LITMIR.BIZ

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to a confidential tone. “I have to ask, Sandro. Are you physically capable of firing a weapon if you need to?” He glanced pointedly at Nick’s right hand, permanently damaged in an E.R. confrontation with a crackhead nearly a year ago when he had stopped in on an informal consult. Mercier pressed. “You are left-handed, right?”

      Nick flexed his fingers out of habit. “I used to shoot skeet and I could still pull a trigger, but there’s no way I’m qualified to give Cate the protection you say she might need.”

      “I only ask as a precaution. You’ll have bodyguards keeping a close watch.” He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “Take her to Florence, help with her rehab and give me an evaluation. That’s all you have to do.”

      “That’s all?” Nick gave a wry huff. “Right.”

      “We have a good protection program, as I told you before, but I really think she’ll have a better chance of recovery with the help of someone she knows. She needs that with what she’ll be facing. You spoke to Dr. Ganz. You know what she’s up against. Want her to do that with strangers who are just doing their jobs?”

      Every instinct of self-preservation within Nick warned against it. Not because someone might still be gunning for Cate. If anything, that was the most compelling argument Mercier had for convincing Nick to agree.

      He had been living in Florence the last few months, attending the seminars. After Cate’s injury, the Olins had contacted his parents and asked them to plead their case. They wanted someone they knew to see that Cate was getting the best medical help available. They had obviously spoken with Mercier, who had roped him in to helping her with therapy.

      “Do you have any idea who tried to kill her?” he asked. What had happened had been no accident. Mercier had stationed guards outside her door since she’d been admitted. “What about the man she was with that day?”

      “He called for rescue and was pinpointing Cate’s location when he was cut off midsentence. He’s still missing. He said he heard the shots that caused the avalanche. When Cate regained consciousness, she verified there was gunfire, definitely a rifle. We think maybe he was going to dig her out and got buried in a drift. One way or another, we’ll find him.”

      “Any new suspects?”

      Jack nodded. “Yes. Two of our operatives coordinating with the Police Nationale have someone under surveillance now, a known assassin who was spotted in the area. It’s a matter of time before they make an arrest, maybe only hours. But even if he is our shooter, somebody hired him for it. I’d like to have Cate stashed somewhere she can’t be found.”

      “Why would someone want to kill her? And why that way?”

      “We’ll have some answers soon. Sam Jakes, a freelance reporter from D.C., blew her cover the week before this happened. He must have had an inside track at the White House. That was a very private ceremony with only our teams, the president and a couple of staff present. Jakes reported the commendation she received and explained her part in the investigation. Unfortunately, he gave her name, a recent photo and some background material on her.”

      “So she was outed and you think some wacko read that and is after her? Did you arrest the bastard who did the article?”

      “Of course. The point is, that put Cate at great risk.”

      “So she would no longer be good for covert work anyway?”

      “I’d planned to have her doing backup or mop up, not as primary. At least not for a while. Now, because of this injury, any type of field work is out of the question. Whatever she does for us, we’ll have to keep her under wraps. She’s made enemies. We’ll get whoever is after her. In the meantime, all you need to do is keep her with you and take care of her health.”

      “And have a gun handy, of course,” Nick added, his words laced with irony.

      Mercier nodded. “That would be wise, but it’s highly unlikely you’ll need it. Do you have one?”

      Nick coughed a laugh. “Are you kidding? I’m a physician, an American residing in a foreign country. How the devil would I get a gun?”

      “We’ve got you one,” Mercier assured him. “That, plus some other things Cate might need will be in the trunk of your car.”

      “Well, I’ve shot snakes and targets, but never anything with legs. I’m not sure I could take a life.” He frowned at Mercier. “Just so you know.”

      “Trust me, if someone starts shooting, you’ll be damned glad to have the means to return fire.”

      “What if she refuses to go with me?” Nick asked. That was a distinct possibility. She had always resented his “hovering” as she called it. Hated it when he cautioned her about taking risks.

      “She’ll go,” Mercier declared. “We can’t take her home yet. Ganz says she shouldn’t fly for that long in her condition. For her safety, we’re creating a diversion to make everyone think she’s on a plane back to the States.”

      Mercier’s wife, Solange, joined them in the waiting room just as Cate’s parents came in. After greeting them, the Merciers excused themselves and went in to speak with Cate.

      Cate’s mother, Tess Olin, an Amazon who looked scarcely older than her daughter, approached Nick. “I know this is an imposition, dear. It’s not fair to ask it of you.”

      Yeah, but Nick knew he really had no choice. “Dr. Ganz and Cate’s supervisor agree it’s the best thing. I know what to watch for, can prescribe whatever she needs and conduct her therapy.”

      “It’s the perfect solution,” Rolph Olin said. He shot a look at his wife, one that warned her to stop protesting.

      “I guess it does make sense,” Tess said, obviously relieved. Cate’s younger brother, Anderson, nodded in agreement, looking from one parent to the other, taking his cue from them as usual.

      Nick could only imagine how Cate would fare if these three took over her care. The best she could hope for would be benign neglect. The worst would be another attempt on her life when she was at her most vulnerable and unprotected.

      Sending Cate into whatever kind of protection program they offered would be even worse. She would probably get very little medical attention since all the damage was virtually invisible. Her condition could deteriorate in either case.

      “So you’ll be flying home with her?” her mother asked.

      “Of course.” Nick figured it wasn’t exactly a lie. They would fly home eventually. “Go ahead and do whatever you have to do. I’ll take good care of Cate,” he assured the Olins and was somewhat mollified by Tess’s tears of relief and Rolph’s obvious gratitude.

      They did care about her, but they were definitely not equipped to be caregivers. All their focus was on her little brother’s career. Sport freaks, to the exclusion of everything else. “I promise to call you and give you progress reports.”

      Tess smiled up at him and gave him a motherly hug. Rolph and Anderson shook his hand. He couldn’t miss the renewed hope for a love match in their eyes, a hope both he and Cate had always resented. Even his own parents had pushed that.

      Their families had been friends since he and Cate were kids. His own father was a big name in sports medicine, Cate’s was a world-class coach. That common interest, and living in the same town, had cemented a friendship that had grown over the years. Their folks had entertained each other frequently and even traveled together on family vacations.

      Cate was three years his junior and back then it seemed to Nick that he was the only one who cared whether she reached adulthood. Totally unsupervised and absolutely fearless, Cate had dragged him into more life-threatening scrapes than he could count. Apparently, her adventurous nature hadn’t changed.

      He had been relieved when he finally graduated and left home for college. While still in medical school, he had married Karen, who was the antithesis of Cate in

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