Where There's Smoke

Gradually a smile spread across his face. It was as patronizing as his tone of voice. “Lara, Lara. So naïve. After all you’ve been through, you still fail to see beneath the surface, don’t you? Hasn’t experience taught you anything? Where there’s smoke… and so on.” His hand made a lazy circular gesture. “Haven’t you learned to look beyond appearances and see things as they really are?”

“You’ve made your point, Randall. What the hell does it mean?”

“Do you honestly think that you and that hotheaded pilot precipitated my release?”

His voice had become soft, sibilant, and smug. It caused the hair on the back of her neck to rise. She had a premonition of dread. “What are you saying?”

“Put on your thinking cap, Lara. You passed medical school with flying colors. Surely you can figure this out.”

“In Montesangre…”

“Yes,” he said encouragingly. “Go on.”

“Emilio…”

“Very good. What else? Stretch your clever little mind.”

The mental barriers were opaque, but once she broke through them, everything was crystal clear. “You weren’t his prisoner at all.”

He laughed. “Good girl! I hate to sound unappreciative, but don’t credit yourself with saving my life. My ‘five-year plan,’ as I like to think of it, was about to be realized in any event. Your comical misadventure with Key Tackett was merely a fortuitous development that Emilio and I used as our catalyst. It made the denouement so much more convincing.”

Lara stared at the man to whom she was legally married and knew she was looking into the eyes of a madman. He was perfectly composed, exceedingly articulate, and dangerously sly, the most frightening portrait of a villain.

“It was all a hoax?” she whispered.

Randall left the leather love seat and came to stand close to her. “Following that morning in Virginia, I was despised in Washington. Clark had powerful allies, including the president. He was no doubt embarrassed over Clark’s conduct, but he stood by his protégé. To a point, anyway.

“At Clark’s request, he appointed me ambassador and called in favors in the Senate to have my approval rushed. On the surface, I accepted graciously, humbly, like they had done me a bloody favor. Actually, I despised it as much as you, knowing that it was a legal form of banishment.

“No sooner had I arrived at my post than I began to devise ways of returning to Washington a hero. Emilio was a bright boy who had his own ambitions, which were fulfilled with Pérez’s death.”

“Murder.”

“Whatever. Together, we contrived a plot that would give each of us what he wanted. My ‘escape’ had to be carefully timed and fully capitalized upon. Once I returned to the U.S., rather than harboring a grudge toward my captors, I would insist on being reassigned to Montesangre, reopening the embassy, and reestablishing diplomatic relations with the new regime.”

Imperceptibly, Lara was edging toward the telephone. “Emilio’s regime.”

“Precisely. Upon my advice to the president, Emilio’s government would soon be acknowledged. With the endorsement of the United States, he’d have absolute control of his republic. I’d be credited with restoring peace to a hostile nation which could be strategic in fighting the drug wars. After a suitable time, my endeavors surely would be rewarded either with a plum appointment abroad or in Washington. A far cry from the cuckold, hey?”

“You’re crazy.”

“Like a fox, Lara. It’s been well thought out, I assure you. After years, the realization is unfolding even better than anticipated. What I need now is a loving wife to round out my image as an exemplary diplomat.

“So, darling, you will remain faithfully and meekly by my side, smiling at the press, waving to the crowds, until I say otherwise. Don’t even think of doing anything to jeopardize this.”

She began to laugh. “You’re a traitor with delusions of grandeur, Randall. Do you honestly think I’m going to participate in this traitorous ‘five-year plan’ of yours?”

“Yes, I think you will,” he replied calmly. “What choice do you have?”

“I’ll blow the whistle. I’ll tell them about Emilio’s brutality. I’ll call—”

“Who would believe you?” He shook his head sadly over her delusions. “Who would trust anything said by the woman caught in adultery with Senator Tackett? You have no more credibility now than you did that morning we left his cottage.”

He indicated the telephone she’d been inching toward. “I can see you’re itching to call for help. Go ahead. You’ll only make a laughingstock of yourself. Who’s going to believe that a U.S. ambassador started a revolution which was contrary to the interests of the country he served?”

“ ‘Started a revolution’? What do you mean? The revolution started when… when our car was… No, wait.” She held up her hand as though to ward off a barrage of confusing thoughts. They were crowding her mind so quickly she couldn’t arrange them.

“You’re slipping, my dear,” he said silkily. “The mental sluggishness must come from living on the frontier. Think, now. I said five-year plan. It took root when we reached Montesangre, not when I was kidnapped.”