“Even with enhanced intelligence?”
“Yes. When my mind is transformed, I have thousands and thousands of hours of the study of molecular biology in my memory for my intellect to draw upon. He almost certainly doesn’t. Without this, no matter how great his intelligence, he doesn’t have the knowledge base to succeed.”
Desh frowned. The more he learned, the more confused he became. He decided to move on. “So why does he want you now? He already knows he can’t force the secret of longevity from you.”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “But he’s taking great pains to capture me alive, even knowing I’m his biggest threat and won’t rest until I’ve stopped him. It’s obvious he hasn’t given up on the fountain of youth.”
They sat in silence for several seconds. Finally, Desh glanced at his watch and sighed. “We’d better go,” he said. “We have a bus to catch.”
Desh paid for the sundaes and they cautiously returned to the main mall. He scanned their surroundings for several minutes but didn’t detect anything out of place.
Desh gave Kira a questioning look as they made their way across the mall. “So why me, Kira?” he asked simply.
She sighed. “I already told you. You’re a good man. And when the chips are down, you’ll do the right thing. You’re an expert at finding people. You have Special Forces training. You’re smart and well read. I’ve been trying to find Moriarty and stop him, but I’ve gotten nowhere.”
Kira reached out and placed her hand in front of Desh, signaling him to stop walking. When he did she looked deeply into his eyes and he sensed she was deciding if she wanted to say more. Finally she lowered her eyes. “And I was lonely,” she said softly. “I’ve been on the run for a very long time. Not trusting anyone. Suspicious of everything.” She paused. “But I can’t stop Moriarty alone. As I studied your history, I realized I needed the help of someone like you; someone I could trust.”
So she had risked kidnapping him, even though he couldn’t have been more biased against her, to convince him to become her ally. Just as she had told him at the motel. And she had taken an even greater risk by putting herself under his control at the clearing. He still had a few nagging suspicions but he would put them to rest—for now.
Kira gazed into his eyes hopefully. “Will you help me, David?” she asked.
Desh held her stare for several seconds and then nodded, almost imperceptibly. “Yes,” he said finally. “I will.”
Kira let out the breath she had been holding. “Thank you,” she whispered earnestly. “And I really am sorry for bringing you into all of this. It was selfish of me.”
“No it wasn’t,” said Desh firmly. The corners of his mouth turned up into a slight smile. “And you didn’t bring me into anything. I was hired by Colonel Jim Connelly to find and stop a psychopathic killer who was off the grid, and that’s still what I’m doing.”
Kira’s features hardened. “I’m going to stop this bastard if it’s the last thing I do,” she vowed through clenched teeth, her face now a mask of hatred. “I swear on my brother’s soul that I’ll get him. A tragic accident took my parents from me, but Moriarty murdered the only other person I really ever loved; my only remaining family.”
A deadly gleam came to her eye. “And someday—soon—he’s going to pay for that.”
30
They exited the bus in downtown Richmond and took a cab to a used car lot. There they paid cash for an aging pick-up truck.
Griffin had called while they were on the bus and he and Connelly were doing well, despite the fact, as Griffin had put it, that being forced to shave his beard had surely “scarred and traumatized him for life.” They had arrived at the house of Connelly’s retired doctor friend without incident and Connelly was getting treatment.
Desh took the driver’s seat of the used pick-up when the transaction was completed. “Where to?” he asked.
“Get back on 95 north,” replied Kira. “Let’s go to my place.”
“You have a place? After all this time on the run?”
Her eyes danced playfully. “It’s a motor home. I live in a trailer park.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Why do you say that?” she said impishly.
Desh shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re a brilliant scientist whose discoveries could change the world. You just don’t picture someone like that in an RV.” He smiled broadly. “Albert Einstein living in a trailer park just seems wrong to me.”
She laughed. “That’s why it’s so perfect. A trailer park is the last place the old me would ever think of living and the last place anyone would think to look. And this way, I can change locations every month or so and still have a sense of home.”