Deadly Games Part 10

The stinging of her burned foot reminded her that these men were capable of horrible deeds. The thought of what they'd do to make her scream the next time was terrifying.

"You brand new pregnant?" the woman asked.

At Maddy's nod, the doctor tugged the plaid s.h.i.+rt back in place and stepped away. The pock-faced man who'd called Rocco came into view. Obviously he'd heard everything.

As the doctor spoke, Pockface leaned sideways and stared at Maddy, showing disdain at the news of her pregnancy.

Tugging out his phone, Pockface punched in numbers. Maddy broke out in a cold sweat. Were they calling Rocco again? Oh, sweet Mary, would she be burned again?

Pockface spoke in Thai, though she knew from hearing parts of his conversation with Rocco that he also spoke English. To Maddy's surprise, Pockface handed the phone to the woman.

Maddy wished she knew what they were saying.

Or maybe not.

When the call ended, the woman continued speaking with Pockface, ticking off points with her fingers.

Then the woman moved back to Maddy's cot. "You will be moved to new place," the woman spoke slowly. "Do not fight. To cooperate is better for baby."

Bay-bee.

"How long will they keep me?" Maddy asked.

Pockface moved in, cutting Maddy off before speaking angrily in Thai to the other woman.

The woman listened and nodded before turning back to Maddy. "He said to ask you where Dr. Rufin is being held."

Dr. Rufin?

Maddy's spirits sank as the significance of the question sank in. She knew from the reports she'd prepared on Max Duncan's rescue who Rufin was. An international manhunt was under way for the scientist. Every country wanted Dr. Rufin.

"Dr. who?" Maddy tried to look confused and shook her head. "I don't know anyone named Dr. Rupert."

"Rufin," the woman repeated the name.

Pockface interrupted the woman with what sounded like more rapid-fire questions. Or threats.

The woman sighed and addressed Maddy again. "They need the baby-father, this Rocco, to find Dr. Rufin, in order to free you. He said that if you help, you will be freed more quickly."

Fresh tears stung Maddy's eyes. They were both lying. Nothing Maddy did, or didn't do, would help. The sick feeling that she had been fighting suddenly surged. Twisting sideways, she hung her head over the side of the cot and retched, the vomit barely hitting the bucket the doctor slid into place.

Pockface stormed away as the woman lapsed into speaking Thai again. Even though the woman's tone sounded sympathetic, Maddy knew it didn't matter. She was doomed.

If her captors thought Rocco was the father of her child, they had a.s.sumed a relations.h.i.+p that wasn't.

And if her freedom depended on these men gaining custody of Dr. Rufin, she and her unborn child were as good as dead.

Chapter Twelve.

Southeast Texas October 4, 2:10 P.M.

Rocco checked the rearview mirror. They'd been on the road nearly twenty minutes without incident. He'd driven north, then cut west in a zigzag pattern. So far there had been no sign of the black truck.

No police either. Which could change in the flash of a blue strobe light. A shoot-'em-up through town wouldn't go unreported. And even though Rocco hadn't fired his weapon, for fear of harming Gena, witness accounts could make him a definite person of interest.

Being held in custody while the cops verified Rocco's ident.i.ty and vetted his national-security-get-out-of-jail-free claim meant possibly being separated from Gena. And Rocco wouldn't allow her to be vulnerable like that again.

Had Minh Tran's man taken her today because they were concerned she could identify them from last night's firebombing and wanted to keep her quiet? Or had their intent been to kill her? To make an example of her, to hammer home the seriousness of the threat Maddy faced?

Like he needed an example.

One thing was clear: Minh Tran's men were determined to get to Gena. Their attack in broad daylight suggested they weren't overly worried about the local cops. Which made them that much more dangerous.

He glanced at Gena. She'd obviously managed to shower and change, but now she looked even more fragile.

She was lucky to be alive after jumping from that truck. And while she claimed she was fine, once the adrenaline dissipated from her bloodstream, she'd be hurting. The sleeve of her s.h.i.+rt was torn. More sc.r.a.pes were visible, new ones and old ones.

Gena continued to stare out the back window of Rocco's rental sedan, clearly expecting the black truck to come after them. And Rocco had been so livid over the way she'd left him at the hospital that he'd purposely let her stew, hoping she'd think twice before endangering herself again.

Now, however, they needed to talk.

"You'll be safe, Gena. I promise. I won't let him harm you," Rocco began.

She made a derisive sound. "If that's supposed to make me feel better, or make me more malleable, it's not working."

"Let me amend that then." He struggled to keep his temper in check. Yes, he was mad as h.e.l.l at her, but she wasn't the person to blame. Minh Tran was. And the payback Rocco now owed Tran had more than doubled.

"I won't let anyone harm you as long as you stay with me with me," he continued. "And I feel fairly certain we've lost the guy in the truck, so you can turn back around."

She shook her head and doggedly kept her watch. "What about the man following you? My guy was pretty annoyed that you'd given him the slip."

Rocco took his eyes off the road for a second to glance at her. "How do you know I was followed?"

"The guy who grabbed me called his partner and chewed him out. Said you were being watched."

d.a.m.n it!

How had these men gotten word of Rocco's whereabouts so quickly? Either Minh Tran had a larger network here in the states than they knew-which meant the Agency's intelligence was seriously flawed-or Tran was accessing inside information, which validated Travis's ongoing concern about a leak.

And if Tran knew that much about Rocco's movements, it didn't take much to believe he could also access the safe house location where Adele and Billy were currently being protected. The same place Rocco had intended to take Gena.

With Minh Tran's actions becoming increasingly unpredictable, Rocco needed to come up with a new location. One not a.s.sociated with the Agency.

"Tell me again about the man who abducted you," Rocco said. "He was Hispanic?"

Minh Tran would have realized that sending his Thai a.s.sociates into the tiny border town would have made them conspicuous. Still, for Tran to work outside his own close-knit clan was highly unusual.

"He was definitely Hispanic," Gena said. "But he spoke with a different accent. South American perhaps."

"What about scars or tattoos?"

"None that were visible."

"Have you ever seen him before?" Rocco asked. "Around town perhaps?"

"At first I thought he looked familiar."

"Familiar how? Height? Weight?"

"No. Like someone I met when I was married to Harry. But the more I've thought about it, the more I'm positive I was mistaken." Gena still scanned the roads behind them.

"Is it possible you saw him recently or that he followed you from the hospital?"

"No. Yes." She rubbed her eyes. "Maybe. I was distracted. As I was leaving, a friend of Lupe's stopped me. She-" Gena's voice cracked. "She gave me a s...o...b..x containing some of Lupe's personal belongings. She wanted me to get them to Lupe's grandmother. On the way home, I couldn't stop thinking about the old woman. About how long it would be before she found out her granddaughter is dead."

"Don't tell me. That's where you were headed."

"I had to go somewhere, didn't I?" Gena shoved her still-damp hair back with one hand and grimaced with pain. "I figured no one would look for me in Mexico."

Rocco caught a glimpse of her sc.r.a.ped palms, knew they stung. He needed to fully check out her injuries, but until they were farther away, they couldn't afford the time.

His cell phone rang. He checked the display, saw it was Catalina. Rocco had called her previously with the tag number of the black truck.

"The license plates were stolen. The Sugar Springs police are still searching for the black truck," Cat said. "But they don't seem to have any reports of your vehicle being involved, at least not yet."

"The perp's probably already ditched the truck," Rocco said. "What else have the police got?"

"They are interviewing witnesses, trying to get a better description of the shooter. A dark-haired Hispanic male probably describes over half the population in that region."

"We've got another problem," Rocco said. "Apparently, whoever grabbed Gena knew to watch out for me. I'm concerned they may know where I was planning to take her."

"Do you want me to arrange a relocation and get you a new locale?"

"Make arrangements for Adele and Billy. I'll handle Gena's security personally." There was only way to ensure that no one knew how to find Gena and that was by telling no one.

"Understood," Cat said. "How can we contact you?"

"I'll stay in touch. Any news from Dante or Travis?"

"Nothing from Travis. Sorry. I know you're concerned about Maddy. Dante said the missing store clerk has been located unharmed, and she identified Taz as her abductor. The Kentucky police are pressuring the FBI to publicize the manhunt."

"Has Max had any more contact with Taz, via, you know, their head connection?" Rocco asked.

"Max apparently made contact with him last night, which Dante feels is what influenced Taz to release the woman without harm. But Max had another seizure afterward. Erin wants to join them."

"And Max is saying no, right?" Dr. Erin Houston was the psychologist who had helped Max after his return. They were engaged now.

"Right," Cat said. "AndI can imagine Erin's concern."

"Me, too, but Max knows what he's doing. And Max is our best shot at finding Taz before he does more harm. Look, I'll call back in a couple hours." Rocco turned off the phone and loosened the battery to hamper GPS tracking. Future calls would need to be limited or made from a throwaway cell phone or even pay phones, though those were becoming harder and harder to come by.

"Did I hear you correctly?" Gena asked. "You said something about Dante and Max. I know this sounds crazy, but weren't those the same names-"

"As the agents who disappeared with Harry? Yes. They are the same two men, Gena. Dante Johnson and Max Duncan. With everything that's gone on since I arrived, I haven't had a chance to explain." Rocco slowed as they approached the outskirts of McAllen, Texas. "Dante and Max didn't die on an overseas mission. Which means there's a strong possibility that Harry is alive, too."

Harry is alive.

Not for the first time, Gena felt as if her life had become entrapped in a snow globe that kept getting shaken up by others.

Memories swirled, some dark, some ugly. Many incomplete. Don't think of the past. Don't think of the past.

"Is all this stuff pertaining to Harry, Dante, and Max, connected to the man who is after you?" Gena asked. "And to the fire last night?"

Rocco had pulled into a drugstore parking lot and stopped the car. "It's related, yes. Let's go inside and grab a few supplies. Then I'll explain everything."

"No! I want answers, Rocco, and I want them now. Or so help me, I'll start screaming my head off." She pointed at the two people who were smoking cigarettes near the door. "You won't get out of here without them getting a tag number."

"Easy." Rocco held up his hands in surrender. "We'll do it your way."

"I want all of it," she said. "No edits. No claims that it's cla.s.sified or top secret. After all I've been through, I deserve more than the Agency's standard BS lines."

"Agreed. How much do you know about the circ.u.mstances of Harry's disappearance two years ago? I know you were divorced by then."

"Disappearance?" Gena shook her head. She should have known better than to believe the story the CIA floated back then. "Harry's father was told Harry died on an overseas mission. Ephraim had suffered a stroke just a few weeks before receiving that news and he was devastated. He and Harry were estranged at the time. Ephraim contacted me through my aunt. He had no other family and needed help making funeral arrangements."

"I heard you were at the memorial service," Rocco said.

"And you weren't." She'd expected him to show up. Had prepared herself for seeing him again.

"I was in Afghanistan at the time."

"As I said, the news devastated Ephraim. He had dreamed of reconciling with Harry." She closed her eyes against the onslaught of memories. "Ephraim's health declined rapidly after that. He died a year ago. I was stunned to learn he'd left his estate to me. I, uh, planned to donate it, but now ...?" She looked at Rocco. "Are you saying Harry didn't really die?"

"We don't have proof, but there's a good possibility Harry is alive. Dante and Max were recovered from separate prisons overseas. And recently there's been an unconfirmed report that Harry is also being held in that same part of the world."

"Dante and Max were in prison? What were they accused of?"

"These were secret prisons. Asylums. Dante and Max were badly mistreated and subjected to what amounts to illegal human experimentation," Rocco said. "I would expect that Harry's been abused as well. But given that Dante and Max survived, the odds are strong for Harry."

"Oh, G.o.d." Gena blinked back tears. Her memories of Harry, what she could recall at least, were bad. It had taken her years to make peace with them. "Harry and I ... Our marriage was a disaster, but I'd never wish that kind of fate on anyone. But how does this tie in to what's happening to you? To me?"