Always - Iris Johansen [6]
“I know,” he said in a gentle tone. “But you’ll remain involved as long as he’s in your life. Give him to me and I’ll promise to remove him.” He paused deliberately. “Permanently.”
Her gaze lifted swiftly to his. She smiled with an effort. “You sound quite lethal. The last I heard, gun running wasn’t a capital offense.”
“Perhaps not in the U.S., but in Sedikhan it’s a different situation entirely.” He smiled with a touch of cold ferocity. “Alex leaves judgments of that nature up to me.”
“Alex?”
“Alex Ben Raschid, the sheikh of Sedikhan. Alex is a very busy man these days. I assure you I have full power to act for him. Is it a deal?”
“You’d kill him?” Lisa whispered.
“Perhaps; I haven’t decided as yet. In any event, he won’t be around to bother you again. Isn’t that what you want?”
She shivered. “Not that way. I could never be that cold-blooded.”
His lips tightened. “Baldwin is a hell of a lot more cold-blooded than you could ever dream of being. What kind of man do you think would furnish hand grenades and dynamite to terrorists when he knows damn well they’ll be used to blow up schoolbuses and supermarkets? Two children were killed last year in Marasef and several more were injured. I can’t touch the terrorists as long as Said Ababa is protecting them, but I can stop their flow of weapons.” He paused. “I can stop Baldwin.”
“Children were hurt?” She felt suddenly sick. How could Martin do these things? It was unbelievable.
Clancy nodded curtly. “Will you help me?”
She drew a deep breath. “I can’t.”
“You can. But you won’t. Perhaps you’re one of those women who get some sort of kinky thrill out of being desired by a bastard like that. Maybe it’s a little game the two of you play.”
“A game!” Her brown eyes were blazing. “Do you think I enjoy having my career slowly destroyed in the most humiliating way possible? That I like being afraid every time I hear a knock on the door that it will be him and the whole sordid mess will start again? You’re a very stupid man, Mr. Donahue.”
“Then give him to me,” Clancy said relentlessly. “Cooperate.”
“I can’t, dammit.” She jumped to her feet. “He was my husband. I had his child. It doesn’t matter what he did. I can’t be your Judas goat. Not and still live with myself.”
“Child?” Clancy repeated slowly.
She could feel the blood drain from her face. Don’t think about it; keep the pain at bay, she silently commanded herself. “Didn’t your neat little reports mention that?” she asked bitterly. “Perhaps your informants didn’t consider the birth of my little boy important. It wasn’t exactly a world-shaking event.” Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. “Except to me.”
“I’m sure it must have been in the report. I must have overlooked it.” Clancy found his hands unconsciously tightening on the arms of the chair. The idea of her bearing that bastard’s child filled him with a totally irrational rage.
“How careless of you.” She wouldn’t cry. Oh, God, she had thought all the tears had been shed long ago. Why were her eyes stinging with them now? Firmly she blinked the moisture away and lifted her chin. “But you can see that I wouldn’t be able to do as you ask.”
“You refuse?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to catch Martin on your own. You’ll get no help from me.”
“I’m sorry, too.” A fleeting expression of regret was replaced by a look of fierce determination. “I wanted your cooperation. I don’t like using force unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Force!” Her eyes widened with disbelief. “How could you possibly force me?”
“Very painlessly, I hope: Once you realize that I hold all the cards, I think you’ll be sensible.” He sat forward. “Let me tell you exactly what you’re going to do. You’ll continue to sing here until Baldwin shows up.” His lips twisted. “And we both know he’ll do so eventually. It’s obvious that I can’t convince you to tip my man when you see him, but you’re not to blow our surveillance to Baldwin, either. Once he’s spotted, we’ll move in and take over.”
She shook her head as if to clear it.