“Why do you say that?” she asked warily. She jumped to a conclusion. “Korgan?”
He chuckled. “Korgan didn’t tell me anything before we left but to get the job done any way I could. He was a bit bad-tempered because I was going to do something interesting and he was stuck back there talking strategy with Vogel. Sometimes being Einstein bugs the hell out of him. But that’s his problem.”
“Because he could have been Indiana Jones?”
“Maybe. But I’m much better at it than he’d ever be. He’d get distracted saving the world.”
“And you’re getting distracted chasing after Juno?”
“I wasn’t distracted. I was watching and admiring. I’ve worked with service dogs before from the minefields in Afghanistan to the jungles in Brazil, but I don’t think I’ve seen one as good as Margaret’s dog, Juno. She knew exactly where she was going and how to lead you past those sentries that started popping up during the last two miles. She’s very interesting.”
“Particularly since she was also leading you safely past those sentries?” she asked dryly.
“Of course, but by that time I assumed she’d be able to do that. I was just paying attention to her body language to see if I could gauge how soon we’d arrive at Masenak’s camp. Juno is almost totally silent, but every movement tells a story. It’s part of the dog-wolf heritage. Every tensing of muscle, every pause…And there was an eagerness about her in that last five minutes I was on her trail. She’s almost reached her target…” His eyes were narrowed on her face. “Hasn’t she, Alisa?”
She nodded slowly. “Less than ten minutes now.”
“I knew it!” He was still whispering, but it was brimming with triumph. “Yes.”
“You’re very perceptive.” She added, “And extremely savvy about everything connected to jungle warfare.” She gazed at him appraisingly. “Trained in the Philippines?”
“For a while. How did you know?”
“Because they’re the best at what they do. They’ve even been known to send teams to other countries to train their special forces. Their climate is perfect for adjusting to jungle warfare conditions, and they sometimes use service dogs trained to hunt down fugitives to hone their skills. I’d guess you were probably in one of those units while you were there.”
“Yes, I was. Excellent.”
“Not particularly. Just guesswork,” she said. “Besides, Korgan wouldn’t have brought you here if you weren’t the best. He knew I’d be angry about you coming anyway, and it would have compounded the insult if you didn’t know what you were doing.”
“I know what I’m doing,” he said quietly.
“Right. I’ve been watching you since we left. Though I didn’t find you nearly as interesting as you did Juno.” It wasn’t entirely true. She had seldom seen anyone move with such speed and dexterity through the jungle. He had faded in and out of those trees, making no sound. She was aware how long it took to gain that degree of proficiency. “But as long as I was stuck with you, I had to be sure that you wouldn’t get us killed. Korgan said you wouldn’t, but I’m responsible.” She shrugged. “You’re clearly enough of a professional that I can trust you to watch my back when I go into that tent after Baldwin.” She reached out and touched his arm, stopping him on the path. “Which will be very soon. The camp is right ahead. Sasha will be heading for Baldwin’s tent in a few minutes. Stay out here and make sure that none of those sentries wander close to camp. And keep an eye on Margaret. Nothing must happen to her. If you believe something’s gone wrong, get her out first. I’ll call you if I need you for anything else. Be ready to slip on Baldwin’s boots after I take him down so that we can show his prints leading away from the camp. And you might be useful helping me get Baldwin out of the tent.”
“Since Baldwin is supposed to be almost six feet tall and no lightweight, I’d say that’s likely.”
“Not necessarily. It’s not as if I’m unprepared. I’m very strong, and I’m trained in transporting heavy weights. There’s a carrying strap in my backpack.” She was gliding forward, her eyes searching the camp in the distance. It was nearly twelve fifteen and everything appeared quiet, no sound from any of the tents. Totally dark except for a low-burning fire near the center of the camp where she knew Masenak had his tent. How she would love to slip into his tent instead of Baldwin’s. It would take only seconds to cut the bastard’s throat. Not possible. Don’t even think about it. But it was hard not to think about it when she remembered all the torment he’d caused Sasha and those other young girls. “But I’ll definitely keep you in mind if there’s a problem.”
“I do hope so,” he murmured. “Because Korgan gave me one more instruction before I left. On no account was I to let you get killed before I delivered you back to him tonight.” He was fading back into the shadows of the trees. “Let’s not do that, shall we?”
* * *
It was time.
Sasha paused outside Baldwin’s tent to gather strength to go on. It was going to be okay, she told herself. It wasn’t as if Alisa and Margaret didn’t have a reason and a plan for having her do this. They would never have sent her here if they’d thought Baldwin would be a threat to her.
Except they didn’t realize that Baldwin had never forgiven her for that first encounter when she had nearly smashed his head with a horseshoe. She hadn’t told them that Baldwin had insisted on being in her tent every time Masenak had her beaten during that week of punishment.
Well, screw him, she thought recklessly. And don’t think about herself. Remember how he’d laughed when Jeanne had been suffering.
She pressed her lips to the tent opening. “Baldwin,” she said softly. “I need to speak to you. May I come in? It’s important.”
She heard a curse and then Baldwin was standing in the doorway, hair tousled, wearing a wrinkled undershirt and smelling of whiskey. He looked beyond her toward Masenak’s dark tent. “You want to come in? Where’s Masenak? He wouldn’t like you showing up here.” His voice was bitter. “He won’t let me touch you. He has such big plans and he thinks you can be part of them. The son of a bitch never thinks about me or what I want anymore.”
“That must be difficult for you.” She edged closer to the entrance. She needed to get inside the damn tent before she was seen. “Everyone knows he uses those girls every night now. I really do need to talk to you. Maybe we can help each other.”
He turned and went back into the tent. “Maybe we can. Why shouldn’t I have what I need, too? What do you want, bitch?”
She quickly followed him. “Masenak scared me yesterday. I couldn’t believe he’d hurt Jeanne that badly for no reason.” She bit her lower lip. “I think he’s crazy and might do the same thing to me. And because of the horses, he won’t ever let me get away. You don’t want me here. Can’t you find a way to help me escape?”
“I could do that.” He took a swallow of whiskey. “But Masenak would probably know it was me and he’d cut my balls off.” He turned to face her. “I could see that Masenak’s little ‘event’ bothered you. I was enjoying it. Just as I enjoyed how you flinched when that whip stroked your back while Masenak was having you beaten.” His lips curled. “But it wasn’t enough. He didn’t let me do it myself. Everything has to be special with you.”
He took a step closer. “I can’t even screw you now because it might piss off Masenak. But you’d let me do it, wouldn’t you? You’re scared and I don’t look so bad to you now.” He lowered his head and whispered, “But I’ve learned about the way to handle you from Masenak.” She could smell the whiskey on his breath as his tongue touched her cheek. “And that’s why I’m going to take you over to that prisoner tent on the other side of the clearing and give myself a treat. That’s where they’re keeping Jeanne Palsan.”
She stiffened. “Jeanne?”
“Masenak told the men she was off limits and to leave her alone until she healed.” His tongue touched her upper lip. “But he’ll make an exception for me since I’m being so toler
ant of his other whores. I’m going to let you watch me give Jeanne another ‘event’ to match the one she already had.”
“No.” She inhaled sharply. “You can’t do that.”
“But I can and I will.” He took another swallow of whiskey. “And if you try to stop me, it will only mean the pain will be worse for her. I told you I’d learned how to handle you. Was I right?”
“You were right. I can’t imagine anything more horrible.” She moved to the left so that to face her, his back would be to the rear tent wall. Her voice was trembling. “Please don’t do this. She’s gone through too much already.”
“Begging me?” His eyes were gleaming with malice. “I like that, Sasha. Remember to do that every time she screams when I—”
He gasped desperately for air. His eyes were suddenly bulging!
“You’ll be the one who’s begging,” Alisa said grimly as she rose swiftly from behind him, her fingers pressing the carotid artery in his throat. His eyes glassed over as she pressed harder. He slumped forward to the floor unconscious. She pushed him aside with her boot and went around him to Sasha. “Are you okay?”
“I am now.” Sasha shuddered as she fell into Alisa’s arms and clung to her. “But you’ll have to teach me how to do that. I couldn’t have stopped him, and Jeanne would have been the one to suffer. He was going to—”
“I heard what he was going to do,” she interrupted as she held Sasha for a brief moment before she pushed her away. “Bastard.” Then she was kneeling, duct-taping Baldwin’s mouth, before she handcuffed his wrists. She took out a hypodermic and gave him a shot. “I’ll definitely put it on the schedule, but this isn’t the time to teach you karate. We’ve got to get him out of here. That sentry will be doing his rounds in another fifteen minutes. We have to have Baldwin across that creek and this camp quiet as a grave by then.”
Sasha was nodding jerkily. “I was just wishing we could put Baldwin in a grave of his own. It would make Jeanne safer. It would make all of them safer.” She was picking up the whiskey bottle Baldwin had dropped when Alisa had attacked him. She capped it and then tucked it into Baldwin’s backpack. “Margaret said Korgan wanted Masenak to think he’d just disappeared? Nothing more permanent? Too bad.” She was swiftly packing up Baldwin’s clothes and toiletries in the backpack and strapping it on him. “I’ll help you drag him out the back of the tent and into the jungle. Then I’ll come back and clean up the rest.”
“Not necessary. I’ll help her.”
Sasha whirled to see a man with dark curly hair sliding underneath the edge of the tent with one lithe movement. “I’m John Gilroy and you must be Sasha.” His eyes were fixed warily on the whiskey bottle Sasha had instinctively grabbed to use as a weapon when she’d seen him. “Introduce us, Alisa. Quickly, please.”
“Gilroy,” Alisa said curtly. “Korgan sent him with us. He has some kind of bizarre notion that he’s a second Indiana Jones. I told him to stay outside and keep an eye on Margaret.”
He shrugged. “Just being proactive. You’re a few minutes behind schedule, and I do take my instructions from Korgan.” Gilroy was dragging Baldwin’s limp body toward the back of the tent where he’d entered. “How long will he be out?”
“The sedative will last another thirty minutes.”
“Then let’s get the asshole out of here.” He jerked Baldwin’s boots off him and threw them outside the tent. “You go ahead and check that sentry. I can handle Baldwin by myself.” He glanced at Sasha. “It’s risky to leave her. If that sentry is on time, we’ll be shaving it pretty close. Are you sure you don’t want to bring her with us?”
“Hell, yes, I want to bring her with us,” Alisa said harshly. “She just won’t come.” She looked back at Sasha and said thickly, “Take care. We’ll be back for you all as soon as we can.”
“I know that, Alisa.” Sasha tucked the whiskey bottle back in Baldwin’s backpack and fastened the strap. “I’ll be fine. Don’t stand there looking at me. Get out of here.”
She watched Alisa wriggle under the tent before she turned to look at Gilroy and said coldly, “If it turns out to be really close, you forget about what Korgan told you to do. You kill Baldwin. I don’t care how. Bury him in the jungle or tie a stone around his neck and toss him in a lake. Then you get Alisa and Margaret safely back to the border. If you don’t, I’ll come after you. Do you understand?”
“I understand you’re a lot like Alisa for such a youngster.” He was smiling faintly as he dragged Baldwin the last few feet out of the tent. “Don’t worry. She was only a couple of minutes late. We’ll still have time to make it…”
He was gone.
Sasha stood there for a moment. No sound. It was probably going to be okay. Gilroy had seemed to be very strong and competent and so confident she had wanted to hit him. Don’t worry, he had said. But she was always worried these days.
Then stop it. Just do her part to keep everyone alive and well. First, she’d finish making the tent look as if there had been no foul play and Baldwin had just flown the coop. She’d make certain no one saw her go back to her own tent, and then she’d lie there and wait for the camp to rouse.
And listen to make sure there was no gunfire from any of the sentries who might have caught sight of Alisa and Margaret. Nothing to worry about…
* * *
Border Base Camp
“They’ve been sighted two miles south.” Vogel hung up from talking on the phone and turned to Korgan. “Gilroy, a prisoner, and Margaret Douglas and that dog. No sign of Alisa Flynn.”
“Shit!” Korgan strode out of the shelter and headed into the brush. “Then where the hell did they lose her? I told Gilroy not to screw this up.”
“Then you should have sent more men,” Vogel said bluntly as he followed him. “You let Alisa Flynn call the shots. You can’t blame Gilroy if she wasn’t as good as she thought she was.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said harshly. “She is that good. And it could only have worked with a team that small and knowledgeable. Do you think I would have let her go if I hadn’t gone over those plans half a dozen times myself to see if there was a better way? This shouldn’t have happened. Gilroy screwed up. I should have gone myself.”
“Bullshit.” Gilroy had appeared around the curve of the path ahead. “I was perfect. I never screw up. Ask Margaret.” He shoved Baldwin stumblingly forward. “I whisked this piece of crap out of that tent and through that jungle with the superb skill that you could never hope to equal. Isn’t that right, Margaret?”
“He was adequate,” Margaret said dryly. “And it was good to have someone strong enough to carry Baldwin until we reached the creek bed where footprints didn’t matter. That’s why we decided to let him come along.”
“Adequate?” Gilroy repeated, outraged. “I was far more than—”
“Where’s Alisa?” Korgan asked curtly. “Since Margaret hasn’t seen fit to sic her dog on you, I take it you didn’t get her killed.”
“About a mile behind us,” Gilroy said. “You said you wanted Baldwin to disappear. It seems Alisa is taking you at your word. It didn’t matter how slim the chances were of anyone seeing those footprints. She’s been erasing them and getting rid of all hint of spoor since we left the creek bed.”
“She doesn’t like to risk making a mistake,” Margaret said quietly.
“I know that,” Korgan said. “Vogel, get a couple of men out here to pick up Baldwin and take him to the tent for interrogation, then get rid of those damn footprints Alisa is so worried about.”
“She’ll want to do it herself,” Margaret said.
“I know that, too.” He started down the path. “I’ll take care of it. You go on to camp and get some rest, Margaret. You’ve done your job.”
“And quite ‘adequately,’” Gilroy said. “But I was superb.”
She smiled. “Maybe. But Alisa won’t admit that until you get that prisoner across the border yourself so she can tell Korgan the mission’s
completed.”
“Then by all means let’s give her what she wants.” He nudged Baldwin forward again. “Let me escort you and Juno to the finish line, asshole.”
* * *
“You’re done, Alisa,” Korgan said flatly. “Margaret turned over Baldwin to me. Now stop trying to clean up the entire jungle to prove how efficient you are.”
She turned around and lifted the beam of her flashlight from the ground to see his face. “You’re angry again,” she said wearily. “Nothing pleases you, does it? I’ve done what you wanted. You have Baldwin. Proof of intent. But I’m not quite finished. Go away and I’ll get this last bit done.”
“You’re done,” he repeated. “You’ve done more than I ever had a right to ask you. You’ve given me what I wanted. Now just get the hell back to camp, will you?”
She went back to carefully brushing all signs of footprints from the path with the branch she was using. “When I’ve finished.”
“You’re done.” He took two strides and was grasping her shoulders. “Just do what I told you to do. I’ve spent all night waiting to know if Gilroy was going to bring you back in a body bag and I’m sick of it. I want this over and you back at camp.” His grip tightened. “Is that too much to ask?”
“No, but it’s not reasonable. I should finish what I started.”
“I’ve already told you sometimes I’m not reasonable. But it’s also not reasonable for you to stay out here doing this idiotic cleanup when I can have it done quicker and more efficiently. Why would you do that?”
“Because I need to do it.” She lifted her eyes to meet his own and blinked back the stinging tears as she said fiercely, “Satisfied? Because if I keep busy enough, it helps me not to remember I had to leave Sasha back there in that tent. I always have to leave her. What if someone saw her last night? I know she’s careful, but all it would take would be—”
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