No, it wasn’t the same. She didn’t feel as weak and ineffectual. Dyle couldn’t feel as all-powerful as he had before. Both were good results in a bad scenario. And she had now been able to gauge the depth of Jaden’s ruthlessness and the fact that he would never stop. Knowledge was also power. She needed any good results that came their way right now.
If you could call it good when her stomach was twisting, and she had to fight not to fall back into that pit of sheer terror.
Waldridge stepped closer to Kendra. “You’re shaking,” he said gently. “Don’t fall apart now. You were bloody magnificent.”
“I couldn’t let them have it all their own way,” she said unevenly. “I hate bullies, and I wanted to smack Biers when I realized what he was doing.”
“Well, you slapped him down figuratively. I would have liked to do a good deal more to him.” His expression was shadowed. “I was in a world where I could trust no one, and I allowed myself the bad judgment to trust Biers. He was so brilliant and enthusiastic. I suppose money and power can change people.”
“He’s weaker, but just as bad as Dyle,” she said, remembering Biers’s expression when he was looking at Waldridge. “And he’s jealous of you. I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on that.”
“We were colleagues. I celebrated any success he made. I thought he did the same.”
“And you trusted him,” she repeated. “But he belongs to Dyle now. He didn’t even get up off his knees without Dyle’s okay. He was the one who cut that GPS out of me. If Dyle told him to cut out my eye, he’d do it in a heartbeat.” Her lips twisted. “Of course, he might have to fight Jaden for the pleasure.”
He muttered a curse. “No way, Kendra.”
“I hope we can keep that from happening.” She had to stop this shaking. “I guess you know how I’d feel about that. Dyle managed to hit a bull’s-eye. No one can really know the difference unless they’ve been there.”
“I won’t let him touch you.”
“You might have to let him go ahead and do it if we have to find a way to stall.”
Waldridge took her in his arms and held her. Comfort. Friendship. Togetherness. “No, then we’ll find another way to stall.”
“How? You can’t give him what he wants. You said if you gave in, you knew it would only be signing your death warrant. Do you think he’d let me live afterward? Not likely.” She pushed him away and drew a deep breath. The shaking had almost stopped. She was getting better, that moment of realizing that she was not alone in this battle was helping. “You can’t do it. We’d both end up dead.”
He didn’t speak for a moment. “Quite possibly.” His lips twisted. “Then we’d best come up with another solution. Dyle believes he’s come up with the perfect mechanism to force me to his way of thinking. He knew what seeing you tortured would do to me. He was entirely serious about taking your eyes.”
She had known that, and the fear had nearly paralyzed her. Snap out of it. They could get through this. They had no choice.
“Tell me about the layout of this place.” She looked at the large, reinforced door through which Dyle had just exited. “Do you know where that leads?”
“Oh, yes. That leads to an office–sitting room and a kitchen.” His lips twisted. “And a small room where Dyle spent a number of hours trying to convince me of my duty to him.”
Torture. Would that be where she’d be taken if Dyle decided to take her eye? Don’t think about it. Concentrate. “So that’s the main part of this encampment? Where do the guards sleep?”
“Not in the main facility.” He nodded at the other smaller door. “You said you thought that led outside. You might be right. There might be an outbuilding out there. When they were taking me back and forth to my charming little home away from home, I saw a few tents as I passed the window in the office.”
“So there will be tigers behind either door. We just have to plan a way to get past them.”
“Or invite them into our parlor?” Charles asked. “I believe Dyle has already issued a command invitation himself.”
“That’s an hour from now.” She took another step back and glanced around the lab. Concentrate. Memorize everything about it. “In an hour, we won’t be here.”
CHAPTER
17
KENDRA HEARD FOOTSTEPS in the hall outside the lab.
She tensed, she’d been expecting it, but it still caused her heart to speed up.
They were coming for her.
Her time was up, and Dyle’s men were now unlocking the door. Her hand closed behind her around the bump key she’d identified as most likely to work on the door. Her palms were sweating, and her pulse was erratic as she stared at the door. She murmured to Waldridge standing next to her at the table. “Here we go.” She moistened her lips. “Good luck.”
“You, too.” He picked up two corked flasks filled with water. “Even if this goes horribly wrong, it’s better than the alternative.”
“Gouging my eyes out, you mean?” Her gaze never left the door. “Can’t argue with that.”
The door swung open, and the same two gunmen as before entered. Dyle wasn’t with them. Too bad, Kendra thought.
She shared a quick glance with Waldridge.
Almost time.
The two gunmen moved forward. The larger of the two men, a muscular man with a handlebar moustache, gestured toward Kendra. “Time’s up, lady. Unless Waldridge has changed his mind and decided—” He broke off as his gaze went down to the floor. The two men had stopped warily as their shoes crunched on a gritty mixture of potassium permanganate and glycerin that Waldridge had carefully spread on the floor. “What’s this shit?”
Waldridge walked toward them with his water-filled flasks. “Only a science experiment. After all, Dyle ordered me to get to work.”
He hurled the flasks toward the floor.
The flasks shattered.
The two men were instantly engulfed in flames!
Kendra and Waldridge dodged behind the nearest table.
Screams! The man with the handlebar moustache squeezed off a barrage of shots before he dropped his gun as his arm was engulfed in flames. Within seconds, the other gunman was on his knees, yelling as he tried in vain to extinguish the chemical fire on his clothes.
Waldridge whirled around. “Now, Kendra! Those screams are going to bring them running.”
She was already at the smaller door, working the bump key as she’d practiced with Jessie. She positioned the key and tapped it with the mallet she had taken from the lab equipment.
Strike, twist, repeat …
Strike, twist, repeat …
It wasn’t working!
The men’s screams had become lower-pitched wails, and she realized that the horrible scene behind her was pulling her focus.
Detach. Concentrate.
Strike, twist …
The lock turned! She pushed open the door, and bright sunlight flooded into the lab. Beyond the door there was sand, only sand for as far as the eye could see.
She turned back at a crash from the other side of the lab. Biers, Jaden, and the other guard had burst through the primary door with fire extinguishers. Biers pointed toward Kendra. “Stop her!”
Waldridge picked up two larger flasks he had ready, and yelled to her, “Run!”
Kendra bolted out the open door and a heartbeat later Waldridge was there. He whirled around and tossed the flasks toward the second, wider strip of potassium permanganate and glycerin he’d laid down.
Foom!
Flames roared over the entire lab.
Waldridge leaped through the open door and bolted across the rough sand after Kendra as a series of small explosions rocked the lab behind them.
“What’s that?” Kendra shouted.
“Ammonium nitrate,” Waldridge replied. “And perhaps a few vials of zinc powder. I used everything I could find.”
Kendra glanced over her shoulder at the complex that had been their prison. It was smaller than she had imagined, with beige color
ing that would make it invisible from the sky. The lab was joined by a walkway to smaller structures, which must be the quarters section Waldridge mentioned.
Another explosion shook the lab.
Kendra’s gaze was flying over the trucks and vehicles parked in the area.
No time to hot-wire anything.
Kendra pointed to a three-wheel all-terrain vehicle parked several yards away. “There!”
Waldridge gave it a doubtful look. “Will your bump key work on that?”
“No.” She was running toward the ATV. “But it’s a sport model, so we may not need a key.” She practically flew onto the seat and checked the console. Relief. “We’re good to go. Hop on!”
Blue flames shot from the open door.
Waldridge jumped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Kendra had already started the ATV and was gunning the engine. She pulled back on the throttle. The back wheels kicked up sand as the ATV bounded over a small dune and headed out into the open desert.
* * *
DYLE SHIELDED HIS FACE from the white-hot chemical fire that had completely enveloped the lab. The strong desert wind had sent the flames leaping totally out of control. His hands clenched in fury as he turned back to the two badly burned men who had been dragged out just before the entire building went up in flames.
One of the men, Aaron French, was clearly dead. His crispy face was a bloody scab only barely recognizable as a human being. Incredibly, the remnants of his handlebar mustache were still visible.
The other man, Dan Brill, wasn’t faring much better. He screamed in pain as Jaden and Nathan, the other security man, tried to peel off his black fatigues. He quieted only after he was injected with a heavy sedative.
Biers grimaced at the sight of the two charred men. “That could have been us, Dyle. For God’s sake, you know Waldridge is a chemical genius. Why wasn’t he more closely watched?”
“Are you criticizing me?” Dyle asked coldly. “Taken alone, none of those chemicals could have caused this chaos.”
Biers immediately backed down. “No, you’re right, of course. I’m just concerned.”
“And so you should be. We’ll get them back. All of my men are damn good in the desert. Jaden ran my security detail for me in Egypt.” He turned to the remaining security men, Jaden and Eric Nathan, who were approaching them. “Why aren’t you on the road? What do I pay you for?”
“We have two men down,” Jaden said. “French is gone, but Brill stands a chance. We need to get him to a hospital.”
“Later,” Dyle said. “Right now we have to catch Waldridge and the woman.”
“Brill is going to die if we don’t get him to a hospital now,” Nathan said.
Dyle looked down at the burned man, who was struggling to breathe. “He’s going to die anyway. You and I both know that. The nearest hospital is a hundred miles from here.”
“We have to try,” Nathan said. “I’m not leaving him. We’ve been through a lot of shit together.”
“You can try when you get back if he’s still alive.”
“That’s not the way we do things, sir.”
Dyle smothered his rage. He wanted to shoot the son of a bitch. But he had to work with these idiots. He had no one else at the moment. “Honorable. But two people have escaped on your watch, and they have to be retrieved.” Hell, let Jaden handle it. They were his men. He turned to Jaden. “What do you think?”
“I think Nathan is right. Nathan and Brill were buddies.” He looked down at the moaning man with no expression. “And compensation should be made for violating his feelings in the matter.” His gaze shifted to Dyle. “Considerable compensation.”
Whatever. Anything to get them moving. “Look, then suppose I give each of you a bonus of $50,000 when you bring them back.”
That got Nathan’s attention, Dyle noticed. Cash always did. “That’s a lot of money.” Nathan paused. “But you’re actually paying me to let him die.”
“He’ll die anyway. I’m paying you to keep the mission on track.”
“Fifty thousand apiece?” Jaden repeated.
He wanted to make certain his assistance in the matter was going to show a profit. Jaden never did anything without a paycheck. “Absolutely.”
Jaden turned to Nathan. “We’ve got to look out for ourselves. That’s a lot of money.”
“Time’s wasting,” Dyle said.
Jaden said to Nathan, “In the same situation, Brill would take the money and leave our asses. You know that.”
Nathan shrugged. “Okay. Maybe you’re right.”
Jaden turned to Dyle. “We’ll leave Brill and start tracking Waldridge, but this is a big area. We’ll need help. I want your okay to call down to Mexico for reinforcements from Koppel’s team to come up here to give us support.”
“No, how many times do I have to tell you, this mission is confidential.”
“It won’t be confidential if we can’t find Waldridge before they make it out of this desert.”
“We’ll probably find them before Koppel’s team can get up here to help.”
“Then you can send them back. But it will only take a few hours for Koppel to cross the border and get here. It will make the difference if we have trouble locating Waldridge and Michaels.”
“Are you telling me what to do?”
“I’m telling you I’m not losing that bonus if they manage to get away. I want help.” He shrugged. “Take it or leave it.”
Dyle muttered a curse. “I’ll take it. But if any of those men talk, I won’t be shy about taking a contract out on you, Jaden.”
“Expected,” Jaden said. “But no one talks if I tell them not to.” He reached for his phone. “Now how do you want to work this?”
“How do you think? We stop talking, get moving, and find them. You and I will go in my Range Rover. Nathan, you take Biers in the Jeep.”
Biers looked startled. “Me? I thought I’d stay and watch over this poor fellow.”
“I’m sure you did,” Dyle said sarcastically. “But you’re no longer on a free ride, Biers. We need all hands on deck. You’ll earn that fat check I gave you. If Waldridge and Michaels get away, you have everything to lose.” He turned to Nathan. “Give Dr. Biers a gun.”
“What?” Biers said.
But Dyle was ignoring him and already running toward the Range Rover.
* * *
KENDRA PUT ON AN EXTRA BURST of speed on the ATV. There was nothing even remotely resembling a road, but the desert was reasonably flat. She dodged a line of scrub brush, noticing at the last moment that it hid large boulders that could have been fatal if struck at her present high rate of speed.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Waldridge shouted over the engine.
She nodded toward the sun. “West. I can’t get any more specific than that.” She checked the rearview mirror. They had already put about six miles between them and the complex, with still no indication that they were being pursued. But she expected that to change at any minute.
A small dune appeared suddenly ahead of her.
“Hang on!” she yelled.
She jumped the dune, which launched them into the air. They skidded on the landing. Kendra tightened her hold on the handlebar grips, wishing that Jessie was the one driving. The wind was so strong that the ATV was being buffeted as if it were a toy, and it was nearly impossible to keep it steady.
The ATV engine sputtered.
It sputtered again.
No. No-no-no-no-no …
The engine sputtered out completely.
“What’s happening?” Waldridge yelled.
Kendra was cursing. “I think we’ve run out of gas.”
They rolled to a stop.
“What now?” Waldridge asked.
Kendra hopped off the ATV and squinted against the strong sun as she gazed into the distance. Heat. Overpowering heat. The skin of her face had no protective covering, and she already felt it drying out, burning, as the hot wi
nd blew against it. “The only thing we can do. We walk. There’s a ridge up ahead, so maybe we can stop there and get out of the sun.” She started toward the ridge. “We’ll take shelter there and start again after dark.”
“And hope they’re not heading this way.”
Kendra nodded. “We got one break. This wind is so strong that any tracks disappear as soon as we make them. Help me push this ATV into the scrub brush. It will be better if they don’t know we’re on foot. They’d limit and concentrate their search range if they did.”
Delta 1904
Atlantic Ocean
It took five calls for Lynch to get through to Griffin when he was finally in the air and heading for the U.S. By that time he was halfway across the ocean, and his nerves were raw. His mood had started out that way, and the iciness of his tone reflected it. “What the hell is happening, Griffin? I don’t appreciate being kept in the dark.”
“Tell me about it,” Griffin said sourly. “Get off my back, Lynch. I’m having enough trouble without you giving me grief. I don’t have time to hand out bulletins to everyone when I’m trying to find your damn doctor.”
“You’d better rethink that. Kendra is with that ‘damn’ doctor. I want her found.”
“So do I.” He paused. “Sorry. I’m worried about Kendra, too. But my director, John Howell is giving me hell about Waldridge. He’s being almost as big a pain in the ass as you are about his disappearing.”
“I’m only giving you hell about Kendra. Waldridge doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well, he matters to Howell. You could have told me about that new research Waldridge is doing. When the director read my last report, he jumped on me with both feet. There are two hot-ticket political items in Washington, defense and health care these days. He didn’t like it that I’d lost a researcher who’s work could sway millions of votes.”
“I didn’t know about it,” Lynch said impatiently. “You found out about the research the same time I did. And I don’t care about your damn director. I want to know what leads you’ve got on where they took Kendra.”
Silence.
“Griffin.”
“We found the truck that fits the description of the one that hit Kendra’s car in Sweet Water, California. It’s a tiny town due east of San Diego. That’s where they must have changed vehicles.” He paused. “Well, actually, it was Jessie Mercado who found it. She was scouring through all the towns along that highway asking questions and tapping her contacts. One of them paid off.” He went on brusquely, “And that was where they also removed the GPS tracker. Jessie found a pad that had a little blood on it in the back of the truck. She was mad as hell. She said that someone must have known about the GPS to locate it that soon. She thinks that it might have been Biers and told us to go pick him up. We haven’t found him yet. But we’re checking traffic and security cams in all of the small towns around that location and seeing what kind of vehicles went through them for the entire day. I’ve sent out agents to interview citizens, and we’re hoping for—”
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