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Kenna jumped back and clipped the table with her hip but managed to keep from falling.
Smoke filled the air. Flames licked at the debris of the pool house, sparks jumping to nearby bushes.
Navarro was on the ground, blinking.You weren’t ready for that.
Kenna rushed past him into the house. Two men stood inside the door. She ducked to the right, down the hallway, and tried to find a landline phone. Or someone’s discarded cell.
Someone yelled behind her.
She grabbed the first door handle and ducked inside. The room was lined with bookcases interrupted by what looked like a shrine—but was probably an altar given the tall candles and the photos she didn’t have time to stop and look at.
There was a desk at the far end. Velvet chairs she would have enjoyed curling up in and falling asleep if she weren’t completely filthy. Kenna snatched the phone from its base on the desk and listened for a second.
Dial tone. She hammered in the number Maizie had given her and listened to it ring.
Another explosion rocked the building.
The American military guys were going all out in their quest for vengeance. Did they realize what had been stolen? She had no idea what it might be. For all she knew it could have been a person, or a ton of product. She didn’t care what their squabble was over. This was her shot to call for help.
But no one answered the phone.
She heard a small whimper. Kenna gripped the phone and rounded the desk, stretching the cord with her so she could look underneath while she listened to it continue to ring.
The child who had run inside crouched under the desk, holding his knees to his chest. Tears ran down his face.
She held up the fingers of her free hand. “Okay.”
The call connected, and a man said, “Ken—”
Stairns.
It cut off.
Kenna whirled around.
Navarro stood on the other side of the desk, one finger on the receiver holding it down. Kenna dropped the phone, and it clattered against the desk.
The kid whimpered.
Navarro realized the child was under the desk.
Kenna backed up but stumbled and landed in the chair. No energy. No fight. No way out.
No hope.
She stared at Navarro, looking at the lethal intention in his eyes.
Then she felt the tiny hand touch her knee. She flinched. Another hand touched her other knee, then grasped at the skin there.
A child-sized knee dug into her thigh, and the kid slammed against her, curling up in her lap.
Kenna gasped. “Okay.”
Navarro’s jaw flexed.
The kid clung to her. Kenna’s arms shifted reflexively, wrapping around the child so she could hold him safe. “It’s okay.”
The door flung open again so hard it slammed against the wall and bounced back. Several men raced in. Navarro held up a hand, and they rushed to a stop.
