LITMIR.BIZ

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I’m almost sure of it. John would never hurt a woman. Especially not someone Sully cared about. He and your dad were close once. A million years ago, but it counts for something. I’m sure.”

      Sabrina crossed to him and grabbed his hands in her own. “I need information. I’m dying here.”

      “Yeah, I get that,” he murmured. “Just breathe, okay? I’ll tell you everything I know.”

      Reassured and a little embarrassed, she pulled free and backed a few steps away. “Who is this John Derringer?”

      Theo stepped up to her and slipped his arm around her shoulders. “He used to work for us, honey. Years ago. Your father recruited him. Trained him. Just like Zack. Except Derringer was nothing like Zack. Nothing like Sully. We learned that the hard way.”

      She shifted so that she could gaze up at Theo. “What does he want with my sister?”

      “Hard to say—”

      “He wants information,” Zack interrupted. “If all he wanted was to hurt her, he wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble of pretending to save your cat.”

      “Pretending to save…?” Sabrina’s stomach knotted. “You think he planned all that? You think he broke Zorro’s leg? Oh, God…” She covered her face with her hands, struggling against a new wave of despair.

      “He wants something from her,” Zack repeated. “Let’s figure out what it is, okay? That’s the fastest way to get her back. Safe and sound.”

      “Zack’s right,” Theo said with reassuring vehemence. “If he was after revenge, he would have killed her right away. There’s something else going on.”

      “Revenge?” She forced herself to focus. “Are you saying Dad did something bad to him?”

      “It’s not revenge,” Zack protested. “He used DT3 on her. That means he wanted information.”

      “Or he wanted to plant a suggestion,” Theo countered. “Don’t forget that.”

      “Okay, stop.” Sabrina held up her hand. “DT3? You said it was a drug. What does it do?”

      “It makes most people susceptible to hypnosis. But it makes some people sick to their stomachs. That’s what happened when he tried it on you.”

      “My flu symptoms?”

      “Right.” Zack motioned toward the wing chair. “Sit for a minute. This is a lot to take in, and I need you to concentrate.”

      She nodded and sat down. “He used the drug on me, but it made me sick.”

      “Right. But it worked enough to allow him to plant a basic suggestion in your mind. The suggestion that you and he stayed up all night talking about everything under the sun, or some such crap.”

      “Right.”

      “And he may have planted other suggestions, as well. So I need to ask you something. It’s going to make you mad, but just try to understand. Okay?”

      She nodded.

      “Is your weapon really outside in the car?”

      “Yes. Why?”

      “Do you have any feelings of animosity toward Theo? Feelings you can’t explain?”

      “No. I have some toward you,” she added with a halfhearted smile. “But I can explain those.”

      Zack laughed. “Fair enough.”

      The light moment vanished quickly for Sabrina. “You think he might try to use me and Shelby to hurt Perimeter? That’s sort of far-fetched, don’t you think?”

      “Yes. Just be aware. If you have feelings you don’t understand—urges that seem uncharacteristic—report them to me immediately.”

      “I will. I promise.”

      “And you should probably get some tests done. Tonight or tomorrow.” He grimaced, then explained, “For diseases. Pregnancy. Whatever.”

      “I didn’t sleep with him, thanks to the vomiting. It was a definite mood killer.”

      “Just the same…”

      “I didn’t sleep with him,” she repeated, annoyed at the stubborn suggestion. Then her shoulders slumped. “Obviously, Shell did. But I’m sure she used protection.”

      “Good.”

      “It’s kidnapping, right? I mean, he drugged her and made her believe she’s in love with him. That’s the only reason she went away with him, so it wasn’t really consensual.”

      “It’s kidnapping,” Zack agreed.

      “And now he’s out there somewhere, playing with her head. Trying to get information. Or torturing her as revenge for something Dad did to him. That’s what you’re saying, right?”

      “He’s not torturing her. It’s not his style. But otherwise, yeah. He’s messing with her head.”

      Sabrina turned away, her heart pounding with confusion. “This is so much worse than anything I ever imagined. I thought I was overreacting. I thought you’d say he was just a romantic fool. Or at worst, a gigolo or something, trying to get at the trust fund.”

      Spinning to face Theo, she insisted, “We hardly spent any of the money. We saved it for the day we could come back. So we could buy back Dad’s share of the company. We didn’t know you needed it. Please take it back—”

      “Hey!” Theo silenced her with a hug. “Look around. Does it seem like I’m hurting? We had a cash flow problem for a year or so, but that’s behind us. Thanks to Zack. He got us on our feet. Found us a client who’s richer than Midas. We’re fine. I promise.”

      With a wink he added, “Everyone knows I make my real money in real estate anyway. Perimeter’s just a hobby. So give me a smile and let’s not talk about money any more.”

      Sabrina squeezed his arm, then resumed her questioning. “Tell me about John Derringer. What did Dad do to him that was so terrible?”

      Zack gave her a curious look. “How much do you know about the Zenner mess?”

      “The Zenner mess? Do you mean, my father’s murder? I’d like to think I know everything about it.”

      “Let’s hear it, then.”

      Sabrina shrugged. “Pluto Zenner assassinated a Perimeter client during some meeting in the Canary Islands. To salvage the company’s reputation, Dad helped the CIA track him down, and Pluto was killed resisting arrest. Then Pluto’s son Adonis came after Dad and blew him up.”

      “Right.” Zack’s eyes clouded. “What you probably don’t know is that John Derringer was responsible for the breach in security that led to the assassination in the Canary Islands. It was John’s first big assignment for Perimeter, and he blew it. His ego took a serious beating.”

      Sabrina was beginning to understand. “Dad fired him?”

      “No. Sully wanted to give him another chance. But John’s pride got in the way. He quit in a huff. Disappeared for a few months, then surfaced as a petty criminal, using the knowledge he got from Sully’s training to penetrate various security systems and pull some creative heists. His way of saying he was just as good as us, I guess.”

      “A disgruntled employee from five—no, six—years ago?” Sabrina shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would he wait so long to come after us?”

      “That’s the question,” Zack agreed.

      She covered her face with her hands again, but this time the gesture wasn’t one of despair. Instead she needed to blot out Zack and Theo for the moment. To return to her training. Her roots. Her legacy of strength from her father.

      Fear

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