Unmasking the Mercenary (22 page)

“Tell me who you work for.”

“I’m an independent contractor.”

“Who hired you?”

She didn’t answer.

“Were you sent to find my son?” he asked. “Me?”

“No.”

“Why were you in Monrovia?”

“My interest was with Habib Maalouf.”

“And Rem D’Evereux? How do you know him?”

“He was watching Habib, too.”

“He was watching my son.” His voice rose in anger. “And now my son is dead.”

She carefully remained silent.

“How well do you know him?”

Why was he asking such a question? He must have recognized her confusion because a slight smile curved the corners of his mouth.

“Not well enough, it would seem,” he said.

“I know him enough to know he didn’t deserve to lose his sister the way he did.”

“What has he told you about that? He killed my cousin? Stopped a drug deal between Dane Charter and my son?” He chuckled. “It’s true, for the most part, but I am sure he left out the most important details.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Dane Charter stole the drugs from Ammar, and Rem took them from Dane. They did not see things equally, you see. Rem knew that Ammar would pay him handsomely for the return of his drugs and was only too eager to oblige.”

“Impossible. Ammar killed his sister. Why would Rem want anything from him but his life?”

“Ammar did not kill his sister. Dane did.”

Haley had to subdue the need to sharply inhale. It couldn’t be true.

“Ah.” Farid nodded with a sickly smile. “So, Rem did not tell you everything.”

“What wouldn’t he want to tell me?” She tried to appear unaffected, but really she dreaded what he was about to reveal.

“Rem doesn’t want anyone to know his association with me and my son. It’s the real reason he wants us both dead. Your government is investigating him. They suspect his connection to us. He has everyone fooled into believing it was Ammar who killed his sister, probably to point the finger of guilt away from him.”

“You’re lying.” Odie would have known about the investigation. “Ammar killed Rem’s sister.” He was too emotional over it for it not to be true. He had a powerful thirst for revenge, and it was focused on Farid and Ammar, not Dane. But Dane was dead….

Farid said nothing.

“Why did Ammar kill Dane?” she asked.

“It was what Rem requested in exchange for the return of the drugs.”

Rem wanted someone else to kill his sister’s murderer?

Something was strange about Farid’s story. “What about your cousin?”

“My cousin is another matter. Rem could have made amends for his interference had he done all I asked of him.”

“You wanted more from him?”

“He could have worked off his debt to me. When he refused, I threatened to reveal the truth about him to the right people. That is when he began his campaign against me. Had he not taken my diamonds, this would all be over by now. Rem would be dead, and my diamonds on their way to Antwerp.” He sighed. “But as I said, that is a separate issue.”

If Farid’s claim about the drugs were true, Rem had completed a drug deal with terrorists, but he’d done it to get his sister’s murderer killed. She didn’t know what to think about that. Rem had discovered Dane was dealing drugs and intervened. That intervention had gotten his sister killed. But one thing didn’t add up. Instead of completing a drug deal for terrorists, why hadn’t he just killed Dane himself? Money? Or was there something else? Something Farid wasn’t saying?

“He wouldn’t have done it without a good reason,” she said.

“Done what? Give me back my drugs? What reason would he need? I paid him a lot of money. Ammar took care of everything.”

She could only stare at him while questions popped in her head. She didn’t want to believe that she had been so wrong about Rem. Was there something she was missing? Could she afford to hope?

Farid’s mouth curved into a wicked grin. “I am pleased you did not know this until now. You’ve captured his heart and that will serve me well. When he comes for you, I will kill him.”

“Then you’ll never find your diamonds.”

Farid chuckled. “If he does not bring me my diamonds, then it will be you who will die. Your misguided infidel will not let that happen. He will bring me the diamonds.” His contemptuous gaze took in her body from her thighs to her breasts. “His weakness for you will ensure this.”

It was true. Not the weakness part, but Rem would come for her, and Farid intended to use that to his favor. Rem would know he was running into a trap, but he would come anyway. One man against many. He’d never make it. He’d be killed before he got anywhere near her. And Cullen’s team wouldn’t make it in time to help.

She tried to keep her breathing steady, but anxiety made it difficult. Rem would be killed and she would be left at the mercy of these men. The similarities to Iraq swarmed her.

She had to get out of here.

Stepping back, she looked at the other two men. They stood on each side of the open door.

Without second-guessing it, she bolted. She made it to the door before one of them grabbed her arm. She yanked it free and ran into the hall. Someone gripped a handful of her hair. The force of the pull sent her flying backward. She lost her balance and fell.

The dark-skinned man hauled her to her feet and bent her arm high behind her back, making her grimace. She stumbled back into the room as he pushed her. The toothless man stopped in the doorway, blocking any escape.

The dark-skinned man pushed her again and she landed against Farid. Anger crowded his brow. He pushed her back a step and slapped her. Her head turned to one side. She ignored the sting and swung her hand, catching him by surprise when she hit him back.

His eyes widened before his anger grew stormy, the crease above his long nose deepening, his mouth pressing tighter. He raised a fisted hand and swung to hit her. She blocked the attempt with her arm and slammed the palm of her hand against his ugly nose. Blood sprouted there.

He shouted something in his language. The dark-skinned man and his toothless partner were beside her in an instant, taking hold of her arms. She wrestled to be free of their grasps as images from her time in captivity slammed her. Farid hit her, punched her face so hard she saw white spots dotting her vision. Like when the Iraqi men hit her with their rifles. If the dark-skinned man and his partner weren’t holding her, she would have toppled over.

Farid hit her midsection next. She couldn’t breathe. He slapped her face.

Ripping clothes. The air on her bare skin. Two men looming. One of them reaching for her pants. Her kick. The rifle smashing against her head.

Breathing through the haze of apprehension, memory mixing with the sight of Farid as he leaned close.

“I do not need you alive for Rem to come for you,” he growled.

She stared at his hateful face.

“Do not try my patience.”

Recovering from the memories threatening to come into full light, she spat in his face. “You’re going to kill me anyway, so why don’t you just do it now?”

He wiped dripping blood from his nose. “Do not be so eager to bring about your demise. You tempt me to do as you ask.”

With a long, penetrating stare, he moved around her and left the room. The other two men left after him and the deadbolt slid into place, leaving her in silence once again.

Farid wasn’t going to kill her until he had Rem. Did that mean he wasn’t sure he could? Did he wonder if Rem might succeed in freeing her? Had he been certain, he would have killed her already.

She hoped Farid was right. She hoped Rem would succeed in freeing her. Moving to a chair beside the single bed, she sat there and fought the memories. When they kept coming, she lowered her head into the palms of her hands.

Rem slammed his gun into the back of the guard’s head. The guard slumped to the ground, unconscious. Rem looked up one direction along the iron fence to the other. No one moved through the darkness. He figured he had about fifteen minutes before the guard patrolling the perimeter fence would be missed.

Running across the grounds toward the sprawling ranch house, he searched for movement. He saw none as he reached the side of the house. Raising his gun, he stepped sideways along the building. He peered into a darkened window. The blinds were closed. Making it to the corner, he continued down the side of the house, using the shrubbery as cover as he reached the back. Trees and plants surrounded a curving pool. Lights illuminated the water and patio. An armed guard strolled across the stone, looking across the pool and scanning the grounds. Rem ducked behind a shrub as his gaze reached him. He peeked out a few seconds later.

The guard had turned his back and headed the other direction on the patio. Rem slid a knife from the holster strapped to his calf under the hem of his pant leg. Rushing to the back of the man, he made quick work of slicing his throat. Pulling the body into the shadows, Rem leaned his back against the wall beside the sliding glass door.

After a careful glance through the glass, he pushed the door open just enough to slip through. Closing the door again, he moved quietly through a tiled sitting area.

He didn’t hear any sounds. Quiet was good. Hearing Haley scream would probably bring him to his knees.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, he proceeded forward. A hallway opened to two doors that he could see. There were probably more.

Muffled voices reached him. Now he heard the elevated sound of a female’s voice, hissing something he couldn’t decipher. It was quickly followed by a crash. Rem ran.

At the door, he checked the knob. Unlocked. He turned it and then pushed it open with his foot. As the door banged against the adjacent wall, he charged in, ready to fire at anything that wasn’t Haley. He saw her in his peripheral vision, struggling with a dark-haired man. He swung her around, using her as a shield.

Another man appeared to his left. Rem swung his weapon the same instant the other man fired his own. The bullet grazed his arm. He felt it slice through the material of his shirt. It didn’t matter. The man was dead now, a hole in his forehead from Rem’s bullet.

Rem faced Haley and her struggle with the dark-haired man. He stepped closer, watching her free herself from the man’s grip and turn toward him. She blocked his fist and knocked his gun from his hand.

Rem fired his own gun. The man collapsed forward, pushing Haley off balance. But she quickly regained it and jumped out of the way as the man’s body fell to the floor.

Rem stepped before her and cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her quick and hard.

“Rem,” she whispered fervently, sending emotion spreading from his brain like shards of wild electricity. She threw her arms around him for a hug.

“We have to get out of here,” he said, gently pushing her back.

She removed her arms from him and nodded.

Taking her hand, he led her out of the room and down the hall. No one intercepted them in the house. Rem led Haley outside. Two men emerged from the cover of shrubs on each side of the sliding glass door. He stopped and took as many steps backward as he dared, hoping to get Haley in a position to take cover inside.

Another man appeared, striding toward them slowly. Rem saw the smile on Farid’s face and felt rage swell and churn in him.

He almost reacted defensively when he felt Haley’s slender hand pull the extra pistol from the back of his pants. It made his resulting smile a lot different than Farid’s. She stuck the gun under his left arm.

Enough of a hint for him. He went for the guy on the right and let her take Farid. She fired at the same time. Rem watched the man who caused the gruesome death of his sister slump to the concrete floor of the patio and felt…nothing.

After everything, he’d at least expect to feel relief, maybe even satisfaction. But nothing resembling those emotions rose in him. It was like another job. And it was over.

Something about Haley’s behavior was bothering him. After arranging travel to Buenos Aires, Rem had gotten them out of South America, but in all that time, she’d barely spoken to him. And her body language seemed stiffer than usual.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked. He’d asked her a couple of times before now, too, and the answer was always the same.

She turned from looking out the darkened plane window as they taxied toward their gate. “Yes.”

It was too blasé. Just like the other times he’d asked.

“You don’t seem to be.”

“I’m fine.”

“Did something happen at Farid’s ranch? Did any of them hurt you?”

“No, not the way you’re thinking.”

“What’s wrong then?”

He could see her hesitation. She didn’t want to tell him. Foreboding crept through him.

“I remember,” she said.

It took him by surprise. He felt his brain catch up. And then he understood.

She remembered Iraq.

“Haley…” He didn’t want her to torment herself with reliving it more than she already had.

“No,” she stopped him. “It’s okay.”

He studied her. In her eyes he saw she meant it. In fact, she seemed more than okay with it. Which only convinced him that something else was wrong. Something else had made her withdraw into her thoughts. What he wanted to know was why she wasn’t saying anything about it. Because he had a feeling it was about him.

“After we were attacked,” she began, “after everyone else was killed except me, there were three Iraqis left.”

“One was angrier than the others.” Now she got a faraway look in her eyes and he knew she wasn’t as unaffected as he thought. “He used his AK-47 to beat me. I fought him. And I managed to loosen the weapon from his hands. I turned it on him and shot.” She paused. “I killed him, but that angered his friends. The two of them together were too hard to fight. They both beat me, with their guns, with their fists. I couldn’t…I just…I couldn’t fight them.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” he said, taking her hand.

She only shook her head, telling him she needed this. She needed to say it.

He clamped down on his protective instincts and let her go on.

“I…remember them ripping my clothes. That was after they hit me many times. My head was so foggy. I was dizzy. And sick to my stomach. And in pain. The pain in my head was excruciating. I was barely aware by then.”