Always - Iris Johansen [9]
“Are you all right?” Clancy Donahue’s tone was harsh. “For heaven’s sake, the phone nearly rang off the hook.”
She felt limp with relief and sank down on the bed. “Of course I’m all right.” She drew a deep breath and tried to steady her heartbeat. “It’s after midnight. Didn’t it occur to you that I might be sleeping?”
“Were you?”
She didn’t answer the question. “Why are you calling, Mr. Donahue? I thought we had said all there was to say.”
There was a short silence. “I decided to give you a chance to change your mind,” he said finally. “Will you help us?”
“No, I will not,” she said. “You don’t seem to be able to understand a refusal, Mr. Donahue. My bags are packed and I have reservations on the eight o’clock flight to Miami. You can look elsewhere for bait for your trap.”
“You’re the only bait Baldwin finds appetizing,” he said tersely. “You’re quite sure?”
She sighed. “I’m quite sure. Give up, Mr. Donahue.”
“Why? The battle has just begun.” His voice lowered. “I’m sorry. Believe me, I didn’t want it this way.”
He rang off before she could reply, and a faint frown knotted her brow as she slowly replaced the receiver. Donahue’s last remark had filled her with uneasiness. The man himself made her uneasy. He was one of those bigger-than-life figures one ran into—thankfully—with great rarity. He was too much of everything for her to feel comfortable. Too intelligent, too confident, too virile. He emitted an aura of power that disturbed her. It was just as well she was leaving tomorrow. Nothing must be allowed to break through the wall that surrounded her emotions, and she had an idea that Clancy Donahue didn’t believe there was a wall in existence that he couldn’t burst through. Yes, it was just as well she wouldn’t see him again.
Lisa stood up and strode into the bathroom. She opened a small plastic container, took out two sleeping pills, and swallowed them quickly. Although she had been cutting down on the medication for the last two months, she knew she was too upset to sleep dreamlessly tonight. And the dreams must not come. Not again. She set her travel alarm, took off her robe, and slipped between the sheets. Then she reached over to flick off the light and settled back against the pillows. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply and tried to relax every muscle and empty her mind of everything. She felt a tiny flutter of panic in the pit of her stomach and crushed it down swiftly. There was no reason to be frightened. The sleeping pills would take hold soon and there would be no dreams. No dreams at all.…
There were dreams, but they weren’t the heavy, somber nightmares that she had dreaded. These were strangely disjointed fragments, a sharp prick on her arm, masculine voices, lights, and then the dreams were lost in shifting darkness that billowed and flowed with moments of misty clarity.
“Dammit, she’s unconscious. That drug was only a mild sedative. It shouldn’t have knocked her out. How the hell much did you give her?” Clancy Donahue’s rough voice. She supposed it wasn’t all that unusual. One of the last things on her mind before she had gone to sleep had been Donahue, but she wished he wouldn’t sound so angry.
“I gave her the dosage you told me.” A younger voice … definitely defensive. “How did I know she was on sleeping pills? We found these in the bathroom, when we couldn’t wake her up.”
“Damn, this prescription is potent. I don’t even know if the drugs are dangerous to mix. I’ll have to call the lab in Sedikhan. Watch her closely. If there’s any sign of respiratory failure or deepening unconsciousness, call me on the double.”
The darkness deepened again. She was being carried. Mint. Donahue. The same after shave she had noticed