One Rough Man - Brad Taylor [69]
41
Jennifer jumped when she heard gunfire erupt in the bungalow. She pressed herself up against the wall, her mind racing. The room had gone quiet, and she realized she didn’t know what to do if Pike never called. He could be dead. Maybe there’s a bad guy about to come out. No way are they getting their hands on me again. She was on the verge of racing across the courtyard when Pike called her in, telling her not to look at the floor. Relief flooded through her. She entered, seeing a man dressed in black sprawled on the floor in the foyer, his arms splayed out as if he was about to be crucified. She saw Pike crouching next to a door up ahead, his weapon at the ready. She wasted no time running up behind him and giving his shoulder a squeeze. She watched him splinter the door open with a kick, then disappear. She heard no gunfire. After a pause, she heard him say, “Someone’s living in this room, and I don’t think it was the guy I killed in the foyer. Check out the closet and luggage and see if you can find something to wear.”
Jennifer entered and went straight to the closet. She began going through the luggage, finding men’s clothing. She pulled out a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Digging deeper, she found a Quran, heavily worn and thumbed through, but didn’t find any shoes. She moved to a box in the corner of the room, finding some kind of gas mask and a Genie garage door opener, just like the one she’d grown up with. She held them up, saying, “Pike, what do you think these are for?”
Pike turned from the door and said, “I don’t know. Did you find some clothes?”
“I found a top and bottom, but no shoes.” She dropped the gear back into the box, moving to the other piece of luggage. Digging through it, she didn’t see any shoes. Nearing the bottom, inside a pocket on the side, she found two passports. She flashed quickly to her uncle, but both had pictures of the same stranger.
“Pike, what’s going on here? Two passports for the same guy. One’s from Saudi Arabia and the other’s from the U.S. for some guy named Carlos. The picture’s the same in both. What do you suppose these are for?”
Pike blew out the air in his cheeks. “I really don’t know, and our time’s running out. Please keep looking.”
Jennifer dropped the passports and moved into the bathroom. Here she discovered a pair of ratty leather sandals, four sizes too big for her. She tried them on and found they would just about stay on her feet.
“Okay, I found something, but I’d probably be better off wrapping my feet in newspaper.”
“Good enough. It’s time to go. After you dress, we’re going out the same way I came in, through the woods down to the Jeep. We’ll be moving fast. If you have any trouble keeping up, say something. Otherwise, I’ll assume you’re good to go. Any questions?”
Jennifer paused, then said, “Yeah, actually, I do. Why don’t we steal one of their vehicles right here instead of running through the jungle? They’ve got a bunch of Suburbans in the warehouse where you found me.”
“That sounds like a plan. Do you know exactly where they are?”
“Yeah. Head back to the place where you found me, but go into the door on the end of the warehouse. I saw the vehicles when they dragged me through there.”
“Okay. Get dressed. When you’re ready, we’ll go.”
I covered the outside of the room, waiting on her to put on the clothes. I was running contingencies through my mind when it dawned on me that I hadn’t done a single thing to find her uncle, the only reason we’d come down here in the first place.
“Jennifer—I’ve been in just about every room on this compound looking for you. I didn’t see any indication of your uncle.”
I felt sure the uncle was dead and didn’t want to spend a single second hunting for him. I looked her in the eyes, knowing if she wanted to search, I’d do it. Please, don’t ask. We need to leave.