Aaron guessed that was only part of the truth.

"You were testing him, weren't you."

Finally she looked at him. "Yes… yes, I suppose I was. Provocation would test the therapy."

"You sicced him on Gerhard."

"I did no such thing!"

"He's a mad dog! You pointed to Gerhard and said, 'That man's a threat.' What did you expect him to do?"

"I expected him to alter his behavior to avoid the threat, not kill it!"

"Well, kill it he did, and now we've got to reel him in."

She shook her head. "Absolutely not. We simply need to increase his dosage."

"It's time you faced the hard cold fact that two-eight-seven isn't working. It's not suppressing the gene set."

"And you're glad of that, aren't you. You've been against this trial from the start—"

"Is that why you sicced him on me?"

She leaped to her feet. "Don't talk like a fool! I'd never do such a thing. It had to be Gerhard. He sniffed out your negativity the first day we met with him. That was why he kept pestering you for more information. He knew we'd given him only part of the story and he sensed you were the weak link. He must have told Jeremy while…" Her voice drifted off.

"While he was being tortured. Proud of yourself, Julia?"

She didn't seem to hear. She began to pace her living room.

Aaron rose and stepped to her front window. He peeked out and froze as he caught a flash of movement by the bushes. He held his breath and watched. No. Nothing. Just the wind blowing the branches about.

"It's not his fault," Julia was saying. "It's ours. We simply haven't suppressed the trigger gene enough. We'll have to up his dose." She stopped and glanced at him. "What do you think—jump it fifty percent?"

"No. Jump him and drag him into a cell and throw away the key, that's what I think."

She stared at him. "You're serious, aren't you."

"Damn right."

"How can you say that after all the years we've worked on this?"

"You get forced into your car trunk at knife point by a madman, then come back and we'll discuss how I can say that."

She held up her hand in a peace gesture. "Point taken. I'll talk to him. When I explain that he's got it all wrong, he'll be sorry. He'll apologize. And then we'll put this behind us."

"Easy for you to say. And no apology is going to mean anything. Bolton's an expert at saying whatever anyone wants to hear. Besides, I don't want an apology, I want him locked up."

Her expression turned fierce. "That's not going to happen and you know it! The agency has too much invested in this. Not just money—they've got plans. You know that. And you know they're not going to change them just because you've developed cold feet."

"I damn near developed cold everything] I won't be able to sleep or eat or even think knowing he's out there looking for me."

She stared at him a moment, then turned and left the room. She returned with her cell phone.

"I'll call him right now and get this settled."

"No, don't."

Aaron didn't know why he said it. It made no sense, but he quailed at the thought of anv sort of contact with that madman.

"We're going to get past this," she said, punching buttons, "put it behind us, and move on. I'm not about to let a little setback derail this project."

"Little setback? A man is dead!"

She ignored him as she listened to her phone. After a slew of rapid heartbeats she spoke.

"Hello, Jeremy. You know who this is. I've been speaking with my colleague and he's told me some very disturbing things… yes, well, you were misinformed. Terribly misinformed. Where are you?… Is that so? Well, then, let's settle this right now."

She lowered her phone and stepped to the door.

Aaron stood paralyzed with shock.

"What—what are you doing?"

"He's right outside."

8

Julia heard Aaron's cry of alarm but ignored him and opened the door.

Jeremy Bolton stood outside. His usually neatly combed hair was wind tossed and his normally handsome features were distorted by a scowl. He looked distressed. Julia knew Jeremy could be difficult when distressed.

But God help her, he was attractive. She'd never had much of a sex drive, and was glad for that—sexual entanglements were notoriously distracting. But Jeremy Bolton had an air about him. She'd always pooh-poohed the idea of animal magnetism, but this man had something going on. Maybe he secreted a pheromone. Whatever it was, she'd met only a few men in her life who could affect her this way… make her almost… impulsive. Make her want to feel those bearded cheeks rubbing against her nipples—

Stop.

Impulses be damned. Giving in would be counterproductive in the extreme. She could not jeopardize her neutrality, her scientific objectivity.

"Come in, Jeremy."

He paused for a second, then stepped inside. His scowl hardened when he spotted Aaron.

"I think you owe Doctor Levy an apology," she said quickly.

She noticed Aaron had retreated to a spot behind one of the chairs. His face had turned a cadaverous shade of white.

Jeremy continued to stare at Aaron. "How'd you get out of my trunk?"

Aaron only shook his head. He seemed too frightened to speak.

Julia said, "The apology, Jeremy. We're waiting."

His gaze remained locked on Aaron. "He wants to cancel the trial, lock me up again."

"He wants nothing of the sort."

"I was told—"

"You were misinformed. And for your information, the surest way to get the trial canceled is for Doctor Levy to disappear. That would be the end for you. You'll never see daylight again."

Without a word, he shot her a look, then went back to staring at Levy.

Julie pressed on. "And don't think for a minute you could elude capture. Your clinical trial is under the aegis of a government agency that has vast resources and a long reach—one that can be just as ruthless as you. They will track you down, and when they find you they will not be kind. Look at me, Jeremy."

After a few seconds he turned his smoldering blue gaze on her.

"Listen carefully to what I say. This experiment is very important to a number of highly placed people in this country's intelligence and defense communities. If you disrupt it they will be very angry. They will take out that anger on you in ways not sanctioned by the Geneva Conventions."

She hoped he didn't think she was overstating the case. She wasn't.

"I want to tell you right now, right to your face, that Doctor Levy is one hundred percent behind this trial. He is one of the developers of D-two-eight-seven. He has a vested interest in its success. He wants you to succeed. Can I make it any clearer than that?"

She sensed an easing of some of Jeremy's coiled tension. She pushed further.

"Have 1 ever lied to you, Jeremy?"

After a pause, he shook his head. "No. Least not that I know of."

"Well, I haven't. And since that's the case, I believe you owe Doctor Levy an apology."

He looked at Aaron again, then shrugged. "Sorry, Doc."

Aaron looked stunned. His mouth worked a few times before he managed to speak.

"Sorry? That's it? You were going to kill me!"

Jeremy grinned through his beard. "Nah. Just takin you for a little ride. I

got some bogus info on you, that's all. 1 heard if anyone was gonna rat me out it was you. If Doc Vecca says that's wrong, well then, I guess it's wrong. My bad. No hard feelings, 'kay?"

As Aaron stood there, stone faced, Julia prompted him.

"Aaron, we need to put this behind us and move on."

Finally he raised his hands in a gesture of defeat, acceptance, and capitulation. "All right, all right."

Julia clapped once. "Wonderful! Now I want to see the two of you shake hands."

"I don't see why that's necessary. If we—"