“After trying every way I could to talk my way out of it. But Patrick was not to be conned, even by an expert like me. So three weeks later, I found myself reporting for service.” He grimaced. “And not to a cozy niche babying computers. Patrick had arranged that I was going to go through basic training and, if I qualified, directly to Special Forces. I thought the bastard was trying to get me killed.”
“Cambry told me that you served in Afghanistan, so obviously that didn’t happen. Did you work for the CIA for those three years afterward?”
“Oh, yes. But I decided I wasn’t cut out for it. It gave me too much latitude.”
“I would have thought that would have been a plus for you.”
He shook his head. “It was too appealing. As Patrick said, some people have to have at least a hint of boundaries or they try to take it all.” He smiled. “So I spent a year or so developing some computer software that would keep me on the straight and narrow. I opened up my own company and started on the way to becoming the next Steve Jobs.”
“I’d say that was in keeping with trying to take it all,” she said drily.
“But I wouldn’t end up in prison if something went wrong … maybe.” He tilted head and said mockingly, “So there it is. I’ve bared my soul to you. Curiosity satisfied?”
“I guess it is.” She suddenly frowned. “No. What happened to your uncle?”
“He disappeared when the CIA found out what I’d done. I never heard from him again.” He shook his head as he saw her expression. “There you go again. I didn’t expect anything else, Margaret. After I started training, he would have just gotten in my way if he’d tried to lure me back into the fold.”
She didn’t answer.
“It’s the truth, dammit. You have the most idealistic viewpoint, considering that there’s not been anything remotely idealistic in your life.”
“I’m not idealistic, but I try to be optimistic. There’s no way that my father and I could have ever been close. But your uncle and you might have—I don’t know. At least he didn’t physically hurt you. It could have been different. I just hate the waste. If I’d been there, I think I would have tried to change things.”
“Like Zaran and her cub?”
“It worked with them. If I hadn’t been optimistic, I would never have tried.” Her gaze narrowed on his face. “What you told me was kind of personal. I didn’t expect that you’d— Why did you answer me?”
“Maybe because I know the fact that I know so much about you bothers you.” He smiled. “Or maybe it was just the right time. You decide.”
She wasn’t about to decide. After what he’d told her, it was entirely possible that he’d make a move to con her in some way.
She instantly rejected it. She wanted to believe he’d done it to put the two of them on equal footing. But then, as she’d told him, she was an optimist.
She pushed the chessboard away from her. “I’m tired of this game.” She wasn’t speaking only of chess. “I think I’ll go put on my suit and go for a swim.” She grinned. “I guess you won’t object, since there’s no land in sight.”
“But there might be sharks. I wouldn’t think you’d be bonding with them.”
“Not very often. They don’t respond very well. The urge to eat is too strong.” She looked out at the horizon. “When do we get to that port in southern Mexico?”
“Tomorrow morning. If you survive the sharks.”
She chuckled. “I’ll survive them.” She was striding down the deck. “And I’ll survive you, Lassiter. Want to come along?”
“I’ll pass. I’ll keep an eye on you from the bridge with my rifle handy. I’m not going to lose you to Jaws.”
“I liked that movie.”
“I know you did. I’m sure you were rooting for the shark, but you always like a good adventure movie.”
“I wasn’t rooting for the shark. But he was just reacting according to his prime motivation, and those poor people didn’t really have a chance in his world. It’s kind of an underdog situation that—” She stopped as a thought occurred to her and turned to face him. “You told me that you knew most of the answers about me. Who told you that one?”
He was silent and then said, “I believe it was a Sandy Webber, whom you worked for in a veterinary hospital in Cura?ao. She was sorry to lose you. She liked you very much.”
“I liked her, too.” Sandy had probably been easy for Lassiter to probe. She was bouncy and kind and energetic and had probably not even known she should be wary of him. The man she’d been with since Lassiter had come to her cabin last night would never have set off any alarms. That charisma and humor was in full force. “And she liked Jaws, too.”
He had caught the hesitation. “She was your friend. She didn’t tell me anything that personal. I just had to know who Margaret Douglas was.”
“Yeah, sure. You know how I feel about that. And it’s not very fair, since I didn’t get a chance to interrogate everyone in the universe about you.” She turned and went down the steps leading to her cabin. It wasn’t a big thing and it probably wasn’t important, but it had bothered her. She could see Lassiter smiling, coaxing Sandy, and gazing at her with that curious, intent look that he’d focused on her just this morning.
And all the doors had opened for him. With Sandy, with Judy Wong, with who knew how many other people he had tapped to find out about her.
Intimacy.
She should feel invaded, as she had when she’d first found out that he’d been shadowing her. It was a tribute to Lassiter’s skill, warmth, and easy charisma that she felt instead this intimacy, closeness, and lack of threat.
Which might be the biggest threat of all.
Forget it. She’d decided to trust Lassiter’s promise. And as long as she recognized the threat, it was nullified.
Maybe.
If not, she’d handle it when she had to. Right now, the sun was shining and the sea was blue and inviting, and she wanted to enjoy both before they reached Mexico tomorrow morning. You could never tell what that tomorrow would bring, so you had to seize today and hold on tight.
She turned and started to go through her backpack for her swimsuit.
*
“She doesn’t look like much of a kid in that bikini, does she?” Cambry murmured as he watched Margaret swimming next to the ship and then turn over and start to backstroke. “It’s the first time I’ve thought of her as a…” His voice trailed off.
“As a sex object?” Lassiter asked, finishing the sentence for him. “Back off, Cambry. I don’t want that kind of conflict raising its head. We have enough problems with her.”
“Yeah?” Cambry shot him a mischievous glance. “And what are you thinking as you look down at her undulating like a mermaid?”
“That I hope a shark doesn’t come on the horizon and make me take a shot that will cause her to read me the riot act.”
And that the sea beneath her looks like a damn bed, Lassiter thought. And that she’s all golden, from that yellow bikini she is not wearing to her shimmering skin and wet hair, which the sea had corded into tan-and-gold strands around her face.