The Waiting Game

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  What did you talk about when you found yourself whiting away the hours with a man who kept a gun in his hand while he conversed with you?

  Sara was still asking herself that sometime later as she sat almost immobile on the sofa in front of the cold fireplace. She hadn’t moved in so long that she was afraid her foot might have grown numb. When she did move it cautiously, Vaughn glanced at her sharply.

  „Going somewhere, Sara?“

  „The bathroom, unless you have any objections,“ she muttered, rising slowly to her feet. There was a tingling sensation in her left foot but it wasn’t completely numb.

  Vaughn eyed her thoughtfully. „None. There’s no way out of that room. I’ve checked. Try to resist the temptation to forage for a pair of scissors or a razor blade. You’d only wind up cutting yourself.“

  Sara didn’t respond. She turned away and went down the hall to the bathroom. When the door closed behind her, she sagged against the sink and stared at her drawn face in the mirror.

  She had to do something. She couldn’t bear this endless waiting. What was it Adrian had said about the value of patience? In her case it bought nothing but anxiety. It didn’t seem to bother Vaughn particularly, she reflected. He was very professional about the whole thing. Or at least he seemed professional. Hard to judge, given her limited experience in this kind of business. Sara winced.

  Vaughn had the ability to wait but would he bother with that route if he thought there might be a shortcut to his goal, she asked herself as she splashed her face with cold water. He’d tried a shortcut once before when he created the diversion that had sent her uncle off to Hawaii. If she could make him think there was an alternative to this interminable waiting, perhaps he would go for it. She dried her flushed face and thought of Adrian’s promise to return by early evening.

  There was no way he could make it back tonight if he’d actually gone to Mexico and Vaughn seemed convinced he’d gone.

  But Adrian had promised her he’d be back. And die house was set on its alarm status. If she were inside the house with Vaughn, Adrian would know as soon as he returned that there was trouble. His small signaling device would warn him there had been an unauthorized intrusion when he came within a couple of blocks of his home.

  That scenario would only work if Adrian really was planning to return tonight. If he was even now en route to Mexico City, she was in very bad trouble. Heaven only knew where her uncle was.

  Sara wrenched herself away from the mirror. It was an incredible disaster, and if she didn’t act, it was going to get worse. She didn’t have any illusions about the man in the next room. He was quite capable of casually raping her tonight and killing her later after he had what he wanted from her uncle.

  Her only real chance was to bank on the fact that Adrian had told her the truth about returning this evening.

  Legends and reality. How could a woman be sure of the difference, she asked herself.

  A few minutes later Sara opened the bathroom door and went down the hall to the living room. She saw the fleeting spark of interest in Vaughn’s eyes as she resumed her seat on the couch. No, the last thing she wanted to risk was spending the night here with him.

  „In another couple of hours we’ll have to discuss the sleeping arrangements, Sara,“ Vaughn mused, tossing a magazine into the bin beside the chair. „I think that could be interesting.“

  „Really? Do you sleep with your gun in your hand, Mr. Vaughn?“

  He chuckled. „I think I can dispense with the gun once I’ve tied you up for the night. You’d look interesting spread-eagled on a bed.“

  Sara shuddered and nerved herself for the next bit. „I’m not interested in sharing a bed with you.“

  „Perhaps I will find it a challenge to see if I can create a little interest,“ he suggested coolly.

  „I doubt it. I’m going to be married soon.“

  „Are you?“ he murmured blandly. „To the boyfriend who just skipped town? You’ll have to catch him first, won’t you?“

  Sara chose her next words carefully. „That gold you’re after is supposed to be my wedding gift from my uncle.“

  Vaughn’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. „Just how much do you know about your uncle’s little social-security cache?“

  She tried for a mild shrug, her arms wrapped around her drawn-up knees as she sat on the couch. „About as much as you do. You know my uncle. He’s fond of dropping little, uh, hints.“

  „Kincaid never does anything without a reason. And in spite of that easygoing facade, I worked with him long enough to know he’s a shrewd and careful man. If he was dropping hints to you about the gold, then he must have truly believed it was safe for you to know about it. No reason he shouldn’t think it was safe after all these years, I suppose.“

  „In addition to being shrewd and careful, my uncle also likes to plan for the future,“ she added deliberately. „He wanted Adrian and me to know enough about the gold to be able to find it someday in the event something happened to him.“

  Vaughn leaned forward on his chair, the gun cradled loosely in his fist. „That’s very interesting, Sara. Very interesting. It puts a whole new light on the situation. Up until now I’ve assumed that no one except Kincaid knew the truth about the gold. It’s a fact that your uncle tries not to leave much to chance, though. Tell me more, little Sara. Tell me what made Saville think he’s got a shot at the gold. I’ve been wondering who he plans to contact after Mexico City.“

  She caught her lower lip between her teeth, watching him the way a small mouse probably watched a hovering eagle. Adrian, where are you? „Mr. Vaughn, I’ll make a deal with you.“

  He smiled and she could almost hear the way he must be laughing inwardly at her naiveté. The knowledge made her grit her teeth.

  „I’m listening, little Sara.“

  „If I… if I show you where I think the information is hidden, will you take it and go away?“

  „I’d have no reason to hang around any longer if I had a map showing the location of the gold,“ he murmured.

  Sara wanted to cringe, but she managed to project a hopeful expression. „It’s at Adrian’s.“

  „Your boyfriend’s house?“

  „He’s the man I’m going to marry. Uncle Lowell gave us each a copy of the map. If what you say is true about Adrian being in Mexico, then he must have taken his copy with him. But I have my own. Or at least I have information that will lead me to the gold. I’m not sure that it’s exactly a map.“

  „I can’t quite decide whether or not to believe you, little Sara,“ Vaughn finally said.

  She clenched her fingers tightly together. „I can show you.“

  „But first we have to drive all the way back to that damn island? I don’t like islands, Sara. A man can get trapped on islands. So few ways off, you see.“

  „I thought you were going to retire to an island,“ she shot back.

  „Ah, but that will be different. Much different. There I will have my own means of transportation.“

  She let out her breath. „Then you’re not interested in getting your hands on the information my uncle gave to me?“

  Vaughn was quiet for a long while and then he suddenly seemed to come to a decision. „It would make things much simpler if it turned out that you’re telling the truth, although I have a few doubts. Still, your boyfriend is several thousand miles away by now following some lead. I’d give a lot to know exactly what kind of lead he thinks he has. Who knows when your uncle will show up.“ He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair, his eyes hooded and speculative. „I suppose there’s no harm in checking out your story. We could be into the city and over to that damn island within a couple of hours.“

  „Yes.“ She could hardly breathe as she waited for the final decision. Was greed finally going to swamp this man’s patience?

  He nodded once. „All right, Sara. We’ll go. But I warn you that if you’ve lied to me, I will make things most unpleasant for both you and your uncle. And probably
your boyfriend, too.“

  „I’m not lying,“ she said with great conviction. „I know where my copy of the information is hidden. I had finally realized it just before you made that fake phone call this morning.“

  „I do believe you’re telling the truth,“ Vaughn mused as he studied the certainty in her expression. „Fascinating. Remind me to thank you later.“

  Sure, thought Sara as she got to her feet. I’ll remind you. Just before you pull that trigger.

  Chapter Nine

  The drive back into Seattle was the longest and most exhausting traveling Sara had ever done in her life. She decided that the normal stresses and strains of rush-hour traffic are not enhanced by the fact that your passenger is casually holding a gun in his lap.

  Brady Vaughn didn’t say much during the drive. He was undoubtedly contemplating his imminent retirement, Sara thought as she navigated the off ramp from the interstate and found the street that led down to the ferry docks. He kept the gun discreetly shielded under a jacket but he kept it aimed in her direction. She had a hunch that once she had parked her car on the ferry Vaughn wouldn’t allow her to go up onto the passenger decks. The thought of sitting on the car deck for the entire length of the ferry ride was depressing.

  She was right, of course. Vaughn simply lounged in his corner of the car and watched her speculatively. Unobtrusively Sara glanced at her watch. Her timing, at least, was good. If Adrian had told the truth this morning, he would be catching the ferry that would be leaving Seattle forty minutes from now. She would have forty minutes to entertain Brady Vaughn. Her fingers flexed uneasily on the wheel.

  The whole exercise would be extremely pointless if Adrian didn’t show up on the right ferry. Halfway across the bay Sara had a wild thought or two about flinging herself from the car and making a dash to the passenger decks. It would be a futile move and she knew it. Even if he chose not to use the gun, Vaughn could probably run her down easily in the close confines of the parked cars. Besides, she reminded herself, that wasn’t the plan. She had a much better one in mind.

  If it worked. Legends and reality. Where did the truth stop and the legend begin? Perhaps in some cases there was no difference. Perhaps a woman just had to make the leap to faith.

  „You look nervous, Sara,“ Vaughn observed politely. „I trust you’re not wasting my time with this little chase? It won’t do any good, if you are. I know what I’m doing.“

  She shook her head. „All I want is for you to take the information about the gold and leave.“

  „Sounds simple enough. I do like simple plans; don’t you?“

  „Yes.“ How simple was hers?

  „Will you dream about the gold you could have had, Sara? Will you think about it occasionally in the future? Wonder what it might have been like to have your hands on your uncle’s cache?“

  Again she shook her head. „Even if the gold is still there, I don’t see how I could get it out. How are you going to accomplish that little feat, Vaughn? Just walk into that part of the world and tell the current government officials you’d like to do a little digging on their borders?“

  He chuckled. She was learning to hate that poor excuse of a laugh. „Nothing that obvious. I prefer quieter techniques. I have contacts and I’ll have cash with which to grease the way. I’ll be going in through Cambodia. That gold must be somewhere near the Cambodia-Vietnam border.“

  „Gold is heavy. You won’t be able to simply hoist it over your shoulder and hike out of the country with it. Not if there’s as much there as you seem to think.“

  „I’ll have help,“ he explained absently.

  Sara slanted him a curious glance. „Help?“

  „There are men who will undertake a great many risks for a promise of a split of the profits.“ He shrugged.

  „You’ll find some mercenaries to help you get the gold out?“

  „They undoubtedly think of themselves as entrepreneurs,“ Vaughn murmured.

  Sara closed her eyes and willed the ferry to a faster speed. She couldn’t take much more of this unremitting tension. Whether her scheme worked or not, all she wanted to do at the moment was get it over and done with. She didn’t see how anyone could live constantly under the stress of genuine danger. It was easy to see how a man or a woman might crack.

  The ferry docked eventually and Sara turned the key in the ignition with a sense of fatalism. Forty minutes from now, if she was very, very lucky, Adrian would be driving off a similar ferry. If she was not so fortunate… Sara pushed the thought aside. There wasn’t much point dwelling on that possibility. She would deal with it when the time came.

  She drove slowly along the narrow road that wound around the island’s perimeter, more slowly than was really necessary. Any time she could eat up this way was that much less that had to be used up at the house waiting for Adrian.

  For the first time since she had arrived in the Seattle area the weather was finally beginning to live up to its reputation. The day was rapidly turning gray and overcast. A light mist began to fall.

  „Come on, let’s get going.“ With one of his first hints of impatience Vaughn moved the gun in an ugly gesture.

  Sara tried to think of something calming to say. „You don’t have to use the ferry to get back off the island, you know. You can drive across a bridge on the far side. Ifs the long way around if you’re trying to get back to the airport or Seattle, but – “

  „Just shut up. I know my way around.“

  Of course he did. He was, after all, ^professional. He wouldn’t trap himself on an island. Sara pulled into the driveway in front of Adrian’s house. The windows were still dark, so that removed the possibility that by some miracle Adrian had actually arrived home ahead of her. Forty minutes.

  „Is it true?“ she began tentatively as she slowly opened her car door.

  „Is what true?“ Vaughn reached out and snapped the keys from her hand. He pocketed them, „That you really have a chance of getting that gold out of Southeast Asia?“

  „Believe me, I wouldn’t be going to all this trouble if I didn’t think it was possible.“ Vaughn made a careful outside inspection of the house, reassuring himself that no one was around. Then he cast an amused glance at Sara. „What’s the matter, honey? Having second thoughts about giving me that map?“

  She stopped at the top of the steps and looked back at him. „I admit that until now I assumed the gold was completely inaccessible.“

  He chuckled. „For years I believed it probably didn’t exist at all! Kincaid hid the truth well behind the legend. He made everyone think it really was just one more wild tale set in the last days of the war. There were a hundred other similar stories and there was no real reason to think this one was for real. But a year ago I came across an old file that had been sealed since shortly after Saigon fell. The one thing that damned war generated was paperwork. Files and memos and reports will probably still be turning up twenty years from now. At any rate this one contained some notes by a journalist who claimed he’d interviewed some villagers in the south. He said they told him a story about an American agent who had worked with them toward the end of the war. They described him as a man who knew how to laugh and how to hold his whiskey. A man who was always telling stories. A man who could sketch your face before you even realized he was holding a pencil.“

  Sara caught her breath.

  „Exactly.“ Vaughn nodded grimly. „A perfect description of Lowell Kincaid. The reporter’s notes went on to tell a fascinating story. It culminated in Kincaid’s departure for the Cambodian border with a jeep full of gold. The villagers didn’t actually see the gold in Kincaid’s jeep but they did see the share of it he left for them. He apparently stashed it in the village well and told the elders to wait until the North Vietnamese had passed through before digging it back out. Just like Kincaid to make a grand gesture like that. He was a brilliant agent, but he had some definite weaknesses. When I put that report together with the legend I’d first heard back in 1972, I began to b
elieve I might be dealing with more than just another war tale. It’s taken me months to piece together some idea of what might have happened and where. The file with the journalist’s notes led to other files. Eventually I knew I was onto the real thing.“

  „What happened to the journalist?“ Sara heard herself ask.

  „He died,“ Vaughn said carelessly. „An accident down in South America earlier this year, I believe.“

  „I see.“ She wondered how much Vaughn had had to do with the „accident.“

  His mouth twisted wryly. „I do believe I recognize that look in your eyes, little Sara.“

  „What look?“

  „Greed, love. Pure unadulterated greed. I saw it in your boyfriend’s eyes yesterday and it’s in yours today.“

  She feigned a nonchalant movement of her shoulders and turned to open the front door. There was no sound from within. The house was as quiet and innocent-looking as it had been that first night when she’d arrived and searched Adrian’s study.

  „Doesn’t your boyfriend believe in locking his front door?“ Vaughn drawled as he followed Sara into the house. He held the gun at the ready while he verified that the place was empty.

  „He says there’s virtually no crime around here.“

  „A trusting soul.“ Vaughn smirked. He took in his surroundings with a quick, professional eye. „I take it back. It goes beyond trusting. I think we can safely say your friend Saville is probably a fool.“

  „And what about me?“ She slung her purse down on the sofa and turned to face him.

  „Oh, you’re very smart, Sara. Very smart indeed, if you’re telling the truth.“ Vaughn’s eyes hardened. „Where’s the map?“

  She grabbed for her courage, using all of her willpower to keep her expression cool. „I’ve tried to tell you, it’s not exactly a map,“ she began carefully.