Page 50 of Dark Lover

Sam was so angry that she was trembling. She reminded herself to be a pro and answer his questions before she gave him the finger. She reminded herself that Jan was a prude, but then gave that up. Maclean would seduce her, she knew it. Jesus—she almost felt jealous. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“He was next seen at 3:47 p.m., getting out of a taxi and entering his Park Avenue home. He was carrying the parcel he’d left One Hemmer House with, which he gleefully deposited in the corner trash before going inside.”

She was still seething over Jan being assigned to Maclean, making it hard to stay entirely focused. She was sick with dismay. “That’s Maclean’s way of saying ‘fuck you.’ He obviously stashed the page on his way home. I can find out where it is, Nick. Me…not Jan. I’m making progress with him.”

Nick snorted. “Yeah, the thumping-mattress kind.”

“We’re adversaries, not lovers. But he wants me and I’m using it. Not only that, I’m figuring him out—which is incredibly difficult, by the way, considering what he’s gone through. The more I know about his captivity, the better it would be. I can get that page, if I can figure out his motivation. And we’ve been invited to Hemmer’s tonight—him and me, together.”

Nick folded his arms and stared. “The evil in the vault,” he said thoughtfully.

“It needs to be checked out. It could be dangerous.” Sam barreled on. “I came on board the moment you crooked your finger when Brie was abducted last year. I’ve worked harder than anyone ever since and you know it. I am asking for a one-time favor. I am getting close to Maclean—in more ways than the thumping-mattress kind. Let me continue.”

He thought about it. Nick usually made most decisions in a heartbeat. “You think you can work with Jan and not scratch each other’s eyes out?”

“Oh, I won’t scratch her eyes out, don’t worry about that. But I might put a bullet in her fat wagging ass.” She smiled coldly. If Jan dared send Maclean one coy look, she’d do it, too. “I can handle Maclean. Don’t reassign me and don’t make me work with that false-lashed and false-everything-else, bottle-blond secretary.”

“Jan is at the top of this game,” Nick said. “And my gut says you are finally in over your head.” Sam snorted. “We’ve already checked out art dealers in the city and the surrounding boroughs, in Long Island, New Jersey and the north of Pennsylvania. We’ve got nothing. I’m starting to think he sent the page somewhere, maybe even out of this time, or it’s in private hands. Of course, he doesn’t have friends, so that might make it a bit of a problem. And it’s the real deal. The photos you took when you were inside were analyzed yesterday while you guys were playing Bonnie chases Clyde.”

Even though she hadn’t gone into work yesterday, she’d e-mailed the photos she’d taken while in the vault from her BlackBerry. She crossed her arms and stared. “Are you going to tell me what power the page has?”

Nick smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Sam felt a chill go down her spine. “How bad is it?”

“Put it this way—we don’t want our enemies having this power.”

Sam waited.

“It’s the power of illusion,” Nick said. “Or, in plain English, it’s the power of virtual control.”

“HE’S HERE,” Jan said over the intercom.

Sam’s heart lurched. But that was because Jan was now her partner, not because Ian Maclean was on his way up to Nick’s office. He did not have that effect on her—no one did.

“Great,” she said. “Hey, don’t forget to add the falsies before the big meet and greet. That is why you’re on the way to the ladies’ room, right?”

Jan cut her off.

Sam stood, her pulse racing, which dismayed her. She had to stay professional. And that wasn’t the easy task it had once been. She opened her desk drawer and stared at the DVD in it. She’d made a copy.

She slowly closed the drawer. Jan was undoubtedly powdering her porcelain nose and applying lipstick and hitching up her control-top pantyhose. But even her falsies wouldn’t distract a man from that DVD.

Not that she’d decided to show it to Maclean.

Nick claimed she wasn’t in control. If she showed Ian the sex tape, she’d be in charge. Sam had not a doubt. Unless, of course, he’d already seen it.

The thought made her breathless.

She’d make the decision about whether to show him the tape or not down the road, she decided. If he hadn’t seen it, the choice to reveal the DVD to him was a powerful weapon hidden up her sleeve. She’d be wagging the dog the moment she did so, and not by its tail. Sam smiled.

But it was time to think about the negotiation to come. She was thoughtful, as she’d been for the past two hours since Nick had explained the power of the page of illusion to her. They wanted and needed the power, because they had to keep it from winding up in the wrong hands. Ian wanted his file. A trade would be so perfect, except that he wanted a few hundred million dollars, too.

Did Ian know what the page could do? She hoped not. If he did, then the fact that he’d sell it to anyone made him ruthlessly selfish, with no concern at all for the welfare of anyone innocent. Maybe she was becoming attached, because she refused to believe he could be ruthless like that. Or, she didn’t want to believe it.

The power of virtual control was truly terrifying.

A person would believe and feel whatever the power broker wanted him or her to believe and feel. If Sam were a victim of that power, she could be standing in Nick’s office but think herself lost in a blizzard in the Arctic, freezing to death. She wouldn’t see the office walls. She wouldn’t even see Nick. She’d be wandering in a blizzard, blinded by the snow and freezing to death.