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Cal moved and gave Lauren a warning look and then turned to the doctor. “As I told you, I am Sky’s fiancé. We work for a U.S. security contractor based out of Washington D.C. that is coordinating Sky’s rescue. We are here to find her and rescue her from her kidnappers, Dr. Zapata. We’ve been working nearly a month to locate Sky.” He tried to keep his voice calm and firm, but damn, his heart was twisting in his chest. A part of him soared with the joy that Sky was pregnant. Pushing back on the gnawing ache growing in his chest, Cal focused on the upset doctor. “We need to know more about where this Don Tobar has her held.”
“Dios,” Allegra whispered, rubbing her brow. She looked up at the man. “Then, you must know what happened yesterday morning,” and she told them everything about Don Tobar’s unexpectedly coming to her office and threatening her.
Cal sat down, listening. The sonofabitch now knew Sky was pregnant. With HIS child. And Alexandrov was going to force Zapata to abort his baby. He could barely sit still to listen to her entire story. When Allegra told them about Tobar kidnapping her oldest daughter, Belicia, to prove he could do it, Cal became grim. By the time the doctor finished, she had tears in her eyes she was dabbing away with a tissue.
“I-I’m terrified,” Allegra whispered to them. “My daughters…Dios…they are MY life! And if I don’t do what Don Tobar wants, he will take them away from me.” Her voice cracked. “Forever!” Allegra gave them a desperate look. “Can YOU stop this from happening? Are you WORKING with the Costa Ricanpolicia?”
Cal sat down, his mind moving at the speed of light. “We can help you, Doctor. We have connections with the police in your country.” He saw her face fall with relief. “This Don Tobar is a wanted man by U.S. authorities. He’s kidnapped my fiancee. And we’re tasked with getting her back, safely, to U.S. soil.”
“T-then, what can I do to help you?” Allegra asked tearfully. “I’ve NEVER had anything like this happen to me before.”
Cal held on to his emotions. Rage churned through him. So did revenge. He wanted to kill Alexandrov himself. “Did Sky know she was pregnant?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Allegra sniffed, blotting her cheeks. “My nurse took her complete medical history. She had many bouts of not having her periods for months in her life because of the stress due to the type of flying she did. And she vomits when she is threatened.”
“She was an Army helicopter pilot,” Cal provided. “And Sky had told me she wouldn’t have a period for months at a time because of the constant stress and danger.” Never mind she was a black ops pilot, but Cal wasn’t going there. The less the doctor knew, the better.
“Yes, she said stress stopped her period. When you’re less than two months along, many women have no idea they are yet.”
Cal grimaced. “All right, Doctor, here’s what I suggest: cancel the rest of your appointments for today. We have a lot of work to do, and you need to tell us exactly where this La Paloma villa is situated.”
“Don Tobar!”
Yerik jerked his head up. He was in the den, reading a newspaper. His lead soldier, Oleg, came running in. His blue eyes were wide with shock. “What is it?” he demanded irritably.
“Sky Lambert has escaped!”
“What?” Alexandrov roared, leaping to his feet.
“The sensor alarms down by the falcon meadow just went off!”
Cursing in Russian, Alexandrov ran toward his soldier. “You know what to do! Send out a team! You head it up!” He grabbed the thickly muscled soldier by his arm. “Do NOT harm her! Be gentle with her! Find her, bring her back here! Take her to the basement interrogation room.”
“Yes, sir,” Oleg murmured, spinning around and running down the hall, talking into the radio unit he had clipped on the shoulder of his dark green cammo shirt.
Yerik breathed hard, cursing again. He hurried out to the patio and then ran down the path to the falconry area. Down there, he saw five soldiers amassing with rifles in hand and pistols on their hip. The two men who took care of the falconry area and fed his raptors, were gesturing excitedly toward the jungle behind the mews.
He cursed as he ran to where the group was huddled. He glared at the falconers, but said nothing, listening to what they had to say. One of them saw Sky in a dark green tee, carrying a small black canvas bag over her shoulder, and saw her slip into the jungle. It was he who had called in the initial alarm. Yerik had sensors out for half a mile in all directions around his estate. They would warn him of any incoming intruders. Or, in this case, the sensors would alert and pinpoint exactly where Sky was located. He was angry at her. What the hell! Yerik had badly miscalculated. She seemed compliant. She seemed to accept that she was his prisoner. Despite the fragility of her appearance, she had escaped! Angry at himself because he’d downplayed her military background, her ability to escape, he wanted to wrap his fingers around her slender throat and choke her until she passed out. The little bitch!
Oleg quickly got his five men fanning out into the jungle. Yerik knew he could do no good here. He headed over to his security control room, where he would watch the situation with the two soldiers manning the monitors. The sensors would report her activity, one after another. It was like an invisible string of breadcrumbs that would lead his men directly to where Sky was located. The jungle was fairly easy to traverse, and the alarm had gone out almost as soon as his man saw her run away. Turning, Yerik smiled grimly. Once they caught her, he would have his way with Sky. She’d disobeyed him. She’d flaunted her ability to escape. Now, she was going to pay the price.
Sky tripped and fell. Her go bag that contained her food and other items went flying out of her hand. She landed hard on her belly. She’d tripped over a partially hidden root beneath wet leaves on the floor of the jungle. Breathing hard, her heart pounding, Sky scrambled upward, fueled by adrenaline. Had anyone seen her escape? Had the man who fed the raptors seen her slip into the edge of the jungle? Sweat stood out on her face as she leaned down, grabbing her go bag. Everywhere around her were trees of varying sizes and heights. The floor of the jungle was littered with leaves that had fallen, exposing some roots, and hiding others.
She had to get out of here! All she wanted, all she needed, was Cal. Her sense of direction was nil, surrounded in all directions by the hilly jungle. Pulling out her compass, Sky pushed forward after pocketing it. She desperately needed to intersect a dirt road… anything… to escape. The land sloped downward, and she jogged forward, trying to keep her balance. To run hard would defeat her purpose. Sky knew from SERE training that the smartest way to travel was a constant jog. Her legs stretched, long and cadenced, as she moved down the hill. Up ahead, she could see another swell, topped with trees. In the distance, she could hear howler monkeys, their screeching muted by the surrounding jungle.
Just as she reached the area between the two hills, Sky skidded to a halt. She recognized Oleg standing off to her left. As she turned to the right to run, she saw Pyotr and Vadim. These were Yerik’s best soldiers. And they stood there, panting hard and grinning triumphantly at her. Sky realized with a sinking feeling, terror filling her, that she’d been caught.
Yerik waited patiently in his office. He drummed his fingers on his desk. Oleg opened the door. His face was beaded with sweat, his uniform darkened with splotches of perspiration.
“We’ve put her in the interrogation room.”
“Her condition?”
“We flex cuffed her once we located her, and she came back without a fight. She’s tired.”
“Did you give her water?”
“Yes, as you instructed.”
