Pandora's Daughter

'Don't count on it. Megan seems to be doing all the talking right now.' But even as he spoke Megan and Renata Wilger stood up and were coming down the path toward them. 'At least your scorpion isn't running the other way.'

But the expressions on both women's faces were wary, he noticed. Not hostile, not friendly, wary.

'She's not going to let us have the Ledger,' Megan said. 'But she's kindly consented to let us try to save her neck.'

'I can save my own neck,' Renata said. 'But she said you were after Molino and I can't do that alone.' She stared at Grady. 'I want Molino dead. He has to die. I'll do everything I can to help make that happen. But if I believe that the Ledger is in any danger, I'm gone.'

'Will you stay at the hotel where we can keep an eye on you?' Harley asked.

She shook her head. 'But I'll be in touch.'

'Do you have friends you can stay with, Renata?'

'Are you joking?' She shook her head. 'If I stayed with them, I wouldn't be a true friend. Edmund told me years ago that he was going to give me the guardianship of the Ledger if things went wrong for him. He'd been watching me since I was a little girl. He'd stayed with us every time he came to Munich and it was like having a big brother. I thought he was just my friend Mark's friend, but then he told me I was going to be the Keeper. He said I was perfect. I had no family except Mark and he was pretty safe. I was such a bookworm that I didn't have time to make many friends. After he told me that I was going to take over the Ledger, I let those drift away.' She turned away. 'Don't worry, I've been preparing for this for a long time. I'll call you tomorrow after I'm settled.' She didn't wait for a reply but walked down the path toward the park gates.

'What the hell,' Megan murmured as Renata disappeared from view. 'She gave up any friends she had because she knew she was going to have to shoulder the responsibility for the Ledger? She couldn't have been much more than a kid.'

'Gillem must have really brainwashed her,' Harley said.

She whirled on him. 'He did not. He wouldn't do that. He cared about her. I know he did.'

'Okay. Okay.' He held up his hands defensively. 'Just a comment.'

'She had to want to protect the Ledger as much as he did. And it had to be hard for him to put her at risk.' Megan started toward the park gates. 'Evidently their whole world revolved around that damn Ledger.'

'And still does,' Grady said as he followed her. 'And it seems that our world is beginning to be a mirror image. Coming, Harley?'

'Not yet. I'm going to give Renata a few more minutes and then go after her.'

'What?'

'I planted a bug in her jacket on the way here.' He took out a miniscule receiver from his pocket. 'I originally meant to use it at her apartment but I didn't want to take a chance on her walking away from us into the sunset. I don't trust her.'

'I spent a long time convincing her that she was safe with us,' Megan said. 'I'm not going to be pleased with you if she finds that bug and gets pissed.'

'You'd like it less if she decided to take off and we didn't know where she was.' Harley moved toward the gate. 'Trust me. I'll be careful.'

RENATA FLIPPED OPEN HER CELL PHONE as soon as she got into her car. Another moment later she had reached Mark in Berlin. 'I had to kill a man tonight. Molino knows I have the Ledger. Megan Blair came after me and that tipped him. I'm on the run.'

'Megan Blair…' Mark repeated thoughtfully. 'You said she might be coming after you.'

'It was one of three possible scenarios I ran. This result depended if she came together with Grady. She did. She wants to use the Ledger to trap Molino.'

Mark chuckled. 'Incredible. But, at least, she's got her goals right. Can you find a way to use her?'

'Maybe.' She was silent a moment. 'She's a Listener, Mark. She was with Edmund at the end. It was… bad.'

'We suspected as much.'

'But I didn't know.' She tried to keep her voice steady. 'She said… he prayed for me.'

'He was praying that you'd be strong enough to keep the Ledger safe.'

'I don't think so.'

'Renata.'

'I'm okay. It just came as a shock.' She cleared her throat. 'And you know I'll always keep the Ledger safe.'

'Then find a way to use Megan Blair. Molino's coming too close.'

'She's family, Mark.'

'And this is Molino, Renata.'

He was right, of course. Megan Blair had already jeopardized Renata's safety and the safety of the Ledger by coming here. She had to ignore her instincts to protect family members. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made. 'I know we have to get him. I won't fail you.'

'It's not me you'd fail, it's the family. I'm sure you'd never do that. Call me if you need any help. I'll come to you through hell and high water.' He hung up the phone.

Yes, she knew Mark would always be there to help, she thought as she hung up. But his solutions were sometimes quick and deadly and she was reluctant to turn him loose on Megan Blair.

She'd try to work her way through it herself first.

IT WAS CLOSE TO FOUR A.M. WHEN Megan and Grady got back to the hotel.

'You can only sleep for a couple hours,' Grady said as Megan moved across the sitting room toward her bedroom. 'Renata bought us some time by ridding us of Falbon, but we don't know how much information he gave Molino. If Molino knows we're in Munich, then we'd better move out of the city.'

'Not without Renata Wilger,' Megan said. 'I won't leave her. We can find another place here in Munich.' She opened the door. 'You wanted the Ledger. We're going to get it.'

'And you want to protect Edmund Gillem's little protegee.'

'He prayed for her,' she said. 'His prayers are going to be answered.' The door closed behind her.

Lord, she was tired, she thought as she moved toward the bathroom. Harley's call had woken her from a dead sleep and she was now even more emotionally frayed than she had been before. The Ledger was beginning to take center stage in her mind as it was in the minds of the people around her. It was starting to take on mythical proportions and it was only a book, dammit. People shouldn't be willing to die for a book.

And people shouldn't be willing to kill for a book as Molino was doing.

What was she thinking? No matter how she tried to minimize the Ledger, it clearly had an impact on the lives of thousands of people or Edmund wouldn't have been willing to die for it.

She washed her face and started to undress. Stop thinking about it. Grab a few hours sleep and then get ready to move on.

No, before she went back to bed she'd call and check on Phillip again. It was probably stupid to keep hoping that there would be a change but she wouldn't give up.

Pandora had left hope in that box when she'd let all the other spirits out.

Well, she wasn't Pandora, she wouldn't be a Pandora, but she'd cling to that hope for Phillip with all her strength.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

'RENATA IS STAYING IN A COTTAGE at the edge of town,' Harley said when Grady picked up his call the next day. 'As soon as it got light, I started looking for a place for you to stay nearby. I rented a cottage about a mile from her.' He rattled off the address. 'I'll keep an eye on her until you get here. Then it's up to you while I get a