The Switch (38 page)

He placed one hand on the back of her neck and supported her forehead with his other palm. She tried to wave him off, but he stood firm. Several more spasms seized her. When the retching stopped, he assisted her to stand upright and backed her into the car fender for additional support.

"Better?" Gently he brushed a strand of hair off her clammy cheek.

Keeping her eyes averted, she replied, "Embarrassed."

"As many times as I've hurled in the simulator? As many times as I've been hurled upon in the simulator? Don't be silly." He removed a handkerchief from his rear pocket and dabbed her lips.

"Thanks. I think this is a first, vomiting in front of a man." "You had good reason to be sick."

When she looked up at him, he could see tears sparkling in her eyes. They reflected the headlights of oncoming cars as they whizzed past on the boulevard. "Gillian was so excited, so hopeful for success," she said. "She wanted a baby. Was that so wrong? Was she being punished for something?"

"Melina." He put his arms around her and hugged her close. "You know that's not the way it works."

"Then how could something that wonderful and beautiful be contaminated and turned into something that revolting?" "You can't be certain that Gillian—"

"No, I can't be certain." She shuddered. "I really can't even bear to think that Gordon used his own semen. The thought of it is nauseating."

He continued holding her, stroking her hair, then finally set her away and helped her into the car. "Where to now?" he asked as he pulled back into traffic.

"Home." He looked at her with surprise, and she smiled wryly. "That's where I
want
to go. My bathtub. My bed. My pillow"

"But you're afraid."

"I wish I had warned Linda Croft to be. If I had, she might have taken precautions."

He started driving with no particular destination in mind.

"I'm sure Lawson or Tobias would provide you with protection."

"Not an option," she said without hesitation. "If they had me under lock and key, I couldn't maneuver. They would tell me only what they wanted me to know. I'd be powerless. I wouldn't get first crack at—"

When she broke off, he asked, "At what?"

"Nothing."

"At whoever ordered Gillian killed?" When she looked at him directly, words were superfluous. He could read the answer there in her eyes.

"You don't have to go along, Chief," she said quietly. "I haven't mentioned your name to Tobias. He's guessing you're with me, but I haven't confirmed it."

"Thanks for that."

"You're not involved."

"What are you talking about?" he asked angrily. "I'm involved up to my eyebrows. I wouldn't mind having first crack at the responsible party myself."

"It could blow up in our faces."

"I'm willing to take that chance."

"It could become a big news story that would impact your future and nullify your entire career with NASA."

"That's what that lawyer told me, too. But he couldn't talk me out of this, and neither can you. If it becomes an issue, I'll just have to deal with it, won't I?"

"Deal with it," she murmured. "J
em said that to me last night. '
Gillian's dead, Melina. We're just
going to have to deal with it.'"

"You know, the more I hear about that prick, the more I hate him."

She fished a slip of paper from her purse and palmed her cell phone. "Let's see who Jem calls routinely."

"While you're doing that, I've got to have something to
eat."

He pulled into a Burger King and got in line for the drive-through.

"Just a Coke for me, please."

"With sugar and caffeine?" "Absolutely."

He ordered a cheeseburger and fries and two large drinks. By the time he'd picked up the food at the window, Melina had
called two of the numbers on Hennings's autodial, which had turned out to be the retrieval numbers for his office and home voice mail boxes. After dialing the third sequence of numbers,
she clicked off quickly and clutched the phone to her chest. He took a bite of burger. "What?"

"Gillian's number. I got her recording."

He was tempted to ask Melina to redial so that he could hear her voice but decided against it. It would have disconcerted him as much as it obviously had her. She stared vacantly into near space for a long moment, then doggedly
dialed the next number on the list. W
aiting for it to ring, she took
a sip of her cold drink.

When the phone was answered, Chief noticed that she swallowed hard, forcing down the Coke. "Pardon?" she said.

Quickly she reached across the seat and pressed the phone against his ear so that he could hear the female voice on the
other end of the line when she repeated, "You've reached the Temple. Peace and love."

Decisively Melina depressed the end button.

Chief said, "That's the name of that preacher's—" "Brother Gabriel."

"His outfit in New Mexico."

"The number is on Jem's autodial. He calls it frequently." Chief cranked the ignition key, and the car clattered to life.

He threw the shift stick into reverse, and the car shot from the parking space. Tires squealed and smoked when he stopped at a trash receptacle only long enough to heave the remainder of his food into it before stamping the accelerator and wheeling the car into the fast flow of traffic.

"Is Hennings overtly religious?" he asked as he took the entrance ramp onto the tollway.

"Not at all. He even expressed surprise over the spiritual tone of Gillian's memorial service."

"I suppose it could be a coincidence that both he and Dale Gordon had an interest in Brother Gabriel's ministry."

"I don't believe that. If it were a coincidence, Jem would have mentioned it."

"I don't believe it, either. I'm just thinking out loud."

"Having the telephone number programmed into his auto-dial indicates more than a passing interest. It signifies devotion."

"What do you know about Hennings?" he asked. "Family?" "His parents are deceased, no brothers or sisters. Some distant cousins living in London."

"Which could be convenient lies for a man wanting to cover tracks. Where'd he come from originally?"

"He says Oregon."

"But you're not sure?"

"I'm not sure of anything. It's frightening, isn't it? That you can be close to someone and not know them at all." "He would have been your brother-in-law."

"Never. Sooner or later Gillian would have come to her senses."

By the time they reached the exit and slowed down to pay the toll, they had concluded that, to some degree, Jem was involved in all of it. The murder. Dale Gordon. The attack on Chief. The men at Melina's house. Linda Croft.

"He's more than just a sideline participant," Chief said tightly, his lips barely moving. "I think the son of a bitch is a key player."

"But in what? How does it all fit together?" Melina asked in consternation. “Jem's sterile."

"Or so he's claimed."

"What man would claim to be who wasn't? And how does all of this tie in to Brother Gabriel?"

They had many more questions than answers. They hoped to scare them out of Jem.

"You're a white-knuckle passenger, Melina," Chief remarked when he was forced to stop for a red light.

"And you're a maniac behind the wheel."

"You said to hurry. I hurried. Just wish I'd had my own car."

"God forbid. For once I'm grateful for the clunker."

Actually she was glad that Chief was driving. She was a competent driver who had little patience with poky motorists, but she never would have taken the chances that he did. He drove well, but far too fast and with a derring-do that more than once had caused her heart to lurch. But if his driving shaved minutes off the trip, all the better. She was eager to confront Jem.

"They're on their way here now" Jem was relieved to report this to Mr. Hancock. The last few previous reports hadn't been this positive.

"You're sure?"

"They've taken the most direct route from north Dallas. They could be going somewhere else, but it appears that they're on their way to see me."

He purposefully omitted mentioning Melina and Hart's visit to the Andersons. By the time Joshua and his friend had reached the suburban home, the Andersons had split and a police car was parked out front. An unhappy setback, but not disastrous. The couple would eventually resurface.

In the meantime, what purpose would be served by bringing it to Brother Gabriel's attention? It would only be something else for him to worry about.

Nor had he reported on Linda Croft. He had given that order himself. As soon as Joshua had reported to him what Melina had been up to when she wasn't breaking into his apartment, he had instructed Joshua to permanently silence the nurse. It was doubtful that she was privy to anything that might prove harmful, but he favored eliminating even the
possibility.

It had been a stressful, eventful day. Thanks to Melina and
her Indian friend, Brother Gabriel was burdened with all sorts of unpleasantness. Why make things worse by telling him about Linda Croft and the Andersons? He was doing
Brother Gabriel a favor by sparing him more concern. "They're minutes away," he told Hancock now. `By last report, they were at the cross-street intersection. They'll be here— Ah, there's my buzzer now. Please hold on, Mr. Hancock."

He moved to the intercom near his door and picked up the telephone receiver. "Yes?"

"You have guests, Mr. Hennings."

"Oh, who?"

"The young lady who identified herself as your
fiancée
earlier today." He'd given Harry the new doorman a blistering lecture for admitting his
fiancée
into his apartment when his
fiancée
had been dead for four days. The man's tone was suitably deferential now. "There's a gentleman with her."

"Send them up, please."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Hennings."

"And Harry, there'll be two other gentlemen arriving shortly. When they do, send them up as well. No need to ring me back."

"Sure thing, sir."

"Don't mention those later arrivals to Ms. Lloyd."

"No, sir."

Jem resumed his telephone conversation with Hancock.

"They're here, on their way up. Joshua won't be far behind." "The woman is not to be harmed, Mr. Hennings."

“As you've told me already."

"Brother Gabriel was very specific about that. He does not want her injured. Not severely, anyway."

"I understand," he said, although he didn't. Why didn't Brother Gabriel just cut his losses? Why preserve Melina? The Program didn't need her. There were thousands of other women in the world who would do just as well as she and be much less trouble to manage.

He supposed that Brother Gabriel couldn't view her as "the one who got away," as an ordinary man would. He wasn't an ordinary man. To Brother Gabriel, Melina was a stumbling block to a divinely inspired mission. As such, she needed spiritual guidance, indoctrination, and discipline. It was admirable of him to want to redeem her and not to take her defiance personally.

Jem wasn't that high-minded. He was finding it increasingly difficult to be forgiving. He couldn't regard her repeated insults as spiritual shortcomings. They were blatant, personal affronts that he simply couldn't overlook and forgive.

"Don't worry, Mr. Hancock," he said smoothly. "These men are professionals. Joshua understands the delicacy of the situation. He knows what to do."

"Yes, I'm certain he does."

Hancock hung up first. Jem determined then that the next time he called in a report, he would demand—not request
—
to speak directly to Brother Gabriel. He resented his conversations being filtered through Hancock, who, in his opinion, was no more than a glorified secretary.

However, with Melina and Christopher Hart on their way up, thoughts of the haughty Mr. Hancock gave way to more imperative matters.

CHAPTER 27

When they entered, the doorman had greeted them sourly. He was no friendlier after speaking with Jem. "He says you can go up, Ms. Lloyd."

"Thank you."

"You got me into a lot of trouble with Mr. Hennings. Why'd you lie to me about being his
fiancée
?"

"So... Mr. Hennings knows that I went into his apartment earlier?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Great," Chief muttered. As they made their way to the elevator, he nervously glanced over his shoulder. She did likewise and saw that the parking valet was driving the clunker into the cavernous garage. She would have preferred it be left out front and wished too late that they had thought to request that.

But her paranoia was no more alive than Chief's. When they got into the elevator, he punched the button for every floor. She looked at him quizzically.