Kate Donovan - Parallel Lies

But not without some growing pains. Despite all the successes, Theo Howell and Perimeter had had three pivotal failures. The first—a bomb smuggled into a peace summit—had been a mixed blessing, leading Howell to recruit the brash young CIA agent who had disarmed the device just seconds before the timer reached zero. That agent, Sully Sullivan, thereafter revamped the company’s procedures, trained its staff and basically took it to even higher heights.

Perimeter’s second disaster, more than twenty years later, had resulted in the assassination of a client in the Canary Islands. Desperate to salvage the company’s reputation, Sully had rejoined forces with the CIA to bring the assassin—Pluto Zenner—to justice. Pluto had been killed resisting arrest, leading to the third and most tragic failure of all—the revenge taken by Pluto’s son, Adonis, against Sully.

For Sabrina, that was where the Perimeter story ended. She had no idea what had happened over the past five years. All she knew for sure was that Adonis Zenner had never been apprehended or punished for her father’s murder.

Coupled with the lax behavior of the guard at the gate, Adonis’s continued existence didn’t speak well for the caliber of Perimeter’s current staff, she decided grimly. But it was too late to turn back. Sabrina still believed she’d made the right choice in coming here, so she parked her red convertible alongside a black one at the curb of the circular driveway in front of the Howell mansion. Then she took the steps two at a time, reaching the front door just as Marietta opened it wide.

“Miss Sabrina!” The servant gave her a hearty hug. “I thought we’d never see you again.”

Sabrina returned the embrace. “It’s so great to see you. Are you in charge of the place these days?”

The dark-haired woman shook her head. “It’s just me and my husband now. Money’s tight for Mr. Howell. But we’re really all he needs. Sebastian does the gardening and driving. And I still do all the cooking, so don’t worry. I’ll put some meat on those skinny bones of yours in no time.” She studied the guest fondly, then asked, “Is it okay to call you Sabrina?”

“Absolutely.”

“What about Miss Michelle? Is she coming, too?”

“She’s on vacation.” Sabrina sighed. “We can visit in a little while, but for now, I’d better go see Uncle Theo. Was he shocked to hear I was back?”

“I didn’t tell him.” Marietta gave her a wide smile. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face.”

Sabrina laughed. “Let’s hope he’s not annoyed. You and that guard really shouldn’t have let me come up without permission.”

“He’ll be too happy to complain. Come on.” The cook headed down the hall toward Theo’s study.

Sabrina surveyed the entrance hall with wistful thoroughness. Nothing had changed. The same sweeping brass and oak staircase, oak flooring and vibrant red carpets. No furniture except for a brass table holding a vase filled with red roses.

She smiled, remembering how many times her sister Shelby—or Michelle, as she’d been called in those days—had knocked that table over as she’d raced down the stairs and around the corner toward the kitchen. They had spent hundreds of hours visiting and playing in this gorgeous home. Then suddenly it had become off limits, a part of a past that could never be revisited.

Until now.

“Miss Sabrina,” Marietta said, hissing slightly and motioning for her coconspirator to join her at the closed double doors at the end of the hall.

When Sabrina had complied, the cook opened one door and poked her head into the study. “Sorry to interrupt, but there’s someone here who needs to speak to you, Mr. Theo.” Without waiting for a response, she stepped aside and swept her hand back in Sabrina’s direction. “A ghost from the past. And more beautiful than ever. Come give your niece a hug.”

Sabrina stepped into the room and had to smile at the stupefied look on Theo Howell’s face. Striding over to him, she opened her arms, murmuring, “Hi, Uncle Theo. Long time no see.”

“My God,” he whispered, yanking her into a bear hug. “Sabrina! After all these years. Is something wrong?”

“No. Not really.” She stepped back and gave an apologetic smile, noting that he was a little grayer around the temples than she remembered—and ten or fifteen pounds heavier. And he had switched from tortoiseshell eyeglass frames to wire rims. But otherwise, he hadn’t changed a bit. “I was probably crazy to come here, but Shelby and I met a guy recently, and I want to run a background check on him, just to be on the safe side. Since I don’t have the kind of connections Perimeter has, I decided to come here for help.”

“A background check?” came an accusatory growl from the shadows. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Sabrina turned toward the unfamiliar voice. “Pardon?”

The speaker—a dark-haired man in his early thirties—shook his head in apparent disgust. “For five full years we don’t hear a word. Then you just show up? Asking us to run an errand for you? After you practically drove the company into the ground?”

“Zack,” Theo murmured. “Don’t.”

“No. Let him talk,” Sabrina countered, her gaze fixed on the stranger. “How did I hurt Perimeter?”

The young man glared. “You left us with no money. No manpower. No soul. We couldn’t contact you, even when we really needed to. But you can waltz in whenever you please, asking to use our connections? Like we’re your goddamned errand boys?”

Sabrina turned back to Theo and demanded, “Who is this clown?”

Theo gave a nervous chuckle. “Sabrina Sullivan, meet Zack Lansing. Zack took your father’s place at Perimeter.”

“What?” She took a step back, physically repulsed by the suggestion that this unpleasant upstart could ever take Sully Sullivan’s place. It was ridiculous. Her father had been the world’s most positive, inspiring man. This guy was like a dark cloud!

And it wasn’t just the attitude. It was everything. Her father had been a big man—six and a half feet tall—with shoulders a mile wide. This lean young man was barely six feet in height, with scruffy black hair and a five o’clock shadow—in the middle of the afternoon.

And the biggest indictment of all—the truest contrast with Sabrina’s father—was that fact that it had only taken Sully eleven months to track and apprehend Pluto Zenner, arguably the most brilliant assassin ever inflicted upon the world.

Now under this new “leadership,” Perimeter had had five full years to catch Pluto’s son Adonis—by all accounts a less talented man than the elder Zenner. But Adonis was still free. Sabrina knew that for sure, because she had combed the newspaper every morning for those five years, hungry for some mention of the assassin’s arrest or death. And she had checked the FBI’s Web site daily, too, anxious for the day she and her sister could be Sullivans again. The day they could regain their old lives. The day Sabrina could stop hiding and start living, hopefully as an agent of the CIA—her dream since the first moment she’d learned the agency existed.

“Sabrina?” Theo said softly.

“This silence is her way of saying I’m not worthy,” Zack muttered. “Right?”

Sabrina shrugged. “I don’t know you. But so far, I’m unimpressed. Would you mind waiting outside so I can speak to my uncle in private?”

“I’m the errand boy who’ll be running the background check for you, so I need to hear the details. But if this is about some guy who said he’d call you after the first date, then never did, I can probably explain it to you. He ran screaming for the hills.”

“Zack!” Theo glared. “Sabrina’s right. You should wait outside.”