"You son of a bitch." Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "You bastard." She grabbed his arm. "You come with me."

"No."

"You've got to come-"

"I don't have to do anything. I do what I choose to do."

"I'll have Fike come down and drag you up there."

"And I'll sit in the chair by her bed and not say a word."

"You couldn't-" She stared at him in disbelief. "You could. My God, you're going to let Mellie and Cassie…" She turned and ran back up the driveway to the house.

Jesus, he felt sick.

Don't give in. You've gone this far. If you give in tonight, you'll have to do it again tomorrow or the night after.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

The phone rang.

"All right, you bastard." Jessica's voice was shaking. "I'll do anything you want. Just get up here."

"I'll be right there." He started up the driveway at a dead run.

Christ, it had been even more ugly than he'd imagined it could be.

"What happened, Jessica?" Melissa's voice was weak. "It went on for so long…"

Jessica didn't answer as she took her pulse. "How do you feel?"

"Like hell. He didn't come…It took so long--"

"Your heartbeat's still a little erratic, but it's coming back to normal now." She drew Melissa's coverlet up around her shoulders. "And Cassie's fine too."

"She wasn't fine. She's grown to depend on him. I tried to break away and talk to her, but she wouldn't…accept me. When I'm part of her, I'm part of the terror…not the salvation." She moistened her lips. "He's…the one she identifies as the savior."

"Some savior." She brushed the hair back from Melissa's forehead. "Are you going to be okay if I leave you and go back to Cassie?"

"Sure. Where was he, Jessica?"

"He got here a little late."

" Bad…" Her eyes closed. "So bad. We were so scared. He should have come sooner."

"It was bad." Jessica moved toward the door. "But it won't happen again. He'll be here right away next time."

"Good. We…couldn't breathe and our heart hurt…"

"It won't happen again," Jessica repeated, and closed the door behind her.

Son of a bitch. She blinked her stinging eyes and started down the hall toward Cassie's room.

Fike straightened away from the wall. "Gee, I hoped the little girl was getting better. This was the worst I've ever heard her."

"She's better now."

"Mr. Travis is still in there with her. He usually helps, doesn't he?"

"Usually."

"He told me you almost lost her this time. I'm crossing my fingers that she comes around."

"Thank you, Larry. I'm sure she will." She opened the door and went into the bedroom.

Travis was sitting on Cassie's bed and glanced up at her. "How's Melissa?"

"How do you think she is?"

He squeezed Cassie's hands. "Good night, sweetheart. I'll see you soon." He got up and moved out of Cassie's hearing. "Melissa's probably tired and very weak. Right?"

"You couldn't expect her to be anything else." Her hands clenched into fists. "You could have killed them."

"You wouldn't let that happen."

"That's what you counted on. You gambled on me giving in to keep them from suffering and maybe dying. How could you do that?"

"It was necessary."

"The hell it was."

"Think what you like. We all have our own agendas."

"Then why did you muscle into ours?"

"You invited me in. And can you honestly say that you weren't glad to have my help? When I didn't come tonight, I just returned the situation to the way it was."

"To get your own way."

"To get my own way." He gazed directly into her eyes. "I hope you won't force me to do it again. Because I will do it, Jessica."

"I know you will." She folded her arms across her chest to stop them from shaking. "And as soon as I can find a way to do without your help, I'm going to hang you out to dry. I hope they send you to prison for the next hundred years."

"You'd better be darned sure Cassie is cured first. You wouldn't want me to be out of her reach. Did you tell Melissa anything?"

"No, only that it wouldn't happen again. She'll not be satisfied with that answer when she's stronger."

"Then you'll have to stave her off. Melissa's fully capable of throwing a wrench into my plans, and that would be bad for all of us."

"I'm not going to lie to her."

"Would you rather we leave her here, where you can't keep an eye on her? I don't know if she'd still be connected to Cassie at a distance, but I wouldn't want to chance not being able to monitor her." He paused. "But perhaps you would."

"You asshole."

"I didn't think so." He started for the door. "Handle it any way you have to."

"Wait."

He looked back over his shoulder.

"You're not going to do this to us without paying. I'll cooperate with you, but I want your promise that if we get out of here, you're not going to drop us in Amsterdam."

"I told you I wouldn't do that."

"And I want another promise. I want you to arrange to take Cassie to the Wind Dancer and make sure she has some time with it."

"That won't be easy. And why should I? I've already won, Jessica."

"Because you owe it to us, you bastard."

He was silent a moment. "Good point. Okay, you have my promise. Just be aware if we're caught at the museum, they could shoot me or take me off to jail. Either way, it will be bad for everyone."

"It would almost be worth it."

He shook his head. "You don't mean that."

He was right. She didn't mean it. There was no way she would sacrifice Cassie and Melissa just to punish Travis. She gazed at him in despair. "This is so crazy. Change your mind. You can't get away from here."

"Yes, I can. But you're not going to like the way I do it."

She stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"If I tell you, you'll argue and then worry about it until it happens."

"Are you going to kill someone?"

"Not if they don't try to kill me. I'll give you the game plan right before we start moving." He left the room.

Dear God, what was she getting into? If they didn't get shot, they'd be hunted like criminals. They would be criminals, and she couldn't see Jonathan Andreas being lenient where his daughter was concerned.

And if the escape didn't work, it would all be for nothing. She'd end up in prison and Cassie and Melissa might be lost.

The escape had to be successful. The stakes were too high. Would Travis keep his promise to help cure Cassie? She'd have to worry about that later. As she'd have to worry about his plan to escape from Juniper.

Jesus, she hoped no one got hurt.

The phone at the gatehouse rang at 12:17 A.M. two nights later.

"Get up here right away. She's having an episode" Jessica said when Travis picked up the phone. "And no games tonight, Travis."

"All the games are over. I'll be right there."

Larry Fike was frowning with concern as he watched Travis come down the hall a couple of minutes later. "It sounds like a bad one again. Good luck."

Travis nodded grimly. "We'll need it."

Cassie's scream tore through the room as he opened the door.

"How long?" Travis asked as he crossed to the child's bed.

"Ten minutes," Jessica said. "Thank God, you came right away."

He took Cassie's hands. "Come here, Jessica."

Jessica stepped closer. "What?"

He didn't look at her as he said in an undertone, " Find an excuse to send T eresa away."

She stared at him in bewilderment.

"Do it."

She turned to Teresa, who was standing by the door. "Go get me a hypodermic from the medicine chest downstairs."

"You think you'll need-"

"I hope not. I want to be prepared. Just get it."