Expectation (Ghost Targets, #2) (22 page)

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the secret," Katie said. "That's the motive here. Someone is thinning the list of people who can bring down Gevia."

"Meg."

Katie nodded. "Or...it could be Theresa." She shook her head. "I had thought maybe Theresa, but now it certainly looks like Meg."

"And you're going in there to—"

"To figure it out," Katie said. "To get a confession if I can, but to wrap this up without spreading the secret any further than it has to go." The car came to a stop at the curb, right behind one of the clinic's private taxis. Katie didn't see anyone through the window. "I'm doing this for you, Martin. I'm counting on you to keep me safe."

"I'll do what I can—"

"Good," she cut him off as she got out of the car. The sun was already setting behind the mountains, but its last angry red rays fell across the clinic's grounds to bathe the laboratory in a crimson glow.

Katie ran to the gate and stopped hard when it refused to open for her. "No!" She pounded a fist on the gate and shouted, "Dammit, no!"

"What?" Martin said.

"I don't have access rights now." Katie's eyes darted, searching the grounds beyond for any sign of movement, but there was none.

"I'm on it," Martin said, but Katie shook her head.

"There's no time for that. Hathor, connect me to Lieutenant Drake. Thanks."

Drake accepted her call, bringing her into a joint connection with Reed and Hart. Reed immediately said, "Katie! What are you doing?" He sounded afraid.

"I'm at the clinic," she said. "Meg Ginney abducted Theresa Barnes and brought her here at gunpoint." That drew gasps from all three.

"That would be Corporal Cohn's gun," Drake said. "That's why it's not on her."

"You hear that?" Reed said, a little frantic. "She's dangerous, Katie. You stay put. We're on our way—"

"No!" Katie said. "There's no time. Lieutenant, let me in."

"Absolutely not!" Reed said.

At the same time, the lieutenant stammered, "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Clinic security can—"

Katie tuned him out when the gates suddenly swung open for her. She broke the connection and said, "God bless you, Martin."

"Their whole defense is based on anonymity," Martin said, fascinated. "This needs a complete redesign—"

"Not now," Katie said, charging the laboratory building. Lights were on inside, but she couldn't see anyone in the lobby. "Please tell me you got those doors open, too."

"For you, yes," he said. "But Meg Ginney isn't getting out."

She took a morbid comfort in that. One way or another, this ended here. "You're my hero," she said in a whisper and she pulled the door open and slipped into the lobby. "Now shut up."

She drew her sidearm as she crossed the room, padding lightly, eyes locked on the inner door. The three heavy bolts were open and the door open a crack. She could hear frantic voices on the other side of it. Her eyes flicked to her gun and she winced at the red light on its lock. Quietly as she could, she slipped into the next room.

Meg and Theresa stood close together at the far end of the room. The hospital curtains were thrown back from Eric's bed and the two women stood at his side, their backs to Katie. Meg was one step behind Theresa, the gun probably buried in the small of the older woman's back. Katie took her chance and slipped through the door, then darted to the nearest lab table and ducked behind it. Just then Theresa screamed, "No! No, please don't! I'm sorry."

Katie risked a look around the corner and saw Meg holding the older woman at arm's length now, with the gun right in her face. "No!" Theresa cried, falling to her knees. "Please, Meg. Please!"

Katie moved, letting Theresa's wails cover the sound of her approach. She darted from table to table, always out of sight, but there was a thirty-foot gap at the end of the room, open space between her and the other women. Katie stopped behind the last table, but a glimpse of Meg's eyes told her she was out of time.

Theresa saw it, too. Her screams reduced to a quiet, raw whimper. "Please, Meg." She couldn't meet the girl's eyes, instead staring at the floor. "I won't tell. I'll never tell."

"It's too late," Meg said, and Katie saw her jaw set.

She moved, then, throwing herself into a sprint. Something gave her away, though—the sound of her first step, or the surprise in Theresa's eyes. Whatever it was, Meg reacted instantly. She toppled Theresa backward with a rough shove then whirled, bringing the gun to bear on Katie. She took a shot and missed Katie wide to the right, then trained the gun on her torso and barked, "Stop!"

All of that in three steps, and Katie was still too far away to try anything. She skidded to a stop, her hands out to her sides. "It's okay, Meg," she said. "We can take care of this."

"We can," Meg said with a shaky grin. Her eyes darted, unfocused, and she nodded to Katie's useless gun. "Drop it."

Katie let the gun fall, then shrugged. "There," she said. She put her hands up, showing Meg her palms. "See? I want to work with you."

Meg shook her head with a wild laugh. "Oh, no," she said. "You and I...." She trailed off. Her gaze drifted back over her shoulder, to Eric's still form. "We don't work together."

Katie inched forward, but Meg caught the movement. Her head snapped back around and she shouted, "Stay right there!"

"I will," Katie said, her voice soothing. She backed up a step. "I want to help you."

Reed spoke softly in her ear. "That's good," he said. "Calm things down. Keep her talking. We'll be there in seven minutes." At least Martin had that working.

Meg wasn't going to be calmed, though. Katie could see it in her eyes. The girl was frantic, probably insane. She laughed again. "I'm glad you're here."

"Meg, no," Katie said, conscious of the headset recording their conversation. She was playing too many games at once. "You're doing good work here. Don't sacrifice that—"

"Don't talk to me like that!" Meg shouted. "You're just like that whore. She thought she could talk me down." She cackled, and her eyes went unconsciously to the gun in her hands. "She thought she could talk me down, but she was already gone."

Katie didn't need Reed's prompt. She took a cautious step closer, "Ellie, you mean?" Meg looked up, into Katie's eyes, and for a moment there was confusion there. Katie said, "You're talking about Ellie Cohn?"

Meg's lip curled in disgust. "I don't understand how Eric could even touch her. She's horrible—"

"And she's gone now," Katie said, and moved another step closer. Theresa was sprawled on the ground behind Meg, and Katie could see in her eyes that the traumatized woman was trying to find the nerve to jump her captor. It was too dangerous, though. She beckoned Meg a step closer, out of Theresa's grasp. "You took care of her," she said.

"I did," Meg nodded, and a demonic smile played across her face. "She came here to accuse me. She came here to threaten me, but she didn't know what I could do."

Katie shook her head, "I don't understand. Why did she come back?"

"She thought she'd figured it out. She thought I'd hurt Eric because I was jealous. Of her." She spit those words out in disgust. "She came back here to blackmail me. That's why. She showed up so sure of herself, trying to boss me around—"

"But you didn't put up with that," Katie said. "You poisoned her."

"It was easy."

Reed spoke in her ear, "Got her! That's enough for Jurisprudence, Katie." He was trying to encourage her, to give her strength, but Katie took his message another way.

Meg took another step closer, still crowing about her victory. "She noticed, though. She noticed something was wrong, and then she...she hit me." She smiled and turned her head, craning her neck so Katie could see the bruise behind her ear, a black thumbprint on her throat. "She tried to choke me, but I got away. She didn't expect me to fight." She laughed. "She thought she would be stronger."

Theresa was up on her knees, now, but her plans had melted away. "Why?" she cried. "Why would you do all this?"

Katie shook her head. That was exactly what she wanted hidden from Hathor. "Martin," she said sharply, ignoring the startled looks from the other two women. "Kill it. Now!" She heard the tone as her headset finally went offline.

Meg's eyes narrowed. She took another step closer, two and a half paces away now, and gestured with the gun toward Katie's headset. "Who are you talking to?"

"Old habit," Katie said. "Sorry. These don't work in here."

Meg shook her head. "You're doing something."

"What could I do?" Katie nodded meaningfully toward her weapon on the floor, then took a long sideways step away from it. She shook her head. "All I want to do is get all of us out of here alive."

One corner of Meg's mouth twitched up in a smile. "That's not going to happen," she said. "You know how the saying goes. Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead."

Katie held up a finger, "Wait! Wait." She shook her head. "This isn't going to make it better, Meg. A shootout at the Gevia clinic? Federal agents dead? They can't cover that up. I have family—"

"I don't care about your family!"

"You should," Katie said with artificial calm. "You should, because my family is going to want to know what happened, and the Bureau is going to tell them. They don't know about Gevia. They don't know how important this place is, so they'll tell my family I was gunned down by a research assistant at the De Grey Clinic, and
that
 will make the news."

"No," Meg said, and Katie nodded.

"You can't do this," she said. "If you kill us here, it's over. That won't protect the secret—that will end it." She nodded toward Theresa, cowering on the ground. "She promised you she's not going to tell." Meg glanced her way, and Theresa nodded frantically. Katie drew her attention back with a wave of her hand, "And I promised you the same thing." She held Meg's eye. "
Without
 a gun in my face, Meg. Without any suspicion of what you were willing to do, I made that promise. Because I believe."

"It's important!" Meg wailed, and Katie nodded enthusiastically.

"It's crucial," she said. "How many lives depend on the secret?"

"All of them," Meg said, her eyes wide. "It's not a number. It's everyone. We can't risk that. Not for...for some...some
whore
." Sadness crept into her eyes, and she glanced back at Eric again. "Not even for him."

Katie slipped a step closer. "You had to kill them—"

"No!" Meg rounded on her, and jammed the gun in her face. "I didn't kill him! He's still alive—"

Katie had heard the argument before, but she wasn't interested. Meg was close enough now. Katie swept her arm up and knocked the gun away before Meg pulled the trigger. The report deafened her, but the bullet went wide. Katie stepped forward as she continued the motion, trapping Meg's wrist against her side, and she shoved, twisting the girl away from her. Meg growled, an angry, animal sound, but Katie had both the other woman's wrists behind her back now, and with a sharp motion she knocked the gun out of her hands, then pressed down with her shoulder and pushed the girl to her knees.

"You're under arrest," Katie said. "For assault on Ellie Cohn and Eric Barnes."

"I had to do it," Meg said, her voice eerily calm. "I had no choice. I loved him, but he was going to give it away."

"He wasn't," Katie said sadly.

"He was," Meg insisted, sadness weighing down her eyes. "Because of that vile woman. They were going to sell the secrets to some stupid dictator who wouldn't know how to keep them safe. They were going to give it all up, so I had to stop them."

"You didn't," Katie said sadly. "I told you before, we have a recording of them at the Sunrise Inn. He told her no. He told her it was over." Meg wrenched an arm free with surprising strength, but instead of fighting she gave a miserable sob and clasped a hand to her chest, as she had done before. This time Katie understood why. She saw the delicate silver necklace around the woman's neck. Katie snapped the chain with a sharp flick of her wrist, and when she pulled it away it came with a heavy gold ring dangling from it. Eric's class ring. She recognized it from the Hathor footage. "He was never a threat," she said sadly. "He never would have risked Gevia."

Meg hung her head, the fight gone out of her. Katie let the ring slip free of the chain, then tossed it to Theresa who caught it with a terrified awe. She stared at it for a moment, and then the reality of it all finally sank in. "You really did it," she said quietly.

Meg nodded, mute.

Theresa stumbled to her feet and came over to them, a fire burning in her eyes. "You did this to him. On purpose." She looked back and forth between Katie and Meg, replaying their conversation in her head, and ended by shouting, "For nothing! You did this to him for nothing!" She slapped Meg with a vicious backhand, rocking her head back with the force of it. "How could you?"

Katie said quietly, "Mrs. Barnes—" but Meg spoke up in answer.

"I had to," she said. "I did it because I had to."

"For the secret," Theresa said with disgust. "For that goddamned secret." She turned away, to face Eric, and Katie saw her shoulders fall. Theresa stepped closer to him and said, "All of this for a lie."

"It's not a lie," Meg said quietly. "It's real."

"It's a sham," Theresa said, rounding on her, but her rage was short lived. She turned back to Eric and tenderly took his hand to replace the stolen ring. "It's a waste."

"It's life," Meg said. "For the first time in human history, we are free to live."

Theresa turned then, the sadness bitter in her eyes. She waved her arms to indicate the room they were in, Eric unconscious on the bed behind her. "Is that what you call this? Freedom?"

Meg hung her head again. "Not us," she said. "We're a sacrifice. But isn't it worth it? Two lives lost to save millions? Billions?"

"More than that," Theresa said. "More lives are sacrificed to this lie. Yours and mine—"

"But it works out," Meg said. "What price would be so high that you would make everyone you know, everyone you love, grow feeble and slow? What price would be so high you would willingly condemn a nation full of healthy, happy people to senility and death? Would you really choose something else—anything else—over the lives of every other person on Earth?" Theresa's chin went up stubbornly, but Meg said quietly, "Would Eric?"