Eye of the Storm by Dee Davis Page A

to the heart of the matter.
    "Yes. The first coordinates will lead to the second and so on until a precise latitude and longitude emerges as the final meeting place."
    "But for all you know the rendezvous has been compromised as well. I mean, clearly someone has found you."
    "They haven't found it. The beginning of the message is 'trip is fine.' That's meant to signal that the rendezvous is safe. We had alternate messages to cover other possibilities."
    "It's just like James Bond." Martin's enthusiasm would have been humorous, except that this wasn't the movies and the game was deadly.
    "In the movies the good guys live," Reece said. "I'm not thinking that's the plan here." Even though he was talking to his brother his gaze never left Simone's.
    "Apparently not. Anyway, I was about to leave for the rendezvous when the shooter found me. And now, more or less, you know as much as I do."
    "There's nothing here to give you any idea where the threat is coming from?" Reece frowned, studying the postcard again.
    "No. But there wouldn't be. There was a huge risk in just saying as much as Maurice did. There are still a lot of bureaucrats and politicians who'd like to hang D-9 out to dry, along with any of its supporters. The U.S. took a lot of heat over Sangre de Cristo. And D-9 unveiled would make a perfect scapegoat. That's why we were disbanded in the first place."
    "So just the fact that Baxter risked sending this means there's real danger." Reece was back to leaning against the table.
    "Yes," Simone said. "That's why I cleared out as soon as I got it. Or I would have if Martin hadn't been shot."
    "Sorry." He cringed, looking suddenly more like a kid than a man.
    "You've got nothing to be sorry for." Reece's anger laced his words, making them sound more sharp than intended.
    "It's my fault, Martin." Simone wished she could turn back the clock and change things. If she'd never met Reece. Never allowed him past her defenses, then neither of them would be sitting here right now.
    "You couldn't have known the guy was coming. It's been a long time, right?" There was something deeply moving about Martin's faith in her. It was one thing to put lip service to the idea of their being family and quite another to see that it was in fact the truth.
    She nodded, struggling for words. "I don't even know who he is. But I need to get to the rendezvous to find out. Which means first thing in the morning I've got to leave."
    "What do you expect us to do?" Reese asked, his ferocity daring her to answer.
    But she wasn't afraid, because there wasn't a choice. "Go home. Nothing has changed."
    "So, what? We're just supposed to pretend this never happened? Wipe you out of our lives? It's not that simple, Simone."
    "Look, coming with me would just mean more danger. For both of you." She shot a significant look toward Martin, knowing Reece would never purposely place his brother in danger.
    "I just need a little lead time." She hated the note of pleading in her voice, but anything else would only lead to more angry words.
    "To disappear."
    "To head for the rendezvous and figure out what the hell it is I'm facing. And yes, to disappear. At least as Simone Sheridan." She used Reece's name without even thinking. The link was the last thing she had that made her real. Without it she'd become a shadow again.
    Reece clenched and unclenched his fist, the little muscle in his jaw working overtime. She held her breath, waiting for him to comment. To tell her how angry he was, to blame her for everything that happened. But he didn't say anything at all. Just turned on his heel and strode from the room, his broad back signaling the end of all of her dreams.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    "YOU HAVEN'T SAID a word in almost an hour." Martin said over the voices of the ten-o'clock news team. "Even for you that's a record."
    "I don't know what to say. Shit, I don't know what to think. Part of me wants to throttle her, and part of me wants to well, hell...throttle her. God, she makes me