The Cure Read online

  Something caught Leah’s eye and she looked closer. Oh God, no. A ghostly, pale green glow surrounded John’s body, pulsing in time to his heartbeat.

  Leah turned to Tal Nova. “What did you do to him?”

  “How can you tell we did anything?” Nova’s normally impassive face showed a new expression: curiosity.

  “I can see the sickness, dammit! It’s all through him. What is it?”

  Nova laughed. “You never cease to amaze me. It’s clostridium poisoning. A fatal dose delivered in his coffee. He doesn’t know. You’re going to cure him, and then pass it on to the target.”

  Even though she knew she had no choice, something inside Leah made her object. “No, I can’t.”

  “In about twenty minutes he’ll start to experience the first signs. Nausea. Cramps. Vomiting. After that—”

  “Stop it!” He was talking about John dying. “I know what happens next.”

  Tal nodded. “Go in. Cure him. I’ll even give you a few minutes to talk to him.”

  Leah grabbed the knob. It turned easily in her hand and she rushed into the room.

  “John!”

  “Leah! You’re alive!”

  Before he could say anything else, she threw herself into his arms. She touched his neck and the shock of the Cure made them both jump. John tried to push her away, but she clung to him even tighter.

  “That shock…what did they do to me?”

  “Poison,” she whispered into his ear. “They poisoned your food. They want me to pass it on to one of Marsh’s business rivals.”

  “What?” Now John did push her back. “You can’t.”

  She shook her head, crying and sobbing as she tried to explain. “They’ll kill you if I don’t. Kill me. I…I…”

  “Hush.” John put a finger to her lips. “I didn’t know they’d threatened your life too. If it was just me…”

  “No.” Leah shook her head.

  “It doesn’t matter now. Do it. No heroics. We’ll find a way out of this.”

  “But—”

  “That’s enough, Doctor DeGarmo. Time to go.” Nova entered the room.

  John rose to his feet. “If you hurt her—”

  “No one will get hurt, as long as the doctor here does as she’s told.”

  Letting go of John, Leah lunged forward, reaching for Tal. Faster than her eye could follow, the giant of a man stepped back and brought up his hand, a gun appearing in it as if by magic.

  “Not another step farther,” he said, his voice cold and hard. “Make one move toward me or any of my men, and lover boy here will meet a very painful end.”

  Leah stopped, her fury a solid, whirling entity in her head. She considered doing it anyway, just leaping forward and grabbing him. Then John spoke behind her.

  “Don’t, Leah.”

  She looked back and stared at him. He shook his head.

  “Life is too important. Don’t sacrifice it for nothing.”

  A hundred arguments perched on the tip of her tongue. John was a police officer. How could he condone her murdering someone? It went against everything he stood for, believed in. Could she have been wrong about him?

  And then it hit her.

  John wouldn’t condone murder. He had to have something else in mind. A plan to escape? Or maybe he was trying to send her a message. But what?

  She let Nova lead her into the hallway where his men kept a safe distance until she was past, and then shut and locked John’s door. She managed one last look back, but John was already facing away, his head hanging down as if he’d given up all hope.

  Tal Nova and one of his men escorted her down the hall, but she hardly paid attention to them. She kept wondering what kind of message John had been trying to pass to her.

  Sacrificing her life. Was that it? Did he want her to try and escape when they were out in public, make a scene, sacrifice herself where everyone could see? That would probably start an investigation, but John had to realize Tal could cover up any traces of what they’d been up to, long before the police found the warehouse.

  Sacrifice. Life.

  That’s it!

  Just because she was passing the poison on to someone didn’t mean they had to die.

  Not if the person knew they’d been poisoned.

  A wave of relief washed over Leah’s thoughts, washing away some of her guilt and anxiety. They were still in a bad position, but at least she wouldn’t have to carry the burden of knowing she’d killed an innocent person.

  She glanced at Tal Nova.

  And felt no guilt at all as she contemplated his murder.

  Del McCormick’s phone chimed. “Go ahead.”

  “It’s going down right now.”

  “Give me the address.” Del listened, committed the information to his memory and closed his phone.

  This should be interesting.

  After checking to make sure his digital camcorder was ready to go, he pulled out of his parking spot and headed across town.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “You’re sure you know what he looks like?”

  Leah frowned at Tal Nova’s question, didn’t even bother to look at the photo again. “I’m sure. Just hurry up and get me there. I’m starting to feel sick.”

  She wasn’t lying. Ripples of pain, not as bad as menstrual cramps but getting stronger, had been running through her stomach for the past several blocks, bringing with them a vague feeling of nausea and a cold sweat. She figured she had perhaps fifteen minutes before the poison incapacitated her. She knew Nova wouldn’t let that happen; he needed her alive. No, her worry was that she’d be approaching her target and her body would betray her, that a sudden cramp would force her to soil herself right there on the sidewalk in front of everyone. Something like that would surely prevent her from reaching the man she was supposed to kill.

  And that would be very bad, for both her and John.

  Tal glanced at his watch. “Two more minutes.”

  “Any more than that and I’m liable to shit my pants right here,” she said, gritting her teeth against another painful rumbling in her midsection.

  “There he is.” One of Tal’s men pointed at a group of people exiting the hotel.

  “Go,” Tal said to Leah.

  She opened her door and stepped out, then had to hang on to the door as another cramp dug its nails into her guts. When it passed, she took a deep breath, straightened up, and did her best to act casual as she walked towards the man Nova had marked for death. Behind her, the limousine pulled away from the curb.

  Making contact turned out to be easier than she’d anticipated. As she passed by, she pretended to lose her balance and clutch at his arm for support. At the same time, she let her hand touch his. The brief contact delivered the usual painful shock.

  “Ow!” The man tried to pull his hand away but Leah hung on, pushed herself closer so she was right by his ear.

  “Get to a hospital right away. Someone poisoned your food today. You’re supposed to die. Tell the doctors it’s botulism.”

  Before he could respond, she let go of his hand and stepped away. “Sorry about that,” she said in a loud voice. “I tripped over my own feet.” Two of the target’s associates approached her, but she gave them a quick smile and kept walking, ignoring their questions and heading for the corner as fast as she could, just as Nova had instructed.

  The moment she rounded the corner, she saw the black limousine Nova had said would be waiting for her. She entertained a quick thought of running away, but an image of John, his face battered and his body bleeding from gunshots, prevented her from acting on it. The back door to the car opened, and a man with a gun told her to get in and sit down.

  Twenty seconds later the car was pulling into traffic, and the man with the gun was on the phone to Tal Nova.

  “She’s her
e. Mission accomplished.”

  Leah leaned back and closed her eyes.

  I did it! John was right. It would have been stupid to sacrifice myself.

  Then another thought occurred to her.

  But what about next time?

  That there would be a next time she had no doubt. Tal Nova had as much as said so, when he’d told her he had a list of people to get rid of.

  Which meant she and John had to get free before Nova sent her after his next victim. Or learned that this one hadn’t died.

  But how? She couldn’t see any way for them to break free, not without getting killed in the process.

  Hopefully John has something in mind.

  Otherwise, someone was going to die. And soon.

  Del put down his camcorder after the veterinarian disappeared around the corner. He assumed Tal would have a car waiting for her there. That’s what I would do.

  Instead, he kept his attention on the target. He’d recognized the man right away, a big player in several industries and a major competitor of Leonard Marsh. Del wondered if Marsh knew what Tal was up to. He didn’t know Marsh personally, but he had a feeling Nova was operating rogue on this one. A power play? Some behind-the-scenes manipulation to keep the boss on top—or replace him?

  “Not that it matters,” he whispered as he watched the man’s pinstriped posse hustle him into a waiting limo. Something about the way they hurried him, the look on his face…

  He knows. Maybe not how or who or why, but he knows something’s wrong, that he’s in trouble.

  Del replayed the events in his mind. DeGarmo pretending to trip. The man catching her. The two of them holding each other for a brief moment, and then letting go…

  Holy shit. She told him! He’s probably on his way to the hospital right now. And I’ll bet Tal doesn’t even know.

  Chuckling to himself at Nova’s sloppiness—he should never have left before the hit went down—Del started the car. He now had everything he needed to interest the investors he’d spoken to: the video of the cured dog, plus video demonstrating how easy it was to use DeGarmo as an assassin.

  Someone was bound to jump at the chance to acquire her. And with his payment in hand, Del would have no problem assembling the team he needed to steal her away from Tal Nova.

  And after I deliver her? Retirement, here I come. Someplace warm, like Mexico or Aruba.

  His head filled with visions of bikini-clad girls serving drinks, Del never noticed the battered taxi following him.

  Emilio Suarez made sure to keep at least two cars between him and the guy who’d been following Tal Nova all around town the last couple of days. This was the first time the man had gone in a different direction than Tal or the veterinarian chica, and Emilio had made the decision to follow him instead of the doctor lady.

  Until he’d spotted Nova’s tail, he’d been wondering why he had to keep watching the vet. After all, Tal had her stashed away, never letting her out except when he was with her. What was the point of spying on her? But since Tal hadn’t called him to say stop, Emilio had continued following Tal’s last order. Although he’d have done so, no matter what, for reasons of his own.

  Except now he was purposely disobeying the big man. That could lead to a lot of trouble. Trouble Emilio normally wouldn’t want to get involved in.

  If it weren’t for what the doctor lady could do.

  At first, the idea that she could cure people had been amazing to him. He’d figured it would be worth a bundle to someone like Tal Nova, and he’d imagined all that money in his bank account for being the one who found her, so much more than the envelope of cash he’d gotten for spying on her.

  But in the course of following her—and Tal—over the past few days, he’d come to a realization. The power to cure or kill by laying hands was something only God should have. Emilio had committed more sins than he could remember, but he still made sure to get to church every Sunday. And he still went to confession as often as possible. That was the great thing about being Catholic. You committed your sins, asked for forgiveness, and a few prayers later you were in the clear.

  And since he’d made sure to never commit any of the mortal sins—well, with the exception of stealing, but he figured that couldn’t be considered a mortal sin anymore, not when even priests were getting busted dipping into the church funds—he was pretty sure he wouldn’t end up in hell.

  Sins were one thing. Everyone committed them; it was part of being human. Even murder could be considered a part of human nature, something people had done from the beginning of time. But always with bare hands or weapons.

  Not by using some weird supernatural power.

  In the end, it was a sermon in church just the other day that had convinced Emilio of what he had to do. The priest had talked about stem cell research and cloning, how man was not meant to play God.

  And that’s just what the lady doctor is doing, playing God. She isn’t using medicine to cure those animals, and she isn’t using a weapon to kill people.

  She’s playing God. And Tal Nova is making the problem even worse.

  It had to stop.

  After the sermon, Emilio had spoken to several of his vatos, friends from the old neighborhood who, like him, still went to church every week, still dropped money into the collection basket even if it was all they had to their names. Even if they had to steal it from someone else.

  Friends who believed in God and the Catholic Church.

  Emilio spoke, and his friends listened.

  In the end, there was only one decision that seemed right.

  They sought God’s assistance.

  Chapter Twenty

  Leah sat on her bed and watched as Tal backed away, his gun in hand. “I want to see John,” she said.

  Nova nodded. “You will. As soon as we need your…special talents…again.” He closed the door. A moment later, the distinct sound of the lock clicking into place reached her ears.

  Forcing down a scream of frustration, Leah turned her attention to the plate of food and coffee that had been waiting for her when she got back to her cell. A ham sandwich, an apple and a package of Twinkies. The food was cold and stale, the coffee black and bitter, but she wolfed it down anyway, the hunger in her stomach so bad by then that it hurt almost as much as the poison had.

  After finishing her food and draining the last drops of the coffee, exhaustion and depression overtook her and she lay down, cradling the skimpy pillow and wondering what John was doing at that moment.

  It was only as her eyes closed that she wondered if someone had drugged her food.

  By then it was too late.

  Tal Nova’s intercom rang just as he sat down at his desk.

  “We need to talk.” Leonard Marsh’s voice held no trace of emotion.

  Tal frowned. When Marsh’s voice grew cold and toneless, it usually meant the old man was royally pissed about something. As he slipped on his jacket and straightened his tie, Tal wondered if Marsh had gotten wind of DeGarmo’s kidnapping. Had Marsh tried to contact her, only to find out she was gone? Would that have been enough for him to trace her back to Tal? There was no doubt that Marsh, with his almost limitless resources, could find the veterinarian within hours if he really wanted to.

  Tal headed for the connecting door to Marsh’s office. Only one way to find out. And if he does know, I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve to pretty much guarantee I walk out of that office a rich man.

  “Sit down.” Marsh said as soon as Tal entered.

  “Is there a problem?” Tal asked.

  Marsh leaned forward in his chair, and once again Tal was amazed by how healthy the man looked. There was no way anyone would have thought that just days ago he’d been knocking at death’s door.

  “I just heard that Edgar Rothstein is in the hospital. Food poisoning, of all things. They’re not sure if he’ll m
ake it through the night.”

  “Shit happens,” Tal said, keeping to the script he’d written in his head for when this conversation occurred. “I take it that means he won’t be moving forward with his acquisition attempt?”

  “Yes, luckily for us.” Marsh’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Tal. “You wouldn’t know anything about what happened, would you?”

  “No, sir. Food poisoning’s not my style.”

  Marsh continued to stare long enough for Tal to feel the old man might be preparing to call him on his answer. To Tal’s relief, Marsh finally leaned back and let out a small sigh. “Good. Much as I’d have hated to lose a company to him, I’ve always considered Rothstein a worthy opponent. Not many like him around anymore.”

  “That isn’t why you asked me over here.” Tal knew there had to be something else. Something that couldn’t have been handled over the phone.

  Marsh nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that veterinarian, DeGarmo. She hasn’t cashed her check yet. I wonder if we were too hard on her. I want you to pay her another visit.”

  Tal’s stomach did a slow roll. To cover his unease, he took his pack of gum out and popped a stick in his mouth. “Another visit? Why? We don’t need her anymore.”

  “Not right now, no. But the news about Rothstein gave me an idea. What happened to him could just as easily happen to me. A lot of things can go wrong in this world. Car accidents, heart attacks, you name it. I want to put DeGarmo on retainer. Just in case. She’d be like my personal emergency care physician.”

  “I got the impression she’d rather not have anything to do with us again.”

  “Yes, and perhaps that’s my fault. In retrospect, maybe I should have handled things more gently. Not that I’m disappointed in the job you did, but someone with a little more compassion, and a lot less intimidating, might have put her more at ease. Made her more open to helping me without being threatened.”

  For one of the few times in his life, Tal Nova found himself rendered speechless. Had Marsh stood up and announced he’d found God, Tal wouldn’t have been more surprised. He’d never heard Leonard Marsh express any type of sentimentality, other than obligatory statements in public that privately they would laugh about. Even when Marsh’s wife had died three years ago, the man hadn’t missed a day of work, hadn’t expressed any sense of loss. He’d skipped the wake and funeral, releasing a statement that he was “too overcome with grief” to attend.