No Easy Target Page 4

  He hesitated. “Sure.” He turned and started back toward the bridge. “But think about what I said. Calm down and find a way to come to terms. Lassiter knows what a son of a bitch Nicos can be. He’s just not letting himself think about it in connection with you. He doesn’t believe he can afford it.”

  She turned back to face those sparkling lights. She could do it. She was healthy and strong. She knew that endurance and will were everything. She had only to set her mind and never give up.

  She kicked off her shoes. “He can’t afford it? Too bad. Because there’s no way on earth I can afford to go back to Nicos.” She started at a run toward the rail. “So screw both of you.”

  She heard him call out as she threw her legs over the railing and dove into the water.

  Cold. Very cold. Breathtakingly cold.

  Not good.

  The waters off San Diego were often mild and warm. But not if the currents disturbed those temperatures. Then they could be cold … and treacherous.

  She’d be better once she started to move.

  She struck out for the shore.

  Yes, that was better. It was chilly, but not too bad. It was the shock that had made the temperature appear dangerous.

  “Margaret!” She heard someone dive off the ship behind her.

  Lassiter. Cursing.

  “What the hell? Do you have a death wish?” Lassiter said between his teeth. He was only a few yards behind her. “First those tigers and now this?”

  “I’m probably a better swimmer than you are. I can make it to the shore. I’ve done longer swims. That’s how I got off Nicos’s island. And if you try to stop me, I’ll fight you and we’ll both probably drown. You wouldn’t want that after you went to all this trouble.” She concentrated on shutting out the cold and taking long, easy strokes. “You’ll probably give up before I do. I have motivation, and you’re just a bad guy trying to do a bad thing.” She looked at him over her shoulder. “But maybe your friend will rescue you if he sees you drowning. I won’t.”

  “You might be a better swimmer than I am, but the water’s too cold tonight,” he said quietly. “There’s no way you can make the shore.”

  “It’s not that cold. Maybe a little under sixty degrees. It just seemed that way at first. I’ll make it.” She forged ahead in a breaststroke. “But I can’t waste my breath talking anymore.”

  “Have it your way.”

  “I will. I won’t go to—”

  Concentrate. Even strokes. Breathe deeply. Keep moving. Keep the blood circulating. It wasn’t cold enough to give her hypothermia, but the temperature was always a factor on a long swim.

  She could hear Lassiter behind her, but he was no longer speaking. He was a very strong swimmer, she realized vaguely.

  But so was she, and all she had to do was keep this pace going.

  The shore was much closer now.

  Just keep her arms moving. She could make it.

  Her body felt heavy, cold, but if she moved faster, that would take care of that.

  It wasn’t really cold. It was just creeping up on her because she was getting tired.

  The lights were closer.…

  Her arms were moving slower now.

  Make them go faster to fight the cold.

  She could do it.

  She was almost there.

  “That’s enough,” Lassiter said roughly. He had caught up with her and she saw his expression. Angry …

  “Get away from me. I’m almost there.”

  “Yes, dammit, you are. I didn’t think— But not close enough. You won’t make it. You’re probably already suffering from a mild form of hypothermia. Hell, probably so am I. But I’m stronger than you are. Your arms are going to give out and you’ll drown.”

  “No. You’re not stronger. I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone. I can do it. Get away from me.”

  “My God, I almost wish I could.” His lips twisted. “But I didn’t go to all this hassle to have you drown on me just because something in me wants to see you make it. Don’t fight me, Margaret.”

  “Get … away … from … me.” She tried to push him away.

  “You keep ignoring warnings. This time, I really regret that you’re doing it.”

  Her head snapped back as he struck her on the chin.

  Pain.

  That heavy, cold water.

  Darkness.

  * * *

  She woke up on a bunk on the ship, naked, coughing, and shivering as Neal Cambry piled blankets on top of her.

  “Keep still,” he said. “I’ve got my orders. I’m to get you warm and I’m not to let you jump off the ship again. I intend to do just what Lassiter told me to do. He’s not in great humor at the moment. He wasn’t pleased that I let you go for a swim.”

  “Where … is … he?”

  “Trying to warm up, too. You were both in pretty bad shape.” He supported her while she drank the hot tea he held to her lips. “You’re very stubborn, you know.”

  “Could—have—made it.”

  “A matter of opinion,” he said. “But I lean toward Lassiter’s. I think you were going down for a long fall.”

  She shook her head.

  He chuckled. “Okay, maybe not. Argue with him.” He tossed a San Diego Zoo nightshirt on the bed beside her. “I found this in your backpack. Pretty flimsy, but I thought you’d be more comfortable.” He headed for the steps leading to the deck. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to make sure I complete that second order and get far enough to sea so that you won’t be tempted to try to swim to shore again.”

  “We can’t stay … out to sea forever,” she called after him as she pulled the nightshirt over her head. “Sometime I’ll get another chance.”

  “I’m sure you will.” Lassiter was coming down the stairs. He was wearing a dark blue crew sweater and jeans and his hair was still wet. “I just hope you have better sense next time.”

  “Self-preservation is always sensible.”

  “Exactly.” He sat down in the chair beside the bed, his gaze going to her zoo nightshirt. “That has elephants instead of tigers. Why?”

  She frowned. “What difference does it make?”

  “Curious. I only wanted to make sure you hadn’t abandoned your allegiance.”

  “It was on a sale.”

  “Money can move mountains. Or tigers.” He tilted his head. “You look like a drowned rat.”

  “I didn’t drown. I wouldn’t have drowned. I would have made it.”

  “I’ve heard that mantra before.” He smiled faintly. “You almost had me believing it.”

  “It’s only important that I believe it.” She could hear the engine start and felt the ship’s motion escalate. “You won’t be able to keep me prisoner until you can turn me over to Nicos. There are all kinds of ways that I can get away. You can see how much trouble I am.”

  “Yes, I can. A great deal of trouble.”

  He didn’t seem as angry this time. Or it could have been how exhausted she was. She could barely keep her eyes open. “Then wouldn’t it be better just to forget about me?”

  “You’ve made that extremely difficult to do.”

  “Surely I’m not worth it. You’ve probably already paid too much to try to find me.”

  “Considerable. Let’s just say, to me you’re a jewel beyond price.”

  “Bullshit. Nicos wouldn’t think so. He has a price for everything. Why do you want to get to him anyway?”

  “We’ll discuss it tomorrow. You’re about to go to sleep on me, and I’d find that very rude.”

  “I won’t go to—” She yawned. “Well, maybe I would. It’s all your fault. Everything is your fault.…”

  “We’ve already established that fact.” He tucked the blanket around her shoulders. “Tomorrow we establish what we intend to do about it.”

  “You can’t keep me,” she said drowsily. “And I could have made it.…”

  * * *

  “She’s asleep?” Cambry asked as Lassite
r came up on deck. “I think she’ll be okay by tomorrow. She seems pretty resilient.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Lassiter said drily. “She’s a combination of rubber and cast iron.”

  “She came close to making it to shore. Guts. Pure guts.” Cambry smiled. “I admit I was rooting for her.” He slanted a glance at Lassiter. “I think you were, too.”

  “Maybe. But then I would have made it an empty victory by capturing her again. I still need her. I still have to have her.” He looked out at sea. “You know she’s my way to Nicos. That’s not going to change.”

  “But it’s going to get harder for you. You saw what she’s made of tonight. You’re getting to know her. Rubber and cast iron. Not a bad combination.”

  “It can’t change, Cambry,” he repeated. “I can’t let it change.” He moved down the deck. It had been a rough night and these last hours had been filled with an incredible mixture of emotions. He’d expected the anger and frustration; he hadn’t expected the admiration … and the curious sense of pride he’d felt in that sea while swimming behind Margaret.

  Forget it. He should go to bed and stop thinking of Margaret’s face in that last moment, when she was almost beyond exhaustion and pain. No surrender, even then.

  I’m almost there. I can make it.…

  * * *

  When Margaret woke the next morning, she was sore in every muscle. She flinched as she struggled out of bed.

  But she had slept well and deeply and she was thinking clearly, which hadn’t been the case last night. Okay, it was a new day. She might be on her way to Nicos, but she wasn’t there yet. Think positive. Shower and shampoo so that she would no longer look like a drowned rat. Then confront Lassiter and start asking questions.

  She jumped out of bed and headed for the shower.

  CHAPTER THREE

  She was still tying her hair up in a ponytail as she climbed the stairs to the deck forty minutes later. As she passed the galley, Cambry looked up from the stove, where he was frying bacon. “Breakfast in twenty minutes.” He smiled. “You look ready for battle. I told Lassiter I thought you’d be resilient.”

  “He made sure I had to be. Where is he?”

  “On deck.” He tilted his head. “And I wouldn’t attack if I were you. He could have been rougher on you. You put him through a lot more than I thought he’d take last night.”

  “You mean by defending myself from him? What a pity. He deserved anything that I could do to him.”

  “He could have stepped in sooner if he hadn’t been wary about hurting you,” he said quietly. “Lassiter was with the Special Forces in Afghanistan and he’s one tough son of a bitch.”

  “That’s what my friend Devon said.” She met his eyes. “If what you say is true, then I honor his service to his country and I think it’s sad that he’s probably turned into a mercenary who is no better than Nicos.”

  “Ouch.” He shrugged. “Okay, I’m through with defending him. We don’t agree entirely on a lot of subjects anyway.”

  “Really?” Her eyes studied him with sudden alertness. Cambry was likable and had none of the quiet lethality that Lassiter projected. “Am I one of them? You’re not as bad as he is. You might even be a good guy. You have to know that he shouldn’t be doing this to me.”

  He chuckled. “Are you trying to seduce me into betraying my friend?”

  “‘Seduce’?” She made a face. “Be real. Just look at me. I’m not equipped. But everyone has a bad side and a good side. I’m just trying to appeal to the side that will send me a thousand miles away from Nicos.”

  His smile faded as he looked at her. “You may be more equipped than you think. There are more ways to seduce than the usual accepted methods. I found that out in a Pakistani prison.” He made a shooing motion. “Get out of here. I’m going to burn this bacon.”

  “No, we wouldn’t want that.” Lassiter was leaning on the doorjamb at the head of the stairs, looking down at her. “By all means, Margaret, come up on deck and stop disturbing the man.”

  She gazed at him, trying to read his expression. Not anger. Mockery? She had thought she was ready to face him, but now she wasn’t sure. Sure or not, she had to do it.

  She ran up the rest of the steps and pushed past him. She turned to face him as she reached the deck. “How much did you hear?”

  “Pretty near all of it, I think.” The smile was definitely mocking. “Don’t waste your time. You won’t be able to sway Cambry. We have our differences, but we go way back. And he’s loyal to me.”

  “You never know.” She plopped down on the deck and leaned back against the rail, lifting her face to the sun. “I thought it was worth a shot that he might have a conscience. He seemed kind of … nice,” she said, then added, “for an accomplice of a criminal who doesn’t know the meaning of the word.”

  “So you decided to make a try at bringing him over to the dark side.” He dropped down beside her and crossed his jean-clad legs at the ankle. “Nothing too obvious, just a frank, girlish appeal that might stir memories of home and family.” He leaned back against the rail. “Clever. Cambry’s right: There are more ways than one to seduce.” His gaze studied her face. “You look clean and glowing, as if you’re drawing in that sun and making it yours. It arouses a certain emotional … response. I’m beginning to understand why Nicos is so determined to get you back.”

  “No, you don’t,” she said jerkily. “You don’t understand anything about me. And I’m not the dark side. I could be, but I decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t let anyone do that to me.” She moistened her lips. “Evidently, you decided to go the other way.”

  “I just decided that there are some things that are worth embracing the dark side for. Sometimes it’s the only way to go.”

  “Bullshit.”

  He was silent, and then he chuckled. “That’s Cambry’s response, too. I’d better keep the two of you apart. I want no united front.”

  “Because we’re right.”

  He shrugged. “I disagree. But we won’t argue. Instead, I’ll let you try to seduce me.”

  She inhaled sharply, her eyes widening. “How do you mean that?”

  He smiled. “No jumping to conclusions for you. You really don’t realize your potential. I would have thought Nicos would have taught you.” He got to his feet and reached down to pull her to her feet. “But, as it happens, you’re right. I don’t understand you, and I’m beginning to believe I can’t do what I need to do unless I do.”

  “You don’t have to understand me. You just have to let me go.”

  His lips turned up. “But Cambry says that if I get to know you, it will make it harder for me to turn you over to Nicos. One thing may lead to another. Don’t you want to try?”

  “No. Why do you?”

  He laughed. “Maybe I have a tiny bit of conscience that’s urging me to leave the dark side? Or maybe it’s going to be a boring few days until we get to southern Mexico? I like the idea of playing Q and A with you. I thought I knew a good deal about you, but you showed me a new page last night. You intrigue me. Exploring that bizarre mind of yours would be amusing.”

  “What if I don’t want it explored?”

  “But then the seduction would be null and void. I wouldn’t get to know you and all that softening influence Cambry was predicting goes down the drain.”

  He was still grasping her wrist and she wanted to pull away. She forced herself not to do it. Ignore that heat and magnetism. She didn’t want him to realize he had any physical effect on her. “Shouldn’t it go two ways?” she asked. “Are you going to let me ask you questions?”

  “Within limits.”

  “But I’m not supposed to have any limits?”

  He smiled. “No, you’re the one seducing me.”

  And that seemed a good time to jerk her wrist away from him. “Not fair.”

  “I never said any of this was fair.” His smile faded. “Only necessary, Margaret.” He turned away. “Time to go down for breakfast
. Do what you like. I’m probably better off if I don’t get to know anything more about you than I do now.”

  She watched him stroll back down the deck. She might be better off, too. What he was offering had an element of intimacy that she should avoid. He was complicated and dangerous and there was a sexual magnetism that she couldn’t ignore. Add them all together and she might be biting off more than she could handle.

  So she should meekly bow her head and let him send her back to Nicos?

  Doing what he’d asked and spending time with him might provide an opportunity to get hold of a weapon or phone. It might be a way to persuade him that she wouldn’t be coerced into doing this.

  She could handle him.

  She hoped.

  “Well, I’m not going to let you just interrogate me.” She ran after him. “Do you play chess?”

  “Moderately well.”

  “Good. Then I’ll probably beat you and that will make me feel better. While we’re playing, I’ll answer a question now and then … if I feel like it.” She mocked him. “If it amuses me.”

  He nodded. “If not, I’ll try to find something else that will amuse you.” He opened the door for her. “It shouldn’t be too difficult to—”

  “But I want you to answer a question or two right now to show good faith. Is John Lassiter your real name?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you own this ship or are you leasing it?”

  His lips curved. “Mine. Is that important?”

  “It shows that you have money. I thought you probably did. I don’t like it. Money is power.”

  “I thought so, too. It hasn’t proved to be very helpful lately.”

  “How did you get it? Are you a criminal, like Nicos?”

  “I’d rather you didn’t compare me to him on any level.”

  “Are you?”

  He shook his head. “Though some of my competitors claim I am. I own a computer company in Silicon Valley.” He added, “And, in the interest of total honesty, I should mention that as a boy growing up, I was far from law-abiding.” He held up his hand as she opened her mouth to speak. “You said a couple questions to show good faith. You’ve had them, Margaret. I’m going to be very sparing with those answers unless you decide to agree to what I need. I know the value of information and I believe you’re smart enough to use anything I give you as a weapon.”