„It’s very stressful, isn’t it?“ she muttered to Adrian, who was sitting across from her in the booth they had chosen by a wide window.
„Very,“ he agreed wryly.
„You can jot down your feelings and put them in your next book,“ she suggested with false lightness. „It’ll add a note of realism.“
„I’ll do that.“
Sara twisted the shoulder strap. „What if he doesn’t show because you’re with me?“
„Frankly, I’ll be relieved.“
She glowered at him. „Are you going to drag this little incident out every time we quarrel in the future? Throw it at me and use it to illustrate how headstrong and foolish I am?“
„I doubt I’ll need any additional evidence. You seem to provide enough on a day-to-day basis.“ He paused, thinking, and then asked interestedly, „Will we be doing it a lot?“
„Doing what?“ she grumbled, watching people as they filed past to the snack counter.
„Quarreling.“
„I hope not,“ she said feelingly. „It’s wearing. I feel as though I’ve been through the wringer today and the main event hasn’t even taken place.“
„Umm.“
The ferry moved out of its slip, beginning its crossing to Seattle. In the distance a giant freighter loaded with containers of cargo headed toward the bustling port of Seattle. Sea gulls hoping for tidbits kept pace with the ferry, wheeling and gliding alongside.
„You know, Adrian, there’s something to be said for living in this area,“ Sara remarked wistfully. „It’s beautiful country.“
„Umm.“
Sara was about to demand an explanation of his monosyllable response when she caught sight of the man who was walking into the lounge from the outside deck. She went very still as she recognized the grimly handsome aquiline features. He looked at her down the length of the passenger lounge.
„Adrian,“ Sara whispered tightly, „it’s him. The man who tried to grab me in the market.“
With a casual movement that Sara couldn’t help but admire, Adrian turned calmly to stare at the hawk-faced man. He examined him in silence for a moment and then swung his gaze back to Sara. „Looks like he’s going to go ahead with Plan A, even though some of the details have been changed.“
„You mean the fact that you’re with me?“ She watched the stranger make his decision and walk firmly down the aisle of window seats. „If you want to know the truth, Adrian, I’ve changed my mind. I’m glad you’re here. Very glad.“
„It’s always nice to be appreciated,“ he muttered just as the other man came to a halt beside Sara.
„Miss Frazer?“ His voice was quiet and unruffled.
Sara swallowed, trying to keep her face unemotional. „Yes.“
„I’m Brady Vaughn. I’d like to talk to you.“
„We assumed that from the rather melodramatic note you left in her car,“ Adrian said before Sara could respond. „Why don’t you sit down and tell us what this is all about.“
Brady Vaughn coolly examined Adrian and then appeared to dismiss him. He returned his attention to Sara. „This concerns your uncle, Miss Frazer. It’s a very private matter.“
Sara stared up into the darkest eyes she had ever seen. The man was towering over her, and if Adrian hadn’t been sitting quietly across from her, she would have felt terribly vulnerable. As it was she instinctively took her cue from Adrian and gestured at the seat beside her. „Whatever you have to say can be said in front of my friend. He is as concerned about my uncle as I am. Please sit down, Mr. Vaughn.“
„For your own sake, Miss Frazer, I think the fewer people involved in this, the better.“
„I’m already involved,“ Adrian growled softly. „Sit down, Vaughn, or leave us alone.“
Sara held her breath as the tall man flicked another assessing glance at Adrian, who returned the look expressionlessly. Then the aquiline-faced Vaughn shrugged and sat down beside Sara. When he spoke he ignored Adrian.
„This is rather a long story, Miss Frazer.“
„Perhaps you could summarize?“ Adrian suggested easily. „We’ve got short attention spans.“
Sara saw the flare of impatience in Vaughn’s eyes. „Please, Mr. Vaughn. Tell us what’s going on.“
Vaughn rubbed the side of his jaw with an air of contemplation. Then he nodded slowly. „To put it simply, Lowell Kincaid is in trouble.“
Sara caught her breath. „Do you know where my uncle is at the moment?“
„We think he’s in Southeast Asia.“
„Southeast Asia!“ Sara glanced in astonishment at Adrian, who kept his gaze on Brady Vaughn. „What on earth would he be doing there?“
Vaughn sighed. „I told you this was a long story. The truth is it goes all the way back to the last days of the Vietnam war.“
Sara went still. „Go on.“
„Your uncle was working for the government in those days, Miss Frazer. He was assigned to the embassy in Saigon but he spent a lot of time in the countryside. He knew his way around South Vietnam as very few Americans did. He had friends in the oddest places.“ Vaughn looked a little pained. „If you remember the news reports, you’ll recall that things were very chaotic toward the end. Panicked crowds from the city tried to overrun the embassy walls in Saigon. Everyone wanted a seat on one of the evacuation helicopters. Things were in turmoil. A lot of men such as your uncle had to play it by ear when some of the normal chains of command broke down.“
With a disturbing sense of deja vu, Sara listened to the tale. She never once looked at Adrian to see how he was reacting. Something told her she should respond to Brady Vaughn as though she were hearing the story for the first time. Not as if she had read the nucleus of it in a manuscript called Phantom.
„There was a lot of valuable material that had to be salvaged during the U.S. evacuation of the country,“ Vaughn was saying quietly. „Some of it was taken out by helicopter but some of it was sent out through less obvious routes. Your uncle was in charge of handling a particularly valuable shipment. He was to take it across a border. To be blunt, Kincaid reached his rendezvous point in Cambodia but the shipment he was assigned to safeguard never made it.“
„I see.“ Sara’s throat felt constricted.
Vaughn looked at her with a cold, even glance. „We think he’s decided to go back and bring out the shipment he left behind, Miss Frazer.“
„Who’s ‘we’?“ Adrian inquired politely.
Vaughn frowned. „The people for whom Kincaid used to work.“
„The government?“ Sara pressed.
Vaughn inhaled slowly. „Yes and no.“
„That’s a little vague, isn’t it?“ Sara asked tartly.
Vaughn’s handsome features twisted ruefully. „I should make it clear, Miss Frazer, that while I have ties to the same agency for which your uncle worked, this is something of a personal matter for me. I am not representing the government in this.“
„You want that shipment for yourself?“ Adrian drawled.
Vaughn shook his head tiredly. „There’s no chance of getting that shipment out of Southeast Asia. Kincaid will only get himself killed trying. I’d like to prevent that. Your uncle and I go back a long way together, Miss Frazer. I owe him. He was my friend.“
„Who would kill him if he went back?“ Sara whispered.
„The story of that lost shipment of, uh, material, is not exactly a secret, Miss Frazer. There have been rumors and speculation for years. A couple of very dangerous people are aware of its existence and of the fact that only your uncle knows where it is. They’ve dropped out of sight since Lowell Kincaid did. I have reason to believe they’ve gone after him. I want to get to Kincaid before those others do.“
„And just where do I fit into all this?“ Sara demanded urgently.
„Your uncle is a very independent man. Especially now when he no longer has any ties to his former employers. He probably won’t listen to me but I think he might listen to you. I want you to come with me
, Miss Frazer.“
„Come with you where?“ she asked dazedly.
Vaughn slid a speculative glance at Adrian and then re-focused intently on Sara. „I’d rather not say our destination. But it will be in Southeast Asia. There are ways of getting a message to your uncle once we’re in contact with certain local people.“
„I don’t have a passport,“ she heard herself say.
„That detail can be handled. Leave it to me.“
Adrian stepped in, his voice remote and restrained. „She needs time to think it over, Vaughn.“
„How much time?“ Vaughn kept his gaze on Sara. „We haven’t got a lot to spare.“
„Forty-eight hours,“ Adrian answered for her.
Sara glanced at him and once again instinct made her follow his lead. „Forty-eight hours, Mr. Vaughn. Please. I have to think about this.“
Brady Vaughn got to his feet. The Seattle waterfront was rapidly filling the horizon. He touched Sara lightly on the shoulder. „Forty-eight hours, Miss Frazer. For Kincaid’s sake, please don’t take any longer.“ He turned and walked away.
Sara sat staring at Adrian as the ferry bumped gently into the dock. She ran her damp palm over her shoulder where Brady Vaughn had touched her. „Does it feel as if it’s gotten colder in here?“ she asked vaguely.
Chapter Seven
Sara concentrated on another bite of the chocolate-chip ice cream she was eating as she strolled along the Seattle waterfront. Beside her Adrian neatly devoured the pecan-flavored cone he had chosen. The ferry wouldn’t be leaving for another half hour. It had been Adrian who had suggested they take a walk on the picturesque wharf before they caught the boat. Neither had said much until after they bought the ice cream at one of the many fast-food stalls that dotted the wharf.
Sara knew the reason for her silence was probably the same as Adrian’s. They were both lost in contemplation of the scene on the ferry with the man who called himself Brady Vaughn. Finally Sara polished off the last of her cone and flipped the napkin into a trash container outside the entrance to the aquarium.
„You know what I think?“ she announced, thrusting her hands into her pockets.
„What?“ Adrian seemed fascinated with his disappearing ice cream.
„I think that legend Uncle Lowell told you about the gold is not pure fiction.“
„Brilliant deduction.“
She slanted him a disgusted glance. „Either it’s for real or else – “
„Or else other people such as Brady Vaughn believe it’s for real, which amounts to the same thing,“ he concluded grimly.
„Know what else I think?“ Sara went on determinedly.
„Let me guess. Your uncle’s idea of the perfect wedding gift is a cache of gold buried somewhere in Southeast Asia.“ Adrian swore softly.
Sara sighed. „He always did like gold. Said it was the only real hedge against an uncertain world. I can imagine him thinking gold would be the perfect present for me. Whenever he’s given me a gift, it’s usually been made out of gold.“ She extended her wrist briefly, displaying the thin gold chain. „And he did say something about going off to protect our, uh, wedding gift.“
„Does chronic idiocy run in your family?“
„My uncle is not an idiot!“
„I know,“ Adrian agreed derisively. „He just has a bizarre sense of humor. You’d think I’d realize that by now.“
Aware of Adrian’s irritation, Sara felt obliged to turn the conversation away from a defense of Lowell Kincaid’s odd actions. There would be time enough to defend her uncle later. With any luck he would return to take up his own defense. Heaven knew it had always been a little tricky making excuses for him. Sara decided to go on the offensive.
„Are you quite certain that Uncle Lowell didn’t say anything about the legend being for real when he told you the story?“ she demanded.
„He told me it was only a tale. There are others like it that came out of the war, you know. I turned up a lot of them while doing research for Phantom. It certainly isn’t unique.“
„Really?“ Momentarily distracted, Sara stared up at him, her eyes widening. „Tell me some of them.“
Adrian lifted one shoulder in a heedless shrug and tossed away the end of his cone. A trolley car designed to carry tourists from one end of the waterfront to the other clanged past along tracks that paralleled the street. Adrian didn’t speak until the sound of the whistle had faded. „Well, there’s a story about the CIA agent assigned to destroy vital documents in the hours before the embassy was overrun.“
„And?“ Sara prompted.
„According to the legend he kept some of the more interesting ones, such as a list of agents and their covers operating in Asia. Then he tried to hold an auction.“
„He was going to sell the list to the highest bidder?’’
„That was the plan, I gather.“
„Did he?“ she demanded interestedly. „Hold the auction, I mean?“
„Sara, it’s just a legend. How should I know what happened?“
„Oh.“ Disappointed, Sara pushed for more information. „What other tales did you hear?“
„Leftover legends from that particular war?“ Adrian’s heavy brows came together in thought. „I think there was a story or two about businessmen who were supposedly hired by the U.S. government to supervise construction projects in Saigon and the surrounding area. Apparently they used their visits to South ‘Vietnam to establish heroin connections that continued long after the war ended, making them very rich men. Then there are the tales of gold deals made in the north. The list of such stories is endless, Sara. Wars breed them. Just think of all the stories and legends that came out of World War II. People still write novels based on them.“
„I see what you mean. So when Uncle Lowell told you the story of the gold, you assumed it was just that: a story.“
„Umm.“ Adrian appeared lost in thought. „It still might be just that.“
„I don’t know,“ Sara mused. „I can see Uncle Lowell doing something like this – hiding a cache of gold in a bizarre location and then telling me it’s supposed to be my wedding gift.“
„Our wedding gift,“ Adrian corrected. „Don’t forget he gave me the story first.“
Sara ignored that. „What I can’t see is him stealing the gold in the first place.“
„We don’t know that he did. At this point all we’ve got is Vaughn’s version of things.“
Sara shivered. „Creepy guy, isn’t he?“
Adrian looked at her with a wry expression. „That’s one way of putting it.“
Sara came to a halt and leaned over the railing to stare out across Elliott Bay. Several long piers on either side of her, many full of import shops and souvenir stands, poked fingerlike out into the water. Around her, children ate popcorn and other assorted goodies while their parents browsed around the shops and enjoyed the sun. Another large ship was making its way into port flanked by tugs. Its deck was stacked high with containerized cargo. The ship carried a strange name and a foreign flag. A sailing yacht skirted the tip of a pier, seeking a place to tie up so that its passengers could come ashore for a meal at one of the many restaurants featuring fish. The sight of all the seagoing traffic made Sara think of places she had never been to and which, under normal circumstances, she would probably never go to, places that had bloody histories stretching back a thousand years.
„Have you ever been to Southeast Asia, Adrian?“
There was silence for a moment and then Adrian moved to lounge against the rail beside her, his eyes following her gaze. „Why do you ask?“
„Just curious. I was wondering what it’s like.“
„You’re not going to find out in the company of Brady Vaughn,“ he told her roughly.
Her head came around, her face mirroring her serious mood. „I may not have a choice, Adrian.“
His fingers tightened on the railing. „You think I’m going to let you get on a plane with him forty-eight hours from n
ow?“
Sara moved restlessly, not quite certain how to handle the harshness in him. „That reminds me,“ she said, not answering his question. „What made you think of asking for a couple of days’ leeway?“
„I didn’t ask.“
„That’s right.“ She nodded, remembering. „You just told him that we were going to take that much time, didn’t you? That was very quick thinking, Adrian.“
„I try,“ he murmured sardonically.
She frowned. „Maybe writing thrillers helps you think fast on your feet in situations such as this.“
„I was sitting down at the time.“
She peered suspiciously at his profile, wondering if he’d actually attempted a small joke. „ Well, I’m just glad you were there. I’m not sure that he wouldn’t have been able to pressure me into going with him if I’d been alone.“
„You’re not accustomed to dealing with people like him. They can be very convincing, especially when they’re using the fate of someone you love as bait.“
„You really think Vaughn is lying?“
„There’s a hell of a lot we don’t know about this mess, Sara.“
She was silent for another moment or two as she turned things over in her mind. „He must be who he says he is, Adrian.“
„Who? Vaughn? What makes you think he’s telling the truth?“
„Well, there was that business about being able to get me a passport on two days’ notice, for one thing. I mean, no one but a real government agent could accomplish that.“
„Money and the right connections can buy just about anything in this world.“
„Oh, yeah?“ She was beginning to resent his calm, cynical superiority. „And just where would someone like Vaughn go to buy a fake passport?“
There was a slight pause and then Adrian said quietly, „He might try Mexico City.“