Come and Find Me A Novel of Suspense - By Hallie Ephron Page 0,66

any other way?”

Diana knew. She’d always known. They had each rigged their own safety harnesses, and it had been the only explanation that made any sense. Daniel never buckled a safety belt on a roller coaster. Never encountered a railing he didn’t climb over or an extreme sport he didn’t relish. Canyon gliding. Parachuting. Bungee jumping. Skateboarding through the city, holding on to the bumpers of cars.

“How long have you been back?” she asked.

“December,” he said.

That was four months ago. By then Diana had long ago moved into her mother’s house. The new business was taking off.

“So Jake knew,” Diana said. A statement, not a question.

“Not until I called him.”

“But why didn’t you get in touch with me?” Diana just stared at him, trying to fathom how he could have left her twisting in agony.

“Jake told me that you’d moved back home. Buried me in your mind. Collected the insurance. A million bucks.” He whistled. “Exposed that health insurance scam. Awesome. It was what you’d dreamed about. You were already a legend. I couldn’t just show up and pull the rug out from under you. I mean, it would have been a huge mess. You’d have had to return the insurance settlement.”

Diana felt her mouth drop open. So he’d been doing her a favor, keeping her in the dark?

He went on. “I’d created a new identity for myself. It’s a lot easier to do that abroad than it is here. When I got back to the States, Jake put me up. Then I found this place. But coming back turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. And it wasn’t the same without you. But you’d grieved and gotten on with your life. I felt like I couldn’t just show up.” He reached over for the cowboy hat and put it on his head. “But I missed you. I had to see you.”

Tears pricked in Diana’s eyes. “As GROB?”

“I couldn’t help myself. I guess that was selfish. But I knew we couldn’t be together. I thought at least we could talk.” He swallowed. “I thought that would give us both back part of what we’d lost.”

She wanted to believe him. Really she did.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“See?” Daniel said when Jake came back into the silo. “I told you there was no need to worry. She’s not flipping out.”

“So you knew Daniel survived,” Diana said to Jake.

Jake gave her an uneasy look. Her calmness didn’t deter him from rearming the door. “That’s how it had to be. He was off the grid and needed to stay that way. You’d been so . . . unpredictable. We didn’t know how you’d react, and Gamelan was getting established.”

Back then, Jake had installed her network, set up her security systems. Redundancy, he’d told her. Every backup had to have a backup. It would have been easy for Jake to install the programs that monitored Diana’s every move—video surveillance, keystroke logging, network intercepts. It was a model of redundancy.

“So keeping me in the dark—that was purely a business decision? Risk management, I suppose. You couldn’t have me going off the deep end. Again.”

Jake started to say something but Daniel put his hand on Jake’s arm.

“Why the sudden change?” she added. “Why do you need me here now?”

“I know it feels sudden, but it’s not. It’s been building for a while. And Jake told you about Vault?” Daniel said.

“So what is the big freakin’ deal about Vault?” she said. “The two of you can take it. Count me out.”

Jake rolled his eyes at Daniel. It was his there-she-goes-again look.

“Why not?” Diana said.

Jake folded his arms across his chest. “Clients want you. You’re Superwoman. The giant killer.”

“The one with the squeaky-clean reputation,” Daniel said.

“The one they trust,” Jake said.

“What about your new partners, Volganet?”

At that, Jake barked a laugh. Daniel shot him a warning look.

“What?” Diana said.

Daniel said, “I promise you, there’s no new partner.”

“And strictly speaking, we don’t need you to work with us either,” Jake said.

Daniel rushed to add, “But it would be much better all around if you did.”

Jake sat at one of the computers, typed something, then clicked the mouse a few times. A gigantic framed image sprang to life, projected across the silo’s curved wall opposite them. It was OtherWorld, Diana’s office, with Nadia standing in the middle of it. The avatar pivoted to face them. She was wearing her dark business suit.

“Welcome to the offices of Gamelan Security. I’m Nadia Varata.” Jake spoke into a microphone and a voice balloon