She heard him, just outside the door. Was he touching the door? Was he going to push it inward? Oh, Jesus. “Just a second,” she yelled. “I’m not feeling too well. That drug you shot into me, it’s making me nauseous. Give me just another minute. I don’t want to vomit all over myself.”
“I’m coming,” she called out as she gently pulled some thread loose in the hem of her nightgown. “I feel a bit better. I just don’t want to vomit, particularly if you’re going to tie my hands again.”
If he’d been standing by the bathroom door, he wasn’t now. He was back in the shadows when she came out. She couldn’t make out a thing about him. He said, his voice deep, ageless, “Lie back down on the bed.”
She did.
He didn’t tie her hands over her head.
“Don’t move.”
She felt the sting in her left arm, right above her elbow again, before she could even react. “Coward,” she said, her voice already becoming slurred.
“Filthy coward.”
She heard him laugh. And again, he licked her, her ear this time, his tongue slow, lapping, and she wanted to gag, but she didn’t because her mind was beginning to float now, and it was easy and smooth and the fear disappeared as she just fell away from herself.
No time, she thought, as what she was and what she thought were slipping away, like grains of sand scattering in a wind. No time, no time to stab him with that screw. No time to ask him again if he was this Krimakov who’d been cremated. No time for anything.
Adam stood there in her open bedroom door way. She was gone, simply gone. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “No. Oh God, no! Savich!”
But she was gone, no sign of her, nothing at all.
It was Sherlock who said as she sipped a cup of black coffee, “He used the tear gas as a diversion. While we were all outside looking for him, he simply slipped into the house and hid in Becca’s bedroom closet. Then he probably drugged her. How did he get her out? Our guys were back in position by the time we came back inside. Oh, no, get everyone together! We weren’t exactly organized when we were looking for him outside. Dillon, who was assigned to the back of the house?”
“Jesus,” Adam said. “No, damnation, no!”
They found Chuck Ainsley in the bushes twenty feet from the back of the house. He wasn’t dead. He’d been struck down from behind, bound and gagged. When they peeled the tape off his mouth, he said, “I let him creep up on me. I didn’t hear a thing. He was fast, too fast. Oh God, what the hell happened? Is everyone all right?”
Savich said matter-of-factly, “He took Becca. Thank God you’re not dead. I wonder why he didn’t just slit your throat, Chuck? Why waste time tying you up?”
Sherlock said, as she hunkered down next to Chuck and untied both his wrists and ankles, “He doesn’t want the police here yet. He realized that if he killed one of us, that’s what would happen. It would force his hand. He would lose control. We’re really glad you’re okay, Chuck.”
Adam said, “He must have knocked you out before he shot tear gas into the house. We came roaring out, everyone trying to find him, and we didn’t miss you. There was too much confusion. Damnation.”
Sherlock gave Chuck a drink of cold water and a couple of aspirin once they got him into the kitchen. “If you don’t have a headache, you should,” she told him, then hugged him. “Thank God you’re all right. Since you weren’t at the back of the house watching for him, he must have just slipped out with Becca over his shoulder.”
“We didn’t miss you,” Adam said slowly. “I can’t believe we didn’t have the brains to get everyone together and count heads before we settled back into the house for the night. Hell, we didn’t even think to search the damned house.”
Everyone was rattled as what happened sank in. There was nothing to say, no excuses to make. He’d made fools of them all.
An hour later, Sherlock and Savich found Adam in the kitchen, his head in his hands. Savich lightly laid his hand on his shoulder. “It happened. We’ve all flagellated ourselves. No thanks to us, Chuck is all right. Now we’ve got to fix it. Adam, we’ll find her.”
“I was supposed to keep her safe,” Adam said, staring at his clasped hands. “I’ve got to be the biggest fuckup in this damned world. He’s got her, Savich. He’s got her and we have no idea where.”
“Yes, he’s got her,” Savich said, “and he’s probably going to take her to Washington. That’s it, isn’t it? He wants her with him when he confronts Thomas? She’s his leverage. Thomas would do anything to save her, including giving himself up to this maniac.”
“We’re talking like Krimakov is alive, like we don’t have any doubts about it at all,” Sherlock said.
Adam said slowly, “Forget the reports, forget what the operatives said. The body was cremated. That’s all I need to know. It’s Krimakov. Now, he must not have found out where Thomas is. Thomas owns a house in Chevy Chase, but it’s a well-kept secret. The location of his condo in Georgetown is also a secret, but anyone could discover its location if they really wanted to. MAX could probably ferret it out in ten minutes flat. But not the Chevy Chase house. He’s very careful. I kid you not, I don’t even think the president knows where his house is. So then Krimakov wouldn’t know, either. That’s why he got Becca. She’s his leverage. He’ll take her to Washington, to the condo.” Adam stopped cold. “We’ve got to leave now.”
Savich said, “I think you should call Thomas first, tell him what’s happened. We’ve put it off long enough, don’t you think? He’s got to know.”
Adam cursed under his breath at the sound of Tyler McBride’s angry voice. Tyler came into the kitchen, three agents right behind him, one holding his arm, and yelled, “What the hell is going on here? Every light in the place is on? Who are these guys? Let me go, dammit. Where’s Becca?”
“Let him go, Tommy,” Savich said, nodding to one of Thomas’s men who was guarding the front of the house. “He’s a neighbor and a friend of Becca’s.”
“What the hell is going on here, Adam?”
“He took her,” Adam said. “We think he’s heading to Washington, D.C., with her. We’re going to have to clear out soon.”
Tyler paled, then yelled, “You were supposed to protect her, you bastard! You really screwed up big-time, didn’t you? I wanted to help but you just kissed me off, I was a civilian, of no use at all. What about you? All these big Fed cops, none of you could protect her. None of you were of any help at all!”
Savich said as he closed his fingers around Tyler’s arm, “I understand your anger. But all these accusations aren’t going to help anyone, particularly Becca. Believe me, we all know what’s at stake here.”
“You’re damned incompetent bastards,” Tyler yelled even louder, “all of you.” He jerked away from Savich.
“Tyler,” Adam said quietly, “don’t go to Sheriff Gaffney. That would be the worst thing you could do.”
“Why? How much more could things be fucked up?”
“He might kill her,” Adam said. “Don’t tell anyone anything.”
After Tyler McBride was escorted from the house by three agents, Sherlock said, “Why not tell everyone now?”
Adam shoved his hand through his hair. “Dammit, because if some cop happens to see them, then you know our guy would kill her and take off. We can’t take the chance. No, we’ve got to get to Washington, fast.”
“First you’ve got to call Thomas, Adam.”
Adam didn’t want to, he really didn’t.
Savich and Sherlock listened to Adam flail himself on the speakerphone.
There was silence on the other end. Finally, Thomas said, “Get over it, Adam. We’ve been dealt new cards now, we’ll play them. I’m very relieved that Chuck is all right. His wife would roast me alive if he’d been killed. Now, if this is Krimakov, then he at least knows I’m in Washington, probably knows about the condo. I’ll stay here. I’ll be ready for him. Get back here as quickly as you can, Adam. Savich? Can you and Sherlock stick with us?”
“Yes, Thomas.”
“Now, I’ve got to get myself ready for Krimakov. It’s been so many years. Many times I thought he’d finally given it up, but it appears that he’s just been biding his time.”
“He could really be dead,” Sherlock said.
