How would she ever walk down a street with him at her side, or get into a car and start the engine with him tucked into his car seat without worrying that some past sin of hers might catch up to them both?
Fury tightened her jaw. There was only one way she would ever know the whole truth. She had to force Jack Tanner to tell her everything.
She had to know or her son would never be safe.
After her shower Ami dried her hair and slipped on a pair of jeans and a ribbed-knit blouse. There were thin, elongated bruises on her throat, but she didn’t care. She was thankful to be alive. Extremely thankful considering what she now suspected. She needed to talk to Michal. She saw no reason not to admit what she had remembered regarding Yael Peres. Maybe he could shed some light on the fragments of recall.
When she walked into the great room, she pulled up short at the sight of his men gathered around him. Michal stopped speaking and looked directly at her.
“I’m…sorry.” She glanced around the room, unable to ignore the unexpectedly thick tension. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Now is fine,” Michal said, stopping her before she turned away. He said to his men, “We will resume this briefing after lunch.”
Ami glanced out the window, only now realizing it was past noon. She’d slept much later than she’d thought. But she’d needed the rest. The nightmares had haunted her relentlessly through the night. Even after Michal had made love to her, draining her physically, satisfying her so deeply that sleep had come swiftly.
But it hadn’t lasted long.
It warmed her now to think of how Michal had held her through those endless hours of tortured dreams.
She managed a shaky smile for the men that filtered past her out of the room. Without Carlos the entire atmosphere was different…for the better.
Michal approached her with slow, deliberate strides, her heart reacting in spite of her numerous troubles. How was that possible? she mused. No matter what happened, somehow he always had that effect on her.
“I asked you last night if there was anything you needed to tell me,” he said, his voice cold and hard.
She blinked, certain the ice she saw in his eyes was her imagination. “I remember.” As if she could forget.
Silence lengthened between them for a second that turned to ten before he spoke again. “I will only ask you this once.”
The arctic blast that accompanied his words had her stumbling back a step. “I don’t understand…what is it you think you need to ask?”
The same old fears plagued her all over again. Had he somehow discovered Nicholas? Had someone told him about the woman who’d visited yesterday?
“Has anyone from the CIA contacted you since I brought you here?”
Bingo. She stiffened before she could stop herself. “Who?” Her voice sounded strained to her own ears and she couldn’t stop the trembling that traveled through her body like the rumble of a quake beneath the earth’s surface.
He moved closer still and repeated through clenched teeth, “The CIA. You worked for them once before, are you working for them again?”
She blinked twice…three times. “I…I don’t understand. Why would you think—”
“It is not what I think.” He took her by the arms and shook her hard, forcing her gaze to meet his. “It is simply a question. Hasanyonefrom the CIA contacted you in any manner?”
Her head was moving side to side before she even realized her mind had formed some sort of response. Lying was her only protection in this case…wasn’t it? Could she tell him the truth? Right here? Right now? Would it matter?
“Since you are having difficulty with your memory,” he said with the same kind of bitterness he’d worn like a shield when they’d first met just over two weeks ago, “you will let me know if your answer changes.”
He sidestepped and walked past her, leaving her standing there ready to crumple with the anguish bursting inside her.
He knew. And she sincerely doubted he would ever trust her again. That nothing she could do would buy his confidence.
Now, even if she tried, she would never convince him that she wanted to help…that she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
She was the enemy…again.
AMI LAY IN BEDalone that night.
Michal had avoided her all afternoon and evening. And then tonight he had opted not to sleep with her. She assumed he had taken another of the rooms or maybe the couch.
