Mind Game

by Iris Johansen

  “And you’re terribly concerned about our Jane,” Joe said. “You hate the idea that she’s so far away and you can’t swoop to the rescue if she gets in trouble.”

  “And you don’t?” Eve glanced up at him. “Bullshit.”

  “Watch your language in front of my son.”

  Eve glanced at Michael, who was still building some kind of colorful, complicated structure with his blocks across the room. “Yes, everything changes because of Michael, doesn’t it? I’ve been feeling that more and more lately.”

  “I’ve noticed. Very contemplative.”

  “And grateful. In the end, this isn’t only about Lisa; it’s about Caleb, too. He saved Michael. We owe him, Joe.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that?” he said thickly. “He saved you, too, that night when he blocked that poison from your bloodstream. You never mention that unimportant fact, but it’s not unimportant to me. It’s my whole life.” He paused. “Yeah, I owe Caleb. Suppose I take a trip across the big pond and see what I can do about locating Lisa and giving her to Caleb as a gift.” He grinned. “Lord, that would annoy him if I got there ahead of him.”

  She chuckled. “He might surprise you in this case. He might even be grateful.”

  “Now that would surprise me.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I don’t know how I’d respond.”

  “By rubbing his nose in it.” She shook her head. “And I don’t think that I can allow you to be so ungracious. I think we’ll have to handle it differently.”

  His brows rose. “What are you talking about?”

  She gazed thoughtfully at Michael across the room. “Just something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while…”

  Good idea, Michael?

  Michael lifted his eyes from his blocks and smiled at her.

  SAN LEANDRO

  He’d broken her thumb.

  Santara looked down at the girl crumpled on the floor. Lisa was panting, her dark eyes blazing up at him, as she cradled her hand. “I should have broken your neck instead,” he said. “I might still do it. Make that call.”

  “No.” Lisa’s voice was shaking. “It only hurt for a minute. Do you think I’ll do anything you tell me to do? Do whatever you want, but I’m counting it all up. I’m remembering, Santara.”

  For an instant, the passion in her voice caused a ripple of uneasiness to go through him. Then he dismissed it and chuckled. “Is that supposed to scare me? You’re just a weak little girl who’s going to break anytime now.”

  “And what does that make you? Do you only dare beat up on weak little girls?”

  Santara could feel the rage sear through him. “I think I’ll do the other thumb next.”

  “Whatever. But I don’t think they want me too damaged, do they? They’re afraid of what my brother will do. Why don’t you ask them?” She licked the blood from her lip. “You should be afraid, too.”

  “Then call him and bring him here.”

  She didn’t answer. She just stared at him with eyes that glittered with hatred in her white face.

  Bitch. He wanted to put an end to her right now. Usually he enjoyed the torment, the fear, the weakening, but he wasn’t getting any of that from this girl.

  And he’d better make that call the little bitch had taunted him about. He pulled out his phone and dialed Teresa Romano. “How long is this supposed to go on? You tie my hands and still expect me to get results?”

  “I take it from that explosion that you’ve done something stupid and are about to make excuses. What is it, Santara?”

  “The girl won’t make the call.” He added, “Okay, I broke her thumb. But just beating her up wasn’t doing any good. We have to move on with it.”

  “I can see how you’d be frustrated, but you’ll have to rein it in. Gino and I value your opinion, but we have a plan and I won’t permit you to ruin it. I told him that you liked that part of the job a little too much.” She said slowly and clearly, “No permanent damage. Breaking a bone was a little too close to that. We want Caleb to see a token example of what can be expected if he doesn’t do what we wish. We don’t want him to become angry enough to unleash that ugly temper. It might be counterproductive.”

  “I can handle this Caleb. I don’t know why you’re worrying about his temper. He’s only one man. I can crush him like a cockroach.”

  “I realize that you don’t know why we’re concerned about Caleb. You don’t have to know. I only pay you to obey orders,” she said coldly. “Let’s just say that Caleb possesses a certain talent that’s going to make Gino and me a fortune if we can manage to turn it loose on Haroun. A very valuable talent that’s absolutely foolproof.” She added impatiently, “But Caleb can be very difficult and he has to be handled correctly. Lisa is the best way to do that. He has a fondness for his sister that we can manipulate to permit me to guide him in the way I need him to go.” Her voice hardened. “Now, if you can’t find a way to get what I need, in the way that I need it, I’ll cut you loose and hire someone who can. Do you understand?”

  Santara could almost see her, every shining strand of blond hair in place in that chignon, blue eyes stone-cold, no expression on that mature, beautiful face. Gino Romano might control the finances, but Teresa controlled Gino and everything else around her. But not me, Santara thought. I wouldn’t let her control me. This young girl lying on the floor in front of him wasn’t the only female Santara was tempted to butcher whenever he talked to this frigid bitch. “I understand. But I’ll expect a list of acceptable methods you will approve. Evidently you had no better luck than I did with her in the past.”

  “It didn’t enter into our relationship. If it had, luck would have had nothing to do with it.” She hung up.

  Santara’s hand tightened on his phone, trying to get control. He wanted to kill the bitch.

  “I told you that they wouldn’t like it.” Lisa was looking up at him, still cradling her hand. “You don’t understand anything, do you? I can tell from listening to your side of the conversations that you’re just a tool.”

  “Am I? Well, this tool can cut deep.” He kicked her viciously in the ribs. “She doesn’t want permanent, but she doesn’t mind pain.”

  Lisa gasped in agony and couldn’t speak for a moment. “‘She,’” she repeated finally. “You were talking to Teresa Romano, weren’t you? I thought it might be them.” She lifted a shaking hand to her head. “You never tried to hide the fact that you were taking orders from someone else. You even talked to them in front of me.”

  “I didn’t mention names.”

  “No, you didn’t. But Teresa and Gino left for Rome right before you scooped me up. Someone in that house drugged me. And you had to have had access to the house in some way to get me out of there.” She added unsteadily, “And not many people know that Seth might come after me if he thought I was in trouble. I haven’t seen him for a long time, but Teresa and Gino knew what he’d done when my sister was killed.” She shuddered as another wave of pain struck her, and she tried to get her breath. “But I don’t know why they’d do this. Why they’d let you do it. They didn’t care anything for me or Maria, but I didn’t think they hated us. It annoyed Teresa when I didn’t do what she wanted me to do, but she just ignored me and saw that I was away at school all year. I wasn’t worth her effort unless I got in her way. And Gino was always just a shadow figure. I hardly saw him at all.” She shook her head. “But that’s all changed, hasn’t it? Now Seth is worth her effort … so I guess I am, too. But why now? When they’ve ignored him all these years?”

  “Profit. The name of the game. She tells me it’s a big score.”

  She was silent, her gaze searching his face. “I notice you’re not denying that it’s Teresa and Gino. You wanted me to know it was them, didn’t you?” She moistened her lips. “Because you don’t want them to argue about your killing me later. Otherwise, I’d be a witness against them.”

  “Very smart. Too bad you can’t keep your mouth shut. I decided after the second day wi
th you that you weren’t going to last any longer than I had to put up with you.”

  “Second day? I thought it was after the first day. I could see it whenever you looked at me.”

  “I might change my mind if you make the call to Caleb.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. It won’t happen.” She closed her eyes. “Now either keep on hurting me or go away and let me sleep. I don’t want to look at you any longer. It makes me want to break my promise, and I’m trying to hold on for a little longer.…”

  * * *

  “He broke Lisa’s thumb.” Teresa grimaced as she turned back to Gino. “He wanted me to say that he had carte blanche to do what he wanted with her. We may have to replace him. He doesn’t understand that Lisa has to be handled with great skill. She can be almost as stubborn as her brother. I never dreamed she’d be this protective of Caleb after being separated from him for this long.” She smiled as she poured tea into her cup. “He actually asked for a list of approved methods. Isn’t that amusing?”

  “I don’t find it amusing.” Gino scowled. “I heard what Caleb did to some of those cult members who killed Maria. I’m not certain we should be using Lisa.”

  “Of course we should. We had no choice.” She lifted her cup to her lips. “She was the perfect solution. Everyone knows that he doesn’t give a damn about anyone or anything. Except perhaps Lisa. If Caleb was to be used, we had to have a key.”

  “Then we shouldn’t try to use Caleb.” Gino was hyper, too edgy, and she could tell he’d started using the coke earlier than usual today. “You should have listened to me. I told you that from the beginning.”

  Teresa tried to hide her contempt with a smile. “And I told you from the time that his dear parents told me what a monster Caleb was that I could find a way to make that monster an asset to us. I’ve put in a good deal of effort to make that possible. I know Seth Caleb. True, there are certain risks, but I can use him.” She took another sip of her tea. “And if you hadn’t been so careless as to almost bankrupt us, I might never have seen fit to put that plan into action. Just two more years and we would have been able to find a way to tap into Lisa’s trust fund and none of this would have been necessary. But now I’ve tossed all my eggs into the golden basket and I have to see that I get everything that you’ve lost back in triplicate.”

  He glowered at her. “It wasn’t my fault.”

  “Of course not.” She added maliciously, “Did I say that? Oh, I did, didn’t I? Forgive me. I know how sensitive you are. Now, why don’t you get on the phone and check and see how Haroun is doing? It may affect how much more time I give Santara before I take over persuading Lisa myself.”

  * * *

  “I’m leaving,” Caleb said as he strode toward Jane that afternoon. “I’m heading for Rome to check out what’s been happening with the Romanos. They have to have something to do with this. It’s all too pat. I’ll call later to find out if Lisa’s managed any other contact with you.”

  Jane hesitated. “Maybe I should go with you.”

  “You’re not invited.” He stared her in the eye. “Not until I get that invitation you’ve been denying me to pay a visit with you to link with Lisa. You’ve forced me to go out on my own to try to find her. You can’t have it all your own way.”

  “I’m trying to have it her way,” she said curtly. “You were on the phone most of the afternoon. Did you get any leads on Leon Santara?”

  “Not yet. But it might be an alias. I’m looking into it.”

  “Will you let me know if you do hear anything about him while you’re gone?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Don’t you do this to me, Caleb. I know you’re angry, but I have to know about Santara. He’s hurting Lisa.” Her hands closed into fists at her sides. “I think he’s doing more to her than she’s telling me. I have to know if he’s crazy or vicious enough to kill her. I may not have your influence with her, but maybe I can talk her into toning down the rhetoric.”

  “But you won’t let me step in and do it.” He didn’t speak for a moment. “I’d like to refuse, but I can’t do it. I’ll let you know what I find out about Santara. But I’m not going to forgive you if you make a mistake that causes me to lose her.”

  “I wouldn’t forgive myself,” she said quietly. “Don’t you think that’s a possibility that’s haunting me? But I can feel how willful she is. I think she must be like you before you managed to become a little civilized. She could explode at any moment. I’m just trying to strike a balance between the two of you that will give her a chance.”

  “Then change your mind, dammit. Let me do what I do best.” He turned on his heel and strode up toward the road where his car was parked.

  She watched him leave. He was difficult as hell, but she couldn’t blame him for being angry. Lisa meant something to him that perhaps no one else on Earth did. Jane realized she was probably lucky he’d been as restrained as he had been with her. But that didn’t mean it made the situation any easier.

  “He’s gone again?” Jock Gavin was strolling up the bank toward her. “I guess we were lucky to have Caleb as long as we did. He did a good job while he was here. He said he was off to Rome?”

  “That’s what he told me.” She smiled at him. “Are you two done for the day?”

  “Just breaking for lunch.” His gaze was still on Caleb. “He’s tense. Very tense. You wouldn’t care to tell me what’s between the two of you at the moment? Besides the obvious, I mean.”

  She went still. “Obvious?”

  He shrugged. “You want me to be blind, I’m blind. It’s between the two of you. But there’s something else stirring.…” His narrowed gaze shifted back to her face. “Isn’t there?”

  He was too good a friend to lie to. “Yes.”

  “And it’s bad?”

  “Very bad.”

  “May I help?”

  “No.” She reached out, her hand closing affectionately on his forearm. “No one can help right now until we get a handle on this. I might ask for help later. So keep on helping MacDuff with his darned lights and I’ll yell if I need you.”

  He grinned. “By that time, I’ll probably be ready for a long break. You may like communing with the spirits of the mists, but it gets a bit boring for me. If it wasn’t MacDuff’s passion, I’d be off to something a little more entertaining.”

  “Do you need my help this afternoon, now that you’ve lost Caleb?”

  He shook his head. “Caleb was here long enough to get us to the point where we start installing the transformers. That’s going to be a long and tedious job. And since those Australian components are so damn complicated, it’s better if we take our time with them.” He waved at MacDuff, who was coming out of the mist. “And you don’t have to worry about MacDuff grilling you about Caleb. He’s so absorbed right now in the hunt for Cira’s treasure, that’s all he’s seeing. He got what he needed from Caleb and that’s all that was important to him.” He turned and moved toward the campfire. “We don’t actually need you right now, either, Jane.” He glanced back over his shoulder and grinned. “I’ll let you know when MacDuff feels like you should be around to invoke Cira to bless his treasure hunt.”

  It was like Jock to analyze the situation, accept it, and then try to smooth out all the bumps along the way. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

  “Just giving you an opening. I know you’ll be here for MacDuff when the time comes.”

  “I wouldn’t think of doing anything else.” It was nice of Jock to set up a scenario where she was free to leave the camp, but he didn’t realize that she had nowhere to go now that Caleb had refused to let her go with him to Rome.

  Nowhere to go? She was suddenly filled with self-disgust. Let her go? Caleb couldn’t stop her from doing anything she wanted to do. Yes, he might be able to get more information on his own, but that didn’t mean he controlled what she did. And who the hell knew if Rome was the right place to track down the Romanos or Santara or anyone else? She had her own resour
ces in the sketchbook and the conversations she’d had with Lisa. Now was obviously the time to analyze and try to come up with something of value.

  “I’ll keep that in mind, Jock.” She turned and strode toward her tent. “In the meantime, I have to do a little research and a lot of thinking. Have a good afternoon. I’ll see both of you at supper.”

  CHAPTER

  6

  For the next few hours she studied every one of the sketches down to the last detail. Since she was seeing what Lisa was seeing, everything about the natural surroundings and the rooms in the house should be totally accurate.

  She hoped.

  Don’t hope. Assume that Lisa is being allowed to reach you for a reason. Eve had said Jane was chosen. Okay, then there had to be something here she could use.

  If the mountains were the Alps, where were they located?

  Question mark.

  The island?

  Not a large island, but it seemed to have a long, curving road up the side that Lisa was facing. The lower side to the east jutted out in a flat, triangular fashion. Lots of trees.

  The cliff was steep, but not completely impassable if Lisa had made it down to the rocks and beach. Definitely sea. Not a river.

  What sea?

  Lisa had been kidnapped at her guardian’s estate in northern Italy. She’d been taken on a helicopter to her destination. She hadn’t mentioned any stops to refuel.

  What direction?

  The sea …

  Try south.

  She pulled up the map on her computer.

  “Okay, Lisa,” she murmured. “If I’ve been chosen, tell me where the hell I’m going.…”

  A few hours after Lisa regained consciousness, she’d reached her destination. But who knew if she’d been unconscious for hours before that time. She might have had time to reach Morocco, on the African coast.

  Then again, the helicopter would probably not have been chosen for a long-distance journey. Wouldn’t Santara have switched to another plane?

  Okay, time to go back to the sketches and conversations. She was becoming blurry from looking at maps and computer screens.