The Cure. Part 12

He exited the room, shutting and locking the door behind him. Leah clenched her jaw to keep from screaming. Counted to twenty. Counted another twenty before she had enough control to open the bag without flinging it across the room. Opening it, she recognized the contents immediately.

They were hers. Which meant someone had broken into her house. Again.

A brush and comb. Her makeup kit. Clean underwear. Socks.

She ignored the clothes and focused on fixing her hair and covering the circles under her eyes, knowing five minutes wasn't enough to do more than that. At the same time, she did her best to ignore the rumbling in her stomach. A guard had brought her a sandwich hours ago, but she hadn't eaten it, afraid it might be drugged. Now she was starving and dying for a cup of coffee.

Poor choice of words, she thought, remembering she was about to commit murder.

"Time's up," came Nova's voice from the other side of the door.

"I'm ready." Leah ran her fingers through her hair one last time, took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves by reminding herself to stay focused and ready.

Focused and ready.

I'm not the pushover you think I am, Mr. Nova.

Nova led her down a different hallway than they'd used the previous day. A series of doors lined both sides, their windows covered in thick sheets of plywood. All except one door which had two men standing guard outside. Nova grabbed Leah by the arm and pushed her toward the gla.s.s.

"Take a look."

Leah glanced inside and her heart froze.

"John!"

John Carrera sat on a bed similar to Leah's. A thick chain ran from his leg to a ring bolted into the cement floor. He stared at the wall, giving no evidence he'd heard Leah's shout.

"He can't hear you," Nova confirmed. "But don't worry, you'll be able to speak with him soon enough."

Something caught Leah's eye and she looked closer. Oh G.o.d, no. A ghostly, pale green glow surrounded John's body, pulsing in time to his heartbeat.

Leah turned to Tal Nova. "What did you do to him?"

"How can you tell we did anything?" Nova's normally impa.s.sive face showed a new expression: curiosity.

"I can see the sickness, dammit! It's all through him. What is it?"

Nova laughed. "You never cease to amaze me. It's clostridium poisoning. A fatal dose delivered in his coffee. He doesn't know. You're going to cure him, and then pa.s.s it on to the target."

Even though she knew she had no choice, something inside Leah made her object. "No, I can't."

"In about twenty minutes he'll start to experience the first signs. Nausea. Cramps. Vomiting. After that-"

"Stop it!" He was talking about John dying. "I know what happens next."

Tal nodded. "Go in. Cure him. I'll even give you a few minutes to talk to him."

Leah grabbed the k.n.o.b. It turned easily in her hand and she rushed into the room.

"John!"

"Leah! You're alive!"

Before he could say anything else, she threw herself into his arms. She touched his neck and the shock of the Cure made them both jump. John tried to push her away, but she clung to him even tighter.

"That shock...what did they do to me?"

"Poison," she whispered into his ear. "They poisoned your food. They want me to pa.s.s it on to one of Marsh's business rivals."

"What?" Now John did push her back. "You can't."

She shook her head, crying and sobbing as she tried to explain. "They'll kill you if I don't. Kill me. I...I..."

"Hush." John put a finger to her lips. "I didn't know they'd threatened your life too. If it was just me..."

"No." Leah shook her head.

"It doesn't matter now. Do it. No heroics. We'll find a way out of this."

"But-"

"That's enough, Doctor DeGarmo. Time to go." Nova entered the room.

John rose to his feet. "If you hurt her-"

"No one will get hurt, as long as the doctor here does as she's told."

Letting go of John, Leah lunged forward, reaching for Tal. Faster than her eye could follow, the giant of a man stepped back and brought up his hand, a gun appearing in it as if by magic.

"Not another step farther," he said, his voice cold and hard. "Make one move toward me or any of my men, and lover boy here will meet a very painful end."

Leah stopped, her fury a solid, whirling ent.i.ty in her head. She considered doing it anyway, just leaping forward and grabbing him. Then John spoke behind her.

"Don't, Leah."

She looked back and stared at him. He shook his head.

"Life is too important. Don't sacrifice it for nothing."

A hundred arguments perched on the tip of her tongue. John was a police officer. How could he condone her murdering someone? It went against everything he stood for, believed in. Could she have been wrong about him?

And then it hit her.

John wouldn't condone murder. He had to have something else in mind. A plan to escape? Or maybe he was trying to send her a message. But what?

She let Nova lead her into the hallway where his men kept a safe distance until she was past, and then shut and locked John's door. She managed one last look back, but John was already facing away, his head hanging down as if he'd given up all hope.

Tal Nova and one of his men escorted her down the hall, but she hardly paid attention to them. She kept wondering what kind of message John had been trying to pa.s.s to her.

Sacrificing her life. Was that it? Did he want her to try and escape when they were out in public, make a scene, sacrifice herself where everyone could see? That would probably start an investigation, but John had to realize Tal could cover up any traces of what they'd been up to, long before the police found the warehouse.

Sacrifice. Life.

That's it!

Just because she was pa.s.sing the poison on to someone didn't mean they had to die.

Not if the person knew they'd been poisoned.

A wave of relief washed over Leah's thoughts, washing away some of her guilt and anxiety. They were still in a bad position, but at least she wouldn't have to carry the burden of knowing she'd killed an innocent person.

She glanced at Tal Nova.

And felt no guilt at all as she contemplated his murder.

Del McCormick's phone chimed. "Go ahead."

"It's going down right now."

"Give me the address." Del listened, committed the information to his memory and closed his phone.

This should be interesting.

After checking to make sure his digital camcorder was ready to go, he pulled out of his parking spot and headed across town.

Chapter Nineteen.

"You're sure you know what he looks like?"

Leah frowned at Tal Nova's question, didn't even bother to look at the photo again. "I'm sure. Just hurry up and get me there. I'm starting to feel sick."

She wasn't lying. Ripples of pain, not as bad as menstrual cramps but getting stronger, had been running through her stomach for the past several blocks, bringing with them a vague feeling of nausea and a cold sweat. She figured she had perhaps fifteen minutes before the poison incapacitated her. She knew Nova wouldn't let that happen; he needed her alive. No, her worry was that she'd be approaching her target and her body would betray her, that a sudden cramp would force her to soil herself right there on the sidewalk in front of everyone. Something like that would surely prevent her from reaching the man she was supposed to kill.

And that would be very bad, for both her and John.

Tal glanced at his watch. "Two more minutes."

"Any more than that and I'm liable to s.h.i.t my pants right here," she said, gritting her teeth against another painful rumbling in her midsection.

"There he is." One of Tal's men pointed at a group of people exiting the hotel.

"Go," Tal said to Leah.

She opened her door and stepped out, then had to hang on to the door as another cramp dug its nails into her guts. When it pa.s.sed, she took a deep breath, straightened up, and did her best to act casual as she walked towards the man Nova had marked for death. Behind her, the limousine pulled away from the curb.

Making contact turned out to be easier than she'd antic.i.p.ated. As she pa.s.sed by, she pretended to lose her balance and clutch at his arm for support. At the same time, she let her hand touch his. The brief contact delivered the usual painful shock.

"Ow!" The man tried to pull his hand away but Leah hung on, pushed herself closer so she was right by his ear.

"Get to a hospital right away. Someone poisoned your food today. You're supposed to die. Tell the doctors it's botulism."

Before he could respond, she let go of his hand and stepped away. "Sorry about that," she said in a loud voice. "I tripped over my own feet." Two of the target's a.s.sociates approached her, but she gave them a quick smile and kept walking, ignoring their questions and heading for the corner as fast as she could, just as Nova had instructed.

The moment she rounded the corner, she saw the black limousine Nova had said would be waiting for her. She entertained a quick thought of running away, but an image of John, his face battered and his body bleeding from gunshots, prevented her from acting on it. The back door to the car opened, and a man with a gun told her to get in and sit down.

Twenty seconds later the car was pulling into traffic, and the man with the gun was on the phone to Tal Nova.

"She's here. Mission accomplished."

Leah leaned back and closed her eyes.

I did it! John was right. It would have been stupid to sacrifice myself.

Then another thought occurred to her.

But what about next time?

That there would be a next time she had no doubt. Tal Nova had as much as said so, when he'd told her he had a list of people to get rid of.

Which meant she and John had to get free before Nova sent her after his next victim. Or learned that this one hadn't died.

But how? She couldn't see any way for them to break free, not without getting killed in the process.

Hopefully John has something in mind.

Otherwise, someone was going to die. And soon.

Del put down his camcorder after the veterinarian disappeared around the corner. He a.s.sumed Tal would have a car waiting for her there. That's what I would do.

Instead, he kept his attention on the target. He'd recognized the man right away, a big player in several industries and a major compet.i.tor of Leonard Marsh. Del wondered if Marsh knew what Tal was up to. He didn't know Marsh personally, but he had a feeling Nova was operating rogue on this one. A power play? Some behind-the-scenes manipulation to keep the boss on top-or replace him?

"Not that it matters," he whispered as he watched the man's pinstriped posse hustle him into a waiting limo. Something about the way they hurried him, the look on his face...

He knows. Maybe not how or who or why, but he knows something's wrong, that he's in trouble.

Del replayed the events in his mind. DeGarmo pretending to trip. The man catching her. The two of them holding each other for a brief moment, and then letting go...

Holy s.h.i.t. She told him! He's probably on his way to the hospital right now. And I'll bet Tal doesn't even know.

Chuckling to himself at Nova's sloppiness-he should never have left before the hit went down-Del started the car. He now had everything he needed to interest the investors he'd spoken to: the video of the cured dog, plus video demonstrating how easy it was to use DeGarmo as an a.s.sa.s.sin.