At least he knew Margaret was still alive. “What direction?”
“He was doubling back south. I think he’s taking her to the detention camp. I’ve got only the two men on watch there, Lassiter. Once he gets close to the camp, he’ll call and get an armed escort to take her in through those gates. We can’t stop them.”
“I know.” And once Margaret was behind those walls, she would be totally at Brukman’s disposal. He felt the muscles of his stomach twist at the thought. Visions of the photos he’d been sent of Patrick’s torture over these last months were flooding back to him.
Block them.
Think.
“If Brukman started north toward the coast and then turned south back to the camp, it probably means he contacted Nicos and it’s on his orders. It won’t be totally up to Brukman. It may give us a little time.”
“But it also means that Nicos will be on his way down here with enough men to give us big trouble,” Mandell said. “And you told me how he feels about Margaret. It’s not a good idea to leave her there any longer than we have to.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” Lassiter asked harshly. “We’ve got Estefan’s group coming, but in case of any large-scale attack, Nicos’s first order will be to kill Margaret; his second will be to kill all the other prisoners. There won’t be the surprise factor there would have been before. Nicos knows that I’ll try to free Margaret.”
“Then what the hell do we do?”
It was the question Lassiter was asking himself. “Negotiate. I don’t think it will do any good. But it may buy us time to find a way out of this. Call our helicopter pilot and tell him to get it out of there. That’s where Nicos will be flying into and he’ll make sure that he sends men there to make it safe for him. And we have to try to find out where Brukman will be keeping her in that camp. You said you’d already located where every one of the other prisoners are being held. Will you still be able to get close enough to the camp to pinpoint where Margaret is?”
“Yes. I had my men fall back when those trucks started rolling through the gates. If they search the area, they won’t find anyone. Then I’ll go in and position myself again. I’ll keep out of the trees and go up to the boulders on the hillside and set up.”
“Then that’s all we can do right now. I’m going to go to the cave and check on Patrick and then we’ll arrange to meet.” He started the truck. “And I’ll have to call Carlos Estefan and tell him to stop where he is and not continue on to the monastery. Get back to me if you hear anything else.”
“Right,” Mandell said. “I’ll be in touch.” He hung up.
Lassiter sat there for a moment.
Get control.
Don’t think about anything but how to get her back.
Then he started driving toward the gray haze of smoke in the distance.
Detention Camp
7:35 A.M.
“What do you think of it?” Brukman asked as he pushed Margaret through the wire gates ahead of him. “There’s a stench to it, isn’t there? At times I scarcely notice it anymore, but I’m sure your delicate sensitivity will pick up on it immediately. What do you think it is?”
Pain. Urine. Blood.
And a dozen other foul smells that made her almost ill. “I don’t smell anything.”
“Liar.” He smiled. “Here comes Stockton.” He nodded at the man coming toward them. “He’ll be disappointed that he won’t be able to work on you right away. He really enjoyed María Estefan. Stockton, this is Margaret Douglas. She’s a special friend of Nicos.”
“Where do you want her? Shall I chain her to the wall?”
“Oh, no. I think we’ll tie her to the post in the center of the yard, as we did María. That way, Nicos will see her as soon as he comes in the gate. A kind of welcome present.”
“Should I strip her?”
“No, that first humiliation is a pain in itself for a woman. We won’t cheat Nicos.” His gaze went to the smoke rising above the trees in the distance. “Did they find Patrick?”
“No, Lassiter must have had warning and gotten him out. We’re still searching.” He was undoing the belt binding Margaret’s wrists. He thrust her against a wooden stake in the middle of the yard and fastened her hands to the manacles in back. “The monks were gone, too. But we killed one of his security team.” He smiled at Margaret. “There we are.” His hand reached out and stroked her breast. “I suppose that’s against the rules, too, Brukman?”
“Yes, you’ll get your fill later. But Nicos gets all the firsts.” He met Margaret’s eyes. “He should be here within a few hours. Think about it. I will.” He turned and moved toward the bunkhouse. “I’ll see you then, Margaret.”
Stockman stared at her for a moment, then shrugged and walked away.
Margaret let out the breath she had been holding. She felt terribly vulnerable bound out here in the middle of this dirt yard. It reminded her of someone prepared to be burned at the stake. She was trying to ignore the guards staring at her. How would she have felt if she’d been stripped naked the way that poor María had been?
It might still happen. Prepare for it.
Remember that no one can hurt you but yourself.
She leaned her head back against the post and closed her eyes so that she wouldn’t see the smoke from the burning monastery or the guards staring at her.
Those guards were probably not the only ones looking at her, she reminded herself. Mandell had sent men to keep an eye on what went on within this camp. Lassiter had told her how Mandell had climbed a tree in those woods outside the gates and trained his gun on Brukman. If they had found out that she had been brought here, she had no doubt they would send someone to try to find a way to get her out.
But what could they do? They might not even be able to get near those woods now. Brukman would be extra careful now that he had been targeted once.
And she didn’t even know if she wanted anyone that close to the detention camp. Her first thought had been a feeling of hope and reassurance that maybe she wasn’t alone after all. But now she realized one of the reasons that Brukman had tied her to this stake in full view of the camp and the woods beyond was that she was displayed like a goat to bait the tiger.
And the tiger was Lassiter.
No!
The rejection was instant and violent in its intensity. She had been standing here looking wildly for someone to save her because she was frightened. But if she accepted that role, it would mean that Lassiter might die, because they were using her to trap him.
Tiger. It was bittersweet that she had even laughingly called Lassiter that when they were making love. That time seemed a hundred years from this moment.
And she would make sure she would not be bait for anyone. She had always watched out for herself, and this was no different. So don’t expect to be rescued. Work it out. Use your brains and everything you are.
So stay away, Lassiter. You’re right. I have to do everything alone. Now let me do it.
Keep calm.
Block out the fear.