Ghost Ship

The secretary of defense said, “You know Project MKUltra was a failure and all research was wiped back in 1971?”

It was as much of a confession as Sam was going to get.

The fact was his government needed the base in Afghanistan, directly along the Durand Line. But they never would have received the support of the UN if they had simply taken it by force without international sanction. They needed there to be a humanitarian crisis.

Igor Mihailovich provided that crisis most likely in exchange for US made weapons.

The director of the CIA had made the deal with the devil without formally informing anyone. There was no doubt the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of defense, and the president of the USA all knew the truth.

Craig Martin, by not officially informing anyone, had maintained a stop gap. A safety net, in case the truth came out. He was going to prison for a long time. But he was doing it for his country. He was wrong. But Sam could respect that.

Sam suppressed a smile. “Madam Secretary…”

“Yes, Mr. Reilly?”

Sam grinned. “Thank you for saving my life.”

The secretary of defense said, “You’re welcome.”

Chapter Sixty-Six

Sea Port, The Hague

Sam Reilly woke up in bed with a jolt.

He was staying in a luxury penthouse overlooking the harbor. A little bit of much needed decadence after seventy-two hours of hell. Lying next to him, still asleep, was Catarina Marcello. She wore a red negligee which hugged her voluptuous figure.

The sight of her filled him with desire, but also with guilt for all the pain he had personally put her through.

He’d finally remembered why he had been so mad at her all those years ago. People, he realized, could be so stupid when they were suffering. They could hurt those whom they loved without ever wanting to.

Sam closed his eyes, his mind drifting back some fifteen years earlier.

It was a time when he and Catarina Marcello had first met. They were at a lookout at the end of Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles.

She was crying.

They both were. He was grieving the loss of his brother, who used to walk up to the lookout to find solace, and she was there to grieve the loss of her lover. The thing that neither of them had known at the time was they had both lost the same person.

Daniel Reilly was his brother.

He was also secretly engaged to Catarina Marcello.

After sitting at the lookout and just staring out into the hills of Hollywood for some time, Sam had started to talk to her.

Neither spoke about their loss. They didn’t have to. They just sat and talked.

Strangely, after that they became friends. It was slow at first. They went for walks, lunch, and eventually started dating.

Sam looked very different to his brother, who was tall and skinny. The two barely passed as brothers when they were standing next to each other, so in retrospect, it was easy to see how Catarina had overlooked the connection.

By the time their lives had become deeply entangled and Catarina discovered the truth, she failed to see how she could ever tell Sam.

After all, how do you explain to the man you want to marry, that your first choice had been to marry his brother?

Failing to come up with a solution, Catarina had ignored her past, promising herself that she would one day tell him, when the time was right.

As it was when he was helping Catarina pack for their move, and inside a well-read book — Faro’s Daughter, by Georgette Heyer — a photograph slipped out.

Sam went to put it back and stopped.

His eyes narrowed on the photograph, taken three years earlier. In it, were Catarina and his now deceased brother, Daniel.

There was no way that she could have missed the connection after all these years, which meant that she had been lying to him — all along.

It was the betrayal of the lie that ate at his soul.

When Catarina had returned home, he confronted her about it. She broke down into tears and became inconsolable. It only made Sam angrier. Somehow, in the heat of the moment, words were said that went too far, and both agreed that they could never marry someone they didn’t trust.

And just like that, he had left the girl of his dreams.

Sam blinked. He had tears in his eyes. Catarina woke up, rolled over, and kissed him.

She wiped away his tears with her fingers. “What is it?”

Sam said, “I remember why I was so angry at you.”

Catarina held her breath. “I’m sorry.”

Sam pulled her into his arms tight and kissed her head. “No. I’m sorry I was such a fool. We both loved my brother. It should have made our love for each other stronger. Instead, I let the stupidity that often accompanies one’s youth dictate a different path.”

She tilted her head up, and gazed into his eyes. “So now what?”

“I don’t know. I’ve spoken to Tom and told him that he’s in command of the Tahila while I have a vacation and wait for the rest of my memory to return. What are you doing?”