“Can you assure me that you aren’t hiding asavage beast from us?”
Claire’s brows rose but she nodded. “I can.Am I free to go then?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“She knows where it is and she’s not leavinghere until she tells us where it is!” A muscle jumped in Jameson’scheek as he ground his teeth. Clearly frustration was eating athim, but she wasn’t about to give him what he wanted when he turnedto her. “I don’t know how you managed all this, but you’re making abig mistake,” he said.
“As Charles Schulz once said, ‘I’ve nevermade a mistake in my life. I thought I did once but I was wrong.’”Claire tilted her head to the side and smiled. She could almosthear Jameson’s teeth grinding. It was an unexpected pleasure.
“It’s dangerous, you know.”
“Charles Schulz? I doubt Snoopy wouldagree.”
Nichols bit back a bark of laughter, whichonly seemed to string Jameson’s nerves even tighter.
“Mrs. Manning, you are walking on very thinice here. Where is it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talkingabout.”
“My conversation with your friend DarcyWashington tells me that you do,” Jameson countered. “You feltsorry for it, right? You wanted to save it.”
It took a lot of effortfor Claire not to lash out as Jameson repeated those derisivewords. It? Wasthat all they thought of Hugh? Was that all the consideration theyhad ever given him? “I told you, I don’t know what …”
The agent slammed a palm down on thedesktop, the smack echoing through the small office, and Clairejumped in her seat. “Where is my fucking science project?”
“Jameson …” Nichols cautioned.
With one last frown, Jameson pointed to thedoor. “Out, Nichols, and take your bleeding heart with you.”
“I will not,” Nichols said as he stood.“Someone in this room needs to remember that she does have somerights.”
Fear and rage coiled inside of her, sendingher heart racing, but when Claire spoke, her voice was arctic inits chill. “Why are you pushing this so hard? Leave me alone. Leavehim alone.”
Jameson smiled coolly in triumph, and evenNichols’s brows rose. “So you do know it.” He looked over hisshoulder at the other agent. “Now who’s to say I told you so?”
“Him, and I never said I didn’t,” Claire countered as calmly aspossible. The anger roused by his objectification of Hugh hadthrown her thoughts into chaos, and she had spoken without thought.“You don’t need to do this. He’s not dangerous. Leave himalone.”
“I can’t do that becauseit… he is dangerous, Mrs. Manning,” he sneered. “Whether you’d like toadmit it or not. He could bring disease into this world that youknow nothing about.”
Claire shook her head. “The only diseasearound here is you, Agent Jameson.”
“Mrs. Manning,” Nicholscut in, though there was a smile playing at his lips as if he waspleased with her icy retort. “Are you saying that youdid assist in thesecurity breach at Mark-Davis?”
“What? No! Of course not!” Claire saidhonestly.
“But you lied when you said that you weren’thiding it from us,” the INSCOM agent pressed.
“No, I wasn’t,” Claire insisted, trying toregain the upper hand. God, she was a miserable liar. All this wasfor naught if she didn’t keep Hugh safe. “There can be one withoutthe other, you know.”
“Where is he, Mrs. Manning?” Jameson pressedonce more.
Claire took a deep breath. “Honestly, Phil,what makes you think I know? He forced me to get him off the campusand he hid in my house for a while, but I left him on the highwaybetween here and Spokane more than a week ago.”
“I don’t believe you, Mrs. Manning,” Jamesonsaid after studying her shrewdly for a moment, and Claire decidedshe needed to make a concerted effort to hone her skills atfabrication in the future.
“Mrs. Manning,” Nichols broke in softly. Aclassic case of good cop/bad cop, Claire thought. “I do believe youwere coerced into helping him escape. I do and Jameson does aswell, whether he admits it or not. No one blames you for beingstrong-armed by a greater power, but you needn’t protect him anylonger. Just tell us where he is and we’ll take care of therest.”
“You’d killhim?”
“No, we could send him home,” the agentbaited the hook with an undeniably potent lure and Claire’s heartskipped a beat. “Do you know what that means? What it really means?You do, don’t you? You want to save him? Give him up to me then,Mrs. Manning, and I promise to get him back where he belongs. Tohis real home,” he offered silkily, proving that he was asdangerous as Jameson, perhaps even more so.
But was it possible? Claire mentallyreviewed Fielding’s reports. There was nothing in them that evenlyremotely hinted that Fielding had overcome that setback and couldcontrol the destination of the wormhole. Nichols had to belying.
But what if he wasn’t? Hugh should have thechoice.
But if Nicholswas lying … Hugh wouldbe at Jameson’s mercy, and it was obvious to Claire that therewasn’t much of that in the NSA agent. “You can’t dothat.”
“I can if you tell mewhere he is.”
Every fiber of her being urged her to negatethe possibility that there was any truth to his words. “No, if youcould do that, you would have done so before all this.”
“Are you really going to make that choicefor him?”
Indecision held her in its grasp for only amoment. Clearly both these agents would go to any length to findHugh. Nichols was calm and composed, but Jameson’s eyes were steelywith determination, and lying would be only the tip of the icebergto a man so obsessed. She could not risk Hugh’s safety on the offchance that Nichols’s benevolence would see him home once more.Though she might be condemning Hugh to a bleak future when his ownlife awaited him in the past, Claire shrugged with forcedindifference. “I guess so, since I don’t know where he is now. Ifthere’s nothing else, I think we’re done here.”
“Mrs. Manning, you have to tell us how tofind him!” Jameson cut in once more.
Ignoring him, Claire stood, hitching herpurse over her shoulder, and turned to the door, but Jameson caughther wrist. “He’s a killer, brutal, violent, and vicious.”
Claire looked pointedly down at his hand.“I’m sure you
