Vortex (Cutter Cay) (32 page)

“Bitch.”

“Idiot.”

After a few seconds, Daniela heard the sounds of Angry Birds as Mack played the game on his phone. Mena turned up the radio and came back to finish applying her makeup.

*   *   *

The helicopter landed at a small private airstrip thirty miles outside Lima. “Can we haul ass now?” Logan demanded of Wright, trying to be civil. He felt feral and wild with panic.

They’d been delayed two
hours
. The first chopper had a busted rotor. They’d taken Logan’s into the small town while a second Huey had been flown in from Lima. Then it had to be refueled for the return trip. He, of legendary Cutter calm, was just about jumping out of his skin by the time it was ready and they’d lifted off. He could practically hear the metronome in his head ticking away the seconds.

Fortunately, there were several vehicles waiting for them on the edge of the tarmac, and finally—finally—they were en route to the hotel, where Victor had Daniela.

“There’s a large turnout at the hotel already,” Wright told him. The T-FLAC operative was tuned in to his men on the ground, and had been giving Logan play-by-plays since they’d left the
Sea Wolf
.

“How’s he going to explain her disappearance?”

“The Peruvians have a vested interested in one of their own being kidnapped on Peruvian soil, and her kidnapping and disappearance were sprung on the press only this morning. They’ll have a million questions. The news went out on the wire, so the U.S. press is already here in Peru. As well as news media from all over South America. Stamps is a popular senator, and they were a popular couple.”

“That makes me feel so much fucking better,” Logan said dryly. “The more people, the harder it’ll be to get close enough to protect her.” But the more people, the less likelihood that Stamps would harm her. Logan held on to that. That she’d been “found” locally had everyone clamoring for the story. “And I suppose
I
make the perfect scapegoat.”

“That’s a given.”

Fucking great. Add that she was supposedly engaged to one of the bright stars of American politics, the man many people believed would become president, and people had come to the hotel in droves to see the show.

“We’ll make it with thirty minutes to spare,” Wright assured him. “I know it’s nerve-wracking, but I swear, we’ll get your lady.”

“Unharmed? Will you swear to
that?
Because I’ll settle for nothing less.”

“I hear you. Been in your shoes, and know how you feel, believe me. I get it. If the tables were reversed, I’d be just as pissed. I’d go to any lengths to protect my wife.”

That snagged Logan’s attention. He swiveled to look at the man seated beside him. “You’re
married
?”

Wright shrugged. “Almost ten years. Lily’s the love of my life. Four boys. Nine, seven, and four-year-old twins.”

“And she doesn’t mind your line of work?”

“She’s a busy veterinarian and busier mother; she hardly notices when I’m gone.”

“I doubt th—We’re here,” Logan said with surprise as they pulled up under the portico, then realized Wright had kept him talking for the short trip to distract him.

“Stay cool. My men are already in position. She’s in room seven thirty-four. We go up, you take her, you leave. The senator is on the sidelines in the ballroom, getting ready to make his big announcement. They have a woman with her, and one of his security guys. We’ll clean up the mess. No fuss, no muss. Ready?”

“Hell, yeah. Let’s do it.”

*   *   *

“Shit,” Mena said, sounding impatient, and annoyed. The brush she’d been holding clattered into the box. “I left her engagement ring in the safe in my room.”

The Angry Birds game was silent as Mack responded shortly. “Not my problem. Go get it.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with her.”

Mack’s laugh was as unpleasant as he was. “I’m good, but even I can’t do her in the five seconds it’ll take you to go next door and come back. Get it, then we need to get her changed. Hurry up.”

“Come with me.”

“You’re kidding, right?

“No.”

“Jesus, woman, you’re paranoid.”

“Look who we work for,” Mena said dryly. “Get the lead out.”

Mack turned the game off and there was another clatter as he tossed his phone on the table near Daniela.

Daniela waited until the door closed behind them before opening her eyes.
Gogogogogo!

She managed to lift her head, ignoring the pinwheeling of the room. She tried swinging her legs to the floor. They didn’t move. She screamed
NO!
in her head. Was she able to move her arms? Cold sweat misted her skin as she heard the door open in the next room.

Thank God. She could move her arms. Not wildly, but enough to weakly grip the arms of the chair and try to push herself to her feet. She fell back panting, her pulse racing.
Think, Daniela, think.
She glanced at the toolbox Mena used for her makeup supplies, looking for a weapon within easy reach.

As she visually searched the heavy box, she picked up Mena’s Coke, greedily gulping down half of the cola. It quenched her immediate thirst, and maybe the caffeine would kick in. The can scraped as she slid it back on the table.

Mack’s phone! It lay six inches from her hand. It felt like a mile. It took everything she had to reach that far and retrieve it. It slipped out of her nerveless fingers several times, sounding terrifyingly loud as it clattered onto the tabletop. It took several impossibly long tries to fumble it into her palm, and bring her arm back to her side. She panted from the effort, and her heart threatened to choke her, it was beating so fast.

The metal box was too heavy and too bulky to lift. Inside were brushes and pots of cosmetics. The only thing useful was the airbrush battery pack. But it was too far away.

The door slammed open. Daniela pushed the phone deep between the cushion and upholstered arm of the chair as she forced her breathing to even out.

“… a fact! All I said was
maybe
that was going to happen.”

“He promised
I
could have her.” Mack said petulantly, his footsteps heavy as he crossed the room. The bedsprings creaked as he sat down.

“Jesus, you dickhead! Don’t sit on her clothes, I spent an hour ironing everything just the way the senator likes them.”

They were so busy arguing they didn’t hear the door opening. Or notice the soda and phone were gone.

So far.

Daniela smelled Victor’s distinct cologne from across the room, and figured they wouldn’t notice anything amiss with him present. She hoped.

“We’ll take it up with the senator. I just repeated what I thought I heard—Hello, Senator. We’re just about to get her all dressed and pretty for you.”

“She looks like a whore! Lose the red lipstick.”

Mena instantly started wiping her mouth with a damp makeup remover cloth. “Better. The light lipstick. Nude palettes are what’s in this season.”

“I thought you were sending up someone to get h—”

“I want to be seen walking through the hotel with her,” he said, clearly annoyed by the question. “Has she said anything?”

“No. She hasn’t woken up yet. She’s still out of it.”

Victor grabbed Daniela by the wrist, lifted her arm, and let it fall. She hadn’t been startled by his touch because she always expected to be roughed up when Victor was anywhere near her. “Get the doctor back in here.” His rage climbed several notches. He stormed across the room, came back to the chair. “Now!”

She waited for him to hit her. He didn’t. But he would. It was just a matter of time.

She heard Mack on the hotel phone. “The senator wants you in her room.
Now.
”

“Tell him to bring an antidote. Something to wake her the fuck up.”

Mack repeated the order. The phone clattered. “He’s on his way, boss.”

Daniela reminded herself that Victor didn’t want her drugged again. He wanting her mobile. Thank God.

She had a phone. Not a weapon, but at least contact with the outside world. If she ever had the opportunity to use it.

Mena pulled her still damp T-shirt over her head, and bent Daniela over like a rag doll to unfasten her bra. “If you hand me the bra over there, I’ll get that—”

Mena was going to strip her in front of Mack and Victor and there wasn’t a damn thing Daniela could do about it, so she blocked out the activities and Mena’s grunts. It was apparently completely impossible to dress a deadweight. Aw, wasn’t that a shame?

Mena was doing up the zipper down her back when the door opened. The sheath dress was rucked up her bare thighs until she stood up. Mack was probably leering at her legs and the view of her exposed underwear.

“Wake her up.” Victor told whoever had just walked in, his voice cold and clipped. “You have five minutes to get her moving. Do it.”

“She shouldn’t have been out this long. Did you feed her befor—”

“Just goddamn give her whatever, so I can get the show on the road! I’ve got thirty minutes to airtime, and fifteen to get her downstairs.”

Cold hands straightened her arm.

Eighteen

Damn it to hell.
“They’re taking her down early,” Logan observed tightly, speaking quietly into the lip mic supplied by Wright.

He fingered the hotel room door open another quarter of an inch, observing Daniela and Stamps’s entourage as they came toward him. Stamps had one arm around her waist, his hand splayed possessively on her hip. He was practically supporting her entire weight down the carpeted hallway, headed to the elevators and the room where Logan was situated.

What the hell had they done to her? Her gorgeous dark hair had been dyed a pale blond. She looked like a different woman. She tripped on her high heels, her ankle twisting until her foot nearly rolled beneath her. Logan winced but bit his tongue. Jesus, that had to hurt, but she didn’t make a peep.

Something was wrong. Daniela was either too terrified to make a sound or had been drugged to the gills. Either one fucking pissed him off. Stamps tightened his hold, saying something close to her face that made her stiffen. Logan’s finger tightened on the butt of the gun in the small of his back.

“Easy, Cutter. Easy.” Wright said in his ear.

Logan’s hand gripped the doorjamb. She was surrounded by a phalanx of armed men just like those he’d encountered on the
Sea Wolf
. They were heavyweight security. In such a confined space, it would be impossible to grab Daniela without the possibility of her getting hurt … or, if Stamps was in the mood, killed.

He knew he had to be patient a few minutes more, but seeing her in such terror, being so close and yet unable to swoop in and grab her away from Stamps, made his blood run cold.

Two middle-aged couples exited the elevator, chatting as they approached the large group. Stamps bent to whisper something else against Daniela’s glossy hair. She nodded. Don’t talk to them, he guessed, because she didn’t even make eye contact as the couples squeezed past the men all dressed in dark business suits. No one who didn’t have cataracts would ever think these were businessmen. It was obvious they were all carrying, and their muscles made them look like caricatures of bodyguards. The couples hurried by, all tittering whispers and stolen looks. Victor gave them a slight smile and nod of his head. The two women’s eyes widened.

She was only five feet away now, her expression distant, eyes slightly unfocused. Drugs. Rage surged through him anew.

He’d never seen her in a dress and heels. She looked stunning, elegant, and as lifeless as a doll. The cream-colored dress fit her curves like a glove, and the butter-soft black leather jacket looked both timeless and hip. Gold glinted at her ears and a diamond flashed on her finger. Her right hand was firmly tucked in her pocket, her body language clear. Anything to have a barrier between herself and the senator.

I’m right here, sweetheart.
Logan willed her to feel his presence just feet away.

Wright’s men were in various rooms on either side of the hallway on the way to the elevator. Every exit was being monitored, every floor, every stairwell, the elevator. The rest of his men were covering the ballroom on the mezzanine floor, where the press had been gathering for the last hour.

Two of Wright’s men had been riding the elevator for the last twenty minutes. There was nowhere now that Daniela could go that Wright’s men wouldn’t be with her. After what had transpired on the
Sea Wolf,
Logan was supposed to be satisfied with that? He wasn’t. Not by a long shot. He wanted her back on
Sea Wolf.
In his cabin. In his bed. In his arms.

He just had to be patient.

Something he’d always excelled at and never considered a trial. Until now.

He’d failed her.
Again.
The knowledge was bitter on his tongue and agony in his heart.

The group waited for the elevator. The door opened, giving Logan a glimpse of two men inside. Wright’s men. Daniela stepped into the car, the doors slid closed. Wrenching open the hotel room door, Logan raced toward the
salida
sign and the stairs, Wright and his men close on his heels.

They hauled ass, seven flights at a dead run.

*   *   *

Whatever the second shot was, it had done the opposite of making her flat and floppy. Now Daniela was wired for sound, and ready to rumba. Neither boded well for her continued good health.

She, Victor, Mena, Mack, and four of Victor’s bodyguards were in a room behind the ballroom, waiting for Patti Reed, Victor’s longtime publicist.

“I have to use the bathroom,” Daniela told Victor listlessly as he made a circuit around the small space. Energy radiated from him as he held her by his side as if she might bolt. He was a psychopathic asshole, not stupid. By the way his lips were twitching and the focused look in his eyes, she knew he was rehearsing his speech silently to himself. He hated being interrupted when he was concentrating.
Too bad.