Driven by Fire (23 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

When Jenny awoke she was alone on the thin mattress. The room was empty, and for a moment she wondered if she’d dreamed it all. Until she realized she was stark naked beneath the scratchy wool blanket and wet between her legs.

She staggered to her feet, heading for the small toilet off the sparse bedroom, and managed to clean herself up. She lifted her head to look at her reflection in the mirror. Her brown hair was a tangle around her face, her lips were swollen, and she could see a love bite at the base of her neck. She was a woman in danger for her life, and instead she looked like a well-stroked cat, slumberous and contented. She had to be out of her mind.

Where the hell had he gone, she thought as she swiftly yanked on her clothing, trying not to think about how they had come off the night before, trying not to think about him. She was infatuated with him, nothing more, and given the highly dangerous situation she was in, it was little wonder she’d clung to him like the savior she wanted him to be.

Except she had the gloomy feeling she would have clung to him no matter what the circumstances. Her attraction to him went deep—it had been haunting her a long time—and whether they were safe in a hotel room or in imminent danger, she reacted to his touch as she’d reacted to no one else.

Where the hell had he gone? Had he decided she was collateral damage after all? Why hadn’t he woken her, told her what his plans were? Now all she could do was hope Soledad wouldn’t notice the whole atmosphere of saturated sex in the room.

She sat on the mattress, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around her knees. She could still feel him inside her, still taste his skin on her tongue.
Fuck it
. If she was going to die she’d die with some of him still inside her, and she would revel in it.

Could she trust him to save her? Could she trust anyone but herself? Clearly her instincts about people were dead wrong—she’d been so sure Soledad was an innocent victim, so certain Ryder was nothing but a danger. Was she wrong about her baby brother as well? Someone had tried to kill her back in New Orleans, and it couldn’t have been Soledad, who’d been put in almost as much danger.

Someone had hired a killer to shoot at her. Someone had blown up her beloved cottage and almost taken her with it. While she could believe it of her unnatural father, it wasn’t really his style. Besides, a man like Fabrizio Gauthier, no matter how estranged he was from his children, would never endanger that child’s life. Blood meant too much to him.

The workings of the Committee were complicated and devious enough to have done it, but again, they would have been more efficient. If they wanted her dead she’d be dead.

Or it could be an enemy of her father’s, looking to hit him in a vulnerable place. But everyone knew they were estranged, and killing one of his sons and heirs would make far more sense.

Which left one more possibility, one so unacceptable that she wasn’t even going to consider it. That kind of betrayal would be too awful to bear.

She heard the sound of the door being unlocked, and she braced herself. Soledad had sent two guards, and despite her efforts at being cooperative, they dragged her back into the living room, shoving her down on the sofa.

Soledad was sitting at a table, dressed in a pale designer suit, her hair in an elegant chignon while she sipped at a cup of coffee. She barely looked up when Jenny was hauled into the room, continuing to read the paper in front of her.

The phone still lay on the coffee table. So did the baseball bat, a warning. At least it meant that Ryder hadn’t managed to get the phone and abandon her. She still had a chance.

“I see you somehow managed to get your hands unbound,” Soledad observed in a cool voice.

Shit
, she’d forgotten about that. “I used my teeth.”

“Very sharp teeth,” Soledad said. “I’ll remember that. Though if I’m any judge of character, and unlike you, I am, I’d say you spent the night with a lover, not worried about your very limited future.”

Jenny managed a creditable laugh. “And just how did that happen? I’m afraid none of your thugs are my type.”

“No, my men know better than to go against my wishes. I’m just wondering if we have another visitor at the compound that my men have managed to overlook. Ramón!”

One of the guards who dragged her in immediately stood at attention. “Yes, Madam.”

“Madam?” Jenny repeated with an unwise laugh. “Who do you think you are, Evita Perón?”

Soledad’s smile was pure evil. “You really think you are wise to bait me?” She turned to the guards. “Go out and search this place. Check in with those useless outside guards to see if they’ve seen anything. Go now! This one will be no problem for me to deal with.”

Jenny waited until the two men left. “I’m a lot bigger than you are, Soledad, and my hands are no longer tied. And I’m really pissed.”

Soledad finished her coffee, then folded her hands on the table, giving Jenny her full attention. “Yes,” she said. “But I have a gun and no morals. I would kill you for the fun of it. You would hurt me only if it were a matter of life and death. Which, I promise you, it is.”

“You want me to attack you?” Jenny said incredulously, trying to ignore the baseball bat that was just out of reach.

“After you break into your brother’s fucking smartphone,” Soledad said sweetly. “And it depends on my mood and how long you make me wait. If you’re quick, then I’ll do the same, a single gunshot to the head. If you drag it out like you did last night, then I will smash every bone in your body. And if you think you’ll be in too much pain to talk, you’re wrong. No matter how much pain you’re in, there’s always more coming, and you’ll be able to tell me what I want even if I’ve broken every bone in your body.”

“Might I suggest you leave my jaw intact? Otherwise you might not understand me when I spill state secrets.”

Soledad shook her head. “Did no one ever tell you to watch your tongue when you’re in a dangerous situation? And trust me, your position is extremely precarious. If I get too angry I’ll simply shoot you and wait until I get back to Puerto Claro to have a professional hacker break into the phone. I have things to do up here, but I can change my schedule if you annoy me enough.”

“Here’s an idea—why don’t you simply ask my brother. He’s working for you, isn’t he?” It was a wild guess, but closer to the mark than she would have wanted.

Soledad looked startled for a moment, and Jenny felt her stomach tighten further, particularly when Soledad laughed. “You think your brother works for us? How delightfully naïve you are.”

Sudden hope rushed through her. “You mean he doesn’t?” she said, not caring if she was letting Soledad see her vulnerability. “He’s innocent?”

“You idiot. Your brother doesn’t work for us—we work for him. Though I can hope to change that in the near future, he’s a necessary evil. He took over from the Corsini family, and he knows the routes, the connections, the players. With the information contained on the smartphone we can put him out of business, which obviously is not in his best interests. He wants this phone back as much as you and your Committee friends do. Maybe more.”

It felt as if she’d been slapped in the face. “I don’t believe you,” she said, knowing in her heart that it was the unacceptable truth.

“Don’t you? Well, you’ve always been good at believing what you want to believe. I’ll give you one hour to break the phone—otherwise I will begin to break you.”

Jenny picked up the smartphone with real hatred. She had been so certain it would prove her brother’s marginal involvement with the human trafficking. Maybe Soledad was lying to her, trying to rattle her. But Jenny’s faith had been shaken.

Jenny rose from the sofa, holding the phone in her hand. “Sit down!” Soledad snapped, and Jenny could see the small gun she held in a freshly manicured hand.

“I need to pace,” Jenny said, edging closer to the row of windows. The air-conditioning had been turned off that morning, and one of the sliding doors was open, leading out onto a narrow deck that hung out over the deep ravine cut into the rainforest around them.

“And I need you to sit down,” Soledad snarled.

“Some fresh air,” Jenny pleaded. “That’s reasonable, isn’t it? After all, there’s nowhere I can go except down, and I’m not ready to give up yet. I’m going to stay alive as long as possible.”

Soledad regarded her for a long moment. “You’re right,” she said. “There’s nowhere to go out there. Go and enjoy your last taste of fresh air.”

Well, Jenny thought, she may be stupid when it came to trusting people, but Soledad had the foresight of a gnat. The cell phone was going to go sailing into the ravine, hopefully to smash against some rocks but at the very least to be lost forever in the tangled jungle. The moment she threw it Soledad would shoot her, and she wasn’t ready to die yet, but when push came to shove the phone was going over the edge, and maybe, just maybe, she’d go too, rather than give Soledad the satisfaction of killing her. And satisfaction it would be—she could practically feel Soledad’s murderous intent. The sweet young woman had disappeared, leaving a poised, beautiful monster in her wake, and Jenny wasn’t about to underestimate her.

If only she could reach the baseball bat things would be easier. She could smash the phone with it, smash Soledad with it before she could get off more than one shot.

But that one shot would kill her, and she hadn’t given up on Ryder yet. He had to be somewhere around, hiding from the guards, waiting for his chance. Unless he’d already been captured and killed.

If he had, Soledad knew nothing about it, or she’d be crowing in triumph. There was still a chance she might survive this clusterfuck her father and brother had thrust her into, though the chances were looking slim. She just had to stall for time.

The deck was narrow—just wide enough for a table and chair, and the drop over the side was terrifying even to a woman with no fear of heights. Then again, the height wasn’t the problem; it was the landing. She sat in the chair and began keying in random numbers, her back to Soledad, her attention on the shiny screen.

She heard the door open behind in the living room, and she glanced up to see one of the guards return before she turned back to the phone, her feet drawn up and resting against the low railing. Whoever had designed this house had no sense of safety.

“The password is
beastmaster
.”

She froze at the sound of Ryder’s voice, then at the words. She turned to find him standing in the middle of the room, pointing a gun on Soledad. The guard lay at his feet, and Soledad had a gun trained on Ryder.

Jenny jumped up, shoving open the sliding glass door, about to run to him, when common sense stopped her. “Stay there, Parker!” he snapped.

“How sweet,” Soledad said. “I thought she looked particularly well fucked this morning, though I don’t understand how you happened to get in and out, if you’ll excuse the pun, so easily. However, I’m afraid your girlfriend miscalculated. You can shoot me, but not before I put a bullet in her head.”

Ryder didn’t even glance at her. “That’s not my concern. My job here is simple—retrieve the cell phone and terminate the South American head of the trafficking cartel.”

“Which would be me,” Soledad said smoothly, seemingly not disturbed by his words.

“Which would be you,” he agreed.

“And you are not concerned about your girlfriend? Americans are so squeamish about collateral damage. Do you really want to see her head blown apart in front of you?”

“You’re holding a twenty-two. It won’t blow apart her brain,” he said in a laconic voice.

“She’ll still be just as dead.”

He wasn’t even looking at her—it was as if they were in the midst of an academic argument, not talking of life and death. “You underestimate my resolve. And you’d be wise not to think of me as American. I’m Committee.”

Soledad’s smug smile faded slightly. “Isn’t this what they call a standoff, then?” she said in her pure voice. “Put the gun down, Mr. Ryder, or your girlfriend is dead.”

“Now why would I do that?”

“Because if I kill your girlfriend you’ll be forced to kill me, and I won’t be able to answer any of the thousand questions you must have,” she cooed.

“I don’t mind,” said Ryder, and his gun spat fire at the same moment Soledad’s did.

It was a blur of noise and light and action, as Jenny felt Ryder crash into her, slamming her against the decking as his body jerked, but everything seemed to move in slow motion—the repetitive gunfire, Ryder diving in front of her, the phone falling onto the deck and skittering toward the end, and Soledad sprawling onto the white carpet, an expression of disbelief on her innocent face as bullets pierced the designer suit and blood began to spread outward, soaking into the rug.

And then time flipped back to normal, as Ryder rolled off her and went straight to Soledad’s limp body, feeling for a pulse.

Jenny grabbed the phone and shoved it in her pocket before she pulled herself upright, using the railing to do so. She looked over the edge with a shudder before pushing away. “Is she dead?” she asked in a raw voice.

Soledad’s eyes were wide and staring. “Close enough,” he said, not turning to look back at her. “You in one piece?”

“Your concern for my well-being warms my heart,” she snapped.

“Don’t be a baby. Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Then stay put. I’m going to find us a vehicle and we’re getting the hell out of here.”

“And what if she’d managed to shoot me? Would you be taking me with you?”

“Depends on how badly you were injured,” he said callously. “Stay put. There’s at least one more guard roaming around. If you need to throw up then throw up here. I don’t want you wandering around this place—there may be booby traps.”

Jenny immediately swallowed her incipient bile. How did he know her that well? “I’m fine,” she said icily.

“Of course you are. You gonna give me the phone?”

“What do you think?” she replied.

“I can take it from you. If you think you’re going to be smart and throw it over the balcony, then think again. Remember, I know the password. My people found it when you were wandering around the house on Magazine Street, and everything’s been downloaded and decrypted. We can make a case against your brother without it, but it would be a lot more trouble.”