Pandora's Box (15 page)

Tyler
stood.
 
He held his hand out to her, mentally taking her back to their first encounter.
 
She’d stubbornly refused his help then, preferring to do it on her own.
 
This time she smiled as she slid her palm over his.
 
He pulled her up beside him.
 
Their eyes locked for a moment and
Madison
thought about all the things she had yet to discover about him.
 
Would it be worth it?
 
Trusting someone with her heart again?

And what about DeMarco?
 
She’d thought their relationship had ended long ago, but recently some of her old feelings had resurfaced.
   

She pushed those thoughts away and forced her mind back to their current situation.
 
“How do we get out of here?
 
Any ideas?”

“We walk out,”
Tyler
said.

Before she could ask him to explain himself the stairwell door flew open.
 
Instead of uniformed policemen, there was a lone watchman with a flashlight.
 
His gun remained holstered.
 
He smiled and waved them inside.
 
“You must be freezing out here.”

Tyler
slipped an arm around her waist.
 
They went down two flights of stairs to the elevator with the guard right behind them.

As the elevator doors slid shut, locking them inside, the guard said, “I swear, Law, you are one sneaky son of a bitch.
 
I didn’t know when to expect you, as per the agreement, but I at least thought you’d use the back door or a window.”
 
He chuckled.
 
“I certainly didn’t expect you to land on the roof.
 
Where the hell did you come from anyway?
 
Did you drop in from a helicopter?
 
Or fly in like Superman?”

Madison
frowned.
 
It was like walking in on the middle of a complicated movie.
 
Since she didn’t understand what they were talking about, she kept her lips wisely clamped together.

“We jumped from the roof next door,”
Tyler
said.

The guard gaped at them.
 
“You’re kidding!”
 
He laughed again until his face turned a bright red and his eyes watered.
 
He wiped them with the back of one hand.
 
“Unbelievable.
 
Wait till I tell the fellas what they missed.
 
And you brought a date with you.”

The man laughed harder, falling back against the elevator wall.
 

Tyler
winked at her.
 
Then he turned his gaze straight ahead without a word of explanation.
 
The metal doors parted and they stepped into the main lobby.
 
The guard hurried in front of them.
 
He unlocked the glass door, gave it a hearty shove and held it open for them.

“The police weren’t very happy when I told them we were testing the alarm,” the guard said.
 
“They want a warning next time.”
 
He rolled his eyes.
 
“I tried to tell them it wouldn’t be a test if we knew it was going to happen.
 
They didn’t get it.”
 
He tipped his hat.
 
“Have a good night, you two.
 
Always a pleasure, Mr. Law.”

Madison
shivered in the cold, having lost the warmth of adrenaline.
 
She was on the downhill spiral now, the plunge into mild depression.
 
A deep sort of sadness always followed a near-death experience or a kick-ass mission—and a bit of sexual tension.
 
She was used to it.
 
But the cold night air made it worse somehow.
 
Of course it didn’t help her coat was next door on the roof.

His plan had worked, she noticed, glancing behind them at the empty street.
 
Their visitors had left, probably at the first sign of police.
 
She wrapped her arms around herself and glanced down the street at the glowing lights.
 
She could use a warm cup of coffee.
 

“How did you arrange that?” she asked, nodding back at the building they’d just come from.

“I’ve done a little work in the private security sector,” he replied.
 
“I rented an apartment for Skinner to use in the building next to the bank on purpose, just in case I needed to make a fast escape.
 
Or if he did.”

Poor Skinner.
 
A few months ago he was a janitor mopping the floors, maybe secretly daydreaming about being a spy.
 
Now he was dead.
 

“Did you install the system yourself?”

“Absolutely.”
 

She frowned, putting the pieces together.
 
“And then you arrange to break in to test the system?”

“Exactly.”
 
He smiled arrogantly.
 

She walked a bit faster, adding bounce to her steps to keep warm.

“Cold?”
 
Tyler
slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
 

She stiffened.

The sudden intimacy made her uncomfortable.
 
Dealing with a maniac assassin was easy compared to walking over the burning coals of a budding relationship.
 
She’d rather fight a pack of well-trained foreign agents.
 

She almost pushed
Tyler
away.
 
She hesitated.
 
Then she changed her mind completely.
 
She had to admit it felt kind of nice walking down the sidewalk with a handsome man who had just saved her life.
 
In the dark on a night like this they could be just another couple.
 
She didn’t have to play the part of the hardened spy, didn’t have to be tough.
 

“I still want to see that file,” she announced.

“I’m sure you do.”

“Where is it?”

“Somewhere safe.”

She stopped walking abruptly and knocked his arm off her shoulders.
 
Turning to face him with a steady glare, she said, “For a man who thinks we should share information, you’re being extremely vague.
 
Now where on earth did Warner get his hands on a file about the Pandora’s Box project?
 
And who killed him?
 
Agents with microchips in their brains?”

“Not every bad guy can blame the chip for their misdeeds.”
 
He sighed.
 
“Okay.
 
I’ll tell you this much and it will have to be enough for right now because I’m not working alone and certain people have been assured they can trust me to keep quiet.”

Madison
waited for him to tell her what he knew about the file with a building curiosity.
 
However, she knew whatever he told her it wouldn’t be enough.
 
She wanted the whole damn story.

“I compiled the file under orders from someone at the top.”

“Who?”
 
She scowled at him.
 
“Don’t you dare leave me hanging.”

He showed her his palms.
 
“Sorry.
 
I’ll have to get permission before I take you any deeper into this...conspiracy, for want of a better word.”

He started to walk again and
Madison
fell into step beside him.
 
Her mind reeled with unanswered questions.
 
She went over every twisted scenario she could come up with.
 
None satisfied her.
 
How could she get him to tell her the whole truth?
 
Unfortunately they were too much alike.
 
He wouldn’t spill the beans under torture, no matter how severe.
 
Of that she was sure.

 
She looked sideways at him.
 
He had the most incredible mouth.
 
The two kisses he’d planted on her had been too brief.
 
She wanted more.
 
But did she dare?

She panicked.

“I need to get home,”
Madison
blurted out.
 
She put some space between their bodies.
 
His arm fell away from her.
 
The cold air hit the warm side of her body hard.
 

“Are you sure?”
 
He frowned at her.

“Yeah.
 
I need to water my plants, and I have a great deal to think about.
 
Microchips, my father and his old friends, the Blonde Assassin and her part in all of this.
 
The list goes on and on.
 
I feel like I’m drowning in a ton of partial facts.
 
Call your friend now before he interrupts something important.”

She smiled at him before turning for home.

******

 
Twenty-five minutes later,
Madison
stepped into her apartment and found DeMarco casually sitting on her couch as if he had every right to be there.
 
This was the second time he’d entered her apartment uninvited.
 
Only this time there wasn’t a beer in his hand or an easy grin on his face.
 

A twisted thought raised its ugly head now that she knew about the microchips.
 
DeMarco could have been sent to kill her.
 
He could have a chip in his brain and not even realize what he was doing.
 
Or he could be in on the conspiracy.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I came to warn you.
 
The powers-that-be have a new theory now.
 
They think you’re trying to get close to the president’s son so you can use him to get a clean shot at his father.”

“That’s so stupid!”
 
She forgot to be wary of him and took a step closer.
 
“They have no proof of anything.
 
How can they just make up crap about me and tell it as fact?
 
I am sick and tired of defending myself to those boneheads.”

“There’s more.”
 
DeMarco waited for her to look directly at him again.
 
He said, “They plan to come after you.
 
They’ll send someone you trust.”

Like him.

“To do what?
 
Arrest me?
 
Kill me?”

DeMarco’s mouth tightened.
 
He didn’t deny a word of it.
 
The question reining in her mind was how would DeMarco play it if he had been given the assignment?
 
Would he give her the information, pretend to be on her side long enough for her to drop her guard?
 

Uneasy,
Madison
walked around the breakfast bar into the kitchen and opened the freezer, her back stiff.
 
Tension wound her nerves so tight she thought they might snap at any moment.
 
It would be just like the CIA to send her ex-lover to kill her.
 
She was certain she could take DeMarco in a fair fight.
 
Although they’d been equally trained, he hadn’t been in the field in a long time.
 
The man rode a desk, pushed papers, and handled the red tape.
 
She’d beat him senseless if he attacked her with his hands.

But if he had a gun, pointed it at her back now, and pulled the trigger there wasn’t anything she could do to stop him.
 
She had no defense.
 
At least not yet.

DeMarco followed her to the kitchen, hands in pockets.

She pulled a half-gallon of ice cream from the freezer.
 
Chocolate chip.
 
Her favorite.
 
She tracked DeMarco’s every move, waiting for his gun to make an appearance.
 
Opening her utensil drawer without looking, she dipped her hand inside.
 
Instead of a spoon, her fingers caressed a 9mm.
 
The clip was in place, safety off.
 
It was her emergency back-up weapon.

“You need to lay low for a while,” DeMarco said.
 
“I know you aren’t the type to run from anything, but this is one fight you can’t win.
 
Let me handle things.
 
Go on vacation.
 
Mourn your father in private.
 
I’ll let you know when it’s safe to return.”

Relief flooded her system.
 
DeMarco hadn’t come to kill her.
 
Smiling, she grabbed a spoon and ate a mouthful of ice cream.
 
Nothing had ever tasted so good.
 
“Do you really think running is necessary?
 
I can talk to President Law again.
 
He understands that his son has been following me and not the other way around.
 
He knows I’m innocent.
 
I’m sure he’ll call the dogs off.”