Jungle Inferno (14 page)

They never left the room for three days, opening the door only for room service and clean towels. They made love in ways that Faith hadn’t even dreamed possible. Their bodies, as if aware that time was short, never seemed to tire. They bathed each other in the huge marble tub and made slow love in the warm, fragrant water. They learned every nook and crevice of each other’s bodies. Ecstasy was the constant peak against which they hurled themselves.

It wasn’t all sex. They talked. About the past. The present. But they carefully avoided any mention of the future. For these three days that was a forbidden topic.

When Mark drove her to the airport Monday morning and put her on her plane, her heart squeezed so painfully she was sure it would stop beating. But she managed a bright smile for him, even if her kiss was filled with desperation.

Her comfort was knowing that no matter what separated them, their minds would always communicate. She’d just have to pray that three years passed quickly.

* * * * *

Tidbit!

The scream woke her sharply, dragging her from the warmth of the dream wrapped around her. Pain knifed her heart at the tortured sound.

I’m right here.

She waited through an interminable silence before his voiced broke through again.

Holding on but…much longer…

No, no. Don’t give up. I’m working on this.

Love you…

Her heart turned over. The word they’d never dared speaking, knowing time was their enemy.

I love you too, Mark. And I’ll get you out of there. Hold on. Just a little longer.

She waited for his voice again but instead sensed a heavy, evil presence. Whoever was intercepting and blocking was doing it again. Could he tell who Mark was telepathing to? The thought sent shivers of terror along her spine.

Don’t say my name, Mark
. She prayed the message would carry without the other man realizing it.

She looked at the clock. Almost seven in the morning. Still early times to call Walter Reed but she’d hardly slept and she was too edgy to wait. She shoved her feet into her disreputable fuzzy slippers and, not even bothering to pull on a robe, hurried downstairs, started the coffee and found the sheets Andy had printed out the night before.

One hour later she slammed the telephone down in frustration. All her pleading and cajoling hadn’t gotten her past the frosty switchboard operator at Walter Reed. If she wasn’t a relative, she got nothing. Not even an acknowledgement Joey Latrobe was there. She’d tried lying through her teeth, pretending to be his sister but apparently they could check his records and knew he didn’t have one. She asked for his doctor and got nowhere with that. After trying every trick she could think of, she finally called Andy and rousted him out of bed.

“Jesus, Faith, have a heart,” he griped. “You kept me up half the night and I’ve got a big meeting this morning. What now?”

“Can you please just jump on the super duper computer of yours one more time for me and look something up?”

“Can’t this wait?” he complained.

“No, it can’t,” she snapped. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her voice. “I just need one thing, okay?”

“All right, all right,” he grumbled. “What is it?”

“I need to know if Joey Latrobe has any family. I know he doesn’t have a sister but—”

“Tried that already, did you?”

She could almost see his grin, despite his irritation. “Just shut up and click those keys.”

She heard the snicking sound of the keyboard as he did his thing. Then, “Okay. Got it. I’m emailing it to you right now but delete it ASAP. Okay?”

“Of course. Send it on over.”

The email arrived in less than a minute and Faith printed it out. No sister, just as they’d said. And both parents dead, killed in a plane crash when Joey was twenty-one.

But he had an older brother, Eric, a Special Ops sniper like his brother but out of the service now for two years. He was a partner in a company in Maryland called Phoenix.

No description of what the company did or anything else about it. Just a telephone number.

She was pouring her coffee when the phone rang, the sound making her jump.

“No, I don’t have time to research Phoenix for you right now,” Andy said, reading her mind. “I’ll call you this afternoon when I’m finished. If you haven’t gotten any farther by then I’ll get to work on it. But it may be tough.” Faith wrinkled her forehead. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”

“I have no idea but I couldn’t get into it with my usual programs. They’ve got firewalls around firewalls. All right, gotta go. Stay out of trouble, please?”

“I’ll try.”

So. Joey’s older brother was still doing something off the radar. Okay, she’d try her usual line first and see if that worked. She dialed the number but after four rings it clicked over to an answering machine.

“You’ve reached Phoenix. Leave a message and we’ll get back to you.”

“This is Faith Wilding. I’m looking for Eric Latrobe. I’m a writer and he was referred to me as a possible resource for a book I’m working on. Please call me back as soon as you can.”

She left her number and hung up. She needed to call Senator Trey Winslow, who’d been a great resource for her in two of her books. He’d also introduced her to a number of other people who had opened doors for her when she needed them. Now she’d ask for his help once more but as carefully as she could. She didn’t want to give away her real purpose until she had to. And she’d have to do it in person. Strangely enough, for a senator, Trey didn’t do well with phone calls.

But it was too early to reach him so she booted up her computer and checked to see if she could get on the early flight to Washington. Which left, she realized looking at the screen, in two hours. She snagged one of the few remaining seats, printed out her boarding pass and called a cab. She’d call for hotel reservations from the plane.

She called the number for Phoenix again and added her cell phone number to the previous message, indicating that she planned to be in Washington and on the move.

She wasn’t sure what to do after that if no one called her back.

When the cab arrived she was showered, dressed and waiting with her suitcase and her laptop, the printouts from Andy stuffed in the laptop bag along with her PDA and cell phone. She didn’t draw a full breath until she was on the plane, buckled in and ready for takeoff.

Halfway to Dulles International, she swiped her credit card to use the plane’s telephone and called Senator Trey Winslow.

“Faith!” His voice boomed over the long-distance connection. “Good to hear from you. How’s the new book coming?”

“Well, actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” His voice carried a mixture of caution and enthusiasm.

“I’m actually doing something a little different this time.” She cleared her throat.

“I’m planning to be in Washington this afternoon and wondered if you could spare me a few minutes.”

“You know I always have time for you. But how about drinks? At five? I have meetings on the Hill until four thirty today and I can’t sneak out.” He chuckled. “Too many reporters, you know.”

“Five will be fine. Someplace where we can talk without a lot of interruptions.”

“Like that, huh?” He was silent for a moment. “How about coming out to the house? Georgia is good about making herself scarce. I can send the driver for you.” She’d meet him in the middle of the Potomac if it meant he could help her. “That sounds great. I’ll call your office as soon as I get in and let you know where I’m staying.”

“See you this evening.”

Next, hotel reservations. For special appearances she always splurged and stayed at the famed Willard but this time she wanted to blend in with tourists. Luckily the Grand Hyatt had rooms available. Once that was confirmed, she sat back in her seat and tried to collect herself. She’d get nothing done if she couldn’t get her mind to function in a disciplined manner.

And she made a mental note to do one more thing after she landed. Call Aunt Vivi and see what she could do to counteract the energy of whoever in the terrorist group was a telepath.

* * * * *

Dan Romeo snapped the cell phone shut and stared at Rick. “Who the hell is Faith Wilding?”

Rick shrugged. “Haven’t got a clue.”

“What does she mean, someone told her you might be a good resource? Resource for what? If she’s calling you Eric she can’t be too connected to you.” Rick threw up his hands. “I’m telling you, I don’t know. The only people who ever called me Eric were my parents, my teacher and sometimes my CO, when he wasn’t referring to me as ‘you arrogant asshole’.”

Mike poured himself a glass of juice. They were almost ready to leave the cabin.

Dan’s brother was waiting outside with the helicopter, ready to lift off as soon as they were all on board. They were running a tight schedule and didn’t have time for distractions and possible monkey wrenches.

“Maybe she’s someone from the people who are behind this whole thing. Could be she’s trying to scope us out and find out if we’re involved, especially after Rick showed up at the hospital.”

“Maybe.” Dan locked his briefcase. “We’ll have to keep a sharp lookout. Otherwise, put her on the back burner until we get Joey out of harm’s way. Then we can check her out.”

“I don’t like this,” Troy said. “We’ve got Joey to handle and our source to protect.

We don’t need some strange woman popping up out of the woodwork to screw everything up.”

“No, we don’t.” Mike swallowed the rest of the juice and rinsed his glass. “But we have no choice at this point. Too late to make major changes. Or postpone this little adventure. And we can’t leave her hanging out there as unfinished business. She’s too much of an unexpected wild card.”

“All right.” Dan headed for the door. “Lock and load, gentlemen.”

* * * * *

Faith’s plane landed on time and she hurried through the terminal to where the cabs waited. She checked her messages again. Nothing from Phoenix. Damn! She tried the number again, leaving yet another message for them. That was all she could do right now. She’d left a message for Tia and would call her when she got to the hotel.

Meanwhile she could only pray she’d be able to do what was necessary before it was too late.

They’d outfitted the van in record time. Ed Romeo had barely set the copter down before the men were out and at work. They drove quickly but carefully to Bethesda, knowing they were racing the clock but not wanting any traffic stop to screw up the operation.

Troy and Mike continued to work on the equipment in the back of the van as they drove. By the time they pulled into the parking lot at Walter Reed Hospital, Troy gave them the okay and told them they were ready.

Dan pulled the van to the side of the ambulance doors, parked it and left the engine running. “Time check, everyone. I have eleven forty-five.”

“Got it.”

“Set.”

“We’re good.”

“All right, then.” Dan looked at each of the men. “Get to it.” Rick was the first out, walking around to the front entrance and into the hospital.

They gave him time to get up to Joey’s room and send his buddy on his way.

Troy and Mike exited the van next, as unassumingly as possible. Dressed in scrubs, with Troy carrying a clipboard, they slipped into the stream of people entering the emergency room doors, careful to pick a large enough group to blend in.

The ER was in its usual chaotic state. The waiting area was jammed, the overflow standing or sitting on the floor. Hospital personnel and visitors moved in every direction, gurneys rolled past them, voices called back and forth with questions and instructions. The confusion made it easy for the two men to ease their way through, appropriate an empty gurney without being stopped and move down the hallway. Troy punched the button for the elevator and indicated Mike should move ahead with his task.

D’Antoni headed for the stairs. Rick had relayed a comment he’d overheard Joey’s doctor make about never taking the elevator down to the cafeteria because he ate at noon, the busiest time of the day and he couldn’t waste the time waiting. D’Antoni stationed himself at the landing between the first and second floors and waited. The doctor would be along any minute.

When Troy walked into Joey’s room, pushing the gurney, Rick was sitting in the chair beside his brother’s bed. He nodded at Troy, eyes asking a question with his eyes.

Troy blinked once. All set.

A nurse was just taking Joey’s vitals. She looked at Troy with raised eyebrows.

“Orders for an MRI,” he said, showing her the clipboard with the papers Dan had prepared.

“I’ll have to check with his doctor,” she told him.

Rick stood up, an imposing presence in the room. “If the doctor ordered the test, why do you have to check with him?”

“This is a special case—”

“And I’m telling you my orders say the doc wants this done ASAP,” Troy interrupted. “And I want to eat my lunch. Just let me get him out of here.” The nurse frowned. “He has to be unhooked from the monitors. I just don’t know…”

“Mary?” Another nurse bustled into the room. “I need you stat. We have a problem with the patient in 247.”

Mary looked at Troy, who did his best to look both irritated and bored, then back at the other nurse. “All right. I’m coming.” To Troy she said, “Just wait right here. Don’t do anything until I get back.”

She had barely hurried out of the room when Mike hustled in.

“Doc’s out of commission. How are we coming?”

“That damn nurse is giving me a hard time,” Rick told him. “We need to move Joey before she gets back.”

“Done.”

Troy made quick work of disconnecting the machines. He and Mike moved Joey to the gurney, clamped his IV bag into the holder.

“I’ll go get the elevator,” Rick said. “We don’t want to have to wait out there in the open.”

Troy watched from the door and at Rick’s signal checked to make sure the nurse was still out of sight, then he and Mike moved the gurney out of the room. Rick was right. The noon hour was the best time for something like this. In addition to nurses everywhere dispensing medications and attending to patients’ needs, lunch was being served and people were moving in all directions. No one gave them a second glance.