Catherine Coulter: The Target

He shrugged and winced a bit with pain. "It was a very long time ago. I can't imagine why she chose to tell you now. As for Rule Shaker, I've dealt with him over the years without much problem. Perhaps not as well as I'd like recently," he added, frowning down at a letter opener that looked as sharp as a stiletto.

He looked up at her. "Actually, he's taken more business than I'd have liked over the past couple of years, but it's a temporary thing. He's become a thug, nothing more. He's always been jealous of me and what's mine. He had bad teeth when we were young. I'll bet he's got false teeth by now." He paused a moment, a frown settling on his forehead, looking beyond her, into the past, perhaps.

"I accepted him, made him my friend," he continued after a moment. "I can't believe I didn't see him clearly until I happened to walk in on him and your mother.

"He's tried to kill me, twice. I'm going to have to deal with him once and for all. I don't like having to constantly look over my shoulder. Gunther worries. He isn't happy about any of this either."

"Rule Shaker didn't try to kill you."

Her father looked at her with amazed contempt. "What did you say?"

"No," she said, very slowly, as if she were speaking to a dim child. "He didn't ever try to kill you.

Actually, it was your wife."

Her father bounded to his feet, his face paling, then weaved where he stood. She saw waves of pain washing over him, started to go to him, then stopped, realizing that he hated anyone, particularly her, to see any weakness in him. He chopped his hand in the air, waving her back. "Eve? You're saying that Eve tried to kill me? You're trying to blame Eve? That's absurd, Molly, absolutely absurd." Then he turned to dial his private telephone. "We'll see about this. Where the hell do you get off accusing Eve of anything?

You're just jealous of her, aren't you, Molly? You can't stand her because she's everything you're not, you're-"

"She blew Louey up as well."

He slowly straightened and looked at her. He slowly laid down the receiver. He was shaking his head as he said, "No, it was Rule. He wanted you and Emma and Ramsey dead in order to bring Louey into line.

That silly little bitch daughter of Rule's wanted the jerk. No, Rule blew Louey up by mistake. Because his intention was to kill you and Emma, I had to retaliate. He would have taken my daughter so I took his.

Now, enough of your venom, Molly. I won't have any more of this. I'm getting Eve in here."

"She's not here. She left"- Molly looked down at her watch-"probably about ten minutes ago. She's not coming back and you're not going after her."

She would swear she saw a fine tremor in his right hand. But his voice was calm with authority as he asked in that barely tolerant cold voice of his, "What is this all about, Molly?"

Slowly, Molly rose from the leather chair. She walked to her father's desk and splayed her palms on the rich mahogany surface. "Listen to me, Dad. Eve is Rule Shaker's daughter. After her mother's death, Eve continued her schooling in Europe, then went to school at Harvard. She didn't go back to live with her father and younger sister, which is why you never heard of her. Your wife has a master's degree in business, Dad. Her forte is financial analysis. She and Rule Shaker planned to take you for as much as they could. You just admitted that you'd lost more to him in the past couple of years than you'd wanted to lose. It wasn't just coincidental. Eve was feeding him business information."

She realized the instant he believed her. She saw his eyes go cold, saw the deep shifting of his eyes as images developed, changed, evolved in his mind. She said very quietly, "You're not going to kill Eve. It's over, all of it. No one will try to kill you and you won't try to kill Shaker."

His face was flushed, he was shaking his head. "No, it's impossible. I knew Eve. Do you think I'm stupid? I had her checked out completely before I married her. She's Swedish, from a little town north of Stockholm called Uppsala. I know all about her family. Her father's an engineer- he let her keep one of his diplomas. It's in our bedroom. Her mother is a schoolteacher. She teaches French, for God's sake.

She has two younger sisters. I know everything about her. She's fluent in English because of an English nanny she had all during her childhood. I know she never went to college, that she-"

"Her name is Janice Claire Shaker. The last time you saw her, she was all of four years old, just a very little girl. You probably have no memory of her at all. When Rule Shaker and his wife divorced, Janice went with her mother to Boston and Rule Shaker kept Melissa, who was just two years old at the time.

They split their kids just the way you did with me and Teddy.

"Janice married a Swedish engineer when she was only eighteen, her freshman year in college. Her husband was killed on a dam project a year later. She obviously got all her Swedish antecedents from her husband's family, including her husband's engineering degree that's hanging on your wall. In any case, somewhere along the line, Janice or her father came up with the idea to take you in. And they did take you in. Fooled you completely.

"She admitted to me that she murdered Louey. She hated him, didn't want her sister to be with him. She smuggled in the bomb that blew him up. Emma and I weren't the targets. And then when you killed Melissa, her sister, she tried to murder you. Maybe Eve would have tried to murder you eventually regardless of what happened. She didn't volunteer her plans. I don't know and neither will you. It doesn't matter. All of it's going to stop right now."

She watched him straighten, knew that the effect must be hurting his chest. Then he was utterly still, even his hands silent at his sides. He said, his voice as gentle as a soft spring rain, "If what you say is true, if she did betray me, then how could it possibly be over?"

She would have preferred rage, not this calm dead coldness. She didn't know where she found it, but she reached down deep inside her and brought up a very big smile. "Because, Dad, I've saved your life and now I'm going to end it all. No one is going to kill anyone. You try to harm Eve or Rule Shaker and I'm going to turn you in. It's true that I don't have much hard proof, but I know enough to make things excessively uncomfortable for you. If you refuse to end it, I also promise you will never see Emma or me again. I will not take the chance of Emma getting between you and Shaker.

"There will be no more attempts on your life or anyone connected with you, including me and Emma. Eve and her father have agreed to it. You took one of his daughters and you're giving the other one back.

Louey is dead and you were nearly killed twice. They both know I could bring them down, because, you see, I taped my conversation with Eve and played it for them. One copy is with Dillon Savich of the FBI and the other is with the San Francisco District Attorney's office. I've got it all and I'll keep it safe. It's over. Believe me on this."

He slowly raised his hand. In an instant, Molly thought he was going to strike her. She stood her ground, waiting.

Slowly, Mason Lord lowered his arm. His voice was nearly a whisper as he said, "You're my daughter and you're threatening me with this?"

"Yes, I am. It's my only way to protect both Emma and you. I don't ever want to have to worry that Emma could be the next victim in your war with Rule Shaker. What's more, I don't want him or his daughter to kill you. Now, I want your word that you'll leave the Shakers alone."

Mason stared at the daughter who looked so much like her grandmother, who hadn't wanted Alicia to marry him, who'd looked at him like he was some sort of back alley scum. She'd looked at him and known what he was to his very soul. He'd seen the knowledge in those gray-green eyes of hers-Molly's eyes-and he'd hated her with everything in him. Now here was Molly, more her blood than she was his, telling him what to do. What was wrong with him? She was just a woman, nothing more.