I don’t want to make it any more dangerous for her than it is already.”
“I know you’re upset, Jill. But we don’t know what her condition is right now. We’ll do everything we can to—”
“Upset?” Her voice was shaking. “You bet I’m upset. I can’t take this any longer. You go find out exactly what happened to her. And you make certain that Gideon lets me know as soon as possible whether I’ve killed her or not.”
“It isn’t your fault that—”
“Don’t tell me that,” she said fiercely. “I am to blame. I’m going to pray that I didn’t hurt her too badly, but I won’t try to escape the fact that if I did, the fault was mine.” She drew a deep, shaky breath. “But it’s not going to happen again. We thought she was safe, but she wasn’t. And we let her walk right into it. It’s got to change.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“And I didn’t like it when Gideon said he couldn’t wake Eve up.” Those words were still chilling her. “It’s got to change, Novak.”
She hung up the phone.
* * *
Embassy Hospital
12:40 P.M.
“Eve? Open your eyes. I have to talk to you.”
Gideon, Eve realized dazedly. It was good he was here…She’d been trying to phone him when she’d been so sick.
“Eve. Open your eyes, dammit. This might be my only chance to talk to you.”
He sounded so urgent that she forced herself to open her lids. His face above her was as strained and urgent as his voice had been. He was frowning, and Gideon seldom frowned. Then he was smiling at her. “That’s right. Now stay awake. These hospitals suck, and I have to try to get you out of here.”
Hospitals? Green walls. The smell of antiseptics and cleanliness. Definitely a hospital. Eve had been around enough of them to recognize one when she saw it.
And Gideon’s face above her was sober again. A hospital face…
“I was sick…” she whispered. Her throat was sore, and she could barely speak. She was sore all over, she realized vaguely. “Fast…it happened so fast. What happened to me, Gideon?”
“I don’t know. They’re calling it food poisoning.” He was putting a straw between her lips, and she was sipping ice water. “But it was a damn violent strain if that was what it was. Besides the nausea, it caused unconsciousness. When you didn’t answer your phone, I went up to your suite and found you crumpled on the floor. I couldn’t wake you.” He took her hand. “It scared me. So I called the American hospital that the embassy uses and had them send an ambulance. You still weren’t awake when you got to their ER. They diagnosed it as food poisoning and pumped your stomach.”
That was why the muscles of her stomach felt this sore…“Food poisoning…not such good coq au vin after all.”
“Maybe. But I’ll swear that chef would never give you anything contaminated. I know him.”
“I might argue with you about that.” She swallowed to ease the soreness of her throat. “I felt so sick. But I’m going to be okay?”
He nodded. “Very nasty case, and it’s going to leave you weak for a few days. They say you’ll have to rest. But you’ll be fine eventually.”
“That’s good.” She closed her eyes again. Then they flew open. “No, it’s not. I can’t stay here in the hospital. I have too much to do. I have to get back to Robaku.”
“I thought that would be your reaction. That’s why I wanted to get to you before anyone else had a chance to try to brainwash you.” He smiled. “I prefer to do it myself.”
“Go to hell, Gideon.” She lifted her hand to her aching head. “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll see if I want the same thing.”
“I want you out of this hospital. I want you back at Robaku. I’ll pull all the strings I have to in order to get you there. But you’ll have to put up a fight to do it. All those nice kind people who want only what’s best for you are going to go on the attack in about fifteen minutes. And then, if you don’t cave, they’ll bring in the big guns.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. No one can keep me here if I want to walk out of this place. I’m already feeling better. I’ll just take a couple more hours to rest, then I’ll leave.” Not totally the truth. She was still feeling terribly weak, and her