Dyle ignored him. His gaze was fixed on Waldridge’s face. “One hour,” Dyle said. “Then I’ll come back and take Kendra’s right eye. No anesthesia. I want both of you to feel every cut. If you want to stop me, you’d better get to work, Waldridge.”
He turned and walked toward the door, his whole bearing brimming with arrogance and self-satisfaction. He thought he’d played the winning card, Kendra could see. He didn’t care that card was hideous and the stuff of her worst nightmares. Perhaps he had won, she was too shaken right now to tell. But she couldn’t let him leave this room with a complete victory.
“Wait.” Kendra stepped toward Biers. “Take your errand boy with you, Dyle. If you intend to blind me again, I don’t want one of the last things I see to be this scum. I can’t stand to look at him.”
Dyle turned. “Excuse me?”
“Biers has been working with you.” She stared at Biers. “I don’t know for how long, but I’m guessing it’s been since before these three men left England. It’s how you were able to find Shaw and Waldridge so easily.”
Waldridge’s gaze was narrowed on her face. “Kendra?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry, Charles. You trusted the wrong man. Biers is in Dyle’s pocket. He’s playing you.”
Dyle smiled. “What makes you say that, bitch?”
“I know he’s been here before,” Kendra said. “He probably even set up this lab. For all your precautions with the hood over my head, I know we’re about ninety miles east of San Diego, somewhere in the Anzo-Borrego Desert.”
“Interesting,” Dyle said. “I hadn’t heard that an uncanny sense of directions was among your gifts.”
“It isn’t. Everyone who has walked in this room has been tracking in a coarse sand that is only found there, at least in this part of the country. The remains of thousands of years of underwater life. It’s very distinctive. There are granules wedged in the ridges above your soles.”
Dyle looked down. “What does that have to do with—”
“Biers had the same granules wedged in his shoes when I first met him. He’d already been out here.” She turned to Biers. “You wanted us to find you at your apartment. You knew Jessie would somehow be watching your place.”
“That’s it?” Dyle said. “Sand?”
“That, and Biers was the only other person who knew about the tracker that Jessie put in me.” She felt her hip. “It was cut out of me before I even woke up. He had to have told you. Or maybe he did it himself. Charles said someone who knew what he was doing did the stitches. Did you bring him in here to put more pressure on Waldridge? Another friend whom only he can save if he gives you what you want?”
Waldridge looked at Biers with disgust. “Get on your feet, Hayden. You can stop the act now.”
Still on his knees, Biers glanced at Dyle. Dyle gave Jaden an impatient gesture, and Jaden pulled Biers to his feet and cut the duct tape binding his wrists. Biers rubbed his wrists and brushed himself off before smiling at Kendra. “I did do the removal.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out the small disc. He showed her the tracker and the thin battery he’d removed from it. Then he slipped the items back in his pocket. “You’re lucky that Dyle told me to do it. You might have ended up with blood poisoning. Dyle’s men are good with knives, but not in that capacity. Not that it would have made much difference at this point.”
“I trusted you,” Waldridge said to him. “Why?”
“That was your mistake,” Dyle said. “Not everyone sees the world the same as you do, Waldridge.”
Waldridge was still staring at Biers. “Shaw is dead because of you. As surely as if you pulled the trigger yourself.”
Biers shook his head. “Shaw was a foolish old man. He sealed his own fate, just as you did. We were all partners in this project. Yes, you were the guiding force and held the patents. But you had no right to hijack it.”
“You never told me you felt this way.”
“Would it have changed anything?” Biers didn’t wait for a response. “Of course not. You would just have cut me out of your plans. I was better off with Dyle. He said that he’d make me a minor partner. Do you know how much money that will mean?”
“May I point out that your time is growing shorter with each passing word,” Dyle said as he glanced at Kendra. “Come along, Biers. I believe your colleague has some soul-searching to do.”
Biers avoided Waldridge’s and Kendra’s eyes as he followed Dyle out of the lab. One of the guards followed him, but Jaden didn’t move, his gaze fixed on Kendra.
She instinctively tensed. The ordeal wasn’t over. “What do you want, Jaden?”
He smiled. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m glad you’re here. I was amused to see how you saw through Dyle’s little trick. I always knew you’d be clever. I was looking forward to the challenge of taking you out. But then Dyle changed his mind and robbed me of the pleasure.”