The Perfect Witness (35 page)

Did she expect Allie to believe her? Just say the words that Allie wanted to hear and expect her to suspend logic and reason?

But, God help her, Allie wanted to believe her.

And, yes, Gina probably did still think that she would go along with whatever she said was true. She had an incredible confidence in her power to attract and sway.

“Why are you calling me, Mother?”

“Praland. He’s very angry. It’s Mandak again. Praland thinks he wants to use you against him in the way your father did. I tried to tell him that you wouldn’t do that, but he won’t believe me.” She said brokenly, “He said he’ll hurt me if you don’t leave Mandak and come back to me. He means it, Teresa. There’s a tiger…”

A little truth, a pack of lies, a twist of the knife. “And what’s to stop Praland from hurting me, Mother?”

“He wouldn’t do that. He thinks that what you did for your father was very clever. You might be able to do the same thing for him.”

Nightmare scenario.

“I couldn’t trust him, Mother.”

“Then trust me.” Gina’s voice was full and rich and brimming with affection. “No matter how you feel about anyone else, you know that I love you and would never hurt you.”

How many times had Gina said that to Allie when she was a little girl? It had been the magic bullet to get her to do whatever her mother wanted.

Gina didn’t like the silence. “Just come back to me. We’ll make Praland understand that you’re through dealing with Mandak, then we’ll go away together. Just as I’ve always planned to do when I found you, Teresa.” She paused. “But you have to come right away. You don’t want him to hurt me because that Mandak is causing all this trouble.”

Allie didn’t answer.

“Teresa?” There was a hint of panic in Gina’s voice. “He means it. You have to tell me that you’ll come and help me.”

Help Gina, help the beautiful butterfly.

“I love you, baby. You wouldn’t want anyone to hurt me.”

Allie was silent, then said wearily, “No, I don’t want anyone to hurt you, Mother.”

She felt Mandak’s muscles tense.

“Good. Then you’ll come right away?”

“Where?” Allie wasn’t supposed to know about the palace or anything that had happened there. “Where am I supposed to come, Mother?”

“Praland has a sort of palace in southern Tanzania. It’s quite spectacular. Praland says that Mandak would know.”

“And you think I’d come with Mandak? Praland would love to get his hands on him. Mandak will be angry with me for going there at all. He had plans for me.”

“Then come alone. I don’t care.”

No, that was evident beneath all the honey and manipulation. “I’ll be there. I won’t let anything happen to you, Mother.” She drew a deep shaky breath. “But I don’t think I’m anywhere near that palace. I’ll have to find it, and Mandak won’t help. I’ll try to be there by tomorrow evening. I’ll call you when I’m close.” She paused. “But I’m not going to go into that place until I’m sure we can make a deal with Praland to let you leave with me. I’ll meet you outside the gates.”

“Whatever,” Gina said. “I knew you’d never desert me when I needed you.” She added softly, “Everything’s going to be different from now on. The way I wanted it to be in the beginning. Thank you for giving me a chance to make a good life for both of us.” She hung up the phone.

So clever, Allie thought sadly. So able to manipulate and shift emotions in the way Gina wanted them to go.

“Tell me that she didn’t take you in.” Mandak’s eyes were blazing in his taut face. “Because from what I heard, it sounded remarkably like it to me.” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “I thought you’d gotten over that fixation, dammit. It’s a trap. You’re not going to be able to make any deal with Praland or Camano.”

“I know that.” She shrugged away from his grip. “But it’s a trap that could go both ways. Could Praland have traced that call?”

“No, it was too short. I’d have disconnected it myself if he’d had a chance while Gina was giving you all that bullshit.”

“It seemed like a long time to me.” Long and painful. “Now stop yelling at me. I’m feeling pretty raw and hurting. I need a little time to pull myself together and start thinking. I was just acting on instinct when I was talking to my mother.”

“And that could be even worse. I don’t like where that instinct is taking you.”

“It’s the only path that would get Praland and the others outside the gates and a good distance away from that Tiger Room at the time of your choosing,” she said. “No diversion tactics necessary in the garden. I’d be the diversion and one that Praland and my mother set up themselves.”

“And they’ll snap you up like a steel trap.”

“Then you think of a way for me to get out of it,” she said wearily. “Because I’m going to do it, Mandak. You’d have a better chance of getting the ledger, and it would be safer for you and Sean. I don’t have your experience or tactical know-how, so I have to rely on you. Just make it work.”

“With your life in the balance. Not again, Allie.”

“Then you make sure the balance is on my side.” She got to her feet. “You told me once that you believed in fate. I don’t think my mother does. She believes she can twist life to suit herself, and everything she’s touched has been ugly. Because I loved her, I let her persuade me to do what my father wanted me to do. Which made me ugly, too.” Her lips twisted. “But maybe this is the way that we can straighten it all out and use her to do it.”

“It’s too risky.”

“Work it out,” she repeated. “Or I’ll do it myself. Don’t talk to me again until you’ve done it.” She turned and walked away from him.

There wasn’t anything more to say. He would just argue, and she couldn’t pay attention to arguments. As she had told him, she was hurting and raw and still a little in shock. Somewhere deep inside, there had still been a tendril of hope that Gina would not use her or betray her. It had been ripped out as she had listened to her mother and remembered those words of love and coaxing persuasion from her childhood. All Gina had to do was tell her that she loved her, and she would have done anything for her.

Not this time. The memory of Gina’s plying her wiles on Praland tonight was too fresh, too shocking.

Don’t think of those past betrayals.

Think of a way that this betrayal could boomerang and do good.

And stay here in the darkness of the night until the hurt faded, and she was strong again.

*   *   *

MANDAK CAME TO FIND HER OVER
an hour later.

She instinctively straightened defensively.

“Don’t do that,” he said curtly. “I’ve had my orders. I know I’m not going to be able to persuade you to change your mind.” He pulled out his computer and pulled up the palace schematics. “You’ll drive the jeep to the west gate, that’s the farthest away from the entrance to the Tiger Room. Timing is important. You’ll arrive at eight fifteen in the evening. I’ve told Renata to have one of her agents come here with another vehicle to pick up Sean, me, and the supplies the helicopter is delivering. We’ll set out as soon as he gets here and should be back at the palace before dawn.”

“Why are you going so early?”

“I have things to do that may take time. Do you remember I told you that when Simon was being held by Praland, I bribed a servant to dig a tunnel from the outer wall to the dungeon?”

She nodded. “But then you weren’t able to use it. It was too late for Simon.”

“I wasn’t able to use it at the time. But Renata’s agents used it occasionally to get into the palace to search for the ledger and get information. The tunnel is still there.”

“Guards?”

He shook his head. “No prisoners. Not since Praland got his tiger. They go straight to the cage. I’ll still have to check out the tunnel, but it won’t take me long to get down to that dungeon to wait for my opportunity to get to the Tiger Room.” He paused. “But I’ll also need the extra time and the dark to prep the area around the west gate for you. I’ll find a way to stash a gun for you behind the stones in the wall. Three stones up from the ground. They’ll make you give up any weapons the moment they see you.” He punched his finger at another stone just above the one he’d indicated. “There will be a bomb behind this stone. Small but very powerful. You don’t have to pull this stone out. I’ll put mud and gunpowder in the grout lines. Fire into it, and it will explode. Make sure you’re a good distance away from it. It will probably take half the wall with it.”

“Yes, I’d say that’s very powerful,” she said dryly.

“I had to give you your best chance.” He pointed to the garden. “You see these small windows that are only a few feet aboveground? Those are the dungeon windows. I’ll set several explosives in them and around the garden and back terrace. After we’ve got the ledger, I’ll set the bombs off. That should cause Praland, Camano, and any of your other welcoming committee to be distracted and pour back into the garden. You’ll be able to get to that gun behind the stone.” He added grimly, “Maybe. If they don’t decide to shoot you before they go to find out what’s happening. I don’t believe that’s likely. But be ready for anything.”

“I will. How much time will you need to get the ledger after I show up at the gate?”

“At least fifteen minutes. We have to make sure Praland isn’t anywhere near that Tiger Room. Once we shoot the tiger with the knockout dart, he should be out in five minutes. Then we have to jimmy the lock on the cage and get to the compartment.”

“And then get out of there.”

“And get to you,” Mandak said. “If you’re still alive.”

“I’ll be alive. I want to live, Mandak,” she said. “And I want you to live. So be careful with that tiger.” She smiled faintly. “Or I may be the one to have to beat down those walls to come and rescue you.”

He didn’t return her smile. “I can give you a gun, I can give you a bomb. I can’t help you stall Praland for those fifteen minutes. That’s up to you and it may seem a long fifteen minutes. If he gets suspicious and starts wondering if that’s what you’re doing, it’s all over. Forget giving me my time and play the game his way.”

She shook her head. “It has gone his way too long. It has gone my mother’s way too long. I’ll do what I—” She stopped as she saw the flashing lights in the north sky. “There’s your helicopter. Let’s hope the pilot didn’t forget that knockout dart for the tiger. It’s a very strange request.”

“He won’t. I made that a priority. I was thinking about getting a dart that would kill him, but I was afraid we might have to postpone at the last minute, and that would tell Praland that we knew about the ledger.” He started for the clearing. Then he suddenly turned to face her. “I’m not going to waste my breath trying to talk you out of this.” His voice was harsh. “But you do everything right. Do you hear me? You don’t get emotional because of that bitch of a mother. You think about you and the life you have to live. And maybe you think a little about me and what it would mean to me if you get yourself killed.” He turned back and started for the helicopter that was landing. “Do it
right,
Allie.”

Sandek Palace
8:10
P.M.

Five minutes.

She should be at the palace in five minutes.

Allie’s heart was pounding hard.

Dear God, she hoped that Mandak and Sean had managed to get inside and were safe. She hadn’t heard from them since early morning, just as they were approaching the palace. Mandak had told her any communication was dangerous.

Assume everything was all right.

Keep to the plan.

Allie drew a deep breath and took out her phone. She pressed the call back for Gina. “I’m about five minutes away from the palace. I told you I’d phone you.” She should say something else. “Are you still okay, Mother?”

“I’m fine. But Praland doesn’t like the idea of coming outside the walls. You come in, baby.”

“No, I told you how it has to be. I have to make sure you’ll be safe. According to my map, I seem to be driving toward the west gate. Meet me outside, and we’ll talk.”

Allie heard her talking to someone in the background. Then Gina was back on the line. “He said he’s been having you watched for the past several miles, and you seem to not be trying to cause him a problem. But he still doesn’t like it. I’ll try to persuade him, but you should really—”

“Outside those walls.” Allie hung up.

Praland had been having her watched. Of course he had. Gina could be mesmerizing, but it would be difficult to believe she’d been able to persuade Allie to take this risk for her. He’d think Mandak would be shadowing her.

Instead, she hoped desperately that Mandak was already in the palace and waiting to make his move.

Three more minutes.

*   *   *

TWO MORE MINUTES.

From the dungeon window, Mandak saw Praland and Bruker crossing the garden toward the west gate. Gina was smiling as she came forward to meet them from the guest quarters. No guards in the garden itself.

Yes.

He turned to Sean. “Allie got them outside.” But God knows how long she could keep up the distraction before they closed in on her. He started to wriggle up the narrow tunnel to the window he’d already loosened and unlatched. “
Move.”

*   *   *

ONE MINUTE.

Allie saw her mother come out through the west gate. Praland and Bruker followed closely behind her.

But where was Camano?

Gina was smiling at her, and Allie felt a ripple of shock. Her beauty was no surprise. She had been aware that it had not faded when she’d had that glimpse of her in the Tiger Room. She had expected her to still be beautiful, but if anything, her mother was even more stunning. She looked older, but it was as if maturity had merely enhanced and deepened that glowing beauty. Butterfly. Fairy princess. And her smile had the same warmth and affection it had when she’d been the only caring person in Allie’s world. For an instant, Allie felt the same dazzlement she had experienced as a child.

Then she saw Praland step forward to stand beside Gina. Her mother looked up at him and smiled proudly.

Pride that she had delivered what Praland wanted.

Allie’s pain was like a dash of ice water, washing away everything but what she had to do.