No Easy Target Page 13

  Then she would pray that Lassiter’s work tonight would be successful, that the password would magically appear on his screen. It wasn’t impossible. Prayers were sometimes answered.

  But Rosa’s prayers had not been answered. Neither had Margaret’s when she had been on Vadaz Island.

  Then don’t count on prayers. Think about what alternatives might succeed if they didn’t find the password.

  And she started to shake again.

  Sadness.

  Desolation.

  Fear.

  The emotions as well as the words were all surrounding her. She thought at first it was that strange calling she’d heard earlier in the evening.

  It was not. It was her own emotions that she had to fight so desperately tonight.

  Sadness.

  Desolation.

  Fear …

  5:15 A.M.

  Margaret turned off the shower but stayed there a minute trying to gather the effort to get out and start what had to be done. She would have welcomed the calling that had come to her yesterday while she standing here in this spot, just to have another reason to delay.

  No cry.

  No calling.

  And she had to stop being a coward and face what she’d decided had to be faced. She got out of the shower and grabbed a towel. Maybe all this worry was for nothing. Maybe when she went to Lassiter, she’d find those prayers had been answered.

  But when he answered the door to her knock fifteen minutes later, her hopes plummeted. He had a dark stubble on his face and his eyes were strained.

  “You’re too early. I’ll get it. Come back in a couple hours.”

  It was the answer she’d dreaded. “Did that brute-force thing work? Are you close?”

  He didn’t answer her. “I’ll get it.”

  It hadn’t worked. “And what if you don’t do it in time? You can’t risk it. I’ve been thinking all night, trying to put together some clue that would help you find that password.” She shook her head. “But bad things were going on all around me and I didn’t pay attention to anything but how to keep it from getting worse.” She paused. “But I’m not stupid. If I concentrate, I should be able to notice something, find something that would give you what you need.”

  He stiffened. “What the hell are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I’m not going to go away and let you frantically keep searching for that password if I can find a way to make it easier. Stand aside and let me come in. I need to sit down. It’s been another long night.”

  He didn’t move. “Margaret, I promised you that—”

  “I know.” She pushed him aside. “And I’m certain you promised yourself that you wouldn’t let your friend Patrick be butchered and killed. Which promise is the most important for you to honor?” She sat down on his chair in front of the computer. The entire area was strewn with papers scrawled with notes, and the computer screen had multiple lists of numbers and words. A testament to Lassiter’s driving, relentless search. “He’s hurt and helpless. I’m not helpless, Lassiter. I’m scared, but I can get over it. I just have to remember that things aren’t the same as they were the last time.” She gestured toward the bed. “Now sit down and let’s talk and decide what’s the best way to do this.”

  “You’re talking about going to Nicos.”

  “It’s the only thing to do now,” she said simply. “We both know it. You just won’t admit it.”

  “You’re damn right I won’t. I could see what he was doing to you last night. You were white as a sheet and you could barely talk.”

  “But I did talk to him and it got better once I got over the first shock.” She met his eyes. “You’re feeling guilty and you don’t want me to have to face Nicos. I don’t want that, either. But I can’t stand the thought of a man dying because I was too afraid to fight a monster like Nicos. He’s haunted me for years and I can’t let him kill someone else because I didn’t find a way to stop it.”

  “‘Someone else’?” Lassiter’s eyes were narrowed on her face. “What are you talking about?”

  She held up her hand. “I can’t deal with that right now. I only wanted you to know that it’s not only for Patrick that I have to do this.”

  “I can’t let you go. He’ll rape you, probably torture you, and possibly kill you. I couldn’t live with any of that.”

  “Yes, you could. To save a life.” Her lips curved in a mirthless smile. “But none of that happened before, so it may not happen this time. If we’re smart, if we plan it right. I didn’t have anyone to help me three years ago. We have a chance now.” She leaned forward. “Listen, you need to buy time to work on that password. I can give it to you. And I know Nicos’s house; I might be able to find something in his office that will help.”

  “And get caught and maybe get your throat cut.”

  “I repeat, I’m not stupid,” she said. “I know the island well enough to have escaped from it before. It’s well guarded, but I might be able to get a message to you. I’ll have to think about it. But Nicos will be watching me, so you won’t be able to get me off the island once I’m there.”

  “So I’m just supposed to leave you there?”

  “No, there may be another way,” she said. “Let Nicos take me off the island.”

  “What?”

  “Montego Bay. July twenty-third.”

  “That’s supposed to mean something? The twenty-third is the day Nicos is demanding you show up at the island.”

  “No, he wants me there two days before. Because he has something planned on July twenty-third for me.” She shook her head. “And that’s the reason he won’t negotiate with you.”

  “And what does he have planned?”

  “It has to be a shipment. Either explosives or drugs that are being delivered to Montego Bay Airport on the twenty-third.”

  “And he needs you there for that?”

  “Oh, yes,” she said bitterly. “He always likes an insurance policy. Why do you think that he’s been searching for me for the last three years? He must have been overjoyed when he found out from Salva that he would have me on hand just in time for the Montego Bay shipment.”

  “‘Insurance policy’? What kind of insurance policy?”

  “The dogs. Couldn’t you guess? The drugs or explosives are always very carefully hidden in freight or luggage, but the illicit-substance dogs they have trained these days are supersharp and can zero in on almost any hidden contraband.” She added sarcastically, “It makes it very difficult for poor Nicos. That’s why he values me so highly.”

  “I believed it might be for another reason. And what did you do for ‘poor’ Nicos?”

  “He’d find a reason and a way to get me to customs when the shipment was unloaded. Usually, I’d have to be there fifteen or twenty minutes before the shipment showed up to be able to meld with the dogs. It’s not easy to convince an animal as highly trained and experienced as those airport dogs that what they’re smelling isn’t what they’re smelling. Sometimes all I could do was make them confused. Which also usually worked.”

  He was silent. “And how did he know that you’d be able to do that? I’m certain you didn’t tell him.”

  “Are you?”

  “Yes, I’m gradually learning about you, Margaret. Though you’ve not been helping me. How did he know?”

  “Someone … close to me told him. Then he made me show him.”

  “And then he forced you to go with him to the airports and give him his ‘insurance.’”

  “Oh, yes, he was very pleased with me. He said I had the true magic and was obviously meant to serve him. I think he might have even believed it.” She shrugged. “He grew up in Jamaica with Azara Lua, a mother who took him to voodoo rituals from the time he was a toddler. She was a prostitute and I think she might have brainwashed him to keep her hold on his father. He told me once she was a priestess but had no really strong magic. Not like I did. I didn’t care if he thought I was some kind of mystical priestess, voodoo or otherwise. I
played on it to survive and keep him away from me.”

  “And it worked?”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “Yes, you are. But that doesn’t mean you can survive him if you go back.”

  “I’ll survive him.” She drew a deep breath. “And I’ll give you the time you need to work on the password. Two days until you have to deliver me. At least two more days after that before I have to go to Montego Bay. But if you can’t get me away from him by then, I don’t know how long it will be before I’ll get another chance.”

  “I’d get you away if I had to blow up the damn airport,” he said roughly. “But I won’t let you go back there when I know how he’ll be treating you.”

  “I told you: I’ll survive—” She stopped, gazing at him as she realized what he meant. “You’re worried that he’s going to rape me? I don’t believe that he will. I managed to instill the thought that my magic might not work if he had carnal relations with me. He’d already heard all kinds of stories about virgins being the most powerful priestesses. He might have changed his mind, but I don’t think so.”

  “And you’re willing to take the chance. I’m not willing for you to take it, Margaret.”

  “Why are you so upset about this? It’s not as if I was a virgin. I just didn’t want him touching me. Yes, it would have been rape, but I know about rape. When I was twelve, I ran into two hunters while I was living in the woods, men who wanted to have a little fun. It took me a long while to get over it, but then I realized that they couldn’t touch or change anything that I was inside unless I let them. And I wasn’t going to let them take one bit of joy from my life.” She added curtly, “And Nicos wouldn’t have been able to hurt me, either. Not that way.”

  “My God.”

  She felt uneasy about the way he was looking at her, and she said quickly, “But as I said, I think I managed to handle that, so don’t worry about me taking care of myself. I’ll walk a fine line and do what I have to do. I’ll leave the rest to you, with all your Special Forces and your CIA and fancy computers and…” She got to her feet. “Now I’ll leave and go see if Cambry is awake. You didn’t tell me what time we’re flying out of here. I’ll tell Cambry to be ready at eight.”

  “You think this is settled? It’s not settled, Margaret.”

  “Yes, it is.” She looked him directly in the eye. “When I was lying there in bed last night, I realized that I was partly to blame for the situation that Patrick is in now.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “No, if I’d done something to resolve that nightmare with Nicos three years ago instead of running away, you and Patrick might not even have had to deal with him. I didn’t choose to do that and I share some of the blame. So unless you can tell me you have that password, I have to do this. With or without you, Lassiter.” She went to the door. “Don’t let it be without you. I’m still pretty scared.”

  “You couldn’t prove it by what I just heard. You’re not to blame for any of this, dammit. I dragged you into it.”

  She shook her head as she swung the door closed behind her. “There are always choices, Lassiter. I could give you excuses, but I chose to be a victim three years ago. Which had ramifications all down the line. I can’t make that same choice again.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “I called Lassiter,” Cambry said when he knocked on her door at 7:30, carrying a bag of bagels and coffee. “He said for us to go ahead and take a taxi to the hangar and get the plane ready for takeoff. He said he’d had a new idea that he wanted to explore, and that he’d be with us as soon as he can.”

  He’s still working on the password, she thought. She hoped that the new idea had promise. Heaven knows, they needed new and promising. “Whatever.” She walked ahead of Cambry to the ancient rust-encrusted black taxicab parked in front of the office. “I checked out for all of us. Lassiter may be disturbed by maid service wanting to clean the rooms.”

  “Not likely. They don’t appear to be that motivated here.” After they had settled in the taxi, he added, “Lassiter told me about the phone call. You didn’t mention it.”

  “I would have eventually. I’m still having trouble dealing with it.” She leaned back on the seat as the taxi driver pulled away from the motel. She took the coffee cup Cambry handed her. “But then, so is Lassiter.”

  “I noticed.” He added quietly, “This isn’t the way he had it planned. He won’t let you do it, Margaret.”

  “He doesn’t have a choice. I know he’s caught in the middle, but he has to go with the lesser evil. He cares about his friend, who will certainly die if he doesn’t let me go to Nicos. If we work it right, I have a good chance of living and giving him a way to save Patrick.” She turned to look at him. “Do you know Sean Patrick, Cambry?”

  He nodded. “For the last eight years. He’s a good guy. One of the best.”

  “I thought he might be. It seems as if everything that’s happened has happened because of him. I just feel as if I need to know him. He’s gone through so much. Lassiter has gone through so much for him. I know Lassiter believes that he’s worth it.”

  “He is worth it,” Cambry said. “And Patrick would be doing the same thing for Lassiter if the situation was reversed.” He paused. “But that doesn’t mean that you have to—”

  Sadness.

  Sadness.

  Sadness.

  Loss.

  Soon.

  Sadness.

  Her hand clutched her coffee cup as the cry suddenly struck her. Strong. So strong that it took her breath away.

  Sadness!

  And close.

  “Margaret?” Cambry was looking at her, puzzled.

  Soon.

  “I’m okay,” she said absently.

  Where?

  No answer.

  Show me!

  No answer.

  I can’t help you unless you show me.

  Trying.

  “You’re not okay,” Cambry said as he reached for his phone. “I’m calling Lassiter.”

  “Do what you want. Just leave me alone.”

  And then she saw it.

  She leaned forward and said to the taxi driver in Spanish, “There’s a mine near here, isn’t there? Probably only a couple miles? I need to go there.”

  He shook his head. “Sí, pero está cerrado ahora.”

  “I don’t care if it’s closed down right now. I need to go there,” she repeated fiercely. “Now.”

  He shrugged. “No use. Está cerrado. And very bad road.”

  She looked him in the eye. “Now.”

  He scowled. “As you wish. But I charge you more.” He made a left turn onto a bumpy dirt road. “And if I get a flat, you buy me a new tire.”

  “Just get me to that mine.”

  “May I ask where we’re going?” Cambry asked. “I caught something about a mine. Second question: Why the hell?”

  “Yes, it’s a mine. Second answer: I don’t know.”

  “You’re acting weird, like you did last night. What’s going on? And don’t tell me this time that you heard some baby crying.”

  “I never told you that was what I heard. I said it was a possibility. I didn’t know. It was just easier to get things done.”

  “But you know now?”

  “Yes, I know.”

  A wire fence about twelve feet in height loomed just ahead.

  “Pull over!” She jumped out of the taxi even before it had come to a full stop and ran toward the gate. It was ajar, as she’d guessed it would be. The wide timber-reinforced opening of the mine was twenty or thirty yards from the gate. She darted toward it.

  Where?

  No answer. Then a rush of overwhelming grief.

  Sadness.

  Don’t tell me that. And don’t give up. You’ve gotten this far. Show me where.

  Hesitance. Then a picture, clear and detailed.

  “Oh shit,” she murmured. She turned to Cambry, who had run up behind her. “Deep. And lots of timber and debris. Find me
a shovel.”

  * * *

  “Where is she?” Lassiter strode toward the main tunnel entrance, where Cambry was standing. “And what the hell is she doing here? That roof looks like it’s going to collapse any minute.”

  “I checked. It’s sounder than it looks,” Cambry said as he wiped the sweat from his face. “But the roof up ahead did collapse, probably fairly recently. At least that’s what Margaret thinks.” He grimaced. “That’s what she told me before she crawled under that pile of timber up there.”

  “What?”

  “I tried to stop her. But she had me shoveling debris away from a hole up there and she was under that pile before I knew it. She told me that I should stay near the opening we’d cleared and watch out for any sign of another cave-in.”

  “For God’s sake, how long has she been down there?” Lassiter moved quickly toward the timbers. “Cambry, I may strangle you.” He knelt down and peered down into the darkness. He couldn’t tell how deep the hole was or how fragile the balance of the rocks and timbers.

  And he could hear nothing. Had Margaret already been knocked unconscious by one of those displaced timbers after she’d crawled down there? He took out his flashlight and shined the beam into the darkness. “Margaret,” he called. “Lassiter. Stay where you are. I’m coming down.”

  “No. It’s going to be difficult enough getting back up there. If you want to help, get me a board or something that I can use for a stretcher.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No, but she is. Find me something to bring her up.”

  “She?” Not the time to ask questions. “Never mind. Hold on. I’ll find what you need. I’ll take the door off the security booth at the gate.…”

  * * *

  Yes, he’ll find what I need, Margaret thought with relief as she turned back to Juno. She’d been glad to hear Lassiter’s voice. Cambry had been helpful and done everything she’d asked him to do, but Lassiter exuded confidence. Not that she wasn’t confident; everything had gone as well as it could, considering the problems she was having with Juno.