The Perfect Witness

by Iris Johansen

  “To protect yourself,” he repeated. “Not to do this.”

  “Not to protect you or Sean? Sorry, I have the skill, I have the choice.”

  His hands clenched into fists. “I’m tempted to knock you out and throw you on that helicopter.”

  “Go ahead. You’re good, but you’d have to hurt me. I’d fight you.”

  “Allie.”

  “Give the pilot your list. I’ll wait here.” She smiled faintly. “It should teach you that you can’t bank on everything going your way, Mandak. I gave you what you wanted tonight. Now you have to give me what I want.”

  He stood looking at her, his face pale in the moonlight. “Don’t do this, Allie.”

  “Give the pilot your list,” she repeated. “I hope it has a missile or two. We might need it.”

  He muttered a curse, turned on his heel, and strode toward the helicopter.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “THE SON OF A BITCH.” PRALAND viciously kicked Kobu’s body in the ribs. He turned to Bruker. “How long ago did the guards find him?”

  “Fifteen minutes. The lock at the east gate had been bypassed. We haven’t located the sentry who was on duty.”

  “Kobu knew the gate codes.” Praland’s gaze went to the gun in Kobu’s hand. “What the hell happened here?”

  Bruker shrugged. “I told you that you shouldn’t have given him that extra day to catch Mandak. Maybe he panicked and decided that he had either to run or take you out. He knew you’d never stop searching for him.” He suddenly chuckled. “Or maybe he decided to take out the tiger.”

  “I’m glad you find this so amusing,” Praland said softly. “Kobu was close enough to that window to have me in his sights.”

  Bruker’s smile disappeared. “I’m having my men question everyone on duty. We’ll find out what happened.”

  “The bastard was trying to assassinate me.” Praland looked down at Kobu’s twisted neck. “But maybe that’s not all. He had to have had company. I got a call from Mandak tonight. Maybe he was trying to set me up for Kobu and sent one of his men to come along to make sure that Kobu did the job.”

  “And Kobu panicked and tried to back out?”

  “Perhaps. It’s possible. I won’t know until I get a chance to question Mandak personally.” His lips curled. “And in agonizing depth. I thought he was beginning to cave, to back down, but he was trying to make a fool of me.” His gaze lifted to the window and the tiger cage in the room beyond it. Gina was still sitting on the couch and looked ravishingly gorgeous and as serene as the tiger was restless. “And Kobu came too close. I’m not letting it happen again.” He moved down the path toward the terrace door. “I believe it’s time that we showed Mandak that I’m the only one in control. I learned a lesson when Mandak went against all the odds to kill Simon Walberg. It made no sense, and I came within an inch of catching the bastard a dozen times in the following two weeks.”

  “Stupid.”

  “No, it could only mean Mandak might have a fatal weakness I can use…”

  * * *

  “I JUST TALKED TO RENATA, and she said to tell you the helicopter is loaded and should get under way soon.” Sean strolled back from the clearing, where he’d taken the call to Allie and Mandak. “It should arrive in a couple hours.”

  “Soon enough,” Mandak said. “We won’t need it before evening.”

  “But it’s going to be a boring few hours,” Sean said. “Anyone want to play some blackjack?”

  “I’ll pass,” Mandak said.

  “Allie?”

  She shook her head.

  “What a disappointment you two are. Don’t you realize that in times of high stress, you should always keep your mind sharp and alert?” He sighed and moved back to the clearing. “Then I guess I’ll just play solitaire and keep an eye on the road.”

  High stress, Allie thought. She supposed that was a correct term for what she felt but it was more of a zinging, edgy state than really being nervous or in distress.

  And she wasn’t frightened.

  Which was pretty dumb considering what the next hours could bring.

  But she could sense the tension gripping Mandak. He’d barely said a word to her since the helicopter had taken off three hours ago.

  Well, she wasn’t going to let that go on. She got up and strode over to where Mandak was sitting leaning against a tree.

  “If we’re not making a move until evening, aren’t we cutting it close getting the ledger out before the assault?”

  “A little.” He looked up at her. “I want it close. If we have to go on the run, I want Praland and company to still be at the palace and not scattered around the countryside chasing us during an attack.”

  “That sounds smart.” She dropped down beside him. “But, then, you’re always smart. You’re planning a diversion?”

  He nodded. “A garden party like no other. Lots of fireworks.”

  She was silent. “And am I invited?”

  “No.” He suddenly reached out and pulled her close to him. “But I know it’s no good trying to keep you out.” His voice was hoarse. “You’d just gate-crash.”

  “Yes.” She cuddled closer to him and tucked her cheek in the hollow of his shoulder. It was so good feeling the warmth, the vitality of him. “I said you were smart. Now that that’s settled, be quiet for a little while and just hold me. I don’t want to think about what’s going to happen tomorrow night.”

  “Because you’re being an idiot about it.”

  “Because it’s something I have to do, but there’s no use dwelling on it. I’d rather do what Natalie told me to do. Enjoy the moment. Feel that joy.” She brushed her lips against his throat. “And think about what we’ve had.” She was silent. “I told you that I didn’t know where this was going, but I believe it’s coming to me. So once it clicks, you may have a problem with holding me off.”

  “No problem.” His hand was gently rubbing her nape. “I guarantee that I’ll meekly surrender.”

  “You’re never meek. You never surrender.”

  “You’re the exception that proves the rule.” He was silent for a minute before he said, “In all ways, Allie. You have to take care. I don’t think I could stand it if you—”

  “Hush.” She nestled closer. “I’m not used to your being this sappy. It’s not like you. It makes me uneasy.”

  “I can see how it would.” He chuckled. “Hell, it makes me uneasy, too. Okay, I’ll watch it.”

  “Right. I wouldn’t want you to—”

  Her cell phone rang.

  She stiffened in surprise. “What?” Her phone had not rung since the night Lee and Natalie had been killed. She reached in her jacket pocket and pulled it out. No ID.

  It rang again.

  She punched the access button.

  “Teresa? Thank God, you answered.” Gina’s voice was shaking. “Praland said that if you didn’t answer, it would all be over.”

  Shock. “Mother?”

  Mandak stiffened, then straightened away from her.

  “Of course, it’s me. It’s so good to hear your voice. It’s been so long, baby. I’ve missed you so much. Why did you run away?”

  “Ask Camano.”

  “He didn’t mean you any real harm. It was all a mistake, then Mandak stepped in and made it worse. It was all Mandak’s fault and his vendetta with that Praland. We were all just caught in the middle.” Her voice lowered to velvet sweetness. “I’ve never stopped searching for you. It broke my heart when I couldn’t find you.”

  Did she expect Allie to believe her? Just say the words that Allie wanted to hear and expect her to suspend logic and reason?

  But, God help her, Allie wanted to believe her.

  And, yes, Gina probably did still think that she would go along with whatever she said was true. She had an incredible confidence in her power to attract and sway.

  “Why are you calling me, Mother?”

  “Praland. He’s very angry. It’s Mandak again. Praland thinks he w
ants to use you against him in the way your father did. I tried to tell him that you wouldn’t do that, but he won’t believe me.” She said brokenly, “He said he’ll hurt me if you don’t leave Mandak and come back to me. He means it, Teresa. There’s a tiger…”

  A little truth, a pack of lies, a twist of the knife. “And what’s to stop Praland from hurting me, Mother?”

  “He wouldn’t do that. He thinks that what you did for your father was very clever. You might be able to do the same thing for him.”

  Nightmare scenario.

  “I couldn’t trust him, Mother.”

  “Then trust me.” Gina’s voice was full and rich and brimming with affection. “No matter how you feel about anyone else, you know that I love you and would never hurt you.”

  How many times had Gina said that to Allie when she was a little girl? It had been the magic bullet to get her to do whatever her mother wanted.

  Gina didn’t like the silence. “Just come back to me. We’ll make Praland understand that you’re through dealing with Mandak, then we’ll go away together. Just as I’ve always planned to do when I found you, Teresa.” She paused. “But you have to come right away. You don’t want him to hurt me because that Mandak is causing all this trouble.”

  Allie didn’t answer.

  “Teresa?” There was a hint of panic in Gina’s voice. “He means it. You have to tell me that you’ll come and help me.”

  Help Gina, help the beautiful butterfly.

  “I love you, baby. You wouldn’t want anyone to hurt me.”

  Allie was silent, then said wearily, “No, I don’t want anyone to hurt you, Mother.”

  She felt Mandak’s muscles tense.

  “Good. Then you’ll come right away?”

  “Where?” Allie wasn’t supposed to know about the palace or anything that had happened there. “Where am I supposed to come, Mother?”

  “Praland has a sort of palace in southern Tanzania. It’s quite spectacular. Praland says that Mandak would know.”

  “And you think I’d come with Mandak? Praland would love to get his hands on him. Mandak will be angry with me for going there at all. He had plans for me.”

  “Then come alone. I don’t care.”

  No, that was evident beneath all the honey and manipulation. “I’ll be there. I won’t let anything happen to you, Mother.” She drew a deep shaky breath. “But I don’t think I’m anywhere near that palace. I’ll have to find it, and Mandak won’t help. I’ll try to be there by tomorrow evening. I’ll call you when I’m close.” She paused. “But I’m not going to go into that place until I’m sure we can make a deal with Praland to let you leave with me. I’ll meet you outside the gates.”

  “Whatever,” Gina said. “I knew you’d never desert me when I needed you.” She added softly, “Everything’s going to be different from now on. The way I wanted it to be in the beginning. Thank you for giving me a chance to make a good life for both of us.” She hung up the phone.

  So clever, Allie thought sadly. So able to manipulate and shift emotions in the way Gina wanted them to go.

  “Tell me that she didn’t take you in.” Mandak’s eyes were blazing in his taut face. “Because from what I heard, it sounded remarkably like it to me.” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “I thought you’d gotten over that fixation, dammit. It’s a trap. You’re not going to be able to make any deal with Praland or Camano.”

  “I know that.” She shrugged away from his grip. “But it’s a trap that could go both ways. Could Praland have traced that call?”

  “No, it was too short. I’d have disconnected it myself if he’d had a chance while Gina was giving you all that bullshit.”

  “It seemed like a long time to me.” Long and painful. “Now stop yelling at me. I’m feeling pretty raw and hurting. I need a little time to pull myself together and start thinking. I was just acting on instinct when I was talking to my mother.”

  “And that could be even worse. I don’t like where that instinct is taking you.”

  “It’s the only path that would get Praland and the others outside the gates and a good distance away from that Tiger Room at the time of your choosing,” she said. “No diversion tactics necessary in the garden. I’d be the diversion and one that Praland and my mother set up themselves.”

  “And they’ll snap you up like a steel trap.”

  “Then you think of a way for me to get out of it,” she said wearily. “Because I’m going to do it, Mandak. You’d have a better chance of getting the ledger, and it would be safer for you and Sean. I don’t have your experience or tactical know-how, so I have to rely on you. Just make it work.”

  “With your life in the balance. Not again, Allie.”

  “Then you make sure the balance is on my side.” She got to her feet. “You told me once that you believed in fate. I don’t think my mother does. She believes she can twist life to suit herself, and everything she’s touched has been ugly. Because I loved her, I let her persuade me to do what my father wanted me to do. Which made me ugly, too.” Her lips twisted. “But maybe this is the way that we can straighten it all out and use her to do it.”

  “It’s too risky.”

  “Work it out,” she repeated. “Or I’ll do it myself. Don’t talk to me again until you’ve done it.” She turned and walked away from him.

  There wasn’t anything more to say. He would just argue, and she couldn’t pay attention to arguments. As she had told him, she was hurting and raw and still a little in shock. Somewhere deep inside, there had still been a tendril of hope that Gina would not use her or betray her. It had been ripped out as she had listened to her mother and remembered those words of love and coaxing persuasion from her childhood. All Gina had to do was tell her that she loved her, and she would have done anything for her.

  Not this time. The memory of Gina’s plying her wiles on Praland tonight was too fresh, too shocking.

  Don’t think of those past betrayals.

  Think of a way that this betrayal could boomerang and do good.

  And stay here in the darkness of the night until the hurt faded, and she was strong again.

  * * *

  MANDAK CAME TO FIND HER OVER an hour later.

  She instinctively straightened defensively.

  “Don’t do that,” he said curtly. “I’ve had my orders. I know I’m not going to be able to persuade you to change your mind.” He pulled out his computer and pulled up the palace schematics. “You’ll drive the jeep to the west gate, that’s the farthest away from the entrance to the Tiger Room. Timing is important. You’ll arrive at eight fifteen in the evening. I’ve told Renata to have one of her agents come here with another vehicle to pick up Sean, me, and the supplies the helicopter is delivering. We’ll set out as soon as he gets here and should be back at the palace before dawn.”

  “Why are you going so early?”

  “I have things to do that may take time. Do you remember I told you that when Simon was being held by Praland, I bribed a servant to dig a tunnel from the outer wall to the dungeon?”

  She nodded. “But then you weren’t able to use it. It was too late for Simon.”

  “I wasn’t able to use it at the time. But Renata’s agents used it occasionally to get into the palace to search for the ledger and get information. The tunnel is still there.”

  “Guards?”

  He shook his head. “No prisoners. Not since Praland got his tiger. They go straight to the cage. I’ll still have to check out the tunnel, but it won’t take me long to get down to that dungeon to wait for my opportunity to get to the Tiger Room.” He paused. “But I’ll also need the extra time and the dark to prep the area around the west gate for you. I’ll find a way to stash a gun for you behind the stones in the wall. Three stones up from the ground. They’ll make you give up any weapons the moment they see you.” He punched his finger at another stone just above the one he’d indicated. “There will be a bomb behind this stone. Small but very powerful. You don’
t have to pull this stone out. I’ll put mud and gunpowder in the grout lines. Fire into it, and it will explode. Make sure you’re a good distance away from it. It will probably take half the wall with it.”

  “Yes, I’d say that’s very powerful,” she said dryly.

  “I had to give you your best chance.” He pointed to the garden. “You see these small windows that are only a few feet aboveground? Those are the dungeon windows. I’ll set several explosives in them and around the garden and back terrace. After we’ve got the ledger, I’ll set the bombs off. That should cause Praland, Camano, and any of your other welcoming committee to be distracted and pour back into the garden. You’ll be able to get to that gun behind the stone.” He added grimly, “Maybe. If they don’t decide to shoot you before they go to find out what’s happening. I don’t believe that’s likely. But be ready for anything.”

  “I will. How much time will you need to get the ledger after I show up at the gate?”

  “At least fifteen minutes. We have to make sure Praland isn’t anywhere near that Tiger Room. Once we shoot the tiger with the knockout dart, he should be out in five minutes. Then we have to jimmy the lock on the cage and get to the compartment.”

  “And then get out of there.”

  “And get to you,” Mandak said. “If you’re still alive.”

  “I’ll be alive. I want to live, Mandak,” she said. “And I want you to live. So be careful with that tiger.” She smiled faintly. “Or I may be the one to have to beat down those walls to come and rescue you.”

  He didn’t return her smile. “I can give you a gun, I can give you a bomb. I can’t help you stall Praland for those fifteen minutes. That’s up to you and it may seem a long fifteen minutes. If he gets suspicious and starts wondering if that’s what you’re doing, it’s all over. Forget giving me my time and play the game his way.”

  She shook her head. “It has gone his way too long. It has gone my mother’s way too long. I’ll do what I—” She stopped as she saw the flashing lights in the north sky. “There’s your helicopter. Let’s hope the pilot didn’t forget that knockout dart for the tiger. It’s a very strange request.”