John didnt know, but he sure as hell intended to find out, ASAP.
You can go straight on through, he said when she paused in a short hallway. The head is to your right. Theres no shower, but if you want to get out of those wet clothes and towel yourself off, Ill scrounge something for you to wear. Theres a first-aid kit under the sink. When youre changed, Ill meet you in the galley. Ill fix us some coffee. With a side of interrogation.
She was pretty out of it, between shock and the gash on her forehead, but he didnt feel the slightest bit of remorse about questioning her. Experience had taught him that the things people in her condition said were usually more truthful than what came out of their mouths after theyd had a chance to think about their answers. And if that made him the cold, cynical SOB his teammates claimed, then so be it. His suspicious nature had kept him alive when plenty of others around himgood men and womenhad died in their efforts to take down the kingpins of modern organized crime.
These days, the major crimes unit wasnt about territories or ethnicity, it was all about technology. The modern godfathers controlled pieces of science and sold them to the highest biddersand Tiberius was king among the black market tech dealers.
Tiberius didnt have a last name that any intelligence service worldwide had been able to find, never mind a history prior to ten years ago, when hed appeared on the scene almost overnight. He was the worst among the worst, dealing almost exclusively in microscopic weaponry of the germ warfare variety. Hed been variously blamed for bioweapons attacks on five of the seven continents, including targeted viral assassinations in Europe and the U.S., and a series of flulike epidemic outbreaks along the conflict fronts in the Middle East.
Tiberius was bad news, there was no doubt about it. Unfortunately, hed proved all but untouchable over the decade hed been in business. There was no solid evidence connecting him directly to any crime and nobody would testify against himat least not anyone whod managed to stay alive long enough to take the witness stand. The calculating bastard lived sequestered on his private island off the Massachusetts coast when he couldve been someplace warm and inviting and outside of U.S. soil. John was convinced hed chosen Rocky Cliff Island for spite, so he could laugh at the agents whod dedicatedand giventheir lives in a series of unsuccessful efforts to put him behind bars.
Unsuccessful until now, that is, he thought as he dug through a spare clothes locker, changed into jeans, a U.S.C.G. sweatshirt and thick socks, and grabbed a slightly smaller set of the same for his mysterious guest.
Sydneyif that was really her name at allmight just be the answer to his prayers. Though his gut told him shed probably been Tiberiuss lover, hed just tried to kill her. That might be all the leverage John and his people would need to get inside information.
Then again, she could be a clever plant. The possibility meant hed have to be very, very careful in what he said and did around her.
He knocked on the door to the head. Theres a set of clothes for you outside the door. Ill be in the galley when youre ready.
A couple of minutes later, right about when the small kitchen space had started to take on the aroma of hot coffee, the door to the washroom opened and Sydney stepped out.
Her towel-dried brunette hair stuck up in tufts here and there, suggesting it would curl later. The borrowed clothes hung off her slight frame, and shed cuffed the jeans so they wouldnt drag on the ground. She shouldve looked ridiculous in the too-large pants and sweatshirt. The fact that she didnt, that she somehow looked as though a fashion designer had chosen the outfit and told her to make it work on the runway, had those warning buzzers going off again in the back of Johns brain, loud and clear.
He stared at her, seeing a drop-dead gorgeous woman beneath shock and saltwater, and thought, Were you his lover? A customer in a deal gone bad? Are you a victim, a perp, or somewhere in between?
As if hed said the question aloud, she locked eyes with him. So, Special Agent John Sharpe of the FBIare you authorized to make a deal?
SYDNEY SAW THE mental shields come crashing down. One minute hed been looking at her as though trying to make up his mind about her, and in the next shed made it for him, because innocent people dont need deals.
His gorgeous blue eyes blanked and a small, sardonic smile touched the corners of his lips, which were bracketed with small creases that drew her eyes and made her wonder what hed look like if he smiledreally smiledat her.
It depends on what youre offering, he said, expression giving away nothing.
She wanted to tell him that she intended to give him everything she knew, that she couldnt live with herself if Tiberius got away with what he was planning. But she had to be realistic. All she knew about this guy was that he was an FBI agentshe figured she could believe that much, because she highly doubted the coast guard loaned their boats and crew to just anyone. Well, she also knew hed dried off even handsomer than shed expected. That wasnt exactly relevant, but it was certainly a fact.
His hair was a rich, dark brown, thick and wavy. From his square-jawed features and the stress lines carved beside his mouth, she guessed he was in his mid-thirties, a few years older than she. Wearing a gray coast guard sweatshirt, borrowed jeans and thick socksas she washe shouldve looked casual. Instead, he exuded that same leadership shed noticed out on the deck, that same dont mess with me attitude.
On one level she found it comforting. On another, disturbing.
Shed known men like him before, men who would doand sayanything necessary to achieve their goals if they thought the ends justified the means. Hell, shed dated one of themalmost been engaged to himand look where that had gotten her: unemployed and forced to seek an alternative source of funding that had turned out to be far less legitimate than shed hoped.
Thankfully, this time forewarned is forearmed, she thought grimly.
No doubt Agent Sharpe figured that the end of bringing down a man like Tiberius would justify any means. She, on the other hand, needed to protect not only herself, but also Celeste. To do that, she had to maintain whatever leverage she could get her hands on.
Knowing it, steeling herself to negotiate when her conscience was crying for her to spill every last piece of information on the spot, she stayed silent, waiting for Sharpe to start the negotiations.
Instead, he handed her a cup of coffee and gestured her to the small dining area of the galley, where there was a booth-style table and bench seats.
She sat, blew across the surface of the steaming liquid and took a small sip, welcoming the burn of heat and the bite of caffeine.
He sat down opposite her, and the booth was so cramped that their knees bumped beneath the table while he got himself settled. She moved away, all too aware of his maleness, of the way his aura filled the small space and made her think of how long shed gone without a mans touch.
Swallowing through a suddenly tight throat and reminding herself that she needed to tread carefully, she lifted her coffee mug and said, Youll find me in the system as soon as you run the prints off this mugpresuming, of course, thats your plan if I havent told you who I am before we reach the U.S.C.G. station at Gloucester.
She expected the obvious question: why are your prints on file? Instead, he skipped right over that and said, In other words, you needed government clearance at some point.
She raised an eyebrow, then winced when the motion pulled at the cut shed cleaned and bandaged in the bathroom. Youre assuming I wasnt arrested.
Again, his smile held no humor. Consider it a hunch, based on what I know of Tiberiuss women.
I wasnt his lover. There was little heat in the denial, though she was tempted to ask why that had been his first guess. She wondered how he saw her, what she looked like to him.
After almost a year of interacting solely with the guards and Tiberiuss people, it seemed suddenly strange to be speaking with a mana tongue-draggingly handsome manwho wasnt part of that world.
But that was the point, wasnt it? He wasnt entirely out of that worldhe was simply on the other side. She wasnt sure she could trust John Sharpe. Shed trusted Tiberius, and that hadnt turned out well at all.
But youre right that I havent been arrested, she conceded his point. A few parking tickets and a stern warning for doing sixty in a thirty-five zone outside Bethesda, but thats it. And yes, I needed government clearance. She paused, trying to gauge how much to reveal, how much to hold back. Finally, she went with what she figured he could get from her prints and a quick background check. My name is Sydney Westlake. Im twenty-eight, my twin sister, Celeste, and I were raised together in foster care and we own a house together in Glen Hills, Maryland. Up until a year ago, I worked in the genetics department of the Advanced Institute of Science in Bethesda, investigating the causes and possible cures for a rare genetic disease called Singers syndrome.
She paused when the boats engine note changed and their momentum slowed. There were no windows in the small galley, but she thought she heard the clang of a marker buoy, indicating that they were nearing land.
What changed a year ago? Sharpe prompted.
As you might guess from the fact that I was swimming like hell to get away from Rocky Cliff Island, she said drily, I went to work for Tiberius. About a year ago my funding was cut, thanks to my lying rat-bastard of an ex-boyfriend. A few weeks after that happened, a representative of the Tiberius Corporation made me an offer I couldnt refuse. Ive been working in a private lab on the island ever since, the last three months of it under lock and key until tonight.
Hed gone completely and utterly still as she spoke, making her think of a predator freezing the moment it sighted prey. His voice was inflectionlessand damningwhen he said, You developed bioweapons.
She wanted to flinch from the condemnation, but didnt because it was the truth. A far more complicated truth than he made it sound, but the truth nonetheless. Not intentionally, and not willingly once I figured out what he actually wanted me to dobut yes, ultimately I developed a new DNA-based vector for Tiberius, and yes, under certain circumstances, it could be used for illegal purposes.
She couldnt quite bring herself to call it a bioweapon. It shouldve been a cure, a salvation. Instead, it was a direct threat to national security.
Sharpe set his coffee aside, very deliberately, and folded his hands on the table. What is the target? How long do we have?
Incongruously, she noticed that he wasnt wearing a wedding ring. Even more unsettlingly, she found that she was glad.
Its only because hes the first male nonfelon youve seen in eleven-plus months, she told herself. That, and she appreciated how hed stayed one jump ahead of her in their conversation. He didnt repeat himself, and didnt fill the air with useless questions and chatter. He was cool and calculating, yes, but she could already tell he was extremely intelligent.
Which could make him very dangerous. He was smart, he had an agenda and he had the law on his side. It was up to her to make sure she got what she needed without pushing so far that she got herself locked up, leaving Celeste unprotected when Tiberius came for her. Because he would come for her. There was no question of that.
Even now, the need to get to her ailing twin sister beat beneath Sydneys skin, along with the fear that the time taken up with her rescue and the boat ride had been too long, that Tiberius would have already figured out what Sydney had done before she left.
If she were in his position shed grab whatever her adversary held dear, demand the computer password in exchange and then disappear with the technology.
Since this was Tiberius they were talking about, he would probably do exactly thatand then once he had the password, hed kill her and Celeste outright because shed dared to cross him.
Sydney, how long do we have until he sells whatever you developed? Sharpe pressed.
You have some time, she answered. I corrupted the lab reagents and jammed the computers on the way out. Without the password, itll take another scientist weeks, maybe months to re-create what I did. With the password She trailed off, trying not to consider that possibility but knowing she had to. With the password, he could be up and running in a few days. Maybe less.
He muttered a curse as the boat engines cut out and the craft drifted for a few seconds, then bumped up against the dock. Above decks, they could hear the sound of tramping footsteps and mens shouts as coast guard crewmen fastened the lines and secured the cutter.
And the target? Sharpe asked.
Sydney kept her eyes on his, refusing to look away even though she wanted to hide her head and pretend it was all a nightmare, that she hadnt really handed this sort of power to a man like Tiberius. The eventual target is, indirectly, the entire United States legal system.
Go on.
Telling herself this was the only way, Sydney said, I built a viral vector that was intended to treat the effects of Singers syndrome. Under ordersthreats, reallyfrom Tiberius, I altered the vector so it mimics the twenty marker sequences currently used for a standard DNA fingerprinting profile. She paused, saw from his dark expression that he got it, and nodded. Exactly. Once someone has been infected with the viral vector, any samples coming from his or her body will yield incomprehensible blurs with standard forensic DNA analysis. The police labs will be completely unable to match hisor herDNA to crime scene samples or DNA fingerprints already on file.
He muttered a low, vicious oath. In other words, youve single-handedly given one of the most ruthless criminal businessmen on the planet the power to render the CODIS DNA databaseand a good chunk of modern forensic analysiscompletely useless.
Now she did look away. Its pointless to say how sorry I am. I thought the job was a legit front for his other dealings. I thought I could use his moneyuse himto help people. To help Celeste, and others like her who were often overlooked in favor of efforts to cure more commonand therefore more commercially lucrativediseases.
Youre smarter than that, he said without inflection, and for some reason that stung more than all the names shed called herself in the dark of night back on the island, when shed realized exactly the same thing.
She wasnt just smart enough to know better, she had known better and shed taken the job anyway, because shed been so desperate to find a way to help Celeste, so obsessed with the goal of prolonging her sisters life and making up for the fact that the disease had struck one of them but not the other.