Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies (25 page)

She felt Becca right behind her. She had to get to the boat before Becca did, or her crazy sister would most likely drive off and leave her out here to die. The thought stunned her, but after Becca had killed Kyle without a second thought, she didn’t know who Becca was anymore. Face it, her sister was a complete stranger. Worse, she was a cold-blooded murderer.

Genie pushed herself until her arms and legs were numb and it was hard to pull in the next painful breath. Just when she was beginning to think she couldn’t go any farther, her knuckles knocked painfully against something hard. She looked up and saw the hull of the yellow boat in front of her.
Thank God
.

She grabbed on, grappling with the smooth surface as she swam around to the back of the boat. With a Herculean effort, she hoisted herself up onto the platform at the back of the boat. She lay there for a second, heaving, and trying desperately to catch her breath and stop the shivers wracking her body.

“Genie!”

Becca was calling her. Genie didn’t give a damn. She didn’t move. She didn’t have the energy even to turn her head. She lay there, absorbing the faint touch of warmth from the sun’s rays on her shaking body.

“Genie!” Becca called again, sounding farther away this time.

Genie took a deep, remorseless breath, and let her head fall to the side where she stared impassively across the sparkling blue expanse looking for her sister. She didn’t see her. As the sun rose higher in the sky and the wind picked up, the choppy water formed stiff white peaks on the surface of the churning sea.

“Genie!” Becca called again, her voice a faint echo. “He didn’t die.”

Genie spotted her head bobbing in the distance.

“He did die,” she muttered coldly. “You killed him, you sorry bitch.”

“He’s alive, Genie! Reach for him.”

Reach for him
. Genie smirked. What kind of bullshit game was her sister playing now? She didn’t move.

Becca was swimming again. Genie could see her coming closer. But not close enough. Too bad, bitch.

“I gave you the drug, Genie. Reach!”

She frowned. What drug? Genie forced herself to sit up. Becca was still a good forty feet from her, and visibly exhausted. And she was coughing.

Good. Maybe she’d stop shouting so Genie could think.

She lay back down and thought of the warm tea. And the dizziness. Had Becca really drugged her? Genie wouldn’t be surprised.

But…could Kyle really still be alive? The thought nagged at her. No, the boat exploded. Nothing could have survived that. And yet…was it possible?

Hope snagged her and wouldn’t let go. She pushed it away, refusing to let herself fall victim to another one of Becca’s twisted games.

But she couldn’t help thinking of him, even as the tears rushed to her raw and burning eyes, breaking through the numbness that had stolen through her so completely. She pictured his confident, cocky smile. His startling blue eyes, so dark and brilliant they always seemed to be looking deeply into her soul—seemed to know exactly what she was thinking and what move she would make next.

Kyle.

His warm, strong hands that always found their way to her skin, offering comfort, pleasure, love. He was always touching her, connecting… He’d been the love of her life, and she’d walked away from him again. Lost him. This time for good.

“Oh, Kyle.” His name played on her lips, torturing her with regrets.

But then it wasn’t his face she was seeing, not his smile, not his beautiful eyes. It was…Johnny? Right there, sitting across from her, his hair whipping in the breeze, the ocean flashing by behind him.

Whoa! Genie quickly sat up.

Johnny was in a boat, speeding across the sea. And her father was there, too. And Cameron.

“What the hell?”

Genie got to her knees and climbed around the engine compartment into the boat. Standing precariously on a seat, she searched the horizon. But saw nothing. It had been like they were right there in front of her. But there was no one for as far as the eye could see.

“What the hell was that?” she yelled to Becca. “What did I see?”

Becca didn’t answer.

Genie tried again, reaching for Kyle, but the vision didn’t come. “Bloody hell.” Was she losing it? Or…

“Becca!” Genie yelled, suddenly furious. Why hadn’t she said something before? Why let her believe Kyle was dead? She was just like their damned father. Never telling her what she needed to know.

Genie scanned the waves, looking for her sister’s bobbing form. She couldn’t see her.

Still standing on the seat, she continued to search the water. “Dammit, Becca. Where are you?” She climbed behind the wheel and pushed down on the throttle, swinging the boat back around. If Kyle was alive, if somehow this mystery drug allowed her to see him, to see where he was and what he was doing, then she needed to know more about it. A lot more.

“You better not die on me, Becca!”

…

Genie drove the boat to where she’d last seen Becca, and turned off the ignition. She yelled and searched. At first she saw nothing but miles of an endless choppy blue sea, but then about ten feet away, she caught a glimpse of a pale face. Relief mushroomed inside her but was short lived. Becca was lying on her back, floating, looking barely conscious. Genie dropped down into the driver’s chair, turned the boat back on, and eased it toward her sister. When she was only a few feet away, she turned the boat off and dove back into the frigid ocean.

She reached Becca, grabbed her with one arm around her neck and shoulder, and swam, towing her toward the boat. “Come on, Becca,” she said, pulling a labored breath into her frozen lungs. Her battered body was shutting down in the all-consuming cold, making it almost impossible to swim. “Help me out a little here.”

She needed her sister to make sense of all this—to get back to Kyle.

But Becca wasn’t moving. Fear coalesced in Genie’s stomach, turning it into knots. Becca wasn’t dead. She was just…numb. She had to be. She couldn’t have killed her sister… Genie made it to the boat, pulled and pushed, and miraculously managed to get her sister up onto the platform. She stayed there for a long moment, clinging onto the lip of the platform trying to garner the strength to pull herself up, too.

Drawing in a deep breath, with her last ounce of energy, Genie climbed back up onto the boat next to Becca. She rolled her ear to Becca’s chest. Heartbeat was thready. Breathing shallow. Or was that her own? After several minutes, Genie crawled inside the boat and started pulling up seat cushions. She found a stack of thick Egyptian cotton towels, dragged herself back with them, and wrapped the fabric around Becca’s blue body. She then collapsed on top of her, waiting for the warmth to seep into both their bones.

Finally, Becca started to cough. Water trickled out of her mouth. Genie rolled off her, turned her on her side, and waited. After a few endless minutes, Becca pulled herself up. Still groggy, she shook her head as though to clear it, and glared at Genie. “You didn’t have to try and kill me.”

Genie wasn’t so sure. “Is Kyle alive?”

“Yes,” Becca coughed again, raw and raspy.

“How do you know?”

“I can see him. So can you, if you try hard enough.”

“How?”

“It’s the drug Emerich’s scientists have been working on. It allows me to see through the eyes of the person I’m connected to. Not for long, but long enough to catch glimpses. It’s how I knew Kyle had seen the bomb. That he had enough time to get off the yacht.”

Genie wanted to believe her. More than anything. “Why would Emerich want you to be able to do that?”

“Think about it, Genie.” She was giving her that irritating look again. And then she started coughing once more, her voice harsh and gurgling. “You can’t be that naïve.”

Genie fought the urge to push her back in the water. “What does Daddy have to do with any of this?”

Becca pushed out an impatient breath. “I told you. I wanted him to know that I knew what he’d done to mother, and I wanted you and Cat to know what he’d done, too.”

Wordlessly, Genie climbed with shaking limbs back into the boat and into the driver’s seat. She started the engine.

“Where are we going?” Becca asked, unsteadily following her.

“To find Kyle and Cameron. They should be back at the dock by Daddy’s fishing cabin.”

“You can’t do that,” Becca said in alarm.

“Why not?”

“Because, Genie, then Emerich will know that I failed. I need to bring you to him.”

Genie’s mouth dropped open. “Are you nuts? You want me to just walk into the spider’s web? No way.”

“We have to, Genie. It’s the only way to stop him.”

Genie narrowed her eyes at her. “Stop him? I thought he was a genius? A misunderstood artist?”

“He is.” Becca sighed. “He’s also a complete sociopath, determined to destroy our family.”

Well,
there
was something new. The attitude, not the information. Genie regarded her sister. “Why didn’t you say that to begin with?”

“Because I needed you to come with me. I need you on board with this.”

Genie sucked in a deep breath willing herself to stay calm and not wrap her hands around her sister’s scrawny neck and throttle her. “Fine, I’ll play. Why does he want to destroy us?”

“Because Daddy killed his father.”

Genie blinked. Mind reeling, she turned off the ignition and took a deep breath. “I think you better tell me everything.”

“On one condition.”

Genie bit down on her lower lip and summoned the saint of patience.

“You are going to have to convince Emerich that you know nothing. That you are furious at me for kidnapping you and faking your death. Can you do that?”

“Really, Becca? I’m a CTA agent. Undercover work is my specialty. You would know that if you’d bothered to learn anything about me at all.”

“That’s unfair. Sean was the one who went after you and Cat. I had to play along to protect you. It’s why I sent you Mama’s necklace. That’s got to count for something.”

“I
knew
you sent it! Why?”

“Sean needed to get John into your house, to make sure what I told him was accurate. That you were alone and undefended.”

“Yeah, only they hadn’t counted on Kyle,” Genie muttered.

“No. But I did. Who do you think orchestrated the chatter that I knew Cameron’s people would pick up?”

“Which led your thugs straight to Cat.”

“And to you. I had to prove to Sean that I’m on his team. That he can count on me. I sent the necklace because I knew you would go into high alert and go after Daddy. But saving Cat like you did? Well, that was pure genius.”

Genie smiled humorlessly. “Thank you.”

“Though I kind of wanted her here, too.”

“Not gonna happen,” Genie assured her.

“I can’t stop Emerich on my own. He will kill Daddy. And he’s going to lock us up—you, me and Cat. He thinks I don’t suspect, but I can see his thoughts clearer than anyone’s. I know what he’s planning for us and it isn’t pretty. He scares me, Genie. He’s obsessed with finishing his father’s work and getting revenge on our family.”

“Wait. His father’s work?”

“His dad, Tom Garrison, was the head scientist working with Dad on the Amelia Project.”

“And?”

“His father gave Mom fertility drugs while she was on his protocol. He created us, Genie. When we were twelve, he came to Mom and told her the truth. He wanted to start testing us, too. She said no.”

“And then she died?”

“Trying to protect us. Rushing home to tell Dad what he was planning.”

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place. At last she understood. “And that’s why Dad sent us away.”

She nodded. “After he killed Emerich’s father.”

A bit like shutting the barn door after the horse escaped, but there was no accounting for a grief-stricken mind. Especially in the director of a top-secret spy organization who was prone to paranoia in the first place.

But she was still wary of Becca’s motives. “Why should I believe you now? Why try to blame Dad?”

“He knew Mom was pregnant, yet he let her stay in the program. That made him just as guilty as if he’d given her the drugs himself. If I’d confronted him he’d just lie, make up excuses as he’s always done. I wanted the whole truth and I wanted all of us to confront him with it.”

“And Sean Emerich? Knowing what you did, how could you stand to be involved with him?”

Becca glanced away. “I didn’t, at first. He went to great lengths to find me again and worm his way back into my life. I took part in his experiments thinking we were working together. That we were going to accomplish great things. It wasn’t until after they finally stumbled across a drug cocktail that worked that I discovered his real motivation.”

“Why not tell me all this before? I could have helped you before this got completely out of hand.”

“I had to make sure you didn’t give the game away. I’ve worked too hard to get us here.”