Wired - Douglas E. Richards [80]
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 a 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.”
It was a sound strategy, Desh realized, once you stopped to think about it. “I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never been to a trailer park.”
“You’re in for a treat then,” she said. “I have three RVs as a matter of fact. One on the East Coast, one on the West Coast, and one in the heartland. The last two are just safety valves. I paid for a year at the trailer park in advance so they’ll be there for me if I need them.”
“I can hardly wait to see it,” said Desh, stopping at a red light. “So tell me about your search for Moriarty.”
“I will. But not now. I’ve been doing all of the talking. It’s your turn.”
“In my defense, I was too busy doing the mistrusting and glaring for that.”
“Given what you were told, I can’t blame you,” she said. “But tell me about you. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to know anyone. How did you end up in the military?” She paused. “Or did you feel like you really didn’t have a choice?”
For just a moment Desh had forgotten that she had made a study of him, but her question reminded him immediately. His father had been a general, a fact that she well knew as evidenced by her question. She certainly hadn’t wasted any time on small talk, although with everything they had been through, he realized, small talk at this point would be a little ridiculous.
“I had a choice,” he answered. “Definitely. Dad wasn