Blood running in rivulets on the tiles.
Block it. She had a task to perform.
Rosa …
Block it. She couldn’t think about her, either. Not now.
I’m sorry, Rosa. They have to pay, and I can’t focus if I remember you.
She sat down in the cream-colored brocade chair near the bed and tried to concentrate. What had she learned in the past hours that she could use?
Things were basically the same as when she’d escaped three years ago. Nicos was a degenerate killer who was as arrogant as she remembered. He appeared not to have lost any of his superstitions and he had learned how valuable she could be to him. Absence had, if not made his heart grow fonder, shown him that he was definitely better off with her than without her. No wonder the search had never ceased.
Juan Salva? He had broken off in the middle of baiting her to go attend to Nicos’s business. He might be as horrible and vindictive as Nicos, but his ambitions had grown and Margaret could sense the recklessness that was beginning to grow within him. He would be taking as much of Nicos’s business into his hands as possible. He’d probably been subtly using bribes and threats to bring Nicos’s men under his direct orders.
Which meant that she’d been right when she’d told Lassiter that it was Salva who would have been the one who’d set up any computer network for Nicos.
And it was Salva who should have immediate access to the name of the computer expert who’d created the file that would lead them to Patrick.
Okay, then find a way to get to Salva that won’t be suspicious and discover how to find either computer or phone access to that name.
Not now. It was too soon. She’d just arrived back on the island. Give it a little time.
Go take that swim. Come back and eat supper. Then maybe pay a visit to Salva.
She was getting tense again at the very thought. If he thought it would advance his ambitions, Salva would get rid of her; he’d even convince Nicos to replay that horror of three years ago.
Fear.
Smother it. She was going to do this. The fear had gone on too long.
* * *
The cove is the same, she thought as she walked toward the surf pounding against the sandy shore. Beauty, sunlight, and a gentle breeze that soothed. Three years ago, she had welcomed that beauty because of the dark ugliness to which she had to return every single day.
To which she’d have to return today.
But today she’d not be helpless; today she could take action.
Set a precedent.
She carelessly dropped her backpack on the beach, close to the surf. It was too soon to expect Lassiter to have arranged to send someone with her phone, but she would do everything exactly as she’d repeat it tomorrow.
Ricardo would notice and be more lulled into accepting what she would be doing.
Then she waded into water. It was warm, but she felt chilled. It was almost sundown, but that probably wasn’t the reason. It could be that Ricardo Basanez was sitting on that dune watching her as if she were going to be his next meal. Or it could be that there was no way she could predict what Nicos was going to do. Or wondering if she would be up to the task when he finally exploded with his usual venom. Because it always came; the question was when.
Just swim. Look like she was enjoying herself. Not too far from shore, or she’d have Ricardo coming down and dragging her out of the surf. She kept swimming for the next twenty minutes and then leisurely headed for the third rock formation in the group of boulders.
Set the precedent.
She stayed in full view of Ricardo as she pulled herself out of the water onto a flat rock and lazily wrung out her hair. Then she tilted back her head as if enjoying the last long rays of the sun.
And that’s when she saw it.
It was small, not more than three inches, and wrapped in a dark green waterproof package.
She was so shocked, she found her herself staring down at it before jerking her gaze away.
Good God, how had Lassiter managed to get this to her so soon?
She knew how he’d done it. He’d started the minute that he’d seen she’d left the beach house and mustered every bit of effort and manpower he had at his disposal. Who knew better than Margaret what a powerhouse he could be when he was driven?
She drew a deep breath. She wasn’t chilled any longer. She felt glowing with warmth and vitality. Incredible how the sight of that small package could chase the cold and fear away.
Because it told her that even in the house of the enemy, she wasn’t alone.
How to get that package into the backpack she’d left on shore? It was small enough for her to palm and not be seen if she waited until the light faded a little more. She’d left the backpack unzipped, as she would have done tomorrow, when she might have actually expected to retrieve the phone. Okay, the only moment of danger for Ricardo to notice anything wrong would be when she ran out of the water and grabbed the towel out of her backpack. There was no place to hide the phone in this bikini.
She could do this. If Lassiter could get this phone to her, then she could get it safely back to the house.
Think. What would distract Ricardo?
Ten minutes later, it was dim enough to start swimming back to shore. It took only two minutes to reach the point where she could stand. She could feel Ricardo’s eyes on her as she stood up and started to walk toward the shore.
She stopped short as her bikini bra began to slip down, baring her breasts. She frantically reached around to the fastening in the back with the hand holding the phone as it slipped even farther. Holding the bra in place, she ran for the backpack, grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her upper body while slipping the phone into the backpack in the process.
She saw Ricardo laughing as she started to try to refasten the bikini top. “Do you need help?” he called. “Nicos told me to watch you closely. If you’re having trouble, I think I should get even closer, don’t you?”
No suspicion, she realized with relief. For once, Ricardo’s lechery had been her friend. “Nicos also told you not to touch me.” She finished drying with the towel and tossed it into her backpack and zipped it closed. “I had enough bother with that damn hook; I don’t want to have you thinking it was some kind of invitation.” She got to her feet, grabbed her backpack, and started to stride back toward the house.
She didn’t look back, but she heard Ricardo laugh again.
I did it, Lassiter.
Yet, that wasn’t quite true. She was again feeling that sense of having someone here for her. Of not being alone to face what was to come. It was as if he were beside her, out of sight, but still … there.
No, we did it, Lassiter.
* * *
Lassiter surfaced near the seaplane in the cove at the far end of the island. He took the rope Mandell threw him and went hand over hand until he reached the door. Then Mandell pulled him into the plane.
“Long swim.” Mandell handed him a towel. “Did you have to land this far out? Maybe a little overkill?”
“No. We don’t take chances,” Lassiter said curtly. “Not with this one.”
“You said she probably wouldn’t be able to make the pickup before tomorrow. Why the hurry?”
“I wanted it there for her. She’s running her own show, but I’m not going to let her do without anything she needs … when she needs it.”
“Not exactly your way of handling an operation. You like to be in control,” Mandell said. “No wonder you’re a little tense.”
“You could say that.” But Lassiter couldn’t even imagine how Margaret was feeling now. Not only tension but the isolation. “Let’s get out of here.” He began stripping off his scuba gear. “Keep on the water for the next five minutes or so before you take off. I don’t want any noise that would let Nicos’s men know we’ve been here.”
Mandell nodded as he started toward the cockpit. “You know, I could have done this drop-off, Lassiter. Once you supplied us with tha
t map of Vadaz Island, I’d have had no problem. There was no reason for you to have to do it.”
“There was a reason.” He trusted Mandell, but there was no way that he’d have let anyone else complete that mission. He had to know Margaret was as safe as he could make her. Know that she had the tool that would make a dangerous task less perilous. “Don’t worry, once we get Patrick back, your knowledge of Nicos’s island will come in very handy. Just not this time.”
Not this woman. Not Margaret.
“But we’ll be heading for Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, after we take off from here, and you may get some action there. I’ve tracked down George Bildwan to that city, and we have a contact who may be able to locate his current address.” He started pulling on his clothes. “I’ve ordered the Gulfstream flown into the airport there and we’ll trade off this plane for it. We’ll need its speed from now on. We may be bouncing from island to island until we locate the man we need. Thank God almost everyplace in the Caribbean is only a few hours distant from the next.”
* * *
Margaret was barely aware of the black-and-white tiles of the guest cottage as she crossed them hurriedly to get to her bedroom.
She slammed the door and threw the backpack on the bed.
Then she took a deep breath, unzipped the backpack, pulled out the towel she’d used at the beach, and then the small waterproof package.
Definitely not her phone. Now to find what Lassiter had sent her and why.
She sat down on the bed and carefully unwrapped the object. Sleek stainless steel, it appeared to be a device of some sort.
But it was also wrapped in a waterproof sleeve that contained a brief message.
LX-40. It’s one of my designs and not out on the market yet. Press activate and it will record all history and contacts on any mobile phone carried by anyone within fifteen feet of the device. Depending on quantity, it will take from eight to fifteen minutes. I’ve set it to transmit info to my phone the moment you turn device off. At the same time, it will erase all trace of the recording and the LX-40 will appear to be just a smart phone, in case you’re caught with it.
I tried to make it as safe for you as possible, Margaret. I won’t try to contact you again unless you call and tell me you weren’t able to transfer the info. Otherwise, urgent you phone me from Montego Bay. If you can’t do it, I’ll find a way to get you out regardless.
As safe as possible. Yes, he’s done that, she thought as she let the paper drop on the bed. She should have known Lassiter would have some super-duper technology that would make stealing information both slick and speedy. Not only was he a computer magnate, but he had all that CIA experience.
She didn’t care where he’d gotten the technology; she was just glad that he’d given it to her. It would make finding out what was necessary incredibly simpler.
Perhaps.
Eight to fifteen minutes. She’d have to aim for fifteen minutes to be safe. That meant engaging Nicos or Salva in a conversation that would not make them suspicious if she had to stretch it out.
Nicos or Salva? Which one?
She’d already mentally made the choice. Every instinct said Salva would be her best chance of getting to Nicos’s computer expert. But he might also be the most difficult choice. He didn’t have Nicos’s total lack of respect for women. He regarded them as tools that could be used but that could also cut and lacerate. Anyone who could possibly hurt him or stem his ambitions would be looked upon with suspicion.
She gazed down at the small phone. If Salva discovered her with this device, he wouldn’t let her make explanations. He would kill her and make explanations to Nicos later.
Then trust Lassiter. He wouldn’t have given her a piece of equipment unless it was absolutely without flaw. Salva wouldn’t be searching her to see if she was carrying a weapon or phone. That had already been done. All she had to do was stay close to Salva for fifteen minutes and let that LX-40 do its work.
Tonight? Or wait until tomorrow?
Lord, she was exhausted. It had been another nightmare day.
But Sean Patrick had probably suffered an even more nightmare day. And his nightmares might kill him if they couldn’t stop them. If she delayed even one more night to get that information Lassiter needed, it might be Patrick’s last.
So it was going to be tonight.
She stood up and headed for the shower. Take a hot shower and eat a little of the meal that Nicos’s servants always left outside the front door of the guesthouse. Then take a trip across the courtyard to Salva’s living quarters to have a fifteen-minute chat with him.
And hope she’d made the right choice.
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic
10:40 P.M.
“Yes, I found Bildwan. But he isn’t the right man,” Mandell said flatly as he met Lassiter outside the small apartment building on Aguilera Street. They had split up earlier in the night to check out two separate prospects they’d been furnished by the Silicon Valley Office. “This man is a fairly good computer geek but nothing on the scale that you said you found on Nicos’s file. Hell, I accessed his personal computer and even I managed to get through his firewalls. You know I’m not that good.”
“You’re not that bad, either,” Lassiter said. But it had taken Lassiter days to get through that firewall developed for Nicos, and Mandell had been in Bildwan’s apartment for only a little over an hour. “Did you question him?”
“Not seriously. He fell apart after the first ten minutes. He doesn’t know anything, Lassiter.” He shrugged. “Trust me, wrong guy.”
Lassiter did trust him. Mandell was savvy and would not have been fooled. He should have known that he wouldn’t get lucky the first time. It would have been too easy. “You made sure he wouldn’t talk about our visit to anyone?”
Mandell looked pained. “Lassiter.”
“Sorry. The next few days are going to be rough. We can’t afford any leaks.”
“There won’t be any. Who’s our next person of interest?”
“I don’t know. On the way to the airport, I’ll call Cambry and see if he’s received any more updates about addresses on Montgomery or Zwecker.” He got into the driver’s seat of the rental car. “Right now, I’ll take whatever we can get.”
Vadaz Island
11:05 P.M.
The lights were still burning in Salva’s office across the courtyard.
Margaret stood outside the guesthouse, gazing at Salva’s quarters, trying to brace herself to start across the courtyard. She had the LX-40 phone recorder in the pocket of her khakis; all she had to do was press the button before she entered Salva’s office.
Fifteen minutes.
It wasn’t that long a time. The only thing she had to do was find a logical reason why she had come to him, and then stretch that conversation out for fifteen minutes.
Only? She thought she had figured out somewhere to start, but heaven knows where it would take her. Well, it wouldn’t take her anywhere if she didn’t stop standing here and cross that courtyard.
Don’t think. Don’t dread it. Just move.
A moment later, she was standing in front of the door of Salva’s office. She hesitated one last moment, then punched the button on the recorder and knocked on the door.
It wasn’t opened immediately and her nerves were immediately on edge. Then the door swung open and Salva stood there looking at her with a sardonic smile. “Hello, Margaret. What a surprise. I was about to go to bed. If you were planning on joining me, I’m afraid that I’ll have to disappoint you. Nicos still believes that nonsense about keeping you pure as the driven snow, and I’m not ready to go against him yet.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” she said curtly. “I’m not one of those poor girls you bring to Nicos. I know that’s a one-way street. I’m only trying to survive, and I realize how bad my situation may turn out to be. I may need your help before this is over. May I come in?”
He stood gazing at her for a mom
ent. “You think I might help you? How bizarre. And why now? Why not wait until tomorrow?”
“Because I know I won’t sleep unless I talk to you and let you know I may be valuable to you.” She added grimly, “You’ve never given a damn about me. You just stood by and watched as Nicos put Rosa and me through hell. But I don’t have anyone else to turn to, so you’re my only option. I’ll do anything I can to help you, providing you can keep me alive.”
“Interesting.” He stepped aside. “I suppose I can take the time to listen to you. Come in and sit down.”
At least three minutes must have passed since he opened the door, she thought as she moved toward the chair in front of his desk.
Twelve more minutes.
Stall.
She looked around the office. The only thing that interested her was the gold clock with the ivory face on the desk. Yes, three minutes. “This is very nice. Quite luxurious. I’ve never been in here before.”
“Why should you? You had no business here.” He sat down behind the desk. “Three years ago, you were Nicos’s special servant and I had no part in what he did with you.” He smiled. “Until the end. Then he wanted an audience. I admit I didn’t even have to pretend. I really enjoyed it.”
“Obviously. You were eager to replay that night before you left the guesthouse this afternoon.”
“Because you always annoyed me a little. You had sharp eyes and I always felt as if you saw too much. I wasn’t all that surprised when you escaped from the island. If you hadn’t been useful, I would have put a few roadblocks in front of Nicos’s men who were searching for you.” He smiled. “But I didn’t have to do that. You were very clever about keeping ahead of them. And, as it turned out, it was good that it was Lassiter who found you. It amused Nicos much more that he could find another way to hurt him.”
“I don’t care about Lassiter. I don’t care about Nicos. All I want to do is be safe when Nicos has one of his explosions, like the night when he killed Rosa. You might have stopped Nicos that night, but you didn’t do it. When he decides he wants another ‘audience,’ I want you to be in my corner.”
“And why should I do that?” He tilted his head. “The only amusement you gave me was watching you try to keep Nicos from tormenting you and your friend. You went to some fascinating lengths, a regular Scheherazade, to make Nicos believe your lies.”