Page 77 of The Search

“Money?”

“Control,” he repeated. “I haven’t devoted all these years to finding answers to give up control now.”

“And that’s what Bassett’s working on?”

“Yes, he’s trying to reconstruct the last month of research by the Santo Camaro team. They sent reports every month, but we didn’t get the last report, and a hell of a lot was done right before the attack at Santo Camaro.”

“Does Rudzak have anything to do with industrial espionage?”

“Rudzak doesn’t give a damn about anything but getting me where it hurts the most.”

“How was he able to find out what you were doing and about the facility? Did he know about your wife and how she died?”

“Oh, yes, he knew about Chen Li.” He set his glass down on the table beside him. “See how I trust you? I’ve told you all my secrets.”

Not all his secrets. “You must have loved Chen Li very much.”

“Yes, she knocked me for a loop the first time I saw her. She was half Old World and half new technology. She was a computer whiz, but there was something serene and gracious about her. We were married a month after I met her.” He paused. “She died three years later.”

“And you’re still hurting.” She added brusquely, “That’s why it’s safer to love dogs.”

“That was a long time ago and I was a different man. And I don’t think you’re totally devoted to the canine species or you wouldn’t do the work you do.”

“Think what you like. I knew from the first search I ever went on that this was what I was meant to do. A little girl got separated from her folks in the mountains near Tucson.” She looked down into her glass. “She was only five and it was freezing cold. I wasn’t sure we’d find her alive, but we didn’t give up. Three days later Monty zeroed in on her, and she was alive. When I picked her up and wrapped her in a blanket, she whispered that she knew someone would come. She had been waiting. And I knew that she’d been waiting for me. I was the one who had saved her. There’s nothing like that feeling on the face of the earth.”

“Sometimes you can’t save them.”

“No, but then I can bring them home.”

“You sound like Eve.”

She shook her head. “I keep telling you, I’m nothing like Eve. Stop trying to dig into my psyche. Look, I’m just what’s on the surface. I don’t have a tragic past like Eve and I don’t harbor resentments. I accept people as they are and go along with it. Understand?”

“I understand. But I don’t believe you. If I’ve learned anything about you in the past weeks, it’s that you’re more complicated than you’d ever admit.”

She snorted with disgust. “Bull.”

“You’re intelligent, hardworking, and crack a mean whip. And beneath all those prickly thorns, you’re probably the most loving and giving woman I’ve ever met.”

She glanced away from him. “Don’t be sappy.”

“You don’t like that. Why not?”

“Because I just do what needs doing. Everybody has a purpose, a job to do. This is my job.”

“You don’t admit that your job is more selfless than most?”

“No more than a firefighter’s or a policeman’s or any number of other—”

“And you’re embarrassed that I’d suggest you care for people as much as you do your four-legged friends?”

“I’m not embarrassed.” She stood up. “I’ve got to check on Maggie.”

“Are you running away?”

“No.” She gave him a steady glance over her shoulder. “You couldn’t make me run away, Logan. I’ll check on Maggie and then I’ll come back and give you another trouncing in poker.”

“And I’ll accept it. Do you know why?”