Vendetta

by Iris Johansen

  “Destroy it,” he said.

  She dropped the GPS on the ground and crushed it beneath the heel of her boot. “Then we’d better get out of here before Claire scrambles to get a team to track us.” She was heading toward the car. “I’ll drive. Back to the house?”

  “For the time being,” Brandon said as he nudged Rachel to the car. “But we might be moving out soon. Monty and Nate are heading this way from Miami, and I’m hoping Monty will be able to track the Nemesis IP address.” He glanced at Rachel. “And, though I realize it’s not as urgent as this potential attack tomorrow, when I checked with him this morning, he said he might be able to hijack the signal of a South African satellite and use it to do the job you asked Claire to do.”

  “He can do that?” Rachel asked, stunned.

  “He can do it.” He opened the car door for her. “He’s done it before for me. That’s why I smiled when Catherine compared Monty to a tech Neanderthal. It was usually when Venable was having trouble cutting through the government red tape to get permission to use one of the U.S. satellites to track Huber’s cells. Of course, Venable preferred I didn’t do it unless it was an emergency. Hijacking satellites causes such nasty international incidents.”

  “But he let you do it.”

  “He merely looked the other way. As you told Claire, he knew how to bend the rules.”

  “And Claire said that it could take up to four days to get permission to use a satellite. Possibly longer since there was no proof that either Nemesis or his threat was reliable.” She asked Catherine, who was now backing out of the parking place. “Is that true?”

  “It depends on the circumstances and how much clout you have.” Catherine met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “And how much the operative wants it. But she had a valid argument, and she used it.” She smiled. “And she made you mad as hell.”

  “In more ways than one.”

  “I gathered that.” She glanced at Brandon. “How certain are you that Monty can hijack that satellite before the twenty-fifth? I have to know whether I have to go back to Claire Warren and try to convince her to change her mind.”

  “I have a better chance than you do to make it happen.” He added, “And I’d better stop talking about a strictly illegal activity to you. I hear the CIA’s lie detectors are very sophisticated these days.”

  “Yes they are, but I’d have no problem with them. I have a friend who made sure that I could pass any test.”

  “My, what a very suspicious talent for a CIA operative. Who is this friend? Hu Chang?”

  “No, someone else. I do have friends other than Hu Chang, Brandon.”

  “Yes, me,” Rachel said. “Who has absolutely no influence or knowledge in that area. Leave her alone, Brandon. It’s her business.”

  “Just curious.” Brandon leaned back in the seat. “You have such fascinating friends, Rachel.”

  “I don’t have one who can hijack a satellite,” she said dryly.

  “But then you haven’t been operating on the dark side. You’ve been concentrating on being an angel of mercy. It’s somewhat stunted your growth.” He smiled. “Although I’m sure that you can catch up if you study hard. Even your father had reservations that kept him from reaching his full potential.”

  “I don’t want to be on the dark side if it has anything to do with Claire Warren,” she said coldly.

  He gave a mock shiver. “There’s dark, and then there’s dark. Mine is shot through with interesting highlights and variations. Claire wouldn’t be able to adjust to it. But you could learn to live there.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I do.” He made a motion. “But we won’t talk about it right now. You’re so exhausted, you look as if you’re fading away. Just lean back and relax until we get back to the house. We’ve closed the page on Claire Warren for the time being. She can’t hurt you.”

  “But that doesn’t mean that what she doesn’t do might hurt other people,” she said wearily. “I wanted to find a way to stop it…”

  “And we might, we still have a chance.”

  “Maybe she’s right, it could be that Nemesis is a phony, some kind of confidence man.”

  “That’s true. Do you believe that?”

  “No, but then I want to believe that Huber can’t win all the time,” she whispered.

  “That’s what Venable wanted to believe.”

  “And what do you want to believe?”

  He pulled her head down to rest against his shoulder. “That he won’t be able to win anything but six feet of earth and a gravestone when I get through with him.”

  She thought about sitting upright again, but it didn’t seem worth the effort. She was tired and discouraged and the path ahead seemed too long and hard. “Nothing like going all the way.”

  “It’s the only way I know.” He added, “Now stop talking and rest. If you can’t rest, think about what you want to say to Nemesis next time he contacts you.”

  That also seemed hard, but she’d try to do it …

  * * *

  She was being carried …

  Brandon …

  She recognized his scent, the way he moved.

  But he shouldn’t be carrying her.

  She forced her lids to open. “No…”

  “That’s a word you like entirely too much.” He smiled down at her. “Try, yes, thank you. It won’t hurt you at all.” He negotiated her bedroom door and carried her toward the bed. “There’s no reason why you can’t say it. You spent all night working on those fiendish poisons that you appear to do so well. You’re so exhausted, even Catherine approves of your taking a short nap. She’s off to smooth Claire down and try to dig information out of everyone surrounding her.”

  “She’s gone?”

  “And trusting you to my evil clutches. Imagine that.” He laid her on the bed and stared down at her. “I have work to do setting up a lab in the library. Monty and Nate should be here by dark, and I want it ready for them. You’re not needed. You’d get in my way. You’ll be much more valuable with a clear head and fully functional.” He turned toward the door. “But if you disagree, then do what you wish. Just stay out of my way.”

  The next moment, he had closed the door.

  He had given her a choice, she thought drowsily. Choices were important. Her father had finally realized that, and it was why she was here with Brandon. But Brandon realized how important that was to her, so had he manipulated her or really given her the decision?

  It didn’t matter right now. His argument seemed reasonable, and she was too exhausted to analyze it. There would be time for that when she woke …

  9:35 P.M.

  The room was totally dark, she realized, when she opened her eyes. Her gaze flew to the French doors across the room. She could see the crescent sliver of the moon on the horizon.

  Damn.

  Her gaze flew to the clock on the nightstand. After 9 P.M. She didn’t know exactly what time she had fallen asleep, but it had been hours ago.

  And Brandon had not tried to wake her. He’d probably thought she would get in his way, she thought as she threw the blanket aside and jumped out of bed. The alternate was that he was trying to protect her, and that annoyed her even more. Her meeting with Claire Warren had made her feel helpless, and she didn’t need Brandon patting her on the head and sending her off to bed.

  She was in the shower two minutes later and was dressed and out of her bedroom fifteen minutes after that. No one was in the living room, but she heard whistling in the kitchen and followed it down the hall.

  Nate Scott looked up from the bacon simmering in a frying pan on the burner to smile at her. “Hi, you look great. It must suit you taking on the Madame DeFarge of the CIA. Brandon said that it wasn’t Claire who put you down but working all night here in the kitchen. What were you doing? Brewing up more lifesaving medicines like you did for little Maria?”

  “Something like that.” At least Brandon had protected her privacy on that score, even from
his friend. “Madame DeFarge … Oh, yes, she was the spectator who sat and knitted while all the victims were guillotined.” She made a face. “I definitely see the resemblance. We did not get along.” She went to the refrigerator and got out a can of orange juice. “Though I understand Brandon did at one time.”

  “I wouldn’t know about that,” he said blandly. “Brandon is a pretty private person. I’m making a BLT. Would you like one? You slept a long time. It could be breakfast for you.”

  “Not that long.” But the bacon did smell good. “Yes, please, thank you.” She deliberately said the words Brandon had told her she should be saying. Why not? Maybe he was right, and she was struggling in battles that weren’t worth the effort. She sat down at the kitchen table. “Where are Brandon and Monty?”

  “In the library, where Brandon’s set up a makeshift lab for Monty. They’re trying everything they can to isolate that IP address.”

  She made a face. “Then I assume Monty’s temporarily given up the idea of hijacking that satellite?”

  Nate looked at her in surprise. “No, he checked that out before we got ready to leave this morning. Brandon said it wasn’t as important as finding Nemesis right now, so he put it on hold. No problem.”

  Her eyes widened. “What? No problem hijacking a satellite in less than a week?”

  “Not as long as Brandon gave him fair warning,” he said cheerfully. “That’s why he made sure Monty knew it was coming up. It’s never good to spring it on him because Monty has to be given as much time as possible. And Brandon always does what’s needed.”

  “That sounds familiar. You mean what he decides is needed,” she said. “I wonder what he would have done if Claire Warren had come through for us about the IP address and the satellite.”

  “Made adjustments.” He handed her the plate with her BLT. “That’s what he was trained to do in the Special Forces.” He sat down opposite her at the table. “And I guess growing up traveling around the world with his father. Make a plan, then make a backup plan. It works for him.” He bit into his sandwich. “And most of the time, it works for everyone around him.” He tilted his head. “Are you pissed off at him because he didn’t tell you all this?”

  She thought about it. “No.” She picked up her BLT. “I would have been if he hadn’t tried my way first. I’m slowly learning how he thinks. In his rather convoluted way of looking at things, he didn’t betray my trust if he didn’t actually lie to me. He just prepared the way for getting what he wanted.”

  “Exactly.” He beamed. “Adjustments.”

  She was eating slowly. “And if I ever find out that he ‘adjusted’ me out of something I think I wanted to happen, I’ll go after him with both barrels.”

  Nate chuckled. “Good for you. But I don’t believe he’d do that to you. He’s being very careful not to offend you.”

  “I didn’t notice. You’re obviously seeing something I’m not.” She finished her sandwich and changed the subject. “So how is Monty managing to hijack a satellite in a matter of several days? Isn’t all kinds of technical wizardry necessary to do that?”

  He nodded. “But it depends on the satellite and its defenses. This one is seven years old, small, commercial, and not equipped with the complex firewalls developed in recent years.” He smiled. “But Monty still had a hell of a hard time getting control of it when Brandon told him to do it two years ago. It took him more than a month to finally break through.”

  She frowned. “Why did he do it then?”

  “Something to do with work Brandon was doing with Venable. Brandon got in, got his information, and got out without the South Africans knowing what he was doing. But Monty knew he’d probably want him to do it again, so he left a back door in the program so he wouldn’t have to start from scratch.”

  “So several days instead of several weeks?”

  Nate nodded as he finished his sandwich and pushed his plate away. “Or even a few days. He still has to be careful, but he’ll slide in slick as greased lightning. It will take a while for him to mask the repositioning, but then they’ll start to scan the coastline to see if they can detect anything suspicious.”

  “We don’t even know what we’d be looking for,” she said gloomily. And why was she worrying about this now anyway? she thought impatiently. One disaster at a time, and the one that Nemesis had thrown at her was terrifying enough. For some reason, the fact that he had told her about it seemed to make the responsibility peculiarly her own. “Brandon is right. It doesn’t matter at the moment. Are they making progress on Nemesis’s IP address?”

  “You’ll have to ask them.” He was looking down at his sandwich. “Monty said it was going to be a big headache. But he’s terrific at what he does. He might be able to—”

  “Might?” She froze, stunned. “Don’t use that word. Anyone who could do what you say Monty can do with a damn satellite should be able to find that IP address in no time.”

  “It’s not the same thing,” Nate said gently. “Hacking can be one of the most complicated talents on the planet. There can be virtually hundreds, thousands of codes and almost as many protective firewalls.”

  “You’re saying he might not be able to do it,” she said slowly.

  “I’m saying I’ve seen Monty have to spend days breaking through a single firewall,” Nate said. “He has hours, not days, Rachel.”

  “But someone should be able to do it.” That sounded stupid and pitiful, she realized. Of course someone should be able to break a code that could save lives. That didn’t mean it was going to happen. “Is there anything I can do? There’s got to be something.”

  “We’ll probably have to sit this one out. Unless you’re better than I am at this stuff.” Nate shrugged. “Brandon’s an expert, and Monty’s a damn genius. I’d be in there with them if I thought I could help.”

  “Sit it out?” She couldn’t stand the thought. “Maybe go back to bed and forget about it? I’m no genius, but I have to try.” She got to her feet. “And I won’t know unless I go ask if there’s anything that—”

  Her phone rang, and she glanced down at the ID.

  Unknown caller.

  She tensed and hesitated. Nemesis? She’d received an email before, but that didn’t mean it might not be him. She punched the access. “Hello.”

  “I hear you’ve come to see me to pay your last respects, bitch.” The voice was masculine and the words a vicious snarl. “Or so you think. That’s more than you did for my father. No good-bye, just one of your damn poisons, and an hour later, he was dead.”

  She froze. She couldn’t breathe. “Who is this?”

  “But I killed your scum of a father, and I’ll kill you, too. Are you listening, cunt? You’re going to wish you’d never been born.”

  And then she knew who it was.

  “Huber,” she whispered. “It’s Max Huber, isn’t it?”

  She saw Nate stiffen, his eyes widening. He whirled and ran out of the kitchen. He was probably going after Brandon she realized vaguely.

  “You sound as weak as I thought you’d be,” Huber said scornfully. “Just a cowardly woman doing her father’s bidding.”

  “I’m not weak, I’m just surprised.” There was something she should be doing. The recording button, press the recording button. Her hand was shaking as she did it. “And my father wasn’t weak either. It was probably a freak accident that caused you to be able to take him down. He was brave and smart and on his way to making you and Red Star history.”

  “Liar.”

  “I’m not lying.” She moistened her lips. “Where are you? Hiding out in a hole somewhere? You wouldn’t have to be burrowing down if my father hadn’t worked for years to keep you and your maniac of a father groveling in the dirt.”

  She could hear him cursing. “I’m not hiding. I’m just getting ready to show the world that a man as great as Conrad Huber can’t be destroyed by vermin like you. You’ll see, bitch. You’ll all see.”

  “Is that why you’re calling me? Y
ou can’t touch me, so you’re trying to tell me how big and bad you are? If you were really a threat, you wouldn’t be afraid of naming your target. But you’d rather skulk around and hope that you can get lucky, then—”

  “Shut up!” His voice was low and seething with rage. “I can’t touch you? You’ll see if I can touch you. You’ve never been anything to either my father or me. You were just someone I could use.” His tone was suddenly dripping with malice. “And we did use you, Rachel Venable. Your father found out that the attack on his family in Afghanistan was planned by us, didn’t he? But he didn’t realize until too late that we’d bribed his informant in the prison to tell him how special those guards were treating you.” His voice was low and spitting ugliness. “I was being groomed by my father to take over Red Star at the time, and I can remember sitting in his study and laughing with him about it. I even made a few suggestions of my own about what those guards should do to you.”

  “Did you?” She was having trouble holding on to her control. He had chosen a weapon that was agonizing, and shock after shock was searing through her. She couldn’t let him see that hurt. “It doesn’t surprise me. It doesn’t take much to target a fifteen-year-old girl. It probably only showed your father’s men how weak and ineffectual you were. No wonder there are all kinds of rumors about how much better Conrad was than you’ll ever be.”

  “There are no rumors! Everyone knows that I’m—”

  “Everyone knows that you’re a fool.”

  Brandon ran into the room with Nate at his heels and skidded to a stop. His gaze was fixed on her face.