Pandora's Box (17 page)

Plastering her picture on the morning news as if she was the FBI’s number one most wanted had been a huge mistake.
 
They had no idea what she was capable of.
 
Before she might have come in quietly, answered their insulting questions, but not now.
 
Heaven help anyone who tried to grab her.

Tyler
said, “We need to get out of here.
 
Everyone and his brother will be looking for you.”

“How did this happen?”
 
She shook her head.
 
“I’ve served my country for years.
 
Doesn’t that mean anything to these people?”

“Apparently someone high up doesn’t want us digging into the Pandora’s Box thing.”

Madison
had one more question for Grainger’s wife.
 
She went to the bed, lightly touched the woman’s arm, desperately wanting to feel connected to the happier times in her life.
 
“Could my father have had an implant?
 
Is it possible that he tried to kill the president because he was programmed to do it?”

Betsy nodded once.
 

That was all
Madison
needed to know.
 
She bent down, pressed her lips to the woman's forehead and whispered, “Thank you.”
 

Tyler
was already at the door.
 
He stuck his head out and glanced both ways.
 
Then he motioned for
Madison
to hurry.
 

Betsy said, “Take care of yourself, sweetie.
 
Keep your head down.”
 
Her dark eyes hardened.
 
“And don’t trust anyone.”

For a second
Madison
could almost see her father’s ghostly image imposed on Betsy’s face, could hear her father’s voice instead of the old woman’s.
 
It was like her father had possessed Betsy Grainger’s body long enough to give her one last reminder that trust wasn’t an option for her.

“What’s the plan?”
Tyler
asked.

“No plan.”
 
She shrugged.
 
“I’m going to walk out of here and God help anyone who tries to stop me.”

And with that they abandoned the hospital room for the well-lit hallway.

They stepped into the elevator, alone again.
 
Tyler
leaned against the back wall and said, “Something has been bothering me.
 
I know how to spot a tail when I’m being followed, and I’m sure I didn’t have one when I took you to Skinner’s hiding place.
 
Seems odd the bad guys would find us right then and not before.”

“What are you saying?”
 
She glared sideways at him.

“Just wondering how they found us.
 
Thinking out loud.
 
That’s all.”

The jerk was actually accusing her of setting him up!
 
Okay, she understood paranoia.
 
All spies suffered from it.
 
She was probably one of the worst.
 
But
Tyler
looking at her through suspicious eyes cut her to the quick.
 
His lack of faith hurt more than she cared to admit.

“Well I certainly didn’t tell anyone.”
 
Hands on hips, she stared him down.
 
“How could I?
 
I was with you the entire time.”

He compressed his lips into a tight line, saying nothing.
 

He didn’t believe her.
 
Well too damn bad.
 
She was sick and tired of having to defend herself to everyone under the sun.
 
Big jerk!

They got off the elevator.
 
No one had bothered to take a second look at them.
   
The huge automatic glass doors loomed before them.
 
They were almost home free.
 
Madison
began to smile, feeling more confident by the second.
 

“Stop!” someone behind them yelled.
 
“Stop right there!”

******

Chapter Eight

“Stop!” the uniformed policeman said in a booming voice.

Madison
exchanged a look with
Tyler
, silently asking if they should make a run for it.
 
The glass doors loomed a few feet ahead.
 
Tyler
shook his head.
 
They turned as a single entity.
 
Madison
started to raise her hands, expecting to find a gun aimed at her chest.

The policeman’s weapon remained holstered.
 
Her heart-shaped locket dangled from his fingers.
 
Her mother’s locket.
 
Madison
’s hand automatically went to her bare throat.
 
Her raging pulse drummed against the pads of her fingers.
 

“You dropped this, ma’am.”
 
The cop smiled at her, semi-flirtatious despite
Tyler
’s hovering presence.

She’d almost lost her mother’s locket.
 
The officer handed it to her with a wide smile.
 
“Thank you,” she said, momentarily forgetting her frantic rush to escape the hospital.

He winked.
 
“Pretty thing like you should be more careful.”

Tyler
stepped forward.

“Don’t worry, officer, I’ll take care of her,” he said with a biting note of hostility.
 

The cop’s gaze swung to
Tyler
and recognition dawned in his eyes.
 
He lifted his hand and pointed the way someone points when they see a famous person and they’re immediately in awe.
 
“Hey, you’re the president’s son.”
 
Then the happiness left his expression.
 
“Wait a second.
 
We’re supposed to be looking for you.”
 
His eyes widened as they returned to
Madison
and he made yet another connection.
 
“You!
 
You’re the terrorist they’re searching for.”

“I am not a freaking terrorist!”

His hand went to his holstered firearm.

His mouth opened, probably to yell for security.

Madison
jumped, aiming a flying kick at his face.
 
She did it reluctantly, not wanting to hurt the guy, but he gave her little choice.
 
Her or him.
 
Unfortunately she had to choose self-preservation.
 
Her boot connected with his jaw.
 
He flew backwards.
 
His head smacked against the linoleum floor with a resounding crack.

Tyler
nodded at her, his eyes glowing with admiration, but she felt terrible.
 
The young officer had returned her mother’s necklace to her.
 
She certainly hadn’t wanted to harm him or make him look bad to his superiors.
 
When she got her hands on the person or persons behind this mess, she vowed she was going to hurt them a lot worse.

“Sorry,” she said weakly to the unconscious officer before heading to the exit.
 

“Did you see that, Mommy?” asked a child at the far corner of
Madison
’s vision, her voice high and loud with excitement.
 
Madison
couldn’t stop herself from looking at them.
 
The woman grabbed her child in a protective embrace, her eyes wide with fear.
 
She took a couple steps backward and
Madison
knew the woman would sound the alarm at any moment.
 
She was about to shriek at the top of her lungs.

“We’d better hurry,”
Madison
told
Tyler
, nodding at the near-hysterical woman.
 
She restrained from rolling her eyes.
 
The woman had looked at her as if
Madison
had just killed someone in cold-blood.
 
She’d kicked him, for Pete’s sake.
 
A woman like that wouldn’t survive ten seconds in her world.

Sadly,
Madison
knew she wouldn’t fit into the other woman’s world either.
 
Not anymore.
 
She’d forgotten how to play nice.
 

Remembering the gum wrapper in her pocket, she dipped her hand inside and pulled it out.
 
After carefully unfolding it, she stared numbly at the private phone number for her father’s cabin.
 
Either her father had been hiding Grainger or Grainger had been using her father’s cabin without his knowledge.
 
Didn’t matter which.
 
It was worth checking out.

She decided not to share the wrapper with
Tyler
.
 
He’d probably want to go back inside and yell at Betsy some more.
 
She’d keep it to herself until they were clear of the hospital.
 

The automatic doors parted for them and they rushed outside.
 
Madison
stopped abruptly.
 
She grabbed
Tyler
’s forearm, halting his progress with a sharp jerk.
 
“We need to get to the airport, fast.”

“Why?”
 
Tyler
’s eyes narrowed on her face.
 
“I thought you wanted to prove your father’s innocence—and your own.”

“My father has a cabin overlooking
Lake Tahoe
in
Nevada
.
 
If he knew who Grainger sold his invention to, he might have written it down somewhere or he might even have a file on the man.
 
My father was ultra-organized.”

Tyler
nodded.
 
A small smile tugged on the corners of his mouth.
 
“Brilliant.
 
I love the way your mind works.
 
But I hope you don’t think you’re going to tell your buddy DeMarco where we’re headed.
 
I don’t trust him.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want you to tell your Navy buddy.
 
I don’t trust him.”

“Now you’re just being childish.
 
You don’t even know him.”

“You don’t know DeMarco.”
 
Hands on hips, she stared him down.
 
“I would trust DeMarco with my life.”

After doubting DeMarco the day before, she felt he deserved her unshakable confidence now.
 
She would defend him with her last breath.

Tyler
sighed.

“You aren’t going to trust him with mine,”
Tyler
said.
 
He rolled his eyes heavenward, obviously exasperated with her.
 
“I’ll tell you what.
 
Neither of us will tell anyone.
 
Deal?”

She stuck her hand out to shake on it.

Instead of taking her hand,
Tyler
grabbed her upper arm and pulled her with him.
 
They raced across the parking lot, searching for a car that wouldn’t stand out in a crowd.
 
Within seconds they settled on a four-door sedan, plain brown in color with a
Baby on
Board
sign in the rear window.
 

Tyler
tossed the sign before climbing in beside her, a smirk on his handsome face.
 
Her gaze turned to the passenger side window.
 
She watched the scenery pass by as if fascinated.
 
Small talk wasn’t her thing.

******

Half an hour later they were waiting for the plane to start loading passengers.
 
Tyler and Madison sat facing each other in a corner of the waiting room, huddled together like lovers who had just discovered each other.
 
If they were recognized, either of them, someone would call the authorities.
 
Then what?
 
Madison
wasn’t sure if she’d be arrested or simply questioned again.

She didn’t intend on finding out.

Tyler
absently stroked her cheek.

She said, “We’ll fly into
Reno
, rent a car at the airport, and drive up to the lake.”

“Sounds good to me.”
 
He cupped her face between his hands and turned it in his direction.
 
“There are three suits at
nine o’clock
traveling south.
 
We can’t let them make us.”