Part 16 (1/2)
Kira tried to force a smile but couldn't quite manage it. ”Moriarty has been hunting me ever since. He was probably already wealthy and powerful when he got into the game, not to mention ruthless. But it wouldn't take twenty-three hours of superhuman intelligence to create immense wealth and power. I started with very little and created a fortune in no time. Think about what he's been able to do in the last several years.”
Desh did and it wasn't a pretty picture. ”Any ideas who he might be?”
”None,” she said, beginning to recover her emotional equilibrium. ”Whoever it is will be very subtle about his wealth and power. You won't find him on the cover of business magazines. The truly powerful don't advertise, they just pull strings from off stage.”
Desh thought about this and decided she was almost certainly correct.
”Whoever he is, he didn't waste any time framing me for the murders of Lusetti and my brother. But that wasn't enough to suit him. He decided to pin the Ebola plot on me as well so he could galvanize the entire US military against me. I don't know if he has any other plans with terrorists, but the evidence you've seen is due to his involvement, not mine.”
”What does he gain by working with terrorists?” asked Desh.
”I don't know. But there has to be more to it than we're seeing. Because I'm convinced he won't be able to perfect a genetically engineered cold virus capable of delivering Ebola genes.”
”Why not?”
”Too complex a project.”
”Even with enhanced intelligence?”
”Yes. When my mind is transformed, I have thousands and thousands of hours of the study of molecular biology in my memory for my intellect to draw upon. He almost certainly doesn't. Without this, no matter how great his intelligence, he doesn't have the knowledge base to succeed.”
Desh frowned. The more he learned, the more confused he became. He decided to move on. ”So why does he want you now? He already knows he can't force the secret of longevity from you.”
”I don't know,” she said with a shrug. ”But he's taking great pains to capture me alive, even knowing I'm his biggest threat and won't rest until I've stopped him. It's obvious he hasn't given up on the fountain of youth.”
They sat in silence for several seconds. Finally, Desh glanced at his watch and sighed. ”We'd better go,” he said. ”We have a bus to catch.”
Desh paid for the sundaes and they cautiously returned to the main mall. He scanned their surroundings for several minutes but didn't detect anything out of place.
Desh gave Kira a questioning look as they made their way across the mall. ”So why me, Kira?” he asked simply.
She sighed. ”I already told you. You're a good man. And when the chips are down, you'll do the right thing. You're an expert at finding people. You have Special Forces training. You're smart and well read. I've been trying to find Moriarty and stop him, but I've gotten nowhere.”
Kira reached out and placed her hand in front of Desh, signaling him to stop walking. When he did she looked deeply into his eyes and he sensed she was deciding if she wanted to say more. Finally she lowered her eyes. ”And I was lonely,” she said softly. ”I've been on the run for a very long time. Not trusting anyone. Suspicious of everything.” She paused. ”But I can't stop Moriarty alone. As I studied your history, I realized I needed the help of someone like you; someone I could trust.”
So she had risked kidnapping him, even though he couldn't have been more biased against her, to convince him to become her ally. Just as she had told him at the motel. And she had taken an even greater risk by putting herself under his control at the clearing. He still had a few nagging suspicions but he would put them to resta”for now.
Kira gazed into his eyes hopefully. ”Will you help me, David?” she asked.
Desh held her stare for several seconds and then nodded, almost imperceptibly. ”Yes,” he said finally. ”I will.”
Kira let out the breath she had been holding. ”Thank you,” she whispered earnestly. ”And I really am sorry for bringing you into all of this. It was selfish of me.”
”No it wasn't,” said Desh firmly. The corners of his mouth turned up into a slight smile. ”And you didn't bring me into anything. I was hired by Colonel Jim Connelly to find and stop a psychopathic killer who was off the grid, and that's still what I'm doing.”
Kira's features hardened. ”I'm going to stop this b.a.s.t.a.r.d if it's the last thing I do,” she vowed through clenched teeth, her face now a mask of hatred. ”I swear on my brother's soul that I'll get him. A tragic accident took my parents from me, but Moriarty murdered the only other person I really ever loved; my only remaining family.”
A deadly gleam came to her eye. ”And somedaya”soona”he's going to pay for that.”
30.
They exited the bus in downtown Richmond and took a cab to a used car lot. There they paid cash for a aging pick-up truck.
Griffin had called while they were on the bus and he and Connelly were doing well, despite the fact, as Griffin had put it, that being forced to shave his beard had surely ”scarred and traumatized him for life.” They had arrived at the house of Connelly's retired doctor friend without incident and Connelly was getting treatment.
Desh took the driver's seat of the used pick-up when the transaction was completed. ”Where to?” he asked.
”Get back on 95 north,” replied Kira. ”Let's go to my place.”
”You have a place? After all this time on the run?”
Her eyes danced playfully. ”It's a motor home. I live in a trailer park.”
”You're kidding.”
”Why do you say that?” she said impishly.
Desh shrugged. ”I don't know. You're a brilliant scientist whose discoveries could change the world. You just don't picture someone like that in an RV.” He smiled broadly. ”Albert Einstein living in a trailer park just seems wrong to me.”
She laughed. ”That's why it's so perfect. A trailer park is the last place the old me would ever think of living and the last place anyone would think to look. And this way, I can change locations every month or so and still have a sense of home.”
It was a sound strategy, Desh realized, once you stopped to think about it. ”I'm embarra.s.sed to say that I've never been to a trailer park.”
”You're in for a treat then,” she said. ”I have three RVs as a matter of fact. One on the East Coast, one on the West Coast, and one in the heartland. The last two are just safety valves. I paid for a year at the trailer park in advance so they'll be there for me if I need them.”
”I can hardly wait to see it,” said Desh, stopping at a red light. ”So tell me about your search for Moriarty.”
”I will. But not now. I've been doing all of the talking. It's your turn.”
”In my defense, I was too busy doing the mistrusting and glaring for that.”
”Given what you were told, I can't blame you,” she said. ”But tell me about you. It's been a long time since I've gotten to know anyone. How did you end up in the military?” She paused. ”Or did you feel like you really didn't have a choice?”
For just a moment Desh had forgotten that she had made a study of him, but her question reminded him immediately. His father had been a general, a fact that she well knew as evidenced by her question. She certainly hadn't wasted any time on small talk, although with everything they had been through, he realized, small talk at this point would be a little ridiculous.
”I had a choice,” he answered. ”Definitely. Dad wasn't like that. He loved being in the military but he wanted me and my brother to do what made us happy. In the end, I joined up, not because he pressured me, but because he set such a good example. He was compa.s.sionate and friendly and had a great sense of humor.” Desh paused. ”Most people picture military lifers as rigid, inflexible, authoritarian bureaucratsa”and many of them area”but not my father.”
”What did your mother think of it all?”
”She had a similar philosophy. She wanted us to be happy. She admired my dad, but she made sure we knew the sacrifices we would be making if we joined up. Funny,” he added, ”my brother joined up also. Went to Annapolis. I sometimes wonder if either of my folks had put pressure on us if we would have done something else, just to rebel.”
Desh hadn't spoken of his father for a long time and his eyes reflected a deep loss.
”I'm sorry about your father,” said Kira softly.