closed his eyes against the glare of sunlight upon the water.
“Tell that to my psyche,” he growled. “Besides, I have a family to consider.”
“Yes…Jeff, isn’t it? Studying to be a doctor?”
“Yes, sir. He’s interning now in L.A.”
“He’s a man, Kirby, not a kid.”
A noise on the beach below caught Kirby’s attention, he opened his eyes and turned. It was a pair of sea lions sunning themselves on an outcropping of rock. For a moment, he lost himself in the spray of surf hammering against the rocks and the seabirds doing a little two-step upon the sand. The urge to take the phone and toss it into the water, disconnecting himself from both Jonah and the world was overwhelming, but it was a futile thought. He’d learned long ago that no matter how hard he’d tried, he had not been able to get away from his past.
“Kirby…are you there?”
East sighed. “Yes, sir. I was just thinking.”
There was a note of eagerness in Jonah’s voice. “And?”
“I have to ask you a question,” East said.
“Ask.”
“Is this an order?”
This time, there was no mistaking the sigh in Jonah’s voice. “I can’t order you to do a personal favor for me.”
“I’m not the man I used to be. I’ve been out of the business too long. I’ve lost the edge needed to survive.”
There was a long moment of silence, then Jonah spoke. “So…you’re turning me down.”
“Yes.”
Again Jonah hesitated, but this time his voice was void of emotion.
“I understand. Oh, and Kirby, this call never happened.”
“What call, sir?”
The line went dead and Kirby knew there would never be a traceable record of the call ever happening. A fresh wave of guilt hit him head-on.
“Damn it to hell.”
He spun on his heels and headed back to the hotel.
Chapter 2
Sweat slipped from the sweatband around Alicia Corbin’s head and into her right eye as she focused on a spot upon the wall in front of her, rather than the pain of burning muscles in her legs. Gripping the handlebars of the workout bike a little tighter, she glanced at the digital readout on the machine and grimaced. Only another mile to go and she could quit.
Although she was a health club regular, she hated working out. Her preference would have been to take a long, leisurely walk in a deeply wooded area with only squirrels and deer for companions rather than some of these perspiring males who kept strutting from one machine to the other, and whose sole intent was for a perfect body and some female adulation. But then Ally would be the first to admit that she was uncomfortable with her own sexuality. She didn’t see herself as others saw her. She looked in a mirror and saw a woman on the verge of being too thin, whereas most women would have been overjoyed to be built in her image. Of average height, Ally’s slim, finely toned body was strong and high-breasted with hips that would never spread. The striking combination of auburn hair and green eyes gave her youthful features a pixie appearance, rather than that of a sultry vixen. But there was nothing fey about Ally. No one would ever have guessed that she was a highly-trained operative within a secret branch of the government, or that her IQ was off the scale. She’d entered high school at the age of ten, graduating two years later. By the time she had turned seventeen, she had a Ph.D. in physics, another in criminology, and was considering another round of classes when she’d been recruited by SPEAR. At the time, it had seemed like a good idea. Her parents, intellectuals who were more concerned with their life paths than with hers, had left most of her upbringing to hired help and higher education, so it was no jolt for Ally to go from a college campus to the training ground of SPEAR.
But being so much younger than her fellow students at college had been a drawback socially. She had made no close friends. If anyone had happened to notice that the quiet little genius was no longer on campus, it was so much the better. At least she wouldn’t be ruining the grading curve for anyone else.
And for Ally, joining SPEAR was all a matter of readjusting priorities. There wasn’t much SPEAR’s instructors could teach her in the way of technology, but learning about covert activities and enduring the intense physical training put her in an entirely different world. There had been days when she wasn’t sure she would survive, yet she had. Now it was so much a part of her life, she rarely thought about the way it had been before.
Today was only the second day of a much needed vacation and making the decision to go to the gym had come in a weak moment. Now, as she neared the end of her workout, the muscles in her legs were weak and burning. She gritted her teeth and bared down on the pedals, giving up her last bit of energy. Just as the digital readout clicked over to read twenty miles, she began to ease off, letting her muscles adjust to stopping. Finally, as she let her feet slip out of the pedals, she slumped over the handlebars with sweat pouring down her neck and between her breasts, her heart thundering in her ears.
As she sat, her cell phone began to ring. Wearily, she slid off the bicycle seat and walked toward the bench where she’d left a fresh towel and her phone, wondering as she did, who could have possibly known she was here. As she picked it up to answer, she remembered she’d left Call Forwarding on her phone.
“Hello?”
“Alicia, we haven’t heard from you in a while.”
The cool, almost impersonal tone in her mother’s voice had long since ceased to hurt her. She draped the fresh towel around her neck and began mopping perspiration as she dropped onto the bench.
“I’ve been…gone,” Ally said, hesitating on the last word. There was never any option about discussing the cases she worked on with anyone, parent or no. In fact, discussion about SPEAR was nonexistent, because to the general public, SPEAR did not even exist.
“We assumed as much.” Then, as if it was no big deal, Mavis Corbin added, “Next week is your birthday, but your father and I are going to be out of the country. So, Happy Birthday, Alicia and many more.”
Ally ignored a quick surge of disappointment. It wasn’t the first time this had happened. It wouldn’t be the last.
“Thank you, Mother,” Ally said. “Where are you going this time?”
“Egypt. A whole new burial ground has been discovered. Your father is so excited. This is very important to us, you know.”
Ally grinned bitterly. She knew all too well what was important to her parents and she was low on the list. “Yes, Mother, I know. Have a good trip and thanks for calling.”
“You’re welcome, dear. Take care.”
Before Ally could respond, the line went dead. She hung up the receiver and headed for the showers. She had a sudden urge for a milkshake and a chocolate doughnut. Instead, a half hour later she was standing in line, waiting for her order of black coffee and a plain bagel to be filled.
