Cindy Dees - Target

And as the adrenaline slowly drained away, making rational thought possible, the anger finally set in. How could Delphi have turned on her? Her own employer! A person who’d handpicked her to serve her country in a very special way!

She started the stopwatch in the dashboard of the car and punched Delphi’s number into her cell phone. Furious, she slammed the instrument to her ear.

The line picked up and Diana didn’t wait for anyone to speak. She snapped, “Very cute. Care to explain why you tried to kidnap one of your own agents tonight?”

At least Delphi had the good grace not to deny it. “You’ve become a possible threat.”

“To whom?” Diana exclaimed. “I’m out here busting my butt to save Gabe Monihan’s life, like you ordered me to I might add.”

Delphi replied patiently, “You tampered with the Oracle database. We checked the logs, and the changes came from your home computer.”

“The hacker who broke into my house last night inserted that code! I’d never turn on you or Oracle, I swear.”

Silence met her impassioned declaration.

Diana said slowly, “Tell me something. Did someone call you, too? Put a bug in your ear that I’d lost it? Who called you?”

The silence that greeted her question was eloquent. Someone had called Delphi. Dammit. “Was it my grandfather?” Diana demanded.

Time was up. Thirty seconds. All she could afford to talk to Delphi without her phone being traced. She couldn’t stay on the line any longer waiting for Delphi’s response. And maybe she didn’t need to hear it anyway.

She disconnected the line and tossed the cell phone on the seat beside her.

Time to go have a little conversation with good old Gramps.

H er grandfather had sold his Chevy Chase estate a couple years back and usually stayed in some posh hotel when he came to town these days. But, as had been his habit for all the years he worked in the CIA, he kept to no set routine and changed hotels every time he came to town. She had no idea where he was staying this time.

She dialed Josie’s cell phone number. “Hey, Jo. It’s me.”

Her sister sounded inordinately grumpy. Must have interrupted a romantic interlude with Diego. “Diana. It’s after eleven. What do you want?”

“Where’s Gramps staying?”

“The Shoreham in Rock Creek Park. Why?”

“He and I need to have a little talk tonight.”

“Now?” Josie asked in surprise. Abruptly, Sis sounded at full alert.

“Don’t ask,” Diana said sharply.

“I’m asking,” Josie retorted. “What’s up?”

“I think he turned me in. Called my boss and said I’ve lost it and gone over the edge.”

“Have you?” Josie asked seriously.

All the frustration built up over years and years of wrong and negative assumptions about her flared up and finally bubbled over. “Why is it everyone in this family thinks I’m such a screwup? How long am I going to have to be Superwoman before you people get off my back and accept the fact that I’ve grown up into a responsible adult?”

A long silence met that outburst. Long enough to startle Diana. Was her sister actually seriously considering the question? By rights, they ought to be in the middle of a screaming match right about now. Maybe both of them had done some growing up recently.

Finally, Josie said slowly, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I still do think of you as my baby sister who’s in need of protection.”

“Protection? Me?” Surprise coursed through Diana.

“You were so little when Mom went away. And you never knew her. You didn’t remember how much she loved us. I had the memory of that to sustain me, but you didn’t. I felt so sorry for you. I tried to make it up to you. To love you the way she would have. But you always pushed me away. You wouldn’t let me.”

Remorse slugged Diana, a heavy fist straight to the gut. Is that what Josie had been trying to do all along? She’d always thought Josie was trying to smother her. To keep her little sister from shining as brightly as she did. She’d thought it was sibling rivalry, for goodness’ sake! Could she have been wrong for all those long years of simmering ill will? She stammered, “I didn’t know. I thought you resented me. Were trying to boss me around.”

“Good Lord, no! I was trying to be a substitute mother to you. But I was too young. I didn’t know how to do it. You were so hurt. So shut down. You closed me out. You closed everyone out.”

The words were daggers to her heart. She had closed everyone out. In her pain and loss and misunderstanding, she’d pushed away the one person who’d reached out to her in shared pain and loss. And it must have been so much more difficult for Josie. She’d really known their mother. Remembered her. Suffered an even greater loss. But, in spite of that, she’d still reached out to Diana.

In return, she’d mistaken generosity for dominance, love for resentment. And she’d rejected Josie. Rejected everyone. Revelation broke over her in a cold wave. She was still rejecting everyone. Even a great guy like Gabe who’d opened himself up to her. Reached out to her. Trusted her with his life.

She mumbled, “I didn’t know. God, I’m so sorry…” Unable to speak anymore, she disconnected the line. What a mess she’d made of everything. And she’d never realized it. What a selfish brat she’d been. She’d been so busy feeling sorry for herself, she’d never looked beyond her own suffering to see the pain she’d caused the people around her.

Was she doing the same thing now? Was she so caught up in herself she wasn’t seeing the bigger picture? Did it really matter if she tracked down this S.A.F.E. organization-if it even existed at all? Was she Don Quixote, tilting at windmills in her own elusive chase after glory?

Maybe she should just give it up. Stop pretending she was capable of saving Gabe single-handedly. That’s what the entire Secret Service was for. They could handle the job.

Her phone rang, startling her out of her funk. She picked it up. “Hello?”

“Hey. It’s me.”

Gabe. What in the world was he doing calling her now? “Are you all right?” she asked in quick concern.

“I’m fine. I was worried about you. You seemed pretty upset after Owen raked you over the coals. I’m sorry about that.”

“He was just doing his job. I can’t blame the guy.”

“Still, he was pretty rough on you. You put your neck on the line for me today and I really appreciate it.”

Was that all he felt for her? Gratitude for her work? Had she blown it with him, too, and somehow shut him out as she did everyone else? Soberly she replied, “I was just doing my job. No different than Owen.”

Gabe chuckled. “I don’t know about that. I’d say you’re quite a bit different than Owen.”

His remark startled her into a laugh. She retorted, “Well, I should hope so.”

Gabe replied quietly, “That’s much better. I needed to hear you laugh.”

He’d needed it? Needed something from her? Aloud she said, “Well, then, did you hear the one about the boy who got the bicycle after he had sex for the first time?”

Gabe laughed again. “I don’t need a laugh that bad.”

They lapsed into silence for a moment.

She said hesitantly, “Thanks for believing in me today. Not many people would have. They’d have figured I was some sort of nutcase.”

“I suppose you are a nutcase.”

“What?” she blurted out.

“You like me, don’t you? I figure you have to be a little bit crazy to do that.”

“Gabe Monihan, you’re one of the most eligible bachelors in the entire world. Women are swooning over you by the thousands in case you hadn’t noticed.”