She knew Zack was lying.

He had no intention of sharing information with her. At least, not willingly. But thanks to the global positioning device, she would track his every movement. If he got a lead on her sister’s location, Sabrina would head there as soon as he made his move.

And in the meantime, maybe she’d find the location first. Zack was wasting his time going to Sacramento. If there had been any clues at Shelby’s house, Sabrina would have found them already.

They needed to focus on the kidnapper, not her sister. And so Sabrina would study the files using her training and instincts to get inside the kidnapper’s head. Then she’d take her father’s bag of tricks—and her gun—and go hunting.

Dear Reader,

You’re about to read a Silhouette Bombshell novel, one of the most engaging, exciting and riveting books on the shelves today. We’re pleased to bring you fast-paced, compelling reads featuring strong, admirable women who will speak to the Bombshell in you!

In Sophie’s Last Stand by Nancy Bartholomew, Sophie Mazaratti’s trying to start over after her marriage ends very badly—but it seems her slimy ex has left her in a sticky situation involving the mob, the Feds and one darned attractive detective….

Get ready for a thrilling twenty-four hours as military author Cindy Dees continues the powerful Athena Force continuity series with Target, featuring an army intelligence agent on a mission to save the President-elect from being assassinated. To gain his trust, she’ll give the villain someone new to chase—herself….

It’s a jungle out there when a determined virologist races into the Amazon to stop a deadly outbreak—a danger that authorities seem determined to cover up, even at the cost of Dr. Jane Miller’s life. Don’t miss The Amazon Strain by Katherine Garbera!

And a protected witness must come out of hiding after her sister mysteriously disappears, in Kate Donovan’s adventure Parallel Lies. It’s up to Sabrina Sullivan to determine which of two charismatic men is lying—or if they both are—to save her sister’s life.

The stakes are high and the pressure is on! Please send me your comments c/o Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279

Sincerely,

Natashya Wilson

Associate Senior Editor, Silhouette Bombshell

Parallel Lies
Kate Donovan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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KATE DONOVAN

is the author of more than a dozen novels and novellas, ranging from time travel and paranormal to historical romance, suspense and romantic comedy. An attorney, she draws on her criminal law background to create challenges worthy of her heroines, who crack safes, battle wizards and always get their man. As for Kate, she definitely got her man and is living happily ever after with him and their two children in Elk Grove, California.

This book is dedicated to my parents

for their loving encouragement.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Prologue

When the cell phone on her nightstand began to ring, twenty-year-old Sabrina Sullivan went from soundly sleeping to fully alert in an instant. The fact that it was 2:00 a.m. only heightened her instinctive response. After all, this particular phone had one purpose and one purpose only—for her father to contact her in case of an emergency. And given “Sully” Sullivan’s dangerous lifestyle, an emergency seemed to lurk around every intrigue-laden corner.

Flipping open the phone, Sabrina said simply, “Dad?”

“Sweetheart, this is Uncle Theo. I’m standing outside the door to your apartment. I didn’t want to knock and scare you, but I need to talk to you.”

The daughter’s heart began to pound. “Is he hurt bad? Is he even alive? Uncle Theo—”

“Come to the door, Breezie.”

“Right.” She jumped to her feet and sprinted from her small bedroom into the study area of the dorm suite she shared with her sister Michelle. Then she yanked open the door, ready to demand a million details.

But the expression on Theo Howell’s face told her everything she needed to know, and it did so with the force of a well-aimed kick to her solar plexus. “Oh, no…”

“Breezie.” He pulled her into a bear hug. “I’m so sorry.”

Tears stung her eyes. “He was here just last week for a visit. He looked so h-healthy. What happened?”

“He was murdered, hon. By Adonis Zenner.”

Sabrina pulled free, shocked by the announcement, and perversely grateful for the rush of white-hot hatred that chased her tears away.

“Zenner?” She practically hissed the name. “How did he get into the country?”

“We don’t know. We don’t know anything yet.”

“This is the thanks Dad gets for tracking that psycho’s father down? We knew Adonis might try to get revenge for Pluto. Didn’t we take precautions?”

“Come and sit with me,” Theo advised, adding over his shoulder, “you men secure the premises.”

Sabrina winced as two middle-aged men dressed in black pants and black shirts strode past her. She hadn’t even noticed the burly pair of strangers. Her father would be so disappointed in her.

Except her father was dead.

“Is this the only window?” one man was asking. “What about in there?”

“My sister’s in there. Sleeping. And of course there’s no window,” she added, insulted at the implication that she’d let Michelle sleep alone in a room with exterior access. Then she bit her lip, realizing for the first time that this nightmare was about to invade her younger sister’s world, as well.

“I should wake her up,” she told her uncle. “Zenner’s trail is getting colder by the second.”

“There’s a decision to be made, Brie. Your father would want you to make it. You’re the oldest.”

“A decision?” She felt her temper flare. “You mean, like funeral stuff? Who cares! We have to go after Adonis before he gets out of the country.”

Theo’s gaze was steady and direct. “We think he’ll come after you and Michelle next.”

“What?”

“When your father killed Pluto, he wiped out Adonis’s whole family. He might want to return the favor.”

Sabrina turned to stare at the closed door to Michelle’s room. Then she sank down onto the sofa next to Theo. “We need to get her to someplace safe. Immediately.”

“We need to get you both someplace safe,” he corrected her. “There are two choices. My home in Monterey. Or a safe house here in Boston, which would be a stopover on your way into a protection program.”

“A protection program?”

“The government offered us two spots in RAP. That’s a relocation assistance program for compromised agents and their families, similar to witness protection.”

“Are you talking about new identities? Isn’t that a little drastic? Just take Shellie to your house while I go after Adonis.”

“Is that what your father would have wanted?”

Sabrina’s eyes stung with the return of her tears, but she wiped them with miserable determination. There would be plenty of time—the rest of her life, in fact—to cry. Right now, she had to concentrate on protecting her sister and avenging her father.

In that order.

Because she knew exactly what her father would want her to do. She could almost hear his voice instructing her, the same way he’d done just one week earlier at the end of his visit.

Take care of your sister. I’m entrusting her safety to you. I know you won’t let me down.

He had charged her with this responsibility since early in their childhood, and she had always taken it as a compliment. Now she knew it for what it was—a curse.

“What’s going on?” a sleepy voice demanded from across the room, and eighteen-year-old Michelle stepped into view, her feet stuffed into fuzzy pink slippers, her lightweight robe belted haphazardly and her arms cradling their new kitten, a black-and-white fur ball known as Zorro. “Uncle Theo? Is everything okay?”

Theo crossed to her, clearly intending to hug her with the same unrestrained affection and sympathy he had bestowed on Sabrina. But Michelle sidestepped him and walked over to her big sister.

“Brie?”

“It’s Dad, Shell. Adonis Zenner killed him.”

The girl’s blue eyes widened. “With a gun? Or a bomb?”

It was another blow to Sabrina’s equilibrium, and she grabbed her sister into an embrace while demanding over her head, “Uncle Theo? It wasn’t a bomb, was it?”

When his gaze fell, she wailed in disbelief. “I’ll strangle him with my bare hands!”

“Me, too,” Michelle insisted, but her voice was hushed and broken by sobs.

“Shh…” Sabrina patted her sister’s blond curls. “There’ll be time to cry later, Shell. We have to get moving. Uncle Theo thinks Zenner might come here next.”

“Bring it on,” Michelle retorted, raising her tear-filled eyes to stare straight into Sabrina’s. “I want him to come here. Then we can kill him for Dad.”

“No. We’re going away. Someplace safe. The CIA will go after Zenner. That’s what Dad would have wanted.”

Michelle took a step backward, then folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not going anywhere but after Zenner. I can’t believe you want to run away.”

“Listen to your sister,” Theo murmured. “The CIA will catch Zenner. And in the meantime, you’re in danger. He’s a ruthless assassin. You’re no match for him. I know, I know, your father trained you to shoot and fight and take care of yourselves. But not against men like Zenner. If you don’t cooperate with our efforts to protect you—to give you a new life where you can be safe—one or both of you could die. Is that what you want?”

“Brie?”

Sabrina banished her own misgivings and said in as authoritative a voice as she could manage, “We’re going into some kind of witness protection program. Once they catch Zenner, we can be ourselves again. Go and pack.”

“No packing,” Theo corrected her. “Just put on jeans and a sweatshirt. Leave everything else behind. We’ll supply what you need at the safe house. But we have to move now.”

Michelle seemed about to argue, then she leaned down and scooped up the kitten instead. “Come on, Zorro. Let’s get dressed.”

“The cat can’t come,” Theo began, but Sabrina waved her hand at him in cool dismissal.

“The cat was a gift from Dad. He comes with us. That’s not negotiable. We’ll leave everything else behind though.”

Theo hesitated, then nodded. “We can bend the rules a little.”

“What about you, Uncle Theo?” Michelle demanded. “Aren’t you worried Zenner will come after you, too?”

“Your father killed Pluto as part of a CIA operation. It wasn’t directly related to his job at Perimeter. In fact, as you know, I disapproved of—Well, none of that matters now.” He touched Michelle’s cheek, then turned to Sabrina. “I won’t see you again after tonight. I hope you’ll always remember that I loved you like daughters.”

“We’ll see you soon,” Sabrina reminded him. “As soon as Dad’s crew and the CIA catch Adonis.”

“Right.” His red-rimmed gaze faltered, but he recovered and agreed more heartily, “Shouldn’t take them too long. Then you’ll come to live with me in Monterey.”

“And we’ll work for Perimeter, just like Dad promised we could,” Michelle said. Then her hands flew to her face and she began to cry again. “He can’t be gone. He was just here.”

Sabrina and Theo hurried to her, murmuring words of comfort mixed with gentle reminders that they had to get moving. Quickly. Before Adonis Zenner had a chance to kill another Sullivan.

Chapter 1

Five years later

“Can I help you, miss?”

Sabrina hesitated, knowing that the next words she uttered would change the course of her life. But she had carefully weighed every alternative before making this decision and, absent new information, wasn’t about to second-guess herself.

Her father had trained her better than that.

Smiling at the young man guarding the entrance to Theo Howell’s Monterey estate, she announced, “I’m Briana York. A friend of Mr. Howell’s. I don’t have an appointment, but I can guarantee you he’ll want to see me.”

“I’m sure he will,” the guard said, returning the smile as he scanned her bare legs. She had dressed in shorts and a tank top for the long, hot drive, not really caring how she looked.

Well at least he can see you’re not armed, she told herself ruefully.

“Just give me a second, Miss York.” Stepping back into his booth, the guard punched a button and an intercom began sputtering static.

Then a female voice from Sabrina’s childhood demanded, “Fred? Is the repairman here?”

“It’s someone to see Theo. Her name’s Briana York. She doesn’t have an appointment.”

“Briana York?”

Until now Sabrina had been so focused on the danger in visiting Theo’s house after all these years, she had failed to anticipate how wonderful it would be to see the place—and its inhabitants—again. Thoroughly charmed, and no longer hesitant about revealing herself, she waved her hand to catch the guard’s attention. “Is that Marietta? The cook? Tell her it’s Sabrina Sullivan. She’ll know who I am.”

“Sullivan?” The guard’s eyes widened. “As in Sully Sullivan?”

“Just tell her.”

The guard nodded, then cleared his throat. “Marietta, the guest says her name is Sabrina Sullivan.”

A delighted squeal emanated from the intercom, then the cook instructed Fred to admit the guest right away.

“Go on up to the house, Miss Sullivan. Stay to the right—”

“I’ve been here before. Thanks.” Sabrina edged her car up to the gate and sped through as soon as it had opened.

He didn’t even ask you for identification, she told herself in amused disbelief. If Dad were here, he’d give that poor guy such a lecture!

It didn’t bode well for the state of affairs at Perimeter Security Incorporated, she decided. Apparently discipline had fallen apart after her father’s death. Hopefully they still knew how to run a background check, which was all she needed from them.

And security aside, she was relieved to see that the estate was as stunning as she remembered it, with the sound of waves crashing in the distance while the wind whistled through the twisted limbs of hauntingly beautiful Monterey cypresses.

The house that Perimeter built, she reminded herself, proud that her father had been part of Theo Howell’s phenomenal success. The story was a classic. Howell had come from modest wealth, eventually inheriting the family business—a burglar alarm company. In a stroke of brilliance, he had invested every dime—including a few borrowed ones—and had transformed the company into a full-scale security provider called Perimeter, utilizing sophisticated computers, state-of-the-art monitoring and highly trained bodyguards. Almost immediately, Perimeter gained global prominence, and in the years that followed, became the preeminent provider of security to corporations, dignitaries, movie stars and other assorted clients.

But not without some growing pains. Despite all the successes, Theo Howell and Perimeter had had three pivotal failures. The first—a bomb smuggled into a peace summit—had been a mixed blessing, leading Howell to recruit the brash young CIA agent who had disarmed the device just seconds before the timer reached zero. That agent, Sully Sullivan, thereafter revamped the company’s procedures, trained its staff and basically took it to even higher heights.

Perimeter’s second disaster, more than twenty years later, had resulted in the assassination of a client in the Canary Islands. Desperate to salvage the company’s reputation, Sully had rejoined forces with the CIA to bring the assassin—Pluto Zenner—to justice. Pluto had been killed resisting arrest, leading to the third and most tragic failure of all—the revenge taken by Pluto’s son, Adonis, against Sully.

For Sabrina, that was where the Perimeter story ended. She had no idea what had happened over the past five years. All she knew for sure was that Adonis Zenner had never been apprehended or punished for her father’s murder.

Coupled with the lax behavior of the guard at the gate, Adonis’s continued existence didn’t speak well for the caliber of Perimeter’s current staff, she decided grimly. But it was too late to turn back. Sabrina still believed she’d made the right choice in coming here, so she parked her red convertible alongside a black one at the curb of the circular driveway in front of the Howell mansion. Then she took the steps two at a time, reaching the front door just as Marietta opened it wide.

“Miss Sabrina!” The servant gave her a hearty hug. “I thought we’d never see you again.”

Sabrina returned the embrace. “It’s so great to see you. Are you in charge of the place these days?”

The dark-haired woman shook her head. “It’s just me and my husband now. Money’s tight for Mr. Howell. But we’re really all he needs. Sebastian does the gardening and driving. And I still do all the cooking, so don’t worry. I’ll put some meat on those skinny bones of yours in no time.” She studied the guest fondly, then asked, “Is it okay to call you Sabrina?”

“Absolutely.”

“What about Miss Michelle? Is she coming, too?”

“She’s on vacation.” Sabrina sighed. “We can visit in a little while, but for now, I’d better go see Uncle Theo. Was he shocked to hear I was back?”

“I didn’t tell him.” Marietta gave her a wide smile. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face.”

Sabrina laughed. “Let’s hope he’s not annoyed. You and that guard really shouldn’t have let me come up without permission.”

“He’ll be too happy to complain. Come on.” The cook headed down the hall toward Theo’s study.

Sabrina surveyed the entrance hall with wistful thoroughness. Nothing had changed. The same sweeping brass and oak staircase, oak flooring and vibrant red carpets. No furniture except for a brass table holding a vase filled with red roses.

She smiled, remembering how many times her sister Shelby—or Michelle, as she’d been called in those days—had knocked that table over as she’d raced down the stairs and around the corner toward the kitchen. They had spent hundreds of hours visiting and playing in this gorgeous home. Then suddenly it had become off limits, a part of a past that could never be revisited.

Until now.

“Miss Sabrina,” Marietta said, hissing slightly and motioning for her coconspirator to join her at the closed double doors at the end of the hall.

When Sabrina had complied, the cook opened one door and poked her head into the study. “Sorry to interrupt, but there’s someone here who needs to speak to you, Mr. Theo.” Without waiting for a response, she stepped aside and swept her hand back in Sabrina’s direction. “A ghost from the past. And more beautiful than ever. Come give your niece a hug.”

Sabrina stepped into the room and had to smile at the stupefied look on Theo Howell’s face. Striding over to him, she opened her arms, murmuring, “Hi, Uncle Theo. Long time no see.”

“My God,” he whispered, yanking her into a bear hug. “Sabrina! After all these years. Is something wrong?”

“No. Not really.” She stepped back and gave an apologetic smile, noting that he was a little grayer around the temples than she remembered—and ten or fifteen pounds heavier. And he had switched from tortoiseshell eyeglass frames to wire rims. But otherwise, he hadn’t changed a bit. “I was probably crazy to come here, but Shelby and I met a guy recently, and I want to run a background check on him, just to be on the safe side. Since I don’t have the kind of connections Perimeter has, I decided to come here for help.”

“A background check?” came an accusatory growl from the shadows. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Sabrina turned toward the unfamiliar voice. “Pardon?”

The speaker—a dark-haired man in his early thirties—shook his head in apparent disgust. “For five full years we don’t hear a word. Then you just show up? Asking us to run an errand for you? After you practically drove the company into the ground?”

“Zack,” Theo murmured. “Don’t.”

“No. Let him talk,” Sabrina countered, her gaze fixed on the stranger. “How did I hurt Perimeter?”

The young man glared. “You left us with no money. No manpower. No soul. We couldn’t contact you, even when we really needed to. But you can waltz in whenever you please, asking to use our connections? Like we’re your goddamned errand boys?”

Sabrina turned back to Theo and demanded, “Who is this clown?”

Theo gave a nervous chuckle. “Sabrina Sullivan, meet Zack Lansing. Zack took your father’s place at Perimeter.”

“What?” She took a step back, physically repulsed by the suggestion that this unpleasant upstart could ever take Sully Sullivan’s place. It was ridiculous. Her father had been the world’s most positive, inspiring man. This guy was like a dark cloud!

And it wasn’t just the attitude. It was everything. Her father had been a big man—six and a half feet tall—with shoulders a mile wide. This lean young man was barely six feet in height, with scruffy black hair and a five o’clock shadow—in the middle of the afternoon.

And the biggest indictment of all—the truest contrast with Sabrina’s father—was that fact that it had only taken Sully eleven months to track and apprehend Pluto Zenner, arguably the most brilliant assassin ever inflicted upon the world.

Now under this new “leadership,” Perimeter had had five full years to catch Pluto’s son Adonis—by all accounts a less talented man than the elder Zenner. But Adonis was still free. Sabrina knew that for sure, because she had combed the newspaper every morning for those five years, hungry for some mention of the assassin’s arrest or death. And she had checked the FBI’s Web site daily, too, anxious for the day she and her sister could be Sullivans again. The day they could regain their old lives. The day Sabrina could stop hiding and start living, hopefully as an agent of the CIA—her dream since the first moment she’d learned the agency existed.

“Sabrina?” Theo said softly.

“This silence is her way of saying I’m not worthy,” Zack muttered. “Right?”

Sabrina shrugged. “I don’t know you. But so far, I’m unimpressed. Would you mind waiting outside so I can speak to my uncle in private?”

“I’m the errand boy who’ll be running the background check for you, so I need to hear the details. But if this is about some guy who said he’d call you after the first date, then never did, I can probably explain it to you. He ran screaming for the hills.”

“Zack!” Theo glared. “Sabrina’s right. You should wait outside.”

“No,” she murmured, holding up her hand to stop him. “He’s got a point. If he’s the best Perimeter’s got—and that’s a scary thought by the way—he needs to hear this.”

Zack walked over to Theo’s desk and sat on the edge. “Okay, let’s have it.”

Sabrina studied him, again trying to figure out what had impressed her uncle enough to give this guy her father’s job. Zack was dressed in faded jeans and a navy-blue polo shirt, barely disguising a good, lean build. His forearms in particular were pure muscle, all of which would make him a good bodyguard, she conceded. But head of Perimeter operations? No way.

It was discouraging, but she reminded herself all she really needed was background information, not “Sully level” skills. So she gave him a perfunctory smile and said, “The guy’s name is Johnny Miller. He’s an attorney. Supposedly with a tax firm. He’s been dating Shelby, aka Michelle, for a couple of weeks. They took off on a trip and I haven’t heard from her in almost four days. We’ve never been out of contact for that long.”

“She didn’t say where they were going?”

“Some sort of tropical island. He wanted to surprise her.” Sabrina bit her lip. “It all happened pretty quickly. And it seemed innocent. It probably is. I hope I’m overreacting, but, like I said, we keep in touch. Always. No exceptions. Four days for us is like a lifetime.”

Theo cleared his throat. “It sounds like she’s in love.”

“Head over heels,” Sabrina confirmed. “But even so, she’d keep in touch. She even told me she would. Listen.” Rummaging in her purse, she pulled out a recorder disguised as a pen. “She left two messages on my answering machine. I rerecorded them on this.”

“Wait!” Theo arched an eyebrow. “That’s Perimeter-issue. Where’d you get it?”

“It was a gift from my father.”

“You weren’t supposed to take anything with you to RAP that night. Clean slate, remember?”

“Dad trained me better than that,” she said with a shrug. “I took the things I needed to protect Shell. We couldn’t know for sure whether Adonis Zenner would come after us next. I had to be ready.”

Theo was clearly struggling not to smile. “I escorted you personally. All you had were the clothes on your back.”

“And the kitten,” she reminded him, biting back a smile of her own. “The pet carrier had a false bottom. Big enough to hide a few tools. And my gun, of course.”

“Are you armed now?” Zack interrupted, eyeing her purse.

“None of your business.”

“Actually, protecting me is part of Zack’s business,” Theo told her gently. “I don’t allow guests to carry weapons in my home.”

“It’s outside. In the trunk of my car. Frisk me if you don’t believe me,” she added in Zack’s direction.

“That’s not necessary.” Theo stepped between his two visitors. “You were going to play a recording for us, weren’t you?”

“Right. There are two messages, both from Shell.”

Sabrina pushed the switch, and Shelby’s recorded voice said, “Hey, Brie. Pick up if you’re there. I was hoping we’d get to say goodbye. Johnny’s whisking me away for a week of lust on some top-secret tropical island. We’ll be incommunicado, but I’ll call you as soon as I get home. Take care. We love you!”

The first call disconnected, then a second message began.

“Breezie?” Shelby’s voice was hushed. “I’ve only got a sec. Johnny was in the room before, and he’s really hot on this incommunicado thing, so I’ve been pretending to go along. But obviously I’m going to call you. And I’ll have my cell with me, so leave me messages, okay? I know I’ll miss you. Plus, I’ve been getting a funny feeling lately—like in the Dad days. I’ll be worried if I don’t hear from you. Watch your back, okay?

“But don’t worry about me,” Shelby’s voice continued, “because I’ll be with Johnny, so I’ll be safe. And happy. Sooo happy. Can you believe how great he is? And before you roll your eyes, I’m not just talking about the sex. He’s so different from other guys. Doesn’t just go to sleep when he’s done, you know? We stay up for hours afterward, talking about everything under the sun. It’s so—oops, I hear him coming. Gotta go. Love ya!”

Sabrina switched off the recorder, trying to keep a cool head. But the sound of Shelby’s sweet, trusting voice had brought a lump to the older sister’s throat again, just as it had every time she’d listened to the messages.

“How long ago did you say she left?” Zack prodded.

“It was Saturday morning.”

Something flickered in his green eyes and she knew that even a jerk like Zack Lansing thought four days without a call was too long.

But she wanted him to be wrong, so she insisted, “Shelby doesn’t have her cell phone with her. I know that because yesterday I finally began to panic, so I went to her house. Her phone was lying right on the kitchen table. The innocent explanation is that Johnny took it out of her purse when she wasn’t looking. Because he wanted her all to himself. She didn’t realize it was missing until they were already in the middle of nowhere and now she can’t call even if she wants to. Or something. But…”

“Take it easy,” Zack advised. “We’ll check the guy out. We’ve probably got information on him already.”

“Really?”

“Sure. We don’t stalk you or anything, but we’ve always kept tabs.” Turning to Theo, he asked, “Where’s last week’s report?”

“We don’t get weekly reports on the girls anymore,” Theo told him with a wince. “Just monthly ones. The next one isn’t due for a few days.”

“Monthly? I never authorized that.”

“I know,” Theo replied. “I did.”

Zack’s eyes flashed and Sabrina thought he was going to lose his temper again. Then he shifted direction, literally and figuratively, and pushed a series of buttons on the phone on Theo’s desk.

After three rings, a recorded voice said over the speaker, “You’ve reached Connor Boyle’s message service. Leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you.”

“Connor, it’s Zack. Where the hell are you? I’m at Theo’s and we need to talk right away. Call back on his home number, and make it quick.”

Breaking the connection with a flourish, Zack gave Theo a scowl. “That guy never answers his phone. What the hell are we paying him for?” Without waiting for a response, he asked Sabrina, “Where did Shelby meet this Miller guy?”

“At my house.”

“Huh?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a nice story, actually. Like she said in her message, he’s a sweet guy. And he’s probably harmless. But I had to know for sure. So I came here.”

Theo gave her an encouraging smile. “We’re glad you did. Aren’t we, Zack?”

“Yeah. Thrilled. Let’s hear the sweet story.”

Sabrina settled into a gray-velvet wing chair. “A few weeks ago, my cat disappeared. He does that a lot, so I didn’t take it too seriously. But after a week passed with no sign of him, I started posting notices around the neighborhood. The next day, Johnny came to my door with Zorro. That’s the cat’s name. Anyway, he had a cast on his leg. Zorro, not Johnny,” she clarified sheepishly. “Johnny explained that he had found him a week earlier, lying by the side of the road, hurt. So he took him to the vet.”

“Miller lives in your neighborhood?”

“No. He was just visiting his sister in Sacramento. He’s from Seattle. Apparently he was out jogging when he found Zorro. Anyway, I was grateful to him. Obviously.”

“Obviously,” Zack drawled. “Go on.”

Sabrina wasn’t sure what he was implying, but she was sure she didn’t like it. Turning away from him, she addressed her uncle. “I invited him in. He stayed for dinner and we had a lot of fun. He seemed like such a nice guy.”

“He probably is,” Theo told her. “Your father raised you to be a good judge of character.”

She smiled in genuine relief. “Thanks, Uncle Theo. I hope you’re right. Even now, looking back, I can’t imagine a nicer guy than Johnny. We had so much in common. We talked and talked, long into the night. I was coming down with the flu as it turned out. Otherwise—” She flushed but admitted, “Who knows what might have happened? But as it turns out, I was too sick to be even remotely attractive. So we just talked. About a million different things. Then the next day, when Shelby heard how sick I was, she came over to take care of me. Johnny came back to check on me, and they hit it off. Like an inferno.”

Sabrina stared down at her hands, suddenly embarrassed. “Just listening to myself, I can imagine how I sound. Jealous, right? But I’m not. I guess I’m just overprotective. The truth is, she found someone. Someone terrific. And he wants to spend some time alone with her. Sounds like a victimless crime, right?”

“I have a question for you,” Zack said.

She looked up, surprised. “Sure. Ask me anything.”

“What specifically did you and Miller talk about?”

“Hmm?”

“You said you talked long into the night. About what?”

“Well, about everything. All kinds of things.”

“Everything under the sun?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

“What?”

He reached over and took the recorder from her hand, then worked the controls until he had rewound the tape a bit. Then he played back the part that said, “…doesn’t just go to sleep when he’s done, you know? We stay up for hours after, talking about everything under the sun….”

Sabrina licked her lips, confused.

“Give me a topic. Something you two talked about. Current events? Your favorite movies? Capital punishment? Smoking in bars?”

She struggled with her memory. Or rather, the lack of it. And despite all the training she had received from her father, she began to slowly, quietly, panic. “I don’t remember. Uncle Theo? What does it mean? I don’t remember!”

“Settle down,” Zack murmured. “It might not mean anything. Just take a deep breath.”

For the first time, and only in the slightest of ways, he reminded her of her father, and she responded by breathing deeply, in and out, until her nerves had steadied. Then she forced herself to look straight into his green eyes. “What does it mean?”

Zack cleared his throat. “Did your father ever talk to you about DT3?”

The panic bubbled back up her spinal cord and into her brain. Not because she had heard of DT3—she hadn’t. But it sounded so ominous. “It doesn’t ring a bell. What is it?”

“A drug. An experimental one that was being developed here at Perimeter—Damn it.” He turned toward the phone, which had begun to ring. “Give me a minute.”

Punching the speaker button, he demanded, “Who is it?”

“Zack? Hey, man. It’s me. Connor. Did you want something?”

“Where the hell were you? Don’t you work for a living?”

“Lighten up,” Connor advised with a laugh. “I’m here now. What’s up?”

Zack glanced toward Sabrina, then murmured, “I need some information about one of Sully’s daughters.”

“Which one? The warrior? Or the con artist?”

Zack winced. “The younger one. Shelby. I heard she’s got a new boyfriend.”

“She gets a new boyfriend every week,” Connor told him, laughing again. “She’s got a big heart, if you know what I mean.”

“I’m on the speaker phone. The other daughter’s here with me.”

“Shit.” Connor cleared his throat audibly. “Sorry, Miss Sullivan.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him. “I just need to know where my sister is.”

“Huh?”

Zack took over, suggesting tersely, “Tell us about the new boyfriend.”

“I haven’t read the report yet. It’s not due until Friday,” Connor explained. “I’ve had my most reliable guy checking her place a couple of times a week. He mentioned the new boyfriend. Said he looked pretty solid. Hold on. Let me grab the file and see if we’ve got a photo. It’s here somewhere and—oh, shit.”

Zack leaned toward the machine. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re not gonna believe this, Zack. It’s John Derringer! I’m looking right at him. A picture of him, I mean. Shit, shit, shit. I can’t believe it. What does he want with Sully’s kid?”

“Shut up,” Zack instructed. “Just fax me what you have and stop causing a panic.”

“I’ll go over to her house right away.”

“It’s too late for that now. Just fax me what you have and stand by for further instructions.”

“I’m sorry, Zack—”

“Just answer the goddamned phone when I call back.”

“Right. Jeez, what could Derringer want with—”

The rest of the sentence was cut off and Sabrina knew Zack had terminated the call. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Theo, and both men seemed stunned.

She wanted to ask who John Derringer was, but it didn’t seem to matter. All that mattered were those three little words. It’s too late…

“Oh, God,” she whispered, her heart and soul flashing back to the moment, five long years ago, when she’d heard about her father’s death at the hands of Adonis Zenner. “This can’t be happening. Not again.”

“Don’t worry,” Zack told her. “We’ll get her back.”

“You just said it’s too late!”

“That’s not what I meant.” He flushed. “It’s too late for Connor to go and protect her. That’s all. And I don’t want him messing up the scene. I’ll have my crew meet me there later, to look for clues.”

When Sabrina exhaled sharply, he added, “She’s fine. 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 doesn’t hurt people, Brie. Panic does. It’s an agent’s worst enemy. Learn to control it.

“Okay,” she said finally. “DT3. You said it’s got something to do with hypnosis, right?”

“It’s got everything to do with hypnosis,” Zack confirmed. “You’ve probably heard that a person can’t be hypnotized without their consent, right? And that you can’t make them do anything under hypnosis that goes against their grain? Well, DT3 changes all that.”

He pulled a chair over and sat directly in front of Sabrina. “It’s what they call a hypnotropic drug. It gives the hypnotist tremendous power. With it, he can put the subject into such a deep trance, even without their consent, that they’re virtually his slave. He can extract information from their memory or he can conceal it there. He can password-protect it so that he’s the only one who can ever retrieve it. He can plant powerful post-trance suggestions, like the one Derringer gave you.” Leaning closer, he muttered, “It’s a goddamned menace.”

“I can’t believe I’ve never heard of it.”

“Perimeter developed it. But after a few tests, your father and Theo were so alarmed by its potential, they abandoned the project.”

“But Derringer has it?”

Zack nodded. “We were both trained to use it. But the formula stayed with Sully. I guess John took a supply with him when he left. We’re probably lucky he hasn’t sold it to some foreign agency by now.”

Sabrina looked over toward Theo. “You think he’s planting ugly suggestions in her mind? Making her do creepy things?”

“That’s unlikely,” Zack protested. “My guess is he wants information. Something he thinks you girls learned during all those years with Sully. Maybe even some secret information Sully hid in your minds—”

“My father would never hide things in our minds!”

Zack flushed. “Take it easy. I’m just brainstorming here. If you can’t take it, you should go lie down or something.” He stood and turned to Theo, as though dismissing Sabrina. “Can you get Marietta to make copies of all Connor’s faxes for me? And all the reports from his crew for the last three months. Derringer probably surveilled the girls for weeks before he made his move. Maybe there’s something in the early reports we can use.”

“Wait!” Sabrina jumped up and confronted him. “Let me help.”

“You can help by staying out of the way. We do this for a living, you know. Go upstairs and rest for a while. If there’s anything to report, you’ll be the first to know.”

Sabrina wanted to reach down his arrogant throat and pull out his tonsils, but counseled herself to stay calm. He saw her as a civilian. Fine. She could use that to her advantage. Wasn’t that what her father would want her to do?

“I am a little beat,” she said with an apologetic smile. “Give me a few minutes to splash some water on my face, okay? But after that, I really want to help.” Heading for the double doors, she added over her shoulder, “I’ll be back in five minutes. Don’t make any decisions until I get back, okay?”

“Right,” Zack drawled.

Theo corrected him with a warm, loving, “Take your time. We’re just going to look at the files. And, Sabrina?”

“Yes?”

“You made the right decision, coming here. We’re going to get little Shellie back. I promise you that.”

Sabrina beamed, then turned and strolled into the hall as though completely reassured. But as soon as she was out of their field of vision, she sprinted toward the grand staircase, then took the steps two at a time, anxious to get to the music room that was located directly above Theo’s study.

She only hoped things hadn’t changed since the day, almost twenty years earlier, when two little girls—who were tired of being sent out of “Uncle Theo’s” study every time he and their father had something important to discuss—had transformed the music room into their own personal, clandestine listening post.

Chapter 2

Hurrying past the baby grand piano that dominated the music room, Sabrina opened a set of louvered closet doors on the far wall. A brass chest filled with sheet music was sitting right in front of her, just as it had been during her childhood. Inching the chest aside, she knelt and ran her fingertip along the rim of a large black knot in the oak flooring. Years of wax had sealed the knot firmly into place, but she was able to loosen it with the blade from her pocketknife.

Prying the lump of wood free, she pressed her ear against the floor and heard voices, courtesy of the tiny tunnels she and her sister had poked through the various layers of insulation and Sheetrock that separated the music room floor from the ceiling of the study.

Zack’s tone was predictably strident. “I get the point, boss. I was rude. I’ll apologize to her as soon as I get the chance. But in the meantime, I need to start looking for the other one. Assuming the lecture is officially over.”

“As long as we’re clear,” Theo replied. “I want you to treat her with kid gloves from now on.”

“Done. But spare me the concerned-uncle act. You aren’t worried about Sully’s kid. You’re just worried she’ll share secrets with Derringer that might hurt the company—”

“That’s not true! I love those girls. Their father was my best friend. And they—all three of them—were the only family I ever really had.”

“Sully was family to me, too,” Zack reminded him.

“Like a father,” Theo agreed. “And Derringer was like a brother, right up till the time he betrayed your trust. If anyone’s motives here are suspect, I’d say yours are.”

There was a moment of silence, then Theo spoke again, this time in a conciliatory tone. “I have complete confidence in your ability to find Michelle, Zack. How do you plan to go about it?”

“My crew can check the airports, et cetera. See if there are any reservations in her name or activity on her passport. I’ll head up to Sac tonight to check out her place. Maybe I can find something to show where they headed.”

“Sounds good.”

“Before I go, I want to hypnotize Sabrina—”

“That’s out of the question.”

“Huh? Why? It’s our best source of information. If she can remember what John was trying to dig out of her memory—”

“That girl is already miserable. I’m not going to let you go on a fishing expedition in her brain. That’s final.”

“If she agrees—”

“I said it’s final,” Theo retorted. “Find Michelle some other way. Not at the expense of Breezie’s sanity. Period.”

Sabrina could easily imagine the angry expression on Zack’s face at that moment. And while she was grateful to her uncle for trying to protect her, she agreed that her memory was the best clue available to them. Zack had to use it.

But Zack was obviously a zealot—and a hothead—so she was also glad Theo would be there during the hypnosis to protect her from his employee’s excesses.

When the zealot finally spoke, his words were clipped and measured. “When this is over, you and I are gonna have a long talk. Either I’m running Perimeter or I’m not.”

“You’re running it. But it’s my company. And I want Sabrina treated with kid gloves. Marietta can feed her and pamper her and I’ll reminisce with her about Sully.”

“You should show her the funeral video,” Zack murmured. “I always thought it was a shame his kids missed that eulogy you gave him.” Clearing his throat, he added more briskly, “We can postpone the London job for a few weeks, right? I need my full crew here if I’m going to find Michelle before Derringer’s done with her.”

“Of course. I’ll make sure the client understands,” Theo promised. “That leaves the birthday party in Dallas on Friday night, which can not be postponed. You know as well as I do that that particular client will never understand.”

“We’ll find the little sister before then. Or I’ll send Connor to Dallas—”

“No way,” Theo interrupted. “Our reputation stands or falls with our ability to please King Dominik. I need you there. That’s not negotiable.”

“It’s not an issue,” Zack said, his tone sharp with exasperation. “Just keep Sabrina out of my hair. I get the feeling she wants to play with the big boys, and ordinarily, it would be fun to watch her try. But I don’t have time for games.”

“She’s not exactly a civilian,” Theo reminded him. “Sully started training her before she could walk. I’ll never forget some of the crazy exercises he put her through.”

“Kid stuff. She never went out on a job, did she? And she’s been a million miles away from Sully’s world—teaching school kids how to tie their shoes—for the last five years.”

“She’s no ordinary schoolteacher. Read the reports. She never misses a Saturday at the pistol range. And she runs three miles every morning.”

“She’s in great shape,” Zack admitted. “The legs alone are gold standard. But this job’s too dangerous for an amateur. Aren’t you the one who said she needs to be pampered?”

“Sabrina will stay here,” Theo agreed. “You’ll take the lead on finding Michelle. But if you haven’t succeeded by Friday, we turn the assignment over to Connor so you can go to Dallas. No arguments.”

Zack’s laugh was gently mocking. “So much for the concerned-uncle routine.”

“Forgive me if I don’t want to see the company go down the tubes again, like it did when Sully died.”

“You mean, like it did when the daughters ran off with half the money and all of the cachet?” Zack chuckled again. “You’re a hypocrite, Theo. Making it seem like I’m the bad guy, when you resent them as much as I do. Probably more.”

“This conversation is over. Just review the faxes until Breezie gets back. Where is she, anyway?”

Grimacing, Sabrina plugged the knot back into its hole, then jumped to her feet and slid the brass chest into place, taking care not to make any noise. After making a quick stop in the bathroom, she rejoined the men in the study.

“There’s my girl! Feeling any better?”

“I’m fine, thanks. Are those the faxes?” She shuffled through a handful of grainy images, mostly of Johnny arriving at or departing from Shelby’s house, day in and day out for almost two weeks straight. “Unbelievable.”

“Tell me about it,” Zack drawled. “This guy comes and goes at will, and Connor’s crew just sits there and takes pictures.”

“It’s no one’s fault,” Theo interrupted. “Let’s just deal with the situation as it stands now, shall we?”

“Speaking of which, I was thinking…” Sabrina pursed her lips, feigning casual inspiration. “Maybe you should try to hypnotize me.”

Zack’s green eyes widened with surprise. Then he turned to Theo. “Interesting idea, don’t you think?”

Theo scowled. “Hypnosis is serious business, Breezie. You’re too upset right now to be a proper candidate. Maybe later—”

“I insist, Uncle Theo. It’s the quickest way to find out what Johnny wants from us. Once we know that, we’ll be in a better position to guess where he took Shelby.” When Theo hesitated, she repeated firmly, “I insist. If you refuse, I’ll pay a psychologist to do it.”

“It’s settled then.” Zack’s smile was triumphant. “We’ll go easy on you, I promise. Just a quick in and out. Two, three questions tops.”

Sabrina shook her head. “Take your time. Like I said, this is our best resource, so don’t be afraid to use it.”

Theo seemed unconvinced. “We don’t need to do it right away, do we? I want you to relax and eat some lunch first.”

Sabrina laughed. “What’s the point? I’ll just vomit it up. Remember?”

“Whoa!” Zack shook his head. “We aren’t using DT3 on you. Just conventional hypnosis.”

“But—”

“Do you have to argue about everything?” he asked, adding more reasonably, “DT3 is designed for an unwilling subject. You’re submitting to the process willingly, so we don’t need it.”

“But—”

“Zack’s right, Sabrina,” Theo interrupted. “We don’t need it. And given the intensity of your allergic reaction last time, another dose could send you into shock.”

She grimaced. “Really?”

“It’s settled,” Zack said, pulling out his cell phone. “You two have some lunch—and a nice visit—while I make some calls. I want to check for activity at the airports, particularly on Shelby’s passport.”

Sabrina remembered the men’s conversation about the videotape of her father’s funeral. She really wanted to hear that eulogy Zack had raved about, so she decided to jog her uncle’s memory. “Do you have any pictures of Dad? I’d love to reminisce a little.”

“Of course!” Theo exclaimed. “And I want to show you the funeral video, too. I’m glad you reminded me.”

Zack’s attention instantly refocused on Sabrina, his eyes narrowing, and she knew she had made a strategic mistake.

Then his gaze shifted—from her face up toward the ceiling, then back again—and she knew he was on to her. Confirming the suspicion, he spun around and stalked out of the study.

“What set him off?” Theo demanded.

Sabrina gave an innocent shrug. “He’s a hothead, remember?”

“I’m sorry he talked to you the way he did, Breezie. In his defense, he was a die-hard fan of your father’s.”

“You said Dad recruited him? And also Johnny?”

“Yes. Connor, too, actually. They were all friends at one time. The future of Perimeter, according to Sully. Strange, isn’t it?”

Sabrina nodded, but her attention was focused on the room above her head. There was no noise. No sound of a brass trunk being pushed aside. Maybe Zack hadn’t figured it out after all.

Then he strode back into the room, as quickly as he had left, and tossed the knot of oak into her hands. “Here’s a souvenir. Sebastian’s getting his saw as we speak, so your eavesdropping days are over.”

Sabrina struggled not to smile as Theo asked his employee, “What are you talking about?”

“Believe me, boss, you’d rather not know.” Zack arched a teasing eyebrow in Sabrina’s direction. “How old were you when it started?”

“Seven. But Shell was only five. She’s the one who did the drilling.”

He laughed. “Derringer better watch his step.”

“Believe it.”

Theo glared at them. “Did I miss something?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Sabrina patted his arm. “Meanwhile, I’m anxious to get started on the hypnosis. Do you mind if we do it before lunch?”

“Works for me,” Zack agreed. “The sooner I hit the road, the sooner I can search your sister’s place and pick up Derringer’s trail.”

“I’m coming with you,” Sabrina told him.

“No way. You’re safest here.”

“I don’t want to be safe. I want to find my sister. I can do it with you. Or I can do it alone.”

“If Derringer can’t get what he wants from Michelle, he’ll come after you. You’re safest here.”

“With your crackerjack security? Give me a break.” She shook her head. “There’s nothing in Sacramento anyway. I searched Shell’s house from top to bottom. If we’re going to find a clue, it’s through Derringer.” She turned to Theo. “I need to see everything you have on him. He worked for Perimeter, right? That means there are employment files. Background checks. References. Every shred of information.” To Zack she added cheerfully, “I bet I find him before you do.”

“You already had him, remember? Standing right in your living room.”

“Because your staff let him walk right up to my front porch.”

“But you let him in. What happened to your so-called training? You fell for the oldest trick in the book—a lost cat. So lose the attitude, would you? We’re just trying to help.”

Sabrina turned away, stung by the truth. It was the oldest trick in the book.

Johnny had stood there on the porch, with that radiant smile and hunky broad shoulders, and all her training had flown out the window. That was the part she hadn’t shared with Theo and Zack, although Zack had clearly picked up on it. She had been instantly attracted to Johnny, for reasons that had nothing to do with Zorro’s leg. Her lonely body had reacted to the handsome stranger like a child reacts to Christmas.

“Hey.” Zack came up behind her. “I was out of line. Again. Sorry.”

“You were right,” she countered, turning to grace him with a cool smile. “I thought he was the world’s greatest guy. Apparently you did, too. Best friends—almost like brothers, right? Dad liked him enough to hire him. Uncle Theo trusted him enough to send him to the Canary Islands to guard our most valuable client.

“We were all conned by him,” she finished with a flourish. “So let’s just move on. Hypnotize me now and get it over with. Then you can hit the road.”

“Maybe you should just leave now, Zack.” Theo gave his employee a withering look as he patted Sabrina’s arm. “I can hypnotize Sabrina myself. If we learn anything of value, we’ll call you.”

Zack spoke between clenched jaw muscles. “I have the most training. And we both know you’ll go too easy on her. What’s the point?”

Theo shrugged. “To be successful, she has to be relaxed. And she has to trust the hypnotist. I don’t see that happening with you here.”

“I want Zack to do it, Uncle Theo.” Sabrina touched her host’s cheek to soften the interruption. “He’s right. You would be too careful. We have to be thorough, for Shell’s sake.”

Theo shrugged again. “I want to okay the list of questions then—”

“No way,” Zack said with a growl.

“I agree,” Sabrina murmured. “He needs to follow his instincts. That’s what Dad would say if he were here, right?” Turning to Zack, she insisted cheerfully, “Let’s do it.”

“One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven…ninety-two… three…” Sabrina yawned, losing interest in the numbers as she succumbed to an uncharacteristic feeling of peace and tranquility.

“Sabrina Sullivan?”

“Yes?”

“How do you feel?”

“I feel good.”

“Good.” Zack cleared his throat. “I’m going to ask you a few questions. Just do your best, okay?”

“Okay.”

“If you start feeling uncomfortable—for any reason—just let me know and I’ll wake you up. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Now tell me about John Derringer.”

“Johnny?”

“Right.”

She sighed. “I liked him. A lot. Now I hate him.”

“He has that effect on everyone,” Zack assured her. “Do you remember talking to Johnny the way you’re talking to me now? In this kind of a mood? Calm like this?”

“I don’t know.” She squirmed in her chair. “I don’t remember.”

“Johnny gave you some instructions. Do you remember that?”

“I don’t know.”

“He told you to forget about your little chat with him. And you forgot it, just like he told you to do. That was good, Sabrina. But now I want you to try and remember what he said. Just a few words. Can you do that for me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t remember any words.”

“Okay, shh. It’s fine. Let’s talk about your sister for a few minutes instead. Is that okay?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want me to call her Michelle? Or Shelby?”

“Her name is Shelby now.”

“Okay, that’s fine. When Shelby talked to you about Johnny, did she mention what they talked about?”

“Everything.”

“Right. Everything. But did she mention anything specifically? Do you think he asked about your father?”

“Dad?”

“Right. Did Johnny talk to Shelby about him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Johnny ever ask you about him?”

“I don’t remember! I don’t want to talk about Johnny.”

“That’s fine. We won’t talk about him anymore. Let’s talk about your father instead. Would you like that?”

“Yes.”

“Did he ever talk to you the way I’m talking to you now?”

Sabrina nodded. “Yes.”

“Okay, good. Do you remember what he talked to you about?”

“We talked about Shell,” Sabrina murmured.

“What did he say about your sister?”

“He told me to protect her, because I’m the oldest. It’s my mission,” she added proudly.

Zack laughed. “How old are you right now?”

“I’m nine.”

“Did your father tell you anything else? Maybe when you were older? Did he share secrets with you when he talked to you this way?”

“No. He just told me to protect Shell. But I didn’t,” she admitted unhappily. “I let a bad man take her away.”

“Sabrina, listen to me. I don’t want you to think about that right now. Do you understand? I want you to think about Theo Howell.”

She felt the sense of calm return. “Uncle Theo?”

“Right. How do you feel about him?”

“I love him.”

“Do you have any other feelings? Feelings you can’t explain? Any desire to hurt him that confuses you?”

“Hurt him?” She shook her head. “No. Never.”

“And what about Perimeter? Do you want to destroy it?”

“No.”

“Do you want to hurt anyone?”

“Yes.”

“Who do you want to hurt?”

“I want to hurt Adonis Zenner. I want to kill him.”

“Okay, shh. That’s fine. What about Johnny? Do you want to kill him?”

“I don’t know.”

“You told me you hate him. But you don’t want to hurt him?”

“I want to find him,” she explained carefully. “And I want to pay him back for taking my sister. But I don’t want to kill him unless he makes me do it.”

“Okay, I understand,” Zack said, his tone soothing. “You hate him and you want to find him.”

“Yes.”

“Do you trust him?”

“I don’t trust anyone but myself. And Shelby.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“No.”

“You let me hypnotize you. That means you trust me a little, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You trust Uncle Theo, don’t you?”

“Sometimes.”

“Okay, Sabrina.” Zack’s voice was steady and inspiring. “You did great. I’m going to wake you up now. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll count to five, and when you hear me say ‘five,’ you’ll wake up. Is that clear?”

“Yes.”

“When you wake up, you’ll remember everything we’ve said. But it won’t upset you. You’ll feel refreshed. Rested. Is that clear?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m going to count now. On five, you’ll wake up. One, two, three, four, five.”

Sabrina stirred and opened her eyes, then smiled sheepishly. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Zack’s green eyes were twinkling. “You did great.”

“I didn’t remember anything Johnny said.”

“He made you forget the session. But it seems like that’s all he managed to accomplish. Your subconscious must have really resisted him.”

Sabrina sighed. “You were right about Dad. He really did hypnotize me when I was a kid. I don’t know why that bothers me, but it does.”

“Seems pretty harmless. He just wanted you to look out for your baby sister.” Zack’s smile widened. “You must’ve been a cute kid. Calling it your mission.”

“That’s how it was with Dad. He made everything so much fun and dramatic. Life and death. But still just a game. I loved it. Then everything changed.”

“When Adonis killed him.”

She nodded. “And now Shelby’s in danger because of her connection to Dad’s past. It’s so creepy to think of Johnny alone with her, hypnotizing her at will. Making her do things. Reveal things. Forget things.” She cocked her head to the side. “If you could use DT3 on me, could you make me remember what Johnny was searching for in my head?”

“Theoretically,” Zack admitted. “He gave you a post-trance suggestion to forget the whole session. With DT3, I could counteract that, unless he password-protected it. Then it would take more time and some serious hacking.”

Sabrina winced at the harsh term, even though she realized he only meant it in the computer sense. “So if Dad did that—hid information in our heads and protected it with a password—Johnny could be trying to hack into that? That would explain why it’s taking him so long, right?”

“It’s a possibility,” Zack confirmed. “But it doesn’t seem like Sully did anything like that to you. And since you’re the oldest, it’s logical he would have hidden it in your head, not Shelby’s.”

“That makes sense.”

Zack nodded. “My guess is, John’s after a simple memory. But it’s taking time—not because it’s password-protected, but because he’s fishing for it. Maybe he doesn’t know exactly when the event happened, for example. So he’s regressing her, probing, that sort of thing. Zeroing in on it, but it’s taking some time.”

“I like that better than the hacking scenario,” Sabrina admitted. “Do you think he’ll let her go once he gets what he wants?”

Zack hesitated. “I guess that depends on his ultimate agenda. And what shape she’s in by then, mentally and otherwise. I just hope she still believes it’s a romantic getaway. If she figures out what’s going on, or if he stops pretending to care about her, she’ll be scared.”

“If she figures out what’s going on, she’ll try to escape,” Sabrina countered. When Zack gave a skeptical shrug, she smiled. “I hope Derringer underestimates her the same way you do. That gives her a strategic advantage.”

“The only strategic advantage we have is time. He doesn’t know about the second message she left you, so he thinks he has three more days before you get suspicious. We need to use every minute, so I’m outta here.” He handed Sabrina the stack of reports from Connor. “Find me the picture that looks the most like Shelby. I want to circulate it to my crew.”

“I brought a great photo of her with me, just in case. It’s in the trunk of my car.”

“Good. You two girls change hair color so often, it’s tough to keep track.”

She bristled at the implied criticism. “We went brunette at RAP’s suggestion. But over the years, we gradually phased back to blond.” Fingering a lock of her own hair, she explained, “This is our natural color. Shelby’s is the same, only longer, and with some added highlights, so it’s a little blonder.”

He pulled out a notebook and pen. “Height? Weight? You’re taller, right?”

“Yes. She’s five-five. Probably one hundred twenty pounds. She packed for a tropical island, which means lots of pink sundresses and strappy sandals. If any witnesses saw her, they’ll remember her.” She swallowed a lump of affection and concern. “I’ll get that photo. Wait here.”

She was glad for an excuse to head outside for a gulp of fresh air. All this talk about Shelby was getting to her. Too much talk, not enough action. And all the while, Johnny was invading Shelby’s mind. Endangering her sanity. All for some nefarious, unfathomable purpose.

If only you hadn’t been allergic, she accused herself as she fumbled for her car keys. He would have taken you, and Shell would be safe.

Popping the trunk of her convertible, she quickly located the glossy photograph of her sister, and as she looked at it, the tightness returned to her throat. Shelby was so innocent. So trusting. But if she figured out what was going on—well, she was a Sullivan. Trained from the cradle to protect herself.

Could Shelby really escape from a seasoned criminal like Derringer? Sabrina wondered. Neither of them had ever really been put to the test. But she had to believe their father’s hard work hadn’t been in vain.

If only Dad were here. He’d know what to do, she told herself. As competent as Zack was beginning to seem, Sabrina still had no illusions about him. He was too young. Too temperamental. Too driven by passion. He’d do his best because of his devotion to Sully Sullivan and his hatred for Derringer. He might even be able to find Shelby in time. But would he be able to outwit Derringer once he got there?

No. That’s where Sabrina would be invaluable. She had her father’s instincts. His cool head. She had to be there when Zack made his move against Derringer. But she knew he’d try to exclude her, either to protect her or because he thought she’d get in the way.

“Which is where this little baby comes in handy,” she said out loud, pulling a black-leather shaving kit from her suitcase. Inside the kit—affectionately known as Sully Sullivan’s “bag of tricks”—was the collection of gadgets she had smuggled into RAP via Zorro’s cat carrier.

Locating a handheld computer, she dislodged the backing and retrieved a sheet of minuscule sensors. With one of these, she could easily track Zack’s movements, using the computer’s gridded screen and global positioning capabilities.

One of the tiny sensors was already missing from the sheet, having been affixed by Sabrina to the inside hood of Shelby’s car the day it was purchased. If only Johnny had used that vehicle to kidnap her sister, they could have found her in an instant.

Now she was tempted to do the same with Zack’s shiny black convertible, but if he switched to air travel, she’d lose him. She needed to attach it to something he’d carry with him at all times.

On impulse, she unhooked the gold chain she wore around her neck, then popped open the attached locket to reveal tiny photos of her mother and father. Pulling up the edge of Sully Sullivan’s smiling face, she slipped a sensor underneath, then covered it with the picture.

Just as she was double-checking her handiwork, she heard a door slam. Looking up, she saw Zack coming down the steps of the Howell mansion with an overstuffed briefcase in his hand, so she closed the trunk, then smiled and offered him the photo of Shelby. “Here it is.”

“Great.” He cleared his throat. “Before I go, I’d like to apologize. I was a jerk when you first got here, and I’m sorry.”

“Find my sister and all is forgiven. And if you see her before I do, give her this.” She held out the necklace.

Accepting it, he looked inside the locket. “Your mom? I never saw a picture of her before. You girls look a lot like her. A lot like Sully, too.”

“Take good care of it, okay?” Sabrina asked softly. “When Shelby sees it, she’ll know she can trust you.”

“Good idea.” He nodded his approval. “She might not believe she needs to be rescued, right? She’ll trust John, and be suspicious of me.”

“Right. And even if she realizes she’s been kidnapped, she’ll be suspicious of everyone. Except me. Which is why I need to be there.” She touched his arm. “Call me as soon as you get a lead, please?”

“Sure. You’ll be the first to know.” He flashed a confident smile. “I’ll check in tomorrow. In the meantime, if you think of anything else I should know, call me. Here’s my number.”

She accepted his business card, then thanked him and waved goodbye until he had roared away in his sports car.

She knew he was lying, of course. He had no intention of sharing information with her. At least, not willingly. But thanks to the global positioning device, she would track his every movement. If he got a lead on Shelby’s location, Sabrina would head there as soon as he made his move.

And in the meantime, maybe she’d find the location first.

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