Shadow Zone (18 page)

“Yeah, he always wore it because of Mom.”

She knew that. She also knew that Conner had worn that sweater on the night he was killed and that it had been cremated with him. But she hoped Ronnie didn’t know that. No, he couldn’t, they had carefully kept all those details from Donna and him. And he certainly wouldn’t have spoken so casually about the sweater if he’d known. “Yes, he told me once that he remembered Cathy knitting it when she was expecting Donna.”

“He teased her all the time because she kept making mistakes with it. But she didn’t mind.” He paused. “I remembered that last night.”

“And you just saw him and the dream was over?”

“No, he talked to me like he used to do. He talked about you. He said that I had to remember to take care of you. He said it was important now. He said you were sad and hurting. He said I should protect you.”

“Ronnie, you were just remembering what he told you when he was alive. And we’re all sad and hurting,” she said unevenly. “You love me and want the best for me.”

“Yes, but I promised him.”

Cripes, I have to keep control. “You are going to help me. Next summer you’re going to come and work with me. We’ll be together for at least a couple months.”

“That’s a long time away,” Ronnie said. “I thought . . . maybe I should come to you now.”

“Don’t be silly. You’re in school. I’ll be fine, Ronnie.”

“I could make it up. I think I should be with you. He said now. He said I should protect you.”

“It was a dream.”

“I know . . . I think. But he never told me to protect you before. Just to keep you from being lonely.”

“But you’re a very loving and protective boy. Look how you take care of Donna and your mother.” She swallowed to ease the tightness of her throat. “The jump between keeping me from being lonely and protecting me isn’t such a big leap. Look, nothing’s wrong. I’m doing my job and just waiting for the summer so that we can be together.” She tried to laugh. “Have you forgotten what a tough cookie I am? I’m sure your dad has told you stories.”

“Yes, most of them were funny.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. He always loved it when the joke was on me. He said that it was good for my ego.” She took a breath. “I’m not saying I don’t want you or think you could help me, but we have to be patient. I’m fine. Why don’t we set up a time to talk to each other every week? That way we’ll know what’s happening in each other’s lives and can jump in if needed. Is that a plan?”

He was silent. “I think I should come.”

“No, Ronnie. How about calling every Friday evening about this time?”

“I guess so.”

“It’s for the best. If you want to talk, don’t wait until Friday. That’s only a guideline.”

“Okay. You’re sure everything is all right with you?”

“I’m sure.”

“How are Pete and Susie?”

Thank Heaven. She was glad his thoughts had turned away from his father to the dolphins. “Well, mischievous and independent. More independent than Melis would like. We’re going to head for the Marinth Museum in Athens, and she’s afraid they won’t go with her.”

“I’d like to see them.”

“You will. I promise. It’s time I got to bed, Ronnie. I’ve got a full day tomorrow. I imagine you do too.”

“Yes.” He paused. “I love you, Aunt Hannah.”

“I love you, too. Take care of the family.”

“I will. It’s my job now.” He hung up.

She hung up and leaned back in the chair.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

What kind of world was it that men like Conner were butchered and boys like Ronnie had their childhoods taken away by responsibilities. He should be thinking of his next soccer game and whether he liked that cute girl in his math class. Not about shouldering the responsibilities of the family. She knew it didn’t matter how much she talked to him. He’d do it anyway. It was his nature.

Responsibilities. Eugenia had been teasing Kirov tonight about his penchant for shouldering responsibilities. It was strange that she had come face-to-face with another male who had that same characteristic. Had Kirov been an intelligent, grave little boy like Ronnie? They certainly had the same instincts, she thought ruefully.

I was trying to protect you.

And Ronnie had said the same thing.

Or rather he had said that Conner had wanted her to be protected. He wouldn’t admit it, but he’d wanted to believe that experience last night had been more than a dream. It had been her duty to discourage him. She was a hardheaded realist, and a dream was a dream.

But somewhere deep in her heart she wanted to believe that Conner was still with them. If not with them, somewhere safe and happy and surrounded by love.

Oh, shit.

The tears were running down her cheeks. She got to her feet and headed for the bathroom to wash her face.

Dream, Ronnie, keep him close to you. Let him help you heal.

Let us all help you.

Fair Winds
Research Vessel
Atlantic Ocean

I can’t give in to the sadness, Melis thought.

She felt it every time she left Marinth, with each mile that separated her from the place that had become such an important part of her life. Her husband, Jed, teased her about her obsession, but he understood more than anyone how hard it was for her to leave the ancient city and its secrets.

Stop being ridiculous. She shouldn’t be mooning around about how things weren’t absolutely perfect. Life wasn’t perfect. This trip to the lab at the museum in Athens was essential. Hannah was trying desperately to retrieve the trellis, and Melis had to do her part.

She sat cross-legged on the upper deck, her sweater pulled tightly around her as she looked between the bars of the stern railing. It wouldn’t be light for another few hours, but this was when the sea was at its most alluring, beckoning her from the dark void beyond her vessel’s running lights.

It was only that it was harder this time, she realized. The rush of emotion that had accompanied their new discovery, followed by the crushing disappointment of abruptly losing it, had exhausted her. Then, too, there was the uncertainty about Pete and Susie. The local dolphin population’s recent odd behavior unsettled her, driving home just how little she knew about them. She was already afraid of losing Pete and Susie, but that fear had only intensified in the past two days. They, like Marinth, still had secrets to share, but at the moment that seemed trivial next to her love for them.

“Melis?”

She looked behind her to see Aziz Natali, a biochemist she had recruited only days before the expedition’s departure. It didn’t surprise her that he would still be awake at three thirty. She was accustomed to seeing him in the lab at all hours of the day or night.

“Get some sleep, Aziz.”

He smiled. “I already have. Between 1:20 and 1:55. It was most refreshing.”

“Oh, good. That should do you for another day or so.”

“It just might.” He crouched on the deck beside her. “I’ve been running simulations against the TK44 alga sample you told me about. So far I haven’t found anything unusual.”

“Run it against all plant and animal life unique to Marinth. Whatever it is, the combination has to be extremely rare not to have occurred anywhere in the world in the thousands of years since.”

“I’ve been doing that. I’ve been using the bioscanner I brought on board to analyze and break down all of your Marinth samples to the molecular level. Once that’s done, I can run computer simulations of the various combinations to examine interactions.”

“The bioscanner is why you’re here, Azis. That YouTube video of your university demonstration made a real impression on all of us.”

“So you use YouTube to staff your expeditions. I’m lucky I’m not sharing my cabin with a sneezing cat or a teenage blogger.”

Melis laughed. “Maybe next trip. Right now I don’t want anything to distract you from the work you’re doing.”

“It would help if I had access to more samples of the marine life you’ve collected in Marinth. You have thousands in your lab here on board, but I know there are more.”

“Many more. They’re in the museum laboratories in Athens. I’ve already alerted the staff to start preparing them for you.”

“Ah, I can see I won’t be getting much more sleep even after we dock.”

“Sorry about that, but this is important.”

He stood. “No big deal. I have a tough time sleeping when I’m immersed in a problem anyway. You may have noticed.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“You’ve given me a challenge. I’ll do my best to test everything on board before we get to the museum.”

“Thanks, Aziz.” She suddenly grinned. “I’m so glad I picked you over the sneezing cat.”

CHAPTER
9

Reardon Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

To her surprise, Hannah managed to sleep until seven thirty. Throughout the night, she had still felt the familiar rocking motion as if she was on a boat. It was a feeling she knew would persist for a week or so. The sensation had never bothered her as it did some of her colleagues; to the contrary, she found comfort in the sensation. The sea was as much home to her as the shore.

She checked her voice mail. Ebersole and another AquaCorp executive had left a total of sixteen messages for her. What in the hell did they want? If indeed the company had bankrolled a multimillion-dollar expedition just to curry favor with her, they must have had some humongous favor in mind. And probably one she wanted no part of.

She was tempted to call back out of sheer curiosity, but after a few seconds she turned off the phone. She didn’t need the aggravation.

She slipped on sweatpants, tennis shoes, and T-shirt and went downstairs for a run along the quay. Before she even stepped out the hotel’s front door, however, she spotted a familiar face outside.

U.S. Intelligence Agent Elijah Baker sat on a bench facing the hotel. “Good morning, Ms. Bryson.”

She stared at him warily as office workers passed between them on the sidewalk. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

He smiled. “My great-great-grandparents were from Ireland. I figured it would be as good a time as any to visit the Old Country.”

“You had me followed.”

“You flatter yourself. We wouldn’t waste the manpower to shadow you to the ends of the earth.”

“Yet here you are.”

“Well, it’s much less labor-intensive to follow a data trail. Your friend Kirov is much better at covering his tracks.”

“I’m not a criminal. I have no reason to cover my tracks.”

“Lucky for us, I suppose. But when we saw you had gone to Ireland, that piqued my interest. Because as it happens, Vincent Gadaire has been spending a lot of time in Ireland lately.”

“Did his great-great-grandparents come from the Old Country, too?”

“I just find it interesting you would suddenly find yourself in the same city with this person you claimed you’d never heard of.”

She shrugged. “Small world.”

“Kirov is here, isn’t he?”

“You didn’t tell me that you tried to hire him.”

Baker’s eyes narrowed. “So you’ve spoken to him.”

She ignored the question. “You tried to hire Kirov to spy on our expedition.”

“Gadaire had someone on the inside. I thought I should have someone in there, too.”

“Who was Gadaire’s inside man?”

“Who says it was a man?”

“
Who was it?
”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? I don’t believe you. It’s just another secret you’ve chosen to keep from me.”

“I honestly don’t know. But this person’s intel is most likely responsible for the theft of that relic.”

As usual, Baker was dropping little hints, then skipping away. Whether he had knowledge or not, it was clear he wasn’t going to reveal anything. “What do you want from me, Baker?”

“Just Kirov. We need to talk to him.”

“Because you think he has information that can help you nail Gadaire? Do your own intelligence work.”

“That’s what I’m doing, Hannah. Tell us where to find him and go back to your life. You don’t need to be involved with this. I believed you when you said you didn’t know who Gadaire was. I still don’t think you know what he’s capable of.” Baker stood up and stepped closer to her. “I once found the body of a business partner who had tried to cut him out of a transaction. The man’s teeth had been crushed all the way to the nerve, one by one, by a pair of pliers. I found the guy’s tongue in his shirt pocket. Gadaire is an animal. Don’t get mixed up with him.”

Baker was obviously trying to shock and frighten her. It was a form of intimidation that always made her angry. “As far as I’m concerned, your job is to get our artifact back,” she said curtly. “Talk to me again when you’ve done that.”

Baker studied her. “And what will that get me?”

“I’ll make you a deal. Find the artifact and return it to Melis, and I’ll help you with Kirov, Gadaire, and whoever else is on your agenda. You’ll have my full cooperation.”

“Time may be running out, Hannah. Help me, and I promise to make a good-faith effort to find the artifact and—”

“Not good enough.”

“Be reasonable.”

“That’s my offer. Don’t talk to me again until you’ve put that trellis in Melis Nemid’s hands.” She stretched her calf muscles. “Now if you’ll excuse me, you’re cutting into my morning run.”

As Hannah jogged through the City Centre, she found herself imagining that she saw Baker’s surveillance men several times along the route, tracking her every move.

The bastard had made her paranoid.

Perhaps with good reason.

If her scanned passport had been enough to bring him to Ireland, it wasn’t unreasonable to think that he might have her watched. She would have to take precautions.

She ran alongside the river, thinking about the words she’d hurled at Baker.

Find the artifact and return it to Melis, and I’ll help you with Kirov, Gadaire, and whoever else . . .

She had offered it up so easily without coercion. What the hell was she thinking?

You’ll have my full cooperation.

She needed to get that artifact back to Melis, that was what she was thinking. Wasn’t that worth any bargain, any price? Kirov could take care of himself. Surely Melis would agree. All those years, searching for the final pieces of the puzzle . . .