I don’t
know
that. I can find out what’s going on at Meditron, but without your help, I’m searching blindly, and Jo could get hurt because of that. If I push the wrong button because I don’t have information I need, I could stampede Mallory, cause him to move too fast. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” she whispered through stiff lips.
“Then trust me,” he asked softly.
“I don’t know you.” She hesitated, then blurted, “It’s my sister’s
life
we’re talking about! How can I trust you with that?”
“How can you trust Mallory?” he countered.
She bit her lip. “I’ve known him all my life.”
“He’s a shark,” Kelsey told her flatly.
Elizabeth almost smiled. “But a shark I know.”
Kelsey half nodded to acknowledge the point. “As in ‘better the devil you know than the one you don’t’?”
“Yes.”
He tried to ignore the inner sense of time rushing, and concentrated on this moment. Abruptly, without even realizing he was going to, he said, “My father was an agent. I remember I was sixteen when I found out; until then, I’d thought he was just a businessman. But that time, he came back from one of his ‘business’ trips with his arm in a sling and a bullet hole in his shoulder. That’s when I heard the
real
facts of life.” He smiled a little.
Elizabeth was interested despite herself and felt oddly moved because there was something constrained in Kelsey’s voice; this was not, she realized, something he had told many people. She waited quietly, hands folded in her lap, studyingthe face that had gone blank and hard after the smile died.
Another face. Another face he was showing her.
“For a few years we pretended everything was normal. My mother died and Dad threw himself into his work. I was in college, busy with my own life. Then I came home for summer vacation in my junior year, and Dad wasn’t there. Weeks went by. I finally called the ‘emergency’ number he’d given me. The next day, I got a visit from his boss, Hagen.”
Kelsey was hardly aware that he had slipped back into the past, barely conscious that he was twisting the big signet ring around and around the third finger of his right hand.
“It was so unreal,” he mused almost to himself. “If you could only see Hagen. He’s a round little man with a cherub’s face, a walking caricature of the self-important banty rooster. And this unreal little man was telling me that my father was on an unreal assignment, and they’d lost contact with him.”
“What did you do?” Elizabeth asked softly.
He looked at her, his face still hard and remote. “I was twenty-one, reckless. I demanded that Hagen let me look for my father. He agreed; I’ve never known why. Anyway, he gave me the information I needed, swore me in as an agent, and three days later I found myself charming my way into an international smuggling ring.”
When he said nothing more, Elizabeth said, “Kelsey?” very softly.
Kelsey, even with the remembered pain and bitterness tearing through him, heard her use his name—really use it—for the first time, and he was unaware of the longing in the look he gave her.
Inexplicably, she flushed, and asked him huskily, “What happened?”
“I enjoyed it,” he said, face remote and voice bleak. “At first. It was exciting in a way I’d never known. And at twenty-one who thinks of dying? What kid ever thinks it can happen to him or to someone close to him?”
“Your father?”
Kelsey drew a deep breath and released it slowly, raggedly. “He’d infiltrated the ring just as I had,but he hadn’t been so lucky; they found him out. Maybe he said the wrong word or gave someone a wrong look. Sometimes that’s all it takes. Anyway, they decided to make an example of him days before I got there. And they were creative about it. We were aboard an old freighter on the open sea, and I hadn’t been able to search the hold. I found out why when they brought … what was left of him up
know
that. I can find out what’s going on at Meditron, but without your help, I’m searching blindly, and Jo could get hurt because of that. If I push the wrong button because I don’t have information I need, I could stampede Mallory, cause him to move too fast. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” she whispered through stiff lips.
“Then trust me,” he asked softly.
“I don’t know you.” She hesitated, then blurted, “It’s my sister’s
life
we’re talking about! How can I trust you with that?”
“How can you trust Mallory?” he countered.
She bit her lip. “I’ve known him all my life.”
“He’s a shark,” Kelsey told her flatly.
Elizabeth almost smiled. “But a shark I know.”
Kelsey half nodded to acknowledge the point. “As in ‘better the devil you know than the one you don’t’?”
“Yes.”
He tried to ignore the inner sense of time rushing, and concentrated on this moment. Abruptly, without even realizing he was going to, he said, “My father was an agent. I remember I was sixteen when I found out; until then, I’d thought he was just a businessman. But that time, he came back from one of his ‘business’ trips with his arm in a sling and a bullet hole in his shoulder. That’s when I heard the
real
facts of life.” He smiled a little.
Elizabeth was interested despite herself and felt oddly moved because there was something constrained in Kelsey’s voice; this was not, she realized, something he had told many people. She waited quietly, hands folded in her lap, studyingthe face that had gone blank and hard after the smile died.
Another face. Another face he was showing her.
“For a few years we pretended everything was normal. My mother died and Dad threw himself into his work. I was in college, busy with my own life. Then I came home for summer vacation in my junior year, and Dad wasn’t there. Weeks went by. I finally called the ‘emergency’ number he’d given me. The next day, I got a visit from his boss, Hagen.”
Kelsey was hardly aware that he had slipped back into the past, barely conscious that he was twisting the big signet ring around and around the third finger of his right hand.
“It was so unreal,” he mused almost to himself. “If you could only see Hagen. He’s a round little man with a cherub’s face, a walking caricature of the self-important banty rooster. And this unreal little man was telling me that my father was on an unreal assignment, and they’d lost contact with him.”
“What did you do?” Elizabeth asked softly.
He looked at her, his face still hard and remote. “I was twenty-one, reckless. I demanded that Hagen let me look for my father. He agreed; I’ve never known why. Anyway, he gave me the information I needed, swore me in as an agent, and three days later I found myself charming my way into an international smuggling ring.”
When he said nothing more, Elizabeth said, “Kelsey?” very softly.
Kelsey, even with the remembered pain and bitterness tearing through him, heard her use his name—really use it—for the first time, and he was unaware of the longing in the look he gave her.
Inexplicably, she flushed, and asked him huskily, “What happened?”
“I enjoyed it,” he said, face remote and voice bleak. “At first. It was exciting in a way I’d never known. And at twenty-one who thinks of dying? What kid ever thinks it can happen to him or to someone close to him?”
“Your father?”
Kelsey drew a deep breath and released it slowly, raggedly. “He’d infiltrated the ring just as I had,but he hadn’t been so lucky; they found him out. Maybe he said the wrong word or gave someone a wrong look. Sometimes that’s all it takes. Anyway, they decided to make an example of him days before I got there. And they were creative about it. We were aboard an old freighter on the open sea, and I hadn’t been able to search the hold. I found out why when they brought … what was left of him up
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