She closed her eyes and mentally went over the details of the necklace.
Time to Google it and see if anything it brought up struck a spark.
She typed: Eight-sided lotus.
Good Lord.
The search results appeared to stretch into infinity. Everything from water plants to mythology and ancient history.
This was not going to be easy.
She sighed and clicked on the first link.
How to grow the eight-sided lotus.
* * *
“The transfer was made?” Cameron asked. “You saw the plane take off, Tashdon?”
“Yes, as you instructed. Everything went well.” He paused. “Well, almost. I only meant to stun Catherine Ling and get her away from the door. But she was unconscious for a few minutes.” He added hurriedly, “But she was fine when she woke.”
“Not good. That’s not what I wanted.”
“I know. She was angry, but there was a distraction, and I think that may have made her less upset with me … and you.”
“What distraction? Never mind.” He was too impatient to wait for an answer that would be defensive. He quickly scanned Tashdon’s memory. “The boy?” He started to laugh. “I’d be angry with you, but you appear to have had a hard enough time.”
“He was a kid. I wasn’t expecting—”
“That’s when you have to be most on guard. When you don’t think you have to be. You did well enough, considering the circumstances. I wouldn’t say the same if you’d really hurt her.” He changed the subject. “Leave the helicopter at the heliport and get out of Hong Kong. Lose yourself until I tell you it’s safe.”
“Yes, sir. I’m on my way.”
Cameron was still smiling as he closed the connection.
The boy …
It was no more than he had anticipated after he had read Luke. He was unusual and on his way to being extraordinary. In the years to come Catherine would have to deal with a boy in her own image. It would be interesting to watch.
She was interesting to watch. Not only that body, which was a constant temptation, but the way she moved, the quickness of her mind.
Even now, she was probably trying to solve the puzzle, go forward instead of sitting still on that long flight to San Francisco.
And she would eventually solve the puzzle. What would he do then? He knew what the committee would say. She wasn’t one of the accepted. She hadn’t been sanctioned. She was therefore unsafe. There was only one thing to do with anyone in that category.
Kill Catherine Ling?
No!
He violently rejected the thought immediately. There were other alternatives and he would find them. He did not have to—
His phone rang and he smiled as he looked at the ID. Hal Beecham was the only committee member who had never been comfortable enough with mental telepathy to give up his beloved electronic communication. It didn’t really bother Cameron. He liked Beecham, and that fault made him all the more human. “Erin Sullivan is on her way to San Francisco,” he said when he picked up the call. “The problem is partially solved.”
“Kadmus has your photo,” Beecham said.
“I know. Brasden got it. I’ll take care of it.”
“Brasden has started showing it in the villages in Yorshoi region. Will he get your name there?”
“Probably. The villagers are simple people. I said I’ll take care of it, Beecham.”
“Will we have to do an erasure?”
“A minor one, perhaps. I’ll let you know.”
“Kadmus is getting too close to you. The committee is becoming troubled.”
“There are two solutions to that problem. Let me get rid of Kadmus.” He paused. “Or get rid of me.”
“Cameron.”
“It’s very logical.”
“I told you that long term, Kadmus is of value to us.” He added, “And there’s no way the committee would ever let you go. You’re one of us. Sometimes, I think you’re the best of us.”
“Then listen to me. I can’t pussyfoot around to keep from killing Kadmus. Now the CIA is involved, and they could take him out in a way that would not be as private as I’d like. Go back and tell them that they have to rethink advance strategy.”
“I’ll do what I can.” He was silent. “It’s the first time you’ve ever allowed a photo be taken of you, Cameron.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Kadmus would call it a mistake.”
“Was it?”
“No, it was a choice. I needed to get that helicopter safely away. It was important to me.”
“Are you too involved?”
“Yes, but I’ll make it right. Anything else, Beecham?”
“No, I just wanted you to know that a photo was taken.” He added, “And to ask if we could help in any way.”
“I’ll let you know. Thanks.” He hung up.
It was only a matter of days, perhaps hours, before Brasden would have his name. Not that it would do him much good. The erasure of his identity had been too complete and a name would be of little value. But it would give Kadmus a sense of power and confidence, and that would furnish the impetus for him to go forward more quickly.
Adjust.
Go first to Yorshoi and make sure that Brasden wasn’t doing damage to those villagers. After that, he should go into hiding for a time. Let Ling and the CIA handle Erin for a while. That would be the safe, approved thing to do.
Would he do it?
Hell, no.
* * *
This damn Google search was not only painstaking, it was frustrating.
Catherine rubbed her blurry eyes and closed them for a moment. The frustrating part was the fact that Erin was sitting three rows ahead of her and could answer all the questions for which she was searching if she only would. Catherine had spent over two hours on the lotus search, and she hadn’t seen anything that was in the least helpful.
Lightning had not struck.
She opened her eyes. Get back to it. Find a clue. Find a path. Find something that she could bring to Erin and throw at her and see her reaction.
She flipped to the new page.
It was halfway down on the third page.
She had almost skipped over it.
She couldn’t breathe as she clicked on the link.
Her gaze raked the page while she frantically made notes.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
* * *
Two hours later Catherine pushed away the computer and reached for the phone. She noticed her hand was shaking. Calm down, the excitement was too extreme. She couldn’t be sure that she was coming anywhere close to the truth.
The idea could be completely bizarre. No, it was completely bizarre. But that didn’t mean that it couldn’t have some basis in truth. If the necklace was the key, then this was one answer.
Lightning had struck, and she had to follow it to ground zero.
But first, she had to try to connect the dots. She quickly dialed Venable. “Erin’s safe. We’re on our way to San Francisco,” she said when he picked up. “But Kadmus isn’t out of the picture. We’re still going to have trouble with him.”
“As long as Erin Sullivan is safe and back in the U.S., our job is officially over. Good job, Catherine.”
“I told you, it’s not over. I’m not going to have Kadmus pick her up and haul her back to Tibet for more fun and games. We have to take him out.”
“Give me her location, and I’ll have someone keep an eye on her.”
“That’s not good enough. Kadmus is motivated, and he’ll never stop. He has a damn bloody army at his disposal. The only way I can stop him is to find out what’s driving him and stage a trap or ambush.”
He was silent. “I don’t want this to drag on and on, Catherine. When Sullivan gets off that plane, she’s no longer our problem.”
“She’s my problem.” She drew a deep breath. “But I’ll try to wrap it up as soon as I can. But I need some information from you, and I need it quick. You said that Kadmus was pretty wealthy and had several legitimate business enterprises in Tibet as well as all the loot he made from criminal activities.”