Echoes at Dawn (KGI #5)(80)

ely mild.

He was average height. Maybe late forties. He was obviously a bit prideful because there wasn’t a hair on his head that was out of place, thanks largely to the amount of styling products evident.

He wore expensive clothing. Diamond cufflinks. A gaudy gold chain hung around his neck, and in one ear he wore a diamond stud earring.

He would probably appear arrogant on most days, but there was so much relief in his expression that it took Grace aback. He looked…happy…to see her.

“Get the cuffs off her,” her, the man ordered. “We don’t have any time to lose. I need her upstairs right now.”

Hancock quickly unlocked the cuffs and Grace pulled her hands around to her front, rubbing her wrists as she stared warily at the man in front of her.

“Who are you and why am I here?” she demanded.

“Who I am isn’t important. What’s important is that my daughter is very ill, and you’re going to heal her.”

CHAPTER 36

GRACE was taken aback by the utter despair that choked his voice. It wasn’t that she hadn’t expected to be used for her abilities. She just hadn’t expected…this. A man on a mission. A single mission.

She reached into his mind, wanting confirmation or perhaps to know what else he intended to use her for. Was she some sort of experiment once again? Was his daughter a guinea pig, and if Grace was successful, would she then be turned over to some government agency? Sold to the highest bidder?

What she found shocked her. Gordon Farnsworth wasn’t a good man. She saw things that made her blood run cold. He’d led a life filled with atrocities, bloodshed, selling out whomever he needed to, to achieve his ends. He was unapologetic and completely unremorseful over his choices.

But she also saw a grieving father whose only daughter was dying, and he was frustrated by his inability to buy her health and happiness. It was a harsh realization for him, that given his immense wealth, he couldn’t have the one thing he most wanted.

His daughter’s life.

Though she knew the answer to her question, she posed it anyway in an effort to buy time, to plan her next move and to somehow maneuver herself out of an impossible situation.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Cancer,” he bit out. “It’s a particularly invasive, aggressive form of cancer. Supposedly rare. The doctors all have names for it. I just know that it’s slowly sucking my daughter’s life from her. It began in an innocuous enough place, but before she could be treated, it had already spread to her liver and then into her bones. She’s riddled with cancer. There isn’t a part of her body that hasn’t been besieged by the disease. It’s in her lungs, and at times she has to be put on a respirator so she can survive. It’s spread to her brain and at times she’ll lie in a coma, unaware of her surroundings.”

He advanced on Grace, his face ugly, and she got her first look at what this man was to the rest of the world. Cold, evil, the very devil.

“You’ll cure her. I know of your abilities. I made damn sure that you were able to do what was said could be done before I had you brought here. I wouldn’t trust my daughter to someone who would cause her harm.”

Grace swallowed, sent a simple message to Rio.

Gordon Farnsworth.

Rio was silent but then he had to know how precarious Grace’s current position was. Shea stirred in her mind but also remained silent, a steady support.

“It would seem, Mr. Farnsworth, that I hold all the cards,” Grace said coolly.

“You hold nothing!”

He yanked her toward him, his hands wrapped in her shirt until their faces were inches apart. Spittle hit her cheek from the explosion of his outburst.

“You’ll heal my daughter or I’ll make you wish you were never born.”

She reached for his wrists with renewed strength and yanked them dDownward, separating herself from his touch. It repulsed her. His entire being vibrated with the stench of evil and death. It nearly overwhelmed her.

“You’re too late for that,” she said in a low voice. “I’ve wished for my death many times. Threats have no meaning to me. How much is your daughter’s life worth to you?”

Clearly he hadn’t expected this. He took a step back, eyes narrowed in rage and surprise. He seemed at a loss for words and then he slammed his gaze back into hers and made a visible effort to collect himself.

“Money? Is money what you want? You’d sell your ability to save a child’s life?”

The judgment and condemnation in his words pissed her off. Dangerously so. She had to remain calm. She couldn’t allow her own volcanic rage to erupt.

“After everything you’ve done to ensure that I was brought to you, after the countless days of agony and pain that were brought on me as a result of your experiments to make sure I was qualified to touch your daughter, you dare to come at me with this holier-than-thou put-down because I would bargain with you?”

She gave a derisive laugh.

“You hold none of the cards, Mr. Farnsworth, and if you think you do, you’re as deluded as your ego is. Kill me. Go ahead. I dare you. Then who will save your daughter? Torture me. Spend days trying to make me desperate enough to give in to anything. Your daughter doesn’t have those days. But I don’t care. You can’t do anything to me that hasn’t already been done. It’s not possible to endure more than what I’ve already endured. While your conceit and arrogance tell you that you are all mighty and powerful, just remember that your daughter could be dead in the next hour or the next day. And then you stand there like a pompous jackass and presume to call my ethics into question. Do you think I give a shit what you think of me, you worthless, dirt-eating worm?”