Lucas nodded. “I’ll have my security people check the flights out of San Francisco.”
“Keep me posted. Here’s my card. If you need me to contact the local law enforcement, just give me a call. I have to get back to the station.” He met Lucas’s eyes. “Now that I’ve warned Dr. Lloyd, there’s not much else I can do.”
Lucas nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
As the two men moved toward the door of the office, Mac clasped her hands together in her lap. In a moment she’d be alone with Lucas. That had been the one thing she’d wanted to avoid. She could still leave. Even as the impulse moved through her to stand and run after Detective Ramsey, she heard the door click shut and her throat went dry. She was reaching for her glass when she saw the blond wig lying on the table where she’d tossed it. Quickly she dropped her hand to her side. If only she had refused to go along with Sophie’s plan….
Rising, she steeled herself to meet Lucas’s eyes, something she’d avoided since she’d first walked into the room. In that instant when she’d taken off the wig and he’d recognized her, she thought she’d seen…what? Relief? Pleasure? Or had it only been a fantasy, a projection of the feelings that had been running through her?
Pushing the hope down, she lifted her gaze to his…and saw nothing. His eyes were perfectly blank. She might have been a stranger he was meeting for the first time on the street. Drawing in a deep breath, she managed not to shiver. She told herself that she preferred blankness to the cold detachment she’d seen in the hotel room. “This is all my fault. All of it.”
He took a step forward, then stopped. “Blame is beside the point right now, don’t you think?” His tone was as neutral as his expression.
“Of course. Tell me what I can do.”
“Do?” He took two more steps toward her and stopped again.
This close she could see that he wasn’t as carefully controlled as she’d thought. For a moment the silence stretched between them, and her heart began to drum.
The ringing of the phone made them both start. Then Lucas moved to grab it.
“Yes, Ms. Burns?”
“Mr. Falcone on line two.”
“Put him through.”
“I HOPE YOUR FLIGHT from the Keys was uneventful, Lucas.”
“To the point of being boring.” Lucas was pleased to note that his voice was cool. Because he wasn’t. He hadn’t been since Mac had walked into the room. And it wasn’t merely the news that his sister might have been kidnapped. Even now as he looked at Mac, she unlocked feelings in him that he couldn’t seem to control. And what he’d feared most seemed to be true. In spite of everything, he still wanted her.
“You shouldn’t have left your little playmate behind at the hotel. She could have amused you on the flight.”
Fear was a copper taste in his mouth as several possibilities flooded his mind. He’d known that Falcone was monitoring his movements. How else would he have known to call him at the Wainright Casa Marina? And yet he’d left Mac there alone without any thought that Falcone might make a move on her. But she was here. She was safe even if it was no thanks to him.
Tearing his gaze away from Mac, he said, “I came to the same conclusion. That’s why she’s with me right now.” Lucas sat on the edge of the desk and concentrated on relaxing every muscle in his body. He had to get some grip on his control or Falcone would believe he had the upper hand.
“Ah.”
He hadn’t known that, Lucas thought with some satisfaction.
“She seemed to be much different than your usual choice of companion. But I’m told she is very entertaining.”
When his free hand tightened into a fist, Lucas relaxed it. “Surely you haven’t called merely to comment on how I’m keeping myself entertained?”
Soft laughter rippled into his ear. “Of course not. I called to remind you of my party tomorrow at the vineyard. Bring your new little friend if you wish. For old times’ sake, I’d like you to be there.”
“The old times are over.”
“Perhaps I can persuade you to create some new ones. Your sister has accepted my invitation.”
“Sophie?” The surprise he heard in his voice was genuine. He hadn’t expected Falcone to mention her. Had he already discovered that she was impersonating Mac? He felt the flutter of panic in his throat and swallowed it.
“She and Sonny have become very close over the past few weeks. He’s persuaded her to come.”
Falcone was choosing his words carefully. He was purposely creating the idea that his son and Sophie were intimate. Could Mac’s theory be wrong? Was Tracker right and Sophie had merely spent the night with Sonny at the estate? Pushing the questions aside, Lucas concentrated on the one thing he could depend on. The old man wanted him frightened and angry. Therefore, he couldn’t afford to be. “I’m sure you’ll treat her as an honored guest. For old times’ sake. Give Sophie my best.”
There was a beat of silence, just long enough for Lucas to know he’d scored a point.
“There’s another reason you should come. We have business to discuss.”
Lucas waited a beat this time. “I don’t think so.”
“The pharmaceutical company you paid me off with, Lansing Biotech. We’re about to get exclusive rights to some very promising research. You might be interested in buying back in. If not, I’ll go directly to your board before the news hits the street.”
Lucas said nothing, but his mind was racing. Lansing Biotech. Why hadn’t he put it together sooner? Lansing Biotech gave Vincent Falcone the perfect motive to kidnap MacKenzie Lloyd.
Falcone’s laugh was softer than before. “I’ll see you tomorrow at…three, shall we say? I have a special bottle of wine I want to share with you.”
For a moment after he hung up the phone, Lucas turned this new information over in his mind.
“Is Sophie safe?”
He glanced up at Mac’s question. She had to have guessed that he’d been talking about her to Falcone, but all he could see was concern for Sophie in her eyes. “I don’t know. I think I know who’s got her. As far as I can tell, he thinks he’s got both of you. He’s an enemy of mine, and he says Sophie’s going to be at his party tomorrow, and he’s about to get exclusive rights to some exciting new research. How many pharmaceutical companies have been wooing you to come with them?”
“Three. It all started after I published that article last month. My results are preliminary, as I told you. But the enzymes I’m using are having very promising effects on rats.”
“What did you tell the companies?”
“That I wasn’t interested. I was afraid that once I signed papers, they’d own me. That’s why I prefer the university setting. There’s much more freedom.”
Lucas’s eyebrows shot up. “Less money too.”
She shrugged. “Money isn’t everything.”
“Did anyone give you a hard time when you refused to sign?”
“One of them was hard to discourage. My fault, really. I dated the representative a few times. I thought he might be interested in me until he made his pitch. He wanted me to sign a contract that would give his company exclusive rights to manufacture the results of my research. He told me that I wouldn’t have to come to work for them, that I could stay at the university. He was very upset when I didn’t sign.”
“What was the name of the company?” he asked.
“Lansing Biotech.”
“Bingo,” Lucas said even as fear flooded through him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. “How long ago was it when you gave the rep his walking papers?”
“Just a few days before Sophie’s birthday.”
“That could explain why they went to plan B,” he said. “They broke into your lab that Sunday, which means they’re desperate to get your signature on that contract.”
“But they must realize that if they kidnapped me and forced me to sign I could go to the police afterward, explain about the kidnapping and swear I signed the contract under duress.”
Lucas nodded. “Sure, you could do that. But I’m betting that Falcone has covered his tracks well. And that company rep you dated may have a different story. You wouldn’t have any proof about when you signed the papers, and your signature would be authentic. It would take the courts a while to settle it. And if I’m right about what Falcone is planning to do, he’ll only need to produce your signature to convince my board to invest in his company before the stock goes up. He’ll make sure Wainright Enterprises makes a killing before the legal battles start. And if he could get his hands on your research notes, he wouldn’t really need you anymore.”
“He won’t get my research notes. They’re safe. It’s Sophie who’s in trouble. What will happen when they find out she’s not me?”
It was the question he hadn’t wanted to ask himself.
Mac reached for his hands then. “We’re going to find her before that happens.”
The words, just the fact that she said them out loud, stilled the fear that had been ripping through him. Before he could prevent himself, he linked his fingers with hers. There was comfort there, he thought, a kind he’d never hoped to have. He couldn’t afford to trust it any more than he could prevent himself from clinging to it—for just a moment. “Mac…”