Lassiter gave him a glance. “Cambry.”
“Miffed is an understatement.” She smiled back at Cambry. No matter how she felt about Lassiter, she found it hard to be angry with Cambry. “Outraged is more like it.” She glanced at Lassiter as he started taxiing down the field. “And I’m working my way through it. It may take a long time.”
“It’s already taken a long time,” Lassiter murmured. “At least from my perspective.”
“But you were at fault. It’s natural for the guilty to try to slide out from beneath the blame.” She turned around to say to Cambry, “I noticed all the scratches and dents. Why did you have to beat up a perfectly good Cessna?”
“When Lassiter sent me down to make preparations, he said he wanted it to look older and not attract attention. I risked a fine and my freedom when I painted another ID number on the plane, but that wasn’t enough for him.” He looked down at the map on his computer screen. “It shouldn’t take that long to reach Cancún if we go direct. What do you want to do?”
“I’m not in that big a hurry right now,” Lassiter said. “I want to have another try at hacking into that file of Nicos’s. Find me a halfway point where we can overnight.”
“That’s a surprise,” Cambry said as he started to plot a course. “Since you’ve been pushing at warp speed to find a way to get to Nicos for the last year.”
“There are more ways than one to get to Nicos.”
“Hey, that sounds familiar. Isn’t that what I tried to suggest to you? You didn’t think that it would be soon enough to—”
“Find that place to overnight,” Lassiter said curtly. “I need the time to work.”
Because if he can find out the information from that computer file, he might not have to use me to get to Nicos, Margaret thought. She might not believe she knew that much about the way he thought, but she knew he didn’t want to have to do that. “You haven’t been able to do it yet. You said that it was megatight,” she said. “You have to be prepared that you won’t find that—”
“I can do it.” He didn’t look at her. “I’m good. Hell, Patrick used to say I was a damn genius at getting through firewalls. As far as the password is concerned, everyone chooses what’s easiest for them to remember. If I can tap Nicos’s memories and experiences, then I’ll be able to run thousands of possibilities until I find the right one. I just need more time.”
“How much more time?”
“Three, four days. A week at the most.”
But how much time does Sean Patrick have? she wondered. And she realized Lassiter was probably wondering the same thing. He must desperately want to barge past all the barriers to get to his friend, she thought. “What will you do if the time you’re allowing yourself isn’t enough?” she asked.
“A week is plenty of time. It shouldn’t even take that long. It will be enough.”
“What if it isn’t? I’m certain you have another plan, too.” She smiled faintly. “One that concerns me. You had a long time to work it out while you were hunting me.”
“It won’t be necessary.”
“I have a right to know. After all, I might have to veto it.”
He was silent. “An offer to exchange you for Patrick. A meeting set up that is not on Vadaz Island and with the guarantee that he’ll bring Patrick to the site of the exchange.”
“He won’t keep his promises.”
“I know. But if he wants you enough to show up himself, I’d get the opportunity to grab him and force him to give the order to release Patrick. I’ll bring in the Special Forces team I told you about to stage an ambush.” He paused. “But I’ll make sure that he doesn’t get a chance to get his hands on you at the same time.”
“He’ll bring enough men with him to make any of that very difficult.”
“It’s only to be expected. But it’s not as if I won’t be prepared. My security team is waiting for word from me in Cancún right now.” He glanced at her. “It’s not as if I haven’t had experience at this kind of thing, Margaret. All I have to do is stage the ambush, get my hands on Nicos, and then get you out of there.”
“Piece of cake.”
“No, but I can do it. I have the men and the weapons and the experience.”
She didn’t doubt he had all of those priceless advantages because of his years in the Special Forces and the CIA, and she had found him to be much more clever than Nicos. But it didn’t stop her from going cold at the thought of having to face Nicos again.
“You’re afraid.” Lassiter’s gaze was on her face. He muttered a curse. “Of course you are. You’d be nuts if you weren’t. Don’t think about it. It’s not going to happen.”
Maybe not this time. Maybe not this way. But she had a terrible feeling that there wasn’t going to be any path she could take that would let her avoid being there with Nicos again. “I have to think about it. I’ve kept myself from thinking about Nicos for the last three years, but you’ve changed all that. I don’t have Special Forces or weapons or experience, but I have a mind and I have determination and I know that son of a bitch Nicos.”
He glanced warily at her. “Does that mean you’re issuing that veto you mentioned?”
“No, it means that I hope to hell that you find that password, because I’m scared. But I’m not going to panic, and I’m not going to discount any plan unless I can work out something else to do.”
His lips twisted. “That appears reasonable. But you know I didn’t agree with your veto power.”
She didn’t answer. There wasn’t anything more to say. She would do what she had to do.
“Is this discussion finished?” Cambry asked politely. “I’m getting tired of being the invisible man. There’s too much temptation to interject my opinion and, though that would be invaluable, I doubt if I’d be appreciated.” Before they could reply, he went on: “I’ve found a small town that should meet your criteria, Lassiter. San Chapo. It’s about three hours from here, close to the Guatemalan border. No formal airport, but a tarmac strip and a couple of hangars available for rent. It’s very small, a couple of played-out silver mines, but mostly farm country. But there’re a couple restaurants and one motel on the edge of town. Do you want me to try my extremely spotty Spanish and attempt to get us rooms?”
“I’ll do it,” Margaret said. “I spent a year in Guatemala and I picked up enough Spanish to function pretty well.” She took out her phone. “Give me the number.”