“He didn’t seem to have any doubts about getting Carlos Estefan on his side,” she said drily. “He said it was only a matter of strengthening the force of the con.”
“I hope he’s right. Sometimes those rebels shoot first and listen later,” he said over his shoulder as he went out the door.
She felt a chill go through her at his words. She had been trying not to keep thinking about the danger Lassiter might be facing. She had told him that he shouldn’t go alone. She had told him that he was being too confident about confronting Carlos on his own turf. He hadn’t listened to her.
And she could do nothing about it now and it made her feel helpless.
But she wouldn’t be helpless if she kept busy and let her mind work on the problems she could solve.
Bathe. Get a bite of supper. Then talk to the doctor.
But, dammit, she had to let Lassiter be the one to plan how to stay alive and persuade Carlos Estefan to come and help them.
9:40 P.M.
Rain Forest
Estefan’s camp was just ahead.
It was time, Lassiter knew.
Call Margaret now. He might not get a chance later.
For more reasons than one.
He punched in the number quickly. She answered after the first ring. Her voice was tense. “Where are you, Lassiter?”
“Where I should be? In the middle of this damned rain forest. Hot, muggy, and definitely buggy. Though I don’t believe I’ve run across your dart frog yet.”
“You’d know it if you had. That’s no answer. Have you made contact with Carlos Estefan?”
“That’s next on the agenda. About five minutes, I’d judge. His camp is right ahead of me.”
“Then why are you calling me? They have to have sentries all around that camp. Hell, they might even hear you. Get off the phone.”
“You told me to check in. I’m checking in. How is Patrick?”
“Better, but the doctor is sticking to his time line. Get off the phone.”
“How are you?”
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? Get off the damn phone.”
“Just a little longer. Are you still angry with me?”
“Yes. No. What difference does it make?”
“At least you’re ambivalent about it. It’s complicated, isn’t it?”
“Get off the phone. Why are you doing this?”
“Because it’s best that the sentries bring me into camp and report to Carlos that I was talking on the phone. That way, they won’t shoot me right away, because Carlos will want to know who I was reporting to. It will be a conversation starter.”
“Conversation starter? You’re crazy, Lassiter.”
“Then you should forgive me because I’m not responsible for my actions.” He tilted his head, listening. “I’ll call you back later.” He disconnected and then waited.
Close.
Very close.
He kept the phone to his ear.
He just had to hope that whoever was behind him in those shrubs wasn’t trigger-happy.
And then he heard the click of the hammer of a rifle.
*
A conversation starter?
Margaret wanted to kill him. He was so confident that he could talk Estefan into doing what he wanted that he was making himself bait for the trap.
She could envision all kinds of scenarios playing out that had nothing to do with conversation and everything to do with being lethal.
And he had hung up too abruptly, which probably meant that the action was about to start. Now all she could do was sit here in her room and wait for him to call her back.
Mandell. She had promised to call Mandell. Though there wasn’t much she could tell him. She pressed the number buttons quickly. “I heard from Lassiter. He’s reached the camp but hasn’t made contact with anyone yet,” she said jerkily. “He’s setting up a conversation. He said he’d call back later.”
“You’re a bit upset,” Mandell said. “He knows what he’s doing, Margaret. It may not be the way you or I would handle it, but he’s an expert at what he does. Silver-tongued doesn’t describe him. He’ll get through to Carlos.”
“Or he’ll get himself shot. You know him better than I do. I hope you’re right. If he calls me back, I’ll let you know.”
“When he calls you back,” Mandell said quietly. “There’s nothing to panic about.”
“No, why should I worry if he does something this idiotic?” She hung up and drew a deep breath. Mandell might not think that Lassiter would have problems, but she couldn’t be certain of anything except that there were threats all around him.
She sat down on the bed. Nothing to do but wait.
Call, damn you, Lassiter.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
10:50 P.M.
Why hadn’t he called?
Margaret’s nails bit into her palms.
It had been too long.
How long did his “conversations” have to last? Carlos might have been the exception to prove the rule that Lassiter could talk anyone into anything. He could have been shot or held—
“Margaret Douglas?”
Her gaze flew across the room. There had been no knock, but the door was opening.
A tall, broad-shouldered man in khakis was smiling at her. “You are Margaret Douglas?”
One of Mandell’s men? She stiffened as he entered the room. Intrusion. No, Mandell wouldn’t have tolerated that and he would have called her. She jumped to her feet and reached for her phone.
“I don’t think so.” He was across the room in seconds. His hand knifed down on her forearm and the phone dropped from her hand. “Not after I’ve run this risk, Margaret. You’re my ticket out of here.”
She whirled away from him and grabbed the pitcher on the washstand. She kicked upward between his legs with her foot as she swung the pitcher at his head.
“Bitch.” He grunted in pain as he blocked the pitcher from a direct hit. Then he smashed the pitcher to the floor as he grabbed her throat. “Don’t fight and I might not break your neck.” His hand tightened. “Or then again, I might.”
Dizziness.
Intense pain.
Everything was going black. Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees. He released her and she was vaguely aware that he was grabbing the pillowcase off the bed. Was he going to smother her?
Then he was jerking her to her feet.
She could feel the muzzle of a gun in her back as he pushed her toward the door.
“Now be very good and you might have a chance of getting out of here alive.…”
He had stopped at the door and was forming the pillowcase into a gag.
“Who…”
He didn’t answer.
But she was dimly putting all this madness together through the haze of pain and vertigo.
“Brukman,” she said hoarsely. “You have to be Brukman.…”
12:35 A.M.
Mandell’s cell phone was ringing by the time he reached the courtyard after checking the sentries.
Lassiter.
“I admit I’m glad to hear from you,” he said when he picked up. “I assured Margaret you knew what you were doing, but it took you long enough to get back to us. I was losing faith in you. What about Carlos? Are you bringing him back with you?”