Chapter Two

Before Rory suspected what the woman intended, Nina Hernandez hurled herself at him with everything she had. Her shoulder slamming into his gut caught him completely off guard. Considering she was in a straitjacket, her incredible speed was a remarkable feat. The full-on impact left him breathless.

He stumbled back, taking her with him.

Her reckless charge supplied the advantage she needed. She used it brutally—her head came up, hard, and the back of her skull collided with his nose. A blinding shot of pain made the world around him spin. She stepped back, he realized dizzily…one pace…two? Blood spurted down, filled his mouth with a coppery tang.

Too late, he saw one delicately shaped foot come at him. Three quick taps and his leg buckled, then failed entirely. Unable to keep his balance, he fell back against the wall. His mind reeling, he landed ignominiously on his butt.

He blinked at the dangling light bulb overhead, tried to bring the world back into focus. He could see very little through the blur of pain, but a noisy rattle and shout from the other side of the door announced help was on the way.

A flash of gray in the corner of his eye warned him. Remembering his training at last, he dodged in the nick of time. Her knee smashed into the padded wall where his head had been.

“Nina!” roared Buddy.

Rory’s attacker flinched. She snarled like a cornered animal and started to back away from the advancing orderly.

“You stay away from me!” she warned in that broken, heavily accented voice of hers. She kept backing up, just barely escaping Buddy’s flailing arms.

“Stay away!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you before I let you touch me again, bastardo!” The woman dodged this way and that before resorting to more desperate measures, going into full attack mode.

Still somewhat dazed, Rory used this moment to watch and learn. What he witnessed was significant.

The patient, enveloped by the orderly’s thick arms, twisted furiously within her captor’s fast grip. She braced her bare feet against the wall and pushed off. It was a movement designed to escape such a hold and proved effective.

Though obviously experienced in handling difficult patients, Buddy staggered under the onslaught.

Taking advantage of the momentary lapse, she heaved, slamming the back of her head against the orderly’s massive chin. His eyes crossing, Buddy loosed his hold. Freed, she didn’t bother to run—as any normal crazy person would have done. No, she came back in from the side and jabbed her right knee into Buddy’s left kidney. The debilitating blow sent the orderly to his knees.

Rory had to admire her proficiency. Her attack was, in fact, magnificent. He had heard stories about her skill, but it was something else entirely to witness it firsthand.

She didn’t stop there. Using her knee again, she rammed it against Buddy’s unprotected temple. The orderly fell to the floor with a reverberating thud.

Rory heard her mutter something in Spanish. It meant—if his interpretation was correct—that Buddy wasn’t going to stick it anywhere, anytime soon. Going full out, she then kicked him in the groin, clearly aiming for irreparable damage.

Rory winced involuntarily at Buddy’s broken falsetto scream. A satisfied smirk crossed the patient’s face.

Behind her, two orderlies came storming into the room and tackled her to the floor. She shrieked and thrashed, refusing to go down without a fight even now, facing inevitable defeat. Within seconds, the overpowering might of her two retainers proved too much, and she was forced into submission.

Facedown, writhing futilely, she was injected with what Rory assumed was a sedative. The needle was slammed into her thigh with more force than he thought necessary.

Nina Hernandez’s tortured eyes locked with his. The utter hopelessness he saw there, the intense hatred toward anyone who had caused her pain, hit him unexpectedly hard. The violence, combined with her desperation, deeply affected him, made him want to sweep her up into his arms and protect her against everything and everyone.

“I warned you about this, Agent O’Donnell,” accused Dr. Lopez from the doorway.

Rory cut him a look. He didn’t bother to point out that she hadn’t freaked out until she had caught the creepy psychiatrist spying on them. Instead, he watched Nina continue her valiant struggle. But she was losing the battle against the chemicals racing through her system. They rapidly destroyed the last vestiges of her resistance.

Roughly, she was dragged to the door.

“I warned you too, Nina,” the doctor continued, addressing her now limp figure. “I warned you to behave. Now we’ll have to resume your treatment. Bring her to room number four and prepare her for half an hour of shock therapy. I’ll be right there.”

Her heartbreaking scream rang through the corridors long after they dragged her away. It cut into Rory like a knife. Still, he forced himself to remain in place, fought the protective instinct that would have him come to her rescue right this instant.

Later. It would have to be later.

Nursing his bleeding nose, his left leg still virtually useless, he focused his thoughts with grim resolve. In his mind, he began to formulate the woman’s liberation from this vile place. He hadn’t confirmed her identity yet, but no one deserved such treatment—crazy or not. At this point, he was determined to get her out. And if she turned out to be someone else entirely…well, fuck it.

Slumped against the padded wall, he watched the shrink kneel beside Buddy’s still squirming form, blandly telling him that help was on the way. Rory couldn’t detect actual concern in the shrink’s demeanor. More than anything, he seemed interested in what damage his patient had managed to inflict.

Rory didn’t try to reason with Lopez about the treatment he threatened Nina with. He had no illusions—the man wasn’t going to be swayed no matter what.

Three hospital attendants entered the cell to help both Buddy and him to the infirmary.

As soon as he could move on his own again, he would contact Admiral Creighton, the man who’d been responsible for Rory’s shot at redemption. Like him, Creighton had very personal reasons for wanting to find the child-soldiers who had once belonged to the Rising Sun sect. Morgan McCabe had brought them together specifically for this mission. Creighton had the vast resources Rory needed to do what he did best—track down people who did not want to be found.

Right now, he was 90 percent sure he had found Nina Hernandez, the first of four missing former child-soldiers he’d been hired to locate.

And getting her out of this hellhole had just become top priority.