“I thought he would. He’s already feeling guilty. He wouldn’t want to endanger anyone else after Father Gabriel’s death. He said he’d only contact them after it was safe.”
“Which it definitely isn’t at the moment. But Dario says that his tracker believes he knows the area where Montez might be hiding out. The foothills to the west are networked with dozens of caves, and he could be in one of them. Dario’s heading that way now.” He paused. “How is that for positive?”
“As good as we’ve gotten so far. You’ll tell me as soon as he’s confirmed Montez’s location?”
“Unless it’s the middle of the night. It won’t do me any good to wake you if we’re not moving on Montez. It will wait until morning. You need the sleep.”
“Yes, I do. So do you. Are you going to bed?”
“Certainly.” His voice was faintly mocking. “And I will sleep like a baby. It’s part of the discipline I was taught. The committee did their best to make sure that I had the control that was needed to be their security chief.” His voice lowered. “Though the discipline didn’t include ignoring the fact that I’m horny as hell and can’t stop thinking about you in that summerhouse with your legs wrapped around me. It’s definitely bothering me that you’re only a few rooms down the hall.”
It was bothering her, too. His words were soft, silken, and they were causing the muscles of her body to tense. “Then maybe it’s time you went back to your committee and took a refresher.”
He chuckled. “It wouldn’t do any good. You’re the only one to whom the discipline doesn’t apply. So I guess that I’ll go take a shower, too. And it won’t be a hot one. Then I’ll look at the map of the cave area Dario e-mailed me and see if I agree with him. Good night, Catherine.” He hung up.
And left her with that lingering heat and disturbing sexual changes that his words had brought. Forget the sexual implications, just remember what was important. Montez appeared to be temporarily safe. Cameron was here, and that automatically added an additional element of security.
Two positives.
Dry her hair, pull on her nightshirt, and go to sleep.
Don’t think of Cameron; that was an automatic turn-on and distracter. If she couldn’t drift off immediately, concentrate on Kelly and her bewildering mass of question marks and dots.
Or Montez and how to convince him that she was right and he was so wrong …
*
Holy Mary, Mother of God, forgive me.
Montez’s fingers moved on the rosary in silent prayer. His heart was beating hard as his eyes stared into the darkness of the cave surrounding him.
Save me from causing any more deaths.
Forgive me, for I have sinned.
But wouldn’t the sinning continue if he did what Catherine Ling asked him to do? She was as violent as Santos, and the killing would go on and on. Yes, she would still hunt and try to kill Santos, but he would not be involved. He had sworn to himself that he would go no further down that path that could be sending him to the depths of perdition, that he would be done with Santos forever.
But if that was God’s will, why had he not kept Santos in that prison? Why had he sent him out in the world to test his resolve?
Because the resolve was wrong and mistaken?
Catherine Ling had seemed to be honorable and her cause just. Was that the message he should have taken away from their encounter?
Protect me from evil and ambition.
Deaths. So many deaths.
Agony was tearing through him as he thought of Father Gabriel standing at the door of the church and watching him run through the garden.
Forgive me, Father. I should have been wiser. I shouldn’t have let this happen. I just didn’t know what was right or wrong. Even you who were so much wiser couldn’t tell me. You said that I had to rely on God to guide me.
But he’s not guiding me.
I’m lost, and He’s not showing the way home.
Holy Father, please, give me a sign.
*
“You’re overthinking the problem.”
Catherine’s eyes flew open, pulled out of sleep, as she remembered Kelly’s last words to her.
Not that she had been deeply asleep; it had been a restless slumber. She had been tossing and turning most of the night. But it had only been when that last thought of Kelly’s had intruded that she had been jerked awake.
And she was wide-awake, she thought ruefully, as she sat up in bed. Okay, Kelly, I’ll think about it and see how I can simplify. I’m tired of leaving it up to you and Hu Chang to connect your dots. She might as well concentrate since she wasn’t sleeping worth a damn.
She got out of bed, went to the bathroom, and got a glass of water. She splashed water in her face and sat down in an easy chair with her computer. She pulled up the file Kelly had sent her and studied it. Fifteen minutes later, she was still as frustrated as when she had begun.
All the dots were still mysteries, all the gaps were not telling her anything.
She leaned her head back in the chair and looked at the computer screen. Smother that frustration. It wasn’t going to help. Approach the problem from another direction. She didn’t have the individual skills of Kelly or Hu Chang, so simplify as Kelly had suggested.
Simplify what?
Montez appeared to be an important key. Kelly was intrigued by him. Hu Chang was studying his book.
The book.
The only part of it that she might be able to decipher was the title. She accessed Google and typed in Maggi.
She sighed with discouragement as the answers started flowing on her screen. If she’d hoped to have an easy time, it wasn’t going to happen. The primary answer appeared to be a European seasoning food product, and the examples seemed to go on forever. Then it skipped to Maggie and famous Maggies in entertainment and history. She used several other search engines and came up with basically the same result.
All right, expand the search. Connect the word to something else.
Buenos Aires …
Kelly’s last words before Catherine had left her room.
She typed in Maggi and Buenos Aires and asked for the connection.
More exotic seasonings and where to find them in Argentina.