Chain Lightning (4 page)

There was a burst of applause.

“Well, go on,“ Anthea said, prodding Mandy. “Go up there and claim your prize.“

Wide, cognac-colored eyes fixed on Anthea. “What?“

“Sutter,“ Anthea said. “You’re supposed to walk offstage with him.“

“But I didn’t – “

“Of course you did,“ interrupted Anthea. “Everyone here heard you. Now get up there before you embarrass him.“

“Embarrass?
Sutter?“

The thought was so ridiculous and at the same time so delicious that Mandy laughed aloud. She was still smiling widely when she walked onstage, followed every inch of the way by the spotlight, her long legs gleaming in their black silk sheaths. In a glittering, slithering cloud of black fabric, she came to a halt a few feet away from Sutter.

And crooked her finger at him.

Even two weeks later, the memory of that moment was enough to make Mandy shiver. Sutter’s sudden, dangerous smile was burned indelibly into her memory, as was the feel of his hand on the naked small of her back as he escorted her offstage; but it was his eyes that haunted her. Gem hard, dismissive, saying as plainly as the words he had whispered in her ear that he thought she was silly and inconsequential.

That’s your free one, little girl. You pull a stunt like that again and you’ll feel like grass after an elephant stampede.

She had looked down his tuxedoed length to his polished calfskin shoes and then back up, all the way up to those cold eyes.
You needn‘t be so sensitive about the size of your feet. If they weren’t elephantine, they wouldn’t fit so neatly in your mouth.

The memory of her retort made Mandy groan silently. She put her hands over her face, shutting out the sight of her empty desk. She had always had a quick mind and even quicker tongue, but never had she regretted the result quite so much. Sutter unnerved her. Half the time she wanted to hide when she saw him.

And half the time she couldn’t resist the urge to needle him into noticing her. Thank God he had gotten a head start on his three-week vacation by leaving four days ago.

“Why did I crook my finger at him in front of all those people?“ Mandy asked herself for the thousandth time. “What on earth made me think I could embarrass him? How do you embarrass a rock!“

Even the memory of Sutter’s granite self-assurance irritated Mandy. Instead of becoming angry at her mocking gesture, he had simply stood, slid his hand up beneath her hair to the nape of her neck and smiled while he had found and casually stroked the sensitive, vulnerable knot of nerves, sending visible goose bumps marching over her arms. One golden eyebrow had lifted at her response, his glance had moved over her as though stripping away the dress, and then he had turned aside with an utter lack of interest. She could still hear his passionless, cutting words.

You didn’t buy a lover, baby, though God knows you’re hungry enough to have robbed a bank for it. Maybe you could buy a piece of Sharai's jock. Two on one looks about his style.

Heat flushed Mandy’s face now as it had that night when she had realized that Sutter had read the flip note on her calendar: Rob bank. Buy lover. Soonest.

Mandy had to give Sutter full marks for good manners, though. He had hustled her offstage before he walked away from her, leaving her to field teasing, prying questions from the women who had surged up from die audience to congratulate her.

She had started to explain that she had purchased Sutter for his aunt, not for herself, but Anthea had arrived and shaken her head slightly. With a rather grim smile and hot cheeks, Mandy had endured the twittering congratulations in silence.

“Mandy? Yo, Mandy. Anyone home behind those two-hundred-proof eyes?“

“Alcohol isn’t stable at anything much higher than a hundred and eighty proof,“ she said automatically to Steve, her mind elsewhere. “It sucks water out of the air, diluting the mixture until – “

“Lady, you know some really weird things,“ Steve interrupted, flopping some folders down on her desk. “Here are the precedents Anthea has been jumping up and down to get“

Mandy blinked and focused on the present, shutting out the disturbing, unnerving memory of Sutter’s wickedly male smile and utterly cold eyes. “She has?“

“Steve,“ Jessi called from Anthea’s office, “where are those precedents? Anthea has the premier’s personal secretary on the phone!“

Steve snatched up the folders before Mandy could touch them. “Coming right up!“

With a stifled sigh, Mandy watched Steve disappear. No wonder she had been brooding over Sutter lately. She had no work piled up on her desk, nothing to think about except the anniversary of the day two years before when her life had come apart.

Anything was better than dwelling on that. Even Sutter.

The phone rang. Welcoming the distraction, Mandy reached for it. As she held it to her ear she heard Alice’s voice saying, “OCC, may I help you?“

Mandy replaced the receiver with a gentleness that was at odds with her mood. She could take anything but inactivity. Since Alice and Jessi had come to OCC, Mandy’s own work had been divided up and handed out to them. Despite repeated assurances and hints of better things to come, Anthea had given Mandy nothing new to do. As a result, Mandy had had far too much time with her own thoughts.

Two years ago today, minus a few hours.

Stop it! It’s over and done, dead and buried. It happened and nothing can be done to change it.

Yes. And it happened two years ago today.

The pen Mandy had been holding slipped from her fingers to roll across the desk and off the edge onto the floor.

With unfocused eyes she watched the pen bounce softly on the carpet. Memories turned uneasily, unquiet ghosts rippling through her mind. Her skin went pale and her heart beat too quickly. Automatically she forced herself to breathe more deeply, more easily, bringing color back into her face, telling herself that there was nothing to be upset about.

It’s just a day like any other. Just a day. If there were a grave to visit you ‘d go and stand and think about it all over again. But there isn’t a grave, so you’ll sit at home and think about it over and over until you’re numb and then you ‘11 sleep and get up and it will be another day like any other day, one more day, another day farther from yesterday. And someday it will be far enough.

But not today. Today it’s too close.

Abruptly Mandy stood up and began pacing around the large office, touching desks and chairs at random, wanting…

Out.

She stood utterly still, surprised by the fierceness of her desire to be outside, in the open, free. It had been a long time since she had felt so trapped.

Same day, different year. I shouldn’t have tried a deep bath this morning. Too deep. The water triggered too many memories.

A shudder ripped through Mandy’s body. Suddenly she looked around, knowing that she had to have something to do or she would go crazy. She strode into Anthea’s office to demand work. Anthea, Jessi and Steve were bent over the folders, which had been spread across a large library table. Apparently the premier’s secretary had had his question answered, for Anthea was no longer holding a phone.

Anthea glanced at her utilitarian watch. “You’re a few minutes early, but I suppose it’s best. Airport traffic can be so unpredictable.“

“What?“ Mandy asked.

“Airport traffic,“ Anthea said briskly.

“Why do you care about – “

“The flight leaves in two hours.“

“The flight?“

“To Sydney.“

“Where?“

“Australia.“

“What?“
Mandy demanded, knowing how Alice had felt during the free-fall down the rabbit hole.

“Isn’t this where I got on?“ Anthea smiled serenely. “Get your purse, Mandy. This is where you get off.“

“Anthea, what are you talking about?“

“The flight,“ said Steve, barely suppressing a wide smile.

“The flight?“ Jessi said instantly, laughing.

“To Sydney,“ Steve said.

“Where?“ Jessi asked, deadpan.

“Australia,“ Steve said.

“What?“
Jessi asked, right on cue.

Mandy smiled despite herself. “I sounded that bad, huh?“

“Nothing that my vacation won’t cure,“ Anthea said, crossing the room.

Just as Mandy opened her mouth to ask,
“What?“
she caught herself, disappointing Steve and Jessi. Anthea pulled a brilliant pink-and-black-striped backpack from her executive closet and plopped the bag softly on the desk. Mandy eyed the backpack dubiously.

“I didn’t know zebras came in pink,“ Mandy murmured.

“They don’t,“ Anthea said calmly. “This is a tiger stripe.“

“Oh. Well, that explains it.“

Anthea smiled and patted Mandy’s hand. “That’s what I like about you, dear. You understand me.“

“I do?“

“You certainly do.“

“That’s frightening. When did you say your flight left?“

“I didn’t, so we’d better hurry.“

Mandy snapped her mouth shut, knowing she was in a losing battle. When Anthea was in high spirits, even Mandy’s quick tongue had to take a back seat.

“Okay. Purse. Airport. Plane. Sydney,“ Mandy said. “I’ll carry the tiger.“

“Hold my calls,“ Anthea said over her shoulder.

For three weeks?

But the thought went no further than Mandy’s smiling lips as she followed Anthea. She didn’t want to puncture Anthea’s high-flying mood; the prospect of a three-week vacation in Australia would be enough to make anyone slightly giddy. If it weren’t for Sutter’s presence at the other end – and the plane flight itself – Mandy would have envied her boss. Even with the flight and Sutter’s uncertain company waiting at the other end, the thought of Australia was still enough to make Mandy dream. It had been so long since her horizons had been bounded by anything but office and apartment walls, memories and fear.

“This way, dear. We’ll take my car,“ Anthea said.

A few minutes later Mandy tossed the backpack in the trunk of Anthea’s sleek two-seat Mercedes.

“Are you sure you don’t need more luggage?“ Mandy asked. “For you, surely Sutter would bend his rules.“

“It’s all right. I guarantee I won’t be inconvenienced by Sutter’s rules in the least.“

Anthea’s sweeping assurance left no room for questions. Mandy closed the trunk and slid into the driver’s seat.

“How about your passport?“ Mandy asked. “Did you ever get that problem with it straightened out?“

That was why Sutter had left early; he hadn’t had the patience to wait while his aunt untangled red tape.

“I finally called Senator Martin Thurgood. He took care of everything.“

“What was the problem exactly? You never said.“

“No, I didn’t, did I?“

Mandy waited.

Anthea rummaged in her purse for the car keys. “There you are. Better hurry, dear. Sometimes these international flights are overbooked.“

Mandy took the keys automatically. “Mr. Axton guaranteed you a seat, didn’t he?“

“The seat is guaranteed,“ Anthea agreed.

“Since he owns a huge chunk of the airline, I don’t think you need to worry about getting bumped. The way Mr. Axton feels about you, he’d probably throw out the captain first,“ Mandy said dryly.

Anthea simply smiled.

The drive to the airport took only twenty minutes. Mandy let Anthea off at the curb, then zipped across five lanes of traffic to find a space in the one-hour parking lot. She grabbed the vivid backpack out of the trunk, slammed down the lid and raced on foot back across five lanes of traffic. The first-class window was closed, telling Mandy that Anthea had already been checked in. She followed the directions to the gate, expecting to catch up with Anthea. She wasn’t at the security checkpoint, however.

“Did a tiny silver-haired lady come through here?“

“Yes, ma’am,“ said the guard, smothering a smile. “Captain took her through himself on a cart. She had the wrong flight time. They’re holding the plane.“

“But I’ve got her luggage!“

Mandy tossed the backpack and her purse on the conveyor belt to be X-rayed. She hurried through the arch, didn’t set off any alarms, grabbed the backpack and purse and set off at a run despite her high heels. At first she thought there was no one at the designated gate. Then she spotted a glint of silver hair at the end of the tunnel leading to a huge Boeing 747.

“Anthea!“

“Hurry up, dear. They’re waiting for you.“

Mandy ran down the slanted tunnel and held the backpack out to Anthea. She ignored it, taking Mandy’s purse instead. She stuffed a fat business envelope into the purse and gave it back to Mandy.

“Everything you need is inside. Now hurry along.“

“What?“

“Don’t worry about a thing,“ Anthea continued, rolling over Mandy’s objections as she guided her employee toward the plane’s entrance. “I’m having your mail and newspaper held, Jessi will water your plants, Steve is taking your car in to be serviced and Alice will pick up your dry cleaning. Was there anything else needing your attention in the next few weeks?“

Openmouthed, unable to say anything, Mandy simply shook her head.

“Ms. Blythe?“ called the stewardess from the opening. “I have to close the door in one minute.“

“Run along,“ Anthea said. “Four hundred people are waiting for you.“ Suddenly she stood on tiptoe and gave Mandy a hug. “Enjoy your vacation. You’ve more than earned it.“

“But I – “

“Shoo,“ Anthea interrupted firmly. “Steve and Jessi are waiting to help me hang another picture on my wall. Your picture.“

Purse in one hand, pink-and-black tiger-striped backpack in the other, Anthea’s latest project moved toward the waiting plane in a daze.

“And, Mandy,“ called Anthea clearly over her shoulder, “don’t forget what I said about finding a lover. Australian men are marvelous!“

“Is your name D. M. Sutter?“

“Would it do any good to deny it?“

The man laughed. “Sorry, mate. Afraid not. I saw your picture on the telly last night.“

Cursing under his breath, Sutter descended the last step leading away from the airplane, careful not to touch the metal handrail. Late September was spring in Bundaberg, but in the northeast corner of the Australian continent, spring was a relative term. The tropical intensity of the sun brought everything it touched up to a burning heat – including handrails.

“You a reporter?“ Sutter asked, eyeing the tall, muscular, heavily tanned young man in front of him with little favor. Australian reporters made their American counterparts look like well-mannered choirboys.

“No worries, mate. My name’s Ray. I’m a dive instructor over on Lady. I picked up a message for you along with your diving gear.“