Kara Lennox – Bounty Hunter Honor (страница 4)

“He’s bound to drop some kind of clue,” Nadia said. “And if he doesn’t, you can follow whoever picks up the package after I make the drop.”

“If you aren’t planning to give Peter what he wants, what will you put in the package?”

“Something that will look real enough that it will fool him for at least a while. He’ll have the contents verified, but it will take some time. We have to find her before he discovers the truth.”

“We’ll do the best we can.”

She searched his eyes, hoping to find reassurance there. But his expression was grim. “You’re thinking he might have already hurt her.”

“We have to consider all possibilities.”

Nadia’s eyes swam with tears. She did not want to hear this, yet she knew Rex spoke the truth. Peter was not honorable. He was a spy, a traitor to a country that had given him a chance, offered him sanctuary, embraced him as one of its own. He had no reason to keep Lily alive or deliver her unharmed, even if she gave him the Petro-Nano.

“I’m not trying to scare you,” Rex said. “I’m just making sure you understand the terrible position we’re in. He has all the cards. We have to find a way to upset the balance of power. And the first thing, I think, is to force him to open two-way communications.”

“But I have no way of forcing him to do anything,” Nadia said, calming down. Rex’s commanding presence was almost comforting, despite the fact he was big and powerful and a little bit scary. Her experience with Peter had taught her just how much pain a man could inflict on a small woman like her. And Rex was taller, larger, undoubtedly stronger than Peter.

“We will find a way.”

“Does that mean you’re taking me on as a client?”

He looked slightly bemused. “I’m sure talking like that’s the case.”

Chapter Two

It wasn’t the fanciest of plans, Nadia thought as she sat in the food court at Forest Ridge Mall, but Peter had left them few options. Nadia was frankly terrified of what would happen when Peter discovered she wasn’t playing by his rules. But she’d put her fate in Rex Bettencourt’s hands, and she’d agreed to let him make the decisions.

That didn’t mean she was comfortable with the plan.

She had arrived at the time Peter had specified, wearing a red windbreaker over a red T-shirt. But she carried a small, hand-lettered sign that read, Must See Lily or No Deal. She had some leverage—she had something Peter wanted. The sooner she exerted her power, Rex had said, the better. And she should use that power to ensure her daughter was alive and well, which was their number-one priority.

Nadia tried not to look at Rex, who’d arrived at the food court a full hour ahead of her. He sat a few tables away, sipping a soft drink and talking to Gavin Schuyler, another bounty hunter. Rex had pulled a team together with amazing speed, and each of the other team members accepted their roles without question. Rex and Gavin would keep their eyes open for anything unusual. Peter, or one of his agents, had to be nearby to visually verify Nadia’s presence.

Out in the parking lot, Beau Maddox was watching Nadia’s Volvo. It had occurred to Rex that Peter, wanting to avoid phone calls or personal contact, might leave a communiqué on or near her car while she was safely inside the mall.

Back at the office, Lori, Rex’s sister, was running through every possible avenue of computer research to locate Peter. She was also monitoring Nadia’s cell phone. Nadia had privately wondered about Lori’s qualifications, but Rex had assured her that in addition to being a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, Lori was a skilled hacker. If anyone could trace a call or turn up an e-trail for their suspect, Lori could.

Now they had to wait, and hope that Peter made a slip.

When Nadia’s cell phone rang, she nearly upset her untouched soft drink. She fumbled with the phone, glancing to see whether Rex had noticed. He had. Though his gaze was never directly on her for more than half a second, she knew he was watching her.

“Hello?”

“You are in no position to make demands, sweetheart.”

Inwardly shaking, Nadia gave a casual hand signal, indicating to Rex that she had Peter on the line. The call was being recorded via a device hidden inside her jacket.

“Oh, yes, I am,” Nadia said. Everything inside her yearned to beg and grovel for Peter to return her child. But Rex had told her specifically not to do that. She had to pretend she was in perfect control. “I will give you what you want. But not without complete assurance that I will get Lily back safe and sound. Let me talk with her.”

“You can talk with her after you—”

“No,” she said sharply. “Once you deliver proof that Lily is safe, I will listen to your next demand. Not before.” Then, though it was the hardest thing she’d ever done, she hung up. She knew she had to prove to Peter she was serious.

A few feet away, Rex was shocked that their power play had produced results so quickly. Peter Danilov must be desperate for whatever Nadia had. He might even be here at the mall himself.

The Forest Ridge Mall had three levels. The food court was on the bottom; the other two levels looked down upon it. Rex had guessed that Peter had chosen this location so he or a coconspirator could observe from a high perch. Rex scanned the people near the railings above him.

“There,” said Gavin, pointing with his eyes. “Two o’clock to you. A blond guy in a black shirt, talking on a cell phone. His body language says he’s angry.”

Rex saw him. He could have been Peter Danilov, but Nadia had only been able to provide a grainy, outdated photo of her ex-husband. He had apparently taken all photos with him when they’d divorced, anticipating something like this. Lori was currently tracking down other photos—his employee ID picture, from when he’d worked at JanCo as a low-level lab tech, or his mug shot from when he’d been arrested for assaulting Nadia. But they hadn’t arrived yet.

“Let’s go,” Rex said. Their plan was to follow a suspect, if they found one, which was one of the reasons Rex had brought Gavin with him. Two people could tail someone easier than one could, and with less chance of being spotted.

He didn’t like leaving Nadia unprotected, but she’d been instructed to remain exactly where she was until she received a prearranged signal from him or someone on the team to return to her car.

As Rex and Gavin rode the escalator up to the second level where their suspect was, Rex spoke into his walkie-talkie headset, which resembled a cell phone accessory. “Beau, you copy?”

“I’m here.”

“Any action around the car?”

“Nope.”

Rex tamped down his irritation at Beau’s less-than-military lingo on the walkie-talkie. Beau was an ex-cop, the emphasis being on ex. He didn’t care for anything that smacked of rules and regulations, including radio codes. But no one could argue with Beau’s results. He got the job done, and Rex couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather have at his back.

“We’ve made a visual ID of a suspect. I’ll need your help tailing him once he exits the mall. Blond guy in a black T-shirt, about six feet, one-eighty pounds—”

“Hold on,” Gavin interrupted.

As they reached the second level, their suspect turned around and smiled as a redheaded girl about ten years old approached him. They hugged, and Rex could see the relief evident in his face. “I told you to wait for me at the bookstore,” he scolded. “You scared me to death.”

Gavin and Rex looked at each other. No wonder the man had been agitated on the phone—he’d lost his daughter. They could also both see, now that they’d gotten a good look at the man, that he was closer to fifty than forty—way too old to be Peter.

“Hell,” Rex muttered. He spoke into the walkie-talkie again. “Cancel the previous. Wrong guy.”

Rex headed for the down escalator, which descended through a forest of carefully sculpted trees still sporting their Christmas lights, though it was January. He peered through the trees, searching for Nadia’s red jacket, feeling inexplicably anxious about having left her vulnerable, even for a couple of minutes.

Moments later, he realized his anxiety was perfectly well placed. Nadia was gone.

“Where’d she go?” Gavin asked, sounding as bewildered as Rex felt.

“Damn it!” He scanned the crowd for any sign of a red shirt and a curly mop of black hair.

“Maybe she went to the bathroom,” Gavin said uncertainly.

“She wouldn’t. I made myself pretty clear, didn’t I? That she wasn’t to move from that table? If she did, she must have had a good reason.”

“You hardly know her,” Gavin argued. “For her, maybe a call of nature is a good reason.”

But Rex felt he did know her. Technically they’d met only four hours ago. But he’d seen that haunted look in the eyes of other women, other mothers who feared they would never see their children again. He might not know exactly how Nadia felt, but he understood how a woman in her situation thought. And she wouldn’t take an unnecessary risk.

Had she been lured here for a kidnapping? But if that had been her ex-husband’s goal, why stage it here in a crowd? Why not a more remote location?

“Hey, is that her?” Gavin asked, pointing to a speck of red far down the mall concourse.