Safe house, Gray’s Farm Main Road, Hawksbill Bay, 1:14 a.m.
“Here she comes,” Cade said.
“Will you calm down?” Stone replied. He swept his hair back and flopped onto the couch. “I’m telling you, she’s good.”
“Good?” Cade barked. “Good at what?”
Stone shook his head. “Man. I wasn’t even talking about that. I mean she’s good to go. She can take care of herself.” He pointed at Cade. “You need to get that shit under control. We’ve got a man missing.”
“I know Kyle’s missing!” Cade yelled.
As Jana walked across the crushed coral driveway, Stone jumped up. “Don’t bark at me! She can take care of herself. I’ve seen it. Hell, I trained her. She can almost kick my ass. And another thing. She and I had something good going. And if you have a problem with that—”
They both turned and saw Jana in the open doorway.
“What’s all this?” she said. Her voice was hoarse.
Both men looked down.
Jana said, “And I thought this was going to be awkward.”
“Sorry, babe,” Stone said. “It’s not important.”
Cade stepped toward her. “Do you know who that was with Rojas tonight?”
“The man that pulled him outside? No.”
“His name is Gustavo Moreno. He works intelligence for Rojas.”
Jana let the thought play forward. “It was bound to happen. There’s no way my background was going to go unnoticed.”
“How did you leave things with Rojas?” Stone asked.
“He invited me to his villa.”
“Yeah,” Cade said. “I bet he did.”
“Cade. For God’s sake. I’m not going to sleep with him.”
Cade shuffled his feet and muttered just under his breath, “At least that’s one person you’re not going to sleep with.”
“What was that?” she blurted.
“Nothing,” Cade replied.
“What time?” Stone said.
“Lunch.” She glared at Cade. “If I play this right, he’s going to trust me.”
“How are you going to get him to do that?” Cade said.
“I can take care of myself, you know? I don’t need you to come to the rescue.”
He walked to her. “Let you handle it? Got it under control?” He reached down and pulled up her hand. “Then why is your hand shaking? The PTSD isn’t gone. It never left you, did it?”
She yanked the arm back. “Stay out of my business.”
Cade said, “On this op, your business is my business. What you know, I know. What you hear, I hear. I’m in charge.”
“You’re in charge, huh? I don’t work for the government anymore. And I don’t work for you. I’m doing this on my own.”
Cade’s voice rose. “Kyle MacKerron is a CIA agent and this is a government operation.”
Jana said, “If this is a government operation,” the word spat out like spoiled vinegar, “where is the government to save him? You can’t even convince people he’s missing!” She started to pace. “You’ve got no support. There should be spec-ops teams crawling this island. The president should be on the phone threatening the Antiguan government. There should be a half dozen F-18s streaking over the interior ministry, just to scare the shit out of them!”
“I told you we had no support when we started this!” Cade yelled back.
Stone jumped between them. “Let’s everybody just calm down. We’re on the same team here. And all this bickering isn’t going to get us closer to finding Kyle.”
“I’m going in,” she blurted. “I’m going all the way in, with or without support. Kyle is alive.” The vibration in her hand intensified and she turned away from Cade. “I have no choice.” The periphery of Jana’s vision began to blur and her breathing became erratic. “I can handle myself, Cade.” She walked into the first bedroom and shut the door behind her. She planted her hands onto the dresser and leaned closer to the mirror. A cold heat flushed across her face and, for just a moment, her knees weakened. She exhaled hard and shut her eyes. But the harder she tried to purge the terrors pinging her psyche, the brighter the terrors became.
She pictured herself back at the cabin, tied to the wooden chair. Rafael leaned over her, the knife in his hand. Come on, Jana. Get a grip on it. Don’t let it pull you down. But further down she tumbled. Rafael cracked her face with the back of his hand and she tasted salty wetness in her mouth. Stop it. Stop thinking about it. Think back to the fort. Everything will be okay if you can just get to the fort. She crushed her eyes closed and thought back to her childhood, to the little path in the woods. She pictured the tall pines, the bright sun gleaming between the branches, and the sight of the ramshackle fort. With Rafael and the cabin fading into the background, in her mind’s eye she walked toward the tangled mass of vines and sticks that made up the fort’s door and tried to conjure the ever-present smell of fresh earth, jasmine, and pine needles. She took a deep breath. She was in. She was safe. And nothing could hurt her in the fort.
She opened her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair and makeup were disheveled, her eyes, weary but not defeated. She stood tall. “Rafael is dead. I killed that son of a bitch. He got what he deserved and he’s not going to hurt me anymore.”