by Carla Cassidy, Evelyn Vaughn, Harper Allen, Ruth Wind, Cindy Dees
The cell she was led to wasn’t as bad as she’d anticipated. Although small, containing only two bunks and a stool and sink, everything appeared to be clean. The clang of the cell door resounded in her head, and when the officer disappeared she was utterly alone.
The only sound was the slow, steady drip of the sink faucet and the screaming inside her own head. She could deal with being locked up for a couple of hours, she had even dealt with the indignity of being fingerprinted and having mug shots taken, but what she was finding impossible to resolve were her feelings about Nick.
Why had he done what he’d done? What had he gained by pretending to like her, pretending to desire her? Why had he been working for her Uncle Jonas? It wasn’t as if he’d just been hired recently. He’d worked for Jonas for the past two years. None of it made any sense.
She climbed onto the upper bunk, leaned her back against the wall and pulled her legs up to her chest. She’d never known heartache before now.
She felt stupid and naive. Whenever she’d been with Nick she’d listened with her heart, not her head. She’d forgotten all the things Jonas had warned her about and had allowed herself to be taken advantage of.
Never again. Never again would she trust as easily. Never again would she believe the sweet-talk of any man. She’d actually contemplated sharing with Nick the secrets of her physical gifts. Thank God she hadn’t, for she had no idea what he might have done with that information.
The minutes ticked by with excruciating slowness. Her thoughts flittered in confusion as she waited for her godfather to rescue her.
Her mind played back in great detail each and every moment she’d spent with Nick. Her cheeks burned as she thought of how close she’d come to sleeping with him.
She had no idea when she fell asleep, but she awakened with a start. Across the hallway from her cell, a window showed the first light of dawn.
Dawn? How could it be dawn? Where had the night gone?
She unkinked from her position, her muscles aching from too much time cramped up. She slid to the floor and stretched, the first stir of disquiet sweeping through her.
Why hadn’t she been released? Surely Uncle Jonas had gotten her messages by now. How long could it take to let the people in charge know that she wasn’t a common thief but rather had been working for the government?
She thought of the doubts she’d entertained concerning the work she’d been doing, doubts that now seemed bigger and stronger than ever. She refused to entertain those doubts. She had to believe in Jonas. She had to believe there was a logical reason why she was still behind bars.
She used the facilities, grateful that no guard was leering at her, then washed her face and hands at the sink, then sat on the bottom bunk to wait for what happened next. She didn’t have long to wait.
Within an hour an officer came to get her and led her back into the room where she’d been held the night before. She sat at the table and prepared herself for whatever might come.
She was unsurprised when Nick came into the room. He carried two foam cups of coffee and a file folder. Even though she wanted nothing to do with him, her need for creature comfort won out as she reached for one of the cups of coffee.
“You didn’t want to listen to me last night, but you’re going to listen to me now,” he said as he sat at the table. “I’ve been undercover for the past two years, working for Jonas in an attempt to gain access to information that would put him behind bars for the rest of his life.”
She looked at him in surprise. “For what?”
His ruggedly handsome features were drawn and taut. He looked as if he’d gotten considerably less sleep than she had. “Lynn, your godfather isn’t the man you think he is. We’ve linked him to a worldwide smuggling network. He deals in illegal drugs and weapons. He uses the black market to sell artwork, antiquities and jewels that we now believe you have obtained for him.”
“That’s not true,” she replied in a hoarse whisper, appalled by what he’d said. “The things I retrieved from museums and other places, they weren’t for Jonas. They were for the government. Jonas works for a government agency to help in the recovery of stolen items. I get them, then they are returned to their rightful owners.”
He stared at her for a long moment and in the depth of his dark brown eyes she saw a whisper of pity. “Lynn, there is no government agency. Just like there are no defense contracts. Jonas White is a criminal. He supplies terrorists with weapons, he manipulates people for his amusement and monetary gain. When you took those items and gave them to Jonas, they immediately went up for sale on the black market and he put the money he got into his bank accounts. He used you, Lynn.”
“I don’t believe you.” Her voice was barely audible. She felt as if she’d been sucker punched and all the air in her body had been violently slammed out of her.
“Why should I believe you? You’re the one who used me.”
It was much easier for her to focus on his betrayal than to even contemplate that what he said about Jonas might be true.
Nick leaned back in the chair and swept a hand through his thick, dark hair. “You’re right. Part of my job was to seduce you and find out what I could about Jonas’s illegal activities.”
She’d guessed it, but the words, so stark and bold, were like arrows into her heart. Once again she felt the hot press of tears burning at her eyes, but she swallowed hard against them. It had been his job. Every kiss, every touch, every heated glance had been nothing more than a job to him.
He leaned forward, usurping his half of the small table and venturing onto her half. “Lynn, I know you probably won’t believe a word that comes out of my mouth right now, but I want you to understand something. I went into this assignment thinking I had a job to do. Within hours of spending time with you things got complicated, because it was no longer just a job.”
He reached a hand across the table and touched the back of hers. She drew hers away, not wanting him to touch her when her head was filled with such chaos. She knew she would find even the most casual touch from him excruciatingly painful.
He sighed and pulled his hand back. “Trying to get information about Jonas from you was my job. But when I kissed you, when I danced with you and held you close, I forgot all about the job. I realized I just wanted to be with you.”
It would be a wonderful balm to her aching heart if she could believe him. She rubbed the center of her forehead with trembling fingers. “At the moment I don’t know what to believe,” she finally said.
“Believe this. Jonas can’t get you out of this. There isn’t going to be some magical phone call from a government agency telling us that you work for them. You’re in deep trouble here, and you are the only person who can help yourself.”
“What do you mean?”
“We don’t want you, Lynn. We never wanted you. We want Jonas. And we know that you can bring him to us.”
A headache banged at her temples. “How am I supposed to do that?” she asked.
“We need his payroll and other financial records. It’s the last piece we’re lacking in making our case against him. We need you to confirm that Jonas was behind the robberies. You get those records for us and go on record that he told you to steal those items and we’ll drop all charges against you. You can walk away from here without any record that you were ever arrested.”
So, he wanted her to betray the man who had raised her, the man who had taken her into his home as a baby and had given her a life of love and care.
How could she possibly justify doing such a thing to the man who had been like a father to her? How could she possibly believe that Jonas was the kind of man he’d described to her?
“Lynn, I know I’ve thrown a lot at you in the last few minutes, and I know I’ve given you no reason whatsoever to trust anything I say to you.” His eyes were beguiling and she averted her gaze from his, unable to continue to look at him.
“There’s been no phone call, Lynn. I had the phone with me all night lo
ng. Jonas isn’t going to call and save you. He’s hung you out to dry.”
She rubbed her forehead once again and frowned. “Maybe he hasn’t gotten my message yet. Maybe he’s traveling and can’t use his phone or can’t get hold of his contact.” She desperately wanted, needed to believe either scenario.
Nick didn’t reply. Instead he pushed the file folder he’d carried in across the table in front of her, then stood. “That’s background information on your godfather. I’ll give you some time to go through it, then we’ll talk again.”
He walked over to the door, then turned back to look at her once again. “Lynn, maybe I lied about who I was, but I didn’t lie about how I feel about you. We have something special between us. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.” With these words he turned and left the room.
She stared after him, emotions warring in her soul. Something special. That’s what she’d felt as well. She wanted to believe what he said, but couldn’t forget that ultimately he wanted something from her. He wanted Jonas.
She looked down at the file folder on the table, almost afraid to open it. Like Pandora’s box she feared what might escape and how it would affect the life she believed she’d had.
With an enormous sense of dread she pulled the folder closer and opened it.
She had no idea how long she sat there alone, reading about the man who had taken her in, lavished her with gifts and created the only family she knew.
She learned that her godfather had been born Johannes Bianco and had grown up on the streets of New York just outside of Hell’s Kitchen. His mother had been killed in a mob shooting when he’d been ten and he’d lived with his stepfather until he’d turned sixteen and struck out on his own.
It was sometime during the next several years that he changed his name to Jonas White and, according to the information in the file, began a life of crime.
The crimes they suspected him of doing stole her breath away. Drug smuggling, arms dealing and black-market trade were only part of what they believed he was involved in.
When she finally closed the file folder, her headache had grown to mammoth proportions. She wanted to escape from all of this…the jail, Nick and the information she’d just read.
If she believed everything that was in that file, then nothing in her life had been real or good. If she believed what she’d just read, then that meant Jonas had trained her, lied to her and made her one of the best thieves around in order to further his personal wealth.
If she believed what she’d just read, then she was left with nothing to hold on to, nothing whatsoever to believe in. If she believed what she’d read then her entire life had been built on lies.
A thunderous roar shook the building. She jumped up from the table as tiny pieces of sheetrock rained down and dust filled the air.
From outside the room she could hear the excited shouting of men and the slap of running footsteps. What had happened? What was going on?
The door to the room flew open and a young woman stepped inside. She was clad all in black, her golden blond hair a startling contrast to her dark clothes. She grabbed Lynn by the arm. “Come on, let’s go.”
Lynn had no idea who the woman was, but it was obvious she wasn’t an officer of the law. She ripped her arm from the woman’s hold. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”
“We don’t have time for that now. Let’s get out of here,” the woman said. Once again she grabbed hold of Lynn and attempted to pull her through the doorway.
Lynn shoved the woman away from her. She had no idea what was happening. She was tired, confused and more than a little bit cranky. She certainly wasn’t going to let some mysterious woman drag her anywhere.
The woman’s pretty features pulled into a frown and she lunged for Lynn. Adrenaline spiked through Lynn. The lunge was overly aggressive and Lynn countered with aggression of her own.
She sidestepped the woman then kicked out, a high kick that the woman deflected with her arm. Lynn had the feeling that the world had gone mad as they began to grapple in earnest.
She was fighting a woman she’d never seen before, a woman whose physical skills seemed to match her own. Her kicks were as fast, as high as Lynn’s and she moved with an agility to rival Lynn’s.
Who was this woman and why did she want Lynn to go with her? Questions screamed in Lynn’s head, but she was too busy fighting to worry about answers.
As the woman attempted to get Lynn into a headlock and drag her toward the door, Lynn used every ounce of skill she possessed to flip the woman onto the floor on her back.
“Who are you and what do you want from me?” Lynn asked breathlessly as she stared down at the pretty woman.
Unusual green-gold eyes stared up at her, eyes that looked hauntingly familiar, eyes Lynn saw each time she looked into the mirror.
“I’m Dawn. I’m your sister, Lynn, and we’ve got to get you out of here.”
Chapter 11
Her sister?
Lynn felt as if she’d entered an alternate reality. As the woman—Dawn—held out her hand, Lynn made an instantaneous decision. She reached for the outstretched hand, grabbed it tight and pulled Dawn up from the floor.
At that moment another roar ripped through the air and more shouts erupted in the hallway.
“Come on, we’ve lost precious time.” Still holding her hand, Dawn pulled her out the door and into chaos. Uniformed officers ran in all directions, paying no attention to the two women as they made their way toward the back of the building. The sound of sirens rent the air.
Dawn led her to a door, and they burst through it and into the early-morning sunshine. As Dawn took off running down the sidewalk, Lynn followed, surprised by the speed Dawn displayed.
They ran for two blocks, then Dawn stopped at the driver’s-side door of a sports car. “Get in,” she said, and gestured toward the passenger door.
Lynn slid in and said nothing as Dawn started the engine and pulled away from the curb. She had no idea what she was doing. She had no idea if coming with Dawn had been a mistake or not. She was functioning on sheer adrenaline.
It wasn’t until they were some distance from the police station that she turned to Dawn. “What happened back there?”
“I created a few little diversions so I could get in and get you out.”
“What kind of diversions?”
“A few bombs carefully placed so they wouldn’t kill anyone, but would cause enough havoc that I could get you out.”
Bombs. Could things get any worse? “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Not now. First we need to stash you someplace safe, then I’ll explain everything.”
Lynn leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She felt as if too much information had been pumped into her brain in the past twelve hours.
Nick’s betrayal. Jonas’s suspected crimes. And now this woman breaking her out of jail and claiming to be her sister. It all jumbled together in her head, creating a feeling of overload.
She opened her eyes and stared at the woman who sat in the driver’s seat, a woman who claimed to be her sister. How was that possible? According to Jonas, Lynn had been the only child of a couple who had died at sea. He’d been her godfather and had adopted her when she’d been five months old.
If she believed Jonas, then there was no way she could have a sister. If she believed…
“Dawn what?” she asked.
“Dawn O’Shaughnessy.” She cast Lynn a quick smile. “I know you’re confused, Lynn. I promise you I’ll tell you everything just as soon as we get to the motel.”
“The motel?”
Dawn nodded. “I’ve got a room at a motel not far from here. Once we get settled in there I’ll explain everything to you.”
That was fine with Lynn. She didn’t think she could stand any more surprises at the moment. She was not only exhausted, hungry and confused, she was also now a fugitive from justice.
The thought gave her chills.
Even if she was eventually cleared of the charges for the robberies, she now faced other charges equally as serious.
She was grateful when Dawn drove through a fast-food drive-in and ordered burgers, fries and soft drinks. A block from the fast-food restaurant she pulled into the Sleepy Time Motel and in front of unit 101.
Minutes later the two sat across from each other at a small table inside the motel room, the food on the table before them. “Eat first, then we’ll talk,” Dawn said.
Lynn unwrapped her burger. “We’ll talk while we eat,” she countered. She stared at Dawn in open curiosity. Dawn returned the gaze, as if taking stock of exactly what she’d pulled out of the police station.
“I was told that my parents were eccentric millionaires who died in a boating accident when I was five months old,” Lynn began.
“You were told a pack of lies,” Dawn replied. Her eyes, so like Lynn’s in shape and hue, held secrets Lynn wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
If Jonas had lied to her about who her parents were and how they had died, then she had to face the fact that he’d lied to her about other things. She had to face the possibility that Nick had told her the truth about the man who had raised her. The thought sent a chill of despair through her.
“Then tell me the truth,” she said to Dawn, although she wasn’t sure she’d know the truth if it bit her on the butt.
“It’s a long, complicated story,” Dawn warned her.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Lynn replied dryly.
As they ate, Dawn began an incredible tale about a woman named Lorraine Miller Carrington. Rainy, as she had been called, according to Dawn, had years before been a student at the Athena Academy for the Advancement of Women, in Arizona.
The school was located just outside of the Glendale/Phoenix area at the base of the White Tank Mountains. The school had caught the interest of Lab 33, a top-secret government facility located in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico.
Dawn explained to Lynn that she, herself, was born and raised at Lab 33 and had only left the lab recently to search for some answers she needed, and to search for the sibling she was certain existed.