The Perfect Gift Read online

  Snow swirled at the window as they stared at one another. In the sudden, trembling silence, Maggie heard a soft cough, followed by a knock at the door.

  “Morwenna, is that you?”

  With a whoosh, the door opened, letting in a sprinkling of snow. “Oh, I beg your pardon. I wasn’t sure that anyone was here.” A small woman in a bright yellow ski parka stood on the steps, her shoulders covered with snow. “We’re lost. We were looking for Glenbrae House, but we must have taken the wrong road. You see, we’ve just driven up from Manchester and we couldn’t see anything in the snow.”

  Maggie forced her voice to be level and calm. “If you want Glenbrae House, you need to take the next road down the hill.”

  Abruptly something moved out in the snow. A gray form shot past the woman’s feet, and she cried out, stumbling against the doorway.

  Daniel Kincade rose slowly. “Are you all right?”

  “I think so. Whatever it was, is gone now.” Snow drifted down over the loch as the woman sat up shakily. Her hand brushed at her temple. “It’s my head.”

  “Let me help you.” Daniel Kincade caught her arm and helped her to a chair. “You haven’t hurt yourself, I hope.”

  Her hands closed on his arm, and a dreamy, expectant look filled her smooth features, “No, I’m fine now,” she said. “Lovely, in fact.” Her fingers splayed open, working gently across his arm. “I’ll just rest here another moment if I may. I’d like to catch my breath, if that’s all right with you.”

  “Of course,” Maggie said.

  But her father eased his hand from beneath the woman’s fingers. “You say you drove up from Manchester? There was bad weather all along that route. I heard that the roads were closed,” he said slowly.

  Then he took a step back.

  “Did you indeed?” The woman’s green eyes narrowed. “A slip on my part. I should have said we came in by boat. I wasn’t expecting you to notice. I was certain that your reunion with your daughter would distract you.”

  His hand dove to his pocket, but her own was faster. Sunlight played over a small pistol as she circled the room carefully. “And now that we’ve established your identity at last, we’ll wait for the others. They have a great many questions to ask you, Mr. Kincade. While we wait, you’ll kindly step away from your daughter.”

  “No.” Kincade moved with surprising speed for a man of his age, blocking Maggie with his body.

  The woman seemed entirely devoid of interest. “It’s quite pointless, I assure you. Neither of you will be going anywhere.”

  “No, you’ve made the mistake,” Kincade said grimly. “You don’t dare to shoot me. Without what I have in my head, you and your ugly group of misfits are powerless.”

  “Again, you err. Everything you know is now mine. All the details of the facet angles. All the important contacts in your government, and the names of our group whom you’ve discovered.” She smiled slowly. “I have an unusual gift, you see. Through physical contact, I can register thoughts and emotions. With practice I’ve become quite good, I assure you.”

  Maggie took a sharp breath. This cold description fit a gift she knew full well. But was there some connection between Jared and this woman?

  “Yes, Ms. Kincade, I was certain that you would recognize the skill. Commander MacNeill is similarly gifted, though his abilities came from physical trauma, while mine came from careful chemical enhancements. His gift is far less reliable, I might add.” Her pistol angled up, pointed directly at Daniel’s chest. “So don’t overestimate your value to us, and don’t assume that because I’m a woman, I won’t act effectively. If you take one more step, I’ll drop you cold.”

  Outside a car labored over the rocky hillside.

  “Excellent.” The woman smoothed the fur at the collar of her parka. “Exactly on schedule. As a psychiatrist, I value punctuality.” She smiled, a gesture of cool, striking beauty. “And I find I’m quite looking forward to seeing Commander MacNeill again.”

  “What are you doing here?” Perpetua glared at Morwenna, who was clambering over the drifting snow.

  “I’ve come to tell you that I found Gideon. He was down by the loch.” She smiled calmly. “And to tell you that Maggie’s father arrived. I let him go inside so they could talk.” She clucked her tongue. “So many questions she must have after all these months. And they won’t have much time. He was trying to explain, saying something about a ring when the woman came.”

  Perpetua stiffened, one foot on a snowdrift. What woman?”

  “One in a yellow parka. From London, I expect, considering that accent.”

  “You let her pass?”

  Morwenna’s face fell. “You mean I should have stopped her? You said only to watch for men, Pet. I never thought that…”

  Perpetua was already moving over the snow, her movements remarkably swift for a woman of such advanced age.

  A CAR GRUMBLED IN THE DISTANCE.

  Daniel Kincade lunged to the side and grabbed the woman’s wrist.

  “Bloody fool,” the psychiatrist snarled. Her pistol shook as she squeezed out two shots that left red stains blooming across Daniel Kincade’s chest.

  Maggie reached out blindly. “Stop or you’ll kill him.”

  The Englishwoman scowled. “He’s gone ashen. He must be going into shock.” She felt his wrist for a pulse, then bent closer, frowning. “He’s hiding something.”

  She shoved Daniel onto his back and dug at his shirt and coat.

  Beneath Daniel’s hand, Maggie saw her precious ring. Maybe she could distract the woman before she realized exactly what Daniel had dropped.

  She stumbled to her feet. “I’m going for a doctor. A real doctor.”

  Instantly, the pistol swung up toward Maggie. “That would be a very bad idea, Ms. Kincade. At one time, you had use to us as bait to find your father. I urged Preston to rummage through your bags and leave that camisole with a note. Delivering that box to the abbey was my second idea. With enough pressure on you, we knew that your father would eventually emerge from hiding to help you. Now your usefulness is over, and there is no reason I shouldn’t shoot you here and now.”

  “I don’t care. I’m still going for a doctor.”

  Daniel Kincade shuddered, then gave a loud groan. “Don’t, Maggie.”

  “Prop him up,” the psychiatrist snapped as her pistol leveled on Maggie. “And don’t do anything stupid.”

  Carefully, Maggie maneuvered Daniel forward, resting his back against a chair. “How do you feel?”

  “Lousy. I’m sorry, love. I’d hoped to spare you this.” His body shook with a savage cough. “Meet the people who plan to save the world—and kill everyone who defies them in the process.” He glared up at the psychiatrist. “If they have their way, everyone will be remade in their likeness.”

  “Not if,” the psychiatrist muttered. “When. Any truly advanced society demands loyalty.”

  “Loyalty to what?” Daniel asked.

  “To superior minds. Decisions have been left to the others long enough.”

  “You can’t succeed,” the bleeding man said grimly. “No matter how many of you there are, there will always be more of us.”

  The woman’s voice was cool and detached as she tossed a roll of white fabric to Maggie. “Bandage his chest. We don’t want him to the yet.”

  “It makes no difference. I’ll tell you nothing.”

  The woman in the parka smiled. “With your daughter as a hostage? Oh, I think you’ll tell us everything we want to know, Mr. Kincade.”

  “Animals, that’s what you are.”

  “Professionals,” she corrected. “Just as you were. And in our hands, social inefficiency and incompetence will soon be brought to an end.”

  Kincade hunched forward, dragging an arm across his chest. “Where I come from, it’s called democracy, lady.”

  The psychiatrist ran a hand over the thick fur at her collar. “Inefficiency cannot be tolerated. The world’s resources are growing too limited fo
r that. Meanwhile, the population must be contained and controlled. You will find that out soon enough.”

  Outside the motor grew louder. Maggie inched closer to her father and slid her fingers into his.

  The door swung open.

  Jared appeared. Preston was one step behind him, his gun leveled.

  Jared bit back an oath when he realized the identity of the woman in the yellow parka. Revulsion filled him as a dozen puzzle pieces slipped into place. As the official psychiatrist, no doubt Elizabeth McNamara knew every detail of his medical files.

  He prayed that she hadn’t yet discovered the full extent of his gift.

  He made a calculated decision to let the shock show on his face, fueling her sense of superiority. “Dr. McNamara? You’re part of this?” He made his turn slow and dramatic, every inch of movement carefully planned. Preston was still too close for a parry, but the time to act would soon come.

  “Of course. We’ve known of Nicholas Draycott’s grand plans for some time now, and his invitation to Ms. Kincade helped us immeasurably. Her presence offered us perfect bait for her father.”

  He stiffened at the sight of Maggie with her hand on a bearded man with blood spreading over his chest. He recognized him as the Dutchman Maggie had met in London, but Jared had a sharp suspicion the man was not what he seemed.

  Maggie’s father?

  Proof came in Maggie’s pale, tight features as she hovered over the wounded man.

  “My God, what’s happened here? Jared feigned confusion until he could assess the situation. He had to find out how much the others knew.

  “Meet Anders van Leiden.” The woman laughed in a way that was completely devoid of humor. “Or at least the man who looks like Anders van Leiden. But of course, he is actually Daniel Kincade, presumed dead in Northern Sumatra but very much alive.”

  Kincade struggled upright. He coughed hoarsely, one hand to his chest, his face gray and his hands shaking. Jared had no doubt that his wound was serious. He wanted to push past Preston to Maggie, but he couldn’t risk any provocation while the odds were still in Preston’s favor. One wrong move could get Maggie shot.

  “He needs a doctor,” Jared said tightly.

  “So it would appear.” Preston stepped inside and kicked the door shut, never taking his gaze from Jared’s back. “If you want your daughter to live, Kincade, you’ll tell us where your stones are.”

  “Stones?”

  “The ones you were working on when you vanished. We have your reports and the eyewitness accounts of your two lab assistants. In fact, they told us everything they knew before we shot them.”

  The words seemed to make Daniel Kincade collapse in on himself. “You killed Sanders? Amy Masterson, too?”

  Preston shrugged. “They knew the dangers.”

  “Not from their own side.” Kincade grimaced as fresh blood dripped onto his open hand. “You bastard.”

  “I believe you had better start talking,” Preston said icily. “That is, if you wish to stay alive long enough to help your daughter.”

  “Release Maggie and the Scotsman. Then I’ll talk,” Kincade said weakly.

  Jared watched and waited, knowing there would come a moment when he could act. When people wanted something as badly as McNamara and Preston did, when they turned into zealots blinded by greed for power, they made grave mistakes. Those mistakes would multiply the closer they came to their goal.

  Preston’s head tilted slightly. “Give us something first.” His lips curved in an unpleasant smile. “As a sign of good faith, shall we say?”

  “You don’t think I keep the bloody stones with me, do you?”

  “Of course not, Mr. Kincade.” Preston’s eyes glinted. “After all, you’ve eluded us for over a year, so your intelligence is not in question.” He glanced down at his watch. “You have sixty seconds to tell me something I want to hear.”

  Jared saw the wounded man shudder and run a hand across his sweaty forehead, then look at Maggie, the pain clear in his eyes. When he spoke, the words seemed to be torn from him. “I’ve gone beyond my early blueprints. Last month I finished a new prototype.”

  Preston hunched forward eagerly. “Where is it?”

  “I’ll tell you everything once you’ve let my daughter go.”

  “That would be impossible,” Preston said.

  Maggie looked wildly at Jared, pain and shock filling her eyes. Jared shook his head tightly. All they could do now was contain their impatience and wait.

  “That’s my price, Preston. The stones no longer matter to me. All I want is my daughter’s safety.”

  Maggie gripped his shoulder. “You can’t trust him. You’ve seen what they’re like.”

  With an angry sound Elizabeth McNamara moved closer to Preston. “There’s no need to bargain with him. Kincade is irrelevant. Let’s get on with business.” She crossed to stand beside Kincade and pressed one hand roughly to his forehead. Her eyes fluttered, then opened on a gleam of cold satisfaction. “I told you I could do it.”

  “Such impatience, my dear.” Preston gave a soft sigh.

  “Kill him. We can make our own prototype with what I’ve just pulled out of his head.”

  Jared felt a stab of revulsion as he realized what he was seeing. She moved with the confidence of someone who could scan a mind with touch, but how was it possible? And exactly how much did Elizabeth McNamara know about him?

  Bile rose in his throat, and he did not have to feign his anger. “What is she talking about?”

  “I should think it was obvious, Commander. Your Dr. McNamara has a unique skill, the same one you acquired in that box in Thailand.”

  “I don’t believe it.”

  Preston shrugged. “What you believe is of little interest to me.”

  Jared tried to dismiss this as a desperate bluff by Preston, but the smug smile on Elizabeth McNamara’s lips told him otherwise. Her skills could have given them access to every sort of government secret. No doubt she had also made it her business to follow every detail of the activities at Draycott Abbey and the continuing search for Daniel Kincade.

  Preston looked at Maggie’s father. “Those refaceted stones of his would save us a great deal of time. The sooner we can move to our final phase, the better.”

  “There’s no need for that,” the doctor hissed. “I know the angles of dispersal and which stones make a superior medium. I also know about the warehouse space he leased outside Cheltenham. That’s where he’s keeping his newest prototype.”

  “You’re wrong,” Daniel said.

  But Jared knew it was a lie. One look at Preston’s face showed that he knew it, too. The doctor’s skill was painfully clear.

  “She is very seldom wrong, Mr. Kincade. It’s part of the reason Elizabeth is so valuable to us. Now, my dear, you will sheathe your weapon. All command decisions come from me.”

  But her Browning did not fall. “Why are we wasting time? Give me the Scotsman, and with his skills we can read anyone. I already have a dozen experiments I mean to run on him.”

  “Experiments?” Maggie whispered. “What kind of animals are you?”

  “Very successful animals,” the doctor said coldly. “Before I’m done with Jared MacNeill, I’ll know every synapse inside that extraordinary brain of his.” Her eyes glinted, possessed with a strange heat. “We will have no need for you or your father, I assure you.”

  She didn’t notice Preston turn until it was too late.

  His military pistol coughed out a bullet to her shoulder. There was no emotion in his eyes as he watched her jerk sharply, then crumple to the floor beside Daniel Kincade, moaning.

  “A pity,” he murmured. “She was convinced she could not be replaced, but the same technique that produced her skill has produced a dozen others, and their abilities have already surpassed hers. She was also showing a personal interest in you, Commander, and that was becoming most troublesome.” His mouth hardened. “The new leadership will not include women, of course. Their skills are unrel
iable. Elizabeth will soon discover that. Meanwhile, her wound is not fatal, but I trust it will teach her that it is always unwise to disobey my orders.”

  He targeted his pistol on Maggie. “And now, Kincade, I want answers. Otherwise, your lovely daughter will lose the front of her cranium.”

  Jared’s muscles tensed as he prepared to launch himself at Preston. With luck, he could knock the officer’s gun off kilter before Preston could fire.

  “Pointless to try. Commander. You couldn’t possibly reach me in time. Ms. Kincade’s skull will be gone before you’ve taken a single step.”

  “No more.” Kincade gave a broken cough. “I’ll tell you whatever you want, Preston. Damn it, I’ll tell you.”

  Jared saw his chance and took it. “No.” He moved in front of Maggie. “Kincade might lie, but I won’t. And I have the skill to read him.”

  After a moment Preston nodded. “Do it. But remember—one misstep and the woman dies.”

  Jared crouched beside Kincade, frowning at the red stain that now covered the entire front of his shirt. He took a hard breath, then ran a hand across the man’s forehead.

  Instantly pain chewed up his arm to his chest. Kincade’s wound was grave, his pain nearly overwhelming. He didn’t have much time left, Jared realized. “He’s in bad shape.”

  “Then you’d better work fast.”

  Jared slid down, sorting through the chaotic emotions of a father reunited with his daughter and his fear for her safety. He picked up a ruined building and tables filled with books and electronic equipment. The workshop in Cheltenham, no doubt.

  “What do you see?”

  “Don’t bother to block me, Kincade. It won’t work.” As Jared spoke, he turned slightly, cutting off Preston’s view. As his hand moved over Kincade’s face, he had a sharp image of a ring with five faceted stones. These were what Preston wanted, Jared realized. He glanced sidelong at Kincade’s lower pocket and sensed that was where the ring was hidden.

  The old man blinked quickly in assent.