Iris Johansen - Stalemate

"You're being very clear."

"Good. Then understand this. After you convince Armandariz what a cheat and liar you are, I want you to bring the reconstruction and turn it over to me."

"You know Montalvo won't let me do that."

"Then steal it. I don't care how you do it. You're obviously a clever woman. Find a way to give me that skull. I won't let Montalvo use it as evidence against me. I have the skeleton. I must have that skull."

"So that you can throw it back in the swamp?"

"No, I've learned my lesson. This time it will be ashes tossed to the four winds."

"I won't do it. I don't have any proof that you have Joe."

"Oh, I'll give you proof. By the time you reach Montalvo's compound it will be waiting for you." He hung up.

Keep calm. Don't panic. Don't fall apart.

"Quinn?" Montalvo asked quietly.

She nodded jerkily. "Diaz says he has him. That he couldn't speak because he was unconscious."

"It could be a lie."

"That's what I told him." She rubbed her temple. "No proof. He said it would be waiting for me at the compound."

"What did he want for Quinn?"

"Damage control. I'm to tell Armandariz I counterfeited the reconstruction. I'm to turn the skull back over to Diaz so it can't be used as evidence."

"Otherwise Quinn bites it."

"Yes. It could be a lie. Call Miguel and see if he knows anything."

He nodded, reached for his phone, and dialed. After a moment he shook his head. "No answer." He put the phone away. "I'll try a little later. He may be in a place where the sound of a ringing phone might not be safe."

It wasn't the answer she had hoped for. Nothing was going right, she thought desperately. "Hurry. I need to get back to the compound."

"I'm hurrying." Montalvo's foot pressed the accelerator. "It will still take another hour."

It was an hour that was going to seem a century. She gazed blindly out the window. "I'm not sure I want to know what his proof is."

"Yes, you do. You don't hide your head. You'll face it and then we'll find a way to skewer the bastard."

She felt a surge of warmth that banished a little of the chill. It was good not to be alone with fear. "Right. That's exactly what we'll do."

Montalvo got a call when they were just minutes away from the compound. He exploded after listening only a moment. "Shit. No, don't do anything. I'll be right there." He clicked his phone shut. "It was Soldono."

"What's wrong?"

"I think Diaz delivered your proof." The gates of the compound loomed ahead and there were several men milling around outside the gate. "Damn him to hell."

He stomped on the brake and jumped out of the jeep as Soldono came toward him.

"Where?" Montalvo asked harshly.

"Around the corner, the west wall," Soldono said. "I don't know how long-" He broke off as he ran after Montalvo.

Eve jumped out of the car and followed them. She could see the beams of several flashlights as she went around the corner of the compound. They were all focused on the wall several yards away. What the devil were they-

She stopped in her tracks. "Oh, my God."

Miguel.

Horror tore through her. She could dimly hear Montalvo cursing as he reached the wall but everything seemed surreal, lost in the hideous vision before her.

Miguel was nailed to a makeshift cross leaning against the wall of the compound. A leather strap gagged his mouth but his eyes…

Agony.

"Get him down," she said. "He's alive. Look at his eyes."

"I sent them for a ladder," Soldono said. "They should be-Here they are." He stepped aside as Montalvo grabbed the ladder and flew up the rungs.

"Two of you get below him and lift him, take the weight off." Montalvo tore the gag from Miguel's lips. "We'll have you down in a few minutes. You're going to be fine."

"Hurts," Miguel gasped. "Hurts."

"I know," Montalvo said unevenly. "It will stop. I promise."

"I… failed you."

"No, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was. I'll… make it up to you, Colonel."

"Yes, you will. By getting well." He called down, "Did you call Dr. Diego, Soldono?"

"As soon as I phoned you," Soldono said. "He should be here anytime. How else can I help?"

"We've got to get him into the house but I don't want to take those spikes out myself. I don't want to damage his hands any more than they are now. You and a few men get a stretcher and we'll take down the crucifix and carry it and him on the stretcher." He glanced at Eve. "Get a room ready for him. I want him close to me."

"I'll give him Joe's room." Eve turned and flew around the corner and through the front gates. She was glad to have something to do that might jar her from the horror and pity that was surging through her.

Jesus, that poor boy.

Proof.

Rage seared burning through the horror as she remembered Diaz's words. He had sent her this hideous message to frighten her. It was beyond belief that anyone could be this cruel.

He was a monster.

And that monster had Joe.

"How is he?" Eve asked as Montalvo came out of the bedroom. "What did the doctor say?"

"He's going to live. He's lost some blood. He's getting a transfusion now. Soldono is his blood type," Montalvo said. "He's going to need surgery on both hands. I'll send him to a specialist for that. He's lucky that his arms were draped over the cross and bore some of his weight. He is going to be okay. I'll see to it. He has two broken ribs. Diaz had him beaten before they put him on the cross. No internal damage other than that break." His lips tightened. "He told me he was lucky. Diaz assured him that if he hadn't wanted to send you a message he would have killed him."

"And the message is that Diaz has Joe?"

He nodded. "He saw him at the castle. Diaz's men captured him in the woods near the village."

"What about Galen?"

"Galen wasn't with him."

"What?"

"They may have separated and only Quinn was captured. Galen definitely wasn't being held at the castle."

Eve frowned. "Galen wouldn't have left Joe."

Montalvo shrugged. "I can only tell you what Miguel told me."

And what he had said meant her last hope was gone that Diaz was lying about holding Joe prisoner.

"What happened? Why was Miguel captured?"

"Miguel thinks it was an informant. Diaz's men were searching the village."

"This Destando you told me about?"

"You can bet I'm going to be paying him a visit."

"May I see Miguel?"

He nodded. "Not for long. And he may not make much sense. He's under sedation."

"I'm not going to harass him. I want to tell him I'm here for him if he needs me. I guess I'm feeling guilty for my part in sending him into Diaz's territory."

" You're feeling guilty?" he asked bitterly. "None of it was your fault. It was Miguel's fault for disobeying orders and my responsibility for giving him a mission where anything could happen." He added grimly, "And did."

"I was angry. It might have influenced you."

"It didn't influence me. I did what I'd do if any of my men disobeyed an order. If you make a mistake, you correct it."

Hard words. Hard man. And yet that last sentence echoed one of the philosophies that guided her own life. The mirror again. "I don't believe it's that black-and-white for you."

"Hell, no," he said roughly. "And right now, I'd do anything if I'd gone with him to that village."

"Didn't you think he had a better chance alone?"

"That doesn't stop me from remembering him propped against that wall, gagged to keep from screaming." He turned away. "I've got to call a specialist at your Emory University in Atlanta and arrange surgery for Miguel."

"And then?"

"Then I start moving on finding a way to get hold of Diaz and nail him to a cross." He strode down the hall.