Pandora's Box Read online

  She heard the front door open and close. Footsteps traveled down the hallway in her direction. Although she knew it could be Tyler, her gut told her it wasn’t. Roxie wouldn’t let him get away at this stage of the game. Madison reached for her gun before realizing she didn’t have it on her. Outside of panties and Tyler’s shirt, she was completely naked.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and smacked herself in the forehead. “Stupid.” Another wave of pain shot from temple to temple. She stifled a groan. Her eyes quickly scanned the bathroom, looking for a weapon. Unless she wanted to scrub the guy clean, there wasn’t anything she could use in the tiny space.

  The doorknob slowly began to turn. She pressed into the tight corner behind the door as it opened. She held her breath, hands ready to attack. But no one stepped inside. Everything outside the bathroom had gone deathly quiet. What were they waiting for?

  Finally a familiar voice spoke.

  “I know you’re in there,” said Roxie. “Come out here. Now! And put your hands in the air.”

  Madison lifted her hands and stepped into Tyler’s bedroom. “Where is he, you bitch? What did you do with him?”

  “Nice outfit.” Roxie ignored the questions. She smiled like a cat, wielding the remote as if she had the greatest toy in the world. “It occurred to me that I didn’t show you firsthand what this little baby can do.” She pressed a button while pointing it at Madison’s head. She spoke into it. “Go to the living room and sit down.”

  After seeing the way Tyler had behaved under the thing’s command, Madison knew exactly what to do. She stood straight, hardened expression, and she walked stiffly to the doorway. Walking past Roxie without slapping her smug face was the hardest thing Madison had ever done. She went straight to the living room and almost blew her cover.

  Tyler was sitting on the corner of the sofa, head bent down, one arm flung to the side and the other lying in his lap. She took an awkward step in his direction, desperate to touch him. Then she remembered. They were both supposed to be under Roxie’s control. So she continued to walk like a robot.

  Madison sat next to Tyler. Her eyes focused on the opposite wall. Every muscle in her body remained rigid, ready to strike. Roxie knelt on the other side of the coffee table. She lifted the metal lid of Duncan Grey’s secret box and smiled. Her blue eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas Day.

  “I knew it!” Roxie squealed. “I always knew Duncan Grey had the truth hidden somewhere. Grainger told me your father kept a box of secrets. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this.” Her gaze dropped to the pieces Madison had crushed earlier. “Looks like someone had a tantrum.” Roxie glared at Madison. She spoke into the remote again. “I’m parched. Go into the kitchen and make me some ice tea.”

  Make it yourself, you maniacal bitch!

  Madison sprang to her feet. She went into the kitchen and fixed the tea out of Roxie’s line of sight. Fortunately Madison had had trouble sleeping last year. A small bottle of sleeping pills, half already used, were in the top drawer along with Tyler’s flatware. With a tight smile Madison dropped a few into the glass. She stirred and stirred until they dissolved.

  In the meantime Roxie’s patience was running out.

  “Where is that damn tea?” Roxie yelled. “I swear, you’re useless even as a robot.”

  Madison carried the glass into the living room and set it in front of the Blonde Assassin.

  “Here it is!” Roxie folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket before downing half the glass of ice tea. Madison tried but didn’t get a good look at the paper. “Well, I hate to steal and run, but we need to be going.” Roxie shook her blonde head at Madison. “This wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped.” Using the remote, she ordered, “Snap out of it!”

  Madison pretended to break out of the trance. She blinked her eyes several times and looked around the room as if she was surprised to find herself there. “What? What happened?”

  “Bored now,” Roxie said, point blank. She turned to Tyler, aiming the remote carefully. “I want you to strangle the life out of her.”

  Before Madison could do more than gasp, Tyler was on top of her. He pushed her down on the sofa, his strong hands around her throat, effectively cutting off her air supply. She had no choice. It was fight or die. Madison slammed her open palm into his face, knocking his head back. His hands lost their grip. She kicked him off her using both feet. He stumbled backwards.

  Determination reigned in his eyes. He lunged for her again.

  Madison leaped away from him. “At least clue me in before you kill me.” She had to stall for time. She suspected a person like Roxie would love to boast about her accomplishments. “I have no idea how you managed all this—or why.”

  Roxie called the attack off, and Tyler immediately took his seat on the edge of the sofa, no expression. Blood dripped from the side of his mouth where she’d hit him, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “What do you want to know?” asked Roxie.

  Everything.

  “To begin with, how do the chips work? DeMarco had me completely fooled. Why was he behaving so natural while Tyler is like a robot?”

  “There are two different ways to use Dr. Grainger’s brilliant invention. The first is to load the microchip with the person’s assignment before placing it in their brain. After it’s inside you can use the remote, work them like a puppet.” She made a face at Tyler. “But then they’re robotic and boring. I like the first way much better.” Roxie circled the room, but Madison noticed how the other woman stayed out of Madison’s reach. Smart girl. “DeMarco was my scapegoat. He was programmed to try to kill you, make it seem like you were getting close to the truth. But, he wasn’t supposed to succeed. You can thank Rico for that. Mobster-daddy wanted you alive for some stupid reason.”

  Madison’s entire body shook with rage. “You’re going to pay.”

  “Not at your hands.” Roxie sat in the corner chair, looking suddenly tired. She rubbed her forehead. Roxie stifled a yawn with her empty hand. “Anyway, I decided to make you the decoy. Rico loved the idea. I made you blank out and do stupid things like drink at a bar for two hours, just little things to make you wonder if you were programmed to kill the president.”

  “But how did you send me to that bar? I was working on the computer at CIA headquarters and the screen started to pulsate.”

  “No.” Roxie rolled her eyes. “I was there, right behind you. I was in the room when you entered it, and I used the remote to make you think the computer was pulsating. I told you to go to the bar, get drunk, and hurt somebody. I only wish I could have been there to watch.”

  Madison looked at Tyler. “What’s his part in all of this?”

  “He’s the assassin. Were you not listening before?” Roxie’s voice cracked as it hit a high note. “I gave him the chip and got him to join the CIA. They were supposed to investigate the president. Instead he married you and wasted a lot of valuable time. It would have been nice if they’d found something and smeared mud all over the president’s good name. But Tyler, of course, is programmed to kill the bastard anyway. So either way, I win.”

  Keep her talking, just a little more.

  “That brings me to my next question,” Madison said. “Why kill the president? I know you told me that you think he’s your father, but that still doesn’t make any sense. Why would you want to kill your own father?”

  “Because he didn’t want me.” Roxie blinked several times. She was trying hard to stay awake. “While I was having an identity crisis, he was playing ruler of the free world. No one treats me like yesterday’s garbage and gets away with it.”

  Madison leaned forward in her seat, hoping Roxie wouldn’t fall asleep until she told her everything. “How did all the implant stuff start in the first place?”

  “How do you think? Rico and Duncan Grey wanted Law to become president. It was supposed to be all three of them running the country together. But Law got greedy. He started to believe his own press. So he decided
to dump his silent partners. Duncan and Rico decided to kill Law if he wouldn’t cooperate. Then they could implant the new president, Mercer, and control him.” Roxie laughed. “You should see your face.”

  “Did my father have a chip?” Madison asked, hopeful.

  “No. But he had a damn good reason for trying to shoot the president.”

  “What reason could he possibly have had?”

  Roxie opened her mouth. Her eyes widened. “You bitch! You drugged me.” Roxie stood on wobbly legs. She pointed the remote at Tyler, ready to command him to finish strangling Madison.

  Madison jumped to her feet. She leaped over the coffee table, a flying kick, and knocked the remote out of the blonde’s hand. Roxie tried to hit her, but the drug had slowed Roxie’s reflexes. Her fist missed by a mile. Madison swung the other woman around and looped an arm around her throat.

  “Go to sleep, Roxie.” Madison’s arm tightened until the woman went limp. Then she dropped her. Roxie hit the floor in an ungraceful heap.

  Madison stepped over the prone body and picked up the remote. She pushed the same button Roxie had pushed and she told Tyler to snap out of it, but he remained stubbornly immobile. She tried again. Nothing happened.

  She turned the remote over in her hand.

  The back of it had cracked open and a piece of metal had broken in half. Her heart sank. Unless she could fix the remote, Tyler would be stuck in limbo forever.

  ******

  Chapter Eighteen

  Five minutes after destroying the smaller remote, Madison remembered she still had Grainger’s remote. Unfortunately it was across town in her apartment. Tyler wasn’t likely to be willing to follow her to her apartment in his state, and she wasn’t about to leave him alone. She tried to think of someone she could call, someone she could ask to go get it. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t think of anyone who wouldn’t demand answers first.

  Madison ripped the cord off the curtains and used it to tie Roxie’s hands behind her back. She dragged the blonde to the bedroom and dumped her beside the bed. She could have put the other woman on the bed. But that seemed too nice, too comfortable. Let the witch sleep it off on the hard floor.

  Since she couldn’t go after the other remote, Madison sat at the kitchen table with the broken one in her hands. A blue wire poked out, but she didn’t know where it was supposed to be connected. She looked over her small pack of tools and selected one. Perhaps if she could somehow reattach the wire and the broken piece of metal, it would work. She wondered if Tyler had any super glue in the apartment. Couldn’t ask him. She’d have to search the drawers.

  She glanced up, studying him for several minutes. He hadn’t moved a solitary muscle. There wasn’t a shred of emotion on his face. He simply stared straight forward at the wall. She let the tool fall from her hand. Leaving the chair, she crossed the living room to stand directly in front of Tyler.

  “Can you see me?” she asked. “Do you even know I’m here?”

  Madison knelt in front of him. She took his hand between hers, rubbed it, and tried again. “Can you feel me touching you, Tyler? Do you know it’s me?” She placed his hand against the side of her face. “If you can, I want you to move a finger. Or blink. Anything to let me know you’re in there.”

  She felt totally helpless.

  Determined to reach him somehow, Madison dropped his hand and leaned forward. She closed her eyes and kissed him. His lips were cold, unyielding, a world away from the mouth that had kissed and caressed and nibbled her tender flesh. She kissed him harder, praying for a response.

  Nothing.

  “You and I have been through a lot,” she said. “I didn’t trust you when I should have, and I’m so sorry for that. But I trust you now. With my life, I trust you. And you know what else?” Tears pricked the backs of her eyes. “I love you, Tyler. I really do. I love you with all of my heart. Please come back to me.”

  She laid her head on his lap and squeezed her eyes shut. For a brief moment she thought she felt his hand brush against her hair. Her own words lingered in her mind. She smiled at the truth of them. Although she hadn’t wanted to admit it before, she truly was in love with this man. She didn’t care what he did for a living, didn’t care what secrets he still might be keeping from her. She needed him.

  He was her other half, the missing piece.

  There it was again, the soft brushing of her hair, a definite hand touching her.

  She opened her eyes, so sure she would see Tyler gazing down at her, his eyes aflame with the same emotion burning in hers.

  Roxie stood beside her. The woman kicked Madison in the face, sending her rolling backwards in a somersault. Madison jumped to her feet. She swayed, a bit dizzy, but she held her fists up, ready for a fight.

  “I’ve wanted to kick your butt for so long,” Roxie said.

  “Bring it on.” Madison turned her head, spitting blood to the side. “I’m going to tear your plastic blonde head off.”

  Madison struck first. She unleashed a series of hard punches to Roxie’s chin, chest, and stomach.

  Roxie managed to block most of them, but the hits drove her a few steps back until she stood mere inches from the wall. She didn’t have much room to maneuver now. Roxie decided it was her turn. She performed a high jump-kick, catching Madison in the jaw for the second time.

  Her body absorbed the impact. It knocked her back a few paces. She hit Roxie with a lightning fast upper-cut and followed it with a round of kicks and punches. Neither of them held anything back.

  Roxie grabbed Madison by the nape of the neck and smashed the side of her face into the wall. Roxie didn’t mind fighting dirty. Big surprise. She tried to rake her fingernails down one of Madison’s cheeks. Madison blocked that move, but she couldn’t stop the knee that hit her in the stomach. She doubled over.

  Her hand latched onto one of Roxie’s pockets, ripping it. Something in it stuck between her fingers. It took her a moment to realize she had the missing paper from her father’s box in her hand, the one Roxie had been so happy to find.

  Madison went down quick, rolled across the carpet while tucking the paper into her shoe. She came up fast, dodging Roxie’s foot as it flew at her face. Madison captured the assassin’s leg with both arms and used it to drive the woman backwards. When Roxie’s back hit the wall, she shoved with her foot.

  Madison stumbled, almost going down.

  Roxie spun on one foot, delivering a perfect side-kick to Madison’s mid-section.

  Madison stumbled momentarily. Gritting her teeth, she moved in for another attack. She advanced on Roxie with a series of kicks intended to knock the Blonde Assassin on her ass.

  The front door swung open, snatching Madison’s attention away from her opponent. A young man, fair-haired with a nice, youthful face advanced into the room, his eyes on Madison. He was familiar, but she couldn’t put a name on him.

  Before he could speak, Roxie grabbed her by the arms and whirled her into his warm body. His hands caught her by the shoulders. Thinking this new person might be working with Roxie, Madison stomped on his foot, provoking a sharp cry.

  “Shit!” he shouted. “What the hell’s going on here?”

  Roxie moved fast. She went to Tyler’s side. A gun seemed to magically appear in her hand. She pointed it down at Tyler’s head. There was no sparkle in her eyes now, no crazy laughter. She meant business.

  “Get the cord you used on me,” Roxie said. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep the two gentlemen company until you return.” She pressed the gun’s barrel to the top of Tyler’s head. “Try anything and I swear I’ll pull the trigger.”

  Madison raced to do Roxie’s bidding. She retrieved the cord in less than ten seconds. Guessing what Roxie meant to do with it, Madison handed it to the newcomer.

  Roxie said, “Tie her to a chair and tie it tight. If it’s loose, I’ll kill you both.”

  Madison sat on a kitchen chair and put her hands behind her back. Her mind traveled in endless circles. How coul
d she get out of this one and save Tyler? The newcomer looped the cord around her wrists. He pulled it tight, knotting it several times. It cut in to her skin. She winced, bit her lip, but kept her mouth shut. Roxie would love to know it was hurting her.

  Finished.

  Roxie gestured for the young man to sit with his back to Madison. He placed a chair there and sat down, slipping his arms behind him. Roxie pulled a pair of handcuffs from her bag. She placed them on his wrists with a piece of the chair between the cuffs so he wouldn’t be able to get up.

  “Those are my last pair,” Roxie said. She smiled down at Madison. “I had another, but they were blown to bits I imagine.”

  In other words she had given DeMarco the cuffs that he used on Madison on the plane. He had been working on Roxie’s orders.

  Madison asked, “Why aren’t you still asleep? I put five sleeping pills in your tea.”

  “I’m immune.” Roxie laughed. “I take pills to keep me sharp, so I guess sleeping pills can’t take me down. Although I am tired, but it just makes me cranky. Thank you so much for that.”

  Tyler moved across the room, quick and quiet like a jungle cat. His eyes burned with fiery determination now. Madison spotted him. Hope lifted her sagging shoulders. She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. Everything was going to be all right.

  Tyler grabbed the gun from Roxie’s hand in one smooth motion.

  Roxie jumped backwards, her eyes huge and clouded over with a new fear.

  He checked the gun from various angles, slid the clip out, and blew on it. Then he returned it to its home with a sharp slap of his palm. It clicked into place.

  “Could you untie me, buddy?” the newcomer asked.

  Tyler didn’t even look in the young man’s direction.

  A new memory of Tyler surfaced in Madison’s mind. This memory was followed by dozens more, each one blending into the next until they filled her mind completely and became hers forever. She also remembered his Navy buddy who was currently sitting in the chair behind her. Brett. Not only did he make a habit of calling at the wrong time; he showed up at the wrong time.