Final Target (9 page)

"The only thing you should be scared about is if we can't stop what's happening to Cassie…and me. I'm not nuts. I'm just riding that tornado and hoping something will make it go away." She squeezed Jessica's hand. "Toward the end, after Travis came, I was feeling stronger and I began to think instead of feel. Maybe if I can gain some control, I'll be able to stop the tornado."

"God, I hope so."

"But I have to have Michael Travis, Jessica. I'm not strong enough to fight for Cassie by myself. He has to stand between."

"You're talking as if he's some kind of medium."

"I don't know why he's able to help Cassie. You brought him to Cassie because I told you to find something to break the flow. It worked.
He
worked. We may be able to do without him later but not now. Get him, Jessica."

"Oh, I got him. It wasn't difficult. He finds the situation very interesting and he's bored at the moment." She made a face. "But he's not going to be easy to handle."

"I could tell." She got to her feet. "Now I need to go for a run before I hit the books." She brushed a kiss across Jessica's forehead. "Poor Jessica. I know it's hard for you. But everything will be okay."

Melissa was treating her as if she were a child. Well, she felt as confused as a child. Everything Melissa had said was out of her realm of belief, yet she had no option but to go along with her. "Just one more question. What would have happened to you if I hadn't brought Travis last night?"

She didn't speak for a moment. "I don't know. I'm not sure how it works. But I don't think I could have broken free at the end."

"The end?"

She moved quickly toward the door. "If Cassie had died, she would have taken me with her."

Melissa knocked on the door of the gatehouse. "The sun is shining and all's right with the world. Come out and play, Michael Travis."

Travis threw open the door. "I beg your pardon?"

"In case you don't recognize me as the rag of a woman you saw in my bedroom last night, I'm Melissa Riley."

"Oh, I recognize you."

"Then go change and come out and run with me. You usually run about this time, don't you?"

"Yes."

"I'll wait." She came into the house and dropped onto the sofa. "This is a nice place. Jessica and I used to play here when we were kids. Hurry, will you? I have to get back and study."

He smiled. " I'll try not to keep you waiting." He disappeared into the bedroom.

Mellie glanced around. Open laptop on the dining table, books piled on the coffee table. But other than that, he was very neat. It was what she'd expected. Everything organized.

She leaned forward and checked out the book titles. She smiled. Smart. Very smart.

She moved to the window and looked up at the manor. How many times had he stood here and stared at the lights in Cassie's window?

"Ready." He came out of the bedroom wearing shorts and an Oxford University T-shirt. "Unless you've changed your mind, Ms. Riley?"

He didn't know what to think of her. That was okay. It put her one step ahead. "No way. And call me Melissa or Mellie like Jessica does." She jumped to her feet and trotted outside. The sun struck her face like a blessing, and she stopped and closed her eyes. "Isn't it beautiful today? And smell that grass. I love mornings after a rain. It just sort of…fills me until I overflow."

"Your cup runneth over?"

"Yep." Her eyes flicked open and she jumped down the steps. "Race you to the pond in back of the house."

She beat him by four yards. She leaned against the willow tree and tried to get her breath. "Did you let me win?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You're in good shape and I've seen you run."

"You're in pretty good shape yourself."

She chuckled. "From another man I'd take that as a pass."

"Why not from me?"

"Because you're not interested in sex at the moment. You're wondering what the hell I'm up to."

"Am I going to find out?"

She nodded. "When I get my breath." She sank down on the ground. "What do you think I'm up to?"

"I'm supposed to talk until you get your breath?"

"Good guess."

"Let's see." He dropped down a few feet away. " It's difficult to assess motivations, since I've never met you before. From what I've observed at a distance, you and your sister seem very close. Did she send you with a message?"

"Jessica delivers her own messages. I deliver mine."

"And what is your message?"

She stared him directly in the eyes. "Don't you dare do anything to hurt my sister."

His brows lifted." I have no intention of harming her."

"I believe you. However, action doesn't always follow intent. It gets sidetracked when personal gain becomes involved. You don't care anything about Jessica. I doubt if you care about Cassie. It's hard to tell."

"Is it? But you must know I helped her last night."

"No one knows better." She paused. "As I think you're aware."

He looked at her inquiringly.

"You had three books on parapsychology on the coffee table. One I left when I came down for a visit. I read it in the gatehouse because I didn't want Jessica to see it around the manor. I've never read the other two. Where did you get them in the middle of the night?"

"I sent one of the Secret Service men at the gate to an all-night bookstore in D.C. They were very obliging as long as I didn't leave the property. I spent several hours scanning them." He smiled. "And since I didn't get any sleep, I wasn't going to take my visual morning run."

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?"

"Heaven forbid. You have enough problems."

Her gaze narrowed on his face. "Then I assume you found what you wanted in those books?"

"I overheard what you told your sister in the bedroom last night. That was enough to pique my interest. So I hit the Internet and then hunkered down with a few books."

"And you found out I was a freak."

"But not the only one. Not even the first one."

"What?"

"Did you think you were the only case who came back with a little baggage on the side? Professor Hans Dedrick discovered four cases similar to your own. One in Greece, one in Switzerland, and two in China."

"Dedrick?"

"
Trauma, Memory, and the Way Back
. It was written in 1999. You didn't read it?"

She shook her head in bewilderment. "And I even combed through the libraries trying to find something, anything…"

"It was published by a university press in Great Britain. As you've noted, I'm an expert at retrieving information. I'll let you borrow it if you like."

"I'll get my own copy as soon as I get back to school. Did Jessica mention anything about me?"

"Not a syllable. It's natural that she'd be very protective. She's spent a good many years caring for you. Your talent is somewhat 'unusual,' and she wouldn't want you to be misunderstood."

Jesus, he was clever. He had watched and listened and put the puzzle pieces of their lives and relationship together. "And do you understand?"

"Do you mean believe? Perhaps. I spent a lot of my early years in the East, and I've seen stranger things. It certainly doesn't make me uneasy."

Melissa studied him. "No, it only interests you. Jessica told me you dealt in information, and I can see how you'd be good at that. You gather and dig and analyze…You find it exciting, don't you?"

"Yes. Since I've been cursed with boundless curiosity, it's definitely an addiction."

"And dealing with Cassie is a quick fix for a few weeks of boredom?"

"I'm not quite so callous. I wouldn't use that nice kid just to relieve the monotony. I help her, she helps me." He chuckled. "Though I didn't realize until you appeared on the scene how intriguing the next few weeks may prove to be. When did you realize you had this bizarre talent? Your sister didn't mention anything about it in her book."

"She didn't know about it. She was so happy she'd brought me back that I didn't want to spoil anything for her. I wouldn't have told her about it if we hadn't run into this problem with Cassie. She's not like you. It makes her damn uneasy."

"I
can see why. She impressed me as being a very solemn, pragmatic lady."

"She's had to be pragmatic It's not as if she doesn't have a great sense of humor. She didn't have much chance to-"

"Okay, okay. I didn't mean to insult her. She seems to be a very caring woman." He changed the subject. "You didn't answer me. When did you realize you were broadcasting on a different wavelength?"

"About five months after I came back. It scared the hell out of me." She stood up. "Now, take your curiosity and stuff it. That's all you're going to get out of me."

"You can never tell. I haven't even started yet." He got to his feet. "Let's be perfectly clear. You're warning me to stay away from your sister and Cassie?"

"Where did you get that idea? Cassie needs you."

"And do you need me, Melissa?" he asked softly.

"Yes, but I'm working on it." She bent down and retied her left running shoe. "So don't get used to the idea. You're going to be replaced." She straightened. "Jessica is the most decent human being on the face of the earth. I won't have her hurt." She held up a hand as he started to speak." I don't care that you don't intend to do it. Right now the most important thing in her life is getting Cassie well. If Cassie dies, she'll be devastated. So you're going to make sure she doesn't die. You're not going to walk away if you see something more interesting on the horizon. You're going to stay until Cassie's on the road to recovery if it takes years."

"Are you quite finished telling me what I'm going to do?"

"No, you have to promise to protect Jessica. The President put you here because you needed to be kept safe. I don't want any of the flak surrounding you to impact her."

"Is that all?"

"For now."

"Good. Then I'll race you back to the gatehouse." He looked back over his shoulder. "And this time you won't win, Melissa."

He hadn't promised anything, but she hadn't really counted on it. It was enough that he knew what she expected of him. "It won't bother me." She started after him. "I'll just work on it."

I'll just work on it.

Travis stood in the doorway and watched Melissa race up the drive. That single sentence seemed to sum up Melissa Riley. Courage in adversity and a determination to have her own way no matter what it took. On the other hand, maybe that sentence didn't encompass her entire personality. He'd never seen anyone with such glowing vitality. In her book Jessica had talked about the first months after Melissa had come back. Not only had her sister displayed a superior intelligence, she had also shown an insatiable thirst for life, which Jessica had attributed to the desire to make up for lost time. She'd said she expected the effect to dwindle after a few years.

Well, those few years had passed and he had an idea Jessica had been wrong. Melissa Riley was a firecracker and more complex than any of them might be able to imagine. Jessica had bargained and handled him with reason and maturity. Melissa hadn't tried to bargain. She'd analyzed his character and then thrown down a challenge…and a threat.

How phenomenally well she'd read him in such a brief encounter.

Interesting…

"What were you doing down by the pond with Travis?" Jessica's voice was disapproving. "Not a good idea, Mellie."

"He's not off limits anymore." Melissa grinned over her shoulder as she started up the stairs. "And he's more interesting than I first thought. He's very bright, and intelligence is mega-sexy."

"The President may have said he's not off limits, but I didn't. For God's sake, he's a criminal."

"And you want me to find a lawyer or a doctor or maybe a computer executive. What about a banker?"

"Sounds good to me."

Melissa smiled. "Okay, I'll look for one the minute I go back to school."

"I'm not joking, Mellie."

"I know you're not. You think I need a stabilizing influence. You're probably right. Stop worrying, I didn't ask him to go to bed with me. We just took a little run together."

Jessica moistened her lips. "I didn't think you-I wouldn't ask you to tell-"

"But I'll tell you anyway." Her smile faded. "I'd never do anything to cause you concern. If you don't want me to go running with Travis, it stops right here."

"And you think I'm a nosy bitch."

"I think you love and care about me. And not running with him is no great loss. Our little jog couldn't have been more casual."

"It didn't look casual. It looked damned intense."

And it had felt intense. For the few minutes they were running together, Melissa had been aware of a weird sense of intimacy. And when they had been talking at the pond, she had almost felt the sparks, the undercurrent, that lay beneath every word. It had been…exciting.
He
had been exciting.

Well, danger was always exciting, but Travis could become an enemy in a heartbeat.

So? Playing games with the enemy was stimulating too.

Still, that didn't make it the best option to choose in this circumstance. She started back up the stairs. "Nah, it's definitely the banker for me, Jessica."

* * *

Amsterdam

"Something very interesting is happening," Provlif told Deschamps over the phone.

"You found Cassie Andreas?"

"No, but while my CIA contact was nosing around trying to locate her, he stumbled on another bit of information. Andreas sent
Air Force One
on a hush-hush trip to Amsterdam a few weeks ago."

"Carrying his daughter?"

"No, it was a retrieval. They picked up Michael Travis and brought him to Andrews Air Force Base."

"Travis?" Deschamps was puzzled. It didn't fit with the information he'd gathered. "The CIA captured him?"

"They picked him up and delivered him to the President. They left together for an unknown destination."

"You're sure?"

"My source in the CIA is impeccable."

"Then why can't they tell you where the girl is?"