Free A Thousand Kisses Deep by Wendy Rosnau Page A

rest, as they say, is history."
    "Not quite. What happened when you called him? Relay the conversation so I know you're telling me the truth."
    Eva frowned. "All right. I explained to him who I was."
    "And?"
    "And he didn't believe me."
    "Why would he?"
    "Exactly. He said Eva Creon was dead. It was the first I'd heard that. I thought about it, considered all that had happened, how I was living. Had been living before I went to live with Simon. The world believed I had died with my mother."
    "But you were able to convince Merrick otherwise."
    "The suckers could hardly be refuted. Only three people knew about them. Merrick, my father and me. Well, my mother, too, but she's truly dead. I saw the flames take her. After I reminded Merrick of the suckers, I told him why I was calling. That I wanted to read my father's file."
    "And did you tell him why?"
    "You know I didn't."
    "He told you the file was confidential, right?"
    "It was understandable for him to be wary of Paavo Creon's daughter, I suppose."
    "You'd risen from the dead."
    "Yes, I suppose it looked that way. And how could he trust a woman rumored to be the Chameleon's daughter?"
    "Exactly."
    "The data Simon had on Onyxx suggested that my father and the Chameleon were one and the same. I got the feeling that none of what I told Merrick on the phone was news, except my resurrection from the grave."
    Eva waited for a reaction from Sly McEwen, but his stoic good looks never cracked, and his blue eyes never blinked. She supposed he hadn't survived his tour as one of Merrick 's elite by giving away what he was thinking, or what his next move would be.
    But then she hadn't survived four years playing games with Simon for amusement's sake, either.
    She said, "He's mastered the game, you know."
    "Who has?"
    "The Chameleon."
    "What game is that?"
    "Survival, of course. Can you imagine what kind of scandal the news media could create if the world learned that a government agent had gone rogue and was now the richest criminal in the country? It's been fourteen years, and Onyxx can't stop him."
    "Should he be stopped, do you think?"
    Eva didn't answer.
    "Is your father, Paavo, the Chameleon?"
    She shrugged. "What do you think?"
    "I think, yes. What changed Merrick 's mind about giving you the file?"
    "I gave him the location of one of the Chameleon's compounds."
    This time Eva got a reaction. Sly McEwen's blue eyes narrowed, the muscles in his arms bunched, and his big hands formed fists.
    "You're Merrick 's informant?"
    "Is that what he's calling me?" For some unexplained reason Eva was pleased, and she smiled.
    "You're the reason we were sent to Castle Rock?"
    "Yes."
    "You're the one who fed Merrick the bullshit story?"
    "It wasn't bullshit."
    "The Chameleon wasn't there."
    "I never said he was going to be there. I said the compound was his. And it is. And I imagine that's what you reported back to Merrick , and when he called me afterward, besides being angry, he was also ready to take me more seriously than he had days earlier."
    He came to his feet, his height and shoulder breadth doubling his intimidation. "Serious enough to strike a bargain?"
    "Yes."
    "The file for more bullshit?"
    "The file for the Chameleon's location on a certain date."
    "And he fell for that? He believed that you would hand over your own father?"
    "Offering the location is no guarantee that you'll be able to catch the Chameleon."
    "Not too loyal of you, either way."
    "This coming from a man who shot and killed his father, then spent twelve years in prison paying for it."
    "Stepfather."
    "Give me the file, and in return, I'll give you a date and location. You'll get an opportunity to identify the Chameleon, and maybe even get close enough to catch him."
    Suddenly Eva didn't like the way he was looking at her. As if she were some worthless barnacle clinging to a cave rock.
    "What's wrong?"
    "You set Merrick up to set me and my team up."
    "I suppose that's one way of looking at it. But everything worked out.