Pandora's Box (41 page)

In other words she had given DeMarco the cuffs that he used on
Madison
on the plane.
 
He had been working on Roxie’s orders.

Madison
asked, “Why aren’t you still asleep?
 
I put five sleeping pills in your tea.”

“I’m immune.”
 
Roxie laughed.
 
“I take pills to keep me sharp, so I guess sleeping pills can’t take me down.
 
Although I am tired, but it just makes me cranky.
 
Thank you so much for that.”

Tyler
moved across the room, quick and quiet like a jungle cat.
 
His eyes burned with fiery determination now.
 
Madison
spotted him.
 
Hope lifted her sagging shoulders.
 
She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling.
 
Everything was going to be all right.

Tyler
grabbed the gun from Roxie’s hand in one smooth motion.
 

Roxie jumped backwards, her eyes huge and clouded over with a new fear.

He checked the gun from various angles, slid the clip out, and blew on it.
 
Then he returned it to its home with a sharp slap of his palm.
 
It clicked into place.

“Could you untie me, buddy?” the newcomer asked.
 

Tyler
didn’t even look in the young man’s direction.

A new memory of
Tyler
surfaced in
Madison
’s mind.
 
This memory was followed by dozens more, each one blending into the next until they filled her mind completely and became hers forever.
 
She also remembered his Navy buddy who was currently sitting in the chair behind her.
 
Brett.
 
Not only did he make a habit of calling at the wrong time; he showed up at the wrong time.

The microchip, whether by accident or design, had blocked her memories of
Tyler
.
 
She and Tyler had worked for the CIA at the same time, partnering up on occasion.
 
He had left his job of being a Navy SEAL behind long ago after a leg injury put him on the sidelines.
 
The CIA hadn’t minded it too much.
 
They’d eagerly offered him a position.
 
She and Tyler had eventually become lovers.
 

They’d known each other for five years, marrying in secret after three.
 
Their second anniversary had been approaching, a happy time for them both.
 
Things were so perfect between them.
 

And then…

******

Her mind went back to another time, a scary time.

She was unarmed, bruised and bloody.
 
The electricity and phone wires had been cut.
 
Madison
leaned against the upstairs hallway wall, her knees barely able to hold her.
 
She went over the facts in her mind and tried to come up with a viable plan.
 
Even if she could reach her cell phone, she wasn’t sure who to call.
 
The only two people she trusted, Tyler and her father, were both on secret missions somewhere, totally unreachable.

The intruder downstairs cackled like a witch.
 
She dumped over something heavy and breakable.
 
It shattered.
 
More laughter.
 

“Maddie, where are you?” the witch called in a sing-song voice.
 
“You won’t get away.
 
Fighting is useless.”
 
The stairs creaked as the intruder ascended them slowly.
 
“I’m not going to hurt you.
 
I just want you to do a favor for me.”

The footsteps drew closer.

Madison
’s hands curled into tight fists.
 
She prepared herself for another battle.
 
If the witch had come alone,
Madison
could have kicked the crap out of her.
 
But she’d brought a small army.
 
They moved like mindless soldiers, dressed in solid black with masks concealing their identities.
 
They followed the witch’s every command.

Madison
couldn’t win.

But she would die trying.

The witch rounded the corner, a hypodermic needle in her hand.
 
She jabbed it at
Madison
, aiming for her arm.
 
Madison
leaped aside.
 
It grazed her.
 
The tip of the needle scratched a long line from her shoulder to elbow.
 

“Get her!” the witch shouted.

Four men jumped
Madison
simultaneously.
 
One of them twisted her scratched arm behind her back and slammed her into the wall.
 
Another shoved her face hard against the wallpaper.
 
They kept her from moving an inch.
 

“Who the hell are you?” she demanded to know.
 
“What do you want from me?”

The witch removed her mask.
 
Her platinum blonde hair swung free around her face.
 
“Do you recognize me now, moron?”

The Blonde Assassin.
 
Madison and Tyler had worked on a case involving the assassin last year.
 
Each clue had led to another dead end.
 
The girl she had known as Roxie had grown up to be a deadly killer.
 
She appeared on the scene, devastated lives and then vanished without leaving a solitary bread crumb for them to follow.

“You’re here to kill me.”
 
Madison
’s only regret in life was not being able to say goodbye to
Tyler
.

“If I killed you, how could you do me a favor?”

“You were serious about that?”

“Oh, yeah.”
 
Roxie jabbed the needle into
Madison
’s arm.
 
“We’re going to fit you with a brand new microchip.
 
You’ve been a naughty girl, hooking up with the president’s son.
 
Did you think he wouldn’t find out that you’d married his son?
 
Law isn’t happy and when Law isn’t happy, Rico Boracci isn’t happy.”

“Microchip?
 
What are you talking about?”

“Have you heard of Dr. Grainger?”

Madison
’s head floated away.
 
She could barely keep her eyes open.
 
Her lips felt weird, numb, and nearly useless.
 
“Um…yeah, my father was working on something with him.”

“Good.
 
I’m glad you’re up on current affairs.
 
Your father was kind enough to implant a few chips in you.
 
We’re just going to add one more.
 
No big deal.”
 
Roxie laughed.
 
“You and Tyler are going to kill the president for us.”

Kill the president?
 
No!
 
Madison
began to struggle harder even as the drug took effect.
 
The word decoy echoed in her mind.
 
What did the blonde bitch mean?

As if reading her mind, Roxie said, “Don’t worry.
 
You aren’t going to actually assassinate the president yourself.
 
I wouldn’t trust you with anything that big.
 
That job will fall to your husband.”

Tyler
?
 

“If you even try to mess with
Tyler
, he’ll take you down.”

“We already have him, honey.
 
And it was no trouble at all.”

Roxie turned and ripped the black ski mask off the man standing closest to her.
 
It was
Tyler
.
 
He had been the one to shove
Madison
against the wall.
 
Now he stared straight at
Madison
with cold, hard eyes.
 

Madison
tried to hang onto reality, fight hard to stay awake, but the drug pulled her under.
 
The pain of betrayal cut deep.
 
If it was the last thing she did, she’d get even with
Tyler
for turning on her.
 

Darkness took her.

******

Tyler
hadn’t betrayed her, not of his own volition, but the seeds of distrust had been planted in her heart.
 
That feeling had followed her to her new life.
 
No wonder she had disliked him on sight even while experiencing an irresistible urge to be with him.
 
They had given her a new chip that made her want to switch jobs and start working for the Secret Service.
 
The chip had held false memories of a love life with DeMarco.
 

But it hadn’t happened.
 
She hadn’t cheated on
Tyler
.
 
After this was finished, somehow they were going to be together again.
 

“I remember,”
Madison
said out loud to no one in particular.
 
Her eyes focused on her lover’s familiar face.
 
Anxious for him to remember too, she told him everything about Roxie grabbing her, drugging her, and how she’d used him to get to
Madison
.
 
The words spilled from her lips in quick succession.
 
During the story, his features remained hard and impassive.
 
She continued to talk fast, not stopping to take a breath until she was finished.
 
Part of her was afraid Roxie would shove a gag into her mouth, but the assassin didn’t move a finger to stop her from talking.

She stared up at
Tyler
’s handsome face.
 
There wasn’t a glimmer of recognition in his eyes.
 
She added, “Once your chip is deactivated, your memory will return too.”

Roxie’s lips compressed into a tight line.
 
She glared at
Madison
before returning her irritated gaze to
Tyler
.

“I need this,” he said, slipping the gun under the waistband of his pants.
 
“I have to kill someone.”

Roxie’s lips stretched in to a slow, wide smile of understanding.
 
“Is it that time already?”
 
She glanced down at the thin gold watch on her wrist.
 
“It is, isn’t it?
 
Very well.
 
I guess you should go then.”

Tyler
didn’t say another word.
 
Gun in hand, he left the apartment.
 
He didn’t spare
Madison
a glance.
 
His tight expression told her he was a man on a mission.
 
The chip’s original programming had kicked in.
 
He was on his way to kill the president.

Roxie’s face fell when she spotted the broken remote on the table.
 
Cursing viciously, she swiped it off the table and into her bag.
 
She waved at the two tied up people.

“You kids have fun now,” she said.

“Wait!”
 
Madison
decided to follow Boracci’s plan.
 
She’d tried everything else.
 
Now it was time for the truth.
 
“You can put a stop to this before it’s too late.
 
Rico told me the truth about you after you had
Tyler
shoot him.
 
Malcom Law is not your father.
 
Rico set the DNA test up because he wanted you to kill his enemy.
 
He used you.
 
You may think you’re doing this on your own, but you aren’t.
 
You’re still Boracci’s puppet.”

“Liar.
 
I’ll give you points for creativity.”
 
Roxie couldn’t keep from grandstanding, thinking she’d outsmarted everyone.
 
“After
Tyler
kills my father, maybe I’ll send him back here to take care of the two of you.”
 

“It’s true,”
Madison
insisted.
 
“Boracci is your real father.
 
He kept the truth from you because your mother was a maid and he didn’t want his wife to find out.
 
Visit Boracci in the hospital.
 
Ask him.
 
Make him tell you the truth.
 
You were adopted, yes, but you and I are not sisters.
 
Sharon Grey was not your mother.
 
It isn’t too late for you to find your real family.”