A Highlander for Christmas (35 page)

The cat pressed closer, inquisitive and unafraid. Jared ran a hand over the sleek fur while he studied the patterns in the crumpled paper. Were these simple circuits made of sugar mixed with some organic, conductive material? Or was a biohazard hidden in that innocuous sugar?

Jared knelt by the box, feeling no further sense of threat. The paper was cold, inert beneath his fingers. “Somehow I think this was all meant to manipulate us. Someone is watching us squirm. He’s careful and I suspect he’s also deranged.”

The cat swatted the box disdainfully, then hissed as a pool of melted sugar ran toward his foot.

“
Watch that
.” Jared pulled the cat away from the box. “No telling what’s mixed with that sugar without a complete set of tests.”

The cat stepped delicately across the stream of melted sugar, then turned to look at Jared. Almost as if waiting.

The pattern on the brown paper drifted in and out of Jared’s vision, a puzzle that should have carried meaning. There was no doubt that he’d seen those careful squares before.

Hong Kong, he realized. When the explosive device of a criminal Triad group was confiscated following a string of bomb threats in public buildings. Was the same man at work here?

No, Jared sensed that this was personal, a message of power and a declaration of ultimate knowledge of Jared’s past, just as the Middle Earth address was meant to show knowledge of Maggie’s family and where she could be hurt most.

Jared watched water trickle down the sodden box, streaking the address until the black letters blurred. Nothing so far had been a coincidence. Everything had a meaning.

He stared at the blurred address, seeing parts of letters and lines.

Lion Express
.

The box’s message finally clicked into place.

Daniel Kincade. Daniel … in the lion’s den.

I’m here for Daniel Kincade
, the box was meant to say.
I’m here and I’m waiting. And I will win.

Maggie paced beside the heavy leaded windows. There was no movement in the conservatory or beyond the trees. The moat rippled and the roses swayed, but there was no sign of Jared.

Her hand tightened on the sill. She tried not to think of him crouched by the box, testing for the presence of explosives, tensed for a blast.

Guilt hit her.
Her fault. Hers and her father’s.

The game had gone on long enough. She refused to allow any more danger to the innocent people around her. She would leave tomorrow. Back in the States, she could track down some of her father’s old friends and…

And
what
?

Maggie took a hard breath as something nudged her hand. She looked down to see the gray cat padding over the windowsill. His keen amber eyes burned, full of a restless intelligence.

“What am I going to do?” she whispered. “I’ve brought this danger to all of them.”

The cat’s tail arched with feline grace. He sat on the sill, staring down toward the conservatory almost as if he could read the course of her thoughts.

“Ridiculous,” Maggie whispered.

The gray ears pricked forward. He pushed to all fours, meowing loudly.

Maggie leaned closer. “What is it?”

The great animal did not move, body tense, ears erect.

Wind brushed her face, and Maggie had the sense that she was being watched.

Simply nerves and too much imagination.

Suddenly voices boomed along the front stairs. Maggie followed the sound, crossing the marble foyer. Through the open door to the front salon she saw Jared with one arm braced on the wall, his body rigid. Across the room a man in a black vest and military fatigues paced with an arrogance that was nearly palpable. Tension snapped between them.

“Still fouling up, MacNeill? What’s the body count this time? Or have you stopped keeping score?”

Jared’s fingers tightened. “What are you doing here, Cox? I specifically requested you not be assigned to this call.”

The man in black drove a gloved finger against Jared’s chest. “There was no one else. And you know I’m still the
best
.”

“The threat has been immobilized.”

“Is that a professional opinion?” The man named Cox smiled thinly “I guess your mind really did go unscrewed in that box in Thailand.”

Jared’s hands locked. “I believe that’s enough.”

“Is it? You said the threat had been immobilized in Kowloon, too, and look what a botch-up that was. Seventeen dead and a score more wounded.”

Jared stared at the marble mantel as if it might be hiding an answer to some vast and insoluble problem. “You’re wrong as usual. It was six dead, seven wounded.”

“And most of them were ours. Good men doing a job you weren’t fit to oversee. You make me bloody sick.”

“Take it outside, Cox. Take your team with you. Tell your superior he’ll have a complete report in triplicate waiting on his desk tomorrow.”

Cox’s ruddy face tightened. “He’d better. Otherwise there’ll be a lot more men here asking questions, and you might just get roughed up in the process. No one’s forgotten Kowloon.”

“Forget Kowloon,” Jared said harshly. “You wanted Daphne and she didn’t want you. Why don’t you grow up and put it behind you?” From the cold way Jared spoke, Maggie knew he had said the same words before.

“You wish,” the man beside him snarled. “Because she was finished with you, you bloody Scot. She was going to turn Crown evidence.”

Jared shook his head. “And you believed her? Just because her hands were beyond magic and her skin was like golden pearls and she could do things that made you forget your own name? Don’t be a fool. Daphne Ling had a whole scrapbook full of men wrapped around her finger before she was even fifteen. It was what she was raised and trained for, and the Triads always collect on their investments. Especially the human kind.” He sounded tired suddenly, as if the story and its outcome belonged to someone else and he had heard it once too often. “Forget Daphne. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself.”

“Like hell I will. She was going to break off with her husband and the Triads.”

Jared laughed softly. “No one breaks with the Triad, Cox. They’ve made criminal loyalty a high art form in Asia, and you’re either one hundred percent with them or you’re one hundred percent dead. Daphne had become accustomed to the style of life that narcotics, gambling, and prostitution provided for her. What could you give her on a common soldier’s pay?”

Cox reached for the pistol holstered beneath his arm. “She
loved
me, damn it. She was going to have my baby,” he snarled, pain and rage tightening his voice. “And you couldn’t stand it so you set her up, wiping out half a dozen innocent people in the process.”

“I didn’t set the bomb that took Daphne’s life,” Jared snapped. “I didn’t oversee the final dismantling either.”

“But you gave the assessment. You set the m.o
.”
Cox’s finger stabbed into the air. “And
you
killed her, MacNeill.”

“Stop thinking with your hormones and read the files. The evidence backs me up.”

“I don’t give a bloody damn about files or evidence. We both know how easily papers can be changed.”

Maggie inched into the shadows, understanding enough to see that two men had been betrayed by a clever woman. Was this the source of the pain that filled Jared’s eyes when he thought no one was watching?

Jared paced to the window. “Do us both a favor and go home, Cox. Otherwise tell me what you really want here
.”

“What I want is Daphne and the heat of her unforgettable body. Since I can’t have that, I’ll settle for revenge. You’re going to pay for Kowloon. I’m going to see you dragged through the mud.”

“Better men have tried, Cox.”

“Maybe you should have stayed in that box. Another year might have made you almost human.”

Jared pushed away from the fireplace. “Good-bye.”

“Don’t walk away from me, MacNeill. I’m not finished here.”

Maggie saw him pull the gun from its holster and level it at Jared’s back.

She crossed the foyer, lunged for a silver vase full of roses, and spun around, tossing the contents into the officer’s ruddy face.

The pistol jerked violently as water trickled down Cox’s cheeks. Two red roses fell, quivering against his shoulders.

“Attractive, Cox.” A tall man in black fatigues and a padded vest moved quietly past Maggie, then halted in a stiff military posture. Maggie recognized him from the police station in London.

“You’ve work to finish outside. And you’ll holster that weapon before I remove you from duty permanently.”

Cox snapped a salute, while the roses continued their slow slide down his vest. “Yes, sir.”

“Outside. Finish the inspection detail. And clean off those bloody roses.”

“Sir.” Cox’s boots made wet, sucking noises as he crossed the room, leaving a trail of muddy footprints across the priceless old Peking carpet. Then he was gone.

The white-haired officer strode toward Jared. “Good to see you again, MacNeill.” He stretched out his hand, then gestured at the bandaged palm. “I won’t shake, if you don’t mind. Took a bloody sliver in training last week. Sorry about Cox. The man always was a hothead. I apologize for any unpleasantness.” The officer turned to Maggie. “Am I permitted an introduction?”

Jared seemed to hesitate. “This is Margaret Kincade. Her jewelry has been selected for Lord Draycott’s first exhibition. Maggie, this is Major Hugh Preston, Royal Marines.”

The thin, craggy face creased in a smile. “Call me Hugh, please.” He studied Maggie thoughtfully. “Exhibition? I suppose that would be the Abbey Jewels event? I saw something about it in a memo last week, but all this paperwork makes it impossible to remember anything.” He started to hold out his hand, then shrugged. “A bloody nuisance, this thing. It’s a pleasure, Ms. Kincade.” He turned crisply. “Well then, I’ll be off. We’ve the package safely contained now, and the first reports should be coming in within the hour. Some new chemistry, by the look of it. Possibly a new toxic agent in a crystalline base.”

Jared gave no answer.

The older man seemed to consider his next words carefully. “Sorry to hear about Thailand. Those people should have been shot.” He took a hard breath. “Anytime you’d consider coming back, let me know.”

“I won’t.”

“Ah, well, too bad. Could have used you last month in that sweep up near Manchester.” He nodded to Maggie. “A pleasure, Ms. Kincade. Good day to you.” His boots tapped with military precision across the foyer and out to the front door. Then sirens keened, breaking the stillness, and a car sped down the drive.

“Aren’t you going to ask?” Jared followed her to the window and traced the stiff line of her jaw.

Maggie
swallowed. “She must have been a special woman.”

“Not special,” Jared said harshly. “Tormented. Brilliant. Insatiable. But
not
special.” His hand anchored her shoulder. “Turn around, Maggie. Look at me.” She turned, almost against his chest, almost close enough to be swallowed up by the strange restlessness in his eyes. “What else do you want to know?”

All of it
, she wanted to say. But the controlled tension in his body warned her that he was struggling with bitter memories, and Maggie was afraid the wrong question would hurt them both.

“It’s not easy to remember. It’s even harder to talk about. Still, you have a right to answers.” His hands tightened, then slid into her hair. “Ask me.”

“Tell me about Thailand. Tell me about that box the officer mentioned.” She swallowed. “Tell me about your job in Hong Kong.”

She felt tension lance through him again. “Antiterrorism. There was a flood of panic at the thought of millions of hostiles held back by flimsy wooden gates and checkpoints. If the Chinese government chose to move in, there was no way we could have stopped them. But in the end they didn’t. Instead there was a constant stream of isolated incidents. Most of it was criminal, part of the endless infighting of rival Triad gangs staking out a power base.” He made a tight, angry sound. “That’s where Daphne Ling came in. She was Triad through and through, even though Cox refuses to believe it. Her husband was a very highly placed ‘dragon,’ and I have no doubt it was his idea to see how many government agents Daphne could sink her lovely claws into.”