Mysterious

by Fayrene Preston

  Before she could draw another gasp, he plunged into her with such force that her next breaths came only in short hot gasps.

  She was all perfumed softness, he thought hazily. Responsive life and velvet fire. And the night was turning to day before Jerome lifted Jennifer into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

  Chapter Eight

  Leo appeared at Jerome’s door bright and early the next morning, bundled up even more than usual against the cold. "I just wanted to let you know that a cop has been asking around about you."

  "Do you know him?" Jerome asked.

  "He said his name is Brewster, but I don’t think he’s from around here."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I have a few friends here and there. I’ve done a little checking. He’s not a regular on the St. Paul force."

  "Can you find out any more about him?"

  "I’ve been trying, but my usual sources are dry on this one."

  "Keep trying, Leo. And thanks."

  #

  Sami was the next to arrive. Jerome opened the door to find her dressed all in black, with a broad-brimmed fedora pulled over her face. She appeared to have thrown herself into the spirit of intrigue with typical exuberance.

  "I have a message," she intoned dramatically.

  "Okay, but why are you dressed like that?" he asked, having trouble keeping a straight face.

  "I wanted to be inconspicuous," she hissed, throwing quick glances up and down the hallway.

  "Honey, on your worst day, and if your life depended on it, you couldn’t be inconspicuous. Come on in." Laughing, he pulled her in and shut the door. "Where’s Eugene?"

  "Oh, he’s around." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "You know, guarding me."

  Jerome laughed. "No way will you ever be inconspicuous."

  "I wish you’d take this seriously, Jerome. Your life could be in danger."

  "Unfortunately you’re right. We’ve got just a short time to figure this out. Whoever is after Jennifer and the information they imagine she has isn’t going to wait much longer."

  "Where is she, by the way?"

  "Still sleeping." Even now he could recall the way she looked as he had left the bedroom, sleeping deeply, their glorious love-making of the night before having exhausted her totally.

  Sami swept the hat off and shook her head, allowing her golden curls to free-fall down around the shoulders of her black suit. She plunked down in the closest chair, crossed her legs elegantly, and got straight to the heart of the matter. "I like her."

  "So do I," he returned, knowing there were also many other words he could use to describe how he felt about Jennifer. But all the words seemed to tangle into disordered confusion in his mind when he tried to think about them. All he knew for sure was that his life before Jennifer was now only a dim memory, and that a future without her was something he refused to even think about.

  "You love her," Sami said flatly, naming the one word he had refused to use regarding his relationship with Jennifer. "The question is, when are you going to admit it?"

  Dropping onto the sofa across from her, Jerome pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "What are you talking about?"

  "You’ve achieved a lot in life. You have a great deal. But if you think about it, even you have admitted that there’s still something missing. You’re going to have to make up your mind, Jerome. You’re going to have to take a chance."

  "What in the hell do you think I’m doing?" He was accustomed to these kind of frank talks with Sami. They’d been having them for years. So he wasn’t surprised that she had decided today was the perfect time for another one of their talks.

  "You’re the one still in control."

  "Ha, control!" he scoffed. "If you only knew." His need for Jennifer had been out of control almost from the first instant of their meeting. She had changed his whole world. Her beauty, her laughter, her little gestures – her everything constantly haunted him when he wasn’t with her. And when he was with her, those same traits drove him to try to understand her, protect her, and, yes, possess her.

  "Listen to me, Jerome. Your life is in neat little boxes. You have your career in one box; you have all of us – your family – in another; and the numerous women who up to now have served as your recreation in another. You’ve managed to shut out the more untidy portions of your life."

  He groaned. "Don’t start on me again, Sami."

  "I only do it because I love you, and I want you to be happy."

  He threw up his hands. "I’m perfectly happy. What are you talking about? Never mind, forget I asked."

  "I’m talking about the fact that you’ve refused to open yourself to any serious relationship, because deep in your heart you’ve never gotten over the fact that your mother left you as a child."

  "Sami," he said wearily, "it’s still pretty early in the morning, so if you don’t mind, just save your two-bit psychoanalysis routine for another time. And preferably another person."

  "Jerome, it would be a great mistake to shut Jennifer out because of that. She’s not going to leave you."

  He was silent for a moment. "How can you be so sure?"

  "For heaven’s sake, take a chance."

  "I don’t know if I can," he murmured, not even realizing he had just affirmed everything Sami had been trying to say to him.

  "You can." She plopped the hat back on her head and began stuffing the golden curls up under it. "Just think about it. I’ve got to go."

  He frowned. "Where are you going?"

  "To say hello to Leo. Then Eugene and I are going to take the babies to the park."

  She was nearly out the door before Jerome remembered. "What was the message?"

  "Oh. snerts! I nearly forgot why I came over. I was to tell you that Edward will meet you at midnight tonight in the usual place."

  "Sami," he drawled with amusement. "What’s usual for you and Edward is unusual for me. Just where am I supposed to meet him?"

  "In the park over by the fountain."

  #

  It was cold. Nothing moved in the park. Jerome pulled his heavy winter overcoat closer around him and stamped his feet in an effort to keep warm. A blanket of newly fallen snow brightened the ground, covering it with an innocent freshness. Illumed only by scattered lights showing dimly through the night’s darkness, the snow appeared so white that it seemed to hold a tint of blue in places. And it twinkled as the light hit it, like the Milky Way fallen to earth.

  A fanciful notion, he told himself scornfully. He had been around Sami too long. But then, Sami had had a powerful influence on his life. She had done her best to teach him to open up to people, and she was still trying.

  And now at midnight, standing in the middle of this cold, dark, lonely park, with his memory full of the extraordinary way Jennifer had responded to his lovemaking just a short hour ago, it was time to be honest with himself. In spite of his best intentions, he had already opened himself completely to Jennifer. It was too late for him. All of his sensitive places had been exposed to her.

  He had told her about his mother, until now something he had revealed only to Sami and Morgan. He had taken her to Sami’s and introduced her to the people he loved most in the world. Yes, it was too late.

  He loved her.

  He supposed the reason he hadn’t told her was that by remaining silent he felt a measure of safety. But realistically he had to ask: By not telling her, was he saving himself ... or was he destroying himself?

  He glanced around the park. He didn’t mind the wait. He was counting heavily on this meeting. He knew that if anybody could find out anything, it was Edward Thorsson.

  Sometimes friendships formed and remained strong, spanning time and crises, no matter how strange or improbable. Such was the case of Edward Thorsson. Through Sami, Jerome had met Thorsson years ago.

  When Jerome had first met him, he was reputed to be one of the nation’s leading crime figures. But nobody had ever been able to prove anything, an
d shortly after Sami’s marriage to Daniel, Thorsson had quietly retired in order to be able to spend more time with his daughter and then later his grandchildren.

  At least that was what Jerome had heard.

  Perhaps because he knew that any association with him would cause his young friends trouble, Edward had always stayed away from Jerome and Sami. But if they needed him, he was always there. Edward had a formidable network of information, and Jerome had been on more than one occasion grateful to the man. Among other things, it was he, in the early days, who had been primarily responsible for looking after Sami.

  Edward’s figure loomed up out of the darkness, along with that of two bodyguards. Well trained, they stayed a discreet distance away, turning their backs and facing outward toward any possible unseen danger.

  "Jerome." His gruff voice broke through the stillness.

  He inclined his head. "Mr. Thorsson."

  Edward Thorsson was a man to whom one automatically showed respect. Close to seventy now, he was still very fit and very much a person to be reckoned with.

  "I hear you have a problem."

  "You might say that."

  "Sami filled me in."

  "Have you been able to find out anything?"

  "Some."

  "What about the body of Richard Prescott?"

  "There’s no body, Jerome."

  He struck his fist against his palm. "There must be!"

  "I’ll keep looking."

  "What about dragging the river?"

  "If I thought it would help you, I’d say okay. But as it is, I advise against it. It’s better to let sleeping fish continue to sleep. You know what I mean?"

  Jerome nodded. If he didn’t know exactly what Thorsson meant, he could pick up the essence.

  "This I do know. The people who are involved aren’t part of us. They’re outsiders."

  "You mean out-of-towners?"

  Thorsson shook his head. "Let’s just say my trail went cold after my usual informants in the FBI and the CIA weren’t able to provide any information. But I kept digging until I heard another name: The National Defense Organization."

  A new kind of cold seeped into Jerome’s bones. One that gripped him until he couldn’t move. Jennifer had said the same name. Both her husband and her brother had been agents for this organization. And they had both been killed. She had also worked for the organization, but when she had tried to contact her "safe" number, something about the contact had scared her so badly she had hung up. And now, it seemed, there were people after her, maybe trying to kill her.

  "Get out, Jerome, and stay out," Thorsson said. "These people are not to be messed with."

  Jerome believed him with absolute conviction. But he also knew with the same absolute conviction that he couldn’t get out. Not as long as Jennifer remained in danger.

  #

  Jerome switched on the bedside lamp and a small pool of light fell over Jennifer. Lying on her side, with her arm stretched out beside her, she was sleeping with the peace of a newborn babe. The black satin of her nightgown stretched under her arms, barely containing her breasts. Skimming down to her waist, the material made its soft rise over her hips and then followed the long line of her legs down to her ankles.

  She was exquisitely sensual and infinitely beautiful. She was all any man could ever want. She was in his blood, and he was in this thing to the end, whatever it might bring.

  She rolled over on her back and softly murmured his name in her sleep. He looked at her for a minute more, then undressed, climbed into bed beside her, and pulled her into his arms.

  #

  "Damn!" Jerome exclaimed. "It’s no wonder they’re so hot for this information." He had just come back from his friend’s laboratory after verifying what he had suspected. There had indeed been a microdot located on one of the negatives.

  Too agitated to sit, Jennifer roamed around the room. "You said that it was a system specification from MallTech. What exactly does that mean?"

  "I’m not qualified to read the schematics, but according to the information given on the first page, I would say that it’s some sort of advanced weapon system."

  "Are you sure?"

  "I’m afraid so. And every page was labeled TOP SECRET."

  Jennifer felt herself growing sick to her stomach. She had guessed it was something big, but this ...

  "But we have only part of it." Jerome was saying. "Half of the information seems to be missing. The pages are numbered. They read one of fifty, two of fifty, so on. It stops at twenty-five of fifty." He paused, looking at her. "There’s obviously another microdot that contains the other twenty-five pages. What do you think Richard did with it?"

  She halted her roaming steps and took hold of the back of a chair for support. "My best guess is that he sold it."

  "In Switzerland, to Gardner Benjamin?"

  "Probably."

  "Why do you think he sold only half of the document?"

  "I’m not sure. I know he didn’t trust the people he was dealing with."

  "So he could have been holding out for . . . what? More money? A lead to something or someone bigger?"

  "Richard always operated on the know-your-enemy concept. Maybe he felt that Gardner Benjamin was only an agent for someone higher."

  Jerome jumped up from the couch. "So it’s conceivable that he was holding out for the top man." He hit his fist into the palm of his hand. "That must have been it. The question is, where do we go from here?"

  Jennifer didn’t answer him. The name Wainright kept coming back to her. Nothing added up about him. He was Richard’s superior, but he had made no attempt to bring her in from the cold. Instead, he had sent two goons to . . . to what? She shuddered, recalling the time she had been on the run from them. Since the two phone calls, she hadn’t heard from Wainright, unless she wanted to count the ransacking of Jerome’s apartment. And she decided she did.

  She glanced at Jerome. He had his back to her as he poured himself a drink. He had been so good through all of this, she thought. She loved him so much.

  But she now knew just exactly how much was at stake, and she wouldn’t let Jerome risk his life anymore because of her. She remembered the earnest look in his eyes when he had told her that as long as she continued to tell him the truth, he could handle anything that came up. He would be hurt and angry when he found out she had made plans without him, but better that she be injured or killed than he on her account.

  She made her decision. Until now she had been on the defensive. It was time she went on the offensive and made something happen. First chance she got, she was going to contact Wainright to arrange a meeting. She owed it to Jerome and she owed it to Richard.

  #

  It was the next afternoon when Leo gave Jerome a critical piece of information. "Jennifer Prescott ordered a cab to pick her up at twelve forty-five tonight and take her down to the warehouse district."

  "Are you sure?"

  "I’m sure. My friend Phil drives for that company. He’s the one who told me."

  Jerome let his gaze drift across the street to the top floor of his apartment building, where Jennifer waited for him and felt a stab of pain. What was she up to? And why hadn’t she told him? He had thought the time of secrets between them was past. His jaw clenched as he turned back to Leo. "What else?"

  "The dispatcher said she was very specific. Whoever was sent should wait around the corner from your building, out of sight."

  "Damn!" He couldn’t trust her after all.

  "Look, Jerome, I’m sorry. But I thought you should know."

  "You did the right thing to call me, Leo. I appreciate it." He thought for a minute. "Do you think it would be possible for that cabdriver you know to be the one who picks her up tonight?"

  "Phil’s already volunteered."

  "Good." He glanced down at the address Leo had written on a piece of paper. "Tell him there’ll be a bonus in it for him if he can take the long way down to the river. I need enough time to get there first."r />
  An element that could almost be described as anxiety entered Leo’s voice. "Do you think you should? You don’t know who she’s meeting. It could be dangerous."

  The corners of Jerome’s mouth rose, but the movement couldn’t in any way be described as a smile. "It doesn’t matter, Leo. I love her. I’ve got to be there."

  #

  Jennifer lay in Jerome’s arms, her legs and arms entwined with his. Their lovemaking had been more intense and passionate than usual. There had almost been an edge of desperation to it, as if there were a storm in both of them. Now they were spent. Never before had Jennifer felt so satisfied. She wanted nothing more than to stay close to Jerome, surrounded by his warmth and strength.

  But that was impossible, because soon she was going to have to pretend to drift off to sleep, so that he would also go to sleep. She didn’t think he’d have any trouble. If she weren’t so nervous and anxious about the next few hours and what faced her, she herself would have already been asleep.

  Jennifer stared into the darkness. She knew it was wrong of her to deceive Jerome this way, but she also knew that loving him as she did, she would do a lot worse to keep him safe. She just hoped he would forgive her when he found out what she had done. Turning her head along his shoulder so that she could see his face, she made a silent promise to him that if she came out of this alive, she would never again keep anything from him.

  "Jerome?"

  "Hmmm?"

  He sounded nearly asleep, she decided thankfully. "I love you." She lifted her head so that she could kiss his mouth softly. "And no matter what happens," she whispered, "I want you to remember that always."

  Momentarily she felt his arms tighten around her, then he released her and rolled over on his side. And Jennifer, all alone now, with tears brimming behind her closed eyes, lay very still and pretended to fall asleep.