by Kay Hooper
Teddy, assuming her usual position in Zach’s lap, said definitely, “Something fishy. Zach, why would the military restrict access to information on Meditron?”
“Only one reason I can think of. If Meditron’s under contract to produce something for them they’d rather not let the public know about, they’d lock the data away and restrict access. Given the time, I could probably get access without asking, but if I trip one of their hidden security alarms, they’ll know somebody’s in their system.”
Josh shook his head a little. “We’ve a good relationship with the military to date; I’d rather not annoy them. I can call General Ramsey and find out what he knows. Maybe he’ll give me the access codes.”
Rafferty Lewis came into the computer room just then with his wife, Sarah. Both looked troubled.
“You couldn’t get it,” Raven said.
“No.” Rafferty glanced at the others, seeing no surprise. “I gather you’ve all had the same problem? If a floor plan for Meditron exists at all, nobody’s talking about it.”
Raven sighed. “Figures.”
Sarah, Rafferty’s wife, gazed around at the thoughtful faces and said, “Nothing at all?”
Zach shook his head. “Damned little. On the surface, there’s some tame information about Meditron—all of it neat, clean, and apparently aboveboard. When I dug deeper, I found a military code lock.”
Sarah glanced at Raven. “And Kelsey doesn’t want Hagen to know about this?”
“No. He was definite—if a bit incoherent—about that.”
“I’d give a lot to see Kelsey in love,” Rafferty murmured a bit wistfully. “It really ought to be something to watch.”
“You might get a chance,” Josh said in an absent tone.
Zach looked at him for a moment, then said mildly, “We can’t all go tearing down there, no matter what we find out. It’s a small town.”
“Granted.” Josh studied his companions one by one, his rather hard blue eyes considering. “First, I’ll call the general and see what I can pry out of him. We can’t decide much until we have something more to go on.”
“It’s commando time,” Teddy murmured.
“They can’t stand it,” Raven agreed dryly.
Josh lifted an eyebrow at his wife. “We can’t stand it? You know very well that you’re wild to get down there and see what Kelsey’s involved in.”
Raven smiled innocently. “Who, me?”
She wasn’t fooling anyone at all.
Kelsey had gambled, and he wasn’t entirely certain if he had won or lost. He slipped down into the chair and watched her as she stood by the window, afraid to ask. His body ached incessantly, every muscle tense with control, and he had to clear his throat before he could speak.
“All right. Tell me.”
Elizabeth drew a breath visibly, and her voice was even when she began talking. “Jo works at Meditron as a secretary. Blaine’s secretary, as a matter of fact. Two weeks ago, she was scheduled to take a vacation; she was going to drive down to Florida. Her last day before the vacation she was late coming home. I got worried and called Blaine. He seemed … surprised. He said he’d check and get back to me.”
“And?”
“About an hour later, Blaine came here. He was very upset, very angry. I’ve never seen him that angry. He said there were things I couldn’t know, things he couldn’t tell me, but that Jo had landed herself in a first class mess. He said that she was being held—to make him behave.”
“What?” Kelsey’s eyes narrowed. “You believe that?”
“I don’t know what to believe.” She didn’t look at him. “But until two weeks ago, I would have sworn Blaine would never deliberately hurt anyone. You didn’t see him that night. He was pale, angry, and … Somehow, I got the feeling he was very shaken. He said there was nothing he could do because of—of more than a threat to Jo. But he said she was safe, that they wouldn’t dare hurt her.”
“They?”
Elizabeth turned away from the window finally, crossing the room and sitting down on the couch. She was pale, strained. “I don’t know who they are; Blaine wouldn’t say. What he did say was that it would only be a couple of weeks, maybe a little more. He said that the security force at Meditron was no longer under his control, and that there was no way to get in there and get to Jo without alerting them. But they’re treating her well. He sees her every day, and—”
“How do you know that?”
“He told me,” she said stiffly. “He made them agree to that, he said. He lets me know how Jo is every day.”
“Dammit,” Kelsey muttered.
Elizabeth lifted her chin, her green eyes stormy. “I’ve known him all my life; he wouldn’t lie to me about Jo.”
Kelsey looked at her for a long, steady moment, then said quietly, “You have to be honest with me now, Elizabeth. I want your instant reaction—from the gut, not the head. All right?”
She nodded a little uncertainly, puzzled.
He mentally gathered his questions, then began asking them in an impersonal, unthreatening tone. “Is Mallory an honest man?”
“Yes.” She looked surprised, then thoughtful.
“Gut response?” he asked.
She nodded slowly.
“All right. Is he worried about Jo?”
“Yes. But …”
“But satisfied that she’s safe for the time being?”
“Yes.”
“Before two weeks ago, was Jo suspicious of something at Meditron?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“That there was more going on there than people in town knew about. Something dangerous.”
“Involving Mallory?”
“Yes. No.” Elizabeth frowned.
“What was Jo’s reaction, Elizabeth? Think. What did she say? How did she feel?”
“She seemed a little … well, disgusted at first She said that Blaine had no business agreeing to such a thing, even if it was good for the town’s economy. Then she suddenly became quiet about that; something else seemed to be bothering her. She said something about the guards at the gate being different, and that Blaine was mad as hell.”
“About what?”
Elizabeth sighed, impatient with herself. “I don’t think she ever said. Just that Blaine was mad, and that he’d said something about taking the matter to the top if he had to. That was the day before she disappeared.”
Kelsey was frowning. “Let me get this straight. We’re talking about two different things here. Mallory had ‘agreed’ to something that was helping the town; maybe it was dangerous, but Jo didn’t have a major reaction to it. But then something else happened, something that made him angry, and bothered her a great deal more. That’s your feeling about it?”
“Yes,” she said slowly, realizing the separate occurrences for the first time.
“How long had Jo worked for him?”
“About two years. But I remember now how upset she was when Blaine finally told her what he’d agreed to. She kept after him; she’s like that. There’s a part of the plant townspeople don’t work in, just outsiders, and she asked him what had been going on there—apparently for several years.”
Absently, Kelsey said, “It’d have to be at least a few years; money’s been coming into the town’s economy that long.” He stared at her for a moment, then muttered, “Dammit, I wanted to clean his clock.”
She blinked. “Blaine’s?”
“Yes.”
Elizabeth thought about that for a few moments, deciding not to attribute Kelsey’s reaction to jealousy. That would be ridiculous, of course. “Then you don’t think he’s the one holding Jo, after all?”
Kelsey sighed. “My gut says no. Still … If I only knew what it was he agreed to, and who he made the deal with.” He glanced at the telephone beside his chair and reached for the receiver, punching out a number quickly. He didn’t say hello, just, “Anything?” And, after a moment, “Okay. Let me know.” And hung up the r
eceiver.
“Who did you call?” she asked.
“My partner.”
For some reason she didn’t question, the information reassured her about his identity as an agent. “I thought you were alone here.”
“No. We came into town separately, and no one’s tied us together; I’d like to keep it that way, at least for the time being.”
Elizabeth was silent for a while, watching him as he sat frowning. Then, a little hesitantly, she said, “We could ask Blaine—”
“No. He could be just an unwilling pawn in whatever’s going on, but I’d rather have a clearer view of the situation before I take the chance of tackling him with it.” Kelsey brooded for a moment. “Take it to the top. The top of what? Who does he answer to, and what’s stopping him now? Is it because they have Jo? And who the hell are they?”
“How can we find that out without asking Blaine or endangering Jo?” she asked him.
He sighed. “My partner’s waiting for a call now from our source. With any luck at all, we’ll have more information before the weekend’s over. Until we know more, we can’t take the chance of doing anything.”
Elizabeth nodded, unconsciously bracing herself before she could utter her next words. “I see. Well, you know everything I do now. There’s nothing else I can tell you.”
Kelsey looked at her for a moment, then laced his fingers together over his flat stomach and stretched his legs out before him, presenting the appearance of a man making himself comfortable. “I guess not,” he agreed mildly.
She linked her fingers together nervously. “You’ll want to get back to your partner.”
“He knows where I am.”
“You can’t stay here,” she said tightly.
“Why not?”
“You got what you came here for.”
“Not quite.”
She bit her lip, trying to ignore the heavy ache of her body. Dear heaven, what had this man done to her? Why did she feel like this just because he was looking at her? “I’ve told you all I know. Now leave!”
He sighed a little. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Why is it so hard for you to believe I want you, Elizabeth? You thought I’d just walk out of here, didn’t you? You thought I’d get the information and leave.”
“You will.”
“I wish it were that easy.” His smile was crooked. “If I only had Meditron, Jo, and Mallory to worry about, everything would be relatively simple. Just another assignment, a tangle of threads to straighten out.”
“It is that simple.”
“You know it isn’t.” He didn’t move, but his voice deepened and his eyes darkened like storm clouds; intensity came off him suddenly in waves, and she could clearly see for the first time the strength and danger of this man.
Elizabeth wasn’t frightened, but she was instantly aware that something in her responded to his strength. That wildness inside her, the part that longed to fly. And why Kelsey? Why was that part of her so attracted to his danger?
Another face. Another man. Who was he?
“It isn’t that simple,” he was saying in that dark, still voice. “Do you know what an effort it takes to force myself to just think when I’m looking at you?”
She was trying to be rational, reasonable, even though her instincts told her it was hopeless. “We met barely twenty-four hours ago. That isn’t enough time.”
“How much time is enough? A week? A year? Elizabeth, I didn’t need twenty-four hours to know I wanted you. Why is that so hard for you to believe?”
“You’re not safe.” She had spoken without thinking, responding to his stillness rather than his question. And even though some part of her was relieved that he apparently still wanted her, that her information hadn’t changed that, she was afraid to give in to what could destroy her.
A frown creased his brow, and dark eyes darkened even more. “Are you afraid of me?” He sounded incredulous.
Elizabeth swallowed hard, and this time she knew what she was saying. “Look around you, Kelsey. Look at this house, this farm. It’s a simple life. Do you know how long it’s been since there was a murder in this county? There’s no record of one, ever. The last robbery was five years ago; a bunch of kids raided Darcy Pemberton’s peach shed, and then tried to sell his own crop back to him.”
“Elizabeth—”
She went on as if she hadn’t heard, her voice quiet and reflective. “Most of the people in Pinnacle are fourth or fifth generation; their parents were born here, their kids will raise kids here. Maybe we have one of the last bastions of Small Town America; I don’t know. What I do know is that for twenty-six years this has been my home. I don’t know anything else.”
“And I don’t fit here; is that what you’re telling me?” There was an echo of old pain in his voice.
In a sudden flash of intuition based on all the faces he had shown her, she said, “I think you’d fit wherever you wanted to.” She looked at him, trying to bring the man into focus. But the flash was gone, and she shook her head a little. “What I’m telling you is that this is my life. And it’ll be my life after you’re gone. And what I’m asking you is please not to do anything to make me not fit anymore.”
Kelsey didn’t want to hear it; he really didn’t want to hear. But he had to. “What do you mean?” he asked neutrally.
“You know what I mean.” Her voice was almost inaudible. She looked fixedly at her fingers. “You’re the mysterious stranger in town, and the heroine always falls for him. In the end, he always leaves her with a scrapbook full of memories. And she spends the rest of her tame life remembering that … that interlude of abandon.” She lifted her chin, staring at him squarely. “I don’t want that.”
After a moment, he said in a hard voice, “You want guarantees. Happily ever after, and a white picket fence.” Something moved inside him again, slowly, shuddering.
“No, not from you.” She was looking down at her fingers again, and didn’t see him wince. “I don’t want anything from you, Kelsey. I don’t want you to turn my life upside down. I don’t want you to leave me with a memory of feelings too violent for my … my tame life. I don’t want you to change me so that I won’t fit here anymore.”
She heard a faint sound and stiffened, but continued to look fixedly at her fingers. And it was a long time before she could bring herself to look up.
He was gone.
Elizabeth got through the remainder of the day simply by functioning on automatic. But while she went about her daily chores, the routine of keeping the family home and business operating, her emotions were in turmoil and her mind uncertain—to say the least. She told herself over and over that Kelsey’s leaving was for the best, that she really didn’t want him to teach her to feel things she could never feel without him, to become addicted to wildness.
Because where would that leave her? Dissatisfied with the life she had to live? Longing for feelings that were, in all probability, the result of a set of once-in-a-lifetime circumstances: her tension and anxiety over her missing sister; the sudden appearance of an elusive, charismatic stranger; the equally sudden emergence of her rare feelings of wildness?
It was, she thought vaguely, like the links of a chain. Remove one link, and the chain no longer held. When he left … when Jo was safe and worry a thing of the past … when her burst of impetuous emotions had settled, as it always did … Then her life, her sedate life, would be the same again. And what would it do to her future to have that memory of overwhelming feelings tormenting her?
Elizabeth had moved outside to the porch swing, and when she saw a car turn into the driveway she felt her heart thud in a suddenly uneven rhythm. Then she recognized the car, and if anything had been needed to convince her that Blaine could never stir her blood or touch her heart, she would have known then. She watched him get out of the racy silver sports car, noting with detachment that he was an extremely handsome man, that he moved with a panther’s fluid grace. That he was, in some indefinable way, possibly as dangerous a
s Kelsey. A powerful man.
She felt nothing.
Blaine stepped up onto the porch and, when she didn’t move from the center of the swing, sat down in a ladder-back rocking chair nearby. “Beth, who is this Kelsey?” he demanded flatly.
“Have you seen Jo?”
“Yes. She’s fine. Beth—”
“It’s been two weeks.”
He looked at her for a moment, a long, lean, dangerous man, and his face was unreadable. “I know. And I’m sorry; I thought the whole thing would certainly be over by now. Just a few more days.”
“And?” She looked at him steadily. “And what, Blaine? My sister has been held against her will; do you really think we’re all just going to forget that?”
He sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“I’m not an idiot.”
For the first time in quite a while, Blaine smiled, and his rather cold eyes warmed. “You’re too damned smart for your own good. All you girls are.”
“Who’s holding Jo?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t. You’ll have to trust me, Beth.”
After a moment of silence, Elizabeth discovered that she understood this man, at least she understood him far better than before. Blaine asked for trust while offering none, and that told her much about his supposed feelings for her.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he told her irritably.
“Like what?”
He hesitated, then said, “My sister looked at me like that sometimes when we were growing up. It made me feel like she knew I’d just been sneaking a cigarette behind the barn.”
Elizabeth smiled faintly. Then, with a sigh, she said, “You got into the habit of loving me, Blaine. But that’s all it ever was. Just a habit.”
“The hell it was!” His face was hard, his mouth a grim slash. “You’re upset because of Jo, but when all this is over you’ll feel differently.”
“No. I won’t. Do you really think I could ever love a man who didn’t trust me?”
It stopped him, but only for a moment. “That isn’t it at all. I can’t tell you anything.”
