Page 83 of The Search

“Some friend you are.” She knelt beside them. “Here Logan and I have been working to get you out from under Madden, and you’re in here making eyes at Maggie.”

Beautiful. Love.

“How do you know? Maybe it’s sex.”

Love.

“Maybe.” She stroked his head. “But you’ll have to convince Maggie. She’ll demand a commitment. She’ll mate for life.” But the bond between men and women wasn’t as unshakable. A long time ago she had hated her mother’s emotional instability and been determined to marry for life. But that was a child’s dream. She had learned in a hard school that relationships between men and women were often casual and fleeting.

Love.

Not for her.

And not for Logan.

“I’ll get right on it,” Margaret said. “This is a good thing, John. I thought the pup belonged to her.”

“So did I.”

“Shall I stop the investigation into Madden’s background?”

“No, I want to know everything I can about him.”

“You sound grim.”

“I feel grim. I want to hang him out to dry.”

“Why?”

Because he was jealous as hell. Because he’d never had a stronger urge to destroy someone than at the moment he’d learned Madden had been Sarah’s lover. “Why not? He’s a sleazeball.”

“You run into a lot of sleazeballs. You usually ignore them unless they get in your way.”

“I’m not ignoring this one. I’m taking him down.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll try to have more information on him in a few days.”

He hung up and dialed Galen’s number.

“Where the hell is Rudzak?” he demanded when Galen picked up the phone.

“Hello to you too. Where are your manners, Logan?”

“Have you found Sanchez?”

“Last night. He didn’t know where Rudzak was, but I persuaded him to make a few phone calls. He was told Rudzak had returned to the U.S. a few days ago.”

“Where?”

“Destination unknown. But before he left he made a buy from a Russian dealer for a hell of a lot of explosives and detonators.”

“Shit.”

“He’s through playing penny ante and it’s a good bet he’s going after his prime objective. We should be able to make a guess. Dodsworth?”

“Probably. But I’ve got seven factories and twenty-two research facilities in the U.S. I’ve increased the security on all of them and ATF is making regular checks.”

“Not enough.”