No One to Trust - Iris Johansen [9]
“It’s all been a rough ride. But it’s almost over.…” She leaned her head back. “Go straight ahead. Turn right at the next fork in the road.”
Blood.
Chavez squatted and touched the spattering of dark red on the floor of the pharmacy. Elena’s blood.
She was hurt and trying to heal herself. Like an animal on the run, she was seeking a place to hide.
No, if that had been the case, she would have hidden in the hills near Belim. There was a reason why she had pressed forward. She had a purpose, a goal.
And he knew what that goal was.
He stood up and turned to Gomez. “Spread out. Cover every town and village in the area. Someone must have seen her. She’s hurt and she’s moving too fast to be cautious. She may be trying to reach Dominic. If you can’t locate her, try to find him.” He smiled as he looked down at the blood on his fingertips. First blood, Elena. “No excuses. I want her found within the next twenty-four hours.”
The headlights skewering the black road ahead were wavering, darkening, and blurring.
Don’t faint, Elena told herself. Hold on. Only a little longer. After all these years, only a few miles more. The huge palm tree … “Turn left here.”
“I thought you’d left us,” Galen said as he made the turn. “You’re sure you don’t want—”
“Be quiet.” She couldn’t cope with him right now. From the moment she had opened her eyes and looked at Galen, she knew he was a man to be reckoned with. God, she wished Forbes hadn’t brought him. She only hoped that he wasn’t on the take. Forbes trusted him, but that didn’t mean she could afford to. When she’d realized she had to leave, she waited months before choosing Forbes. She had investigated, asked questions, listened to every story about him. She now knew that he was a solid and honest man and suspected that he had his own thread of desperation. She knew about desperation. She had lived with it for years.
Galen was not a desperate man. He was hard and tough and glittered with a mirrorlike surface. He would be difficult to fathom and more difficult to handle.
Maybe she wouldn’t have to do either, she thought wearily. Let him get them out and then she’d be through with him. “The next right.”
“This place is hidden well enough,” Forbes said. “But the road curves like a snake around the side of this mountain. Will we be able to get a helicopter in, Galen?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
The house.
Her heart leaped in her breast as the headlights gleamed on the glass of the windows. “Here. Stop here.”
Galen stopped the jeep a hundred yards from the small adobe house.
“Wait here.” She started to get out of the jeep. “I’ll be right—”
“I don’t think so.” The muzzle of Galen’s .45 pistol was suddenly pressed to her temple. “Let’s wait and see if anything unpleasant happens.”
“Nothing’s going to happen.” Her voice was shaking. “And you’re going to have to shoot me to keep me from going into that house. I’ve waited too long—”
“Elena?” A man was standing in the doorway of the house, his hand shading his eyes from the glare of the headlights. “I was worried. I expected you days ago.”
“I had a few problems.” She gave Galen a cold glance as she got out of the car and walked toward the man. “They’re not over.”
“You’re here. We’ll take care of the rest.” He enfolded her in his arms and gave her a hug before looking beyond her to the jeep. “They’re safe?”
She nodded. “DEA. They’re going to get us out of here.” She turned to Forbes. “You can get out of the jeep. No one is going to hurt you. This is Father Dominic.”
“A priest?” Galen got out of the driver’s seat.
“Yes.”
“No,” Dominic said at the same time.
“Among other things,” Elena said. “He’s also a teacher. He takes good care of the people in these hills.”
“How do you do?” Dominic said to Galen and Forbes. “My name is Dominic Sanders.”
“Is everything all right?” Elena asked him.
He smiled. “Fine.” He turned and headed for