“What’s your plan?”
“I call Savage and ask for his help. Tell him I need money and ask him to wire it. I’ll wait for it at the telegraph office here in Silver Lake. Chances are, The Jaguar or one of his men will show.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“If you want The Jaguar, you don’t have a choice.”
“How is your plan going to help me take down The Jaguar?”
“When The Jaguar shows up at the wire office for me,” she continued, “your men can nab him.”
“How do you know The Jaguar won’t send one of his thugs?”
“Because I think this has become personal for him. There’s something between him and Cutter.”
“He told you about what happened in Africa?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not afraid?”
“I’m terrified.” A sigh shuddered out of her. “But I want my life back. I’m willing to do this.”
“How do I know you’re not going to take the first bus out of there?”
“Because you trust Sean Cutter’s instincts.”
He sighed heavily. “Where is he?”
“At the chateau. He doesn’t know I’m gone.”
The man on the other end of the line swore softly. “Well, he’s in for a surprise, isn’t he?”
Mattie regretted doing that to him. He’d trusted her. But she had to believe that in the long run it would be worth it.
“Call me with the time and location,” Wolfe said. “I’ve got agents en route. They should be there in a couple of hours.”
“Okay.”
“If you run when this is through, I’ll throw every resource I have at catching you.”
“I’m not going to run,” she said. “But I want your word that when this is over I can count on you to do the right thing.”
The silence that followed was thoughtful. “I’ll have someone take a closer look at Savage.”
“And the evidence he used to frame me.”
“All right. I’ll see what I can do.”
For now Mattie had to settle for the faint hope he offered by that. What other choice did she have?
Chapter Fourteen
Cutter woke suddenly and with a bad feeling. For the first night in months he hadn’t dreamed of The Jaguar or the fourteen hours he’d spent in agonizing pain. Instead he’d dreamed it had been Mattie strapped to that gurney and at the mercy of a madman….
He sat up abruptly, his heart pounding, his body slicked with sweat. The room felt empty. It was too quiet. Mattie had a way of filling up a room just with her presence. He knew she was gone even before he crossed to the bedroom door and opened it.
She’d gone to the trouble of placing the two pillows beneath the comforter to make it look as if she were in the bed. But the window was ajar, the drapes rippling as the icy wind blasted inside.
An emotion filled curse broke from his lips. It was not the sound of an agent who’d lost his prisoner, but the sound of a man who feared for the life of the woman he loved.
Loved.
Where the hell had that come from?
The question flitted through his mind as he rushed to the living room and quickly put on his clothes. Cutter tried to think rationally. Where had she gone? He knew she wouldn’t have run merely to escape. Her mind didn’t work that way.
Then suddenly the truth dawned on him. She was going after The Jaguar.
Sick with dread, he sat down hard on the bed. In the past he’d always been good at keeping his emotions out of his work. But knowing that Mattie was out there alone and willing to put herself on the line shook him to his core. It was foolhardy. Suicidal, if he wanted to be honest about it. But Mattie was smart. She knew she possessed the one thing The Jaguar wanted most, the single most powerful tool with which to draw him in: the future plans for the EDNA Project. But how was she going to handle the situation once she found herself face-to-face with a madman?
Mattie was eons out of her league. She was desperate and willing to risk everything—including her life—to clear her name. She thought the knowledge locked inside her head would protect her. But Cutter knew otherwise. Once The Jaguar extracted the information he needed, he would kill her.
Fear sent him to his feet. He had to find her and fast. Before she did something crazy. Something irrevocable. Because once The Jaguar got his hands on her, Cutter feared he would never see her again.
Snagging his coat from the sofa, he headed for the door.
MATTIE DIALED Daniel Savage’s number from memory and waited, her hands trembling. He answered on the second ring.
“Daniel?”
“Mattie?” Shock laced his voice. “My God. I was watching the news and heard about your escape.”
“I didn’t escape, but I don’t have time to go into that right now.”
“Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay. But I need your help.”
“You know I’ll do anything to help you. Anything at all.”
She felt a wave of anger, but quickly shoved her emotions aside. “I need some money.”