Iris Johansen - Dead Aim

"Or me?"

"Or you. And all I'm saying is that Homeland Security must have been brought into the picture by either hard evidence supplied by the FBI and CIA or the influence of someone pretty high up."

"There was no hard evidence against me. I didn't do any thing." "Except be in the wrong place at the wrong time." He smiled faintly. "And then refuse to go away and forget about it. You're a very obstinate woman." "Obstinate? I was at Arapahoe Junction. I dug and dug, and all the time I knew…" She had to steady her voice. "You're damn right I'm obstinate." "I'm not complaining. I like it. Which is unusual considering what problems it's causing me." "I don't care whether you complain or not. For the last few weeks my life has been a nightmare. I've been caught in a landslide, forced to jump into floodwaters, shot at, run off the road, and now this. For God's sake, it's like something from The Perils of Pauline."

"You haven't been tied to the railway tracks yet."

"That's probably next. All I want is a way out of this mess." She stared him in the eye. "And you've got to help me."

"I told you that I'd find the men who tried to kill you." "The circle seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. And it's going to keep growing until I find out what happened at Arapahoe Junction." She drew a deep breath. "So you're going to be with me all the way."

"Am I?"

"Yes." "Why?"

"Because if you don't and they catch me, I'll tell them whatever I'm guilty of I did on your orders." He stared at her for a moment and then threw back his head and laughed. "My God. You're wonderful. In a Lucrezia Borgia kind of way."

"I'm fighting for my life."

"And you're quite right not to trust me with it. You shouldn't trust anyone with anything that precious. It's too easy to take away." He dropped down into a chair. "So what exactly are you blackmailing me to do?"

"First, get Galen and Logan to find out what's going on with this witch hunt. I can't fight them if I don't know who is behind it. Second, I want to know what happened that night at the dam. There wasn't any explosion. I don't know what they did, but it was like…" She tried to remember. "A sort of… rumbling, shaking."

"Anything else?"

"Oh, yes." She paused. "I want you to tell me how and what you know about the last man we sketched yesterday." "I beg your pardon?"

"The helicopter pilot. I didn't tell you he had a scar. I didn't even remember it until I saw the sketch. But you sketched it in. Later, I thought about it and realized that I wasn't that tired. I would have remembered telling you." She added, "My first thought was that you were in collusion with them. But then I remembered your reaction while you were drawing the sketch. You were shocked. You recovered quickly, but you didn't know that was the face you were going to draw."

"This is all supposition."

"Yes. Tell me one thing. Why did you think I'd be gullible enough to swallow that 'too exhausted to remember' excuse?" "I didn't. I took a chance. It was the only out I had if I was going to send the sketch to Galen with every detail. I had to do that. I needed to know who that bastard was."

"And you don't?"

"I only saw him once, and the circumstances weren't conducive to exchanging either names or pleasantries."

"Why not?"

He didn't answer.

"Dammit, why won't you talk to me?"

"I've always subscribed to the policy of 'need to know.'" He held up his hand. "I know. More military garbage."

"I need to know."

"Don't be greedy. I've caved in to your blackmail on the other things. I'm going to need some time to decide if I want to confide an episode that may have nothing to do with any of this. I'm a very cautious man."

She had a fleeting memory of Morgan, rifle in hand, standing on that tarmac as the helicopter descended. "I haven't noticed. And you said 'may have nothing to do with.' If you're not sure, then I should be told what-" He was shaking his head. "Dammit, you're not being fair. You're making me trust you in a situation where it could mean my neck."

"You do trust me. Not to any great depth, but you've worked your way through all the facts and our history to date and come out with the conclusion that I'm not on the bad guys' side."

"Right now."

"I stand corrected."

"And I'd be a lot more certain if you'd tell me where you saw that man in the sketch."

"Too bad. We all have to live with uncertainties."

He wasn't going to budge. She temporarily abandoned the battle and went back to fortifying the gains she'd made. "Have you really caved on those other issues?"

"Sure. I'm wallowing in the dirt and being pulled behind your chariot wheels." "Bull. Stop it. Just give me your promise that you won't jump to the other side if the going gets rough." His smile faded. "You must have been talking to Galen."

"I don't know what you mean."

He studied her expression. "Maybe you don't." He finished his coffee. "I don't like to make promises. It's too confining." "That's why I want one from you."

"Would you trust me if I did give you my word?"

She thought about it. "I… think I would."

He chuckled. "What enthusiasm."

"I can't read you. Most of the time I don't know what you're thinking. I just have to rely on instinct."

"That can be scary. And a truckload of scary things have happened to you lately." He rose to his feet and took her cup. "If it makes you feel better, you have my promise I won't jump ship on you."

It did make her feel better. It was totally unreasonable that his words brought this sudden surge of warmth and reassurance.

The same warmth she had felt when he touched her wrist that day in the stairwell. But that was different, that was deception and deliberate manipulation. And since she knew he was fully capable of both, why did she put stock in his word? "You're fretting about why you're trusting me," he said over his shoulder as he headed for the kitchen. "It's pretty amazing to me too." Evidently he had no trouble reading her, she thought in frustration. It wasn't fair. "But it feels kind of good." He didn't look at her as he put the cups in the dishwasher. "Sort of like feather beds and mashed potatoes."

"Are you making fun of me?"

"I wouldn't think of it." He raised his gaze to meet hers. "Unless I thought I could get away with it."

"Well, you can't, and I wish-"

My God.

She quickly glanced away from him. Where had that come from? One minute she had been irritated and the next… aware. It was like that moment when he'd touched her when he changed her bandage. "How long do you think Logan will take to find out anything about this mess?"

He didn't answer for a second. "It depends. I'm sure he's on it now. Your friend Sarah must be very persuasive. Have you known each other long?"

"Yes." Sarah was a safe topic. Skid away from that weird, intimate moment. "Years. I ran into her during the first earthquake I covered near Istanbul. I was very green, and she saved me from being shot by one of the soldiers protecting the site. And then she saved me from breaking down any number of times when they started recovering the bodies." She shook her head. "It broke my heart. It still does."

"Then why do you go back?"

"Because I can help. It's not right to pass responsibility on to someone else because it hurts."

Confidences. Intimacy again. She had to break the spiral. She stood up and moved toward the bedroom. "Maybe I will rest for a while. Call me when Galen gets here."

Morgan nodded. "I'll be in to check your bandage in a little while."

"No, it's fine," she said quickly.

He met her gaze and then slowly nodded. "Whatever you

" say.

She moistened her lips. "Arapahoe Junction. That wasn't an explosion. I know it wasn't." "I believe you." He turned away. "Rest well."