Free Three Jack McClure Missions Box Set by Eric Van Lustbader Page A

E-Two. Yes, sir.”
    “What do you think?”
    “I think there’s a hidden agenda. E-Two may be a prime suspect, but I don’t think it should be the only suspect.”
    Lyn Carson turned back into the room. Her lips were half-parted, as if she was about to add something, but at a curt shake of her husband’s head, she kept her own counsel.
    When he spoke again, it was in the same tone, Jack imagined, with which he held sway over backroom caucuses—hushed and conspiratorial. “What’s important, Jack, is that you not leap to judgment like these political hacks. I want you to follow your own instinct, develop your own leads. That’s why I expended a great deal of political capital to have you reassigned.”
    Lyn Carson held out her hand. It was very light, very cold, no more than the hollow-boned wing of a bird, but through it pulsed the iron determination of a parent. The terrible agony in her eyes he recognized as his own.
    “I’m so awfully sorry.”
    Her words had a double meaning, and he knew it. She was talking about both Emma and Alli.
    “Bring our daughter back to us.”
    “I’ll return her to you.” When he squeezed her hand, the bones felt as if they truly were hollow. “I promise.”
    Tears overflowed from Lyn Carson’s eyes, fell one by one at her feet.

8
    “You shouldn’t have promised,” Nina said. “You can’t guarantee you’ll find Alli, let alone bring her back.”
    Jack found it interesting and enlightening that Nina Miller had been privy to his conversation with the Carsons. Garner’s deliberate exclusion was an all-too-graphic example of the schism within the task force, behind which, of course, was the disagreement between the fundamentalist wing of the Republican Party currently in power and the moderate wing about to take that power away from them. It was no surprise that a political agenda governed the task force. This was precisely what Bennett had warned him about, and he knew there was no good news to be had here.
    “What I can guarantee is hope,” Jack said shortly. “Hope is her food and drink. Only hope will keep her going through the darkest hours.”
    “Hope dangles people from a slender thread,” Nina said. “It’s patently unfair.”
    They had been striding down the hallway. Now Jack stopped, turned to her. “Do you know anything about darkest hours?”
    Nina stood staring at him. She didn’t answer, because apparently she had nothing to say.
    “I’ve had my darkest hours,” Jack continued. “And now the Carsons are having theirs.”
    He stood very still, but there was so much energy coming off him that Nina, as if slapped in the face, took an involuntary step back.
    His eyes glittered. “I will bring Alli back, Nina. You can make book on it.”
    Jack led her to the right, skirting the shed. There was a swath of lawn, rather narrow by the standards of the rest of the property, beyond which lay a thick stand of fluffy pines and large, gnarled, very old oaks. By the time they reached the trees, Jack had determined that Nina had low-slung hips and a walk that, defying the odds, was distinctly sensual.
    “I want you to know …” Nina stumbled over a stone as well as her words.
    “What?”
    “I’ve … had my darkest hours, too.”
    Jack, navigating through the rooty trees, said nothing.
    “When I was a kid.” Nina picked her way under tree branches, over exposed roots, the knuckles of angry fists. “My older brother … he molested me….”
    Jack stopped, turned back to regard her. He was startled at her admission, which couldn’t have been easy to make. But then again, it was often easier to confess to a stranger than to someone you knew.
    “And when I fought back, he beat me. He said I needed to be punished.”
    Jack felt a ping, like the ricochet of a steel ball bounding from bumper to bumper in his own shameful pinball machine. “You know that’s not true.”
    Nina’s face was pinched, as if she wanted to make the past disappear.“He’s