the rate you're charging us, we can only afford to give you a cup of coffee, Pauley.'
'I'll survive.' He came forward and shook Emily's hand. 'I'm very glad to meet you. I understand that if I reveal I've seen you, I'll die a slow and horrible death. Titillating, isn't it?'
He had a faint British accent, but there was nothing of British re¬serve in his smile. It was warm, intimate, and chock-full of charm. He was brown-haired, blue-eyed, in his late twenties, and stunningly good-looking. Emily couldn't remember even seeing a movie star that attrac¬tive. 'If you can call death titillating. How do you do, Mr. Pauley.'
'Oh, not actually experiencing the dire fate. I violently oppose death. But it's always interesting to skirt on the edge.' He turned to Garrett. 'How much time do I have?'
'Time to have a cup of coffee,' Garrett said. 'I'll even order you breakfast. I'm not as miserly as Dardon.'
'I understand and forgive him. He's an amateur, and he resents a professional's expertise.' He gave Dardon a sly glance. 'I'll even let him come and watch a master at work. He may learn something.'
'Bastard,' Dardon muttered as he took a sip of coffee. 'You're not so perfect. I will watch you, and I'll learn your bag of tricks.'
'By all means.' Pauley's smile faded. 'Seriously, give me a time frame, Garrett.'
'I want to be on a plane and heading out of the country by noon.'
'Then you may have to take me with you. These days it's not easy hacking into a phone company and tracing past calls. There are all kinds of trip wires and firewalls. Even the NSA has trouble, and they're the snoopiest bastards on the planet.'
'Do your best. Otherwise, you may have to take a short Russian vacation.'
'It will have to be short. I don't like Russia.' He shrugged. 'Well, I don't mind it, but they don't like me. You'd think a country as into electronic snooping as the Kremlin would be a little more tolerant. I think they're jealous.' He winked at Emily. 'Like my friend, Dar¬don.' He turned to leave. 'I'll skip breakfast and go back to Dardon's room and see if I can make some headway. Maybe I'll even strike it lucky and meet your deadline.'
Emily watched him leave. 'Is he as good as he says he is?'
'Better.' Dardon made a face. 'He's a damn wonder. He doesn't look at things the way we do. He has a cyber connection.'
'He looks like a movie star.'
'And makes the most of it,' Garrett said dryly. 'He makes the most of all his talents.' 'I think I like him.'
'You see? He's in the room five minutes, and you're on his cheer¬ing team.' There was a faint edge to his voice. 'Don't get too in¬volved. I'll send him packing as soon as I get what I need from him.' He sat down and started his breakfast. 'Eat. We've got to get moving. I want to get to the courthouse as soon as they open.' He turned to Dardon. 'And you don't have time to stay with Pauley and play with the computers. You need to set up the flight, pick up documents, and arrange for a place for us to stay in Russia.'
'Pauley, too? You were serious?'
'Pauley, too. Even after he gets us the address we need, we may be able to use him over there.' He grimaced. 'And it will give Emily something pretty to look at on the trip to Moscow.'
That edge was in his voice again, and it was beginning to annoy her. 'That would be nice,' she said coolly. 'I may learn something from him. I'm sure he's a good teacher.'
Dardon chuckled. 'He'll tell you he is.'
'It depends on what he's teaching.' Garrett met her gaze. 'You could do better.'
'Could I?' She finished her coffee. 'But you never know unless you give someone a chance.'
'My, my.' Dardon's expression was suddenly wary as he looked from Emily to Garrett. 'I believe it's time I made my exit. I have a lot of things to do.'
'No, stay.' Emily pushed back her chair. 'I'm through. I'll go to my room and finish packing.' She glanced at Garrett. 'Ten minutes.'
'Ten minutes.' He was frowning as he got up, crossed the room, and stood gazing after her until she reached her door a few yards away. 'I'll come and get you.'
Lord, he was being careful, she thought. But she wasn't complain¬ing. Even though this morning the sun was shining brightly, and Staunton seemed far away, she still was feeling that sense of threat just around the next corner.
'00 I DETECT A LITTLE TENSION between you?' Dardon asked, as Garrett closed the door and came back into the room. 'Should I have gotten someone other than Pauley? I could have pulled Les Mobler in. He's not as good as Pauley, but he's real ugly.'
'Very funny,' Garrett said. 'She's too smart to be taken in by sheer good looks.' But he had been surprised that Emily had seemed to be drawn to Pauley. Surprised and irritated. It probably shouldn't have bothered him. Emily was a woman, and every day she was emerging more from that stunned, numb condition that had enveloped her since he had taken her away from Staunton. Women were attracted to Pauley, and he should probably be grateful that she was behaving nor¬mally.
He wasn't grateful. He had felt a flash of possessiveness and jealousy that had come out of nowhere and was primitive as hell.
And on some level Emily had recognized it and reacted with defi¬ance. The mood between them in those last few minutes had been explosive.
'I've never seen you like this.' Dardon was staring at him specula¬tively. 'She's not your property, Garrett.'
'I know that.' But he felt as if she belonged to him. Every minute they were growing closer, he was learning more about her, the bond was growing. 'I wouldn't want to own any woman.'
Not consciously but that primitive instinct was there.
Get over it. It was probably purely sexual, and as soon as they came together, it would fade.
And they would come together. To hell with patience.
And to hell with that pretty boy Mark Pauley.
TWELVE
'DID YOU GET THEM? IT T 0 0 K you long enough.' Emily asked as she saw Garrett come across the marble lobby of the courthouse. 'No problem?'
'No problem.' He gestured to the file in his hand as he opened the door leading to the parking lot. 'I copied everything I could get my hands on. They had to have everything Mikhail Zelov wrote translated into English for the court case. And there were all kinds of documents verifying the authenticity and accuracy of the translations.'
'I still don't understand why the family didn't lock the records down as confidential.'
'I do. As long as the records didn't give out any information that they didn't want leaked, it was better for their image. It was a defensive move. They could prove to the world that Mikhail was nuts and that they weren't greedy bloodsuckers.' He opened the passenger door of the car for her. 'Which means we probably aren't going to find any¬thing vitally important in the transcripts.'
'It's a start. We'll get to know Mikhail Zelov and the way he thinks. It could become important later.' She asked, 'How long will it take us to get to the airport?'
'About fifteen minutes. It's not far from here.' Garrett's phone rang as they pulled out of the parking lot. 'Dardon.' He listened, then said, 'Okay, whatever it takes.' He hung up. 'Pauley hasn't completed the job. He's coming with us. He's at the airport with Dardon.'
'He didn't think he would finish.' She glanced at him. 'And you said that he could be valuable, didn't you?'
'That's what I said.' He looked straight ahead, negotiating the traffic. 'It's amazing that, considering all the laws in the U.S., traffic still remains a major problem.'
She didn't let him skate away from the issue. 'Well, is Pauley valu¬able or not?'
'He's valuable,' he said flatly.
'Then why don't you want him to go?'
He looked directly at her. 'I'm jealous. I don't like to be jealous. It's childish and primitive. I'd rather avoid feeling either.'
