by Gennita Low
It felt right to be finally able to say it out loud. She had no one with whom to share her innermost thoughts about what had happened. Tatiana was too young, really, to be that kind of a confidante. It was good she didn’t ask any questions, but, at the same time, it also made it difficult for Lily to see clearly.
She hadn’t told Reed the whole story, but laying it out in that simple way clarified a few things. She wouldn’t give the device to those bastards. She would rather die.
Reed’s hand ran up her spine, a soft, reassuring caress. “Yes, I understand what you’re saying. Turn around and look at me.”
Lily did so, trying not to look too hopeful. He studied her face quietly, as if the truth was written there for him to see.
“I’ll help you, but it has to be done my way,” he told her.
She gave him a puzzled look. “My plan is the simplest, Reed. You deliver me and take the money. All I ask is that you spend some of it and get my girls out, with written instructions from me. The girls will follow my instructions and won’t cause you any trouble, if that’s what you’re afraid of. You’ll be set and…mmmmph—”
He pushed her back against the pillows and kissed her hard, cutting off her words. “You think too much about others, you know that?” he muttered against her lips. “Full of plans, all about everyone and everything, but nothing about you. Hell, you even have my cash flow all planned out. Now listen to me for once, hmm? I don’t want that kind of money, paid for by your blood. I don’t need you to take care of my travel plans. And I definitely don’t want you to give yourself up to them. I have a thing against traitors anyway, so I’d rather they don’t have anything who’s dear to me.”
“Dear to you,” she echoed, eyes widening.
His smile was tender. “Yes,” he said.
Her heart swelled with emotion. “I don’t think…there’s any hope for us,” she said. It was too much to hope for, and much too late. “If there weren’t the girls, I might do things differently, but this is the only way to make sure they’re free to go wherever they want.”
She had no home to go back to, no friends who would welcome her, and no love who would miss her. And once the girls were taken care of, she would have no one at all. She looked up at Reed. It was too damn ironic. She’d finally found herself a man she wanted to share herself with, and it was too late.
“So let’s get the passports and get the girls off your hands. Then that’s one of your biggest worries gone, right? After that, we’ll deal with these CIA people who are sending thugs to kill you.”
“But—”
“I’ll take care of the passports, Lily. I don’t need the money. I’ve told you this over and over. I didn’t save your life to let you throw it away either, so you’d better stop thinking about doing this alone. Here’s your other option—me. You place your trust in me and let me handle this.”
She stared at him, not really sure what he was saying. “But how are you going to come up with all that money so quickly?”
“You leave that to me. But you must agree to do something in return for me.”
For the kids to be free? For the hope to be with him? “Anything,” she said.
“You promise?” he asked, a quizzical expression on his face. “Can I trust you?”
“I betrayed my friends,” she said carefully.
“I know that already,” he said. “I want your promise the return favor. I think the Serbs and Croats call it veza.”
She remembered telling him a little about it. She owed him her life. And if he could accomplish this one thing for her, she owed him a lot more than whatever he was going to ask. She didn’t think he would ask her to do anything that would endanger her. “Yes,” she said.
“Good. Let’s get started.”
* * *
Greta looked around her. Talia, she had to admit, had great taste. Of course, with her new wealth, she could probably afford an interior decorator, but she had a feeling her niece was a control freak. Confident people tended to be like that, and Talia was a supremely confident woman.
She could tell by the way her niece had entered Gunther’s house unarmed. She hadn’t been insulted by his searching her. Instead, she’d been amused, as if she’d expected it and the joke was on Gunther.
In that respect, Greta was in agreement with her niece. They both knew Gunther was weak because he didn’t like to dirty his hands. He preferred others to put his plans into motion and finish for him, and then he would take the glory as his. Greta thought that despicable. He had a brilliant plan, true, but he needed partners to get it done. A man like that was a weak link.
“He’s very smart, Auntie. Be careful.”
Greta turned back to Talia, her gaze sharp and assessing as she watched her stretch into a yoga position. “You’re very good at reading minds,” she commented.
“I’ve been told that. It’s a talent.”
Talia folded into an awkward-looking position. Again, her confidence rubbed Greta the wrong way. If it were Greta, she’d be sitting in that chair at that side of the room, keeping an eye on the other person, watching her every move.
But I’m her aunt. Maybe Talia was more relaxed because of that.
She wanted to put her theory to the test. Without warning, she kicked out at Talia, aiming for the arm. Just a little bruise would teach her a lesson.
She kicked air. Her niece had rolled out of the way with such speed that Greta hadn’t even seen her unfold from her position.
Greta swerved and kicked out with her other leg, this time going for the torso. Her foot jabbed air again. She looked back to find her niece on her back. Talia’s hand shot up, neatly catching Greta’s calf. She jerked it sharply. Unable to balance, Greta fell on her knee so she could use her weight better. She kicked again, freeing her leg, then she rolled toward her opponent, this time viciously aiming for the throat.
Her elbow hit the floor hard enough to jar her funny bone. She ignored the reverberating pain, trying to move out of the way of her opponent’s legs. They scissored her throat area and she found herself staring up in a very humiliating way between her niece’s legs.
“I’m very smart and very quick, Auntie,” Talia said softly. “Yoga really loosens the muscles. You should try it sometime.”
A moment later and Greta was freed, lying on her back on the Persian carpet. She stared up at Talia, who was adjusting her clothing. She’d underestimated how well trained her niece was.
Talia offered her hand, and, after a moment, Greta took it, letting her help her up. She was angry at herself. It was a huge mistake she’d just made—a huge mistake. She’d thought she would show Talia a thing about being careful and she’d ended up being the one taught a lesson.
“I’ve to learn to anticipate a lot of things because I’m a woman in this business,” Talia said. She released Greta’s hand and turned away. “You’ve taught me that, you know.”
“I did?” Greta asked, surprised.
“Do you remember when you visited us and brought us all those beautiful toys? One time I asked you how to get to be like you and go about as I like. You told me I’ve to remember I was a woman in a man’s world and not let them take advantage of me.”
Greta didn’t remember that particular conversation, but it sounded like something she would say. Talia had always been the inquisitive one. “I’m glad you followed my advice then,” she said stiffly.
“I’m sorry you’re mad at me now,” Talia said, walking to the table and pouring some tea into two cups. “I was excited to finally see you again, Auntie. I forgot you might still need to adjust to me. Forgive me.”
Greta joined her at the table, accepting the cup of tea. “No, my fault,” she said a bit gruffly. “I’ve been out of this for so long that I want to try out everything, even though I know better. Even though I kept up with my defensive skills, I didn’t have a live person with whom to practice.”
“Yes, it’s not quite the same without a partner,” Talia agreed. She sat down on a lov
e seat with an intricate brocade cover. “Which brings us back to the reason you’re here alone. I know Gunther sent you here to sweeten me up and get me to agree to the alliance. Of course, I don’t think he asked you to try to fight me.”
Gunther wouldn’t have liked it. Greta shrugged. “I do as I please.” She opted not to tell her niece that she’d just met Gunther in person herself. Again, dealing with a voice all these years and finally meeting him in person wasn’t quite the same. “I’ve thought over what he offered and decided that his plan suited mine.”
She would get hold of the weapon device without tracking down Lily Noretski. The original plan had proven to be too troublesome. This way she would save some more money, which was always good. She didn’t want her account to dwindle too much without a contract that would replenish her funds. She wasn’t—she looked around surreptitiously again—that wealthy a woman. Damn it, but she should have gone into the sales business.
“It’s an intriguing proposal. He has thought it out very carefully.” Talia played with the tiny porcelain teacup, her eyes thoughtful. “He has a contact within the CIA who’s willing to set up a program like he’s talking about. He needs you to cover for him at your end, in case HQ sees what he’s up to. He needs me to provide the start-up cash and, later, the contracts with the agencies and to cover his ass in case something goes wrong. Our man has a big ass.”
That made Greta laugh. “Yes, that’s a good way of putting it.” She looked down at her cup for a moment. “It’s a lot of money involved,” she said.
“Definitely a good business plan, if you want to look at it that way,” Talia said. “Each girl could potentially bring in a huge contract, depending on who or what the buyer wanted to destroy. Girls that young won’t be the prime suspects for a while. And if this experiment fails, and I guess there are always bad scientific experiments, we’ll still make a pretty bundle from the duplicates of the device. I think my buyers will be definitely interested in looking at one of those. We just need to get someone to reverse the technology and test a few with these girls.”
It dawned on Greta that was exactly what Gunther had been trying to do when he’d ordered Llallana to bomb the center opening ceremony with all those attending leaders. He’d wanted to make a sales pitch, so to speak. Fortunately for her, he hadn’t quite succeeded. “So are you interested?”
Talia’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “Do you think, after all this time, I’d let a man call the shots?”
Greta smiled back. She really was beginning to like her niece just a little. “Having been a secretary, I do have an excellent memory about files on computers. He showed me the facilities where he’s going to house the girls. I’ve seen the map. If we could get the inside layout, we could locate the weapon device once he has it.”
“We could even use the facility for ourselves,” Talia said.
“Of course,” Greta agreed smoothly. She set down the cup on the marble table. “I do want one other thing, though. I want the original device as soon as it’s been copied. That way I can finish my assignment.”
That was important. She wanted her reputation intact. Money was great, but glory was everything.
“Not a problem. So how did Gunther finally track down the girls? I understand they’re very well hidden in a small town.”
“Yes. Llallana, for some reason, had her hotel manager call them several times. It was easy to procure the number from him and track it, of course.”
“Again, I give credit to Gunther. He does cover all the details,” Talia said. Her dark eyes looked at Greta thoughtfully. “He’s very quick, isn’t he?”
Greta nodded. It still irked her he’d had his people following Llallana when the girl had finally been spotted in town and hadn’t told her. He’d said he hadn’t been sure, since she’d been wearing a blond wig, but it had sounded like one of his half lies. No, he’d wanted Llallana for himself.
When he’d realized Greta wasn’t going to give up like the old woman he’d thought she was, he’d decided he could use her. She looked across at her niece. Oh yes, he needed her so he could convince Talia to come aboard. Talia with all that wealth.
Once this was accomplished, wouldn’t he start to think he could get rid of her? She had to play this very carefully. Let them do the hard work, get Llallana and the device for her. Then she would turn the tables and get rid of Gunther. She hadn’t decided what to do with her niece yet. Maybe, if things worked out nicely, she’d invite her to tea at her beautiful house, something a little grander than this.
“Do you like shawls?” Greta asked.
Talia tilted her head, looking a little surprised. “Shawls? I haven’t worn one in ages. Why?”
“I made one for you. But if you don’t like shawls…”
“How…sweet,” Talia said, smiling. “You loved us so much, didn’t you, Aunt Greta?”
Love? Not really. But she’d missed them because they represented home. “Knitting was a good way to deal with stress. Besides, you learn patience too,” she replied.
“I’ll have to pick up the hobby sometime then.”
Greta glanced down at the beautifully manicured hands. She didn’t think Talia would really take up knitting, but they were both being polite now that they’d tacitly agreed to work together.
“I’ll draw you the map I saw,” Greta said briskly, coming to a decision. “We can start planning on how to distract Gunther too as soon as we know he has the weapon.”
Talia stood up. “That would be easy. Once that girl reveals the weapon’s location, there’ll be no need for Gunther.”
Greta smiled back unpleasantly at Talia. Killing Gunther would be a pleasure. He’d delayed her retirement present long enough.
* * *
“Reed, we have another name you’ve to be aware of. His name is Gunther Galbert. His profile shows extensive contact with different CIA operatives who used him as a contact or courier between them and double agents working overseas. His contact name is The Walrus,” Nikki told him the moment he called in and call conferencing was engaged. “He’s now in league with Greta and they’re both after Llallana Noretski.”
“That offer Greta put on the street has gotten quite a number of other people after Lily too,” Reed said coldly. He thought of the bruises he’d seen on Lily’s body this morning. He hadn’t said anything about them to her. “There was another attempt at getting her into a vehicle last night.”
“That’s why we wanted you to keep her close,” Nikki reminded him quietly.
“Is she all right?” Amber asked.
“Yes. This time it was one of her own contacts who wanted to collect the reward. Some guy named Viktor.”
“Viktor? He’s done business with her for years,” Amber said. “Damn it, we should have thought of a better way of protecting her.”
“She doesn’t trust anything CIA, but I do have an update on her condition,” Reed said. “The most important thing is she came back of her own free will, looking for my help. She’s upstairs in the suite now, so at least she’s safe from bounty hunters. By the way, last night she said the trigger line twice to me. Nothing happened. She also attempted to tell me about her past this morning, except that she called what happened to her brainwashing.”
“She said the line out loud?” Nikki asked. “That could mean that the trigger’s beginning its effect on her. Depending on how deep the hypnotic treatment was, neuro-triggers act as timers.”
“No, wait,” Amber chimed in. “You said she talked about her past to you. Did she mention her sister?”
“No,” Reed said. “I specifically asked whether she was the one who was abused. She never brought up her kidnapped sister story she told you about. Also, her main concern is to not let the CIA take the girls under their care because they abused her trust when they did the same to her.”
“Nikki, did you hear that?” Amber asked, excitement in her voice. “She would never say anything like that to me. During all the years I’ve known her, she was very s
ecretive whenever I brought up her past. Those final couple of months, she gave me the kidnapped sister background. She didn’t lie to Reed this time.”
“Yes, that part of it is very encouraging. It’s also clear now she isn’t going on any mission to return the device to any group or person. Those girls are her number one priority.”
Reed was glad to hear Amber’s views. He’d had to curb his own exhilaration when Lily had started to talk about her past. The questions he’d asked her were very important, not just for him but also for how GEM would deal with her.
“Yes, I agree,” he said. “She’s shown no interest in selling anything. In spite of being pushed to the point where she didn’t have any single option left but me as a gunrunner, she didn’t do what we’d anticipated. Instead, she proposed an alternative.”
He told them about Lily asking him to help her by posing as a person who could deliver her up for the reward money. He found it tougher than he’d thought to talk about the previous night with as little emotion as possible, for he was still reeling from his own discovery about how much he’d grown to care for Lily. Before, it had been a duty to protect her; now, it was personal. But he didn’t want that to come through in his debriefings. He wanted those making the team decisions to come to the conclusion about Lily as objectively as possible.
“That’s the Lily I’ve always known,” Amber said. “She has always put those girls first.”
“We do know they used her strong emotions as a way of controlling her,” Nikki noted. She sighed and added softly, “Rape can break a person physically and mentally. The victim might push the memory away, or she might choose to channel her fear or her hatred toward a goal. In Lily’s case, they made sure it was the latter. Activating the mind trigger meant a higher emotional level toward topics that generated hatred and fear. Those emotions are the driving force of sleeper cells.”
