by Cate Noble
“Damn it! I’ll kill him.” Didn’t Billy realize his antics could endanger his girlfriend as well? Rocco pinched the bridge of his nose. Maybe Rocco needed to level with his sister and nephew—give them a better idea of the danger they faced. “I’ll call Adele. And when you find Billy, I want to talk to him.”
“Actually, Cat or someone else will have to work that. We’ve finally got news on Taz, but it’s not good. He tracked Erin Houston to Springfield, Massachusetts, and has taken her hostage. Taz wants her to lead him to Rufin.”
“Jesus! How is Max handling that?”
“Initially he went apeshit but he’s since been able to monitor enough of Erin’s thoughts to know she’s unharmed. Their connection keeps breaking, however, and Max suspects Taz is drugging her.”
Rocco didn’t understand how the whole head connection thing worked, but he knew he wouldn’t like it.
“If Taz wants Erin to bring him to Rufin, then they’re likely headed your way,” Rocco said.
“We’re setting up surveillance at Rufin’s old location, where Erin last worked with him.”
“Damn. I feel helpless.”
“To a degree, me too. But here’s something else you need to know. The Thai government doubled the reward on your head, which has stirred interest with some of the international bounty hunters. We’ve got reports of one of them nosing around Sugar Springs, looking to pick up your trail. You should think seriously about getting backup.”
“I’ll look into that as soon as we hang up.”
“Then let me give you the last bit of news. From Travis. Minh Tran sent a text to your phone, acknowledging your ‘arrest.’ Said he’ll contact you with a new deadline and instructions. Travis feels certain Minh Tran had your place staked out, probably intended to follow you and grab Rufin before you left D.C.”
“I would have expected as much,” Rocco said. “Did Tran mention anything about Maddy’s fate?”
“Not directly, but Travis doesn’t think Minh Tran is stupid enough to harm Maddy right now. She’s still his only leverage, especially since the attempts on Gena have failed.”
Rocco rubbed his head. “I hope Travis is right. I’ll be in touch.”
After disconnecting, Rocco moved to the small table where his laptop sat. The news that a bounty hunter had traced him to Sugar Springs was worrisome.
He thought about his plan to cross into Mexico. It still seemed the best choice, especially since he and Gena would be using new aliases.
As Dante suggested, it was also time to get help to guard Gena. If Rocco could get her to a secure location in Mexico, he could fly back to D.C. and let himself be spotted there to lure the bounty hunters away from Texas.
Rocco reviewed his mental Rolodex and came up with a person he could trust; an old friend who used to work for INTERPOL in Monterrey, Mexico. A friend who owed him a favor. The problem was how to get in touch with him. Rocco didn’t want to access his contact list at the office from here. Instead, he’d have Cat do it.
Gena came out of the bathroom.
“Get packed,” Rocco said. “I’d like to leave here while it’s dark.”
“Do you still plan to go to Mexico?”
“Yes. I’m also going to hire a backup security person, Gena. I may have to leave you with him long enough to double back and lay a false trail.”
“I’ll be fine on my own,” Gena began.
“No. You saw what happened to Lupe. And now there are new people joining the search. I’m afraid it’s even more dangerous than before.”
Chapter Twenty
Bangkok, Thailand
October 5, 7:00 A.M.
“The woman is alive.”
Luc Skihawtra’s four-word message gave Travis Franks hope.
It had been tough to think ever since learning that his beloved Maddy was in the hands of Minh Tran. The guilt that ate at Rocco Taylor was nothing compared to what Travis felt. If Travis had been more insistent that he and Maddy go public about their relationship, she wouldn’t be in danger.
For a lot of reasons that at one time seemed important, Travis and Maddy had decided to keep their status as a couple private. Their coming together in a romantic sense had shocked both of them. Maddy had worked periodically with Travis’s team for three years, two of which had been spent with Rocco in a relationship that could only be described as intermittent.
But two months ago, after weeks of working late, trying to find leads on Max and Harry, something had clicked, and clicked hard, between Travis and Maddy. Travis invited her out to dinner, and one thing led to another and wham! He’d fallen for her.
But Maddy had been the one who didn’t want to advertise their status until they defined their relationship. They had sex—great sex. But she worried that without commitment, that’s all it ever would be.
And while Travis preferred a committed relationship, he’d secretly worried he was too old for Maddy. He was forty-two. She was twenty-five. That seventeen-year age difference brought up all the old-enough-to-be-her-dad insecurities.
Damn it, once she was safe, Travis would announce to the world that he loved her.
Once she was safe.
He was waiting for Luc to clear security at their meeting place, the same secret interrogation room he used months ago when Travis first met Luc.
Luc had been instrumental in locating Max Duncan and Travis had been working privately with Luc ever since, slowly crafting Luc’s cover as a smalltime arms dealer. Keeping Luc small kept him off everyone’s radar.
Up till now Travis had been using Luc to track down leads on the Agency’s third missing agent, Harry Gambrel. But every lead proved a dead end. It was possible that Harry had died from the abuses Dante and Max had also suffered, or had even been murdered by his captors. But until Travis had solid proof, he would assume Harry was alive somewhere.
Right now, however, Maddy was priority one.
Travis’s phone vibrated. Luc had arrived. A moment later, the door to the conference room opened and Luc was ushered in. Travis stood and shook his hand.
At twenty-three, Luc had more street smarts than anyone Travis had ever met. Luc wore all black, including his backpack, reminding Travis that he took his fashion cues from Western spy movies.
Travis motioned for Luc to take a seat but didn’t wait to begin his questions. “How do you know she’s alive?”
“Minh Tran has an old warehouse near the docks that is for sale,” Luc said. “It’s been vacant for over a year, but last week food was delivered several times a day. Enough for several people.”
“Where is this place?” Travis asked.
“I will give you the location, but the building is empty now. I checked myself.”
Travis gave in to the urge to hit the table. “You said she was alive!”
“She was alive this morning. One of Tran’s helicopters flew in and landed on the roof. I spoke with a witness who saw a blond woman, same size as yours, being forced on board. She was blindfolded and gagged.”
Maddy. If Minh Tran had intended to kill her, why transport her by helicopter? While choppers were Tran’s preferred method of transportation between his various lairs and places of business, their expense was catching up. Tran had supposedly grounded most of his fleet as his revenue streams went as dry as his supply of SugarCane.
“Any idea where the helicopter went after leaving the warehouse?” Travis asked
“Not yet. I’m working it. Wheels turn slower here.”
Travis nodded, reminding himself that he was in not only a foreign country, but also a suspicious one. The Thai government wasn’t pleased with the rumored reports that two U.S. spies had not only been held without their knowledge, but subsequently rescued too.
Then there was the business of Dr. Rufin. Every country wanted Rufin; the rewards offered for his capture were rapidly approaching the ridiculous. Greed-fueled competition was dangerous.
Travis’s carefully orchestrated countermeasures had to make it appear that the
U.S. was actively searching for Rufin as well. Which had been another task of Luc’s: To follow up on supposed leads on Dr. Rufin’s whereabouts.
“How soon do you expect to have word on Tran’s helicopter?” Travis asked.
“Today. Maybe tomorrow.”
Travis slid an envelope of money across the table. “Speed is critical. I don’t want this woman harmed.”
Luc cocked his head to one side. “She is special to you?”
“Yes. Very special. Here’s something else.” Travis handed Luc a small black cell phone. “This is equipped with a satellite booster. You should get a signal almost anywhere. My phone numbers are programmed in along with those of two friends. The moment you get any news on Maddy, call me. If you can’t reach me directly, call the others and explain we’re working together. They will know what to do.”
Luc examined the phone, then hefted the envelope. “I have something for you as well.” He opened his backpack and removed two plastic bags containing trash. Disposable coffee cups, plastic silverware, and duct tape that appeared to have been cut.
“What is this?” Travis asked.
“The man you seek who kidnapped Dr. Rufin,” Luc explained. “I believe I found the apartment where he kept Rufin. Maybe you get fingerprints?”
Travis looked at the items. As evidence they were next to useless. It was a long shot that fingerprints, much less DNA, had survived, but he’d leave no stone unturned.
According to Dr. Rufin’s statement the man who had abducted him in Bangkok after murdering Rufin’s friend Bohdana had been a westerner. It seemed Bohdana had met the man while working in Indonesia with the late Dr. Zadovsky. The Agency was very interested in this mystery man.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Travis said.
As soon as Luc left, Travis sent the bagged items to be analyzed, then returned to his temporary office and began doing research on the warehouse Luc had mentioned.
A beeping sound caught his attention. Rocco’s cell phone. Travis pulled it from his pocket and checked the display.
TEXT MESSAGE FROM POWER1. That was the screen name used by Minh Tran’s messenger.
Eager, Travis opened it. The new message was cryptic.
AN EYE FOR AN EYE. YOUR CHILD FOR MINE. WILL ACCEPT FORMULA IN EXCHANGE FOR WOMAN. FORMULA MUST BE VERIFIED FIRST.
Travis reread the message and groaned as the meaning became clear. Your child for mine. Maddy was pregnant and Minh Tran had assumed the child was Rocco’s. And worse, Tran sought to avenge his son’s death by harming Maddy’s child.
Maddy and Travis’s child.
Travis hit REPLY and typed in a message.
HARM THE WOMAN OR HER CHILD AND ALL DEALSARE OFF. WILL PROVIDETWO FORMULAS. NEW ONE IS SUPERIOR. NEED 48 HOURS MINIMUM.
Minh Tran’s offer to accept Rufin’s formula, the one for SugarCane, meant Tran had realized that kidnapping Rufin was impossible. It also underscored Tran’s desperation to get more ’Cane into the supply pipelines.
Travis hoped the promise of a second drug formula would pique Tran’s greed. He forwarded the messages to Catalina. Then he picked up his own cell phone and called Luc Skihawtra. They had to find Maddy fast. All stops had to be pulled out now.
Chapter Twenty-One
Monterrey, Mexico
October 5, 5:30 P.M.
Gena tried to eavesdrop on Rocco’s phone conversation but learned little. Since they were in a public place, the Monterrey airport, he was being especially quiet. It was difficult to guess the conversation on the other end when Rocco largely listened and only gave monosyllabic answers.
She knew he was concerned about the abduction of his friend’s fiancée, Erin. Gena had never met Erin but sympathized with her. And Gena didn’t think she’d met Max Duncan, though she might have during her marriage to Harry Gambrel.
Harry’s insistence that Gena accompany him to social gatherings had eventually faded as she’d slipped further into the bottle. There was much about her marriage to Harry she didn’t remember, thanks to her drinking. And the parts she did remember, she wished she could either forget or recall in entirety. Blackouts blocked a lot of those memories.
She did clearly remember her premarriage days of working at the Agency. The close-knit bond the operatives formed was amazing. Gena had met Dante Johnson and had liked him. Rocco and Dante had grown up together and were like brothers, so it wasn’t hard to imagine that Rocco’s friendship with Max was similar.
Gena glanced around the airport, scanning faces, staying alert, but no one seemed to give them more than a casual glance. No one threatening, that is. She’d caught more than one woman giving Rocco a second glance. And who could blame them? The man was gorgeous.
Back when they’d dated, Gena had often experienced bouts of jealousy. Maybe on some level she’d sensed Rocco’s unfaithfulness even before they’d broken up. Don’t go there.
The fact was, she and Rocco had been apart four years. Twice as long as they’d been together. What had once seemed magical between them was water under the bridge. She’d made peace with his mistakes and her own; had chalked them up to poor judgment.
So why had she melted when Rocco kissed her this morning?
If the motel phone hadn’t rung, they would have gone all the way. She and Rocco had left the motel without really discussing it, which was oddly reminiscent of their past. There had never been time to talk about the important stuff. Rocco was always racing off to join another mission—or another woman, as she later learned.
Irritated with her errant thoughts, Gena stood and pointed to the restroom. Rocco nodded in acknowledgment.
There was a line inside the ladies’ room. She stretched while waiting, grateful that she felt better today. She was still sore from leaping from the truck yesterday, but her backache was mostly from spending all day in the car.
Thanks to some new drug interdiction program, it had taken nearly four hours to clear customs and cross the border. The drive to Monterrey had been only three hours, but once they arrived they’d mostly driven around while waiting for Rocco’s contact to finalize plans.
Rocco had offered to get another motel room, which Gena had refused, not wanting to risk a repeat of the morning. They had also done a little shopping, which meant she now had pajamas and a few items to help disguise her looks, like sunglasses and a straw hat.
When she came out of the restroom, Rocco was off the phone. He’d left his cell phone on more frequently once they’d crossed the border since it was harder to triangulate locations in foreign countries. He also needed to remain available for his INTERPOL connection, who apparently was acting as a go-between, hooking up Rocco with someone named Clay.
“Any news?” she asked Rocco.
“Max and Dante have managed to trace part of Taz and Erin’s route. Max hopes to close in on them soon. And my nephew is back with my sister. I think he understands the seriousness of the situation, even if he doesn’t know all the specifics.”
“Are they being relocated?”
“Yes. And speaking of that, our contact has been held up due to weather delays, but should be here in an hour and a half. I suggest we get something to eat before we meet him. It’ll be late when we arrive at our destination.”
“Are you going to tell me where we’re headed?”
Rocco stood. “Toward the east coast, near Acapulco. The man I’m working with has connections there.”
He motioned her toward a crowded corridor. The sky beyond the windows looked gray, as if a storm approached. Was this the same system that had delayed Rocco’s contact? She prayed the weather wouldn’t interfere with their flight.
They were still posing as a couple, a ruse Rocco insisted they continue. The man they were meeting, Clay, believed he was providing security for an oil company executive and his wife, who’d been targeted by rebels. “The fewer people who know the truth, the better,” Rocco had said.
That he planned to take off as soon as she was settled in the safe house made it easier to
go along with the ruse. No chance of waking up in an awkward position again.
After a twenty-minute wait at the restaurant, Gena and Rocco were seated at a corner table that was relatively quiet.
“Is your arm hurting?” Rocco asked. “You’re favoring it again.”
“Am I?” She rubbed her wrist. It was still sore, but she’d left off the compression bandage to avoid calling attention to her injuries. “I’ll take ibuprofen with dinner.”
“Gena, I need your word that you won’t try to leave the safe house while I’m gone.”
She lowered her menu. “And go where? My apartment? That’s the last place I’d feel safe right now.”
“You talked before about finding Lupe’s grandmother . It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that others would deduce the same.”
“I hate that Lupe’s grandmother is being left in the dark,” Gena said. “But, at the same time, I know my presence can endanger others.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“It’s not so much understanding as it is my desire for vengeance.”
“Don’t even think about taking matters into your own hands.” Rocco had dropped his voice lower.
“Do you think I’m that stupid? I realize the people behind this are ruthless. My hope is that they’ll follow you right into a trap. I want them arrested and tried for Lupe’s murder.”
The waitress returned and took their order, conversing in Spanish with Gena.
“I forgot you were so fluent,” Rocco said. “Look, I’m sorry if I sounded harsh a minute ago. You said you hadn’t known Lupe long, yet it seemed you were close.”
“Everyone at the shelter grew close, even if they were only there a short time.”
“You volunteered there, right? And you also worked for the construction company building the new shelter?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I’m curious how you ended up in construction.” Rocco linked his hands in front of him on the table. “I mean, of all the things I might have imagined you doing, construction wasn’t one of them.”