“You’re not the target.”
“But I’ll be a witness unless you let me leave before Doane gets here.” Her lips twisted. “A Renaissance assassin wouldn’t leave a witness, would he? It wouldn’t be clever or efficient.”
“You’re making fun of me?” His eyes narrowed on her face. “You’re not afraid of me at all, are you?”
“Why should I be afraid? You’ll either kill me, or you won’t. If I can get away from you or take you out, then I’ll do it. But there’s no reason to let a two-bit killer intimidate me.”
“Most people are afraid when faced by death,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s interesting that you aren’t. I had that same impression when I spoke to you on the phone. Why aren’t you?”
“I told you.” She stared him in the eye. “Let me go. I’ll disappear. I won’t be a witness. I don’t care if Doane dies. I was thinking about doing it myself.”
“Were you?” His brows rose. “Yet your profession is based on compassion. Just thinking about it?”
She didn’t answer. “Let me go.”
“But then you might creep up behind me and attack,” his voice was faintly mocking. “There’s always that possibility. You appear to have such fierce instincts.”
“You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you? All I want to do is go home and live my life. I don’t care anything about you. You’re nothing to me.” She held up her bound wrists. “I just want out of these ropes so that I have a chance when Doane gets here. I won’t let him or Kevin kill me. If you won’t let me go, just untie me so that I can fight him. I may save you the trouble of killing him.”
“No trouble. I don’t regard disposing of him as a chore. But I’m surprised you mentioned Kevin. We both know I killed him over five years ago.”
“A slip of the tongue.”
“Was it?” He studied her face. “I don’t … think so.”
“Think what you like.”
“I always do,” he said. “Are you hungry?”
“No.”
“How long has it been since you ate?”
“I don’t remember.”
“And what was it?”
“Berries.”
“Not very substantial.” He took a leather case from his jacket. “Would you like some beef jerky?”
“Is that supposed to be my last meal?”
“No; just protein to keep you going if I find it necessary to take you on the run.”
“But you have me so beautifully staked out here.”
“True.” He got to his feet and came around the fire. “But a little food is always diplomatically correct with prisoners. I always go by the Geneva Convention.” He knelt in front of her. “Should I feed it to you? Or can you handle it yourself?”
“I can do it.” She took the strip of jerky in one of her bound hands and lifted it to her lips.
“Such trust. What if it’s poison?” He snapped his fingers. “That’s right, you’re not to be intimidated.”
“You could have killed me when I was unconscious. Why poison me?” She gnawed off a piece of the jerky. “You’re right; berries only sustain. Anything that gives additional strength is good.” She glanced up at him. “Even you, Zander. No, you’re only tolerable.”
He sat back on his heels, watching her chew the jerky. “You look like you’ve had a rough couple days. You’re dirty and bruised.” He reached out and touched her hair. “And your hair looks like a haystack.”
She stiffened. “Don’t touch me.”
“Are you fearing for your virtue?” His gaze narrowed on her face. “No, that’s not it. You know, don’t you? He told you.”
She didn’t answer.
“I was wondering if he would,” Zander murmured. “I rather thought he’d save it for the big surprise. When did he break it to you?”
“After I threw Kevin’s skull off the cliff.”
“What?” He started to laugh. “You did that? Priceless.”
“He’s crazy. It’s all lies.” She glanced away from him. “He had to find some way to punish you in a way that would hurt you the same way that you hurt him, and he made up that bullshit.”
“Very logical of you.”
“It’s the only reasonable explanation for all this madness he’s put everyone through.”
“There is another explanation.”
“No, there’s not.”
“I disagree. A much simpler one.” He smiled. “That I am your father, Eve.”
She inhaled sharply. “No,” she said flatly. “I have no father.”
“That’s an impossibility, I’m afraid. Sandra was no Virgin Mary.”
“Don’t talk about my mother,” she said fiercely. “You have no right. It’s all lies.”
“So defensive.” He shrugged. “I’m just being honest. I’m not really attacking her. When I first knew Sandra, she was young and beautiful and hungry for everything that life held. That’s not bad, that’s human.” He paused. “But from what I’ve heard about your childhood, she didn’t deserve you defending her … You practically raised yourself when she got hooked on drugs. You had to take care of her from the time you were a kid.”
“That’s none of your business. She straightened herself out after I got pregnant with Bonnie. She was wonderful with my Bonnie.” She threw the strip of jerky he’d given her on the ground. “I don’t know what kind of game you and Doane are playing, but I’m not part of it. My mother wasn’t even sure who my father was.”
“She knew, Eve.”
“Why should I believe you? You come into my life and say you’re my father. Where’s your proof?” She shook her head, her eyes glittering fiercely. “My mother might have not been the best mother in the world, but she was there. Even if I did believe you, my answer is still the same. I have no father.”
“Fair enough. I have no intention of arguing with you. Though I might be able to furnish you with proof that would satisfy you.” He smiled. “But then there are different degrees of satisfaction. If I proved I was your father, that doesn’t mean you’d be happy about it. Quite the contrary. To call me a rotten apple on the family tree would be an understatement.”
“You don’t care if I’m happy. I’m bait, remember?”
“Certainly, how could I forget? But I’m beginning to think there’s something else going on. I may have to explore it.”
“The only thing going on is that you have me tied, and I want to be free.” She looked at the trees. “He should be coming anytime.”
“No, you’ll notice I set the fire so that the flames are burning low, and there’s little smoke. We may have a long time before Doane gets a visual or a whiff of the smoke.”
“And why did you do that?”
“I’m not sure. Impulse?”
“But you want to get this business with Doane over with. That’s why you’re here instead of waiting until Doane came after you. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yes, and I’m sure that’s my primary reason. I’m a professional.”
“You’re a killer.”
“And that’s my profession. It should be done well or not at all.”
“Okay, that’s the primary reason,” she said impatiently. “What other reason could you have?”
“Curiosity? Boredom? I no longer have to rely on my profession to furnish me with either money or purpose. I haven’t for a number of years. Loss of purpose can be a dangerous thing for a man like me, it makes one careless. But I’ve always had an inquiring mind, and that’s still a force. I’ve noticed that I require a stimulant to keep me interested in life.” His lips twisted. “Not surprising in a man who has dealt with death most of his adult life. I need something more.”
“Then go join a monastery in Tibet.”
“Actually, I spent some time at one during one point in my life. It was a total waste of time for me. There was mental challenge but little else.”
Her eyes widened. She hadn’t expected that answer to the suggestion she’d so scornfully tossed out
. “So you went back to your true profession?”
“I never left it. I was sent to the monastery to kill Tenzin Dorje, a priest who was inciting political unrest in the country.”
“And did you kill him?”
“No, I learned enough from the order that I figured that I was paid in full.” He shrugged. “I don’t like dealing with politicians anyway. They’re never trustworthy.”
“You didn’t do your job?” Her lips twisted. “That’s not professional.”
“It would have been unprofessional if I’d taken their money and walked away. I did not. My reputation was still unblemished.” He paused. “Though I might as well have made the kill. I knew that priest was a dead man.”
“And was he?”
“Of course; six months later they sent someone else up the mountain to the monastery. He wasn’t nearly as good or as clean as I was, but he did the job.”
“And you had no regrets?”
“I didn’t say that. Venable says I’m too cold to have any feelings, but occasionally I feel a stirring.” He smiled. “They just aren’t what other people usually identify as conventional emotions. That priest knew that he would probably die for what he believed. Part of me wanted to tell him what a fool he was, another part wanted to knock him on the head and take him away and let him convert Eskimos or something. But people do what they have to do. So I went down the mountain and let him do what he had to do.”
“Die.”
“Yes.” He looked down at the fire. “Death comes to everyone. The bad, the good, the guilty, the innocent. You have a lot of experience in that particular truth, don’t you? Your Bonnie was both good and innocent, wasn’t she?”
“You have no idea. She’s special. And beautiful, so beautiful.” Eve’s gaze went to his face. If by some wild chance what he had told her was true, Zander was Bonnie’s grandfather. She found herself trying to find a resemblance. He had fine, strong features, but she could not see Bonnie in him.
His glance shifted from the fire and caught her appraisal. “You’re relieved that Bonnie doesn’t look like me.”
And Eve was annoyed that he’d read her so easily. “There’s no reason why she should. You’re not my father. How do you know what Bonnie looks like?”
“Bonnie is a gigantic portion of your life and history. I told you, I’m curious. There are many photos of Bonnie from the time she was kidnapped. Naturally, I’d explore that aspect of your life.”
“There’s nothing natural about your being curious about me.”
He chuckled. “It disturbs you more than I thought that you’ve found your humble, long-lost father. You don’t like the idea that you have to claim me. Are you afraid I might have corrupted your genes?”
“The question is moot since I’m not claiming you.”
“But would it bother you?”
“Hell, no. I am what I am. What I’ve made of myself. I don’t believe that who started you on the journey has anything to say about what you do on the road. That comes from life experiences and who is on that road with you.” She paused. “And we all have souls. Some souls are more beautiful than others. My Bonnie…” She paused. “She has a soul that could light up the universe. Do you think that I’d ever believe that a few degenerate threads of DNA from you or anyone else could change what she became the short time she was on Earth? What she gave to all of us?”
“No.” His gaze was fixed intently on her face. “I don’t think you’d ever believe that, Eve. If I were a more sentimental man, I’d feel a sense of comfort that you hold me free from blame.” He grimaced. “But unfortunately, sentiment seems to have been left out of my makeup. Or perhaps it was scourged out of me at some point.”
“Scourged? I can’t see you being scourged by anyone.”
“Of course not. Just an attempt to win your sympathy.”
“Bullshit.”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t want sentiment or lies. There’s only one thing I want from you.” She held out her wrists to him. “Let me go.”
He didn’t answer for a moment. “It’s possible. But I’d be giving up bait for no reimbursement. After all, as we discussed that was my prime purpose. The idea appalls me.” He paused. “Let me think.”
“Don’t tease me, dammit.” She dropped her hands before her. For an instant she’d had a surge of hope, followed by disappointment and anger. “I won’t beg you, Zander.”
“No, I know you won’t. I suspected that you had a sense of your own worth before I met you, and now I’m sure of it. It’s a quality I respect.”
“Because you definitely have a sense of your own worth.”
He chuckled. “See how well we’re getting to know each other?” He was silent. “You want me to let you go.”
“I won’t ask you again.”
“You didn’t ask me, it was more of a demand.”
“Because you don’t really need me to get what you want. Doane will come when he sees the smoke. Then you’ll have him.”
“That could be one way to handle it,” Zander said. “But there’s the question of reimbursement.”
“You want me to pay you some kind of ransom? How much?”
“You couldn’t afford me, Eve. Of course, I could go to your lover, Quinn. He’s very rich, inherited money from his parents, I understand.”
“Joe is out of this. It’s between you and me, Zander.”
“That’s my take on it, too,” he said softly. “You and me, Eve.”
There was a note in his voice that caused her to stiffen. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Reimbursement. I didn’t realize until I actually arrived in this godforsaken place that I might have another reason than Doane to be on the hunt.”
“You wanted to save me from him?” she asked sarcastically.
“Oh, that would violate my prime directive as they say in the Sci-Fi genre. Yet as I was tracking you through the forest and learning the way you thought and used those valuable instincts, I realized that I had a need to know you.” His brows rose. “It was very sobering. I’ve known you existed for most of your life and been able to ignore you. And for the past five years, I’ve had your dossier in front of me and your photo looking up at me, and I’ve been able to be very cool and calculating about you.”
“So?”
“I didn’t realize that it must have been exerting an insidious effect on me until I came here.”
“But you’re a man of no sentiment.”
“So it must be intense curiosity. Why else?” He looked her in the eye. “Because, whether you believe it or not, I am your father, Eve. Since I appear to have trouble forgetting that at the moment, I need to explore who you are, what you are, so that I can dismiss you from my mind and walk away.”
She could almost believe him. Zander would have no reason to lie to her when he was not trying to get anything from her, and she was clearly on the defensive. “I don’t care whether you’re my father or not. You can walk away right now.”
“And I will.” He smiled. “And so will you. All you have to do is sit there and answer my questions. Satisfy my curiosity. Then I’ll cut those ropes and let you run into the forest while I wait for Doane.”
She gazed at him warily. “What kind of questions?”
“Are you afraid I’ll delve into your sex life with Quinn? Perish the thought. I’ll skate lightly over your love life. It really doesn’t interest me.”
“What does interest you?”
“What you’re doing running free in the forest. How you grew up. How you feel when you’re working on those reconstructions. Jane MacGuire. Bonnie…”
“That’s very personal stuff, Zander.”
“But I don’t believe you’ll be hesitant about talking about it. You don’t have many secrets do you, Eve?”
“No, but I know if I want you to—”
“Reimbursement, Eve. Not such a high price, is it?”
She looked down at her bound wrists. “No.”
He reached in his leather pouch and gave her another strip of jerky. “Don’t throw this one away.” He stretched out on the ground and gazed at her over the flames. “I’ll wait until you finish before I start asking questions.”
“I have a question for you.” She took a bite of jerky. “Why should I trust you to keep your word and let me go?”
“You probably shouldn’t. But I do keep my word. It’s the sign of a true professional.”
“Just look at you.” She slowly chewed the jerky. “You’re all relaxed and stretched out there staring at me as if you were lying on a living-room couch waiting to be entertained by your favorite TV show.”
“It would be a good simile if I watched TV. I fully intend to stare at you while you answer my questions. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Why? You’ve just told me what a mess I am with all these bruises and the dirt.”
“Sometimes both can be badges of courage or interesting contrasts to what lies beneath. After the first glance, I barely noticed them. All I could see was the defiance in your eyes and the tension in your body. You seemed to shine … Everything else went away.” He added, “I want to see your expressions. It will be the best part of the show.”
“And what if I refuse to perform?”
“That’s your choice. But it would be a foolish one. It might be an easy out.”
“This entire business is foolish.”
“But I’m the CEO of the business at the moment. So humor me and get your chance to walk away.”
“Just because you’re curious about me.” She stared at him for a long moment. “You do believe you’re my father. It’s not some scam.” She shook her head in wonder. “Crazy. And so wrong.”
“Perhaps. But I’m very seldom wrong. You don’t want to hear why I believe it right now, and I understand. You reject me as a father and the fact that Sandra lied to you. But, since I do believe it, you should take advantage of the situation. Satisfy my curiosity. Then I’ll be able to go my way and forget about you again. And you’ll be free to take off again with the knowledge that I’ll be removing Doane from your path.” He added, “I’ll even tell you where I left the extra phone and weapon I always stash for emergencies. A ticket to freedom, Eve.”