Kathlyn Trent, Marcus Burton 01 - Valley of the Shadow (29 page)

"But there has been someone?"

"Only one, really.  A girl in high school.  Juliana reminds me a lot of her, actually. Pretty, vivacious, the same hair color."

"And I don't fall into that category?"

He laughed softly. "Sweetheart, you are in a league of your own, believe me."

"What was her name?"

"Sophia Kapelkoff-West. She got married to some guy we went to school with, years ago."

Kathlyn scowled at him, good-naturedly. "So if someone named Sophia calls, I should hang up on her?"

He laughed. "She won't be calling. I couldn't give her what she wanted and, I hate to say it, she was more of someone just to pass the time with than a true love interest.”

“So I don’t have to worry?”

“Hell no.”

They held each other a moment, listening to the sounds of the night.  Kathlyn stroked his hair, thinking of the battle to come.

“I need to go talk to Dougray tonight,” she said softly.

“I wish you wouldn’t. Wait until tomorrow, after you’ve had a chance to get some sleep.”

“Marcus, the sooner the better. The man has to know I’m not about to roll over and play dead. I think Bardwell and McGrath should be in on this meeting, too.”

“Why?”

“So they know how serious I am and how creepy Dougray is. Maybe when they see his reaction to my threats, they’ll understand what kind of person he really is.”

Marcus wiped a stray bit of mascara from under her eye. “Sweetheart, you’re not delivering threats. You’ve got an ace in the hole with Leeves.”

She nodded, kissing him a couple of times and getting lipstick on him. She wiped it off with her finger. “His email was the first one I sent. And it wasn’t time-delayed, either. I asked him, as a personal favor to me, to check into the FBI files for Walter Dougray and Ronald Abrahams. Maybe the Bureau has something on those two that can help our cause.”

Marcus cocked an eyebrow; it was a long shot. Men like that usually kept themselves exceptionally clean. “It couldn’t hurt.” She stood up and he watched her straighten out her jeans, her hair. “Let’s go find Dougray. The sooner we throw this left hook, as you called it, the better.”

From the computer table, Kathlyn picked up a small voice activated tape recorder. She wriggled it at Marcus before shoving it in the pocked of her jeans.

“Let’s see what old Walter has to say.”

“I’m with you, Sherlock.”

***

Nobody had an idea what Dougray found so funny. He laughed and laughed. Bardwell looked shocked, McGrath looked pleased, Marcus appeared determined, and Kathlyn was the only one not registering any emotion at the moment. Her coup de grace statement seemed to have Dougray in stitches. But she knew, instinctively, that it was a front. The man was deeply infuriated.

“Dr. Trent, I must apologize,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “I completely underestimated you.”

Kathlyn wasn’t about to give in to anything, complement nor apology. She remained coolly professional and calculating. “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Mr. Dougray.”

He continued to chuckle. “Why, I underestimated your imagination, of course,” he said. “You seem to have covered all of your proverbial bases.”

He was patronizing her; she could feel it. ”Indeed I have, Mr. Dougray.” She wanted to take a stab at him and see what happened; nothing else, so far, had affected him. “The e-mail to President Leeves went out this evening. Considering the time difference, he should already be reading it.”

Dougray’s laughter calmed but not because he was intimidated. He was curious more than anything. “And let me get this straight; if I don’t confess whatever it is you want me to confess, you’re going to allow this time encoded email to go to all of the news stations all over the world, is that correct?”

He was talking to her like a child. Kathlyn struggled not to become angry. “Once again, your intelligence astounds me, Mr. Dougray.  Is there anything else I can clarify for you?”

Dougray’s smile faded completely. “More than likely. You can clarify how in the world my magazine ever hired a maniac like you. I would suggest you up your dose of Lithium, Dr. Trent. Those voices you hear are taking over your brain.”

Beside her, Kathlyn felt Marcus tense. A well-placed hand on his thigh soothed him for the moment.  She smiled at Dougray.

“The only voice I hear at the moment is yours, Mr. Dougray,” she said smoothly. “I'll be honest when I tell you how much difficulty I have believing why a man of your stature would have stooped to such unethical, unbelievable tactics.  You tried to murder me, my husband, and our friends.  You've set out to destroy relics that are as valuable to our world as the air we breathe. You live in a fanatical world of religious beliefs like the Hezbollah or those other zealous factions.  You're obviously intelligent; overtly so. Why would you do something so horrible and then lie about it, using your social status as a shield?"

Dougray’s brown eyes glittered. “This is not a press conference, doctor. You’re rehearsed speeches have no effect on me as they do that adoring throng of reporters.”

“That adoring throng of reporters, as you put it, will have their story tomorrow morning and you, Mr. Dougray, will have a good deal of explaining to do,” Kathlyn countered softly. "You've left me with no choice if I'm going to protect myself."

Dougray shook his head. “I know a few of those reporters myself, Dr. Trent. Don’t forget that I started in this business as a line editor.  Those with a more level head will chalk this up to another publicity stunt, which you have proved so adept at performing.”

For every thrust she gave him, he met with an equal parry. It was quickly becoming apparent that they were getting nowhere. Kathlyn was not going to get her confession as hoped. Knowing when to walk away was a virtue; she rose from the folding chair.

“Then I will apologize for wasting your time,” she said. “I was hoping we could work something out, but it is apparent you have no intention of doing anything remotely decent.  My email goes out tonight and you can figure out how to deal with it.”

McGrath rose to follow Kathlyn and Marcus from the tent. Bardwell, stunned and embarrassed at Kathlyn’s display, remained seated near a silently brooding Dougray.  Outside, the weather was warm and dry, the bright crescent moon hanging overhead.  Marcus took Kathlyn's hand, kissing it encouragingly. McGrath just stood there and looked at them.

"I can't believe how ugly this has all become," he said. "When Kathlyn set foot on this camp three months ago, who would have known it would come to this?"

Marcus cocked an eyebrow. "Not me, that's for sure. It's like the whole goddamn world has turned upside down."

McGrath was somber.  He looked between the two of them. "You realize that nothing has changed. Kathlyn, you still have to be offsite by tomorrow afternoon."

She acted as if he had just asked her about the weather. "No problem.  I'll be gone."

Marcus' jaw flexed as she spoke. He was obviously extremely unhappy.  "She's going to stay in one of the Luxor resorts until we can figure this out.  She'll only be across the river."

McGrath could see how hard this was on both of them, not just for the situation alone, but because they were going to be separated.  Kathlyn was trying so hard to be brave, but it was apparent how badly this was tearing her up.  Her front was for Marcus alone.

"Personally, I'm looking forward to a few days of relaxation," she said.  "I plan on having three massages a day, room service every couple of hours, and anything else really decadent I can think of."

Marcus made a face. "Christ, what's that going to cost me?"

She grinned at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Who cares? A happy wife will be well worth it. You owe me, Burton."

"For what?"

"For me putting up with your crap," she smiled brightly at McGrath. "You can attest to that, can't you?"

McGrath couldn't help but grin. The interplay between Marcus and Kathlyn was nothing short of enviable.  Considering how the two of them had started off, it made the current circumstance that much worse. He put his hands up.

"I'm staying out of this one," he said. "I'll see you two in the morning."

As he walked away, he could hear Kathlyn squealing with laughter. A glance over his shoulder showed her to be hoisted up over Burton's broad shoulders and being carted across the encampment like a sack of potatoes. They were certainly not the actions of a crazy woman as Dougray was trying to convince everyone. No matter what Bardwell thought, McGrath was positive of one thing; Kathlyn Trent and Marcus Burton were telling the truth.

              McGrath went in search of the Major. Something told him there was going to be trouble tonight.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The one thing Kathlyn had learned about Marcus was that he took forever to fall asleep. He would toss and turn, roll and cuddle, and then he would want to make love again. It would take another hour after that for him to settle down enough so that he could doze. Most nights it didn't matter, because she was happy to stay up all night with him.  But this evening was different. When Kathlyn finally heard his soft, steady snoring, it was close to three in the morning.

She should have been exhausted but she wasn't. There was too much rolling through her mind for her to quiet easily. So many things about Dougray disturbed her. She had gotten over the fear of having him lurking around the camp and now there was just a lingering frustration on the man's ability to evade the law. He was someone who needed to be stopped and no one would listen to her. It was like a nightmare, one that took on depth and dimension by the day.

She rolled onto her side, wrapped in Marcus' arms. He snorted in his sleep and unconsciously pulled her close when he thought she was trying to move away. They often slept like two puppies in a pile, one on top of the other. The sounds of the night were all around her, an eerie timeless stillness that came from the heart of the Egyptian desert.

She reflected on their conversation with Dougray, thinking how defiant he had been, how condescending. What blew her away most of all was the fact that Abrahams had fled the country like a coward. No doubt he was back at SCU now, fielding heat from her email. She didn't know, and almost didn't care.  He was a traitor as far as she was concerned.

Marcus' right hand was on her belly. He liked to touch it protectively, even in his sleep.  She had awoken the previous morning with the dry heaves, the first physical symptoms he was able to see of her pregnancy, and it had scared him to death. She had to smile when she thought of him as ghostly pale as she had been. Now with the thought of their baby becoming real, he was even more solicitous and sensitive than usual. The man was going to make an awesome parent.

But she had to put thoughts of that aside for the moment. She didn't want her child to be born to a disgraced mother and a father who was in jail because he had killed his wife's tormentor. She knew without a doubt that she was the source of the problem; Marcus was an innocent bystander who got sucked into whatever maelstrom surrounded her. It began with her, and it had to end with her.

  Dougray wouldn't confess anything with Marcus glaring at him. Maybe if she were to confront him alone, it would be easier on them both. Besides, she had reviewed some emails from Andrew Leeves' office before going to bed that had provided some interesting information. Surely she and Dougray could work something out. She just couldn't believe the man really wanted to destroy her.

She knew what she had to do. But removing herself from Marcus' embrace proved something of a task.  He awoke at the first sign of her movement.

"What's wrong?" he asked groggily.

"Nothing," she whispered, climbing from the bed. "Go back to sleep."

Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom," she said, hunting around for her clothes.

He tossed the covers all the way back and swung his big legs over the side of the bed. "I'll go with you."

"No," she pulled her underwear on. "Go back to sleep, honey. I'll just be a minute."

He was half-asleep as it was. Only one cobalt blue eye was open. "I don't want you to go by yourself."

She pulled her white tee shirt on. "Marcus, if you are going to go to the bathroom with me every time between now and when this baby is born, you're going to be up six times a night. The bathroom is right next door. I'll be fine."

He just sat there, scratching his head, watching her pull her jeans on. "You sure?"

She put her unlaced boots on. "Yes,' she pushed him back down on the bed."Go back to sleep. I promise I'll scream real loud if I need you."

"If you're not back here in two minutes, I'm coming to get you."

"Fine. Now go back to sleep."

He grunted something and she pulled the covers back over him.  Leaning down, she kissed his cheek. "I love you, you big ape."

He snorted as he drifted off. He was snoring rhythmically before she even left the tent.