No, she mustn’t fall into that temptation. The decision had been made. Tomorrow that FBI man would be here and both the threat and the emotional upheaval would be over.

“Thank you for agreeing to see me.” Bart Jennings smiled at Eve. “Logan explained that your attitude toward government agencies isn’t entirely cordial.” He grimaced. “I have a few problems with bureaucracies myself.”

“A man of judgment,” Galen murmured. “I think I like him, Eve.” She knew what he meant. From the moment Jennings had appeared at the front door a short time ago, she had been impressed. Jennings was a man in his forties, with salt-and-pepper hair that had an unruly cowlick. His manner was straightforward, his demeanor frank and open. “Logan told you that we didn’t want Senator Melton involved in this?”

“I’ve no problem with that. The senator has some pretty heavy connections in Washington, but I’ve seen power figures come and go in my years with the Bureau.

From now on, he’s out of the loop.”

“Really?” Joe’s gaze narrowed on Jennings’s face. “You sound very definite about that.”

“Let’s say, I don’t trust him. He may be a stooge, or he may be up to his neck.

Either way, we need to be careful.”

“You believe this grand conspiracy theory?”

“I can’t dismiss it until I prove it’s not true.” Jennings paused. “I’ve heard scraps of information that suggest there’s some substance to the story. Some of it’s pretty hard to believe, but it could be damn serious if even a tenth of the things we’ve been told are true. You say this Etienne thought something big was happening in Boca Raton?”

Eve nodded. “At first, he thought it might be a meeting of the Cabal, but there was no event taking place that would give the members an excuse to come. It had to be something else.”

“I need the name of your informant.”

Joe shook his head. “I told you, I promised to keep it confidential.”

“You’re making my job harder.” Jennings turned to Eve. “Which leads me to you.

When do you expect to complete the reconstruction?”

“Three, maybe four more days would finish it.” She stiffened. “But I’m not going to finish it. That’s why you’re here. You’re going to take him off my hands. I want out.”

He nodded sympathetically. “I understand perfectly. I’d feel the same way. And if I were you I’d want to throw the request I’m going to make back in my face. But I’ve got to make it anyway: Give us those four days. Finish the reconstruction.”

“The hell she will,” Joe said.

“No way,” Eve said.

“Just listen. Hebert and Melton are obviously desperate to have that skull finished, and they must have a reason. Why?”

“Bently?”

“But why do they need to know he’s dead? And what connection does it have to whatever is going to happen in Boca Raton?” He paused. “We need to know, too. We were involved in the investigation of Bently’s disappearance, and we uncovered a few intriguing little morsels of information. Bently had some hush-hush dealings with a bank in Grand Cayman right before he disappeared.”

“Money laundering?” Galen asked.

Jennings shrugged. “Why? Bently’s personal fortune was enormous. His grandfather was in oil—that was one of the reasons Bently became an environmentalist. Payback. But huge transfers were going on in that bank in Grand Cayman. It was a joint account with a Thomas Simmons, who was allowed to withdraw any amount he chose. Then the account was closed, and the money disappeared.”

“Who was Thomas Simmons?”

“We questioned Bently’s wife and business associates and came up with a blank.

No one knew anything about Simmons.” He paused. “But another lead surfaced that guided us down a possible path. We ran a nationwide computer search on think tanks and university personnel, and came up with a Professor Thomas Randall Simmons at Cal Tech. He took a sabbatical about the time Bendy disappeared. We couldn’t find any other link until we checked with Grand Cayman and got a sample of his handwriting. It was a match.”

“A con game?” Joe suggested. “Maybe you should look a little harder for the elusive Mr. Simmons. It could be that Bently found out he was being taken, and Simmons decided to get rid of him.”

“We have been looking for him, dammit,” Jennings said. “We came up with zilch.

But Bently was very intelligent. It would have taken someone pretty sharp to put anything over on him.”

“Then we go back to whether Bently was a crook himself. Some people never have enough money.”

Jennings shook his head. “We don’t think so. Bently was an idealist and squeaky clean, but there were signs he might have been channeling his money into a secret project.”

“What project?”

“Something he believed in enough to stake his personal fortune on it. That was the lead that sent us scurrying to every think tank in the country to find Simmons. He was up to his eyebrows in some very interesting research.” He paused. “What do you know about fuel cells?”

“Not much. It’s supposed to be one of the alternatives to using oil and gas to fuel cars. Some of the auto companies have experimented extensively with the cells, but it’s never gotten off the ground. Too expensive.”

“Their energy potential goes far beyond the automotive field. Everything from power plants, to homes, to space stations could be operated by fuel cells. At a fraction of the present cost and no environmental side effects. There’s hardly a person on the planet that wouldn’t benefit if fuel cells became a viable alternative. Scientists are very close to making it a reality. Yet most people have never heard of the technology.

Don’t you find that curious?”

“What does this have to do with—” Eve stopped. “You think Bently was funding research to develop a workable fuel cell.”

Jennings nodded. “Simmons was deep in research on the cells. And we’ve been able to follow the money trail to a source in Detroit. Bently was being sold several key components for the development of fuel cells. He wasn’t a fool. He wouldn’t invest that kind of money unless he was pretty sure he was onto something.”

“Why keep it secret?” Eve asked. “If this fuel cell is going to be so beneficial, why not go to the government and persuade them to sink a billion or two into the research?”

“Maybe he wanted a finished product, or maybe he didn’t trust Congress to pass a bill that wouldn’t antagonize every energy lobby in the country,” Joe said.

“Or maybe there really is a Cabal,” Galen said slowly. “Maybe he knew about it and was afraid that they’d put all their power behind an effort to stop him.” Jennings nodded. “Well, he was stopped cold. Now we need to know what happened, and why it matters to Hebert and Melton.” She gazed at him in frustration. “And I’m supposed to stay involved in this godawful mess?”

“Please. Four days.” Jennings’s expression was sober. “I’m not going to give you any bullshit about duty. Everyone has to make their own decision about that. But there’s a good chance Bently was killed because he was trying to do something good for all of us. I will tell you that you could make a difference. It’s important.”

“It’s important for me and the people I care about to stay safe.”

“We’ll give you security.” He paused. “Only four days.”

“You don’t have to do this, Eve,” Joe said.

“I know that.” She went over to the window and stared out at the garden. “How safe are we here, Galen?”

“Pretty safe. I made damn sure we weren’t tailed. And, as I said, it will take time to locate us. And neither Quinn nor I is a slouch at this kind of business.” She turned to Joe. “Are my mother and Jane safe?”

“Of course. I called the department and saw to it last night. There will be squad cars cruising by the condo several times a day, and I’ve asked a detail of several plain-clothesmen to keep them under constant surveillance. And I called your mother and told her about the surveillance and not to let Jane go anywhere alone.” His gaze narrowed on her face. “That being said, I don’t like where this is going.” Neither did Eve. It was difficult enough to fight her desire to finish Victor without Jennings giving her the excuse she needed. She was torn between desperately wanting to be free and clear of all the ugliness connected with this reconstruction and bringing Victor home. She didn’t want to be influenced by Jennings. She should tell him to go to hell.