Deadlock

'Oh.' She hadn't expected that degree of frankness. 'Like Dar¬don? Because Pauley's so bright?'

'No,' he said crisply. 'Because I want to jump into bed with you, and I don't like the idea of his doing it. Or you even contemplating sex with our Adonis of the Internet.'

She could feel the heat in her cheeks. 'I wasn't contemplating any such-'

'Good. Then we won't talk about it. You wanted to probe about Pauley. I was honest and let you know the problem. Now we'll forget it until one of us decides to deal with it.'

She was silent a moment. 'Yes, we'll forget it.' Then she burst out, 'But you made me feel awkward as hell. How am I going to look at Pauley without remembering what you said?'

'Exactly.' He was entering the freeway. 'I might have had that in mind, too.'

Clever. She felt that flash of irritation again. She smoldered for a moment, then shrugged. 'I can handle it. Of course, it will make me much more aware of him.' She saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel. Good. 'And I've never slept with an Adonis of the Internet. You've made me wonder what it would-'

'You little devil.' He was smiling faintly and shaking his head. 'I think we'd better go back to talking about the traffic.'

That would be safer, she thought. She had no idea why she had been tempted into goading him. She had never been a tease, and yet she had taken a sly enjoyment out of teasing Garrett. It might be be¬cause it held an element of danger. He was very sophisticated and had learned control in the trenches, but you were always aware that it was control and that darkness and violence lay waiting beneath.

But what was amazing was that she could even feel or think of anything besides Staunton and the search for the hammer. No, Irana had said she was coming back to life. Sex and emotion and all the other facets of living were gradually coming back to her. She should reach out to them. It was a way of proving to herself that Staunton had not permanently damaged her.

Reach out to Garrett? The cure might be worse than the sickness.

'Traffic,' she repeated. 'I don't think this traffic is so bad. At least we Americans respect the law. It's only occasional assholes that think they own the road.'

'You still consider yourself an American? You've batted around so many countries, I wondered if you had lost your attachment.'

She shook her head. 'I'm not a citizen of the world. I'm a down-to-earth, flag-waving American. I always will be. I had to go to other countries for my job, but this is home. When I stop roaming, I want to get a nice house on the beach down in North Carolina.'

'Why North Carolina?'

'My father grew up near the coast there and he loved it. Some of the best times of my childhood were the weeks we spent together there. I want to be near the ocean and the woods so that I can dig out my camera and take pictures of wildlife like my father. I'll go to foot¬ball games and have cookouts and every Fourth of July I'll send up fireworks. I can understand Mikhail Zelov wanting to remind his family of their roots. It's important.' She looked at him. 'What about you? Irana said your father was an American.'

His lips lifted in a sardonic smile. 'He never inspired me to any sense of patriotism. If anything, I wondered what kind of country could produce a man like him. I never visited the U.S. until I was in my twenties, and by that time it was too late to put down roots.'

'Where do you have roots?'

He shrugged. 'Nowhere. I guess the closest I've come is Mykala Island.'

'That's not good.'

He smiled. 'It's life, Emily. We all can't have everything you re¬gard as important.'

But she wanted Garrett to have it. It hurt her somehow that he hadn't had the solid start that her father had given her. She hadn't real¬ized until after her father had died how important and valuable those years with him had been. 'Then you should set out and make sure you put down roots yourself so that your children will have them.'

He blinked. 'Now we're talking about my children? How did we get so far from lousy traffic?'

'I don't know.' She shook her head. 'Sorry. I didn't mean to in¬trude on your privacy. Maybe you don't even want to have children.'

'I do. I just never thought about it.' He smiled. 'I didn't realize I had to prepare the way for them. This is our exit.' He got off the free¬way. 'I'll have to take my responsibilities in that direction under con¬sideration.' He glanced in his rearview mirror. 'We may have a tail.'

'What?' She glanced back over her shoulder. A tan Toyota was the only car behind them. 'Why do you think that?'

'He exited behind us. He's been behind us on the freeway.'

'Did you see him before that?'

'You mean at the courthouse?' He shook his head. 'But I might not have noticed. I was a little distracted by the conversation.'

As Emily had been. 'If we're being followed, they must have been waiting at the courthouse. We wouldn't have picked them up on the freeway.'

'I'm not sure it's a tail. I'm just naturally suspicious. Let's see.' He sped up, glancing at the mirror. 'They're speeding up, too. I don't think it's 'monkey see, monkey do.' ' He slowed, then sped up again. 'I'd say it's confirmed.'

'They just want to see where we're going?'

'No, this isn't like one of Ferguson's guys tagging us and report¬ing back to him. I don't think this is a simple tail. They're waiting for something.'

Her hands slowly clenched. 'You can't lose them, can you?' The road they were traveling was a straight one, with only woods on both sides. 'This isn't the city.'

'It would be damn hard.'

'Then what are they waiting for?'

'I don't know. A little more privacy? If so, they're going to get it soon. The turnoff for the airport is just ahead. There's a half-mile stretch that's virtually deserted.'

'Maybe we should go straight ahead.'

'No, I need to get rid of them. But as soon as we make the turn, I'm going to pull over, and I want you to get out and go into the brush before they see you.'

'And leave you alone? Not likely.'

'Emily, do what I say.'

'Garrett, hell, no.'

He gave her an exasperated glance as he made the turn. 'Dammit, this is no game.'

'Staunton may be in that car.'

'Oh shit.' He sped up as the Toyota came around the corner. 'Keep down.'

The Toyota had sped up too, and was getting closer. Emily craned her head to see if she could recognize the driver or the man in the pas¬senger seat. They weren't near enough yet.

'Emily.'

'No.' She was able to make out the two men now. The driver was dark-haired, swarthy. The man in the passenger seat was fair-haired and thin. 'It's not Staunton.'

'Then will you please get down,' Garrett said through clenched teeth. 'They're right on top of us.'

'They're trying to pull alongside,' Emily said.

'Great surprise.' Garrett said.

And the fair-haired man in the passenger seat was aiming a gun at Garrett!

'Down, dammit!' Garrett swerved sideways and hit the Toyota. A bullet shattered the back window as the gunman was jarred by the impact.

Before the man in the Toyota could recover, Garrett hit the car again, sending it spinning toward the edge of the road.

Another bullet, this time burying itself in the metal holding the windshield.

Garrett went after the car, giving it another swipe that sent it off the road and bouncing down an incline and into a ditch.

'Get over into the driver's seat.' Garrett was out of the car in an instant. 'Get to the airport and bring Dardon