“He treated me as if I was nothing. He as much as told me he could do anything he wanted and I’d be helpless.” He was trying to get control of himself. It was only another two days and he could dispose of Seth Caleb. Then he would be on his way to gaining everything he had been working toward all these years. But he wanted it to happen now. He needed to do something, anything, to soothe that stinging blow to his pride. “And that bitch is doing whatever he wants her to do. I told her that I owned her, that was how it had to be. Yet she didn’t even answer my call. She went running to him because she thinks that he can force me to do anything he wants me to do.” He could feel the rage tearing through him again as he jumped to his feet and headed toward the door. “None of this was my fault. I knew I was right about her trying to sabotage all my plans. Well, she won’t succeed. Neither of them will get away with this. Everything is going to go just as it was meant to. I’ll show them both that in the end I’m the one who will always win. Go and tell them to get the helicopter ready, Davron. We’re leaving right away.” His lips were drawn back in a feral grimace. “I have to have enough time to prepare a surprise for them.”
* * *
Edinburgh
“You’re right, I didn’t like anything about that call,” Jane said tightly after Caleb hung up. “It scared the hell out of me. Hyper speed? Luca could have exploded any moment and decided to go and kill Tomas.”
“But he didn’t,” Caleb said. “I was betting on him going after the prize he’d been fighting for all his life and not letting himself blow it on a temper tantrum.”
“Because you’d studied the prey,” Jane said dryly. “And you were willing to trust yourself as a good hunter should.”
“And braced myself to change course if you panicked and went on the attack, and I had to take a step back.” His gaze was studying her face. “But I didn’t have to do that. You were gritting your teeth, but you didn’t panic. You went along with me all the way. Why?”
“Because I trusted the hunter, too,” she said quietly. “Though I can’t say I didn’t have a few bad moments. I was terribly afraid. I’m still shaking. Why did you insist on the trade to get Tomas?”
“No choice. I had to get him out of there. We weren’t having any luck finding the tower and we don’t have much time left. The obvious answer would be to eliminate the need to find it. If Luca was forced to move the boy here, we’d have a better chance to track him. In the meantime, we can tell Joe to try to locate the house Luca rented in the Highlands.”
“You might have told him that before he flew off to Mantua,” she said ruefully.
“He’ll tell me that, too.” He shrugged. “I couldn’t do anything else. I told you, no choice. I was playing the situation by pure instinct because I had a bad feeling while you were talking to Luca earlier today. That combination of egomania and the drive to fulfill his so-called destiny was bringing him to the edge. He was starting to blame you, and he always blamed me. It wasn’t going to take long for him to decide to do something that would show everyone he was in complete control.” He paused. “Clearly, killing the boy would be one way to do that. Even if he had to convince himself it was the smart thing to do. I was trying to watch closely, and today I could tell something had changed with him. I caught something in his tone that disturbed me. I have an idea that Luca is getting impatient and ready to tie up all the loose ends and maybe change course…”
And one of those loose ends would be Tomas and any deadly promises Luca had made to Alberto about his son. She shivered. “Then by all means let’s get Joe back here right away. I’ll call Eve and tell her. What are you going to do?”
“Make a few calls. Maybe talk to Barza and see what he can find out from Davron about Luca. Davron is probably getting some very bad vibes right now.” He smiled faintly. “Then I’ll go over the records for those guards I’ll need to use to help us in the vaults tomorrow night.”
“May I help?”
“Why?” He was gazing at her curiously. “I think you realize that not all persuasions are as pleasant as the ones I gave you at Fiero. And since the first minute we met you’ve always stayed as far away from my so-called talents as you could get. You wouldn’t let them touch you.”
“I’ve decided that was a mistake,” she said bluntly. “Lisa once said that the reason I broke up with you was that I might be afraid. I’m not afraid, but ignorance breeds fear. All that stuff you can do is a part of you and I should know every part of you.”
He gave her a half smile. “Not every part of me.”
“Yes, I should. But I’ll start with just this part. I’d like to see how you manage to change perceptions, and this seems a good time. Those bank guards are innocent, and you might trick them, but you wouldn’t deliberately hurt them.”
“Such faith,” he said lightly.
“Yes, I told you I trust you.” She smiled. “Someday you’ll believe me.”
He lifted his shoulder in a half shrug. “I believe that you believe it now. It’s very interesting, but enormous pressure. I’m afraid that when I disappoint you, the fall will be all the worse.”
“If you disappoint me, then we’ll talk about it. And there will be no fall. There will just be adjustments as there always are when two people come together.” She asked again, “May I help you?”
His expression was enigmatic as he stared at her. “Maybe.” He was already pulling out his phone to call Barza. “We’ll see a little later…”
* * *
“I’ll call Joe,” Eve told Jane. “He’s not going to be pleased that Caleb is going to change the game plan, Jane.”
“What can I say? Caleb had a feeling and went with it. You know his instincts are usually sound. He wanted to get Tomas out of there.” She hesitated and then asked, “Is Michael there? Could I talk to him?”
The next moment Michael was on the phone. “You’re scared for Tomas? He’s fine right now, Jane.”
“And we want to keep him that way. Caleb wouldn’t have forced Luca to move him if he hadn’t thought there was a possibility he might be in trouble soon. Your dad is going to try to track them to the house in the Highlands where Luca is taking him, but you might be able to help. You said you could see what Tomas saw. It’s important that you pay particular attention now so that you’ll remember everything about the trip and where they’re keeping him. Can you do that for us?”
“Of course I can.” He paused. “They’re going to try to hurt him again? I can’t let them do that, Jane. I promised him that if he did what I said, I’d take care of him.”
“And you will be. That’s what I’m saying. That’s what we’re all trying to do.”
“But I promised him.” Michael’s voice was hoarse. “He’s just a little guy, and he wouldn’t understand if I broke my word. I couldn’t do it. I’m just telling you that I can’t let it happen.”
Just a little guy. But Michael was only a couple of years older. And yet he was trying desperately to shoulder the responsibility of saving the boy, and she was the one who had just added to the burden. This loss of childhood for Michael was what Eve and Joe had been struggling to prevent all these years, she realized helplessly. “Remember, whatever happens, it’s not your fault.”
“Yes, it is. I told you, I made a promise.” Then he was silent for a moment. “You’re worried about me. You shouldn’t be. This is what I should be doing. But I’m only learning, and that makes it harder. Maybe later I’ll be—” He broke off and then said quickly, “I have to get back to him. Something’s happening and Tomas is worried about his mother.”
Then he was gone, and Eve was back on the line. “I know what you’re feeling, Jane.” Her voice was shaking. “I’ve been seeing Michael being pulled deeper and deeper toward that poor child. He’s been monitoring him constantly and I have no idea where it’s going to take him. The only thing I’ve been doing is watching and waiting and trying to be there for him. That’s all he’ll let me do right now.” She drew a deep breath. “But I won’
t stand by if I see it getting completely out of control. I’ll find a way to stop it.”
“Tomas is relying so much on Michael. I only hope you can do it.”
“I will do it, even if it means I have to make a choice. I won’t lose my son.” She added huskily, “Now let me make that call to Joe so that we can start the wheels turning to bring him here at warp speed to find that house in the Highlands. Maybe between the two of us we’ll be able to do the job ourselves and make sure that I don’t have to make that choice.”
Chapter
16
Have you decided to let me help you?” Jane came into Caleb’s study and closed the door. “It’s not as if you’d let me do anything that would get me tossed into jail. I just want to be—”
“Part of it,” he finished for her. “But anything you do for me from now on will make you an accessory to bank robbery. That’s why I tried to keep Joe out of it.” He smiled crookedly. “Until I managed to suppress my more altruistic impulses and decided to let him take his chances.”
“Bullshit.” She sat down in a chair across the desk from him. “You’re still trying to keep him away from the robbery. That’s why you sent him hunting for Tomas and Tower House.” She smiled at him. “But you’re being ridiculous about me being involved when you’re going to be taking me down in that vault with you tomorrow night.” She added, “And I know very well you’d make certain that no one will be able to connect me with whatever happens down there. Right?”
He nodded slowly. “Never.”
“Then let me know this part of you, too. How are we going to choose those guards?”
His smile deepened. “My, you are eager to join the dark side.” He tossed a pile of folder-enclosed reports on the desk in front of her. “The first order of business is to decide what qualities are needed to furnish the effect I need. Then choose the type of personality and background to provide those qualities when I persuade them it’s necessary.”
She tapped the reports. “Do you always have to go through all this?”
“No, rarely. I usually wing it. But this is a special case involving other people to whom I’ve made promises. Like you, Jane.”
“And MacDuff.” She took the reports and glanced through them. “So what do you need from these men?”
“One should be younger, efficient, kind and respectful to older people, willing to accept guidance.”
“Michael would say you wanted a Boy Scout.”
“That’s not too far off. The other should be older, accustomed to being in charge, smart, ready to go the extra step even if he’s never done it before.”
“A Boy Scout and an Eagle Scout?”
“Not an Eagle Scout. Add authority, and you forgot the maturity.”
She looked down at the dozen or so folders before her. “You have quite a few reports here. Do you have any preferences?”
“No, I’d just started.” He leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowed on her face. “But it’s been a long day, I think I’ll just let you choose. Whoever you decide, I’ll go with.”
She grinned. “Responsibility. You mean, unless I choose someone you don’t think would cut it.”
He shook his head. “No second choices. I trust you.”
She met his eyes. “That’s what I told you,” she said softly. “But you wouldn’t believe me.”
“But you’re a much more trustworthy person than I am. You asked for it, now do it,” he said. “Get to work, Jane. I don’t have all night.”
She laughed. “You’re impossible.” She started to go through the reports. After the third psychological test and appraisal she forgot all about him, trying to gauge the family background of the applicants against the actual testing scores. Family was always so important…
Two hours later, she pushed the other reports aside and tossed him two folders. “There you are. And it will be your fault if you can’t persuade them to do what you want them to do. They were much more likely than any of the others.” She nodded at the first folder. “James Smythe. He had a great attendance record through school, which means he likes to play by the rules. He came from a low-income family, and he obviously tried to help support them judging by the number of part-time jobs he held while he was growing up. His employers all gave him great recommendations when he left their employ. After he graduated from school, he joined the army and became an MP. But he still arranged to send his pay home to his mother, who was in a nursing home for two of those years he was in the service. When he got out, he was given this job at the bank. He’s been working here for the last year.”
“You did find a Boy Scout,” Caleb said, amused. “I’m surprised you chose him to run a risk that might ruin his image.”
“I thought about it. But then I realized we could work at making his life a lot easier once this was over, and we’ll just add him to the list of people whom you’re going to be sure aren’t going to be connected to this.” She beamed at him. “You’ll just have to work harder, Caleb.”
“And I suppose that goes for your other choice?”
“He could probably take care of himself, but it’s not fair to play favorites. Donal Campbell. Forty-six, has worked for bank security for six years and before that with Edgewood Security in London. He was a lieutenant in the army, decorated for bravery in Iraq, well educated, divorced, has a child, Emma, whom he adores; he takes on extra security jobs to send her to a great school in London.”
“And we wouldn’t want her school to miss any paychecks?”
“No, but you wouldn’t do that,” she said. “Unless you decide to choose someone else.”
He shook his head. “I told you, no second choices. Smythe and Campbell are our guards. I’ll live with the additional burden of charity you’ve thrown into the mix.” He got to his feet and grabbed the two folders. “Well, now that you’ve done your part, I’ve got to go and do mine.”
“What?” She straightened, startled. “Where are you going?”
“I told you I didn’t have all night for you to choose. Now I have to go to their homes and do an advance programming of both subjects. I want everything to go off with no problems.”
“May I go with you?”
“There wouldn’t be anything for you to do.” He was moving toward the door. “I promise I won’t hurt them, Jane.”
“But will they hurt you? You might startle them, and they might react. Maybe I should be there to help.”
“And protect me?” he asked solemnly. “I think I can handle it.”
“I realize you can. But I also know that you might be at a disadvantage that I put you under when I chose those particular men. So I should be there to distract them.”
“You would be a distraction, but to me, Jane.”
And a distraction was always dangerous. “When will you be back?”
“It should take no more than twenty minutes per subject plus travel time between the two residences.” He glanced at the addresses. “They’re near here. Perhaps three hours.”
“That seems a long time.” She gave him a searching look. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He was silent.
“Caleb.”
He sighed. “I should have known I couldn’t slip it by you. It would have been much easier if I didn’t have to be so damn careful about using the persuasion around you. I have to make one more stop and visit Angus Wilson.”
“Who’s Angus Wilson?”
“The third subject I decided I had to have in that bank tomorrow night.”
“Another guard?” She frowned. “I don’t remember a report on an Angus Wilson.”
“Not a guard. Wilson is the branch manager of the bank. And you didn’t see a report because there was no choice. He was one of the two officials who is being biometrically monitored to permit opening the vaults. I had to have him, regardless of how difficult he was going to prove to be.”
“And you think he’s going to be difficult. Why?”
“I told you that some people are res
istant to persuasion of any kind. Very few. But I believe Wilson might be one of them. On that first day I received Palik’s lists, I went over Wilson’s life history and all the usual tests. There were several small signs in the overall package that indicated he might be one of those few. I’ve seen those signs before and they sent up red flares. He was put in charge of MacDuff’s treasure for a reason. Besides being completely honest, his entire record shows a mental block where any sort of applied influence is concerned.”
“But you’re not sure?”
“I will be after I go to see him tonight. I hope I’m wrong.”
“But why do you need him? Couldn’t you find a way to get him transferred for a few days?”
He shook his head. “He’s stubborn, and he’d immediately go on the alert. He knows how valuable he’d be to anyone who wanted to go after the treasure. He has all the codes to MacDuff’s vaults memorized, and his DNA is keyed in to the handprint ID system—and we also need him because his vision scan unlocks the final process on the Cira vault through iris identification. In short, we need either his cooperation or his eyes.”
She shuddered. “And you’re thinking he’ll not be willing to give us either. What will you do?”
“First, find out if I’m going to have a problem. Perhaps I’m wrong about him.” He met her eyes. “And, if I’m not, there are always ways of handling it. Just not pleasant ones.”
She shook her head vehemently. “Wilson is an innocent man.”
“So is your Tomas innocent. Luca is on the edge. If he thinks this robbery is going to fall apart, he’ll kill the boy without another thought. Do you want to choose between him and Wilson, or should I?”
“Neither,” she whispered. “We have to find another way.”
“And I’ll try.” His lips twisted. “But don’t worry, I wouldn’t make you choose. I’m uniquely suited through birth and years of experience to accept any guilt that comes my way. This would just be one more.” He opened the door. “Go to bed. I’ll wake you when I come back and tell you if we have a problem.”
The Persuasion Page 39
