Casa de la Rosa, Cuba
Alec figured Jensen knew how this was going to play out.
All the CIA officer’s talk about bringing Erin out of Cuba and letting Military Intelligence handle the possible threat had been just words. He’d known Erin would refuse to leave under the circumstances, and he’d sent Alec in to help her.
When he got back to Miami, Alec was going to have a little chat with the man. For now, though, he would have to concentrate on keeping them both alive.
“Any ideas on how we’re going to get into this cabin?” he asked.
“We’re going to walk through the front door,” she said.
“Really?” This was going to be good. “I thought there was a security system.”
She grinned and opened her bag just enough for him to see the flash of metal inside. “There is. But I know just the person who’s going to disarm it for us.”
Erin had then outlined her plan, and he had to admit, it wasn’t altogether a bad one. Of course, there were only about a dozen ways it could go wrong and end up getting them both dead. But heck, what was the fun of going after the bad guys if there wasn’t a risk or two? At least, now that Erin had made the decision to go in, that’s how she seemed to see it. Alec, on the other hand, would have preferred something a lot less dangerous with more chances of success.
Now he stood with his back pressed against the rotting wood of an old barn, hoping he was in the right spot. Erin claimed it had been converted into an office where she’d find Jean Taylor. Then Erin had told him how to circle around through the woods and come up behind this building. After which, she’d headed directly back into camp. All he had to do was wait to hear her voice on the other side of the wall. And be ready.
As the screen door snapped shut, he tensed.
“I see you’re feeling better,” came an unfamiliar female voice from inside the building. It had to be Jean Taylor.
“Much.” It was Erin, and he breathed a little easier.
“So have you come to say good-bye? I must admit I hate to see you go. You’ve kept things hopping around here.”
“Well, I think they’re about to get even livelier.”
There was a slight gasp, and Alec imagined the unwieldy revolver in Erin’s hand. “What are you doing with that gun?”
“Stand up and walk to the back storage room,” Erin said. “And I suggest you do it quietly. If you make a sound, I have nothing to lose by pulling this trigger.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” There was definite indignance and defiance in the voice.
“Don’t underestimate me, Jean.” Erin’s voice was cold, hard, and Alec wondered how anyone could question her resolve. “I will kill you. You won’t be my first. Now, get up and move toward the back room.”
“The back room?”
“We’re going out the window.”
“Let’s talk about this, Erin.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. Now move.”
He heard the scrape of a chair on wood, then the shuffle of feet coming closer.
“Out the window,” Erin said.
“What? Are you crazy?”
“It’s not hard. I’ve done it twice already without the helping hands you’ll get from the other side.”
“You’re going to reopen that bullet wound,” Jean said, still defiant.
Alec frowned, wondering what Jean meant. Erin hadn’t said anything about being shot.
“Don’t worry about me,” Erin said. “Out the window.”
A moment later, Jean Taylor swung her legs over the edge.
Alec grabbed her and lowered her down, his hand sliding to her mouth. “Don’t get any ideas about making noise,” he said into her ear. “Your silence is the only thing keeping you alive.”
A moment later Erin was beside them, a flash of pain in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, scanning Erin for blood or other signs of an injury. “What was she talking about? Have you been shot?”
“It’s nothing,” Erin said, dismissing him.
“Just a bullet wound,” Jean Taylor said to Alec. “Someone tried to kill her.” Then turning to Erin, she added, “Too bad they failed.”
“Shut up, Jean.”
“Erin . . .” Alec started.
“It’s a flesh wound, and I’m fine.” Erin shoved the gun against the other woman’s spine and pushed her toward the woods. “Come on, let’s get going.”
After scrambling through the underbrush for a few minutes, they found a path leading through the trees. Erin kept Jean moving quickly, one hand gripping the woman’s arm while another pressed the gun to her side. Alec followed, keeping his ears and eyes open for sounds of pursuit.
The cabin itself was unimpressive, roughly made and small. Maybe this was about money, and it was drugs they were dealing with after all. He could only hope.
Jean crossed her arms, eyeing Erin with obvious disdain. “Now what?”
“You’re going to get us inside,” Erin answered.
“Whatever for? You going to steal drugs from DFL?”
“Just open the door,” Erin commanded, pressing the .38 a little harder into Jean’s side. “Unless you want to know what it feels like to have a bullet rip through your waist.”
Jean shrugged, and then entered a code on the keypad that opened the door. They all three stepped through, Alec closing the door behind them.
Inside, however, the building was even more disappointing. There were boxes stacked in neat rows, all labeled as medical equipment and supplies with DFL’s logo.
“I told you,” Jean said. “There’s nothing here.”
“There has to be something.” Erin’s eyes swept the room. “Look around, Alec. See what you can find.”
He began his search, though he didn’t know what exactly he was looking for. Maybe just some evidence of illegal drugs or contraband. Anything to explain Helton’s and Jean Taylor’s presence in this backwater part of Cuba. Then Alec spotted the scuff marks on the floor, heavy and consistent. Walking back to the front door, he followed them through the maze of boxes.
“What is it?” Erin asked.
“Wait a minute,” he said, dropping to the floor. After brushing aside a small box, he found what he’d been looking for: a handle and cord embedded into the wood.
He pulled on it and the panel slid open easily, revealing a staircase beneath.
“Voila,” he said, meeting Erin’s grin. “Looks like we found our cache.”
“Come on,” she said, shoving Jean toward the stairs.
“You don’t know who you’re messing with.” Jean’s voice held fear for the first time. “They’ll kill you for this.”
Erin sighed. “I’ve heard that before.”
Down the stairs, it was like stepping into another world.
In front of them spread a large, ultramodern lab equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. Only this lab was no coke kitchen. He’d seen one like it once before—at the CDC in Atlanta.
It had all the elements of a P3 bio lab. Large freezers and nitrogen tanks lined the walls. There were showers and changing rooms with gowns, hoods, respirators, and protective clothing on hooks. And in the center was a biosafety cabinet. Whoever worked in this lab wasn’t dealing drugs; they were working with dangerous organisms.
“Oh my God,” Erin said. “Until now I didn’t believe. I thought we’d find drugs.” She turned angry eyes on Jean. Then, in a movement so quick Alec didn’t see it coming, she slammed the other woman against a wall. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Jean laughed, a high-pitched, hysterical sound that sent shivers of dread down Alec’s spine. “I’ve already done it,” she said. “I’m finished. You’re too late.”
Erin pressed Jean harder into the wall, the Colt shoved beneath her chin. “Talk to me.”
“Or what? Are you going to pull that trigger?” Jean shook her head. “I don’t think so. Back at the camp, maybe, but here . . .” She grinned. “I’m the only one who can help you. And that hope alone will keep me alive.”
Alec wasn’t so sure. He saw the flash of fury in Erin’s eyes and thought this must have been the way she looked last year, when she’d put a knife in the man who’d abducted her seven-year-old sister.
Grabbing her arm, Alec said, “It’s not worth it, Erin. Let her go.”
For a second, he didn’t think she’d heard him. Then slowly, very slowly, she eased off. “Find something we can use to tie her up.”
Alec paused, still unsure what Erin had planned for Jean Taylor. Then he moved off, looking for rope of some kind. He didn’t find any, but he returned a few minutes later with a phone cord.
“This will work,” he said, pulling Jean’s arms behind her. “There’s a hallway with a bunch of rooms past that door.” He nodded toward the far end of the lab. “We can lock her in one of them while we look around.”
With Jean tied up behind locked doors, Alec took a deep breath. There was a warren of tunnels beyond the lab, carved into the ground. It would take days to explore them all. Days they didn’t have.
“I want to take a look at this place,” Erin said. “Maybe I can find something that will tell us either what happened to Joe or what she’s created here.”
Alec knew he couldn’t stop her, though neither of them was qualified to effectively evaluate this site and its contents.
“Okay,” he said. “But I don’t think we should stay long. We need to get back and bring in reinforcements.”
She nodded, obviously realizing herself that there was nothing much more they could do. “Okay. Give me ten minutes.”
“I’ll stay here and watch the stairs.”
She handed him the gun. “Be careful.”