Shed spent the day going over the notes and familiarizing herself with the setup. Slick and well organized, Boston Generals Transplant Department boasted twenty beds and enough high-tech gadgets to satisfy even Niaespecially since she had designed a few of them herself during her two years in grad school.
Brilliant, they had called her, when in reality she had simply been bored. Bored by the classwork, by her fellow students, and by the city itself. She had longed for faraway places that could be reached only by overgrown paths, for adventures like the stories her father had told her. Stories with titles like, The Time Rathe Was Adopted by Cannibals or The Time Rathe Saved the Congo.
Those stories had stopped the day she announced to her parents that she wanted to join HFH when she grew up. Come to think of it, so had Rathes visits, for the most part.
In the damp garage, Nia missed the car door lock and dropped her keys to the pavement beside her silver Jetta. She bent and retrieved them, and was surprised to find her throat tight with the memory.
Im sorry, Daddy, she murmured as she unlocked the car and slipped inside its interior, which smelled of leather and hospital disinfectant. I know this isnt what you wanted for me.
But her fathers plans and hers had diverged a long time ago, even before he got sick.
She backed the Jetta out of her hospital parking slot and drove the vehicle out of the garage, shielding her eyes against the reflected glare of headlights in the rear-view mirror. Geez, she muttered over the classic rock on the radio, I know it gets dark early this time of year, but are the high beams really necessary?
The headlights followed her out of the garage and down Washington Street, where she merged slowly with the rest of the rush hour traffic.
It wasnt until a mile and three lane shifts later that Nia realized the high beams were still just a few cars behind her.
She was being followed.
Nonsense, she told herself as nerves prickled in her stomach. The whole apartment building is owned by the hospital. Theyre simply going the same place you are.
But that didnt stop her left eye from twitching, as it had the night before when shed seen the two white-coated men pushing a laundry hamper out of the Transplant Department. And it didnt stop her heart from picking up a beat in fear.
She gripped the leather steering wheel tightly as traffic pushed her toward the entrance to the apartment buildings parking garage. Should she drive by and see what Mr. High Beams would do? Or should she park and make a run for it?
What would Rathe do in this situation?
Argh! She slapped the steering wheel in frustration and turned into the garage. She had purged that silly, teenage question from her head years ago, along with the crush shed had on her fathers dashing friend. Or so shed thought. But there it was, reminding her of the man shed loved at twenty-one and hated not long after.
Mr. High Beams didnt follow her into the garage, and Nia felt faintly ashamed for jumping at shadows. A good investigator needed to be tougher than that.
She parked, climbed out of the Jetta, slung her purse and soft-sided briefcase over her shoulder and tried to stop herself from hurrying to the elevators.
A voice spoke out of the shadows. We need to talk.
Chapter Two
Nia gasped and jolted, though the quick thunder of her heart identified Rathe before he stepped out into the light. She took an involuntary step back, snagged her foot on a crack and stumbled.
He caught her before she fell, one strong hand grabbing her arm, the other curving around her waist and sending a lightning bolt of sensation through her chest.
Let me go! She struggled to get away, not from him, but from the effect he had on her.
He released her quickly, though kept a hand up to make sure she was steady. A shadow moved across his face. You neednt be afraid of me, Nadia.
Nadia.
It was the name her father had given her, the name hed called her until the day he died. The memory of it brought a phantom ache to the scar beside her navel, and the threat of tears to her eyes. She pressed her fingers to her temples, where the first tendrils of a headache had gathered. It was late, that was all. She wasnt usually this vulnerable to memories.
Go away, Rathe. Her quiet voice held the accumulated stress of the day.
Of all the times shed imagined their reunion
We have things to discuss. He stood between her and the elevator, though she sensed he wouldnt stop her from boarding. No, he would just ride up with her, which could not be allowed. Hed had his chance to be a part of her life, a part of her family, and hed turned it down without even a reply, just a packet of letters marked Return To Sender.
She shook her head, feeling the echoes of old sorrow, newer frustration. This would never work. There was no way she and Rathe could function together as a team. We couldve talked anytime today, you didnt need to follow me home. Right now Im tired and I have a full day of surgery to observe tomorrow, so Im going to bed. Well talk in the morning.
She moved to brush past him, but he caught her arm and waited until she looked up at him. Nadia. Nia. I didnt follow you. Talbot told me where you were billeted, so I waited here for you. He paused a beat. Why? Did someone follow you? When she didnt answer right away, he shook her. Nia! Were you followed?
She thought of the high beams behind her, the feeling of creeping malevolence theyd given her and the relief shed felt when she turned into the garage and they moved on by. No, of course not.
You always were a lousy liar. Damn it! This is all because of that crazy stunt you pulled in the laundry area. Looking suddenly tired, he released her arm, stepped forward and stabbed the elevator call button. Come on. We need to set some ground rules. If you keep this up youll get yourself killed.
Why are you being like this? Nias voice rose as her frustration moved to the fore. She was tired and confused, and though his presence complicated everything, she wasnt going to bow out of her first official investigation simply because he wanted her to. Why are you set on running me off this case? Is it personal? Is it because we were lovers? If so she dredged up the words shed said so many times in the fantasies where hed come back and begged for another chance youre the one who walked, McKay, not me.
Technically he hadnt walked; hed sent her back to her father. Somehow that had been worse.
This has nothing to do with ancient history, he snapped, though Nia swore that, for a moment, his eyes dropped to where her snazzy leather jacket hung over her breasts. Heat climbed her cheeks as he continued, Nothing!
Then what is it about?
He paused for a moment, seeming to struggle with the answer. Then he exhaled noisily. Youre a woman, Nia, and I dont work with women. You know that.
It was one of the stories her father hadnt told her, one shed overheard her parents discussing late at night. Rathes partner, Maria, had been killed while they were on assignment. Not long after the incident, he had come to live with Nadias family for a few weeks. Gaunt and sad-eyed, he hadnt spoken much. Hed spent most of his time sitting down by the beach with an empty sketchpad on his knee.
At eighteen, Nadia had known him only from her fathers stories. Though Tony had told her to leave Rathe alone, she had found excuses to wander down by the water. Shed sat on the steps above him, each day bringing a different book, until hed finally turned around and asked, What are you reading?
Shed blushed and shown him the cover of a travel book about Bateo, wishing it were something more sophisticated. A text from her advanced P-chem class maybe, or a mature story about unrequited love.
Ive been there, you know, hed said.
And though she knew hed been to Bateofrom the story entitled The Time Rathe Stopped an Outbreak of Blood Fevershe had shaken her head and asked him to tell her about the island. Hed described the way the light slanted down between the leaves high above, and how the bugs were bigger, the animals meaner, and the natives tougher than any shed see in the States.
As hed talked, his eyes had glowed a molten silver, his shoulders had squared and his back had straightened until he looked like the man shed expected to meet, not the sad, hollow figure whod sat down by the beach and sketched nothing.
The next morning he was gone. Inside her heavy book bagshed been in her third year of college by thenshed found a sheet of paper folded inside the book on Bateo. On it was a pencil drawing of a jungle scene with some of the prettiest leaves, biggest bugs, and meanest-eyed creatures she could imagine.
After that hed sent her presents once or twicea colorful feather arrangement and a cowrie shell necklace shed kept in a carved box beside her bed. Then hed come back the year she turned twenty-one, and everything had changed.
And changed again.
Now she angled her chin up at him. Yes, Im a woman, but Im also damn good at my job. Just ask Wainwright. She knew full well Rathe had already called their boss, just as she knew hed pushed to have her yanked from the case and been turned down. Even better, open your eyes and see for yourself.
Its not that. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
Yes, it is. She stepped into the empty elevator car, bracing an arm across the opening to keep him out. And for your information, Im not quitting. If you cant work with me, youll have to take yourself off the case.
A large part of her hoped he would do just that. A smaller, more feminine part hoped he wouldnt.
He scowled. Damn it, Nia! Let me come up. We need to talk about this. The air around him vibrated with tension, and his eyes seemed to shoot silver sparks, but she wasnt afraid of him.
Not physically, at least.
She stepped back and pulled her finger off the open-door button. No. Well talk about it tomorrow. Meet me in the coffee shop at seven.
The doors tried to slide shut. He blocked them with his shoulder and glared at her. Fine. But promise me one thing. Promise you wont snoop around the hospital again tonight. Leave that to me, okay?
Nia might have taken offense at the request, but she was too darned tired to do more than collapse into bed. And there was something in his frustration, in his suddenly human gaze, that told her the request wasnt just the primary asking his junior investigator not to interfere.
Her father might have called it The Time Rathe Asked for a Favor.
Confused, stirred up and weary beyond words, she simply nodded. Fine. I wont go back to the hospital tonight. Ill see you in the morning.
A glint that might have been relief, might have been triumph, flashed in his eyes and he let go of the elevator doors. Tomorrow, then. He turned and walked away as the panels slid shut.
This time it was Nia who slapped a hand to keep them open. Rathe! He stopped and looked back without turning. She felt suddenly foolish, but something compelled her to call, Be careful.
Maybe he smiled. Maybe he winced. But after holding her eyes with his for a heartbeat, Rathe simply inclined his head and turned away.
Nia let the doors slide shut and resisted the urge to press her suddenly hot face against the cool metal wall.
THE NEXT MORNING Rathe leaned back in an uncomfortable booth and watched Nia enter the hospital coffee shop. A restless night was etched in the deep circles under her eyes. Her skin was tinted with makeup, but the hollows remained. And, damn it, they didnt detract one iota from her beauty.
Her dark hair curled around her face, adding mysterious shadows to eyes that already knew him too well. A faint blush stained her high cheeks, and her full, sensuous lips drew into a flat line as she sank down opposite him, both hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. She grinned at him, though the expression didnt quite reach her eyes. Okay, Bwana. Teach me how to investigate.
Rathe frowned but didnt argue. During the long night, hed acknowledged he would have to teach her some basic survival skills, since she seemed determined to see this through. He would walk her through a safely edited version of an in-hospital covert job, and try like hell to convince her it wasnt what she wanted to do with her life. He just couldnt picture her in the Investigations Division, all five-foot-something of her pitted against the ugliness that lurked beneath the underbelly of the medical community.
Why? He wanted to ask. Why are you so set on investigations? Your father wouldve hated it. You could be hurt. Killed. Why?
But that was personal, not business. So instead he pushed a sheet of paper across the table to her. Lets start with the laundry room. Why did you follow those men out to the loading dock?
Whats this? She picked up the paper, scanned its contents and answered her own question, Its the pickup timetable for the linens. There was a team scheduled for the one-to-three shift the other morning. She glanced up at him. Why wasnt this information in our background packets?
Rathe shrugged. Who knows? I copied it from the schedule in the maintenance office among other things that she didnt need to know about. He would tell her enough to do her part of the job and no more. Hed pass along enough to satisfy her, plus a little disinformation to keep her away from the dangerous parts.
Though the case seemed simple on the surface, Rathe had a feeling it was anything but.
So how do you explain the bed and all the equipment we saw in that so-called laundry van?
I didnt see it. When she raised an eyebrow, he shrugged. I didnt get there until after the door was shut.
There was no need to tell her that hed been nearly panic-stricken to see the tiny, furtive figure of a woman heading for the departing van. In an instant hed been back in the Tehruvian jungle, seeing Maria wave from a rebel army transport.
And that was before hed realized the shadow in the laundry room belonged to Nadia French.
Why were you there, anyway? We werent supposed to start work until later that morning. She pursed her lips and blew across the top of her coffee. Sipped. Swallowed.
Rathe looked away. He had to keep this professional. Mentor and student. Senior and junior. The way it should have been from the very first day hed noticed his best friends daughter watching him from the beachfront stairs.
I was looking around, he replied, not mentioning the gut feeling that had drawn him down to the subbasement. He tapped the paper that now lay on the table between them. Unless you have a compelling reason why you followed those two, I think we should move on. Rather, she should move on and leave the subbasement to him.