Wired

Desh forced himself to blink and break her momentary spell, annoyed with himself for responding to her with anything other than total revulsion. “You took great pains to ensure quiet in Griffin’s apartment. So you obviously think he’s bugged.”

She sighed. “I’m afraid so.”

“How would they possibly even know to bug him? I didn’t even know he existed until thirty-six hours ago.”

“They’re monitoring your phone calls. As soon as you arranged an appointment with him they probably set up listening devices in his apartment. Again, I’m not sure they did, but I operated under this assumption.”

“So you sent the text that lured me back to Griffin’s apartment?”

Kira nodded.

“Well done,” he said with a look of disgust, although this look was reserved for himself. How had he been so sloppy! But even as he chastised himself, he realized that Kira Miller’s boldness had helped force his error. She had been on to him, probably before he had even taken the assignment, and she had acted with stunning speed and decisiveness; using tactics she had never used before to totally blindside him.

Desh expected her to be gloating, but she appeared more apologetic than ever.

“By your own logic,” he said, “you carried out a very successful, silent abduction. My clothes, phone, car, and weapons are far away. Nothing left to bug or track.” He nodded toward the door of the motel. “So why the trip wire and other precautions? There’s erring on the side of caution and there’s irrationality,” he pointed out.

“Oh, they’ll track us here, all right. If we’re lucky, we’ll be long gone by the time they do. On the other hand, if they’re lucky, I need to be prepared.”

“And what form do you expect their luck to take?”

“Sooner or later—hopefully later—they’ll realize that the homing devices they put in your car, or your clothing, or … wherever, haven’t moved in a while. They’ll track them to Griffin’s apartment and realize you aren’t there. After you visited Griffin, they may have decided to surveil the parking lot of his building periodically via satellite. If they were lucky and managed to capture an image of the car I’m using, this will greatly accelerate their search.” Kira paused. “I just hope they don’t arrive before I’ve accomplished my mission,” she finished.

“Oh,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “And what mission is that?”

She gazed into his eyes for several long seconds and then sighed. “Recruiting you over to my side,” she finally said earnestly.

11

Desh sat on the bed, stunned, for several long seconds. A faint siren could be heard off in the distance through the thin motel walls.

Finally, he shook his head. “Then you can save yourself some time,” he said, scowling. “Do whatever you need to do, because I’m not going to join you. Under any circumstances.”

“Given what you think you know, this is an admirable position to take,” she allowed grimly. “But if it’s all the same to you, I’ll give it a shot. I say again, the report you have on me is a fabrication.” She sighed deeply. “But give the puppet masters their due. They’ve rigged things to make it very difficult for me to plead my case.”

Desh raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“They’ve told you I’m a brilliant psychopath. A master manipulator. The kind of person who can cut off your limbs one day and pass a lie detector test with flying colors the next. Correct?”

Desh said nothing.

“Which makes everything I say suspect. The more reasonable, the more suspect, since you’ve been preconditioned to believe it’s all manipulation,” she said in frustration. “Have you ever seen a faith healer on TV?”

Desh nodded, wondering where she was heading.

“There was a guy who gathered video evidence on one of them, showing it was all a scam. The faith healer’s accomplices were researching people waiting in line, feeding him information through a hidden ear piece so he would appear to have divine knowledge; that sort of thing.” She paused. “When the devout followers of this faith healer were shown the footage, do you know what happened?”

“They stopped being his devout followers.”

“Reasonable guess. But no. They were more his followers than ever. They claimed that the evidence was rigged. That it was the work of Satan who was trying to discredit the work of a great man.” Kira shook her head. “If you truly believe you’re up against the King Of Lies, no amount of evidence can ever change your mind.” She sighed and a weary expression crossed her face. “I just hope that’s not the case with you.”

Desh furrowed his brow in frustration. “Why do you hope it’s not the case with me?” he demanded. “Why do you care what I think? And even if you could recruit me, what good will I do you? You have entire terrorist organizations to do your bidding.”

“Try to at least entertain the possibility that I’m not who you’ve been told I am,” she said in exasperation. “I am not affiliated with terrorists.”

“Is your net worth a lie as well?”

“No.”

“So even if you’re telling the truth, you could hire as many bodyguards and mercenaries as you wanted.”

“Yes. I could. But I’m worth too much to the people after me. I’d never be able to fully trust these types. I learned that the hard way,” she added gravely. She gestured to Desh. “You, on the other hand, are motivated by doing what’s right rather than by material rewards. You are a man of integrity and compassion, despite the violent profession you chose. And along with that, you have a very unique personality, philosophy, and array of talents.”

Desh raised his eyebrows. “That’s quite a character sketch you’ve put together based on a bit of information on a laptop,” he noted.

She smiled knowingly. “Read hundreds of personal e-mail messages and you’d be surprised at how quickly you can get a feel for someone. But your laptop wasn’t my first stop—it was my last. Everything is accessible by computer now if you know where to look. Everything. Your college records. Extensive military records and evaluations. The kinds of books you purchase online. Everything.”

“Psychiatric evaluations?” added Desh accusingly, recalling how his soul had been laid bare during the few sessions he had had with the military Psychiatrist after his team had been butchered in Iran. Of all the records to which she had access, this would be the biggest violation of privacy of them all.

Kira lowered her eyes and then nodded uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, appearing once again to be completely sincere. “From the moment you were assigned, I studied everything I could get my hands on to understand you as a person. Including that. I won’t lie to you.” She lifted her eyes and locked them onto Desh’s once again. “I studied the others Connelly sent after me as well,” she said. “Just as thoroughly. But they weren’t what I was looking for.” She leaned toward Desh intently. “You are. I’m sure of it.”

The corners of Desh’s mouth turned up in a small, ironic smile, and he shook his head in clear disbelief.

“I know, I know,” she said in frustration, “Flattery is also a tool of a master manipulator, and you’re not buying it. Be that as it may, it happens to be the truth.” She paused. “Look … David … you yourself pointed out I could have easily recruited others with your skill set.”

Desh said nothing, but silently bristled at her use of his first name.

“So why would I choose you and go to such pains to abduct you,” continued Kira, “putting myself at this kind of risk, instead of just calling a mercenary—or one of my terrorist friends for that matter—on the phone?”

“Because I have special qualities,” he said skeptically. “I get it.”

Kira frowned. “I knew this wouldn’t be easy,” she said resignedly. “There’s only one way I can ever hope to gain your trust. I know that. So I’ll tell you what, when I’ve said my piece, I’ll remove your cuffs and give you my gun. If that doesn’t demonstrate my sincerity, nothing will.”

Desh didn’t respond. She was trying to get him to lower his guard by giving him false hope, to perhaps stave off an escape attempt, but it wouldn’t work. He would believe this when he saw it. In the meanwhile, he would continue to assume that if he didn’t escape he was a dead man.

Still, he couldn’t help but be intrigued by the unexpected course of the discussion. “Okay,” he said finally, pretending to believe her. “It’s a deal. By all means begin your persuading. Tell me your version of the truth.” He pulled at his restraints and added bitterly, “Consider me a captive audience.”