Tess Gerritsen - Double Impact

“It’s the woman, isn’t it?”

Ron’s question brought Michal up short.

He didn’t hide the surprise in his expression quickly enough. “I knew it was you,” Ron went on. He pushed off from the stone wall, allowing a slash of sunlight to fall over his profile. “When the woman was discovered alive and well and then came up missing, I knew.” He turned to Michal. “You know that her existence jeopardizes this mission. She could ruin everything.”

A muscle ticked in Michal’s tightly clenched jaw.

Ron glanced first right then left, noting the children racing after the goat that had escaped their watch. “My CIA contact says she has no memory of any of the events from two years ago.” His gaze locked with Michal’s once more. “The risk that she might remember is far too great. You must take the proper steps.”

Michal inclined his head, his barely banked fury no doubt blazing in his eyes. “And if I choose otherwise, what will you do? Kill me?” He smirked. “I think not.”

Enough talk. Michal turned away. There was nothing more to say…not even to the man who was his only friend, the only soul on earth he could trust. He walked away.

“Michal.”

Though he hesitated, he did not turn around to face the other man.

“What happened two years ago was a necessary risk. This is not. You know what has to be done.”

The warning fell on deaf ears.

Whether Amira lived or died was Michal’s decision.

His alone.

“I’D LIKE TO TAKE a walk.”

Ami stared into the cold, beady eyes of the man named Carlos and prayed he would not deny her request. Michal had allowed her to go outside for short periods each day for the past three. Since he’d been gone all morning she could see no reason one of the other men couldn’t do the same. She just hadn’t expected to find Carlos outside the door of the bedroom turned prison. Why did it have to be his turn to watch her?

His glare turned more venomous but, to her credit, she held her ground. She knew he, more so than any of the others, despised her. As with all else related to her current situation, she had no idea why. She only knew that she had to find a way to escape. Nothing else mattered.

“Go back into the room. I have no time or desire to bother with a whore such as you.”

Fear raced up her spine, but she held herself rigid against it. “I am allowed to take a walk. Michal said so,” she argued, working hard to keep her voice from quavering. “I want to do it now.”

Carlos made a dismissive sound and turned away from her. He folded his arms over his chest and propped against the wall next to her door as if that were the end of the subject.

She had to do this. Michal was gone. This might be her only chance to get outside without him watching her every move. “Fine.” She swallowed back the terror rising in her throat. “I’ll just ask one of the other men to accompany me.”

When he didn’t respond, she focused her gaze on the end of the hall where it opened into the massive great room and started in that direction. Her heart thudded so hard against her rib cage she could scarcely take a breath. One foot in front of the other, she reminded her sluggish brain. She was almost there and Carlos hadn’t demanded that she stop. As she came to the entryway leading into the great room she could see three men lounged around the room. One had been nicer to her than the others. Kolin, she was pretty sure. Kolin from Ireland. It seemed that Michal Arad’s band of terrorists were multinational.

Not merely a ragtag group of multinational terrorists. These men are highly trained, the cream of the crop. Their ruthlessness is rivaled only by their superior intelligence and innate instincts. No one has been able to stop them.

Ami jerked to a halt as the words crashed into her thoughts, shattering all else. She blinked. Where had she heard those words before? The voice sounded vaguely familiar. She frowned, concentrating with all her might.

Tanner.

His voice. Had he said those words to her in the nurses’ lounge when he’d tried to warn her about all this craziness? Why hadn’t she listened? Uncertainty turned the hardwood floor beneath her feet to mire. How could she hope to escape?

Suddenly aware that all eyes in the room were on her, Ami jerked her attention back to the matter at hand. She sucked in a bolstering breath and manufactured a shaky smile. “Kolin.” She looked directly at the only man who had shown a glimmer of kindness toward her. “I’d like to take a walk now. Would you mind-”

The rest of the words trapped in her throat when someone grabbed a handful of her hair, snapping her head back. Carlos, she realized, terror claiming her all over again. He jerked her against him and pressed his face close to hers. “You disobeyed me,” he snarled. “No one disobeys me.”

“I-I just wanted-”

“Shut up!” He tightened his fist in her hair. “When I’m finished with your punishment you won’t forget to obey me again.”

She cried out as he jerked her backward, toward the bedroom that was her prison. Begging for help would be pointless. None of the other men would dare defy Carlos. He was the second in command.

“Carlos, please…I…”

He shoved her into the room. For one second she prayed he would slam the door and leave her be. The next second she knew that was not going to happen. He slammed the door behind him and moved toward her like the evil predator he was.

Fear sent her stumbling backward. Her heart stuttered to a halt in her chest as the fury in his eyes turned to a sinister gleam. Her throat closed in fear. He was…

He slapped her hard, knocking her off her feet.

“You may have Michal fooled,” he bellowed, “but I know what you’re up to.” Her jerked her to her feet when she tried to scramble away from him. “You’ve come back to finish the job you started two years ago.” He pounded his chest with his free hand. “I know this. I am not blinded by your whorish temptation.”

She tried to claw his fingers away as they closed around her throat. The coppery tang of blood leeched from her lip into her mouth. “Stop,” she whimpered, his punishing grip very nearly overpowering her ability to speak. She tried to knee him in the groin, but he twisted away from her feeble effort. He slammed her against the nearest wall and jabbed the barrel of his weapon into her temple.

“Who sent you here?” he demanded, his face only inches from hers, the stale smell of whiskey on his breath.

She tried to shake her head. To deny his accusations. But his brute strength pinned her helplessly to the wall.

The barrel of the weapon bore more deeply into her skull. “You will tell me or you will die.”

“Laissez-la partir.”

Though she didn’t understand the words, the stone-cold voice belonged to Michal.

“I said, let her go,” Michal repeated.

Relief flooded Ami, making her legs so weak beneath her that she collapsed to the floor the instant Carlos released her. Her chest ached with the harsh banging of her heart.

Carlos turned on Michal. “She makes you weak,” he accused, the pitch of his voice rising to match his fury.

Ami cradled her bruised throat with her hands, gasping to fill her lungs more fully with life-giving air, but her gaze was locked on the two men squaring off only a few feet away. Carlos still held his gun in his hand. Michal stared him down, his own hands empty but clenched into hard fists at his sides.

“Your orders are only to see that she does not escape,” he said firmly.

Carlos waved his gun at her. Ami gasped and curled into herself protectively. “She makes a fool of you, my friend. She was sent here to destroy us…just like before.”

Michal’s dark gaze remained steady on Carlos, his composure never faltered. “That is for me to decide. You-” he moved a step closer to Carlos “-will never touch her again. Is that understood?”