And she’d let ten years lapse without bringing the killer to justice.
“So you got the money,” John said, making some notes in the column of his notebook. “What about the program? You went through his things when he died and—”
“Whatever had been done on each contracted project was turned over to the contracted group. I never did find any work on the Blue Circle project.”
“You weren’t suspicious, though.”
“I had no real reason to be. He’d just started it, as far as I knew. They never contacted me asking for anything. I assumed anything he’d had, he’d turned in. I was dealing with so much at the time, I was more relieved than anything.”
John was silent for a moment. She could almost hear the wheels turning. Nathan had often boasted of McShane’s almost fanatical persistence in analyzing situations. It was the one thing she’d trusted about him back then. It was the reason she’d given herself for asking him to help her now.
“Okay. So ten years have gone by. The project is—or was—as dead and buried as it’s creator.”
She flinched. He may have well earned his super-spy reputation. However, his status as a sensitive human being was still up for discussion.
He didn’t apologize, though she had no doubt he noticed her reaction. He noticed everything. She worked not to shift in her seat as he continued to stare at her.
“Why are you so sure the insurance payoff ties in with the Blue Circle project?”
“When I found out the policy had been paid for with a direct deposit, I traced the payments with my computer to the bank where he’d set up the account. It was on Grand Cayman. As private as a Swiss account and all the transfers done by wire. Luckily my name was on it as well, or I’d have never cracked it.”
He lifted an eyebrow.
“Okay, so maybe I could have. But not legally.” When he simply continued to look at her, she sighed and went on. “Anyway, there were two automatic payments on the account. One to the insurance policy and a second one for a safety-deposit box in the same bank.”
“The policy papers you mentioned already. Was the program work in there too?”
She shook her head. “But along with the paperwork, there was a diskette. It contained his preliminary notes, the ones for which he’d been paid. I’m assuming he expected to continue putting up-to-date work in there for safekeeping, only he never got any further. Regardless, that ties the insurance policy and the program together.”
“There wasn’t anything else? Personal notes to you?”
Cali glanced down for a second, then met his even gaze. “There was one other thing. A copy of the picture I sent to you.”
“No note on the back?”
She shook her head.
He was silent for a few seconds. She watched him scratch out a few more notes. “How did the feds get involved?” he asked without looking up.
So he was going to ignore the photo. For now, anyway.
“My initial reaction, once I got past the shock of it all, was the same as yours. What good was ten-year-old technology?”
He looked at her. “You tracked down his Circle contact?”
She frowned. “I tried. I stupidly assumed after all this time it was a moot point. But I had information about a program they had contracted and paid for. Given the top security clearance involved, they had the right to know about the existence of more material on the assignment. Technically it was their property.”
“Who did you talk to?”
“Well, as you probably know, there is no Blue Circle any longer. It was phased out a few years ago. But since Nathan’s commander was retired from the CIA, I figured I could track him down. He had no idea who Nathan’s contact might have been. But he gave me the name of a Blue Circle muck-a-muck who was still active in the CIA.”
“Is that who took the call, then?”
“Initially, yes. Then I was rerouted to another office. I spoke with a man named Gerald Grimshaw. Deputy director of research technology.”
“Never heard of that department.”
“Me neither. But I wasn’t put off by that. I mean, I don’t think there is any one person, including the director himself, who knows all the offices and personnel that run that monster.”
“Did Grimshaw show any undue interest in your news?”
“Actually, no. Not at first anyway. He asked what the program was for. I told him it was classified and that, accordingly, I hadn’t looked at it.”
“Had you?”
“No, McShane,” she said evenly. “I hadn’t. I was just going by the written note on the envelope the diskette was in.”
“Continue.”
She swallowed her irritation at his abrupt manner. He’d come halfway around the world to help her. She could hardly quibble over his rude, less-than-sensitive methods.
“He grilled me on who I was, my background, and so forth,” she continued. “I explained everything and told him that I was just trying to get the program to its rightful owner.”
“Do you still have the disk?”
“I mailed all of it to Grimshaw.”
“A copy?”
She shook her head.
“Cali—”
“Don’t lecture me, McShane. I know it was stupid. But I really thought it was more a matter of policy. I didn’t think Grimshaw would do more than look at the files and toss it as useless.”
“Did you look at the file names at least?”
“Encrypted.”
John simply smiled at her.
“Okay, so I looked that far. But I didn’t decode it.”
His smile vanished. “If you gave them his notes, then why did they come after you?”
“They didn’t believe I gave them all I had. They want the whole thing. I was questioned politely but at length by Grimshaw and another agent. They showed up less than forty-eight hours after they received the disk.”
“Tipped their hand a bit, I’d say.”
Cali nodded. “They were a bit intense. They’d checked me out. I came up clean. I wasn’t sure whether they were relieved or disappointed about that. My work history interested them a great deal. Nothing I said convinced them I hadn’t decrypted the information.”
“Couldn’t they?”
She smiled then. “Apparently not. I did offer to help them out.” Her smile widened. “For a price.”
John smiled in return. Cali felt her pulse speed up even as she was perversely irritated. Sharing even a small moment of connection with McShane was disconcerting. She almost liked him better when he was being dictatorial.
“They didn’t take you up on it.”
“No. They took everything I had instead.”
John fell silent, his attention shifted back to the notepad in front of him. He scribbled some more, then studied what he’d compiled. Cali remained silent, doubting he’d answer any questions she asked at this point. He tapped his pen against the paper. “You have no idea what he was working on? Not even a hint?”
“None. The file names didn’t reveal anything either.”
“But Grimshaw seems to think there was more work done on this somewhere.” He looked at her. “Question is, does he just want the material? Or does he want to make sure nothing further was developed?”
“I’m not sure. Probably both.”
“Is there anywhere else Nathan could have stashed more information?”
“That’s what I came here to find out.”
It only took a split second for him to follow. “The photo.”
“Why else would he put it in there? It was the only thing other than the notes and the diskette in the box. I don’t know. Maybe there was something on the diskette for me. Maybe I should have broken it.”
John shook his head. “I don’t think so. He didn’t have time. Maybe he intended to leave something more substantial in there for you later on. But he also knew that the disk could be decrypted. A note to you on there would have been decrypted right along with it. But the photo—�
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“Meant something only to me.”
“Exactly.”
“I know it’s not much to go on. I didn’t know what else to try. At first I thought they’d leave me alone once they were convinced I didn’t have anything else. They didn’t want my help, so I thought they’d taken it in-house to resolve. Instead they just took my house.”
John tossed his pen down. “So all you have now is the photo? You want me to protect you from people who are trying to kill you for something you don’t even have?”
“McShane, if they believed me, trust me, I wouldn’t be here right now. But they don’t. I’ve told them everything, they’ve taken the rest.”
“They came after you after they cleaned you out?”
“Yes. I was followed. Two men tried to take me in the parking garage of my condo building. I managed to get loose and run. They shot at me.”
“Why not call the police?”
“No, I wasn’t hit. Thanks for asking.” His lack of concern shouldn’t have rankled, but it did. She crossed her arms. “They were less than helpful with my condo problem. I guess I didn’t want to give them another chance to ridicule me about paranoia plots and mental instability.”
“They are investigating, though.”
“Yes, but I could be dead by the time they find a trail.”
“So you hopped a plane to Martinique.”
“What other choice did I have? I figured my only hope was to come here and try to find out something about what Nathan was working on.”
“To turn over to Grimshaw?”
“Not hardly.” Tiring of hashing out the whole ordeal, knowing it was far from over, she leaned back in her chair and took a moment to pull herself together. “I don’t know what to do, John. Frankly, I don’t know who the good guys are anymore. They don’t wear those convenient little white hats.”
McShane leaned forward. His eyes darkened with what she could almost mistake for concern. Obviously she was more fatigued than she thought. His next words proved it.
“Here’s my solution. Nathan’s dead. The project, whatever it is, died with him. For all you know, the reason for not wanting it to go public or get in the wrong hands is political and nothing more. So make a deal. Tell them why you came to Martinique. Let them follow up on it. Tell them to leave you out of it from that point on, or you’ll take the same story to the media. Then get out.”
She pushed out of her chair, leaning right into his face. “Excuse me, but you can’t really believe it’s that simple. They’ve tried to shoot me! And what if you’re wrong, McShane? Huh? What if I’m right and Nathan died for this? I don’t know what the program does, or why they are willing to kill for it. But they were ten years ago, and they sure as hell are now. I’m not handing anything over to anyone until I know just what it is I’m giving to them.”
“Cali, you don’t have anything to hand—”
“Yet, McShane. Yet. I have a lead—”
“Are you sure the people shooting at you were connected to this?”
“What?” She’d kept a lid on her temper for so long during the past weeks that it was packed inside her like a live grenade. John had just pulled the pin. “I’m sure I might have disappointed a client or two in my life, but none of them have taken a shot at me over it.”
“In this business it pays not to overlook any possibility. No jilted lovers?”
She circled the table. He shoved his chair back. She pushed a finger into his chest as he rose. “No. No jilted lovers. It’s connected. And I will not be responsible for reintroducing a potentially dangerous piece of technology to the world. If I’m right and Nathan did die over this, then I have his death to avenge and clear up too.” Her chest was heaving at this point. She tried to take a breath. “If you don’t want to help, fine, don’t. It’s not your battle. If you know of someone who will, I’d appreciate a name. But this time I’m doing it my way, McShane. And I’m not stopping until I’m satisfied that it’s over once and for all.”
John grabbed her arm as she swung away and pulled her back to face him. “Fine. Then let me take over. I’ll find you a safe place until we get it all figured out.”
He watched as her mouth opened, then shut again as his offer sank in. What in the hell had she thought he was going to do? Abandon her?
He swore silently. He had abandoned her once before.
She hadn’t needed him then, he countered. He looked into eyes filled with pain and righteous anger. She needed him now.
He loosened his grip. “Let me help you, Cali.”
She tugged her arm gently from his grasp but didn’t step away. He could smell the scent of shampoo in her hair, could feel the heat of her skin.
“I won’t be tucked away. I didn’t call you in to take on the risk—”
“You do battle with microchips. I step in front of bullets for a living.”
“I’m not asking you to be a human shield, McShane.”
Her lack of gratitude shouldn’t have stung.
“I was hoping you could use whatever contacts you still have to track this backward, try to find out who Grimshaw answers to, while I try to dig up whatever it was Nathan might have left here.”
“I’m already here. I can put in a few calls and get that going and work on this end too. I still think you’d be better off underground for a while.”
Temper flashed in her eyes. “Well, I’m sorry but I don’t agree. We’re playing this my way. I want your help but I won’t be shoved aside.”
He found himself lifting a piece of hair away from her damp cheek. She pulled back in surprise. He frowned and stepped away. He curled his hands into loose fists to keep from following his instincts. Instincts that all but screamed at him to pull her into his arms, to do whatever it took to keep her safe.
He did the next best thing.
“Does your father know you are bouncing around the world with hit men on your trail?”
“No. And he won’t know anything about this, either.” Her eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Cali, don’t you think he should—”
“I think Ambassador Stanfield should be left alone to do his job. His daughter is a grown woman who can run her own life.”
“That life is in jeopardy. Don’t you think he has a right to know that?”
“You don’t play fair, McShane.” She blew out a sigh and pushed her hair off her forehead. She paced to the sink, then turned to face him again. “It took me a whole bunch of years to get out from under my father’s rather oppressive protection. The way I met you and Nathan is as good an example as anything. You know firsthand what he’s like when he wants something done.”
John most certainly did. Cali had been snatched from a multinational dinner she’d been hostessing for her father in an increasingly unstable part of the Middle East. In fact, the dinner had been a kind of peace-seeking summit, in hopes of easing some of the tension. John remembered quite well the way Ambassador Stanfield, a former navy admiral, had bulled in and taken charge of the rescue effort. John and Nathan had led the Blue Circle recovery team.
They’d been shorthanded at the time, and John had pulled Nathan in from his usual “truck” position monitoring surveillance information. In the end it had been Nathan who’d gone in and rescued her from the hotel the terrorists had her stashed in, while John had reduced their number by a handful.
They hadn’t even gotten her out of the country before she and Nathan had discovered their mutual obsession with advanced computer technology. Any doubts John held regarding love, the first-sight variety or any other, dissolved over the following months at the ongoing spectacle of the new couple’s obvious feelings for each other.
Unfortunately, John’s understanding was not the result of observation alone. It came from personal experience.
“It’s also a good example that his concerns over your welfare were well-founded,” John interjected.
“One incident in my entire life does not excuse his obsessive need to c
ontrol.” She continued when he would have interrupted. “I know, I know. It was a very bad situation. In that case, he had every right.”
“You’re all he has.” Her mother’s death from breast cancer when Cali was fifteen had been well documented by the media at the time. And John understood overprotective parents better than she knew. His father had been a high-ranking military officer when John had made his surprise entrance into the world late in the man’s life. He understood Cali’s need to be totally independent. For her it had been a means to escape her father’s dominance, and later a way to overcome the helpless feelings spawned by her tragic losses.
“You don’t know him like I do. He has always been as much a controller as a leader. His whole life was geared to suit his own needs. And he wasn’t above using my mother’s death to emotionally manipulate me into being a follower.”
“It says a lot about your ability to be your own leader that you broke away and worked for the government. In high-security matters, no less.”
“It was the hardest thing I’d ever done.” He saw the slight shiver race over her skin. “I was terrified, but I knew I had to take a stand.”
“My experience is that what you gain in personal growth, in strength, from standing up to what you fear most is something you can’t put a price on.”
“You’re right,” she said quietly. “Still,” she went on, “I never made the mistake of thinking I was immune to his tactical emotional weapons. He didn’t win all those war medals for nothing.” Her attention shifted inwardly. “If I hadn’t had Nathan—” She broke off and looked away.
John let her have the moment to collect herself, not at all sure what he would—or should—do anyway.
He hated indecision. His intellect was at war with his emotions—a common problem when dealing with Cali Ellis. He could almost sympathize with her father.
“My father trusted Nathan. It was the perfect compromise. I would marry a man I loved, one who’d already proven he could protect an ambassador’s daughter. I was able to get out again, live like a normal person.” Her voice faltered. “For six whole months.”
“I’m sorry, Cali.” And he was. As much as he’d wanted her, still wanted her, he’d never wished her to be in pain.
Silent Warrior: A Loveswept Classic Romance Page 3