“No.”
“Squeamish? He deserved it. I had to have that killer’s name. But I knew it must have been Tarther who was behind it all. I knew I had to start there. But I couldn’t make a mistake like I’d done by killing Nalaro. Tarther was a bigwig general in the Army, and he was surrounded by Army Intelligence and CIA. I had to be patient. I had to gather in Tarther and the man who’d killed Kevin and anyone else who had been involved. I had to make them suffer. I wasn’t smart like Kevin, but I knew I’d find a way. Kevin had already given me the tools to do it. I thought that he just meant to keep me safe, but maybe he knew…”
“What tools?”
“Kevin had a disk that he’d gotten from the Taliban that proved Tarther had sent in a team of assassins to take out several Pakistan officials who were moving Bin Laden from place to place. The White House was walking a tightrope trying to keep the routes through Pakistan open to Afghanistan, but Tarther didn’t care about anything but getting Bin Laden and stopping the bastards who were hiding him. He would have been kicked out of the service if Washington had found out that he’d risked the delicate balance of power. He wasn’t alone in it, and all his Pakistan and CIA buddies would have come tumbling down with him. As long as I had that disk, no one would touch me.”
“Blackmail?”
“Of course. Kevin always said blackmail was just another weapon. I told Tarther that that disk would be sent to three media outlets if anything happened to me. Shall I tell you how careful they were to make sure that I was kept safe and sound? They sent a CIA man named Venable around to see me, and he told me that I was going to be put under the CIA’s version of the witness protection program. That was five years ago. The CIA took good care of me, and I had time to do all the digging I had to do to find out the truth about Kevin’s killing. I made my plans, then I started to move.”
“In my direction. Why the hell did you do that? I wasn’t involved in all this. Why did you have Blick shoot Jane?” Her gaze shifted to Kevin’s reconstruction across the room. “I can see why you’d want to have him look more normal. You’re obviously obsessed with that gargoyle. But you can’t be insane enough to go to those lengths. Or maybe you can.” Why was she expecting reason or sanity when he was obviously as unbalanced as his precious son? “Why didn’t you go after Tarther or this Zander instead?”
“All in good time. I had to prepare the way. You had to prepare the way. I had to have Kevin as close to the way he was as I could make him before I confronted those murderers. They had to know that they hadn’t really destroyed what he was. Everything had to be perfect. Besides, Kevin had already punished Tarther. Why do you think he chose his daughter, Dany, to kill? Kevin was involved with that al-Qaeda group General Tarther was targeting. Butchering the little girl was revenge the terrorists understood and approved. All I have to do is administer the final coup de grace.”
“And Zander?”
“I’m working on him. He’s more difficult. But I have a good grasp of his character, I think. Once Blick and I found out who Tarther had hired to kill Kevin, I researched Zander until I knew more about him and all his secrets than anyone else on Earth.”
“Then why not go after him and leave my family alone?”
“He’s very elusive and difficult to locate. I prefer to have him come to me.”
“Why would he do that?” She had a sudden thought. “You said he was careful about destroying evidence. Do you think Kevin’s skull is evidence enough to make him uneasy enough to come after it?”
“How clever you are. It’s definitely a possibility, isn’t it?” His hand dropped away from her throat. “But I believe I’ve told you enough. Aren’t you curious that I decided to confide in you?”
“No, I knew it would all come out sometime. You want to talk about Kevin. He dominates your every thought. You were able to restrain yourself as long as you thought that you might deceive and soothe me as you did those little girls you lured for your son.” She reached up and rubbed her throat. She could still feel the bruising imprint of his fingers. “But, as you said, it made you angry that I wouldn’t be fooled when you knew how good you were at it.”
“I am good. Kevin always told me what a talent I had. It’s not as if I made it harder for the little girls. I actually made them feel safe for a little while longer. I tried to do the same for you.”
“Liar. That’s only your peculiar brand of ego.”
“That’s not true.” His brow wrinkled in a deep frown. “If you had—” He stopped and shrugged. “If you realized that, then you’re not as clever as I thought. You knew you were taking a giant risk to break into that desk.”