Iris Johansen - Final Target

"Who did it?"

Travis shook his head. "I'm not sure. I have to think about it. Just get a bandage on me and give me something to clear my head."

"CIA?"

"This had nothing to do with Cassie."

"How do you know if-"

"Get him bandaged before you cross-examine him," Galen told her. "And women are supposed to be the gentler sex."

"Shut up. Go in the bedroom and get Jessica's medical bag, but don't wake her. She just got to sleep."

"She's a doctor. Maybe we should-"

"I can take care of this. I don't want her bothered."

"Heaven forbid," Travis murmured. "We wouldn't want your sister bothered."

"No, we wouldn't. You've put her through enough hell." She went to the sink and filled a basin of water. "Take off your shirt. " She saw him struggling and said through her teeth, "Oh, stop it. You look like you're going to pass out. I'll help you." She put the basin on the table and carefully stripped the shirt off him. "I take it your 'business' didn't work out as you hoped."

"You could say that. Hurry, will you?"

"I'm hurrying. Do you think I like fussing over you?"

"Here's the bag." Galen set the leather satchel on the table and opened the latch. "May I help? I'm pretty good at first aid myself."

" I bet you are." Melissa deftly cleaned the long, jagged graze. "All those battle wounds…"

"What?"

"Nothing. Give me that antiseptic." She glanced at Travis's face. "This is going to hurt." She didn't wait for a response but put the antiseptic on the open cut. He didn't flinch. He looked as if he didn't feel it. Her lips twisted. "Macho man."

"Yeah, that's me."Travis looked at Galen. "Get on the phone and find us another place. I wasn't followed here, but we need to make sure that the man who killed Jan isn't able to-"

"Jan's dead?" Galen interrupted. "Oh, God, I'm sorry, Travis."

"So am I." Travis looked at Melissa. "Are you through with me?"

"I wish." She finished bandaging the wound. "But that should hold you." She gave him three Tylenol. "You're not having enough pain for anything stronger."

"Oh, I'm having enough pain."

He wasn't talking about physical pain, she realized. She smothered the ripple of sympathy. "If your head's messed up, it's not because of that flesh wound."

He swallowed the Tylenol and said to Galen, "He knew we were coming and he knew about the delivery. He was either Karlstadt's man or someone else who had access to the information. He said Jan had been helpful. Jan found two bugs in his apartment last week. I thought maybe CIA, but…" He shook his head. "He could have been a rogue agent, but that doesn't smell right. I have to think about it. Just get us out of here."

"Paris?"

Travis shrugged. "Why not?"

"Right." Galen rose to his feet and took out his phone. He hesitated. "I really am sorry. I know he was like family to you." He strode out of the house.

Melissa barely heard those last words. "Paris? Why Paris?"

"You know why," Travis said wearily. "I made a promise and I want to get it over and done with."

She closed her eyes. "Shit."

"I agree with you." He put on his shirt. "I know you hoped I might be thrown off course by Jan's-" He stopped. "Death."

It hurt him to say the word. She could feel his raw pain. She wouldn't feel it, dammit. Her eyes opened and she glared at him. "I can't help it if your friend died. He must have been crazy or he'd never have thrown his lot in with you. You should have learned your lesson, but you haven't. You're going forward blindly, not caring who you hurt."

"I won't hurt anyone."

"Tell that to your friend Jan."

He flinched. "You would have had a ball practicing medicine in the old days before they discovered anesthesia." He finished buttoning his shirt. "Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll go outside and find Galen. I need some air."

Her hands clenched as she watched him leave. She had caused him pain, but she would be damned if she'd show him the remorse she felt. He was tough enough to take almost anything, and she had to be just as tough.

She carried Jessica's medical bag back to the bedroom and put it on the chair by the nightstand. Jessica was curled up on the bed next to Cassie. She stood looking down at the troubled child and her sister, who was willing to give up everything to protect her patient. They were both sleeping deeply, and she felt a sudden surge of protectiveness toward them. Strange. Jessica had always been the caregiver, the safety net in a shaky world.

Not now. Jessica was beyond her depth. Hell, maybe Melissa was too, but she couldn't let that matter.

She had to dive in, try to keep them all afloat and hope they didn't drown.

She moved over to the other nightstand, opened Jessica's handbag, and began to search through it.

"You okay?" Galen asked as he walked toward Travis. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Because of this wound? I remember hearing about a time in Tanzania when you walked five miles with a machete stuck in your leg."

"Yeah, but not every man is a superman like me. And I always take R and R when I can get it." He checked his watch. "You have forty-five minutes before transport arrives. Go on back in the house and sit down."

"It's more restful out here."

Galen nodded. "I can see your point. She definitely doesn't want you going after the Wind Dancer."

"She'll have to get used to the idea." Travis leaned back against the doorjamb. "Have you been able to finalize it?"

"I had a man contact Paul Guilliame, the assistant curator of the museum. He's known to be open to bribes."

"The Wind Dancer is a little different."

"But Guilliame's frailty of character should hold us in good stead if the money's enough and the presentation is right." He smiled. "And my presentation is always right."

"There's something else I need you to do."

Galen gazed at him quizzically.

"I think I know the man who killed Jan. He certainly knew me. He wanted me dead, not Jan."

"You recognized his face?"

He shook his head. "The eyes were vaguely familiar. Green, slanted a little…but he had a fake beard."

"So what do you want from me?"

"Find someone to break into Interpol's computer banks for me. I need to look at mug shots."

"Unless you have a starting place, it could take you the next fifty years to go through that many records."

Travis knew that, but he had to begin somewhere. "Then it will take me fifty years. Just get me the hacker."

Galen nodded. "I can't promise to deliver him by the time we get to Paris, but I'll find someone."

"Good." It wasn't good. He couldn't see much good in anything right now. Jan…

"Do you want to talk about him?" Galen asked quietly. "Sometimes it helps."

Travis shook his head. "He's dead." His lips twisted. "There's nothing to say."

"It's not your fault. Jan's been in the business a long time. He knew what he was doing."

"I know that."

"But you're alive and your friend is dead." Galen shrugged. "Tough. But deal with it."

"I am. Just get me the hacker."

"Consider it done. I've just thought of a man who might be able to do it. Stuart Thomas. He's a little weird, but there's nothing he doesn't know about computers." His phone rang and he answered it.

He listened for a moment and then hung up. "I think we've got Guilliame. He'll take the statue out of the display case to a room in the back on the pretext of having it cleaned. He says there will have to be guards at the door or it will look suspicious. He knows a couple who will look the other way for a price."

"And the price?"

"Total? It's gone up. Two million. Pretty high for four hours with a bloody statue. I can bargain."

"No time."

"You have the money?"

"I have something to barter with."