Iris Johansen - Pandora's Daughter

"It was her choice, Megan. None of this was your fault. You were the one person she loved in the world and she didn't want you to feel hounded because she'd decided to go after Molino."

"But she didn't stop him, did she? He's still out there selling drugs and children. He killed my mother and all she tried to do was for nothing. How can that be?"

"He's clever. He's rich. He has contacts in the governments of several countries. Corruption. Bribery. Fear." He shrugged. "His main headquarters is in Madagascar and it's as secure as a fort. And when he moves around to other locations he has the money to stay virtually invisible. The CIA has been trying to get their hands on him for years and they can never find the bastard. I almost had him twice but he slipped away."

"Had him?"

"Sarah was my friend. You don't think I'd let him kill her and live?"

"I don't know what to think about you, Grady."

"You knew what to think about me at one time."

Summer Sun. Gentle Surf. Grady smiling at her.

"You were pretending even then."

"Perhaps." He added wearily, "Perhaps not. Those were good days for me. I felt as if I had a family again. I had no business feeling like that. I was there to protect both of you and emotion always gets in the way. I should have ignored Sarah when she told me to stay away from both of you for a while. But I cared too much about what she thought and felt. I won't make that mistake again. Not with you, Megan. That's why I told Phillip to tell you that he was Sarah's half brother so that he could talk you into taking his name, changing your name from Nathan to Blair. I had to find a way to cover your tracks after Sarah's death."

"Phillip said that we should make a new start together and that would be part of it. We'd be a family again." She was shaking. She didn't want to believe Grady. She didn't want to feel this softening. "You don't have to worry about what I'm feeling. You have to worry about how to make sure I get my chance at Molino."

"To kill him?"

Kill. The word was ugly and foreign to her. She had spent years training to save lives and now she intended to kill.

He shook his head. "You see? It's not an easy choice for someone like you."

"He killed my mother. Phillip may never wake up again. The choice isn't that difficult. You can help me, can't you?"

"Yes, but there's always a price to pay. If you help me, I'll help you. I promise we'll get Molino."

A price. He'd mentioned before that he wanted her help. "What do you want me to do?"

"I'm searching for a certain object. I believe you can help me find it."

She frowned. "I'm not like my mother. I can't find people or things."

"Actually, Finding is fairly common. It often accompanies more significant gifts. You can never tell what talent is going to pop up." He shrugged. "But I'm not counting on you inheriting that particular one. All I need is a Listener. That will be harrowing enough."

She shivered as she remembered just how harrowing that episode in the cave had been. Now he wanted her to expose herself to that trauma again?

"And it will probably be worse than what you went through before." He was watching her expression. "Is it worth it to you?"

Dear God, of course it was worth it to her. She could bear anything if it meant that Molino would be destroyed. His grotesque presence was casting a shadow over her entire life. "I won't be your puppet. I won't do anything I regard as immoral."

"Then I'll have to make sure that I either keep your part of the project above reproach or lure you to the dark side." He continued briskly, "We'll have to leave here right away. Molino is having you watched and I want you off his scope so that we can move freely. I'm surprised he hasn't made another move since Phillip was shot. We're not going to give him another chance at you."

"Where are we going?"

"France. Do you speak French?"

"High school French. I've forgotten a lot. Will I need it?"

"I don't know."

"And I don't have a passport."

"No problem. I already have one for you."

She remembered what Phillip had said about Grady furnishing him with documents to prove he was her uncle. "How convenient. You must have been very sure of me."

"No, but I always like to be prepared. Like the Boy Scouts."

Sitting there, relaxed, dark, his posture gracefully indolent she was reminded of the comment her mother had made about him looking like a Renaissance prince with all the lethal radiance of that age. "You're definitely no Boy Scout." She pushed back her chair. "I'm going to go pack a bag and call the hospital and tell them I'm taking an extended leave. I'll be ready to leave in an hour."

He nodded. "I have a few arrangements to make too."

She headed for the door. "Not entirely prepared then." She stopped at the door to look back at him. "Have you told me the truth, Grady?"

"Absolutely."

Her gaze searched his face. "But you haven't told me everything, have you?"

He was silent a moment. "I should have realized you'd sense that. No, not everything."

"Why not?"

"It's not to my advantage. And ignorance won't put you in any more danger than you will be anyway."

He wasn't going to tell her any more. "I'm going to find out, Grady."

"I don't doubt it. But not now, and not from me."

"I could make it part of the deal."

"Go ahead, call my bluff." He said quietly but firmly, "Not now, Megan."

She hesitated. She had no desire to do battle with him at the moment. She believed what he had told her was the truth. The rest could wait until she was more in control of herself and the situation. "I will find out, Grady. You'd better be prepared for that, Boy Scout." She strode down the hall and slammed her bedroom door behind her.

SHE PROBABLY WOULD FIND OUT everything more quickly than was comfortable for him, Grady thought with amusement, as he watched the door close behind Megan. He was just lucky that she had too much on her plate to concentrate on anything but Molino. It was going to be an interesting dance trying to keep her spinning fast enough so that she wouldn't have time to stop and think. He wasn't sure how much she had sensed in that cave as her mother had died and how much she had been able to understand through the haze of pain. It was incredible that she was willing to undergo that kind of pain again.

No, not incredible. He had been counting on that strength and determination when he had decided he had to have her help. No one knew Megan the way he knew her. From the moment he had met her at Sarah's beach cottage he had felt a bond that had developed and strengthened over that summer. He had tried to keep that bond safe and fraternal but he'd never been able to feel like a brother to Megan. She had always been mature for her age and so damn alive and glowing that it was hard as hell not to reach out and touch her.

He remembered one morning he had been watching her lift her face to the sun, her throat arching as if the breeze was caressing it. Lord, she had a beautiful throat and shoulders. He was young but no inexperienced boy, and he was so hot for her he'd nearly had a meltdown. He'd had to turn on his heel and walk away from her.

How many times had he had to walk away from Megan that summer? It had been a sensual, tender, bittersweet experience being with Megan those months. And after the link, in a weird way, he had felt as if she had become part of him.

Yeah, sure. If she was part of him, then he must be a masochist to plan on putting her through what was waiting for her in Paris. He was just along for the ride. She was the one who was going to suffer.

Then accept it and get the show on the road. He reached for his telephone and quickly punched in the number he had for Venable with the CIA.