“As you well know.”
“Yes,” she said, “as I well know. I got quite sick after my girlfriend passed away. More than just fatigue, depression. I would eat and vomit up meals. It was almost like, if she couldn’t eat, I would eat for her, and then I’d almost imitate her reaction, and I upchucked it all. I talked to a shrink for a while to get my head back in the game. It was really just guilt.”
“Guilt because you couldn’t help her?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Guilt that I didn’t see something, guilt that I didn’t say something, guilt that I didn’t call somebody,” she groaned. “And none of it makes any sense.” She flopped herself on the bed, then shifted slightly to make herself more comfortable. Yawning, she then curled up, her head on the pillow. “I wasn’t kidding about food,” she said. “But right now I think sleep is the priority.”
“Sleep then,” he said. “You need it.”
“After that, maybe we can contact my mom?”
“We can certainly do that by phone, if you want.”
“That would be good. If she wants me to come down, we can. Otherwise, I’m not too sure I want to go back.”
“I’m sorry you couldn’t get in to see your father while you were there.”
“I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize his health either,” she said.
“Are you thinking that seeing you would make him worse?”
“I don’t know about that,” she said with a frown. “But maybe. Just the stress in our relationship can’t help.”
“Then maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t see him. He needs a chance to heal as best he can too.”
“I know,” she said. “Something like this always seems to surmount the other issues. It’s just not fair.”
“Meaning that he has been attacked and that’s now the priority, so his bad deeds get swept away?”
“Something like that.” She yawned yet again. “It’s too much of a moral discussion,” she said. “I can’t get my head around it, so I’ll have a nap instead. Good night,” she said abruptly.
*
Baylor stepped out of the room but left the door open. He didn’t know if she would really drop off to sleep that fast, but, if she did, it would be really good for her. It was amazing how fast she went out, but, hey, he was good with it. Just as he walked out, he heard Hudson answer a call. As soon as Hudson was off the phone, Baylor looked over at him expectantly. “Problems?”
“Her father’s condition is worsening.”
Baylor froze. “Shit,” he said. “We couldn’t get in to see him while we were there, but I didn’t hear anything about a downturn.”
“I just heard myself,” he said. “They don’t think he’s terminal at the moment, but he may have to go in for more surgery.”
Baylor nodded slowly. “What about the mom?”
“She’s by his side and still keeps diverting all the attention back to him,” Hudson said.
“Right, and we still have no more on the guys who kidnapped them, do we?”
“Nothing new, no.”
“Great, but we’ve still got guards on them, right?”
“Yes. Even more so now because of the downturn in his health condition.”
“Why?”
“There was a suggestion that maybe it was a ruse.”
At that, Baylor stared at him in surprise and slowly nodded. “That’s not a bad way to go,” he said. “Make it sound like it’s way worse than it is and rush him off to the OR, then move him out somewhere else. Trouble is, the good guys or the bad guys could each want to do this, for their own means.”
“That was the thought.”
“Hard to do an exchange if you don’t have the people you need. If that’s what this is all about.”
“Exactly,” Hudson said. “Probably why our orders are to escort her home tomorrow.”
“Interesting,” he murmured.
Hudson looked at him in surprise. “What’s interesting about it?”
“Just that we’re going home so fast. We haven’t solved any of this.”
“I don’t think solving it is what they’re concerned about. The hope was to get all three of them back to US soil.”
“But, if the father’s condition is worsening, he can’t be moved.”
Hudson’s phone buzzed. He read the incoming text. “Which is why we’re on hold at the moment,” he said, shaking his phone.
“I’d really like to find the guy who drugged her,” Baylor said.
“Because of personal or professional reasons?” asked Hudson in a dry tone. Baylor shot him a look, but he just shrugged. “Hey, I can see that you care.”
“Hell no, don’t go there,” Baylor said, and this time Hudson made a funny sound in the back of his throat. Baylor widened his stance and adjusted his hands on his hips. “Seriously?”
“Seriously?” Hudson said in a mimicking fashion.
“Come on. Get a life,” Baylor said, irritated.
“It’s obvious, man.”
“Hell, I knew her years ago, long before she was in trouble. Now I helped rescue her. That’s the end of it.”
“Good enough,” he said, “unless of course Mason wins this bet.”
“What are you talking about?” And then he remembered Mason’s “challenge accepted” comment. He groaned. “Ah, jeez. Serves me right for even talking to Mason about women. All I said was that all the good women were taken.”
“Comments like that,” Hudson said, “have a way of coming back around and biting you in the ass.”
“You’re not kidding,” Baylor murmured. “Still, I’m not too bothered.”
“Good,” Hudson said, “because, at the moment, we have more than enough to deal with.”
“I’d still like to find that guy.”
“I know. Which is why I’ve just been hacking into the cameras at the harbors.”
Immediately Baylor walked over and sat down. “Did you find him?”
“Well, if she’s asleep, I can’t get her to confirm this face, but this one’s a known associate of the Russian guy in her drawing.”
At that, Baylor turned the screen and looked at it. “Do we have a file on him?”
“No, and he’s not wanted by Interpol, except for questioning.”
“Because of his Russian buddy’s activities, I presume?”
“Yeah, and you know how that works,” Hudson said. “You’re presumed guilty and associated
