No Easy Target

  “As fast as I can get there.” He was crossing the large room toward Patrick’s bed. “Right now, it doesn’t seem fast enough. I’ve called ahead to Montego and gotten as much in place as I could, but it’s still going to be close.” He glanced at Cambry. “You know what you’re supposed to do? No questions?”

  “Lots of questions, but I’ll work them out for myself. Shall I go down the list? I’m to stay here and coordinate with the doctor and make lifesaving decisions. I’m to make certain Mandell’s team is alert and doesn’t make mistakes. If there’s a possibility of Nicos’s goons coming near the monastery, I’m to get Patrick away without getting him killed or killing him myself.” He grimaced. “Piece of cake.”

  “One other thing: Mandell is leaving three of his best men to guard the monastery and they’ll be under your direct orders. One man, Dietrich, is assigned to watch Brukman and monitor any calls he might receive. He’ll let you know when a call comes through and you’ll make certain Brukman tells Nicos nothing.”

  “Of course I will. It’s just another beautiful day in paradise.”

  Lassiter smiled grimly. “That’s what we’re aiming for. Right now, it looks as if there might be a few storms on the horizon. We’ve got to get through them.” He shook his head. “And I know I’m overloading you. But I need Mandell in Montego. With any luck, I should be back not too long after midnight.”

  “I’ll be glad to see you. I can handle the rest, but I don’t like the idea of being in sole charge of Patrick. I do much better with Juno. She’s pregnant but not on the verge of dying if I do something wrong.” He suddenly snapped his fingers. “I left her in the jeep with my driver. I was only going to run in for a minute. But if you’re going to leave right away, I need to go get her.” He was already trotting back toward the arched doorway. “I’ll be right back.…”

  Lassiter shook his head as Cambry vanished from view. He’d insisted on bringing Juno and at least that would make Margaret feel more at ease. There was no doubt that Cambry would handle everything here with efficiency in spite of any qualms he had.

  But, dammit, he didn’t want to leave Patrick while he was this sick and vulnerable. He took a step closer to the bed and covered Patrick’s hand with his own. It was still hot. Too hot. The doctor had said that it would take time to get that fever down and that it was a great threat.

  “You’re … frowning.” Lassiter’s gaze flew up to Patrick’s face. His eyes were open. “Don’t you … know that you shouldn’t make a … man in my state … worry?”

  “Then you should try to heal a little faster. I did everything right and you’re still in this hospital bed.”

  “Complaints. Complaints. I’ll … work on it.” His eyes were closing. “Now get out of here and let … me sleep.”

  “In a minute. I just wanted you to know I have to go away for the day. Cambry will be with you. You’ll be safe.… I promise.”

  “You’re … going to go … get them? You did promise.…”

  He was talking about the other prisoners in the detention camp. “Not yet. There’s someone … else.”

  “Who?”

  “Margaret. You don’t know her. But she knows you.” His hand tightened on Patrick’s. “I’ll tell you about her later. I have to go now. I’ll expect a dynamite report on you from Cambry when I call to check.”

  “Pressure. Pressure.” Cambry was walking with Juno toward the bed. “Hi, Patrick. You’re looking lousy. I hear I’m supposed to work miracles while Lassiter is gone. You’d better cooperate.” In spite of the flip words, the tone was gentle. “And it wouldn’t hurt if you’d put a word in with all these monks and the doctor about Juno. I had to fight to get them to let her in. I guess they’ve never heard how hospitals permit dogs to help heal patients. I bet she’s cleaner and more germ-free than I am.” He made a face. “I guess I shouldn’t admit that.” He dropped down in the chair next to Patrick’s bed. “Get out of here, Lassiter. Juno and I have everything well in hand.”

  “Yes, get … out, Lassiter. Tired … of … you.” Patrick’s eyes were closing again. “In … the way. I’ll be—” He broke off as he looked down at his hand on the bed.

  Juno had placed her chin on Patrick’s hand and was staring at him with those huge dark eyes as if she was trying to tell him something.

  “Hey … What … do you want?” Patrick asked.

  “Juno,” Cambry called softly.

  Juno didn’t move. She just stayed there, touching Patrick, looking at him.

  Then Patrick put his hand on Juno’s head. The retriever stayed still, accepting, her eyes still on Patrick’s face. The next moment, Patrick was asleep.

  And Juno dropped down to lie beside the bed.

  “I wonder how often Juno did that while she was visiting her Celia in the hospital,” Cambry said softly. “I believe we’re okay here, Lassiter.”

  “I do, too.” He headed for the door. “And now I have to make sure we’re going to be okay in Montego. I’ll call you once we’re headed back.”

  7:30 P.M.

  Montego Bay Airport Jamaica

  Jamaica

  “The flight’s on time,” Nicos said as Margaret got out of the car at customs. “But it will take another twenty minutes or so for Raoul to get off the plane and the baggage to be sent down here to customs. You go inside and look eager and excited at your daddy’s arrival.” He added, “I’ve already sent Ricardo inside to keep you company. He’s always delighted to keep his eye on you.”

  “Which is going to make it hard for me to appear eager about anything,” she said. “I’ll see you when it’s over.” She slammed the car door and stepped around José, Nicos’s guard, who was standing beside the driver’s seat. Then she was hurrying toward the glass doors that led to customs.

  Ricardo chuckled as he opened the door for her and then moved to one side to let her enter. Then he leaned back against the wall, watching her.

  She walked several yards away from him toward the barrier and tried to ignore him.

  It was busy.

  It was noisy.

  But no sign of Lassiter.

  Crowds of men and women gathered in front of the long tables where security was examining the luggage.

  And the black Lab and the German shepherd were being led by their handlers up and down the hall as the passengers got in the lines in front of the custom tables.

  She focused on them. Are you ready for me?

  Pedro was immediately tense. Don’t like it. Not used to this.

  Taro was scornful. It’s right. She told you. Is that the man beside you? Is he the one who will want to hurt you?

  Just the way she’d thought they’d each react. Yes. But Pedro can do his duty with the man checking in at the customs table if he’s more comfortable. I just need lots of noise and disruption.”

  Pedro was relieved. What I’m supposed to do.

  Except more. No politeness. I’ll tell you when.

  And it was going to be soon. She could see Raoul coming into the hall carrying his Vuitton black leather case. He appeared totally at ease as he came toward the custom’s table and stopped under the green line for frequent travelers.

  But where was Lassiter?

  Ramirez and his son were slowly taking the dogs down the line, giving them a chance to sniff at the bags.

  Pedro was on edge. Which?

  The next man in line. Black leather case.

  Pedro went stiff. Yes, I smell it. Have to tell—”

  Not yet. Let me—

  “Now!” Lassiter was suddenly before her in front of the barricade. Navy pants, navy airline bomber jacket, skin tinted dark tan. He was lifting her over the barricade. “Quick, Margaret!”

  She sent out the message.

  Do it! Move!

  Pedro howled and jumped on the black leather Vuitton suitcase. Then he set up a piercing barrage of barking that echoed through the hall.

  Ricardo stared, stunned for an instant, at Margaret and Lassiter.

 
Then his hand went to the holster under his jacket as he started toward her.

  But Taro had pulled away from his handler and was across the hall and leaping over the barrier. He hit Ricardo at full speed and force and knocked him to the ground. His teeth buried savagely in the hand holding the gun.

  A horrified Ramirez was right behind the dog, trying to pull him off.

  “Come on.” Lassiter had his hand on Margaret’s elbow and he was pulling her toward the door to the side of the custom tables.

  The entire room was in chaos as security officers tried to calm the passengers, while the dogs’ howling and attacks made that virtually impossible.

  Then they were out of the room and heading for the door leading to the runways.

  Margaret stopped at the door. “Just a minute.”

  “We don’t have a minute. We’ve got to be on that plane and out of here before Nicos realizes what’s happened inside.”

  “I have to call off those dogs. I won’t have them getting shot.”

  “Then do it. But keep running.”

  Off. Stop. Did your duty. Fine work.

  Then she was running at full speed across the tarmac toward the Gulfstream parked in the private-and-commercial area.

  The steps were down and the plane was ready for takeoff.

  Margaret ran up the steps, with Lassiter immediately behind her. The steps were lifting even as Lassiter headed for the cockpit. “Sit down and buckle up. We’re out of here.”

  “The dogs. I have to be sure—”

  “I still have a man on the ground here. I needed a report on what Nicos was doing after we left. I’ll make sure no one hurts them. I’ll come back with you when we’re in the air and safely out of Jamaican airspace.” He disappeared into the cockpit.

  Margaret collapsed on the cordovan leather seat next to the window.

  Was it over?

  Not yet.

  They were taxiing down the runway, but she wouldn’t feel safe until they were actually in the air.

  Perhaps not then.

  After the tension she had been under since the moment that she’d walked down that pier to Nicos’s yacht, it seemed impossible that she had escaped him yet again. He had been her nemesis for so long that it was a miracle that in these few short minutes Lassiter had managed to snatch her away.

  No, it had not been totally Lassiter. It had been the two of them together. And she might have escaped Nicos, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t out there waiting to go after her again.

  And it didn’t mean that she’d keep running, because she’d promised herself that Nicos had to be destroyed so that he could never hurt anyone else again.

  No, it was not over.

  * * *

  “We’re about forty-five minutes south of Jamaica,” Lassiter said as he came out of the cockpit. He hadn’t had the chance to take off the tan stain, but he’d removed the dark contacts and his green eyes glittered against his dark skin. “We should be okay for the time being. How are you doing?”

  “Well enough, considering,” she said. “Maybe a little shaky. It’s been a rough couple days. Probably not as rough as what you’ve been going through. Are you going to tell me now how you managed to get Patrick out?”

  “Yes.” He dropped down in the chair next to her. “But it all came down to your getting that info about Zwecker from Salva. So not nearly as rough as you’d think.” He spent the next ten minutes filling her in on Zwecker, Brukman, and the Nalsara Detention Camp.

  So much evil, so much pain, she thought. And it had all been caused by one supremely evil individual. Nicos deserved a very special place in hell for what he’d done. “But Patrick is doing better? He’s going to be okay?”

  “I’d like to say that. But he’s still very fragile,” he said soberly. “He hasn’t turned the corner yet. He could go either way.”

  “No, I won’t believe that,” she said sharply. “Not after all he’s gone through. Not after what you’ve gone through. He’s going to live. He’s going to be fine.”

  “If you say so.” He grimaced. “God knows, I don’t want to be anything but positive. I’ll move heaven and earth to get him anything he needs to pull him through this. I suppose I’m just afraid to hope too much.”

  She knew how that felt. All those months when she could see Rosa changing before her eyes, being destroyed, and not able to do anything about it. “It’s not going to happen this time. I’m not going to let it. Nicos isn’t going to win.”

  “Hey, stop shaking.” He was turning her to face him. “You’re not going to have to face Nicos again. I dragged you into this, but you’re free now. Patrick is my friend, my responsibility. You’re out of this. I told you that I’d be going after Nicos the minute I got Patrick back.”

  She hadn’t realized she was shaking. She tried to control it. “I’m not free. I won’t be free as long as Nicos is alive.” She wrapped her arms around herself to stop the trembling. “I found that out while I was on the island. I can’t bury my head in the sand any longer. I can’t tell myself that I should just go on and not remember Rosa. She’ll always be here with me.” She moistened her lips. “But he has to be … gone, Lassiter. He shouldn’t live after what he did to her.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said hoarsely. “But I know it’s tearing me up. Whatever you need to do to him, I’ll do it for you. I’ll do it for both of us.”

  “It doesn’t work that way. You weren’t there; you didn’t see her. It has to be me.”

  “No, I wasn’t there. I don’t know who you’re talking about. But I want to know, Margaret.” His hands closed on her shoulders. “Stop bottling it up inside you. Share it with me. Tell me.”

  Yes, she wanted to tell him, she realized suddenly. She didn’t want to be alone with it any longer. “It was Rosa.” She swallowed hard. She mustn’t cry. Too many tears … “You remember I told you about Rosa Gonzalez? We worked together at the petting zoo in New Orleans. She invited me to live with her family in Guatemala City. I stayed with them for over a year. I’d never really had a friend before I met Rosa. She chattered like a magpie, she was funny and made jokes, and it was so good. She and her mother were very kind to me.”

  “But it didn’t last?”

  “Rosa was a couple years older than I was. She liked boys and she met Luis Garcia and went crazy about him. It turned out that Luis was the son of one of Nicos’s men on Vadaz Island. He talked to his father about Rosa … and me.”

  “You?”

  “I told you that Rosa chattered. Naturally, she talked about me. She didn’t mean to hurt me.”

  “She told him about your communicating with animals?”

  “She thought it was funny and interesting and she wanted to impress him.” She repeated, “She didn’t mean to hurt me.”

  “But she did hurt you.”

  “Somehow the story got back to Nicos. He thought I might be useful. He wanted to see me.” She paused. “But they thought they might need Rosa to persuade me. So they took both of us from her home in Guatemala to the island. If they’d only taken me, none of it would have happened. I could have done something.… But I couldn’t do anything, because he kept hurting her.”

  “That was how they persuaded you?”

  “The things they did to her,” she whispered. “Sometimes Nicos did it in front of me. Most of the time he just took her back to his house and he’d send her to me the next day to tell me what he’d done. But every time I refused to do something he wanted, I knew that she would be punished. She became only an animal waiting to be hurt or used. She’d beg me to do anything he wanted just to keep away the pain.”

  “My God.”

  “And then one night when he thought I’d made a mistake, he shot her in front of me.” She stared him in the eye. “So don’t tell me I’m out of this. I’m not free. I ran away three years ago because I was too numb to deal with those memories, but I won’t run away again. You can’t make me, Lassiter.”

  ?
??I could, you know.” He smiled crookedly. “But I’d have to find a deep prison to keep you until it was over. And then you’d probably go after me.”

  “Count on it. I’m not going to let you hide me away. You’re going to take me back with you to that monastery and I’m going to help get Patrick home safe. Then I’m going to be there with you when it’s time to take Nicos down.” She held his eyes. “Don’t you see? That’s how it has to be.”

  He was silent a moment. Then he swore softly and said through his teeth, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” He didn’t speak for another moment. “Okay. But I’m warning you, I’ll try to keep you as safe as possible. I’m already having massive guilt attacks about sending you back to the island.”

  “You didn’t send me. I told you it was my choice. This is my choice, too.” She shook her head. “If you don’t realize that, then you didn’t listen.”

  “Oh, I listened.” He pulled her into his arms. “And I watched you. Now be still and let me hold you until you stop that shaking.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine soon.”

  “You told me once that contact was good. You even demonstrated. Now be quiet and let me return the favor.”

  She stiffened and then suddenly relaxed. He was warm and strong and she could feel the corded muscles against her softness. She needed that strength. “I was right: Contact is good.” She cuddled closer. “Thank you, Lassiter.”

  “My pleasure.” He held her tighter. “And though I’m tempted to make you the additional offer you made to me, I’ll refrain because you’re so vulnerable at the moment. Now hush and relax. When you stop shaking, I’ll get you a cup of coffee and then take you up to the cockpit to meet Mandell.”

  “The man who chose the beach house,” she said, remembering the name. “And could hit a target at over a thousand yards.”

  “Yes, and someone you may get to know very well in the coming days.”

  “That’s good.” But she didn’t want to meet anyone right now. She wanted to stay here and be held by Lassiter for just a little while. She did feel vulnerable. Sharing that story of Rosa with him had been both painful and cathartic, but it had also been draining. It had left her feeling exposed. But somehow she knew that Lassiter would not take advantage of that vulnerability. Strange, when they had started out light-years from either trust or belief.