Chapter Forty-Six

Rory stared at her, suspicious of her sudden cooperation. This was Lena, after all.

Then again, it was too good an offer to pass up. “Any question? And you’ll answer truthfully?”

“Scout’s honor,” she promised, placing one hand on her heart in exaggerated solemnity.

Right.

“Were you on a mission?” he tried again.

“Not me, O’Donnell. Nina, remember?”

“Fine. Was Nina on a mission?”

“You could call it that. Got a cigarette?”

“That doesn’t help me much,” he complained, reaching for his shirt pocket.

She caught the pack, took one out, and lit it. “I’m not here to help you. You want answers, ask better questions.”

Was she deliberately trying to rile him? Or was there some deeper meaning to her evasiveness…? Considering her earlier, very physical reaction, he decided to tread with care.

If she had been somehow psychologically manipulated into making her heart stop beating whenever someone pressured her too much, he was on dangerous ground. He knew that hypnosis and a few other techniques could conceivably cause that kind of effect. Hadn’t put much stock in them until now. But this case had opened his mind to a lot of things he hadn’t believed possible.

Thinking of her almost dying made his heart beat an erratic tattoo. He felt as if he’d lost several years of his life just by witnessing that frightening episode. Yet, from the look of her, she had no lingering aftereffects. Her complexion was back to normal. No paleness remained on her red lips, nor any vacancy in her alert gaze. She was exactly the same as she had been during the past few days.

“All right. Let’s see.” In his mind, he went over the many questions that kept tumbling around and picked a prominent one. “Was Nina working on an ATDF mission profile when she was locked away in Prima Vista?”

“No.”

“Was it personal?”

“Yes.”

This was going to be a very one-sided conversation if he didn’t come up with better questions. The problem was, there weren’t that many venues to explore when it came to her personal realm. As far as he knew, Nina hadn’t had friends, family ties, or anything else that wasn’t connected to her work.

Except maybe the other child-soldiers.

Inspiration struck. “Was Nina looking for something? Or someone?”

There had been talk about a child. Born to Tamara Ormond, one of the other Rising Sun children. The rumor was that the infant was taken away by ATDF on the day of birth, leaving Ormond swearing vengeance. Like Nina, she, too, vanished right after ATDF had been shut down.

“Something like that.” Nina shrewdly watched him. “But…hiding would be a better description.”

Yes, that would make sense. After ATDF had been exposed, there would have been a need for her to hide—for more reasons than just the media looking for a scoop. The former victims of Rising Sun’s ruthless indoctrination would have felt alone in the world, unable to trust anyone—least of all the government that had supposedly “rescued” them. Deceived and betrayed too often, all four of them had gone underground. Which was why Rory had been sent to find Nina and the others.

“Tamara Ormond,” he said, and quirked a brow. “Nina was trying to help her, wasn’t she?”

“Let’s not go there,” Lena said, her gaze shuttering. “This little round of questions is about Nina. Stick to the topic.”

Apparently she wasn’t prepared to confirm specifics she didn’t consider hers to share, but he felt instinctively he was on the right track.

He changed gears and picked a different course. “Then why didn’t Nina use an alias?”

“Huh?”

“Why use the name Nina Hernandez? Wouldn’t a fake name be safer?”

“Ever heard of hiding in plain sight?” She shrugged. “Besides, in truth, Nina Hernandez isn’t all that authentic, either. The name was picked at random sixteen years ago.”

True enough. The child-soldiers had been nameless before being brought to the U.S., their names picked basically at random when they got their citizenship.

“But why Prima Vista? Why a psych ward? I don’t get it. If Nina wanted to disappear, she could have picked a lot of places that would have been just as effective, and a hell of a lot more pleasant.”

“Trust me, not her choice. She was on her way to a lovely, state of the art detox center after her last mission, and the next thing I know I’m in electroshock therapy with Doctor Jekyll breathing down my face. Not my idea of fun, I assure you.”

“I can imagine,” he said, trying to think of a reason why someone would have wanted her in Prima Vista. Clearly, Jonathan Creed had something to do with it. Which only left him with more questions.

There must have been a deliberate plan to mess with her head. But why? Was her present condition the desired outcome? Or had something gone dreadfully wrong?

“So,” he ventured, “if it wasn’t your own doing that got you there, any ideas on who was responsible?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she said. A wry smile curved her lips. “But I’m betting that your little psycho friend, Creed, was involved. There had to be a reason why he paid me a visit there.”

“But you say you don’t know him,” Rory pointed out, hoping that by prodding her, he could find a crack in the barriers her personalities had erected between themselves. And effectively him.

“I don’t know you, either. And yet, there you came, rescuing me like a genuine knight in shining armor.” She pulled a face. “Don’t get me wrong, O’Donnell, there’s a lot I don’t remember. Electroshock therapy will do that. And the drugs they pumped into me didn’t help, either.”

She had a point. In the jumble of her mind, a lot of information was most likely scattered between her separate identities, if not lost entirely. He hoped the latter wasn’t the case. It would make his job far more complicated.

He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “Okay. For argument’s sake, let’s say you were looking for someone before you were committed.”

Her expression told him she wasn’t pleased with his dogged return to a subject she’d wanted dismissed, but she nodded once for him to continue. Sitting there with the blankets drawn up to her waist, she looked more like her old self than ever before. The dimmed lights hid the sharp lines of her cheekbones, and the circles under her eyes had nearly disappeared. With her jagged hair combed back from her face, she was beautiful.

“Did you locate this person?” he asked, forcing himself to concentrate.

“I…think so.” But she looked doubtful.

Which was a first for Lena. Uncertainty wasn’t at all like her. But somehow, it erased some of the disgruntlement he had felt toward her since the start of their somewhat precarious relationship.

That she had prevented Nina from dying might also have something to do with his change of heart. In light of what had happened, he could now appreciate the advantages of Lena Alvarez’s trying character—and consequently, the necessity of her presence.

Though he wanted to probe further into what she remembered about the circumstances that landed her in Prima Vista, caution told him to tread lightly for now. So, he kept the next question vague. “Have you passed that information on to whomever you did all this for?”

If it was Tamara Ormond they were talking about, that would make locating her later a hell of a lot easier.

“Can’t recall.” Suppressing a yawn, Lena stabbed the cigarette out in the ashtray on the nightstand.

“Do you remember where you met this person?”

“West, I think. California probably,” she replied, then a guarded look came over her. “Why?”

“I might look into that after I get you safely settled,” Rory told her, making a mental note to mention it to Admiral Creighton. Maybe he could put some people on it to do the groundwork until Rory could get out there himself.

“Safely, huh? I think you’re forgetting Mr. Lunatic on our asses.”

Good point.

“I’m working on that.”

Was it his imagination, or didn’t she seem all that worried. In fact, her expression was one of pure determination.

A trickle of suspicion eased through him. Damn it. She knew a lot more than she was letting on. He narrowed his eyes.

What the hell was she planning?