Do You Trust Me? (26 page)

Chapter Seventeen

“I think you’re
making a big mistake.” Sully looked at McCall, standing at the office window,
hands in his pockets, back rigid.

“I’ve already made
the greatest mistake I could. Now I just want to forget about it.”

“At least talk to her.
She’s desperate to see you.”

“I doubt that.” He
gave a short, unhappy laugh. “Why would she want to see me? She has every right
to hate me, and I’m sure she does. She probably thinks I took her to bed so I
could worm the information out of her. How do I know she wasn’t right not to
trust me? Jesus, I can’t even trust
myself
any more.” He raked his hands
though his already disheveled hair. “At least she didn’t end up dead like the
last woman I had a relationship with. No thanks to me. End of story.”

“The two situations
don’t even compare. Danielle was a killer herself.”

“Leave it alone.”
McCall’s voice was bitter. “Who would want a loser like me, anyway?”

“I never imagined you
to be a coward.” Sully took a swallow of coffee from his mug.

“I’m not a coward.”
McCall clenched his fists. He was a lot of things that weren’t so nice, but he’d
never imagined himself as a coward. “I just think a clean break is best for
both of us. I’ve caused her nothing but pain.”

“You have no idea
what she thinks, and you won’t unless you talk to her.”

“But I wanted...”

“What? To make up for
Danielle? To prove you were a man who could rise above his feelings? You’re a
true professional, McCall, but all of us are human. You need to realize that.”

McCall turned from
the window and began pacing. He’d been doing a lot of that lately. Waiting for
the doctor. Waiting each day for Sully’s report from the hospital. Trying to
decide what to do next with his life.

“I was crazy to get
involved with her in the first place,” he said flatly. “I knew better. This job
doesn’t make for good relationships. I tried to keep telling myself she was
just an assignment.”

“Bull. Stop trying to
talk yourself into that. Whatever you did that you think is so unforgivable,
don’t you think she has the right to make that decision?”

McCall rubbed his
forehead. “How is she doing? Is she all right?”

“Physically? The
doctors say she’s doing very well. She’ll have a long recovery, but in the end,
all she’ll have are some very sexy scars.” Sully paused. “Of course, I thought
you already knew all that. And not just from my reports. The hospital tells me
you’ve been calling at least twice a day. What?” he asked at McCall’s look. “You
didn’t think I had them report all her calls to me? Have her guard report all
her visitors to me? Brechtel could still be hunting for revenge. Even from
prison.”

“Good. Then I don’t
have to worry about her.”

“Go see her, McCall.
Don’t let this thing fester.”

“Actually, I think I’d
like to go home and see my family,” he said.

Sully looked startled.
“Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”

“Whether it is or
not, I need to see them. It’s been far too long. I need to feel connected again.”

Sully was silent for
a long time. “You know, Noel’s wife is expecting a baby.”

“How nice for him.
But what does that have to do with me?”

“He’s been with me
since we started this unit. It’s not exactly a piece of cake. He’s told me he
wants out. I’m arranging for his transfer into a less, um, high profile
situation. With a substantial raise, I might add.”

“So?” McCall was
still confused.

“So that leaves his
slot open for a bright young man with a lot of experience. One who might want
to get out of the field and into something less, shall we say, hazardous than
covert work.”

“Are you offering me
a job?” McCall was stunned.

“You might want to
think about it while you’re visiting your folks. Just as an option, mind you.
In case something happens to prompt a change in lifestyle.”

“I don’t know, Sully.
Maybe going back out in the field is the best way to work all of this off.”

“Not yet. You’ve got
some time coming and you need it. Go home. Reconnect with your family. Call me
when you get back and let me know what you decide.”

McCall walked out of
the office, his pain etched deeply on his face.

Sully sat thinking
for a long time, then looked up a number in his coded file and dialed the first
of several calls.

“Hello,” he said when
the person on the other end answered. “This is Sullivan Raines. How are you?
Good, good. Glad to hear it. I’m actually calling with an agenda. I have a
little problem that I think you can help me with.”

Chapter Eighteen

One day slid
seamlessly into the next for Rina. Her routine seldom varied. Eat, get up, go
back to bed, sleep. The only thing that differentiated her from the other
post-op patients was the armed guard posted constantly at her door.

“Just to make me feel
better,” Sully told her, still cognizant of Brechtel’s long reach.

The first time she
got out of bed and walked to the chair, a nurse and Shar supporting her, she
felt as if all her stitches would rip out. By the time she was propped up in
the chair in a cocoon of pillows, she was shaky and covered with perspiration.

“There now,” the
nurse said, flashing her professional smile. “We did very well.”

Oh, God. Just my luck
to get someone who bustles and uses the editorial “we.”

“I don’t know about
you,” Rina said, gritting her teeth, “but I feel like a train just ran over me.”

“It gets a little
better each time,” the woman assured her. “We need this to build up our
strength, you know.”

Rina rolled her eyes.

Shar winked at her. “Hang
in there,” she mouthed.

“Any word on what’s
happened with Laurel?” she asked.

Shar shook her head. “That’s
the best kept secret of the century. Sully refuses to comment, except to say
she was probably a plant who worked her way into your life so she could be at
the big signing. Otherwise, she’d never have been able to get close enough to
President Brandon.”

Rina nibbled on a
fingernail. “I’m more angry than hurt, I think. She used me, Shar. For more
than a year. I was her cover, her excuse, and when things came to a head, her
way in to complete her job. I still haven’t gotten over that.”

“Laurel was always a
user, honey.” Shar fussed with the covers. “You just never saw it. She’s a
vicious little bitch, and nothing they do to her will ever be enough. If I had
her in front of me right now, I’d kill her myself.”

“Well.” Rina felt her
lips curve in a smile in spite of her depressed state. “Remind me never to piss
you off!”

She sat up while her
bed was remade and the nurse changed all the IV bags still pouring life-giving
liquids into her. Then they made the trip in reverse. By the time she was once
again lying on the cool sheets, she wondered if dying might not be preferable.

“I think we need a
little something to take the edge off,” the nurse muttered efficiently as she
injected pain medication into one of the IV lines. “There. Now we can get some
rest.”

When she left, Rina
looked at Shar and made a face. “I’ll give her a permanent rest if she doesn’t
stop treating me like a mental deficient. If she likes that ‘we’ business so
much, she can trade places with me.”

Shar chuckled and
smoothed back the top sheet. “You do need to sleep, honey. Go on, close your
eyes. I’ll just curl up in the chair with this book from a possible client. The
prose is supposed to be so purple I need asbestos gloves to read it.”

Rina would have
laughed if it hadn’t hurt so much. “Don’t you have an office to run?”

Shar leaned over and
squeezed her hand. “My office is doing just fine. My assistant is practicing
how to replace me and having a ball. So you just relax and get better.”

Sully continued to
come by each day, his presence more reassuring than she cared to admit. Each
time he provided her with a few more details of the unfolding drama. She saw
his sadness when he spoke of Gage and shared his shock at the discovery of Laurel’s real profession.

He also insisted the
government would cover all her medical expenses and anything else that might
come up. Including her recovery.

But no McCall. Each
day she waited hopefully for something—a call, a note, a visit. Anything. His
absence was like another raw wound, only this one wouldn’t heal. Did he hate
her so much because she hadn’t given him the locket? Made him compromise his
situation? She could hardly blame him.

Had it all been a
lie, everything that happened between them? Or did he just need to be The Ghost
more than he needed her?

She had no appetite.
When they finally started giving her solid foods, she had to force herself to
eat. She felt as if she’d lost the whole focus of her life.

At night she dreamed
of McCall, remembering the wonderful hours in his arms. God, what a mess
everything was in. She’d never be able to fix this one, no matter what anyone
said.

****

“Arrangements are
being made for when you leave here.” Shar bustled around the room, moving
plants, straightening stacks of books.

“What kind of
arrangements? I’m going home, aren’t I?” Rina had just gotten back in bed after
a short walk down the hall supported by Shar and a nurse. They got her up for
longer periods twice a day now, and it always exhausted her. She was beginning
to wonder if she’d ever get her strength back.

“Get real, kiddo. You
have a long way to go before you can be on your own.”

“So where can I go,
Shar? I know I’ll need help. I feel weaker than a baby, and it’s been two
weeks.”

“Well, we need to
keep you away from the press. That’s for sure.”

“Away from the press?”
Rina frowned at her. “What on earth do you mean? Are they still camped outside
my door? And quit fluttering around like a nervous housewife.”

Shar finally sat down
in the chair beside the bed. “You’re kidding me, right? With all the publicity,
your latest book, the one you were supposed to sign at the Alamo, is already in
its second printing. The book stores can’t keep it on the shelves. And reorders
for your backlist are through the roof. When you get back to normal, we have a
drawer full of appearance requests to shuffle through.”

“I guess almost
getting killed makes me a celebrity.” Rina leaned back against her pillow,
trying to find a comfortable place for herself.

“Not to mention
saving the life of the president and exposing the plot of the century.” Shar
smoothed Rina’s hair back from her forehead. “You’ll dine out on this for a
long time to come, sweetie.”

“That still doesn’t
answer my question. Where can I go? I refuse to be a burden to anyone. Why can’t
I just stay home and have someone come in?”

“Forget it.” Shar
shuddered. “You’re liable to get a duplicate of Nurse Ratchet here.”

“Then tell me what my
options are because I don’t see that I have any. And I won’t stay with you and
give you an invalid to worry about.”

Shar smiled. “Mr.
Raines has been most helpful.”

“Sully?” Rina’s jaw
dropped. “What does he have to do with this?”

“Well, he feels responsible
for you getting shot, so he’s taking care of whatever you need.”

“I think Shar and I
have made some very satisfactory plans.” They hadn’t heard Sully come into the
room. Suddenly, he was there beside the bed. “Hello, Rina. I’m delighted to see
you looking a little better.”

“So you’re the one
taking control of my life,” she said, half joking, half irritated.

“I’d say, at the
moment, you’re not in the best position to do that, agreed? And you’re being
discharged day after tomorrow, so I had to make some decisions for you.”

“Then tell me where I’m
going,” she demanded.

“There are some
people I know who have a home in Maine,” he said.

“Maine!” Rina
interrupted. “Why do I have to go to Maine?”

“Because we want you
as far away from any media and any commotion as possible,” Shar reminded her.

“Who
are
these
people? Why are you sending me there? And why are they letting me come?”

“The family has
strong agency connections,” Sully told her. “They’ve helped me out before with
agents who needed a place to recuperate or just have some down time. They’re
well-prepared to house you, and one of the members is a rehab nurse, who’s
taking some vacation time. Which we will compensate her for, of course.”

“I don’t know, Sully.”
She chewed her lower lip. “I can’t just descend on a bunch of strangers. I’m
still pretty much helpless and everything.”

“Don’t worry about
it. It’s all set. You’re going.” He smiled. “And that’s a government order.”

Something tickled at
the back of her mind, but she was too tired and her mind still too clouded with
all the medication to chase the thought.

“All right. I’m too
exhausted to argue about it, anyway.” She looked hard at him, afraid to ask her
next question. “McCall?”

It had been almost
three weeks. He hadn’t called or come by. She was sure she’d never see him
again. She felt tears threatening again and blinked them away.

“He’s also taking
some time off. I think it will be good for him. For both of you.” He leaned
forward to kiss her lightly on the cheek. “Don’t give up yet, Rina. I haven’t.”

Then he was gone.