marie, would be there for him if he needed anything.
Mercier interrupted her thoughts as he spoke to the woman. “I saw Will as we came in. What are the rest of the troops up to tonight?”
“Heard from Clay a couple of hours ago. He’s on top of things at the office. Joe and Martine are upstairs,” she added with a sly grin. “Eric’s out prowling around somewhere. You want me to raise him?”
“No, that’s all right. Just counting noses.”
He left Solange standing there, subject to the woman’s continued scrutiny and went straight to the coffee maker where he poured two cups. “I can’t take Solange in with me. She’s willing to help, but—”
“She knows the score?” the woman asked, eyeing Solange critically.
“Yes, everything,” he admitted as he turned and handed Solange a steaming cup. He was still addressing the woman, and they were both speaking rapid English, perhaps thinking that might prevent her understanding. “She can be trusted. That’s not the problem. Still, I’ve elected to leave her with you.”
“Why? He’ll need a doctor. You were the one who said—”
“Yes, but she’s not what I…we expected,” Mercier stated flatly, as if Solange had somehow disappointed him.
Amberson gave a little mirthless laugh and shook her head. “If I thought you’d had any time to get acquainted, I’d think you’d gone sweet on her. Maybe that you didn’t want to risk her cute little neck or something.”
Mercier looked away while he drank his coffee, obviously not wanting to dignify that ridiculous supposition. Sweet on her? An idea as facetious as the expression was archaic. But it gave Solange a small lift in spirit that this gorgeous woman might think such a thing was possible. Solange, an ordinary physician, hardly felt she was exotic enough to interest a man such as Mercier. Could she have made this woman a bit jealous?
It was hard to contain her smile. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and raised her eyebrows at the Amberson woman just because provoking her seemed the thing to do at the time.
“Good grief, man.” Amberson groaned and rolled her eyes. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re definitely wrong,” Mercier muttered. But he sounded more impatient than outraged. “We don’t know much about Chari, the man. And Solange is so…well, look at her, Holly.” He gestured in her direction rather rudely.
Solange had enough of being talked around as if she were not there at all. She interrupted in English to establish that fact. “Pardon me, but I really must insist that I accompany you, Mercier. René might—”
“She’s right, Jacques,” the woman said. “Who’s going to tell Chari what happened? How you rescued his son?”
“I’ll tell him myself.”
“Yeah, right. You think he’ll believe you if you just waltz in there bragging about the chances you took to get him out? That’s the whole point of your going into the prison in the first place, wasn’t it? To get the kid out and make the dad grateful!”
“I’ll make him believe me.”
Holly threw up her hands. “Jeez, then Will might as well have dragged the boy out when he was there to leave the truck! René Chari can’t toot your horn for you if he’s been out like a light the whole time. He won’t even know who you are when he comes around.”
“He saw me earlier. I interceded for him during the last beating.”
Solange butted in, forming the English clearly and concisely. “But he was hurt then, probably dazed. Perhaps he won’t even recognize that it was you who helped him.”
Mercier growled, “I’ll think of something.”
Amberson threw up her hands in frustration. “Jack, be reasonable! You need her.”
“You do,” Solange agreed. She got right in his face to drive her point home. “If what you have told me about René’s father is true, then I must do everything within my power to help prevent what he is planning. And we must find out if he is the only one doing this. This is what you told me yourself.”
Amberson nodded emphatically. “She might even be able to help assess what Chari has and how much damage it might do. I’ve checked you out, Doc,” she told Solange. “When I did the background search on your father, I did his family, too, so I’m aware of the training you’ve had. I wish you’d been into research in this particular area, but then, I guess you wouldn’t have been where you were at the time, huh?”
Solange smiled politely. “I suppose not. However, with the sort of threats the world has been living under these past few years, I have read extensively of anthrax, smallpox, ricin and other likely weapons of terror. Most of us within the medical community realize what we might be called upon to do if such disasters occur and we have to be prepared.”
“Excellent!” Amberson gave her a smile of approval that looked quite sincere. Solange returned it. She could like this woman who spoke her mind so freely and had no qualms about contradicting a man when she knew she was right.
“I can do this,” Solange stated with conviction. “And I will.”
“You see, Jack? She’s actually better qualified than we’d hoped. Get her inside that lab if you can. See what he’s got.”
Mercier glared at his friend for a moment, then lowered his head. Obviously he was the one in charge of this assignment or whatever they were calling it, but he had to recognize that she and Amberson were right in this instance. In any event the argument seemed to be over for the moment.
Solange sat drinking her coffee while Mercier ignored them both and began typing something on one of the computers.
Holly Amberson smiled her encouragement and offered Solange a pastry from a box near the coffeemaker. “Here, you might need some energy, however this works out.”
“I am going,” Solange said to her, then bit into the orange-glazed confection she had chosen.
“I know,” Holly replied. She winked at Solange and toasted her with a croissant. “Come with me. I’ll show you where to freshen up and we’ll see about getting you immunized.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Mercier said.
“Yes,” Solange argued. “It will.”
Chapter 3
Though he knew Holly and Solange were right, Jack hadn’t conceded yet. He finished jotting down the brief report on his time at Baumettes for the record, then got up to pace out the kinks he had acquired from riding in the cramped vehicle for so many miles.
“You’ve had a couple of weeks to delve into Chari’s history, Holly. Anything new?” he asked.
“Some,” she answered, sitting down at one of the laptops and pulling up a file. “He’s made three visits to his relatives in Iran. Last one was three years ago. That’s confirmed. The first film he made had to do with the political unrest in the area. Went all the way back to the expulsion of the shah. Even if it had been well-done—which it wasn’t—he rode the big wave too late. People everywhere were up to here with that stuff in the news.”
“He got into the movie business through his wife, didn’t he?” Jack said.
“Yep. She had a pretty good career going when they married, and got him on the film crew of her last picture. When it was winding down, she got pregnant. She was diabetic. After René’s birth, her health went downhill fast and she died. With what she left him, Chari decided to finance his own effort. He parked the kid with her parents here in Tournade. It took him about six years to get the picture together. When it tanked, he was out of money.”
“What then?”
Holly sighed. “Well, he borrowed from his in-laws, tried a couple of get-rich-quick schemes, both legit. Nothing wildly successful but he made enough to back another small production. An artsy film. Trust me, this guy has truly weird tastes in entertainment. And a humongous ego.”
“That film flopped, too,” Jack guessed.
“It got laughs. Most were directed at him. In the four years since, he’s kept a low profile. Lived in Paris awhile. Made a couple more trips to Tehran. Soon as his in-laws died, he came back here. His son inherited the house, so Chari couldn’t sell it. Can’t touch René’s trust fund, either.”
“Unless the boy dies,” Jack said, not liking that possibility at all. What if Chari had no fatherly affection at all? What if he had wanted René to stay in prison where his life would be at risk? “Did you find out if the robbery that sent the boy to Baumettes was a setup?”
“On the surface it appears he was just caught up in bad company. Maybe didn’t know what was going down until he was right in the middle of it.” She sighed. “No priors on him. No trouble at his schools.”
“How long has Chari had all that dubious company out at the farm?”
“That’s the problem. We don’t know. There was that anonymous phone call to the security minister’s office almost a month ago. We were brought in a few days later.”
“Because he made two trips to the States last year,” Jack said.
“To New York,” Holly verified, “where he met with some very shady dudes our guys were keeping an eye on.”
Jack nodded. He had that information already. “Okay. Fill me in on personality. I don’t need the minute details you uncovered. I just need to know what he’s like. What drives him.”
Her lips turned up in a wry twist. “My guess would be he’s sociopathic.”
“Gee whiz, Holly. No wonder they pay you the big money. Seriously now.”
She tapped the keyboard idly with one finger, but she wasn’t even looking at the screen. No file on this, Jack realized. All of it was in Holly’s head. This was where she took all facts gleaned from known actions, did her magic and constructed a profile. Her accuracy was legendary.
“He’s smart and knows it, feels vastly superior to everyone else. But he lacks identity. I’m a product of two cultures myself, and Chari’s two are even more diverse than mine, so I can see where he’s coming from. He craves success and recognition and will do anything to get the validation he needs. I mean, anything.”
“But why this?” Solange asked, her voice hardly more than a whisper. “Only to finance a film? This is madness. His reasons are so…so trivial!”
“Not trivial to him,” Holly explained. Her gaze met Jack’s. “He has to have a vast amount of money and he chose a certain way to get it. My guess is he plans something spectacular, a big-budget thing. We’re talking a Braveheart epic or Dances With Wolves. He’s going for the gold and I don’t mean just in his bank account. He’ll want some gilded statues out of this. A name that will go down in history like Gibson or Costner. Wouldn’t surprise me much if he played a role himself the way they did. He’s got the looks. Probably not the talent to match, but I’m sure he’ll think he does.”
“But a movie?” Jack asked with a huff of disbelief that echoed Solange’s. “That’s just crazy.”
“Well, what’s he gonna do to get world recognition, huh? He can’t very well brag about snuffing a portion of the population with poison. He’s merely providing a product that will gain him millions in ready cash to support what he really feels compelled to do.”
Solange butted in. “Yes, but could he also desire a bit of revenge on the public who has not accepted him as he believes they should have done before?”
Holly nodded. “Very astute, Doctor. It could well be that that’s part of his overall plan. This guy’s extremely dangerous. He has no conscience. The laws do not apply to him, and he feels invincible.”
“Then we’ll just have to show him the light,” Jack said. He turned to Solange. “Heard enough? You see now why I want to leave you here?”
“I’m going. We have to stop this madman.”
“The plan’s in place, Jack,” Holly said, agreeing that Solange was needed. “She’s necessary.”
He clenched his eyes shut and shook his head. “I’m getting really bad vibes.”
“Vibes?” Solange asked. “What does this mean?”
Jack shrugged off the question, warning Holly with a look not to launch into any explanations right now. There wasn’t time to explain fully, and even if they did, Solange could hardly be expected to give it much credit.
He had always experienced these feelings. That’s all they were. Nothing concrete, certainly not in the category of telepathy or prescience, but they were fairly dependable. Nerves of steel and uncluttered confidence going into a mission meant success, a walk in the park. This jittery anything-that-can-go-wrong-will state of mind meant trouble. Unlike his paltry talent, Joe and Eric had the definitive visions. “What does Eric say?”
“He says he sees food. Good food. And he smells cigar smoke. This is all in the present, remember? He’s tuned in on Chari.”
“Joe pick up any future images at all?”
“Only one. You, all smiles. And all wet.”
“Wet? What does that mean?” he asked, realizing he had repeated Solange’s earlier question.
“Your hair and face are wet. And you look happy.”
Solange glanced from one to the other, frowning.
Holly grinned and reached over to pinch his shoulder. “Want me to practice my Vulcan mind-meld, Captain Kirk?”
“Spare me,” Jack said with a short laugh. “My mind’s screwed up enough right now.”
“Can’t afford that,” Holly said with a sigh. “I know I’ve been preaching concern for the individual, but now’s the time to look at the overall scenario, Jack. I hate to advise it, but get back on your original track and look at the forest, will you?”
She was right, of course, but her turnaround surprised him. He tended to lump people into groups, and she had pointed that out to him. It isolated him in a way, but that was okay. It was probably what kept him sane. Humanity, his family, his team. See them as individuals? He did in a way, but it was a very objective way. Each was part of this group or that, but if lost, the unit would survive. It could go on. He could go on.
He even viewed the enemy as one entity, to be erased at all costs.
With the members of his team, he considered their particular talents as they related to assignments, rated their unique performances of duty, commended or counseled them individually. That was his job. Relating to them personally, one-on-one, was a whole other thing.
He had tried that. However, after losing his favorite brother—his partner on a long ago NSA mission—and his wife in a shooting on the job two years ago, he finally had decided compartmentalizing was the only way to go. It had become habit and one that suited him. He embraced it now.
“I hear you,” he said, forcing a smile. He quickly finished his coffee and set the cup down on the desk. “Well, I need to get going. Everything set up here?”
“We’re good,” Holly told him. “You know you can’t have anything electronic on you going in.”
“Yeah, they might do a sweep and find it. They’ll surely check the car.”
“Would they search me?” Solange offered.
“Can’t risk it,” Holly said. “Got your homemade shiv, Jack? They’ll expect that and take it away from you, of course. Will sneaked over there earlier and left a cell phone hidden in a hollow under a stone. Look behind the second-closest tree to the house. You go out and pick it up whenever you think it’s safe. You have your locator implant. We’ll know exactly where you are at all times. That’s something. Should we take time to insert one in the doctor?”
“No, that’s not necessary. I’ll signal if things go south. Or call you as soon as the threat’s contained, so you can help sweep up.”
“The police will come then?” Solange asked, touching his arm. Then she jerked her hand away. “They have been alerted?”
Holly frowned, looking from Solange to Jack and back again. “I thought you explained this to her.”
He stood a little straighter. “It’s true, there were agents out of Paris on this in the beginning, but we’ve requested they back off and let us handle it. As for the local police, even your intelligence warned us not to take anyone else into our confidence. Chari might have a plant somewhere inside the local force. No one knows of this but your minister of security in Paris, four of his appointed agents—two of whom are missing—and our control in the States.”
“Plant?” she asked, looking confused. “Oh, someone put there to inform them. But how will you…contain the threat, as you say?”
“That’s not your concern,” he said abruptly. “I’ve got to go.”
Solange watched the woman agent approach Jack and take his hands in hers. It was a gesture that spoke of a close friendship. Or perhaps something more intimate. “You be careful out there, you hear me? You promised me a week in Paris and I have it in writing.”
“Like you’d let me forget it,” he said, giving the Amberson woman a tight but reassuring smile. “See you soon, Holly.”
“Yeah, see ya,” she repeated in a fierce whisper.
Solange followed Mercier down the stairs and slipped out the front door behind him.
The man called Will shook his hand. “Be seeing you, Jack.”
“Sure, take it easy,” Mercier answered.
Solange hurried around to the passenger side and got in, fastening her seat belt even before Jack settled behind the wheel.
It must be a tradition among the members of his small cadre not to say goodbye, Solange thought to herself. But she could hardly help wishing someone had at least wished them farewell.
She took a deep breath and looked in back at the sleeping René. She could only hope his father was glad to see him and his rescuers. Glad enough not to question whether they might have concealed their real reasons for imposing upon his hospitality.
Jack could do nothing but think about what he could be exposing this young woman to. He needed someone older, tougher. At the edge of the village, they passed a train station, dark now, deserted. He suddenly pulled over and stopped the car near a phone booth. “Do you have any euros?”
“Some. In my bag. You need them?”
He reached between the seats and retrieved her medical bag, then set in on her knees. “No, but you will. Don’t argue with me, Solange. Take this and get out of the car. I’m going to call Will to come and get you and take you home. But first I want your word that you won’t reveal any of what we’ve shared with you to anyone. I’ve told you about the possibility of informants among the police. Lives are at risk and you have made an oath to save lives. Do I have your promise?”
She looked deeply into his eyes for a long time, then cast a glance into the back seat to make certain René was not awake. “No. For the last time, I will not let you go without me.”
Jack shook his head, willing her to understand. “He’s only one boy, Solange. Think of the people who will not receive your help in the future if you don’t survive this.”
“But I thought you agreed back there that I could come. I trust you to protect me.”
Jack peered out the window into the darkness. “I would die trying, but there are no guarantees that would help. I don’t want to risk you. Get out.”
“Do this and I will go straight to the police. There might be one among them who works for Chari, but if they all know what is happening and go in immediately, they will arrest everyone and this will be over.”
Oh, great. “That can’t happen, Solange. I need to be there for a while first, to see whether he’s already deployed any of the substance. There could be a shootout if the police burst in. If everyone there dies, we’d never know if the stuff is already out there until some terrorist uses it. Or Chari could be notified before the police arrive, move his operation where we couldn’t locate him. Will you give me your word you won’t alert anyone?”
“No,” she replied without hesitation. “You will have to take me with you.” She set the bag on the floorboard. “This is also my fight. My people are at risk if this man tests this here. And even if he does not do so, there will be others to die elsewhere if he succeeds in selling it. You must stop him, and I must help you do it. Let us go now.” She sat back, her arms folded across her chest.
He surrendered. If he left her, she would probably follow, alone or with the local police. Either could be catastrophic. “I want you to vow on whatever you hold sacred that you’ll do exactly what I tell you. Nothing more, nothing less.”
To her credit, she thought about it before answering. “I will do as you say.”
Jack cranked the car and rolled on, leaving the village of Tournade behind. “Be sure, Doctor, because we have less than fifteen kilometers to go. Then you’ll be committed for good.”
“You must trust me.”
“After you have just blackmailed me the way you did?”
“Even so,” she replied.
Solange worried more about Mercier’s survival than about René’s. There was no way for her to know how well equipped he was to handle this intrigue. He must be good at what he did or his government would never have sent him to do this. At least they had chosen one proficient in the language. And as stubborn as any man she’d ever met. She couldn’t deny he knew how to fight. The guard he had overpowered could attest to that.
This man needed her. He had admitted as much. Why had he changed his mind about that? she wondered. Had she seemed too weak and helpless to be of any use? That made her all the more determined to prove him wrong.
She felt terrible that René must soon undergo a shock when he learned about his father’s treachery. Who was to say what sort of father Chari was? If what he had chosen to become involved with was any indication, he could not possess a shred of compassion.
The boy was barely seventeen. He had passed his recent birthday locked away. Had any visitor come to see him? She doubted it, because those with someone on the outside who furnished the inmates with money and things to trade usually fared better than René had done.
France’s prisons were a disgrace. Her brother had died in LaTerre, innocent of embezzlement and awaiting the trial that had never come to pass. Solange’s father had worked hard since then, trying to ameliorate some of the damage done in those hellholes. Solange was helping to carry on that mission.
There were times when they had no patients at Baumettes. Guards would lock everyone down and refuse them treatment. Some days after bandaging knife wounds, treating drug overdoses and the various illnesses caused by overcrowding, malnutrition and nonexistent hygiene, both she and her father despaired of making any difference at all.
Then they had come upon René, a boy so like Gerard had been. Young, weak of body, beautiful in appearance and fair game for the bullies of the world. Perhaps he was not innocent of the robbery they said he committed—she might never know the truth of that—but she did know that he did not deserve to be beaten half to death. She wanted to get him released, make him well again and help him get on with his life. To save one. Just one would make it all worth doing.
Now perhaps she could save not only René, but other people who had no clue yet that they were even in peril. Solange had never seen firsthand results of biological warfare, but she could well imagine how dire they would be. There would be little or maybe nothing she could do after the fact if it occurred, so she simply must prevent it by whatever means she could.
They turned onto a road leading through a stand of poplars and wound their way for several miles to a huge, rambling old manor house. The farmland around it lay fallow for the most part. Someone had planted what appeared to be oats in one of the fields adjacent to the main road.
“Well, here we are,” Mercier said as they stopped at the front entrance. Two dark-skinned men approached, armed with automatic weapons and menacing looks. The larger of the two ordered them out of the car.
Solange obeyed immediately. Jack did so a bit more languidly, gesturing as he explained in perfect colloquial French that they had brought Mr. Chari’s son to him, along with the doctor who had saved his life. He told them that the boy was unconscious and needed a litter.
Solange had thought it best that René not be conscious when they arrived. As in the prison, the worse his health seemed, the better it would be for him. At least for now.
One of the men disappeared inside and returned shortly with a distinguished-looking man of around forty. He was dark-haired, black-eyed and his skin color—as did his given name—suggested Mediterranean blood. He was slight of build, though possessing a sort of wiry strength his son had not yet acquired. Solange knew simply by the resemblance in their features that this had to be Ahmed Chari.
The guard with him aimed his weapon directly at Solange’s head as Chari approached the car’s back door and opened it. His sharp, assessing gaze traveled over his son. Then he asked her, “What has happened to him?”
“He was beaten by the guards at Baumettes Prison. For insolence, so they said when I arrived to treat him. They realized he was of some importance when advised of his identity, and so they brought him to the infirmary to be treated.” Solange knew the majority of the prisoners in French jails were Islamic. The places were terrorist breeding grounds these days. Perhaps Chari had some influence in those circles. His current activities certainly made that probable. Why had he not used it?
“Will he recover?” Chari asked, hiding his concern as a father rather well, if indeed he had any. Though he was quite handsome, she had never seen a colder countenance on anyone. Merely looking at him gave her a chill.
“Yes, I believe he will eventually,” she answered truthfully, “but he has had some internal damage. Surgery was not indicated at the time, but it might well become necessary later if he has continued problems.”
“You have been treating him from the first?”
“He suffered alone those first two days before they brought him to the infirmary.”
Chari turned to the guards. “Carry the boy inside. Put him in his old room, the nursery on the first floor, and bring in a cot for the doctor.” Then he looked at Mercier. “Get rid of him.”
“Wait!” Solange cried. “He saved René’s life! It was he who overpowered the guard responsible for your son’s beating! Is this how you reward his good deed?”
Chari looked at her as if really seeing her for the first time. She almost shivered under his regard. “What is this man to you?” he demanded.
“Nothing at all,” Solange declared. “But he did save your son’s life and I simply do not believe you should kill a man for doing you so great a favor!”
“Kill him, Doctor? I merely wanted him sent away.” Slowly Chari shifted his attention back to the object of their conversation. “So who are you and what offense sent you to the prison?”
“Jacques Mercier. They say I was involved in receiving stolen weapons, but…” he let his voice taper off with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Get on the radio, Piers, and contact Vaughn in Marseilles. See if this man is lying. If he is not, bring him to my study.”
With that, Chari walked back into the house and disappeared. Solange’s frantic gaze connected with Mercier’s. Neither spoke, but the look he gave her betrayed a brief hint of gratitude and even a little surprise. Her own expression must have been wild-eyed with fright, though she was trying hard not to show how terrified she felt.
Two more men came out carrying a frayed and faded litter that might have been scavenged during World War II. Gently, at her direction, they transferred René from the back seat of the car onto the carrier.
She reluctantly abandoned Mercier to his fate as she accompanied her patient into his father’s house. One of the guards gave a cursory check for weapons hidden beneath her clothing and then plundered more carefully through her medical bag. Satisfied, they left her alone with René. She tried not to let herself wonder whether she would ever be allowed outside the house again in her lifetime. Or if Jack Mercier would ever see the inside of it during his.
Later, after suffering a humiliating and thorough body search and waiting for Piers to make his phone call to Marseilles, Jack relaxed a little. He was inside. Next step accomplished.
He attempted to put all thoughts of Solange Micheaux out of his mind when he arrived in Chari’s study. She was in even more danger than he had worried she would be. He had figured Chari would be a little more grateful for his son’s survival and that he would treat Solange with some respect because of her part in that. Apparently, the man had little in the way of paternal feelings and no kind regard at all for females.
Jack now wished he had opened that car door in Tournade, shoved her out forcefully, then sped off before she knew what had happened. Right now she’d be under no threat whatsoever if he’d done that.
But then again, he could be dead now if she had not come along. If she hadn’t interceded with Chari, he’d probably be out in one of those fields with a little dirt kicked over him.
“Sit down, Mercier,” Chari instructed. “Cigar?”
Jack reached forward and took one. He hated the stinking things, but some men thought smoking them together was a bonding experience. If Chari were one of those men, Jack certainly did want to accommodate him. A little bonding was needed right about now.
“Drink?” Chari offered, gesturing lazily with one hand at the sideboard.
Two fancy decanters stood there wearing a coat of dust. Did Chari practice the religion that forbade it or was he just careful not to let alcohol fuzz up his brain? In either case, Jack wasn’t about to break any unspoken rules.
“No, thanks. Never touch it.”
Chari smiled his approval. “Good. We should get down to business. Tell me about these weapons you have allegedly imported.”
Jack shrugged and took a puff of the cigar before he answered. “A man called Jurin hired me to pick up a delivery in Narbonne. I drove there, went where he directed me to go. The police were waiting. They hauled me in along with the men who had actually had possession of the shipment when they arrived. I was in Baumettes awaiting trial. You know how that goes.”
“Unfortunately.” Chari picked a speck of tobacco off his lip with his fingernail. “How did you come to rescue René?”
“I saw the guards knocking him around. He looked like a kid who didn’t need to be where he was. When I got a look at his doctor, I figured she didn’t need to be there, either. So…since I had no love at all for the bastard who used his fists on children, I took him out. Then I took them with me.” He smiled. “I was going anyway, you see.”
“You had to have help. Baumettes is fairly secure, but even I could not find a way to liberate René.”
Jack somehow doubted he had tried all that hard. Will Griffin had encountered no problem in bribing the right people. Be that as it may, Chari was the one Jack had to deal with right now. And he had to convince Chari he would be a valuable asset.
“You’re right. I did have someone on the outside. He crossed a few palms, got the right key, the right vehicles.”
“Where is he now?”
Jack smiled. “I had no further use for him.”
“How did you find your way here?” Chari asked. “The work I am doing requires solitude. I have made certain that few people know my address.”
“René mentioned the location when he was delirious with fever,” Jack lied. “I hoped that out of gratitude you might offer me a position here.”
“And how would you know what sort of business I am in and what work might be available?”
Jack sighed and rolled the cigar between his fingers. He met Chari’s gaze directly and smiled. “I understand you make films. I confess I have not seen any of them, but I am not much acquainted with the arts.”
“The last was well received in Cannes four years ago,” Chari informed him with a haughty sniff.
Jack almost laughed. The film had tanked miserably and the public screening had proved a joke. Chari had delusions of grandeur that made Napoleon seem modest.
“I’ve heard that you live a reclusive life. Whatever it is you are doing now, I can ensure that you remain undisturbed.”
Chari nodded. “Do you trust this helper you hired for the escape not to have followed you here?” Chari watched him carefully, his eyes narrowed. “I do not wish more unexpected company.”
“You are not making a film,” Jack observed.
“No. Where is the man who helped you?”
“I do not believe in loose ends,” Jack said. The pinball dropped in place. Jack could almost hear the kaching declaring him a winner with the only correct answer.
“Perhaps I could use a man of your…experience,” Chari said, though he still wore the suspicious look Jack figured he’d been born with.
“You need not worry that the police will come here seeking the boy. As far as the authorities know, we are headed out of the country. We will have been observed and reported.”
“By someone else who could change a story and betray you. I believe you have too many accomplices,” Chari declared.
“No, this was just an acquaintance who owed me a favor. She made a phone call for the false report, but has no idea where I am at present.” Jack smiled. “I try to plan for all contingencies.”
“You are hired.”
“Thank you. How is the pay?”
“Excellent once the job is complete. You won’t need it before then.” Chari stood, a sign that the conversation was finished as far as he was concerned.
Jack had a sneaky feeling Chari never intended to issue any paychecks when his project was over. In view of that, he thought he might as well risk making a better deal with the new boss. Maybe come to an arrangement that might offer Solange more safety.
“One more thing,” Jack said boldly.
“Yes?”
“I’ll settle for half pay, get rid of any…loose ends you have dangling when you’ve done whatever it is you’re up to. Also I will make certain you’re not followed if you decide to change locations.”
“And what would secure your generosity in this regard?” Chari asked slyly. “A little medical attention, perhaps?”
Jack grinned and stubbed out his cigar in the lead crystal ashtray on Chari’s desk. “Precisely. Have we an agreement?”
“Sounds reasonable. You calm her fears, see that she takes care of the boy and make her enjoy her stay well enough that she won’t make any attempt to leave or contact anyone. If she does, you are to prevent it and then dispose of her immediately. Can you do that, Mercier?”
“Of course. I assume you are not interested in her yourself, then?” He needed to make certain of that. If Chari made any move on Solange, Jack knew he would have to kill him, even if it blew the mission. He would just have to perform whatever damage control he could after that.
Chari frowned. “She is beautiful, but I dislike women who believe themselves intelligent. I detest the ones who really are.”
Jack laughed as if it were a joke, but he knew better. Chari was speaking with conviction at this point. “She’s smart all right.”
“Has she any experience in a laboratory?” Chari asked, idly tapping the ash off his cigar, fastidiously extending his smallest finger.
Jack shrugged, not really wanting to seem too curious. “I could ask her. We aren’t all that well acquainted. Yet,” he added meaningfully.
“Do so. She might be able to assist with what I have initiated if you could persuade her to cooperate. Find out what you can about her experience and report to me in the morning. Meanwhile, make yourself useful. See Piers for your accommodation and the schedule for the day.”
Jack nodded. “He is your second in command, is he not?”
“Very observant, Mercier. Tell him to give you the old au pair’s room that is adjacent to my son’s. The woman may visit you, but she is to sleep on her cot in the room with René.”
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Lyn Stone
One minute she was tending an injured patient. The next, her familiar world had vanished and Dr. Solange Micheaux was on the run with Special Agent Jack Mercier, his reluctant partner in a deadly race against time. But his powerful sensuality posed a far graver threat.She was in the wrong place at the wrong time–Jack had no choice but to take her with him. Now Solange was critical to the success of his mission. All he had to do was keep her safe. But as the hours ticked down, the stakes were rising. For each passion-filled moment they shared could be their last….
“This mission could be deadly if you don’t know what you’re doing, Solange. Tell me now if you aren’t sure, and I’ll get you out of here.”
Jack’s hand on her arm gripped with increased intensity. Solange realized he was afraid for her. Really afraid, to the point where he might abandon the mission if she seemed reluctant.
“I know what to do,” she assured him, putting more conviction into her answer than she truly felt.
In a surprising move, he put his arms around her and held her close. “I wish to God I had left you where you were. You’re not cut out for this.”
She pushed against his chest until she could look him straight in the eye. “Don’t underestimate me, Mercier.”
He smiled down at her, still holding her in his arms. “My mistake.” Then he lowered his head and kissed her.
Solange felt it to her soul.
Dear Reader,
Once again, Silhouette Intimate Moments has a month’s worth of fabulous reading for you. Start by picking up Wanted, the second in Ruth Langan’s suspenseful DEVIL’S COVE miniseries. This small town is full of secrets, and this top-selling author knows how to keep readers turning the pages.
We have more terrific miniseries. Kathleen Creighton continues STARRS OF THE WEST with An Order of Protection, featuring a protective hero every reader will want to have on her side. In Joint Forces, Catherine Mann continues WINGMEN WARRIORS with Tag’s long-awaited story. Seems Tag and his wife are also awaiting something: the unexpected arrival of another child. Carla Cassidy takes us back to CHEROKEE CORNERS in Manhunt. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and only the heroine’s visions can help catch him—but will she be in time to save the hero? Against the Wall is the next SPECIAL OPS title from Lyn Stone, a welcome addition to the line when she’s not also writing for Harlequin Historicals. Finally, you knew her as Anne Avery, also in Harlequin Historicals, but now she’s Anne Woodard, and in Dead Aim she proves she knows just what contemporary readers want.
Enjoy them all—and come back next month, when Silhouette Intimate Moments brings you even more of the best and most exciting romance reading around.
Yours,
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Editor
Against the Wall
Lyn Stone
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
LYN STONE
loves creating pictures with words. Paints, too. Her love affair with writing and art began in the third grade, when she won a school-wide prize for her colorful poster for Book Week. She spent the prize money on books, one of which was Little Women.
She rewrote the ending so that Jo marries her childhood sweetheart. That’s because Lyn had a childhood sweetheart herself and wanted to marry him when she grew up. She did. And now she is living her “happily ever after” in north Alabama with the same guy. She and Allen have traveled the world, have two children, four grandchildren and experienced some wild adventures along the way.
Whether writing romantic historicals or contemporary fiction, Lyn insists on including elements of humor, mystery and danger. Perhaps because that other book she purchased all those years ago was a Nancy Drew.
This book is dedicated to
retired Special Agent Frank Hudson, Dorothy and Jim.
We miss you guys!
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Prologue
“I don’t see how we’re gonna be much help to Jack fifteen clicks away,” Joe Corda said. He immediately lowered his voice when he heard the echo bounce off the old masonry walls. “That’s lethal stuff he’ll be dealing with. Not like bullets. One hit and he’s dead. If he were going in alone, I wouldn’t worry so much, but he’ll have that doctor along. And the kid.”
“He’ll need tickets and they’re it. I’d have gotten us closer, but we’d stick out like M&Ms on a sushi plate anywhere else around here,” Holly Amberson argued. “As it is, the locals won’t even blink at us. They’re used to weirdos renting this place. Artistes!” she hissed with a flourish of her fingers.
He looked around as he put down two of the suitcases. “This dump looks like something out of a really bad French novel.”
“Oh, yeah, like you’ve read so many of those,” she muttered. “But I will admit a Bela Lugosi butler wouldn’t be out of place.”
He leveled her with a look. “We are the help, remember?”
“Not you, slick.” She smirked. “You are the gigolo. Man, I do hate that shirt. Which pimp’s closet did you raid anyway?”
Just outside, Martine Duquesne Corda was busy issuing imperious instructions to her bodyguard, Eric Vinland, and chauffeur, Will Griffin. Holly laughed. “Martine’s really getting into her role. You let her boss you around like that?”
“Sure.” Joe shrugged, hands on his hips, preoccupied with taking in the rustic, old-world charm of the faded mansion in France’s Lorraine region. “She does have an image to maintain. How do you like her disguise? She’ll be just that beautiful when she does reach sixty, I bet.”
In an abrupt change of topic, Holly commented, “Where the heck are the outlets in this barn? I need a place to hook up.” She hefted the case containing assorted gadgets and her laptop and set it on a scarred marble-topped table near the door.
They both moved aside as the others entered. She waited until Will had closed the door. “All the rooms been swept?”
“Clean,” Eric assured her. “We’re good to go.” He turned to Martine, clicked his heels and bowed, looking more like a muscle-bound kid on spring break than the bodyguard he was supposed to be. “Our reclusive Madame D’Amato may proceed with her work uninhibited.” He peered over his wire-rimmed glasses and winked at Joe. “As well as her play, of course.” Caught off guard, Martine laughed and blushed.
Holly pointed to the mound of luggage now piled near their feet. “You guys cut the bull and set up the global positioning system. Let’s check Jack’s location. We need to know exactly when to expect him.”
Will, quintessential agent, the quiet man, finally spoke. “His ETA’s eleven-thirty, give or take five. He’ll be here.”
“Verify.” Holly was running this end of the mission. Joe reached for the case with the GPS instruments. His duties consisted of whatever Holly ordered him to do. And also protecting his wife, not an official member of the Sextant team but a contract language specialist who was central to their cover. Holly, Will, Eric and he were masquerading as her entourage. Clay Senate was maintaining Stateside control while the boss, Mercier, had assumed the lead.
The Sextant team consisted of agents recruited from various government organizations expressly for the purpose of preventing terrorist activities around the globe. This suspected bio-terror threat was the first of its kind for Sextant.
Identify, Infiltrate, Analyze and Eliminate. That first part, they had all had a hand in. The second and most difficult order of business was about to go down within the next few hours if all went as planned. The primary agent was about to insert.
Joe looked up at the peeling paint on the fancy plaster ceiling and—seriously lapsed Catholic that he was—uttered a devout prayer that they would all survive. He was known for his hunches, and he had a really bad feeling about this.
Chapter 1
Jack Mercier entered the hospital wing of Baumettes Prison with the barrel of a submachine gun resting at the base of his spine. While he loved humanity—in fact, had devoted his life to the protection of it—he had decided since coming to this place a week ago that he was not that crazy about people. Especially Claude Bujold, his least favorite guard.
Maybe he was rationalizing the fact that he wanted to kill the man, but he didn’t think so. Claude considered beatings a form of entertainment, the more helpless the victim, the greater the rush. Misuse of power really pushed Jack’s buttons.
Jack was supposed to be awaiting arraignment, accused of conspiring to ship illegal weapons into France. Bogus charges, of course, faked to get him into this place.
He had escaped most of the vicious harassment by bribing Claude. The promise of money from Jack’s attorney had gotten Jack the promise of medical attention today.
Jack waited until they entered the small ward, empty now except for one patient and the doctor attending him at the far end of the room. Today was the day.
The white-clad doctor who was bending over the patient stood and turned. Jack stopped in his tracks. Wrong doctor. Most definitely, wrong doctor.
Should he postpone? Too late. With everything else in place, it was now or never.
Claude prodded him down the aisle between the rows of beds. “Hey, Doc, this piece of filth has been complaining of chest pain. Would you—”
Jack whirled, grasped both of Claude’s wrists and pinched the nerves that controlled his fingers. He rammed the top of his head beneath Claude’s chin and heard a satisfying crack.
The machine gun fell, hitting the floor a split second after Jack’s knee connected with Claude’s groin.
The guard crumpled with a cry. Jack delivered a blow to the side of the head that would keep Claude unconscious for a while. Unfortunately, the bastard had to be left alive.
The doctor rushed him but he heard that coming. He waited, caught her upraised arm and easily removed the syringe, her impromptu weapon.
“Where is Dr. Micheaux?” he demanded.
She sputtered as she struggled to break free. Her small fists bounced off him, inflicting no pain. She was not very strong, he noted.
What the hell was this delicate little flower doing in a prison hospital? And what had happened to the doctor he had expected to find in here?
Now he would either have to incapacitate her like the guard, or take her along. Either way, she might be blamed for aiding the escape. Besides, he had to have a doctor along. She’d just have to do.
“Be still or I’ll have to kill you,” he snapped.
All motion ceased. Her wide blue gaze, full of fear and anger, settled on his. Every muscle in her body was alert and tensed for further action if he presented her a chance. Bold little thing.
“I admire bravery but not stupidity. Nod if you comprehend.” He spoke to her in French, assuming that she was.
Her chin remained raised, her glare defiant. But Jack could see she understood. She was pretty, he noticed. Blond, sky-blue eyes, skin untouched by the sun. This one didn’t spend her off days on the Riviera, that was for sure. Too busy saving lives, he guessed. He’d bet she worked here for nothing in her spare time. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Prepare your patient to leave the prison. Is he ambulatory?”
“No,” she said emphatically. “You are not taking him anywhere.”
Jack inclined his head toward the exit that led to the alley where a truck was waiting. “We are all leaving through that door in less than five minutes.” He glared at her. He had no time for her spitfire attitude, so he added, “Dead or alive. Your choice, lady.”
For a long moment she studied his eyes, then looked back at the bed where her patient lay sleeping. “You won’t hurt him?”
“No. Or you, either. Not if you behave and do exactly as I tell you.”
She exhaled the pent-up breath she was holding and nodded once, no doubt cursing the abominable lack of security in French prisons. This one was even more short-handed than usual today thanks to Will Griffin.
Jack released her and reached down to pick up Claude’s weapon. “Get to it, then, while I take care of the garbage. Do as I say and neither of you will be harmed. My word.”
He ignored her scoff. In seconds he had bound the unconscious Claude’s hands and feet and gagged him with a roll of gauze.
Jack regretted having to take the doctor along, but he really had no choice. Since the boy was drugged, someone would have to verify how he’d been rescued. Besides that, he obviously needed medical attention, and the kid’s father would hardly appreciate Jack’s getting the boy out of prison if the little fellow died in the process.
“You have the boy ready?” Jack demanded as he approached the sickbed where the prisoner lay.
“Yes. Why are you doing this?” she demanded.
Jack ignored the question. “Take as much of his medication as you have with you. Hand me your bag.”
“I am not coming,” she informed him.
“Poor choice.” He started raising the machine gun. She gasped.
“Change your mind?” Jack asked. Again she nodded, her eyes clenched in resignation.
“Then help him up. He’s small enough you should be able to manage. Is he really that hurt or just sedated?”
“Of course he is hurt. His injuries are numerous and he is on morphine.”
As she spoke, she raised the boy to a sitting position, eased his legs off the bed and tried to encourage him to stand up. She managed, but only just. The kid was pretty much out of it. He was very slightly built, almost delicate. Though he was seventeen, René Chari seemed younger. His sallow complexion and adolescent fuzz of a mustache only enhanced his look of vulnerability.
“Brace your shoulder beneath his and pull his arm around your neck,” Jack told her, grasping the boy beneath his other arm as they shuffled him to the door. “We have only a short way to go.”
“This door is kept locked,” she told him.
“Not today,” Jack replied as he reached for the handle and shoved the door open. “Go ahead of me. And if you run, I will shoot.”
She did as ordered and they were soon in the alley. No windows graced the inner walls that faced them between the wings. A heavy chain-link gate topped with concertina wire barred the only way out. “Hurry. Let’s get him inside the vehicle.”
The truck provided, a megaton monstrosity used for delivering supplies, would easily roll them to freedom. Several blocks away, a vintage sedan waited, souped up and ready to transport them to their eventual destination.
He placed the machine gun across his lap, cranked the starter, floored the accelerator and gunned it, ramming straight through the chain-link barrier.
The alarm was immediate and deafening. He sped away from it, taking side streets until he approached the wooded area of the park.
He pulled up behind the car Griffin had left him and slammed on the brake. In minutes he had loaded both patient and doctor into the gray Saab and they were off.
“Jail break accomplished,” he said to himself, ticking off tasks to be completed. It was an old habit. He turned to the doctor who looked pale as a bleached sheet. “Are you doing all right?”
She shot him a look of disbelief that he would ask such a ridiculous question. “I have been abducted at gunpoint. No, I am not well at all.” She swallowed hard, almost gulped. “Do you mean to…kill me?” she added, still defiant.
Her bravery, useless as it was, touched something in Jack. She was so totally defenseless and yet she refused to cower. A kitten backed against a wall, facing a bulldog, ready to claw for all she was worth if attacked. He felt faintly ashamed of himself. “Did I hurt you when I disarmed you?”
She flexed her wrist. Faint red marks discolored the pale ivory of her flesh where he had grasped it to relieve her of the syringe. She tucked that hand beneath the other and began rubbing the wrist slowly, absently. “No, but you did not answer my question.”
“I have no plans at present to harm you at all if you cooperate. You’ve not asked me once to release you since we escaped. Why is that?”
Her gaze left him as she glanced into the back seat. “There is René. He needs continued care and I doubt you intend to give it. What do you plan to do with him?”
“Take him home to his father,” Jack told her. “What happened to Dr. Micheaux?”
“I am Dr. Micheaux,” she replied with a haughty look. “Solange Micheaux.”
Damn. The daughter of the other doctor. He remembered a mention of her in Micheaux’s dossier, but nothing about her working at Baumettes. “Where is your father today?”
She refused to answer.
“He was supposed to be there and had promised to help,” Jack said, hoping that might gain him a little cooperation.
“You lie! My father would never assist in such a thing.”
“This is more than a run-of-the-mill escape, Doctor. Now where is your father?”
Her frown deepened, and she remained silent for a minute before answering. “In Paris.”
“Why wasn’t he at the prison today?”
She sighed. “He is in Broussais Hospital. He was injured in an accident yesterday morning.”
Either the team had not heard anything about this development or hadn’t been able to get word of it to him in his cell. “What happened?” Jack asked. “And are you certain it was an accident?
He heard her swift intake of breath. “He…he was hit by an automobile as he crossed the street. You…you are saying it was not an accident?”
“No. It probably was,” Jack said, but he was far from sure of the answer. “How badly was he hurt?”
She glanced out the window and continued to rub her hands together. “Broken femur, a concussion, bruises. He will recover.” Then she faced Jack, her eyes imploring. “Let me go to him. We can take René there, as well. You could leave us at the emergency entrance and be well away in no time. I promise—”
“Save your breath,” he said, interrupting her. “That’s not going to happen. I have to get René to his father no later than tomorrow. Do you know where he lives? Has the boy told you?”
“You do not even know where you are to go?”
Jack almost laughed. “Of course I know. I need to know if you know already. If René has said anything at all to you about his home or his family.”
She sighed, then looked out the window at the passing scenery. “No. René has not been living with his father. The boy has rooms near the Sorbonne where he attends classes,” she muttered, as if to herself.
Jack nodded. “Art student. Has he talked about his family? His father in particular?”
“Not to me and Father did not mention his discussing anything of that nature.” Her interest in the passing landscape ended abruptly as she turned that electrifying blue gaze on him again. “Why all of these questions?”
“I’ll tell you later. What of you, Dr. Micheaux? Will you tell me about yourself?”
“Why should I?”
“Because I ask.”
She scoffed. “You already know my name and who my father is. Even that is too much.”
“I am Jacques Mercier. Now you know mine. I was imprisoned to await trial. Wouldn’t you like to know why?”
“No. It is nothing to do with me. Are you attempting to cultivate the Stockholm Syndrome with this foolish exchange of information? I promise you I will never become attached to an abductor no matter how friendly you try to be.”
She faced away from him again. “Stop looking at me that way.”
Jack hadn’t realized he was making her even more uncomfortable. It would be difficult not to look at her. She was something to see, that was for sure.
He should try to put her at ease, as much as he could. “You’re very brave, that much I already know. Instead of a mere profession, you have a calling, I believe. Anyone else would be begging me for their freedom. Instead, you are willing to go along to care for our young friend in the back seat. Are you afraid?” He knew she was terrified, but he also knew she would never admit it.
“Of course I am afraid,” she confessed, surprising him. “Only a fool would not fear you. I saw what you did to that guard.”
“I could easily have killed him,” Jack said in a slightly defensive tone.
“I know,” she replied, not quite hiding a shiver.
He could see that that thought relieved her only a little. “You need not worry about rape, either,” he told her. “I believe I can restrain my animal instincts.”
She tried to cover her relief with a mirthless laugh. “I have offended you by thinking you might?”
“Do you care whether I am offended?”
She didn’t bother to answer. Jack knew she cared. She had to worry if she had made him angry, that he might change his mind and show her who was boss here.
“You’re safe with me,” he said, and meant it, too. Not just about his leaving her alone physically. He felt a need to protect her, even from the worry she must be feeling at the moment.
For an instant he considered stopping the car in the next village they reached and letting her go. Bad idea, and he couldn’t imagine why he had even thought of doing it. There was the mission to consider, and she was crucial to the success of it. Without her help, the plan would fall apart before it got underway.
That had been the point of waiting until the doctor was with the boy to take him. The problem was that her father had eagerly agreed to help with this. The man had experience in this sort of enterprise, had worked with intelligence before. The daughter had no clue what was going on.
“We’ll have to lie low for a day,” he said, knowing she would assume the police would be giving chase. There would be no all-points bulletin on them, of course. Holly Amberson could take care of that with a few choice phone calls and a bit of hacking with her magic laptop.
“Open the glove compartment and get the phone,” he commanded.
After eyeing him with suspicion for a few seconds, she complied. He took it from her before she could punch in any numbers and pressed the precoded digit.
When Holly answered, he kept his message brief and to the point. “We have a substitute. See that Dr. Solange Micheaux is officially listed on emergency leave. Arrange for someone to handle her duties and cover for her. Her father is an accident victim, a patient at Broussais. Check on his condition.” He paused. “And make sure it really was an accident.”
Amberson did not waste words either. “So we are still on?”
“Unless the mission is compromised. Are things all set at your end?”
“Right on schedule,” she replied.
That meant word would soon be out that the son of Ahmed Chari had escaped Baumettes Prison with a little help from a fellow inmate. This way, Chari probably would not be surprised by his son’s arrival if he heard about the escape on the news. The police would not bother to question Chari. They would be informed there was evidence that his son and his accomplices had left the country immediately.
Jack would use the downtime to become better acquainted with the doctor and determine whether she could be trusted with the truth or if she should go in blind.
Taking her in her father’s stead bothered him. It shouldn’t. She was just one person, expendable in the big scheme of things. The big scheme here was to save lives. Many of them. If sacrifices were necessary to accomplish that, then he would just have to live with it.
Solange realized she had dozed when the car stopped. She ran her hands through her hair and shook off her grogginess. How on earth had she managed to fall sleep in such a predicament as this?
Before she fell asleep, she had been marking their route visually. They had headed north from Lyon, with the central highlands to their left and the Swiss Alps to their right. Vineyards and fruit orchards lined their way along the wide path cut by nature.
When she looked out now, there were no landmarks or identifying characteristics on the eerie, moonlit landscape. He might have changed direction entirely. They could be anywhere in France by now.
“We’ll stay here for the night.”
She looked at the man who had kidnapped her, then out the window again. “Would you tell me where we are?”
“A safe place,” he replied cryptically.
He got out, opened the back door and gently lifted René in his arms. Solange hopped out quickly and hovered, cautioning him to be careful not to jostle her patient any more than he could help.
The night was chilly for mid-May, but that was not what caused her to shiver. She rubbed her arms briskly.
“Look under the mat there and find the key,” he ordered, his voice curt.
She hurried to find it and unlock the door to the old house, feeling for the keyhole with trembling fingers. What would happen once they were inside?
Where was this place? The moon was high enough that she could see they were not in a town or village. In fact, she could see no other buildings except this old cottage they were entering.
Could this man be intending to hold René here for ransom? And, if so, what would happen to her? If René remained unconscious during all this, he could not identify his kidnapper. But she could. Perhaps she would live only so long as René needed her.
If she found an opportunity, she would escape. Then she could go to the police and have them rescue René.
“There should be an oil lamp and matches on the table. Careful you don’t knock it off and break it,” he said, moving farther into the main room.
She heard the rustle of movement as she discovered by feel the lamp and a box of matches where he had said they would be. She struck fire and lifted the old-fashioned globe.
When she had adjusted the flame, Solange carried it over to where he had laid René on a shabby, but comfortable-looking couch.
“See to him. I’ll go and get your medical bag,” Mercier told her.
“Is there water in here or must we go outside to draw it?” she asked.
“Running water. The bath is off the hallway. Kitchen’s through that door,” he said pointing.
She knelt beside the couch and began checking René’s pulse. It felt steady and strong enough. He breathed normally and seemed to be quite comfortable. She lifted his lids and examined his pupils in the lamp light. A crocheted afghan lay draped over the foot of the couch and she used that to cover him against the chill of the room.
Mercier returned quickly and handed her the bag. “How is he doing?”
“No worse than he was.”
“His pain was severe enough for morphine?”
She hesitated. “First answer me one thing. Are you holding René for ransom?”
“No,” he declared shaking his head. Then he seemed to think about it. “But I can see why you might think that’s what I’m doing. No, I’m returning him to his father as soon as I can. I was escaping, anyway, and thought I might as well take the boy out of there with me.”
“On the hope of a reward, perhaps?” she asked.
He shrugged. “That and a place to hide once I got out. I’m hoping Chari will offer me a job.”
“You said my father agreed to help you? Why?”
“Even before he was beaten, the boy was not strong enough to survive long where he was. Your father knew that, and I suspect you know it, too.”
Satisfied he was not lying, she answered his question truthfully. “René was hurt, yes. He could have borne it well enough with pills, but my father wanted him bedridden, to seem worse off than he was.”
Mercier’s dark eyes softened as he crouched beside her on the threadbare rug. “To protect him? So he wouldn’t have to return to the cells?”
She nodded. “He has been at the prison for over three weeks and this is his second beating. That is why Father gave him morphine. If René remained unconscious, he would have more time to heal. When my father told me of his condition, both of us tried to intervene on René’s behalf, plead his youth and size to someone in authority. But neither my father nor I could get in to see anyone in the prefecture or the warden’s office. Even if we had, they probably would have laughed at us. He is simply another prisoner to be locked away. Why should they care?”
“But you care.”
“Of course I care!” she exclaimed, glaring at him. “He is hardly more than a child. Look at him. A gentle boy. How could they put him in with all those monsters?” Oh God, what had she said? She had just included this man in that insult.
But instead of outrage, she saw full understanding in his eyes. “Good for you. Your father and you outwitted them.” He smiled at her then, a gentle expression she would not have expected from such a man.
“We do what we can, though it is never enough.”
He nodded. “Baumettes is a three-hour drive down from Paris. Do you come to work at the prison hospital often?”
“Whenever my schedule permits, I assist my father in his volunteer work. Since his retirement, he spends a good many hours at three of the prison facilities.” She could see no point in going into their reasons for doing what they did.
He sighed. It was more a gust of resigned frustration. “One of my people is checking on your father’s condition and you’ll be advised how he is tomorrow. Try not to worry about him, though I’m certain you will, anyway.”
“Then I must thank you for that, I suppose.” Solange slumped, burying her face in her hands. She felt like weeping but knew she must not.
She took a deep breath and raised her head again, meeting his eyes. “I am very tired. Would you mind if I lie here on the floor beside the divan and sleep for a while? I had duty in the emergency last night and was unable to rest.”
He straightened and held up one finger. “Wait just a minute.”
Before she knew it, he was dragging in a single-bed mattress. “Here you are,” he said, positioning it next to her. “I’m afraid there are no linens. But here is a pillow and it’s new.”
She took the pillow from him and lay down.
Her captor offered her a reassuring smile and went to sit on the floor beside the front door. Somehow she knew that was the only exit that she would be able open.
It would be useless effort to try to escape tonight. He would only come after her, and she had no idea which way she should run even if he did not bother. Perhaps tomorrow would afford her a chance.
It was more than she could manage to stay awake and worry or react to any leftover fear. She would simply have to trust the angels as her mother used to say.
In the dream that followed close on the heels of her surrender to sleep, Solange felt one of them brush a wing over her face to comfort her. It rested lightly on her head for a long moment, a blessing, a promise to ward off evil. She smiled and felt safe.
Chapter 2
Jack stirred the bacon, careful to do it precisely as Holly had once shown him. He was not much of a cook but had been trying to learn. Since Holly was the only woman who worked with him and the only person he knew who didn’t exist on junk food and the occasional outing at a restaurant, she had volunteered.
Holly was slipping in under his guard, and he would have to watch that. Nothing sexual going on, but he was damn close to regarding her as a friend, not just one of the team.
Come to think of it, he had been spending a little too much of his free time with the others, too. Camaraderie was one thing; getting to be buddies was quite another. Maybe this mission would put things back in perspective.
He liked field work, but missed the daily routine in the office. Sometimes he could pretend for days he was just an average nine-to-fiver, fighting the traffic to work where he’d spend all day arranging investments and contacting clients. Visit his parents when it proved convenient. Maybe meet some interesting female for drinks after hours once in a while, get it on later if she seemed interested.
That was his life for about two weeks out of twelve. The rest of the time he was checking out rumors of terrorist rumblings and trying to stamp out trouble before it got underway. So far they had been successful beyond their best expectations going into this.
He thought about the woman in the next room, the pretty little doctor who had inadvertently become involved in this mission. Solange Micheaux was the least likely person he could imagine for getting wound up in any intrigue. What an open book. No guile whatsoever. She was so totally unlike the women engaged in this business, she could blow the whole op and ruin everything.
He pretty much lived for his job now, that of SAIC, or Special Agent in Charge, of a fairly new team called SEXTANT, consisting of six specialists recruited from different U.S. Government agencies. Organizations that had previously spent a great deal of their time bickering over jurisdiction and jealously guarding from each other the info they dug up. With the team’s respective contacts within their old jobs, and full allegiance to the new one, intelligence had a fighting chance of getting combined and doing some good.
Jack was formerly with the National Security Agency, the NSA, fondly dubbed No Such Agency because of its covert nature. The others were from the FBI, DIA, CIA, DEA and ATF.
They all had their own specialties, though they usually teamed up to make use of unique talents. As a rule, only one actually went in undercover. That depended on who was most suited for the job. In this instance, Jack’s French was best, learned at his mother’s knee instead of books or tapes. So was his ability to resolve matters without the use of weapons.
Jack had handpicked the agents on his team. He admittedly chose several of them for their psychic abilities. Paranormal gifts had always fascinated him. While these talents weren’t officially listed on their résumés, their extrasensory perceptions had been extremely helpful so far.
Jack wished he possessed a little mind-reading capability right now so he could decide whether Dr. Micheaux would become a help or a hindrance.
He stirred the bacon some more, then flopped it onto the waiting plates. The eggs were going to be a problem. He always had trouble with eggs.
“What are you doing?”
He eyed the eggs again, reluctant to turn around and face her. She would look soft and deliciously rumpled, he knew. She even sounded that way. Damn, she was attractive. And very distracting.
What was she doing to him? He had to get a grip. Must be her French, that faint Parisian-born drawl like none other, he guessed. Could be she reminded him of his mother a little. She sounded a bit like her. She even had that little one-shoulder shrug he remembered his mother using. Only on Solange, it looked a damn sight more interesting.
“I’m making breakfast,” he answered, his words a little more gruff than he intended. No, it was not Mama he was thinking about at the moment. Not even close.
She brushed past him and reached for the coffeepot sitting on the stove and poured herself a cup. When her arm touched his, he nearly jumped, catching himself just in time. He wasn’t exactly Mr. Cool this morning, he thought with a grimace.
Jack kept doing what he was doing, shoring up his internal defenses, cracking eggs and trying to concentrate on how Holly had taught him to do that one-handed. He nearly crushed the first one and stifled a curse.
“Move out of the way,” Solange ordered and took the bowl of eggs and fork out of his hand.
He watched the impatient little shake of her head as she took over. In no time she had turned out a perfect, fluffy omelette, which she neatly halved and slid onto the two plates he’d put out on the table.
Then she sat across from him and they ate, wordlessly eyeing each other in the way two strangers might do who had shared a night together and could find nothing to say when morning came.
Essentially that’s what they were, he supposed. There was even a faint sexual undertone present, though he had scarcely touched her at all and never with that intent. He wanted to, however, and that was the problem. She couldn’t know that, of course. And definitely wouldn’t share the feeling or appreciate his telling her about his. When they had finished eating, she gathered up the dishes and began to wash up.
He knew he had to gain her trust, and so far he hadn’t done much in the way of accomplishing that. He also decided he would trust her. Maybe it was the tender way she treated the boy and how she had leaped to his defense. There was a goodness about Solange Micheaux that seemed to emanate from her pores like a sweet fresh scent.
“Would you leave that and sit down again?” he asked politely. “We need to talk.”
Immediately she dried her hands on a towel and complied. Why wouldn’t she? He was her captor, or at least she thought of him that way.
She leveled a questioning look at him but didn’t speak.
“There is something I need to explain to you.” Still, Jack hesitated and looked through the doorway at René Chari. “Are you certain he’s still unconscious?”
“He is asleep.”
“Would you check on him and see if he’s conscious?”
“I did before I came in and he is not. His vitals are acceptable under the circumstances. I expect he will recover completely, but not anytime soon.”
“My point is, are you certain he can’t overhear what I’m about to tell you?”
“Why?” She frowned, and the expression tugged at him, made him want to erase it and put a smile there. He had not seen her smile and imagined it would be like sunlight on water.
Jack shook off the thought that was a little too poetic for comfort. “Just tell me if there’s any chance he’s awake right now.”
“None. I doubt he will awaken for hours.”
Jack relaxed a bit. He needed to bring her in on the plan. She would be able to sink him with a word when they encountered Chari, but he was literally betting his life that she wouldn’t. “I have to trust you,” he told her. “May I call you Solange?”
“No, you may not. Are you going to explain now why are you doing this?”
“Yes, Doctor, I’m getting to that if you’ll give me a chance.” He took a deep breath and made the plunge. “I work for the government.”
Her blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Which government?”
“Yours and mine in this instance. I am an American.”
“Well, that explains much. Are you annexing France or what?”
Jack smiled at the jab. “Not right now. We received intelligence about a month ago that a man called Ahmed Chari has set up a laboratory where he’s concocting a deadly virus that he intends to sell for use as a biological weapon.”
She gasped, covering her mouth with the fingertips of one hand. “No!”
“Yes. There’s a possibility that he plans to test it here. If he sells it to the groups that will want it most, Americans everywhere will be at risk. It’s possible he’s only a puppet for some larger power that could be using him and others like him to establish a supply of bioweapons. We have to find out.”
“But…but this is terrible!”
“And unfortunately, true.”
“Who told you this?”
She had trouble believing it. It did sound far-fetched unless you dealt with these monsters on a regular basis and knew what they were capable of. “Someone with inside information. Unfortunately not enough information. What he related about the supplies Chari had purchased for that purpose proved to be true. Your intelligence people have been performing surveillance, and two agents have attempted to infiltrate. They haven’t been seen since. I need to work my way into his operation and see how far he’s been able to take it. And what else or who else might be involved.”
“Why not simply go in by force and arrest this man?” she asked.
“I told you. We need to know whether he is working independently or if his setup is but one of a number of labs doing this. Also, we have to find out who is to receive his product, where they are located and, of course, their affiliation.”
“If you have him in custody, surely you could force him to reveal all of this.”
“Torture?” he asked. “We have to suppose he would never talk, even on pain of death. If he is a fanatic, he would fight to the death. Or kill himself as we go in. If he is just a supplier with no ideological motive, he and those working for him would be more afraid of his clients than of us. These people use families as leverage. As you must know, truth serum’s vastly overrated. So, we have to extract the information, all of it, by other means. In this case, by gaining his trust if we can.”
“And after you do?” she asked breathlessly.
“Perform what damage control we can, destroy the product and put him out of business permanently.”
“Kill him?” she asked in a broken whisper.
“Yes, if necessary,” Jack replied. “At least lock him away where he’ll present no further threat.”
“I do not believe you. This is not real.” But he could hear the horror in her voice. She didn’t dare not believe him and they both knew it.
“We had planned for your father to go in with me when we reach Chari’s chateau,” he told her. “Someone would need to explain how I managed to get René out of Baumettes. The boy cannot do that, since he was drugged and unaware. I want Chari to hire me to work for him out of gratitude.”
“How can you trust he will do that? Do you know anything about this man?” she asked, hitting squarely on his main problem.
“Not as much as I would like. If you go in with me to verify details of the escape, you will probably be confined once we arrive, kept only to minister to Chari’s son, until we have this resolved. It shouldn’t take long. All you would need to do is keep the boy sedated and comfortable and stay where they put you. It’s highly unlikely you would be hurt.”
“Unless what he is working on is mishandled and we all die from it!” she snapped.
“The substance should be relatively safe unless you sniff it, swallow some or get it on your skin. As I’m certain you know, we have serum that works against ricin, smallpox and several other dangerous agents. You would be given that beforehand, of course. Because of what he has purchased, we believe what he has is ricin or something similar.”
“You believe? Pardon me if I entertain some doubt. Even if the intelligence you received is credible, suppose he is attempting to alter the substance so that the immunizations will not be effective?”
Jack looked at her, sympathizing with her fears. The awful part of this was that she could easily be right.
He watched her as she sipped the remainder of her coffee, now probably tepid. But she wasn’t tasting it, only going through the motions to conceal her nervous tension.
With a sigh he took the cup from her and got up to refill it. He couldn’t do this after all. Too risky. She was totally unsuited for this kind of thing. And God only knew what she might suffer if Chari or his men turned out to be hostile toward women. The man was half Iranian. Too much depended solely on Chari’s gratitude, his love for his son. What if he hated the kid and didn’t care whether his son had a doctor’s care?
Jack plunked down the cup, sloshing a few drops onto the bare table top. “I can see you aren’t going to work out.”
“No!” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “I will. It is simply that I had to digest all that you have told me.” She managed a crooked little smile. “It does not go down well, but I see how important—no, vital—it is that you succeed. That we succeed. I must help you, of course.”
He was already shaking his head. “Admirable of you to agree, but I’ve changed my mind, Solange.”
“It is too late for that, Mercier…Jacques,” she said, offering him a smile that was a bit more confident than the last. Not a full sun-on-the-water smile yet, but he saw a glimmer that could draw him in deeply enough to drown. What was it about this woman?
“You’re too…honest or something. Too innocent, maybe. The boy and I will go in alone.”
“I am going with you,” she said decisively. Now there was fire in her eyes and a determined lift to her chin. “My father had agreed to do this and now that he cannot, I must. You need me. It is too late to alter your plan.”
For the remainder of the day Solange continued to argue with Mercier when she found the chance. He shushed her whenever they were anywhere near her patient, which was most of the time.
René had roused for a while. Though he was mostly incoherent, he did manage some of the tinned soup she had heated for their midday meal. He moved more easily now and seemed improved over the day before, despite the ordeal of being shuffled from his bed at the prison.
After he had eaten she administered more morphine. When he drifted off again, she renewed her assault on Mercier’s decision to leave her somewhere and go on alone with René.
The more she considered her father’s decision to assist Mercier and his people in this mission, the more determined Solange became to do so herself in his stead. Her resentment at being kept in the dark about it had faded completely. Father would have been ordered not to confide in anyone. And, of course, he would have known she would be frantic for his safety if he had told her.
She couldn’t afford fear now, not for herself. There was too much at stake.
This was the first time she had really had a chance to study Mercier and take his true measure. He wore this rough exterior, his disguise, she supposed. Even that scruffy two-day beard, slightly unkempt hair and prison clothing could not conceal his real persona, not now that she knew him better.
He took total control of his surroundings. His self-confidence seemed inborn or thoroughly ingrained early in his life. There was a charisma about him that would draw people to him, make them trust him. It had worked on her to some degree even before she had known why he had abducted her and René.
There was something about this man that was unique and compelling. She suspected that it would affect almost anyone who came in contact with him. She would need to be very careful that she did not let these burgeoning feelings of hers generate anything further that could be hurtful to her. Such as an infatuation with him. She was well aware that his qualities appealed, not just to her but all women. And he would know this, of course, and use it.
Her one attempt at a relationship had failed miserably even when she’d had her emotions under strict control. The mere thought of flinging caution to the wind with Mercier unnerved her. If ever there would be a time for that, it certainly was not now.
So she argued with him. Not only to set a precedent that she would remain independent and self-sufficient, despite his penchant for control, but because she had a legitimate reason to disagree.
Mercier kept changing the topic of conversation, insisting on hearing all about her school days, her trials of internship and residency and her father’s work and how she had assisted him. She shared all of the details, hoping to convince him that she had the necessary fortitude and experience with adversity to do what must be done.
Later, when darkness fell, they left the cottage and took to the road again. She would have continued trying to change his mind, but he silenced her immediately with a whispered warning. If René became privy to his plans, he told her, all could be lost with regard to this scheme.
Perhaps he believed she had given up. But Solange had made her decision, and that was all there was to that. They rode for what seemed hours, each lost in thought. He was probably working out an alternate solution in his mind, one that did not require her help.
They entered a village called Tournade, according to the road sign illuminated by the headlamps of the Saab. It was then Mercier declared his intention. “I’m leaving you here with my people. That way you’ll be nearby if the boy takes a turn for the worse.”
That said, he drove up a narrow winding street, parked on the cobblestones in front of a huge, Italianate three-story stone structure and got out. He motioned for her to do the same.
Solange did so, reluctant to leave the sleeping René. She wondered whether she would see him again if she were forced to stay in this house. It would have to be at the point of his gun. She meant to go with him.
The dark old house looked forbidding. Mercier lifted the ring on the lion’s head doorknocker and rapped once, paused, then tapped four more times in rapid succession.
A tall figure opened the door and emerged immediately, a mere shadow in the weak light of the moon. The doorway and the windows of the house remained dark. Solange noted the silhouette of a weapon in the man’s hand. “You’re late. We’d begun to worry,” he said to Mercier in English. “Everything go okay?”
“Not exactly. Will, this is Dr. Solange Micheaux, the old doctor’s daughter who was filling in for him. You stay here with our passenger while I get her settled upstairs. There’s no point moving young Chari any more than we need to.”
“Ma’am,” the voice acknowledged. “How is the boy?”
Mercier answered for her. “Not as bad as I thought.”
“Great. Then he’ll be able to vouch for you with his father.”
“I’m afraid he slept through everything,” Mercier said, taking Solange’s arm and ushering her inside the dark building.
He led her up a winding stairway to another door and knocked again in the same sequence. A woman answered. She was armed, but when she saw Mercier, she smiled and tucked the pistol into the holster at her waist and stood aside for them to enter. The room was warmly lit, the one window completely covered with heavy black fabric that had been taped securely to the frame.
“It’s about time, boss. We were getting ready to come looking for you.” Her dark brown gaze landed on Solange, who had elected to remain slightly behind Mercier and as unobtrusive as possible.
“Holly Amberson, this is Dr. Solange Micheaux,” he said, stepping away so the woman could see her better.
Solange admired her looks, even as she experienced a twinge of envy. Amberson was an unusual beauty with skin the color of pale caramel. Sleek black hair clipped in a short cap clung to a perfectly shaped head. Her dark brown eyes were long-lashed and slanted upward, giving her a faintly exotic expression. Her figure looked toned for strength beneath her black leggings and cropped chenille sweater. Though she stood only an inch or so taller than Solange’s five-three, she exuded self-confidence.
Jacques Mercier must find this Holly person terribly attractive. Were they involved?
He spoke up then and dispelled her musings about Amberson. “The Chari boy’s still in the car. Solange has him heavily sedated.”
The woman nodded. “So he missed the whole rescue op he was supposed to tell his daddy about. And our option, the elder Dr. Micheaux, is in the hospital. We verified the accident last night. The driver who struck him was a plumber on his way to a job and in a hurry. He checks out clean, no ties to anyone connected with Chari. It was just an unfortunate turn of events. Tough luck, but not insurmountable. She’ll do just as well.”
“No, she’s staying here.”
“What is my father’s condition? Have you heard?” Solange demanded.
“He’s doing very well. Better than expected. You need not worry about him.”
“Thank you for finding out.” Solange knew he would recover. She had checked his condition herself before she had gone to the prison. But it was her prerogative to worry, anyway. Their housekeeper, Marie, would be there for him if he needed anything.
Mercier interrupted her thoughts as he spoke to the woman. “I saw Will as we came in. What are the rest of the troops up to tonight?”
“Heard from Clay a couple of hours ago. He’s on top of things at the office. Joe and Martine are upstairs,” she added with a sly grin. “Eric’s out prowling around somewhere. You want me to raise him?”
“No, that’s all right. Just counting noses.”
He left Solange standing there, subject to the woman’s continued scrutiny and went straight to the coffee maker where he poured two cups. “I can’t take Solange in with me. She’s willing to help, but—”
“She knows the score?” the woman asked, eyeing Solange critically.
“Yes, everything,” he admitted as he turned and handed Solange a steaming cup. He was still addressing the woman, and they were both speaking rapid English, perhaps thinking that might prevent her understanding. “She can be trusted. That’s not the problem. Still, I’ve elected to leave her with you.”
“Why? He’ll need a doctor. You were the one who said—”
“Yes, but she’s not what I…we expected,” Mercier stated flatly, as if Solange had somehow disappointed him.
Amberson gave a little mirthless laugh and shook her head. “If I thought you’d had any time to get acquainted, I’d think you’d gone sweet on her. Maybe that you didn’t want to risk her cute little neck or something.”
Mercier looked away while he drank his coffee, obviously not wanting to dignify that ridiculous supposition. Sweet on her? An idea as facetious as the expression was archaic. But it gave Solange a small lift in spirit that this gorgeous woman might think such a thing was possible. Solange, an ordinary physician, hardly felt she was exotic enough to interest a man such as Mercier. Could she have made this woman a bit jealous?
It was hard to contain her smile. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and raised her eyebrows at the Amberson woman just because provoking her seemed the thing to do at the time.
“Good grief, man.” Amberson groaned and rolled her eyes. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re definitely wrong,” Mercier muttered. But he sounded more impatient than outraged. “We don’t know much about Chari, the man. And Solange is so…well, look at her, Holly.” He gestured in her direction rather rudely.
Solange had enough of being talked around as if she were not there at all. She interrupted in English to establish that fact. “Pardon me, but I really must insist that I accompany you, Mercier. René might—”
“She’s right, Jacques,” the woman said. “Who’s going to tell Chari what happened? How you rescued his son?”
“I’ll tell him myself.”
“Yeah, right. You think he’ll believe you if you just waltz in there bragging about the chances you took to get him out? That’s the whole point of your going into the prison in the first place, wasn’t it? To get the kid out and make the dad grateful!”
“I’ll make him believe me.”
Holly threw up her hands. “Jeez, then Will might as well have dragged the boy out when he was there to leave the truck! René Chari can’t toot your horn for you if he’s been out like a light the whole time. He won’t even know who you are when he comes around.”
“He saw me earlier. I interceded for him during the last beating.”
Solange butted in, forming the English clearly and concisely. “But he was hurt then, probably dazed. Perhaps he won’t even recognize that it was you who helped him.”
Mercier growled, “I’ll think of something.”
Amberson threw up her hands in frustration. “Jack, be reasonable! You need her.”
“You do,” Solange agreed. She got right in his face to drive her point home. “If what you have told me about René’s father is true, then I must do everything within my power to help prevent what he is planning. And we must find out if he is the only one doing this. This is what you told me yourself.”
Amberson nodded emphatically. “She might even be able to help assess what Chari has and how much damage it might do. I’ve checked you out, Doc,” she told Solange. “When I did the background search on your father, I did his family, too, so I’m aware of the training you’ve had. I wish you’d been into research in this particular area, but then, I guess you wouldn’t have been where you were at the time, huh?”
Solange smiled politely. “I suppose not. However, with the sort of threats the world has been living under these past few years, I have read extensively of anthrax, smallpox, ricin and other likely weapons of terror. Most of us within the medical community realize what we might be called upon to do if such disasters occur and we have to be prepared.”
“Excellent!” Amberson gave her a smile of approval that looked quite sincere. Solange returned it. She could like this woman who spoke her mind so freely and had no qualms about contradicting a man when she knew she was right.
“I can do this,” Solange stated with conviction. “And I will.”
“You see, Jack? She’s actually better qualified than we’d hoped. Get her inside that lab if you can. See what he’s got.”
Mercier glared at his friend for a moment, then lowered his head. Obviously he was the one in charge of this assignment or whatever they were calling it, but he had to recognize that she and Amberson were right in this instance. In any event the argument seemed to be over for the moment.
Solange sat drinking her coffee while Mercier ignored them both and began typing something on one of the computers.
Holly Amberson smiled her encouragement and offered Solange a pastry from a box near the coffeemaker. “Here, you might need some energy, however this works out.”
“I am going,” Solange said to her, then bit into the orange-glazed confection she had chosen.
“I know,” Holly replied. She winked at Solange and toasted her with a croissant. “Come with me. I’ll show you where to freshen up and we’ll see about getting you immunized.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Mercier said.
“Yes,” Solange argued. “It will.”
Chapter 3
Though he knew Holly and Solange were right, Jack hadn’t conceded yet. He finished jotting down the brief report on his time at Baumettes for the record, then got up to pace out the kinks he had acquired from riding in the cramped vehicle for so many miles.
“You’ve had a couple of weeks to delve into Chari’s history, Holly. Anything new?” he asked.
“Some,” she answered, sitting down at one of the laptops and pulling up a file. “He’s made three visits to his relatives in Iran. Last one was three years ago. That’s confirmed. The first film he made had to do with the political unrest in the area. Went all the way back to the expulsion of the shah. Even if it had been well-done—which it wasn’t—he rode the big wave too late. People everywhere were up to here with that stuff in the news.”
“He got into the movie business through his wife, didn’t he?” Jack said.
“Yep. She had a pretty good career going when they married, and got him on the film crew of her last picture. When it was winding down, she got pregnant. She was diabetic. After René’s birth, her health went downhill fast and she died. With what she left him, Chari decided to finance his own effort. He parked the kid with her parents here in Tournade. It took him about six years to get the picture together. When it tanked, he was out of money.”
“What then?”
Holly sighed. “Well, he borrowed from his in-laws, tried a couple of get-rich-quick schemes, both legit. Nothing wildly successful but he made enough to back another small production. An artsy film. Trust me, this guy has truly weird tastes in entertainment. And a humongous ego.”
“That film flopped, too,” Jack guessed.
“It got laughs. Most were directed at him. In the four years since, he’s kept a low profile. Lived in Paris awhile. Made a couple more trips to Tehran. Soon as his in-laws died, he came back here. His son inherited the house, so Chari couldn’t sell it. Can’t touch René’s trust fund, either.”
“Unless the boy dies,” Jack said, not liking that possibility at all. What if Chari had no fatherly affection at all? What if he had wanted René to stay in prison where his life would be at risk? “Did you find out if the robbery that sent the boy to Baumettes was a setup?”
“On the surface it appears he was just caught up in bad company. Maybe didn’t know what was going down until he was right in the middle of it.” She sighed. “No priors on him. No trouble at his schools.”
“How long has Chari had all that dubious company out at the farm?”
“That’s the problem. We don’t know. There was that anonymous phone call to the security minister’s office almost a month ago. We were brought in a few days later.”
“Because he made two trips to the States last year,” Jack said.
“To New York,” Holly verified, “where he met with some very shady dudes our guys were keeping an eye on.”
Jack nodded. He had that information already. “Okay. Fill me in on personality. I don’t need the minute details you uncovered. I just need to know what he’s like. What drives him.”
Her lips turned up in a wry twist. “My guess would be he’s sociopathic.”
“Gee whiz, Holly. No wonder they pay you the big money. Seriously now.”
She tapped the keyboard idly with one finger, but she wasn’t even looking at the screen. No file on this, Jack realized. All of it was in Holly’s head. This was where she took all facts gleaned from known actions, did her magic and constructed a profile. Her accuracy was legendary.
“He’s smart and knows it, feels vastly superior to everyone else. But he lacks identity. I’m a product of two cultures myself, and Chari’s two are even more diverse than mine, so I can see where he’s coming from. He craves success and recognition and will do anything to get the validation he needs. I mean, anything.”
“But why this?” Solange asked, her voice hardly more than a whisper. “Only to finance a film? This is madness. His reasons are so…so trivial!”
“Not trivial to him,” Holly explained. Her gaze met Jack’s. “He has to have a vast amount of money and he chose a certain way to get it. My guess is he plans something spectacular, a big-budget thing. We’re talking a Braveheart epic or Dances With Wolves. He’s going for the gold and I don’t mean just in his bank account. He’ll want some gilded statues out of this. A name that will go down in history like Gibson or Costner. Wouldn’t surprise me much if he played a role himself the way they did. He’s got the looks. Probably not the talent to match, but I’m sure he’ll think he does.”
“But a movie?” Jack asked with a huff of disbelief that echoed Solange’s. “That’s just crazy.”
“Well, what’s he gonna do to get world recognition, huh? He can’t very well brag about snuffing a portion of the population with poison. He’s merely providing a product that will gain him millions in ready cash to support what he really feels compelled to do.”
Solange butted in. “Yes, but could he also desire a bit of revenge on the public who has not accepted him as he believes they should have done before?”
Holly nodded. “Very astute, Doctor. It could well be that that’s part of his overall plan. This guy’s extremely dangerous. He has no conscience. The laws do not apply to him, and he feels invincible.”
“Then we’ll just have to show him the light,” Jack said. He turned to Solange. “Heard enough? You see now why I want to leave you here?”
“I’m going. We have to stop this madman.”
“The plan’s in place, Jack,” Holly said, agreeing that Solange was needed. “She’s necessary.”
He clenched his eyes shut and shook his head. “I’m getting really bad vibes.”
“Vibes?” Solange asked. “What does this mean?”
Jack shrugged off the question, warning Holly with a look not to launch into any explanations right now. There wasn’t time to explain fully, and even if they did, Solange could hardly be expected to give it much credit.
He had always experienced these feelings. That’s all they were. Nothing concrete, certainly not in the category of telepathy or prescience, but they were fairly dependable. Nerves of steel and uncluttered confidence going into a mission meant success, a walk in the park. This jittery anything-that-can-go-wrong-will state of mind meant trouble. Unlike his paltry talent, Joe and Eric had the definitive visions. “What does Eric say?”
“He says he sees food. Good food. And he smells cigar smoke. This is all in the present, remember? He’s tuned in on Chari.”
“Joe pick up any future images at all?”
“Only one. You, all smiles. And all wet.”
“Wet? What does that mean?” he asked, realizing he had repeated Solange’s earlier question.
“Your hair and face are wet. And you look happy.”
Solange glanced from one to the other, frowning.
Holly grinned and reached over to pinch his shoulder. “Want me to practice my Vulcan mind-meld, Captain Kirk?”
“Spare me,” Jack said with a short laugh. “My mind’s screwed up enough right now.”
“Can’t afford that,” Holly said with a sigh. “I know I’ve been preaching concern for the individual, but now’s the time to look at the overall scenario, Jack. I hate to advise it, but get back on your original track and look at the forest, will you?”
She was right, of course, but her turnaround surprised him. He tended to lump people into groups, and she had pointed that out to him. It isolated him in a way, but that was okay. It was probably what kept him sane. Humanity, his family, his team. See them as individuals? He did in a way, but it was a very objective way. Each was part of this group or that, but if lost, the unit would survive. It could go on. He could go on.
He even viewed the enemy as one entity, to be erased at all costs.
With the members of his team, he considered their particular talents as they related to assignments, rated their unique performances of duty, commended or counseled them individually. That was his job. Relating to them personally, one-on-one, was a whole other thing.
He had tried that. However, after losing his favorite brother—his partner on a long ago NSA mission—and his wife in a shooting on the job two years ago, he finally had decided compartmentalizing was the only way to go. It had become habit and one that suited him. He embraced it now.
“I hear you,” he said, forcing a smile. He quickly finished his coffee and set the cup down on the desk. “Well, I need to get going. Everything set up here?”
“We’re good,” Holly told him. “You know you can’t have anything electronic on you going in.”
“Yeah, they might do a sweep and find it. They’ll surely check the car.”
“Would they search me?” Solange offered.
“Can’t risk it,” Holly said. “Got your homemade shiv, Jack? They’ll expect that and take it away from you, of course. Will sneaked over there earlier and left a cell phone hidden in a hollow under a stone. Look behind the second-closest tree to the house. You go out and pick it up whenever you think it’s safe. You have your locator implant. We’ll know exactly where you are at all times. That’s something. Should we take time to insert one in the doctor?”
“No, that’s not necessary. I’ll signal if things go south. Or call you as soon as the threat’s contained, so you can help sweep up.”
“The police will come then?” Solange asked, touching his arm. Then she jerked her hand away. “They have been alerted?”
Holly frowned, looking from Solange to Jack and back again. “I thought you explained this to her.”
He stood a little straighter. “It’s true, there were agents out of Paris on this in the beginning, but we’ve requested they back off and let us handle it. As for the local police, even your intelligence warned us not to take anyone else into our confidence. Chari might have a plant somewhere inside the local force. No one knows of this but your minister of security in Paris, four of his appointed agents—two of whom are missing—and our control in the States.”
“Plant?” she asked, looking confused. “Oh, someone put there to inform them. But how will you…contain the threat, as you say?”
“That’s not your concern,” he said abruptly. “I’ve got to go.”
Solange watched the woman agent approach Jack and take his hands in hers. It was a gesture that spoke of a close friendship. Or perhaps something more intimate. “You be careful out there, you hear me? You promised me a week in Paris and I have it in writing.”
“Like you’d let me forget it,” he said, giving the Amberson woman a tight but reassuring smile. “See you soon, Holly.”
“Yeah, see ya,” she repeated in a fierce whisper.
Solange followed Mercier down the stairs and slipped out the front door behind him.
The man called Will shook his hand. “Be seeing you, Jack.”
“Sure, take it easy,” Mercier answered.
Solange hurried around to the passenger side and got in, fastening her seat belt even before Jack settled behind the wheel.
It must be a tradition among the members of his small cadre not to say goodbye, Solange thought to herself. But she could hardly help wishing someone had at least wished them farewell.
She took a deep breath and looked in back at the sleeping René. She could only hope his father was glad to see him and his rescuers. Glad enough not to question whether they might have concealed their real reasons for imposing upon his hospitality.
Jack could do nothing but think about what he could be exposing this young woman to. He needed someone older, tougher. At the edge of the village, they passed a train station, dark now, deserted. He suddenly pulled over and stopped the car near a phone booth. “Do you have any euros?”
“Some. In my bag. You need them?”
He reached between the seats and retrieved her medical bag, then set in on her knees. “No, but you will. Don’t argue with me, Solange. Take this and get out of the car. I’m going to call Will to come and get you and take you home. But first I want your word that you won’t reveal any of what we’ve shared with you to anyone. I’ve told you about the possibility of informants among the police. Lives are at risk and you have made an oath to save lives. Do I have your promise?”
She looked deeply into his eyes for a long time, then cast a glance into the back seat to make certain René was not awake. “No. For the last time, I will not let you go without me.”
Jack shook his head, willing her to understand. “He’s only one boy, Solange. Think of the people who will not receive your help in the future if you don’t survive this.”
“But I thought you agreed back there that I could come. I trust you to protect me.”
Jack peered out the window into the darkness. “I would die trying, but there are no guarantees that would help. I don’t want to risk you. Get out.”
“Do this and I will go straight to the police. There might be one among them who works for Chari, but if they all know what is happening and go in immediately, they will arrest everyone and this will be over.”
Oh, great. “That can’t happen, Solange. I need to be there for a while first, to see whether he’s already deployed any of the substance. There could be a shootout if the police burst in. If everyone there dies, we’d never know if the stuff is already out there until some terrorist uses it. Or Chari could be notified before the police arrive, move his operation where we couldn’t locate him. Will you give me your word you won’t alert anyone?”
“No,” she replied without hesitation. “You will have to take me with you.” She set the bag on the floorboard. “This is also my fight. My people are at risk if this man tests this here. And even if he does not do so, there will be others to die elsewhere if he succeeds in selling it. You must stop him, and I must help you do it. Let us go now.” She sat back, her arms folded across her chest.
He surrendered. If he left her, she would probably follow, alone or with the local police. Either could be catastrophic. “I want you to vow on whatever you hold sacred that you’ll do exactly what I tell you. Nothing more, nothing less.”
To her credit, she thought about it before answering. “I will do as you say.”
Jack cranked the car and rolled on, leaving the village of Tournade behind. “Be sure, Doctor, because we have less than fifteen kilometers to go. Then you’ll be committed for good.”
“You must trust me.”
“After you have just blackmailed me the way you did?”
“Even so,” she replied.
Solange worried more about Mercier’s survival than about René’s. There was no way for her to know how well equipped he was to handle this intrigue. He must be good at what he did or his government would never have sent him to do this. At least they had chosen one proficient in the language. And as stubborn as any man she’d ever met. She couldn’t deny he knew how to fight. The guard he had overpowered could attest to that.
This man needed her. He had admitted as much. Why had he changed his mind about that? she wondered. Had she seemed too weak and helpless to be of any use? That made her all the more determined to prove him wrong.
She felt terrible that René must soon undergo a shock when he learned about his father’s treachery. Who was to say what sort of father Chari was? If what he had chosen to become involved with was any indication, he could not possess a shred of compassion.
The boy was barely seventeen. He had passed his recent birthday locked away. Had any visitor come to see him? She doubted it, because those with someone on the outside who furnished the inmates with money and things to trade usually fared better than René had done.
France’s prisons were a disgrace. Her brother had died in LaTerre, innocent of embezzlement and awaiting the trial that had never come to pass. Solange’s father had worked hard since then, trying to ameliorate some of the damage done in those hellholes. Solange was helping to carry on that mission.
There were times when they had no patients at Baumettes. Guards would lock everyone down and refuse them treatment. Some days after bandaging knife wounds, treating drug overdoses and the various illnesses caused by overcrowding, malnutrition and nonexistent hygiene, both she and her father despaired of making any difference at all.
Then they had come upon René, a boy so like Gerard had been. Young, weak of body, beautiful in appearance and fair game for the bullies of the world. Perhaps he was not innocent of the robbery they said he committed—she might never know the truth of that—but she did know that he did not deserve to be beaten half to death. She wanted to get him released, make him well again and help him get on with his life. To save one. Just one would make it all worth doing.
Now perhaps she could save not only René, but other people who had no clue yet that they were even in peril. Solange had never seen firsthand results of biological warfare, but she could well imagine how dire they would be. There would be little or maybe nothing she could do after the fact if it occurred, so she simply must prevent it by whatever means she could.
They turned onto a road leading through a stand of poplars and wound their way for several miles to a huge, rambling old manor house. The farmland around it lay fallow for the most part. Someone had planted what appeared to be oats in one of the fields adjacent to the main road.
“Well, here we are,” Mercier said as they stopped at the front entrance. Two dark-skinned men approached, armed with automatic weapons and menacing looks. The larger of the two ordered them out of the car.
Solange obeyed immediately. Jack did so a bit more languidly, gesturing as he explained in perfect colloquial French that they had brought Mr. Chari’s son to him, along with the doctor who had saved his life. He told them that the boy was unconscious and needed a litter.
Solange had thought it best that René not be conscious when they arrived. As in the prison, the worse his health seemed, the better it would be for him. At least for now.
One of the men disappeared inside and returned shortly with a distinguished-looking man of around forty. He was dark-haired, black-eyed and his skin color—as did his given name—suggested Mediterranean blood. He was slight of build, though possessing a sort of wiry strength his son had not yet acquired. Solange knew simply by the resemblance in their features that this had to be Ahmed Chari.
The guard with him aimed his weapon directly at Solange’s head as Chari approached the car’s back door and opened it. His sharp, assessing gaze traveled over his son. Then he asked her, “What has happened to him?”
“He was beaten by the guards at Baumettes Prison. For insolence, so they said when I arrived to treat him. They realized he was of some importance when advised of his identity, and so they brought him to the infirmary to be treated.” Solange knew the majority of the prisoners in French jails were Islamic. The places were terrorist breeding grounds these days. Perhaps Chari had some influence in those circles. His current activities certainly made that probable. Why had he not used it?
“Will he recover?” Chari asked, hiding his concern as a father rather well, if indeed he had any. Though he was quite handsome, she had never seen a colder countenance on anyone. Merely looking at him gave her a chill.
“Yes, I believe he will eventually,” she answered truthfully, “but he has had some internal damage. Surgery was not indicated at the time, but it might well become necessary later if he has continued problems.”
“You have been treating him from the first?”
“He suffered alone those first two days before they brought him to the infirmary.”
Chari turned to the guards. “Carry the boy inside. Put him in his old room, the nursery on the first floor, and bring in a cot for the doctor.” Then he looked at Mercier. “Get rid of him.”
“Wait!” Solange cried. “He saved René’s life! It was he who overpowered the guard responsible for your son’s beating! Is this how you reward his good deed?”
Chari looked at her as if really seeing her for the first time. She almost shivered under his regard. “What is this man to you?” he demanded.
“Nothing at all,” Solange declared. “But he did save your son’s life and I simply do not believe you should kill a man for doing you so great a favor!”
“Kill him, Doctor? I merely wanted him sent away.” Slowly Chari shifted his attention back to the object of their conversation. “So who are you and what offense sent you to the prison?”
“Jacques Mercier. They say I was involved in receiving stolen weapons, but…” he let his voice taper off with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Get on the radio, Piers, and contact Vaughn in Marseilles. See if this man is lying. If he is not, bring him to my study.”
With that, Chari walked back into the house and disappeared. Solange’s frantic gaze connected with Mercier’s. Neither spoke, but the look he gave her betrayed a brief hint of gratitude and even a little surprise. Her own expression must have been wild-eyed with fright, though she was trying hard not to show how terrified she felt.
Two more men came out carrying a frayed and faded litter that might have been scavenged during World War II. Gently, at her direction, they transferred René from the back seat of the car onto the carrier.
She reluctantly abandoned Mercier to his fate as she accompanied her patient into his father’s house. One of the guards gave a cursory check for weapons hidden beneath her clothing and then plundered more carefully through her medical bag. Satisfied, they left her alone with René. She tried not to let herself wonder whether she would ever be allowed outside the house again in her lifetime. Or if Jack Mercier would ever see the inside of it during his.
Later, after suffering a humiliating and thorough body search and waiting for Piers to make his phone call to Marseilles, Jack relaxed a little. He was inside. Next step accomplished.
He attempted to put all thoughts of Solange Micheaux out of his mind when he arrived in Chari’s study. She was in even more danger than he had worried she would be. He had figured Chari would be a little more grateful for his son’s survival and that he would treat Solange with some respect because of her part in that. Apparently, the man had little in the way of paternal feelings and no kind regard at all for females.
Jack now wished he had opened that car door in Tournade, shoved her out forcefully, then sped off before she knew what had happened. Right now she’d be under no threat whatsoever if he’d done that.
But then again, he could be dead now if she had not come along. If she hadn’t interceded with Chari, he’d probably be out in one of those fields with a little dirt kicked over him.
“Sit down, Mercier,” Chari instructed. “Cigar?”
Jack reached forward and took one. He hated the stinking things, but some men thought smoking them together was a bonding experience. If Chari were one of those men, Jack certainly did want to accommodate him. A little bonding was needed right about now.
“Drink?” Chari offered, gesturing lazily with one hand at the sideboard.
Two fancy decanters stood there wearing a coat of dust. Did Chari practice the religion that forbade it or was he just careful not to let alcohol fuzz up his brain? In either case, Jack wasn’t about to break any unspoken rules.
“No, thanks. Never touch it.”
Chari smiled his approval. “Good. We should get down to business. Tell me about these weapons you have allegedly imported.”
Jack shrugged and took a puff of the cigar before he answered. “A man called Jurin hired me to pick up a delivery in Narbonne. I drove there, went where he directed me to go. The police were waiting. They hauled me in along with the men who had actually had possession of the shipment when they arrived. I was in Baumettes awaiting trial. You know how that goes.”
“Unfortunately.” Chari picked a speck of tobacco off his lip with his fingernail. “How did you come to rescue René?”
“I saw the guards knocking him around. He looked like a kid who didn’t need to be where he was. When I got a look at his doctor, I figured she didn’t need to be there, either. So…since I had no love at all for the bastard who used his fists on children, I took him out. Then I took them with me.” He smiled. “I was going anyway, you see.”
“You had to have help. Baumettes is fairly secure, but even I could not find a way to liberate René.”
Jack somehow doubted he had tried all that hard. Will Griffin had encountered no problem in bribing the right people. Be that as it may, Chari was the one Jack had to deal with right now. And he had to convince Chari he would be a valuable asset.
“You’re right. I did have someone on the outside. He crossed a few palms, got the right key, the right vehicles.”
“Where is he now?”
Jack smiled. “I had no further use for him.”
“How did you find your way here?” Chari asked. “The work I am doing requires solitude. I have made certain that few people know my address.”
“René mentioned the location when he was delirious with fever,” Jack lied. “I hoped that out of gratitude you might offer me a position here.”
“And how would you know what sort of business I am in and what work might be available?”
Jack sighed and rolled the cigar between his fingers. He met Chari’s gaze directly and smiled. “I understand you make films. I confess I have not seen any of them, but I am not much acquainted with the arts.”
“The last was well received in Cannes four years ago,” Chari informed him with a haughty sniff.
Jack almost laughed. The film had tanked miserably and the public screening had proved a joke. Chari had delusions of grandeur that made Napoleon seem modest.
“I’ve heard that you live a reclusive life. Whatever it is you are doing now, I can ensure that you remain undisturbed.”
Chari nodded. “Do you trust this helper you hired for the escape not to have followed you here?” Chari watched him carefully, his eyes narrowed. “I do not wish more unexpected company.”
“You are not making a film,” Jack observed.
“No. Where is the man who helped you?”
“I do not believe in loose ends,” Jack said. The pinball dropped in place. Jack could almost hear the kaching declaring him a winner with the only correct answer.
“Perhaps I could use a man of your…experience,” Chari said, though he still wore the suspicious look Jack figured he’d been born with.
“You need not worry that the police will come here seeking the boy. As far as the authorities know, we are headed out of the country. We will have been observed and reported.”
“By someone else who could change a story and betray you. I believe you have too many accomplices,” Chari declared.
“No, this was just an acquaintance who owed me a favor. She made a phone call for the false report, but has no idea where I am at present.” Jack smiled. “I try to plan for all contingencies.”
“You are hired.”
“Thank you. How is the pay?”
“Excellent once the job is complete. You won’t need it before then.” Chari stood, a sign that the conversation was finished as far as he was concerned.
Jack had a sneaky feeling Chari never intended to issue any paychecks when his project was over. In view of that, he thought he might as well risk making a better deal with the new boss. Maybe come to an arrangement that might offer Solange more safety.
“One more thing,” Jack said boldly.
“Yes?”
“I’ll settle for half pay, get rid of any…loose ends you have dangling when you’ve done whatever it is you’re up to. Also I will make certain you’re not followed if you decide to change locations.”
“And what would secure your generosity in this regard?” Chari asked slyly. “A little medical attention, perhaps?”
Jack grinned and stubbed out his cigar in the lead crystal ashtray on Chari’s desk. “Precisely. Have we an agreement?”
“Sounds reasonable. You calm her fears, see that she takes care of the boy and make her enjoy her stay well enough that she won’t make any attempt to leave or contact anyone. If she does, you are to prevent it and then dispose of her immediately. Can you do that, Mercier?”
“Of course. I assume you are not interested in her yourself, then?” He needed to make certain of that. If Chari made any move on Solange, Jack knew he would have to kill him, even if it blew the mission. He would just have to perform whatever damage control he could after that.
Chari frowned. “She is beautiful, but I dislike women who believe themselves intelligent. I detest the ones who really are.”
Jack laughed as if it were a joke, but he knew better. Chari was speaking with conviction at this point. “She’s smart all right.”
“Has she any experience in a laboratory?” Chari asked, idly tapping the ash off his cigar, fastidiously extending his smallest finger.
Jack shrugged, not really wanting to seem too curious. “I could ask her. We aren’t all that well acquainted. Yet,” he added meaningfully.
“Do so. She might be able to assist with what I have initiated if you could persuade her to cooperate. Find out what you can about her experience and report to me in the morning. Meanwhile, make yourself useful. See Piers for your accommodation and the schedule for the day.”
Jack nodded. “He is your second in command, is he not?”
“Very observant, Mercier. Tell him to give you the old au pair’s room that is adjacent to my son’s. The woman may visit you, but she is to sleep on her cot in the room with René.”
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Lyn Stone
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: One minute she was tending an injured patient. The next, her familiar world had vanished and Dr. Solange Micheaux was on the run with Special Agent Jack Mercier, his reluctant partner in a deadly race against time. But his powerful sensuality posed a far graver threat.She was in the wrong place at the wrong time–Jack had no choice but to take her with him. Now Solange was critical to the success of his mission. All he had to do was keep her safe. But as the hours ticked down, the stakes were rising. For each passion-filled moment they shared could be their last….