She could call Valzar, and demand that he have Sean call her, she thought suddenly. If she called from the safety of the embassy, there wasn’t anything he could do to her. She could threaten to tell them everything if he didn’t put her in touch with Sean immediately.
She smiled, feeling rather pleased with herself. She had it all figured out.
After walking for 20 minutes the streets were getting noticeably cleaner, and then she saw an American flag in the distance. Her heart lifted, and she felt a burst of patriotic pride that she’d never felt before.
How beautiful it was in the distance! In that building there were people who could help her — she would be completely safe with them. It was a wonderful feeling.
A few blocks from the lovely, gated complex the little girl turned into another alleyway.
“The embassy is over that way,” Sandra said, confused.
“You gotta go this way to get to gate,” the child replied. “Much faster.”
Sandra shook her head, but she girl had helped her so far. Within seconds they turned again and she found herself in an open courtyard. The children started giggling, and she realized something was very wrong.
She spun around, ready to go back toward the flag, but two large, armed men were already there, blocking her escape. Valzar strolled out of the shadows, shaking his finger at her disapprovingly.
“Now Sandra, that’s no way to behave,” he said. “If you keep this up, I’ll start to think you don’t like being around me. Wouldn’t that be a shame?”
Chapter Thirteen
Wretched children, she thought darkly. How could she have trusted them? Their little eyes glowed as
Valzar pulled a handful of bills out of his pocket. He’d given one to each child, patting them on the head as he did so, and spoke softly in their own language. She might have been impressed with his thoroughness if she wasn’t so disgusted. Bastard.
He’d used her—she’d gone through all that stress for nothing. She was no better off than she’d been better.
“You do realize that I could tell Sean you died trying to escape,” he said as he escorted her out of the alley into a waiting SUV. A driver and one of Valzar’s thugs sat in the front. “Sean would never know the difference.”
“Why would he care?” she asked softly.
“You’re a fool if you don’t know the answer to that question,” Valzar said. “He’s waiting for you to leave, Sandra. He wants you to be safe and he trusts me to make sure it happens. I’ve never known him to hold back his plans for anyone. He cares about you a great deal.”
She sat passively beside him in the back seat as the car started moving.
“Do you ever do your own dirty work?” she asked bitterly, nodding her head at the man in the front seat.
Valzar smiled briefly, his teeth gleaming in the darkness of the car. The tinted windows screened them completely from whoever might be waiting outside.
“Yes, I do my own dirty work,” he said. “You’d probably be surprised at how much time and effort I put into running my little business empire. But that’s not really something you need any further information on at this point.”
She nodded her head, wishing she could kick him. She watched as they drove past the lines of buildings.
Before long she there were more and more patches of green. Then they were turning off the paved road, entering the jungle she’d come to despise.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To a small airstrip,” he replied. “Sean and I would prefer it if you didn’t have to answer any awkward questions at the airport. This way you won’t have to.”
“How far do we have to go?”
“It will take at least an hour,” he said. “Perhaps two. You might wish to try sleeping.”
She nodded, doubting sleep was possible. Her heart pounded from the attempted escape. Smug bastard.
Valzar shrugged his shoulders, and she glanced quickly at the door. Locked, naturally. She waited until she was sure nobody watched and tried to push back the little button. Nothing.
Clearly, they’d disabled the locks. Perhaps there was some other way to escape. She pretended to go to sleep, slowly counting to a thousand. By the time she was done, the men around her seemed fully relaxed and settled into the drive. The bodyguard talked to the driver quietly, occasionally leaning forward to fiddle with the radio.
She could see his gun, nestled between the seat and door in front of her. It wasn’t a big gun, but she figured it would do the trick if she could get her hands on it.
Still pretending to be asleep, she slowly slumped forward. Moving very carefully, counting to a hundred between each little shift, she edged her hand forward and waited for her opportunity.
The road was bumpy, barely a track through the brush at this point. When they hit the next big pothole, she lunged her hand forward and grabbed the gun. She jerked it back, and slid it under her leg, then squawked in pain.
“I hit my head,” she said shrilly, and the men jumped. “This is insane. I need to go to the bathroom. You need to stop the car right now.”
The driver looked in his mirror to Valzar, who nodded his head with a vaguely disgusted look.
“Go ahead,” he said. “Stop the car.”
They stopped right in the middle of the dirt road, and then the driver unlocked the door with a click.
“Get out and go,” Valzar said. He nodded at the men, and said something in Spanish. The driver opened his door and stepped out. He strolled around to the front of the car, pulling out a package of cigarettes.
The bodyguard joined him, while Valzar stepped out and stretched.
She slid out her own door with a whine, going behind the SUV, unfastened her jeans, and crouched as if to relieve herself. She took a moment to study the gun until she was sure how it worked. It was simple enough, exactly like she’d seen hundreds of time on TV and movies. She went over it once more, checking to make sure the safety was off, and then rose, ready to make her move.
She came up behind Valzar and raised the gun steadily.
“Be still and do what I say,” she said quietly, her voice as cold as she could make it. She wanted him to know she’d shoot. He turned to her, a look of slight surprise on his face, followed by a slow smile.
“Well this is a surprise. I wonder if Sean has any idea how violent his little toy can be?”
“Be quiet,” she snapped. “I’m not interested in listening to your bullshit. Have the driver toss you the keys, and then have them both walk away from the car.”