"I debated with myself whether or not I should even tell you. But you have been good to me and my family, and I thought you should decide how you use the information. My recommendation is that you disregard what I have told you."
"I don't think I can do that."
Dobal nodded. "I thought that might be your response. For the moment, then, I ask that you do not attempt to contact me. I really don't want to be a part of your world right now." He smiled sadly. "Good luck to you."
Dobal slid from the booth and walked out of the bar.
MILLENNIUM HOTEL
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Lord, she was tired.
Allie grimaced as she gazed at her reflection in the bathroom mirror after her shower. She looked as pale and weary as she felt. What could she expect? It wasn't because she was ill. Anyone who had been through what they had today at the lake would be as sapped as she appeared.
Or maybe the illness had added to it, but she had learned to ignore those signs of weakness. As she would do now. She grabbed a towel and started to dry her hair.
"Allie." Demanski was knocking on the door of the suite.
"Coming." She wrapped her hair in the towel and quickly crossed the suite to open the door. "Is there something wrong?" Please, no more deaths. She could still see those two men lying on the bank of the lake. "Have we heard anything more about Ben Leonard and Nuri?"
"No, Tavak said he'd let us know. But I need to talk to you." Demanski strode into the hotel room and slammed the door. "Sit down."
She warily perched on the edge of a chair. "What's wrong?"
"Do you want the short list or the long list?"
"I want you to tell me why you're looking at me as if I was a criminal."
"I don't know how else to look at you. I have to walk a fine line whenever I'm near you."
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong or not?"
His hands clenched into fists. "I was scared shitless when I couldn't find you in the water. I don't like to be scared."
"Who does?"
"This was different."
"Because it was your fear instead of someone else's?"
"Yes. There's nothing wrong with being selfish. I've made a practice of it for years. I felt so damn helpless. I wasn't even the one who got you out of that car."
"You were coming back to help us."
"That's not good enough."
"It's been a long, terrible day. Spit it out. What are you trying to say, Demanski?"
He was silent a moment, then said awkwardly, "I want to be Galahad."
She covered her eyes with her hand. "Oh, God help us."
He dropped to his knees in front of her and jerked her hand down so that he could see her expression. "Don't give me that crap. Do you think I like the idea of playing the fool?"
"Then back off, Demanski."
"I can't do it," he said between his teeth. "I know you don't want to hear it, but I'm not exactly subtle. I have to be up-front with you."
"You're right, I don't want to hear it."
"Tough. Here it is anyway." He looked into her eyes. "I'm not going to say anything stupid. I like you. Hell, I may do a hell of a lot more than like you. You're funny and honest, and I want to be with you. But you keep pushing me away because you think I'm going to pity you. I don't pity you. Why should I? You've got us all beat. Someday, if I see you tired or fading, I'll hurt, and I'll do my damnedest to help you. But not because of pity. I'm too selfish. I'll just want to stop whatever is tearing me apart."
"There's a solution," Allie said unevenly. "You know what it is."
"That's not an option. I decided that when I couldn't find you in that damn water. So I have to find other options."
"Galahad?"
"Hell yes. You haven't seen anything like the Galahad I can be. Give me a chance, and I'll find your damn Holy Grail."
Tough and smart and yet at this moment very vulnerable. She was unbearably touched. "Maybe after you've found it, you'll lose interest."
"Then you'll have to take your chances. You don't want promises. You'll run if I don't move very carefully. So I'm creeping forward at a snail's pace."
"You're too big to creep. You'd look ridiculous."
"Allie?"
"And you'd look ridiculous as a Galahad. It's not your style. Not sophisticated enough."
"Then find me another role. Because I'm going to be around a while."
"Look, I'm having a good period right now. But it gets nasty. I never know when it's going to take me down. I could go blind, become a cripple, have brain damage, and become a vegetable."
"I'm duly warned. You're not scaring me, Allie."
"Dammit. I'm not one of your Hollywood ladies." She pulled the towel off her wet hair. "I don't glitter. Look at me. Sometimes I look pasty as biscuit dough. That's okay with me. I can handle it. I know what I am inside."
"I like biscuit dough."
"Demanski."
"And I know what you are inside, too," he said quietly. "And you do glitter."
She stared at him helplessly. He meant what he was saying, and it was hard not to let those words sway her.
She should tell him no. She didn't need a man like Demanski disturbing the tempo of her life. She had a difficult enough time riding the ups and downs that comprised her days.
But she didn't want him to go away. When she was with him, she forgot everything but the moment. Moments were important.
She said slowly, "I suppose we could try to see how it goes."
He smiled. "I suppose we could."
"And I'll never question you if you decide to walk away."
"That's very good of you," he said solemnly. "I'll keep it in mind." He sat back on his heels, gazing up at her. "Don't feel uncomfortable. We didn't commit. We just clarified." He got to his feet. "And now I'm going to find a way to prove that you're wrong about my Galahad capabilities. I don't blame you for doubting since I've not done anything impressive since I left Las Vegas. I'll have to remedy that." His brow was furrowed with concentration as he pulled a sheaf of papers out of his jacket and moved toward the computer on the desk. "Call room ser vice and order dinner, will you?"
RURAL HALL, NORTH CAROLINA
10:40 P.M.
"There was a problem," Kilcher said when Dawson picked up the phone. "Tavak and the others are still alive. I lost two men. When Weitz didn't call me to tell me that he'd completed his mission, I drove back to check."
"You idiot." Dawson's hand tightened on the phone. "What kind of blunderers did you send out with Tavak?"
"I'm not an idiot," Kilcher said. "I don't take that from you or anyone. It happened. I'll either reimburse you or work another job for you. What do you want from me?"
"I want you to erase all signs of what happened at that lake. Then I want you out of my life. And you'll damn well reimburse me." Dawson hung up the phone.
He should have handled Tavak himself. The perfect opportunity, and Kilcher had blown it. Okay, keep calm. He'd have another chance at Tavak. Right now he had to concentrate on getting that mastaba wall decoded.
He sat in the back of the company Jeep, trying to steel himself for the even greater bumps and jostling he knew were coming. It was a Jeep because no other vehicle had a chance of negotiating the hilly terrain between the tiny airstrip and Mills Pharmaceuticals' secret research center in the North Carolina mountains. It had begun to rain, and the vehicle was sliding over for what passed for a road.