But Phillip couldn't worry now about what Grady might do. He was the one who had to be prepared to do whatever was necessary to protect Megan.

He got up from the chair, moved toward the desk across the room, and opened the top drawer. He pulled out the automatic pistol and checked it. Then he sat back down at the desk and leaned back in the chair. As he'd promised Grady, he would sit up tonight and keep watch over Megan. He had a bad feeling about what had happened tonight. He had no psychic talents like Grady or the others like him, but instinct counted for something. He had a hunch that there was a nasty storm brewing.

Sleep well, Megan. You may need it.

Gadsden, Alabama

THE TRUCK WOULD BLOW ANY MINUTE.

Tim Darnell backed away from the gasoline-soaked blue vehicle and watched the flame travel from the front seat toward the gas tank.

Too bad. Damn fine truck. But it had been damaged by contact with Megan Blair's SUV and probably had her paint on it. He'd made sure the registration was in a bogus name but he still couldn't risk keeping it. Could he get Molino to replace it?

Not likely. Molino didn't like failures and he'd be lucky to keep the assignment much less get him to pay him a bonus for it. Get it over with. Bite the bullet. He took out his cell phone and dialed Peter Sienna at Molino's office.

"I hope you're calling me to tell me that you've completed the job," Sienna said when he picked up the phone. "I expected you to phone hours ago."

"I had to drive the truck across the Alabama border to destroy it." He hesitated. "Things didn't go well. I'm going to need a little more time."

Sienna didn't speak for a moment. "Are you telling me she's still alive?"

"Right now." He added quickly, "But I'll take care of it. I tried to make it look like an accident. I expected her to lose her head but she didn't. She drove that SUV as if she was racing at Daytona. I'll have to try something else. Another day or two. That's all, I promise."

"Mr. Molino doesn't give a damn about your promises. He wanted the matter taken care of immediately."

Hard ass, Darnell thought sourly. If he didn't need the money, he'd tell him to go screw himself. "I've had her under surveillance for the last week. It won't take me long to work out another way to do the job. I'll make sure Mr. Molino won't be disappointed."

"He's already going to be disappointed," Sienna said. "Two days. After that, we'll have to replace you." He hung up.

That bastard was treating him like the scum of the earth. He and Molino thought because they had money and power, they could do anything they wanted to do. Well, he was smarter than both of them. Everyone made mistakes. How was he to know that the Blair woman would be that cool? She was only a woman and he had seen her fall apart only this evening in that waiting room when he'd been on watch at the hospital.

It's not as if he hadn't been prepared for a worst-case scenario. But he had covered his tracks and hidden his other truck in the brush in the woods here outside Gadsden. In moments the truck would be destroyed.

And the homeless guy he'd picked up on Highway 20 had been a stroke of genius. Even if they found the truck they would think that the driver who had tried to run Megan Blair off the road had died in the wreckage.

The vagrant was slumped across the steering wheel and Darnell had made sure that the blow to the head could have occurred in the crash.

Darnell frowned as he saw the man stir, move, in the driver's seat. No, dammit, if he managed to get out of the truck he was going to spoil everything. Should he try to—

The truck exploded as the flame reached the gas tank!

Yes.

He watched with satisfaction for a moment as the flames licked, devoured, swallowed the truck. How is that for a cover-up, Sienna?

Could you and Molino have tied up things so neatly? He moved toward the truck parked down the road.

And he'd be just as efficient eliminating Megan Blair. He hadn't really tipped his hand. There was still a chance at staging an accident. He always preferred to do it that way. He wasn't one of Molino's dumb thugs who was going to risk his neck by using a gun or knife if he could avoid it. He had a future and someday he'd be more powerful than Molino ever dreamed.

He would stay away from her for twenty-four hours to let her regain her composure and the memory fade a little. He would go to his classes at Georgia State, make sure the alibi he'd set up for tonight was still firmly in place, maybe spend a few hours with his lover.

Then, the next day, he would go after Megan Blair again.

SIENNA TURNED TO MOLINO. "He botched the job. He's making excuses and promises, but the bottom line is that she's still alive. Shall I send someone else?"

Molino thought about it. "Not yet. He's not usually inefficient. He killed that child in Orlando last year with no problems for us." He added jeeringly, "I'm surprised you'd even suggest we send the boy packing. He's going to some fancy college just like you did. That must make him smarter than an ignorant wop like me."

Sienna's expression didn't change. "Education is valuable, but it can't replace experience. If he can't do the job then we should make an adjustment."

Sienna sounded like a damned lawyer, Molino thought with annoyance. He used to be able to ruffle that sleek, slightly patronizing surface, but these days, Sienna was able to ignore the jabs. He probably thought any opinion but his own wasn't important. He turned and moved toward the French doors. "There's no urgency. We know where she is now." After twelve long years, they'd tracked the bitch down. Grady had laid a dozen false trails in those years and the frustration had almost driven him berserk. "And, besides, I'd almost like to do the job myself." He could feel the hatred sear through him. Fucking freak. We almost have her, Steven. Just as I promised you. "Any report on Grady?"

"We were close in Rome. We didn't get him. But we know he hasn't found the Ledger either or he wouldn't still be on the hunt. We think he's in Paris."

Grady was always close on his heels, Molino thought bitterly. But for how much longer could he keep him from leaping ahead of him and taking the prize?

Forget about Grady. They would get him eventually. Right now they had to concentrate on the enemy at their gates.

Megan Blair.

Paris

HE DIDN'T NEED THIS, DAMMIT.

Grady hung up the phone after talking to Phillip and went to the window to stare out at the rooftops around St. Germain. It was too tempting. How could he resist the lure when he was being met with frustration on every front? He'd been trying to ignore Megan Blair for the last twelve years and now she was storming back into his life. He had tucked her neatly away and had hoped she would stay closeted in that little house in Atlanta.

It wasn't happening.

He'd known for the last year that she was stirring, changing, growing. He hadn't had to rely on Phillip's reports after he'd linked with Megan on that night of her mother's death. Monitoring was the only way he could maintain control and keep her steady. She'd grown to love and trust Phillip after her first year with him, and her life had become more serene. He'd been able to distance himself, compartmentalize, and keep that link ember-low.

Not lately. There had been moments so intense it had been like riding a bucking bronco. Her mother had reached her zenith when she was in her mid-twenties and Megan was now twenty-seven. If she was as strong as he believed, then he wasn't going to be able to stall that zenith much longer. Even if there had been no Molino threat, he would have had to do something about her soon.