“I’ll make sure she has plenty of test subjects.” Victor winked Mia’s way, sending a shiver down her spine.
Theo put a hand on her arm. “Come on. Stay close to me or Robert and you’ll be all right. Don’t talk to the new guys. Tony won’t like it. We’ll have you in a room to yourself very soon. One of us will make sure to watch over you the whole time.”
Until they forgot to. She was going to figure out a way to defend herself. She silently thanked Ezra for all the training. After what happened in Colombia, she’d realized she’d panicked, and no amount of self-defense lessons could fix that. So Ezra trained her, made her stronger, more confident. If Victor thought she’d be an easy mark, he would find out she was a quick learner.
She followed Robert off the plane, her bare feet hitting the metal of the stairs that led to the concrete floor. She was in some sort of hanger, out of sight. Hutch was standing to the side, his gaze on the two people waiting to greet them. His eyes were wide and his shoulders had straightened.
He recognized them. Or at least one of them. Her heart started to pound. How far gone was Hutch? How much had they brainwashed him? She knew he hadn’t had the same protocols and memory wipes as Theo and the soldiers, but he was obviously complying with orders. Would he give up the game? Would he call out and tell Santos what was happening?
Hutch’s eyes averted, but he didn’t say anything.
Yet.
“Hello,” the brunette with the ponytail said. “I was surprised that you moved up our agreed upon date.”
She was frowning, her hands on her hips. It was probably easy to be aggressive when one had a massive, truly scary-looking dude by her side. The man standing next to the doctor was a mountain of muscle with what looked like a bad attitude. He had a gun on his hip and he wasn’t trying to hide it.
Santos shrugged and seemed to attempt to look charming. “You know how these things go. Sometimes opportunity knocks and we must answer the door. I explained that we would certainly be more than happy to give you a small percentage of our latest endeavor.”
Yeah, Mia just bet they would. Or they would put a bullet through the doc and take over her clinic. She doubted there was truly honor among these thieves. If Hope McDonald thought her research would be served by murdering her business partners, she would do it in a heartbeat.
“Is everything arranged?” Santos asked, looking around.
The doctor nodded. “Of course. We’ve got a small holding cell for your new friend. I take it Dr. McDonald isn’t with you. I was so hoping to meet her.”
“We all were,” the mountain said in a thick Aussie accent. “She’s kind of become legend around these parts. There’s apparently a bunch of people in Liberia who definitely know her name.”
McDonald’s first trials had been on unsuspecting patients at her sister’s clinic in Liberia. Faith McDonald Smith had thought she was saving a small part of the world and her sister had been using her patients.
Santos’s eyes tightened slightly and that relaxed set to his body suddenly wasn’t so casual. “She’ll be along in a few days. I’m surprised. I thought there would be a few locals. Don’t we need someone to help with the plane? We need to make sure it’s ready to go at all times. That was part of our arrangement.”
The mountain moved in front of the doctor as though he could sense the change in Santos, too. “We thought you would want privacy for the girl.”
They stared at each other for a moment.
What was happening? Mia’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest. There was some tension running through the room that she didn’t understand.
“Tomas, would you please escort our guest back on the plane. Now.” The gun made an appearance.
Theo’s arm went tight around her waist and he started to back up.
What? Why were they getting back on the plane? She couldn’t get back on the plane. Case would come for her here. If she got back on that plane, he wouldn’t know where she was.
“Why? What’s wrong? Our orders were to settle in here and wait for Mother.” Theo simply picked her up when Mia tried to drag him down.
“This isn’t right. Something’s off. I don’t think we’re alone,” Santos said.
“Well, you always did have excellent instincts, you fucker.” Ezra stepped out from behind a barricade of boxes.
She felt her eyes widen. “Ezra?”
Santos, Theo, and Robert suddenly had guns pointed at her bodyguard, who was likely going to give her a pretty stern lecture.
“Ezra was his brother,” Santos said, his eyes firmly on his target.
The mountain of man with the doctor backed away, covering her as they retreated to what looked to be an office. When the door opened, she saw someone she never expected to see.
Her brother was standing there. Drew was here in Africa, waiting for her.