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Lola's gaze shot to the rearview mirror. "But we're not being followed. You make sure of that every time."
"How well did you know Cain?"
"Not well at all. The guy's a robot."
"How long has your brother worked with him?"
"A few years. Why all the interest in Cain?"
"He could be in on it. He could've double-crossed your brother."
"I'd hate to be thinking the worst of everyone all the time."
"Not all the time." Jack squeezed her shoulder. "I trusted you, didn't I?"
Pressing her cheek briefly against the hand on her shoulder, she said, "And I trust you."
"Are you feeling okay now? I thought you doctors would be immune to the sights and smells of death."
She wrinkled her nose. "We worked with cadavers in medical school, but they were in pristine condition--nothing like that. The blood, the guts--those don't bother me. It's the smell."
His fingers reached up and he tugged her earlobe. "I'm sorry. Let's get that CPU back to your place and you can shower if that'll help."
She shivered and hunched her shoulders. "It might. That odor--" she ran her tongue along her teeth "--gets in your mouth."
She made it back to the house without vomiting and left Jack with Gabe's computer while she took a shower and changed clothes. Did the people who murdered Cain and trashed Gabe's office realize Gabe had the formula for the vaccine on his computer? Or had they been taking stabs in the dark, hoping to get lucky with Gabe's research partner?
She jogged downstairs in a freshly laundered pair of jeans and a gallon of perfume liberally applied to her wrists, throat and temples. Plopping down in a kitchen chair, she frowned at Gabe's open computer, its contents spilling on the kitchen table like guts.
She swallowed. Would she ever get the image of Cain's decomposing body out of her mind?
Jack waved at the air in front of his face. "You smell like a department-store cosmetics counter."
"It beats bodily fluids." She tapped the table. "Any luck?"
"Whatever my expertise in my former life, it didn't include computer repair. We'll need to take it in, but I think the hard drive is intact. Some savvy computer geek should be able to transfer anything on it to another computer."
"Do we turn over the formula to the CIA? Do you think that would save Gabe...and you?"
"Me?"
"Your name is on some international watch list because somebody somewhere thinks you're a traitor. If you cough up this formula, they'll have to think twice about that, right?"
Jack slumped in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Maybe they think I'm a traitor because I am."
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't know what I did or didn't do in Afghanistan, Lola. Maybe I didn't rescue Gabe because I made a deal with the terrorists who have him. You don't know me. Hell, I don't know me."
"You're wrong, Jack." She slammed her fist on the table, sending a piece from the computer scuttling off the edge. "I know you're a decent man. A man who's risking his own safety and well-being to protect me, a stranger, until a few days ago."
He laughed, a hard sound that rained down like pebbles. "Everyone was a stranger to me until a few days ago. I'm risking your safety by dragging you around on this hopeless mission to find myself. And I had no business making love to you. I couldn't even control that."
It was her turn to laugh and she let loose until she was wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. "Yeah, and I controlled myself so much better. I wanted you as much as you wanted me, Jack. Still do."
That got his attention. His dark eyes smoldered like two hot coals. "I don't want to hurt you. It's not only the possibility of a wife and family. I could be someone...bad."
"I know bad." She tossed her hair over one shoulder. "And you're not bad, Jack Coburn."
"Then why has the U.S. Government put a black mark next to my name?"
She tucked her hands beneath her thighs to stop them from fluttering over him, cosseting him, comforting him. Jack didn't like that. "It's a misunderstanding. Or someone framed you."
"You have a lot of faith in me, Lola."
