“There is more,” Ron said.
His fury momentarily on hold, Michal turned back to hear the rest, though he could not see how it was possible to top what he’d already learned.
“When the hit went down, Ami was captured. A CIA agent named Jack Tanner risked his life, as well as his career, to rescue her before she could be executed for the murder of her father. He had her memory erased using some experimental technology and left her in the care of the psychiatrist who worked from time to time for the Company.”
That news quelled Michal’s fury and at the same time sent jealousy coursing through his veins. “Who is this Jack Tanner?”
“The CIA operative your man discovered hanging around recently.”
It wasn’t necessary for Ron to explain what that meant. The possibility that the CIA was once again using Ami was too great to ignore. Every instinct told him that she was innocent, that she didn’t know she was being used. But he couldn’t be absolutely certain.
“She has asked for nothing nor has she attempted to persuade me to track down anyone.” Michal shook his head, it didn’t fit together properly. “If what you’re suggesting is the case,” he offered, certain it couldn’t be, “who is the target?”
Ron looked directly at him. “The target is you.”
AMI STOOD BENEATH the hot spray of water and tried to wash away the tension…tried to erase the images that, once unleashed in her head, would not go away.
Yael Peres had been her father.
She swallowed tightly and squeezed her eyes shut to block the picture of him staring up at her…asking why?
It couldn’t be right. There had to be a mistake. How could he be her father and she not know it until after she’d had him killed?
She leaned her forehead against the cool tile and allowed the hot water to sluice over her back. She tried sorting the myriad emotions whirling inside her, but gave up when she couldn’t determine where regret ended and bitterness began. She didn’t understand the feelings. Couldn’t remember why she would experience them. Had she hated her father that much? Did it have anything to do with her mother? A mother she couldn’t remember any more than she could her father.
Forcing the troubling thoughts away, Ami summoned the sweet memories of the last night she’d spent with Nicholas. Their bath together. Rocking him to sleep, softly singing his favorite lullaby.
The hurt started way down deep, climbing up from her belly, twisting inside her chest until it lunged into her throat, forcing a sob from her.
Somehow, for reasons she couldn’t remember, she had choreographed the murder of her father and the simultaneous betrayal of her lover, the father of her child.
Michal was a fool for trusting her.
She straightened, her eyes going wide with a new terror. All this time she’d worried about her son and the kind of life he would be exposed to were Michal to learn of his existence.
What about her?
Could she really be certain that Nicholas was any safer with her? What day-what hour-would her murky past come back to haunt her again? Who was to say that she hadn’t committed crimes much worse than even this? That she had been at work, away from her son, when the last run-in with her past took place was no guarantee she would be the next time.
How would she ever walk down a street with him at her side, or get into a car and start the engine with him tucked into his car seat without worrying that some past sin of hers might catch up to them both?
Fury tightened her jaw. There was only one way she would ever know the whole truth. She had to force Jack Tanner to tell her everything.
She had to know or her son would never be safe.
After her shower Ami dried her hair and slipped on a pair of jeans and a ribbed-knit blouse. There were thin, elongated bruises on her throat, but she didn’t care. She was thankful to be alive. Extremely thankful considering what she now suspected. She needed to talk to Michal. She saw no reason not to admit what she had remembered regarding Yael Peres. Maybe he could shed some light on the fragments of recall.
When she walked into the great room, she pulled up short at the sight of his men gathered around him. Michal stopped speaking and looked directly at her.
“I’m…sorry.” She glanced around the room, unable to ignore the unexpectedly thick tension. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Now is fine,” Michal said, stopping her before she turned away. He said to his men, “We will resume this briefing after lunch.”
Ami glanced out the window, only now realizing it was past noon. She’d slept much later than she’d thought. But she’d needed the rest. The nightmares had haunted her relentlessly through the night. Even after Michal had made love to her, draining her physically, satisfying her so deeply that sleep had come swiftly.
But it hadn’t lasted long.
It warmed her now to think of how Michal had held her through those endless hours of tortured dreams.
She managed a shaky smile for the men that filtered past her out of the room. Without Carlos the entire atmosphere was different…for the better.
Michal approached her with slow, deliberate strides, her heart reacting in spite of her numerous troubles. How was that possible? she mused. No matter what happened, somehow he always had that effect on her.
“I asked you last night if there was anything you needed to tell me,” he said, his voice cold and hard.
She blinked, certain the ice she saw in his eyes was her imagination. “I remember.” As if she could forget.
Silence lengthened between them for a second that turned to ten before he spoke again. “I will only ask you this once.”
The arctic blast that accompanied his words had her stumbling back a step. “I don’t understand…what is it you think you need to ask?”
The same old fears plagued her all over again. Had he somehow discovered Nicholas? Had someone told him about the woman who’d visited yesterday?
“Has anyone from the CIA contacted you since I brought you here?”
Bingo. She stiffened before she could stop herself. “Who?” Her voice sounded strained to her own ears and she couldn’t stop the trembling that traveled through her body like the rumble of a quake beneath the earth’s surface.
He moved closer still and repeated through clenched teeth, “The CIA. You worked for them once before, are you working for them again?”
She blinked twice…three times. “I…I don’t understand. Why would you think-”
“It is not what I think.” He took her by the arms and shook her hard, forcing her gaze to meet his. “It is simply a question. Has anyone from the CIA contacted you in any manner?”
Her head was moving side to side before she even realized her mind had formed some sort of response. Lying was her only protection in this case…wasn’t it? Could she tell him the truth? Right here? Right now? Would it matter?
“Since you are having difficulty with your memory,” he said with the same kind of bitterness he’d worn like a shield when they’d first met just over two weeks ago, “you will let me know if your answer changes.”
He sidestepped and walked past her, leaving her standing there ready to crumple with the anguish bursting inside her.
He knew. And she sincerely doubted he would ever trust her again. That nothing she could do would buy his confidence.
Now, even if she tried, she would never convince him that she wanted to help…that she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
She was the enemy…again.
AMI LAY IN BED alone that night.
Michal had avoided her all afternoon and evening. And then tonight he had opted not to sleep with her. She assumed he had taken another of the rooms or maybe the couch.
She eased over onto her side and struggled with the tangle of emotions pulling her first one way and then another. One moment she was certain she should have told him the truth, the next she was just as convinced otherwise.