Fatal Tide (9 page)

“If you’re not proud of who you are, then you’re in trouble.” He smiled. “I joke about it, but I can see myself back in frontier days stalking, tracking. The hunt always excites me. It could be that was why I became a SEAL.” He shrugged. “Anyway, Kelby took the punishment during those days of basic training and didn’t back down. He was stubborn as hell.” He grinned. “And later he got back at every one of us.”

“It sounds like he has a good deal of endurance.”

“Endurance?” His smile faded. “You could say that. You want to hear endurance? We were on a mission inside Iraq during the Gulf War, and aerial reconnaissance had located a small underground biological-warfare facility in the north. They sent our team on a hush-hush mission to destroy it. They didn’t want to arouse public disapproval of the war by exposing the fact that the troops could be subjected to germ warfare. Everything went wrong from the get-go. We blew the facility, but we had two dead and Kelby and I were captured by local tribesmen before we could reach the helicopter site.

“They were still lying about biological facilities, so they stuffed us in this tiny jail in the desert and sent word to Saddam that they’d captured two American SEALs. Saddam sent word back that he wanted confessions and repudiation of the American war effort. I’m not sure why they chose to work on Kelby first instead of me. Maybe they found out his background and wanted to show the weakness of capitalist moguls.”

“They tortured him?”

“Big time. Three days. They didn’t allow him food or water and kept him in a hot box for most of the time. He had two broken ribs and was a mass of bruises when they tossed him back in the cell. But he didn’t break. Like I said, too stubborn. I didn’t think he could survive an escape, but he did and took two guards down. We hid out, trekking through the hills and over the border. We weren’t able to radio for a helicopter until five days after we escaped.” He smiled crookedly. “Yes, I’d say he has a certain amount of endurance. And I don’t envy Archer having him on his trail. Is that what you wanted to know?”

It was more than she wanted to learn. She didn’t like the idea of Kelby as a victim—even one who’d overcome all odds. The mental vision of Kelby in that cell, bruised and in pain, was too disturbing. “Yes, that’s what I had to know.” She poured another cup of coffee. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” He pushed his chair back. “Now, what are we going to do this morning?”

“We?”

“Kelby says I don’t let you out of my sight until he gets back.”

“I don’t need you. I’m safe here on the island.”

“I’ll just make double sure. Are we going to go play in the water with the dolphins?”

“Play?” She tilted her head, considering. “That wasn’t my intention, but why not? Go put on your swim trunks. Pete and Susie would positively love playing with you.” She smiled slyly. “Ask Cal.”

“Archer was in Tobago,” Kelby said curtly when Nicholas answered the phone four hours later. “At the Bramley Towers. He’s not now.”

“He flew the coop?”

“Hell, yes. Cobb was the guy on the stakeout, and he said Pennig was nervous about you leaving the island and heading for Tobago. Evidently Archer got a little uneasy and took off.”

“Do we know where?”

“Cobb was hired in Miami. I called Detective Halley in Nassau to see if he could put a trace on Archer in Miami. And I told him to come and pick up Cobb and his buddy Dansk.”

“Didn’t Cobb know where Archer could be located?”

“Believe me, if Cobb had known, he would have told me.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Nicholas said. “I’m just surprised you decided to turn Cobb over to Halley.”

“He’s small potatoes. I got what I wanted from him. You go pick up Dansk and deliver him to Halley at the airport.”

“Delegating at last? I suppose I don’t get to have fun like you did?”

“Dansk doesn’t know anything either. It wouldn’t be worth your time. Just give him to Halley. You can leave right away. I’m on my way back to the island.”

“That’s good to hear. Your Melis has a malicious sense of humor. She let me in for a watery interlude with the dolphins that outraged my dignity.”

“She’s not my Melis, and anyone, human or mammal, who takes you down a peg gets my vote. Call me if you have any problem with Dansk.”

Chapter Nine

“Did everything go well today?” Melis asked Kelby. “You look tense.”

“I’m not tense.”

“Did you arrange for the tanks?”

“Tanks? Oh, yes, I took care of it.” He turned to look at her. “Do you want coffee?”

“Not right now. It’s almost sunset. The guys should be coming to say good night.”

“I think I’ll make a pot for myself.”

She watched him as he strode into the house. If Kelby wasn’t tense, he was definitely edgy. He’d been charged with energy since he’d come back this afternoon. But she didn’t know him well. Maybe that was natural for him when he was in high gear.

But it didn’t make her uneasy, she realized. She was becoming used to him and there was even a tentative trust emerging.

Her phone lying on the table rang.

She tensed and then slowly answered it.

“Why didn’t you call and tell me Lontana had been killed?”

“Kemal?” Relief surged through her. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”

“All you have to do is pick up the phone. You’re the one who distanced herself. I’m always here for you.”

“I know.” She closed her eyes and could almost see his dark mischievous eyes and that smile that had warmed her heart when she’d thought it would always be cold and barren. “How is Marisa?”

“Wonderful.” He hesitated. “She wants a child.”

“You’d make a wonderful father.”

“True. But it would only make things more difficult for her. I won’t have that. We will wait. But that’s not why I called you. I only heard today about Lontana. How are you? Do you need me to come?”

“No.”

“I knew that would be your answer. Melis, let me help you.”

“I don’t need help. How did you find out about Phil?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t keep an eye on both of you? That’s not my nature.”

No, his nature was to protect and surround those he cared about with warmth and love. Thank heaven he hadn’t found out about Carolyn. “It was difficult at first, but I’ve adjusted. It would be foolish of you to come to my rescue when I don’t need it. But thank you for calling.”

“No thanks are necessary between us. We’re two of a kind.” He paused. “Come to San Francisco.”

“I’m fine here.”

“Do you need money?”

“No.”

Kemal sighed. “Don’t close me out, Melis. It hurts me.”

And she would never hurt him. “I truly don’t need anything, Kemal. Take care of your Marisa. I’m used to being alone. It doesn’t bother me.”

“It bothers you. Don’t lie to me. We go back too far. You’ve never learned to open up and let people near you.”

“Except you.”

“I don’t count. But your friend Carolyn does. How is she?”

“I haven’t seen her for a while,” she said carefully.

“Well, at least try to keep in touch with her.” His tone lightened. “Or come here and let me get to work on you. You’ve always been one of my unfinished masterpieces.”

“That only makes me more unique. Don’t worry about me.”

“Impossible.”

“I’ll come to you if I need you. Good-bye, Kemal. Say hello to Marisa for me.”

He was silent a moment. “I always think of you with love. Remember that, Melis.”

“I love you, too, Kemal,” she whispered. She hung up.

Her eyes were stinging as she gazed down at the phone. His voice had brought back so many bitter memories, but she would not have missed that call.

“Melis.”

She looked up to see Kelby standing in the doorway with a coffee carafe and two cups on a tray. She swallowed to ease the tightness of her throat. “You were quick. I think I could use that coffee now.”

“I wasn’t quick. I’ve been standing here for the last five minutes.” He came toward her and set the tray down on the table with a resounding thump. “Archer?”

She shook her head.

“Don’t lie to me,” he said roughly. “He tore you up.”

“I’m not lying.” She paused. “It was Kemal, an old friend.”

“Is that why you look like you’re going to— Who the hell is he?”

“I told you, he’s my friend. No, he’s more than that. He’s my savior. He took me from
Kafas
. Do you know what that meant to me?”

“No, and I’m not sure I want to know.”

“Why not?” She smiled crookedly. “Aren’t you curious?”

“Of course I am.” He was silent a moment. “I’ve thought about it. But I don’t want to know bad enough to be accused of putting smudges on a soul. That’s pretty serious stuff.”

“Christ, did I say that? How melodramatic.” She drew a deep breath. “This is different. You’re not stealing anything from me. I don’t care if you know about
Kafas
. Carolyn once told me that only the guilty should feel shame. I refuse to feel ashamed. At some point Archer will probably call you and drop some poison in your ear anyway.”

“It’s not good enough for you not to care. Do you want to tell me?”

She did want to tell someone, she realized. That conversation with Kemal had brought too many memories to the forefront. She was choking on them, and there was no Carolyn to free her. “Yes, I . . . think I do.”

He looked away from her. “All right, then tell me about
Kafas
.”

“It means
golden cage
. It was sort of a special club in Istanbul.” She stood up and walked over to the edge of the lanai. “And adjoining it was an even more special place: the harem. Velvet couches. Golden fretwork panels. It was very luxurious because its patrons were either important or wealthy. It was a brothel that catered to every sexual taste. I was an inmate there for sixteen months.”

“What?”

“It seemed like sixteen years. Children live so much in the present they can’t imagine life changing. So if they live in hell, they think it’s going to go on forever.”

“Children?” he repeated slowly.

“I was ten years old when I was sold into the harem. I was eleven when I left.”

“Christ. Sold? How?”

“The usual trade in white slavery. My parents were killed in an auto accident when I was a toddler. I had no relatives, so I was placed in an orphanage in London. It was a nice enough place, but unfortunately the administrator needed money to pay his gambling debts. So, periodically he’d claim one of the children was a runaway. They ended up in Istanbul.” Don’t think. Just say the words. Get it over with. “Of course, they had to be very special types for him to get the money he needed. They thought I was perfect. Blond, skin with the fresh bloom of childhood, and I had a quality they treasured. I looked . . . breakable. That was important. Pedophiles love to prey on fragile children. It makes them feel more powerful. The owner of the brothel thought I’d even be suitable for regular customers when I was a little older. So I was a true prize.”

“What was the owner’s name?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters. I’m going to rid the world of the son of a bitch. What’s his name?”

“Irmak. But he’s already dead. He was murdered before Kemal took me and the other children away from the harem.”

“Good. This is the Kemal who called you?”

“Kemal Nemid.” The words came easier now. Kemal was part of the good times as well as the nightmare. “He’s the man who brought me from Turkey to Chile. He was closer to me than a brother. I lived with him for almost five years.”

“I thought you lived with Luis Delgado.”

“How did you know I—” Her lips twisted. “Of course, you’d try to find out anything that might give you an edge. Am I telling you anything you don’t know?”

“Wilson didn’t find out about this
Kafas,
” he said grimly. “Only about your life in Chile and Luis Delgado.”

“Delgado was Kemal. His background was a little shady and he thought it best to buy us new ones. He called me Melisande—”

“And then he dumped you and you had to go live with Lontana? Great guy.”

She whirled on him. “He
is
a great guy,” she said fiercely. “You don’t know anything. He would never have deserted me. I’m the one who ran away from him. He was going to the United States and wanted me to go too. He was going to start a new life.”

“Then why cut and run?”

“I would have been in the way. He’d been tied to me for five years. He’d done everything for me. I was on the verge of a breakdown after I left
Kafas
. He got me a doctor, he sent me to school, and he was there for me whenever I needed him. It was time I let him go.”

“For Christ’s sake, you were sixteen. I wouldn’t have let you go off with Lontana.”

“You don’t understand. My age didn’t matter. I hadn’t been a child for a long, long time. I was like that little girl in
Interview with the Vampire,
a grown-up frozen in a child’s body. Kemal always understood that about me.” She shrugged. “Phil was done with his research on the oceanic vents off the coast of Chile and was going off on an exploratory trip to the Azores. I went to the
Last Home
and asked him to take me with him. I’d known him for years. He and Kemal got along fine after Phil started to hire out the
Last Home
to the Save the Dolphin foundation’s observation trips. Phil and I meshed well, and he needed someone to keep his books, deal with his creditors, and keep his feet on the ground.”

“And Kemal didn’t come after you?”

“I called and talked to him. He made me promise to call him if I was ever in trouble.”

“Which you probably didn’t do.”

“What’s the good of letting someone go if you jerk them back? He also persuaded me to accept his paying for my education and the fee for going to an analyst. I didn’t really want to keep on with the sessions. I didn’t think they were helping much. I was still having the nightmares.”

“But then you found Carolyn Mulan.”

“Then I found Carolyn. No mumbo jumbo. No pity. She let me talk. Then she’d say yes, it was ugly. Yes, I can see how you’d wake up screaming. But it’s over and you’re still standing. You can’t let it beat you. You have to deal with it. That was her favorite phrase. Just deal with it.”

“You were lucky to have her in your corner.”

“Yes, but she wasn’t lucky. If she hadn’t known me, she’d still be alive.” She shook her head. “She’d hate me blaming myself. That was one of my problems. It’s easy to teach children blame. If I wasn’t bad, why was I being punished? Somewhere inside I thought it was my fault I ended up at
Kafas
.”

“Then you really were crazy. That’s like saying someone tied to the railroad tracks is to blame if the train runs over them.”

“Carolyn agreed with you. It took us a long time to get me over that hurdle. She said blame wasn’t healthy and I should deal with it. So I’ll deal with it.” She stared him in the eye. “But I’ll also deal with Archer. He doesn’t deserve to live. He’s worse than those men who came to screw a little girl in a white organdy dress. He reminds me of Irmak. He deals in death as well as sex.”

“And you’re ready to take him on all by yourself. You’re going to let that pervert murmur in your ear and you’ll just take it. Isn’t that sweet?”

He had been so outwardly calm that she hadn’t realized the fury that was seething beneath. She noticed it now. It was tensing every muscle of his body. “I won’t have to do it by myself. You’re going to help.”

“How kind of you to let me have a small part.” He took a step closer to her. “Do you have any idea what I’m feeling right now? You tell me a story that makes me want to run out and carve up everyone who screwed that little girl in the harem. Then you tell me I have to stand by and watch Archer hurt you again.”

He
was
angry. She could feel the rage vibrating through him. “I hate being helpless too. But that little girl doesn’t exist any longer.”

“I think she does. And what do you mean by offering to go to bed with me? How the hell do you think I’d feel when I found out that I’d screwed a victim from that damn place?”

“I’m not a victim. I’ve even had sex since that time. Twice. Carolyn thought it would be good for me.”

“And was it good for you?”

“It wasn’t unpleasant.” She looked away from him. “Why are we talking about this? You turned me down anyway.”

“Because there’s not a doubt in my mind it would have happened. I’m like all those other sons of bitches who wanted to screw you. Shit, I still want to do it.” He whirled and moved toward the sliding glass door. “Which, considering the story you just told me, makes me feel real good about myself. But don’t worry: As your Carolyn would advise, I’ll deal with it.”

“What are you talking about? You’re not like those men at
Kafas.
”

“No? We have at least one thing in common, and it’s damn well not our self-restraint.”

She watched as the door slid forcefully closed behind him. Once again he’d surprised her. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it wasn’t Kelby’s response. Part sympathy, part anger, part sexual frustration. It had jerked her from the horror of the past to the turbulent present.

But she was also feeling relief, she realized. She had never confided her past to anyone but Carolyn, and it had been strangely cathartic to tell Kelby about
Kafas
. She felt stronger. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Kelby had no medical training and was just an ordinary person. Maybe she hadn’t completely lost that trace of blame Carolyn had worked so hard to eradicate. Kelby had not blamed her. He’d blamed the men who’d victimized her. He’d been protective, angry, and . . . lustful. In a way, that lust had been welcome. Her time at
Kafas
hadn’t lessened his desire for her. It hadn’t twisted it or destroyed it. He’d accepted that period of her life as part of her. Even his anger had been comforting, because it showed that he thought she could handle it. Who would have known that the call from Kemal would bring her this sense of greater peace and strength?

Kemal or Kelby? Kemal had given her gentleness and Kelby anger, and she wasn’t sure which had been more valuable.

She only knew when that phone rang and Archer came on the line, she’d be more ready to deal with him.

“Halley picked up Dansk and Cobb a few minutes ago,” Nicholas said when Kelby answered the phone. “Do you want me to do anything here in town or come back there?”