She was down the hall and heading for the front door when it opened and
Steve stepped into the light.
His gray pallor made her stop in her tracks.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I found some papers taped to the bottom of a desk drawer. I know who
Oliver Gibbs was working for on the ILA deal."
The harsh sound of Steve's voice and the grim look on his face made
Abby's throat constrict so tightly that she could barely speak.
"Satan?"
Steve laughed acidly.
"It might as well be. Except in this life, he's an international arms
dealer named Tang Wu. He'll sell anything to anyone-including the
ILA-as long as the price is right."
"Are you sure it's him?"
"Remember the letters T-W that were on that record sheet you found in
Oliver's files?"
"You didn't know what they meant," Abby countered.
"Yeah, well, I kept whacking my brain because I knew I'd seen them
before somewhere. Then, when I was waiting for you to finish up in the
exam room, Wu's name popped into my head. So I went back to look for
more evidence- and found it where Oliver had hidden it."
Steve pulled several folded sheets of paper from his shirt pocket.
"We'd talked about Wu because Ollie wanted to accept a shipment from
him once before."
"And you vetoed the idea," Abby guessed.
Steve nodded.
"Wu is the kind of guy who will take your money and then leave you
twisting in the wind if he thinks he can get away with it.
I didn't like him.
I didn't like his methods.
And I didn't like what he was selling.
"But after you left, Oliver went ahead and contacted him," Abby
murmured.
"Or Wu knew I was gone and decided to take another crack at Gibbs."
"Could ... could Wu have come back here to get his shipment, killed
Oliver, and made it look like a suicide?"
"I'll be able to give you a professional opinion on that when I see the
body," Sunduram interjected.
"However, from what Steve says, if Wu or his men have been here, then
he wouldn't have left without the merchandise, whatever it is."
Steve didn't answer him.
Abby felt the blood freeze in her veins.
"But... then ... Shannon-" She swayed toward her husband, and he opened
his, arms.
A shudder went through her slender frame as she pressed her face
blindly against his shirtfront.
Steve held her close, yet he murmured no words of comfort, and his
posture remained rigid.
"What?"
Abby questioned urgently.
"What are you thinking?"
"That we still can't risk going into the temple. I was talking about
decontamination suits earlier, but I guess you've got to have some idea
of what you're protecting yourself against."
Abby pulled away from Steve, her eyes fierce.
"The only way we're going to find out what Oliver was transporting and
whether it's still missing is to ask Wu.
Where is he?
"Hong Kong."
"How long does it take to get there?"
"Abby, you don't know what we'd be getting into.
Talking to Wu isn't a matter of going up and knocking on his door.
The man has enemies.
He lives in a fortress and has a private army guarding him.
You don't get close to him without a gilt-edged invitation and a
security check.
"It doesn't matter what kind of defenses he's got.
We have to go after him.
There has to be a weak link somewhere in his defense.
Her husband's fingers dug into her flesh.
" We don't have to."
Abby shook her head.
because brute force won't work, or stealth, for that matter. We've got
to research him, find out what his weaknesses are.
What would lure him out of his fortress.
Dr. Sunduram had come up beside them.
"I think she's right," he said quietly.
Abby gave him a grateful look.
Steve scowled.
"You don't have to settle anything right now, and whatever you decide,
you're certainly not going to fly to Hong Kong tonight. Both of you
need a good night's sleep."
The doctor sighed.
"I'm sorry. I've never encountered this kind of situation before, and
I'm thinking of things as we go alone,. It's probably wise to discard
the clothes you were wearing in the jungle."
Abby looked down at her wrinkled skirt and blouse.
"Just as a precaution," he continued.
"I'd also suggest a good scrub under running water. Come along and let
me show you the bathroom and my guest room.
Steve brought their luggage into the house.
While the two men continued to talk in the sitting room, Abby undressed
and left her clothes in the hall.
Then she stood for a long time under the ancient shower head, scrubbing
her hair and then her skin.
Automatically, she began to express the milk from her breasts.
Then, with a choked little sound in her throat, she stopped.
There was something else she hadn't considered.
She'd been clinging to the idea of nursing Shannon when they got her
back.
She couldn't do that now.
Not when she didn't know if she'd absorbed some kind of deadly
chemical.
If it was in her tissues, she'd be giving her daughter tainted milk.
And an infant's tolerance for the poison would be far less than an
adult's.
Head bent, Abby stood for a long moment with the water pounding down on
her scalp.
Tears began to leak from between her closed eyelids.
She felt as if pieces of herself were being torn away, one terrible
loss after another.
And now this.
A knock at the door brought her back to the here and now.
"Abby? Are you okay?"
Steve's voice was muffled by the barrier and the running'water, but she
couldn't mistake its edge of worry.
Her body snapped erect.
How long had she been standing under the water like a zombie?
"Abby?"
"Yes," she managed.
"I'm sorry I'm taking so long.
I'll be right out.
"It's okay. I was just concerned about you."
After wiping the tears away with the back of her hand, she turned off
the water, stepped out of the shower, and reached for the towel Dr.
Sunduram had given her.
The men were down the hall talking again.
Instead Of joining them, Abby went into the guest bedroom, slipped
between the sheets and lay her head wearily against the pillow.
She hadn't thought she could sleep, but she was too tired to wait for
Steve.
Within minutes, blessed oblivion swallowed her.
ABBY woKE EARLY- alone.
A moment of panic seized her.
Then she heard low voices drifting down the hall.
Steve.
And Dr. Sunduram.
As soon as she stepped into the kitchen and saw the expression on her
husband's face, she felt the world tilt and grabbed the back of a chair
for support.
"S
hannon! Something's happened to Shannon."
Steve was on his feet, surging toward her.
"No! I talked to Jason this morning. She's all right."
"But?"
"Singh's sent us a lock of her hair to let us know she's arrived
safely."
The air whooshed out of Abby's chest and she sagged against Steve.
When she could speak again, she managed, "He didn't just send the
hair.
He sent a note, too, didn't he?"
"It wasn't anything we don't already know."
"Damn it, tell me!"
Steve sighed.
"It was a reminder that we have less than a week to get his merchandise
back."
"Oh, God."
Her knees gave way, and Steve lowered her into the chair.
Then he hunkered down beside her.
"Jason said he'd been expecting something like that," he said.
'Why?
' "Because he's had experience with kidnappers. He says that's the way
they operate. They want you on edge and upset. They want you to be
afraid of what will happen if you don't meet their demands. And they
want to tantalize you-to send you a reminder of what you have to
lose."
The words penetrated the fear that had gathered in Abby's middle, and
she sat up straighter.
Jason was right.
Amarjit Singh was trying to play with their minds.
Steve must have sensed the change in her.
He squeezed her arm, and she gave him a half smile.
"I'm not going to fall apart."
He nodded, and she saw how worried he'd been about her reaction.
To show him she was in control, she picked up another topic.
"Have you been discussing the temple?" she said.
"Yeah. Rai is going to spread the word among the villagers to stay
away from that area," Steve told her.
Abby looked at Dr. Sunduram.
"Thank you. I was afraid that someone might get sick."
She swallowed.
"Or die, even, if they went poking around there."
"As Steve told you, the building is already a place to be avoided.
It's only a matter. of reinforcing that interdiction. The people are
accustomed to heeding me in matters of health."
Steve poured- Abby a cup of .
spicy tea and then pushed in his'own chair.
"I'm going to pack while you eat. Then we'd better get going."
"All right."
After Steve had left, Dr. Sunduram cleared his throat.
"I've been doing some more thinking. I know you have a lot on your
plate. But speaking of health matters, you mentioned you were planning
to nurse your baby again."
Abby's fingers tightened on the handle of her cup.
"I-I reconsidered that last night. Since we don't know what might be
in the temple, and how much exposure we could have gotten."
"It was probably minimal. But you do need to err on the side of
conservatism, as far as an infant is concernea."
"I understand that."
"You're going to be uncomfortable for a couple of days."
Abby rolled her shoulders.
"Yes."
"But that will pass. A woman's body stops producing milk very quickly
when it isn't being removed regularly."
"Thankyoufortellingm @)
e.
Dr. Sunduram reached across the table and covered Abby's hand.
"Bring Shannon to visit me when You get her back." had thought she was
UP until that moment, Abby handling her emotions.
Suddenly tears blurred her vision, and she struggled to contain them I
I I will, " she whispered, unable to look into the doctor's eyes.
"Forgive me. I wasn't thinking-" "No. It's not your fault."
Scraping back her chair, Abby scrambled up and fled the kitchen.
After escaping through the front door, she stood in the small garden,
dragging in gulps of the cool morning air.
She didn't see the flowers or the backdrop of hills.
In her mind, she saw Shannon stretching out a hand toward her
pleadingly.
Then, as she watched, the tiny face puckered and grew red, and the baby
began to cry.
"Shannon," Abby murmured, unconsciously wrapping her arms around
herself.
"Oh, Shannon.
Don't cry.
Mommy's going to come and get you.
" But the infant's sobs increased .
Could her baby sense the terrible danger she was in7
Or was she simply hungry?
Wet?
Sick?
Abby unconsciously hugged herself as she anxiously studied the small,
delicate face that had stolen into her mind, trying to determine how
Shannon was faring.
Then she shook her head.
She wasn't really observing her daughter, was she?
She was only imagining seen her lying in her isolette at the Shannon as
she'd hospital.
Yet she couldn't shake the conviction that she was somehow spying on
the enemy camp.
And that there was some invisible bond connecting her to her baby.
It didn't make any logical sense, but it made her feel better.
"Did you finish eating already?"
Abby jumped.
She hadn't even heard Steve come out.
She sensed him studying her profile.
"I-I'm anxious to get going."
"Yeah."
Raj Sunduram opened the door, and Abby felt his sympathetic eyes on
her, but this time he kept his words neutral.
"My nurse will be wondering why I'm not in the office, so I'd better
say goodbye to you now."
"You've been so good to us," Abby.
told him.
"You could have said you didn't Want to get involved, and I would have
understood."
"I have a habit of 'getting involved,' as you put it."
"I can't thank you enough f6r Fverything."
After a moment of hesitation, he hugged her gently.
"Good luck. And take care."
"We will."
The two men shook hands, and then Abby and Steve were off.
"He's a good friend," Abby said, looking back toward the house.
"I didn't know how good until last night. I tried to give him some
money. He wouldn't take it."
She was afraid she'd start to cry again if she mentioned the doctor's
request that they return with Shannon, so they rode in silence for
several miles.
Abby stared blindly out the window.
The rules kept changing.
That was the worst part.
Just as she and Steve thought they had everything figured out, the
whole pattern would shift, and it would seem as if they were farther
from finding their daughter than they had been only hours before.
She needed to feel in control of something.
So did Steve.
Over and above their fears for Shannon, the lack of control made
everything so much worse.
' ' Let's not waste the drive.
What can you tell me about Tang Wu?
" Abby finally asked." How old is he?
What does he look like?
"Jason's going to have a briefing folder waiting for us in Hong
Kong."
"Tell me what you know."
, 'Okay.