No Rules(32)
No, her problem went deeper than Donovan. She couldn’t go with them. Simply flying to Nipagonee Rapids had required two Valium and a session with Dr. Epstein before she could trust her life to the questionable physics of keeping several hundred thousand pounds of airplane aloft. Fear of flying, Dr. Epstein had said, another loss-of-control issue. Hell, she was fine with flying; what she had was a fear of dying. Planes fell out of the sky. It happened. And Evan expected her to fly to the other side of the world? Over an ocean? On a mission that surely involved some sort of violence?
She hopped aside as Omega’s director turned into an office, then followed him in. He took a seat at the desk and began punching keys, his attention on his computer monitor.
She slapped both hands on the desk, leaning close so he couldn’t ignore her. “I don’t even have a passport. I don’t mean with me, I mean not at all. I don’t travel out of the country. Ever.”
“I’m taking care of that now. You’ll have one in a few hours.”
The unexpected answer derailed her momentarily. “You can do that?”
“We’ll need a photograph. I think we can use one of the surveillance photos Donovan sent.” He was talking to himself as he skimmed through images on the computer.
She leaned sideways to see them. Several candid shots of herself covered the screen, pictures that had to have been taken outdoors with a telephoto lens. He clicked to another page and selected one with a plain background, obviously taken at the funeral home. “This’ll do.”
Irritation slid through her panic. She’d known Donovan had been watching her, but this felt more invasive. Creepy.
Focus, she told herself firmly. “I’m not going. You can’t make me.”
He looked up from the computer screen finally, settling back in his chair as he studied her. “Jess, sit down.”
“No thanks.” She wasn’t staying that long.
He sighed. “You’re a smart girl.”
She snorted. “Smart enough not to fall for obsequious flattery.”
“You know what Wally told you, and you helped us figure out what it means, so you know the situation. And you’ve met the rescue team. They’re capable people, experts in what they do, and they’d never put your life at risk. I feel confident that you’ll be safe.”
“In a city where two Americans were just taken hostage? In a country full of political unrest? Forgive me if I’m not as confident as you.”
“They’ll keep you safe,” he repeated. “Each one of them would die before letting harm come to you.”
“We can all die together. How comforting.”
“Jessie.” It was exactly the way her father used to say it to get her attention. She frowned, resisting the impulse to go soft inside. He wasn’t fighting fair. “I didn’t stress the team’s experience to impress you. You need to understand that these people know weapons and tactics, not history. Especially not ancient Egyptian history.”
Not falling for that, either. “Neither do I. I write kiddie lit. You want to know why I’m good at it, Evan? Because I have a lot of those childish fears myself. Embarrassing and childish, but there you have it. I’m not exactly the person you want in the middle of a tense rescue operation.”
“You know more about ancient Egypt than any of our operatives, Jess. That’s why Wally went to you, why he broke a promise and a fifteen-year pattern of behavior. You know he was serious about not involving you in his life, serious enough that he stayed away all those years. He missed you every day.”
“If that’s true, it wasn’t my fault.”
“But he pulled you into it by telling you this story.”
“Bad judgment, there. He was desperate.”
“He was brilliant to the end. He put you in the story on purpose. Do you really think the rabbit doesn’t describe you? Afraid to travel, afraid of the aggressive male wolf accompanying her?”
Only partially. She’d been afraid of the wolfish Donovan, but also strangely attracted. She flushed and kept her mouth shut, wondering just how much her spying, nosy father had revealed to his best friend about her.
“He told you to trust Tyler Donovan. My God, I can’t believe he worked out such a clever way to hide his information with an assassin two steps behind him. He was so good at what he did, even better than I knew.” He swallowed hard and shook his head. “Never mind. The point is we need you. I don’t know why yet, but Wally knew we would. Obviously it has something to do with a vase. We’re depending on your knowledge. Two hostages are depending on you, Jess. We can’t rescue them without you.”