Pandora's Daughter

'And I don't want to tell them to you. But I have to do it. It's time, Megan.'

'I won't listen. I can't stand thinking about-' It didn't matter what she wanted or her own pain. This was her mother he was talking about. She had to listen. She braced herself. 'Go on. Do it.'

'There's not much more. It must have been like being surrounded by a pack of wolves for her. There was shouting and laughing, humiliation, and pain. She'd been raped by him before, but this was even more hideous. I don't know if it was an accumulation of the horror or if she just couldn't take it any longer. Something must have snapped in Sarah. She screamed. Then she grabbed hold of Molino's son's hand to stop him from touching her and screamed again. Everyone was laughing at her. It was a big joke.' He stopped. 'And then Steven Molino started screaming. He got off Sarah and backed away from her as if she had the plague. He was shrieking and crying and muttering curses. He ran off into the jungle. When they found him an hour later, he was still running, still trying to get away from Sarah. They brought him back to the camp and Molino arranged for a helicopter to pick them up. He was completely out of his head and muttering things that his father was thinking, that the other men in the camp were thinking.'

'Mind reading,' Megan whispered.

He nodded. 'Evidently his latent talent. But it must have exploded in him like a rocket when Sarah grabbed his hand. Molino hustled his son on the helicopter and flew out to Nairobi to get him medical help. When they got off the copter, he was distracted for a moment when he was talking to the doctor who had met the flight.' He shrugged. 'A moment was all it took. Steven Molino turned and walked back into the rear blades of the helicopter. Not a pretty way to die.'

'Good,' she said fiercely. 'I wish I could have been there to finish the job with a machete.'

'So did I when we took Sarah back from them and I heard what happened from one of Molino's men we captured. But it wasn't necessary.' He paused. 'Sarah had taken care of it herself.'

'Just because Molino's son went bonkers? That's pretty flimsy evidence that my mother had some kind of malignant power that sent him over the edge.' She was trying to think clearly, logically. 'Maybe it was guilt, or it could be he was schizophrenic anyway.'

'Perhaps.'

'But you don't believe it.'

'The second page I was withholding from you was the report that Michael had compiled on your mother before Molino's son's death. Her DNA blood tests confirmed that she was connected to the core DNA family.'

'How could you know that?'

'Jose Devanez was buried at his estate in Spain after his suicide.' His lips twisted. 'Not on hallowed ground, but I don't believe he would have cared considering the circumstances. I'm not sure what strings Michael pulled but he managed to get a DNA sample from Jose's remains.'

'Even if she was a Devanez that doesn't mean my mother could destroy someone just by touching them. Rosa's story could be a fairy tale.'

'Or it could be truth. The witnesses to that slimeball's death were sure that Sarah had driven him to it.'

'And I'm supposed to believe a bunch of sadistic bastards who cheered when my mother was raped?'

'You'll believe what you have to believe. My job was to lay the facts before you. If you're the daughter of a Pandora, then you need to be prepared.' He added roughly, 'Your mother let you blunder through life ignorant and blind. I'll be damned if I'll let it go on.'

Her hands clenched on the cup. 'You'd rather I be terrified all my life of killing someone accidentally?'

'Ignorance breeds fear. If there's a chance the danger is there, then you should know about it and how to control it. If it took repeated rape to cause Sarah's gift to explode, then this facilitating can't be that easy. As far as I know, it never happened again with her. She didn't want the gift and she shunted it away from her. She refused to admit she possessed it.'

'Perhaps she didn't. Perhaps Pandoras don't exist.' He shook his head. 'Lord, you're as stubborn as your mother. Whether you want to believe it or not, realize that Molino believes it. He saw what happened to his son, he saw Sarah turn his son into a madman. And when he stole the copy of those records from Michael's library, he made the connection. Oh, yes, Molino believes Pandoras exist. He regards them as a scourge upon the earth.'

'Pot calling the kettle black,' she said bitterly. 'For God's sake, he's as bad as those priests who thought Rosa was an archdemon sent to destroy the world.'

'He's worse. At least, the priests thought they had some reason to fear Rosa's gift. Your Johnny Appleseed comparison wasn't far off the mark. Indiscriminate facilitation could be a disaster. What if Hitler had had the power to see the future? Could he have changed it and won the war? What if Sadaam Hussein had the ability to read minds? Would he have been able to unite the Arab world against the West? Think about it.'

'I don't want to think about it.'

'Do it anyway. There may be other people who want to destroy you as much as Molino does if they become convinced you could be a chess piece in the enemy camp.' He paused. 'Or you could be killed because some idealistic do-gooder thinks they're going to save civilization by ridding it of a threat.'

'Me? Ridiculous.' But there were a lot of crackpots in the world. Grady's suggestion wasn't all that far-fetched, she thought with a shiver. 'You're not being very encouraging.'

'If the talent is a two-headed coin as Ricardo said, then it could be either hideous or wonderful. Since we don't have any concrete evidence of the pros and cons, you'll have to define them for yourself. Providing you don't choose to close your eyes and ignore the truth as Sarah did.'

'My mother was happy and she made me happy. Maybe that's the way to go.'

He smiled. 'Don't give me that bull. I can't see you content to drift along, hiding from reality.'

What he called reality right now was confusing and frightening. She didn't want to hide but she needed time to absorb and decide how much to believe and what to do next. She stood up and held out her hand. 'Give me those last two pages.'

'You don't believe me?' He went to the desk and picked up the fax sheets. 'By all means, study them carefully.'

She did believe what he had told her was the truth. 'I have to see it for myself. Interpretation can alter everything. It's the only way it will sink home to me.' She took the pages and turned toward the door. 'Good night, Grady.'

'If you need me, I'll be here,' he said quietly.

'Thank you.'

If you need me. Those words would have had an entirely different meaning earlier in the evening when she had been lost in a haze of sexuality. She gave him a ghost of a smile over her shoulder. 'How quickly things change.'

'Nothing's changed.' He said curtly. 'Not really. Give me any encouragement and I'd have you in bed in a heartbeat. But I'm not fool enough to think I have a chance while you're this upset. I can wait.'

She felt a ripple of shock. 'Evidently I was giving you too much credit for sensitivity.'

'You want sensitive? I'd give you sensitive. Hell, I'd like to comfort you. But you're too defensive to accept it. So I'll take what I can get. You like sex. That's fine with me. My God, it's more than fine.'

She had a sudden memory of the description of a Pandora in Ricardo's confession. 'Don't believe everything you read. I'm no Pandora and any sensuality I possess is both normal and healthy.'

He grimaced. 'You see? Defensive. That's what I was afraid would happen when you read the Tribunal's report.'

'Dammit, you've just told me I could be some kind of walking time bomb. I have a right to be defensive.'

'Yes, you do. But not with me. I'm on your side. Believe me, other than the possibility of the Pandora talent, I think you're beautifully normal in every way. I don't give a damn what's in that report. You're no carbon copy. But I'm not going to ignore the fact that I know you like sex. I've been linked too closely to you not to realize that. And whatever you want, I'll give you.' He added curtly, 'And you'd better get out of here before I start elaborating. The line between sympathy and erotica are a little blurred in my mind right now.'

Erotica. Grady's fingers caressing her throat. Her body changing, tensing, coming alive.

'Don't worry, I'm leaving. Good night.' A few seconds later the door closed behind her. She hadn't needed those last few moments of sexuality thrown into the mix. She was confused and upset enough. Yet, in a way, that raw earthiness had grounded her after all the talk of Pandora and the horror her mother had undergone. Had that been Grady's intention? He was clever and he knew her very well.