Command Performance

  “I’ll get your doilies.” He struck the match. “But I’m going to send one of the women out for ’em.”

  “I’ve always admired a man who can delegate authority.” She suppressed the chuckle until she was out of earshot.

  She never had been quite able to figure out what a man like Pete was doing in theater. It seemed to her that he’d be more at home roping cattle, but here he was. He guarded his props as though they were treasures, and knew the theater history of each one. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that within twenty-four hours she would have everything she’d asked for.

  After pushing open the door of her office, she pulled the pins out of her hair. She’d worn it up for the sake of coolness and efficiency, but the weight of it had begun to pull. Letting it fall free, she stuck the pins in her pocket. Priorities being what they were, she went straight to the coffeemaker and switched it on. Then, because she had a half a dozen calls to make, she drew off her left earring and dropped it in with the pins. Before she could sit and pick up the phone, it began to ring.

  “Hello.”

  “The royal family has made a mistake.”

  She recognized the voice. The hand still in her pocket closed into a fist that snapped the back from the earring. “The royal family doesn’t give in to threats.”

  The call was being tapped. She knew it and remembered through the first fear that her job was to keep the caller on the line.

  “You’ll have to tell your boss that he will serve out his term in prison.”

  “Justice must be served. The royal family and all those close to them will have to pay.”

  “I told you before, only a coward makes anonymous calls, and it’s difficult to fear a coward.” But she was afraid.

  “You interfered once and your seven years of freedom may be at an end.”

  “I don’t bend to threats, either.” But her hands were damp.

  “They won’t find the bomb, mademoiselle. Perhaps they won’t find you.”

  As the phone went dead, Eve stared at it. Bomb? There had been a bomb in Paris. Her hand shook lightly as she replaced the receiver. No, he’d meant another bomb, here, today. Alexander.

  She had her hand on the doorknob when the full impact of the phone call hit her.

  Your seven years of freedom may be at an end. Perhaps they won’t find you, either.

  The theater, she realized. The bomb was here, in the theater. Her heart in her throat, she pulled the door open and began to run. She saw Doreen first, showing off a bracelet to two other members of the troupe.

  “I want you to get out of the theater, go back to the hotel, now, all of you.”

  “But the break’s nearly over and—”

  “Rehearsal’s over. Get out of the theater and go back to the hotel. Now.” Knowing that even a mention of a bomb would send them into panic, she left it at a clipped order. “Gary.” She hung on to control as she flagged down her stage manager. “I want you to clear the theater, everyone, actors, stage crew, wardrobe, technicians. Everybody. Get everyone out and back to the hotel.”

  “But, Eve—”

  “Just move.”

  She shoved past him and onto the stage. “There’s been an emergency.” She lifted her voice so that it filled all corners. “Everyone is to leave the theater immediately. Go back to the hotel and wait there. If you’re in costume, leave as you are and leave now.” She glanced at her watch. When was it set? Would she hear the explosion? “I want this theater empty within two minutes.”

  She carried the authority. There might have been grumbles, there were certainly questions, but people began to file out. Eve left the stage to check the storerooms, the dressing rooms, anywhere someone might have gone before the announcement was made. She found Pete, locking up his precious props.

  “I said out.” Taking him by the shirtfront, she dragged him to the door. “Leave everything.”

  “I’m responsible for all of this. I’m not having some light-fingered—”

  “You’re out in ten seconds or you’re fired.”

  That snapped his mouth closed. Eve Hamilton never made a statement she didn’t back up. His chin shot up and a dozen different rejoinders rushed through his mind. Wisely he left them there and started down the hall. “Anything’s stolen, you’ll have to make it good,” he muttered.

  “Let’s just hope something’s left,” she said to herself, and dashed to the other doors. Each one she slammed behind her echoed more hollowly. She found one actor dozing in a dressing room and routed him in seconds. He was shoeless and groggy, but she shoved him out in the hall and in the direction of the stage door.

  Everyone was out, she told herself. They had to be. She thought she could hear the ticking of her watch inside her head. How much more time? Time could already be up. But she had to be sure. She was about to dash up the steps to check the second level, when a hand fell on her shoulder.

  Her breath came out in a squeak, and though her knees went weak, she whirled to defend.

  “Hold it, hold it.” Russ threw up both hands. “I’m just trying to find out what’s going on.”

  “What are you doing here?” Furious, she lowered her hands, but they remained in fists. “I told everyone to get out.”

  “I know. I was coming back in from the break when everyone else came out. Nobody knew why. What’s up, Eve? Is there a fire or something?”

  “Just go back to the hotel and wait.”

  “Look, what gives? If this is your way of saying you didn’t like this morning’s rehearsal—”

  “I’m not playing around here.” Her voice rose as the last of her control snapped. There were beads of sweat on her temples and a stream of it down her back. Cold sweat. “I got a bomb threat. Do you understand? I think there’s a bomb in the theater.”

  He stood where he was a moment as she started up the steps, then he was scrambling after her. “A bomb? A bomb in the theater? What in the hell are you doing? Let’s get out.”

  “I have to make certain everyone else did.” She shook him off and sprinted up the rest of the stairs.

  “Eve, for God’s sake.” His voice cracked as he raced after her. “There’s no one left. Let’s get out of here and call the police, the fire department. Whoever.”

  “We will—as soon as I make sure everyone got out.” After she’d checked every room and shouted until she was hoarse, she was satisfied. Terror began to edge its way in. Her heart in her throat, she grabbed him by the arm and raced downstairs again. They were nearly to the stage door when the explosion hit.

  * * *

  “I’m pleased you could meet me here, Monsieur Trouchet.”

  “I’m always at your disposal, Your Highness.” Trouchet took the seat Alexander offered, setting his briefcase neatly on his lap. “It was a pleasure to see you at the Cabots’ last night, but as you said, such a gathering is not always appropriate for business discussions.”

  “And as the health-care bill is, shall we say, a pet project of mine, I prefer to give it the time and place it warrants.”

  Settled behind his desk, Alexander drew out a cigarette. He was well aware that Trouchet objected to the heart of the bill and that he was in a position to sway many members of the council. Alexander intended to see the bill put in force, with very few concessions.

  “I know your time is valuable, monsieur, so we won’t hedge. Cordina has only two modern hospitals. In the capital and in Le Havre. There are fishing villages and farms in outlying areas that rely solely on the clinics set up by medical personnel. These clinics, though never conceived as profitable businesses, have steadily been losing ground over the past five years.”

  “I am aware of that, sir, as are other members of the council. I’ve brought documentation with me.”

  “Of course.” Alexander allowed him to pass neatly typed sheets, facts and figures, across the desk.

  “Taking into account these documents plus the statements from several village doctors, it is my belief that the clinics will only
remain in force if they are taken over and run by the state.”

  Though he knew what he would find, Alexander gave him the courtesy of looking over the papers. “When the state takes over, it also takes the pride and the independence of the individuals involved.”

  “And greatly increases the efficiency, Your Highness.”

  “People run the state, as well, monsieur,” Alexander said mildly. “The state is not always efficient. But your point is well taken. Which is why I believe that with a subsidy, an allotment only, the clinics—medical personnel and patients—can retain both pride and efficiency.”

  Trouchet closed his case but didn’t latch it. His capable hands folded on the lid. “Surely you can see that a compromise of this nature is fraught with pitfalls.”

  “Oh, indeed.” Alexander smiled and blew out smoke. “Which is why I come to you, monsieur, to ask your help in filling those holes.”

  Trouchet sat back, knowing he was being offered a challenge, a position of importance and a request for surrender all at once. He ran a finger down his nose as he chuckled. “I have no doubt you could fill the holes yourself, Your Highness.”

  “But together, monsieur, we work for greater efficiency, and ultimately for the same end. N’est ce pas?” Alexander drew out a file of his own. “If we could go over these—”

  He broke off, looking up in annoyance as Bennett burst in.

  “Alex.” He didn’t so much as nod at Trouchet as the other man rose. “Reeve just phoned. There’s been an explosion.”

  Alexander was up from his chair, his muscles rigid. “Father?”

  Bennett shook his head. “Alex, it’s the theater.”

  His face went white, so white that Bennett stepped forward, afraid he would crumple. But Alexander held up a hand. When he spoke it was only one word. At that moment his world was only one word. “Eve?”

  “He didn’t know.” Bennett turned to Trouchet. “Please excuse us, monsieur, we must leave immediately.” He went to his brother’s side. “Together.”

  The council member gathered up his papers and case, but before he could shut the lid, he was alone in the room.

  “How? How did it happen?” Alexander demanded as they rushed to the car. When Bennett claimed the driver’s seat he started to object, then subsided. Bennett was right to do so. He would probably kill them both on the way to the theater.

  “Reeve was only on the phone for a minute.” Bennett peeled down the drive, with the royal guards close behind. “She got another call, something was said about a bomb—about them not finding a bomb, and …” But he couldn’t say the rest, not when his brother was so white and stiff.

  “And?”

  “And they realized the caller meant a bomb in the theater. The police were there within minutes, five, ten at the most. They heard it go off.”

  Alexander pressed his lips together. “Where?”

  “In her office. Alexander,” he continued quickly, “she wouldn’t have been in there. Eve’s too smart for that.”

  “She worried for me, for all of us. But not for herself.” He wouldn’t let go, though there was a pain burning between his eyes and another eating slowly through his gut. “Why is it we never thought of her?”

  “If you want to blame yourself, blame all of us,” Bennett said grimly. “None of us ever realized Eve would be drawn into this. There’s no purpose in it. Goddamn it, Alex, there’s no purpose in it.”

  “You said yourself she’s part of the family.” He looked blindly out the window. They were a half block from the theater. His muscles began to tremble. It was fear, stark, raging fear. Before Bennett had fully stopped at the curb he was out.

  By the stage door, Reeve stopped talking to two of his men and stepped forward to ward Alexander off. At his signal a handful of police shifted over as a shield. “She’s not in there. Alex, she’s in the grove around back. She’s all right.” When the grip of Alexander’s fingers on his arms didn’t lessen, Reeve repeated. “She’s all right, Alex. She wasn’t in the office. She was nearly out of the building altogether.”

  He didn’t feel relief. Not until he had seen for himself would he feel relief. Pulling away from Reeve, Alexander rushed around the side of the building. His eyes were drawn to the blown-out window, the blackened bricks. Pieces of jagged glass littered the grass beyond. What might have been a lamp lay in a tangle of bent metal on the path to the grove. Inside was what remained of Eve’s office.

  If he had looked through the space in the wall where her window had been, he would have seen pieces of her desk. Some of the wood, torn into lethal spears, had arrowed into the walls. He would have seen the soaked ashes of what had been her files and papers, correspondence and notations. He would have seen the hole in the inside wall that was big enough for a man to walk through. But he didn’t look.

  Then he saw her, sitting at the verge of the grove, leaning forward on a bench with her head in her hands. Guards flanked her and the man who sat beside her, but Alexander saw only Eve. Whole. Safe. Alive.

  She heard him, though he’d barely even whispered her name. A shudder of emotion passed over her face, then she was up and running for him.

  “Oh, Alex, at first I thought he meant it for you, and then—”

  “You’re not hurt.” He had her face in his hands, framing it, exploring it. “Anywhere, anywhere at all?”

  “No. Unless you count knees that tend to buckle and a stomach that tends to turn to jelly.”

  “I thought you might …” But he couldn’t finish the thought. Instead he pulled her close again and kissed her as if his life depended on it. The guards kept the reporters at a distance, but the picture would hit the Cordinian and international papers.

  “I’m all right,” she murmured over and over, because it was finally sinking in that it was true. “You’re shaking as much as I am.”

  “They could only tell me that there had been an explosion at the theater—in your office.”

  “Oh, Alex.” She held him close, knowing the hell he would have experienced not knowing. “I’m so sorry. We were going out the stage door when it exploded. As it turned out, the bomb squad was sending in men through the main entrance. When it hit we just kept going, and the police didn’t find us until they started spreading out.”

  He held her hands so tightly they ached, but she said nothing. “And your troupe? Everyone is safe?”

  “I got them out within minutes of the call. All but Russ, that is,” she added, glancing behind her at a very pale and quiet actor. “I was going over the second floor to make certain I hadn’t missed anyone, when he—”

  “You? You were going over?” Now she did wince at the pressure of his hands.

  “Alex, please.” She flexed her fingers until his loosened.

  “Are you mad? Don’t you understand that bomb could have been planted anywhere? There could have been more than one. Searching the building is a job for the police.”

  “Alex, my people were in that building. I could hardly waltz out not knowing if they were all safe. As a matter of fact, I had to drag Pete by the shirt, and—”

  “You could have been killed.”

  There was such bitterness, such fury in the tone, that her back straightened, though her knees had begun to weaken again. “I’m very much aware of that, Alex. So could any one of my people. Every one of them is my responsibility. You understand about responsibility, don’t you?”

  “It’s entirely different.”

  “No, it’s entirely the same. You ask me to understand, to trust. I’m only asking the same from you.”

  “Damn it, it’s because of my family that—” But he broke off as he gripped her shoulders. “You’re shaking again.”

  “Shock.” Reeve’s voice came from behind. He had his jacket off and was draping it over her. “Both Eve and Talbot should go to the hospital.”

  Alexander swore at himself for not taking proper care of her, but before he could agree Eve was backing off. “I don’t need to go to the hosp
ital. All I really need is to sit down for a few minutes.” Her teeth began to chatter.

  “In this you’ll do as you’re told.” Alex motioned for one of the guards to assist Russ.

  “Alexander, if I could have a brandy and a quiet room, I would—”

  “You can have a quart of brandy and as many quiet rooms as you wish. After you’ve seen Dr. Franco.” He scooped her up in his arms before she could protest.

  “For heaven’s sake, I’m strong as a horse.” But her head found his shoulder and settled there.

  “We’ll have the doctor confirm that, and bring in a veterinarian if you like.” He paused briefly to look at Reeve. “We’ll talk later?”

  “I’ll be at the palace in an hour or two.”

  * * *

  Eve lay on the pristine white examining table and frowned as Dr. Franco shone the pinpoint light in her left eye. “Too much fuss,” she muttered.

  “Doctors like nothing better than fussing,” he told her, then shone the light in her right eye. Flicking the light off, he took her pulse again. His touch was gentle, his eyes kind. Eve had to smile at the smooth white dome of his head.

  “Don’t you consider it a waste of your time to examine a perfectly healthy patient?”

  “I need the practice.” His lips curved in the bed of his white beard. “Once I’ve satisfied myself, I can set the prince’s mind at rest. I don’t think you’d like to worry him.”

  “No.” She sighed as he attached the blood pressure cuff. “I just don’t care for hospitals.” Meeting the irony in his eyes, she sighed again. “When I lost my mother, we spent hours in the waiting room. It was a slow, painful process for all of us.”

  “Death is hardest on those left behind—just as illness is often more difficult for the healthy.” He understood her aversion to hospitals, but remembered that when Prince Bennett had been recovering from his wounds, she had come every day to sit with him. “You’ve had a shock, my dear, but you’re strong and resilient. You’d be pleased if I assured the prince you didn’t have to remain overnight.”

  She was already sitting up. “A great deal more than pleased.”

  “Then a bargain must be struck,” he added, gently coaxing her back down.

  “Ah, the kicker.” She smiled again and tried to ignore the fact that she felt like a bowl of gelatin. “How about free orchestra seats to opening night of each play?”

  “I wouldn’t refuse.” Her pulse was strong, her blood pressure well within the normal range, but there was still a lack of color in her cheeks and a hollow look around the eyes. “But to seal this bargain, I must have your word that you will rest for twenty-four hours.”

  “Twenty-four? But tomorrow I have to—”

  “Twenty-four,” he repeated in his mild, implacable tone. “Or I will tell the prince that you require a night of observation here at St. Alban’s.”

  “If I have to stay in bed all day tomorrow, I’ll need more than a hospital.”

  “We could perhaps compromise with a walk in the garden, a drive by the sea. But no work, my dear, and no stress.”

  She could make calls from her bedroom, she decided. Her office would probably take days to repair in any case. And if agreement got her out, she’d agree. “Twenty-four hours.” She sat up again and offered her hand.

  “Come, then. I’ll take you out before there is a rut in the corridor from the pacing.”

  Alexander was indeed pacing when Dr. Franco brought her out of the examining room. Bennett was leaning against the wall, watching the door. As soon as they came through, both men started forward. Alexander took Eve’s hand, but looked at Franco.

  “Doctor?”

  “Miss Hamilton is naturally a bit shaken, but has a strong constitution.”

  “I told you,” she said smugly.

  “However, I have recommended twenty-four hours of rest.”

  “Not bed rest,” Eve put in.

  “No,” Franco agreed with a smile. “Not complete bed rest. Though all activity should be relaxing. What she needs now is some quiet and a good meal.”

  “Medication?” Alexander asked.

  “I don’t believe she requires anything, Your Highness, but a bit of pampering. Oh, and I would disconnect the phone in her room for the next twenty-four-hour period.” When Eve’s mouth fell open, he patted her hand. “We can’t have you disturbed by phone calls, can we, my dear?” With a final pat he