“I know that.” He stepped closer, and his fingers gently touched her cheek. “Nothing will happen to you or him, Catherine. I promise you.” His fingers lingered an instant longer, then dropped away from her. He turned away. “See you on the island.”
She watched him walk out the door. Her cheek felt warm where he had touched her. Not the searing heat of sex but something deeper, stronger, that made her stronger because of that fleeting instant of bonding.
She’d had a moment where she’d felt uncertain and weak, and he had sensed it and shown her that she was neither.
And now it was time for her to go and show Santos.
BEETHAM ROAD AND SOUTH QUAY
“Not a great neighborhood. I could have staged an ambush anywhere in the last two blocks,” Dario murmured to Cameron as they moved along the alleys bordering the warehouses. “We should get closer to Catherine if you want to intercept.”
“I don’t want to intercept,” Cameron said. “And if I got any closer, she’d know I was following her.” His lips tightened. “Or someone else would know, and that can’t happen. Catherine would not be pleased. She threatened to kill me.”
Dario’s brows rose. “Then you have a right to be careful. If she’s like my mother, she’d keep her word. If you’re not going to intercept or interfere, why are we following her?”
“I need to be sure that we haven’t miscalculated. Santos almost certainly will send someone to capture her. That’s why he told her to come here. But what if he decides to come himself and take her out on the spot?”
“Is that likely?”
“No, he’s giving up a hell of a lot of torment by cutting down his victim list. He’ll want to take his time with Catherine. But there’s always a possibility. If Santos doesn’t come, who will he send?”
“Juan Pablo. He’s the one who brought Montez here. Santos uses him more than any other of his men except Dorgal.”
“Would you recognize him?”
Dario nodded. “I’ve run into him a time or two in Trinidad and Jamaica. Pretty nasty. Do you want me to take him out?”
“No. I told you, I can’t interfere.”
“But you will if it’s Santos and not Pablo.”
He nodded shortly. “Then it won’t be a capture, it will be a murder. And even if it’s Pablo, I may have to intervene. Catherine is supposed to let them take her with only a token resistance.”
Dario gave a low whistle. “And you don’t believe she’s capable of doing that? I tend to agree with you. She would find it impossible to give in meekly to Pablo. But that would make her resistance appear more authentic.”
“If he doesn’t kill her.” His gaze was fixed on the brief glimpses he was getting of Catherine, who was almost two blocks ahead of them. She was moving slowly, warily, her head lifted as if she was listening.
Soon.
He could feel his tension growing as he waited for the attack to come.
The attack he couldn’t stop.
If Santos was there, the attack would stop before it began.
Catherine would die.
And then Cameron would kill Santos before he breathed another breath.
More warehouses.
Shadows.
Crates.
Trucks.
Machinery.
It should happen here, now.
Catherine thought so, too. He could read her body language, the tension, the hesitation, as her gaze searched the darkness.
She was passing a huge crane.
Shadows … moving!
Leaping out from behind the crane!
Three, no, four men.
Catherine whirled and the heel of her boot caught one of her attackers in the throat. She leaped forward, and her fist plowed into another man’s belly, and then her foot shot backward and caught the man behind her in the groin. He fell to his knees.
“Give it up, Catherine,” Cameron murmured beneath his breath. He knew the instinct that was driving her. That was one of the primary reasons he had followed her. But these men had weapons, and she had none.
The man she had kicked in the groin was now on his feet and drawing his gun.
“Shit.” Cameron drew his own gun.
But the man wasn’t firing. The butt of the gun was coming down with vicious force on Catherine’s head.
Her legs buckled, and she fell to her knees. The next moment, she was crumpled on the dock, unconscious.
The man who had struck her was cursing, and he took a step forward. He lifted his foot and kicked Catherine viciously in the rib cage.
“Son of a bitch.” Cameron’s gaze was fixed on the man’s face, memorizing every feature. “Who is he? Do you know him?”
“Juan Pablo,” Dario said. “She was fairly incredible, wasn’t she? I can see why you were worried. That was no token. But I think she made him a little angry.”
“That’s nothing to what he made me,” Cameron said. He watched as one of the men picked up Catherine’s limp body and carried her down the dock. He could feel the rage tearing through him. He had to forcibly resist the temptation to go after them. Stick to the plan. Go with Dario and his men to the island and bring Santos to his knees.
And slaughter that prick Pablo later.
CHAPTER
15
Pain.
“Wake up, bitch.”
Catherine’s head jerked as she was struck on the side of her cheek.
She tried to open her eyes.
Another blow, this one splitting her lower lip.
“I don’t want you lying there like a zombie. Open your damn eyes.”
Santos. It had to be Santos. Catherine forced her lids to open.
Santos’s face was only a foot away from her own, and his eyes were blazing, his lips drawn back from his teeth like a feral animal. “Yes, that’s what I want. Pablo shouldn’t have hit you. I’m the only one who’s permitted to cause you pain.” He raised his hand and whipped it again across her face. “Maybe later. Maybe when I get tired and just want to watch your final throes of agony.”
“How … dramatic. Was that supposed to intimidate me?”
He hit her again.
Okay, don’t taunt him. She had to stop him from hitting her until she could clear her mind. Where was she?