“So do I.” Catherine moistened her lips. “More likely Louisville. Or Atlanta.”
“I’ll use a little bribery and intimidation with the rental company and find out which one is the target and get back to you. I thought I’d warn you. Let me know if you have anything else for me to do.”
“Just the continued surveillance and protection of the Montez family,” Cameron said. “Now that Santos has Montez, at least he won’t have that threat to hold over his head.”
“No, just death and torture,” Dario said dryly. “No threat at all. But I’ll eliminate the only one I can right now. No one will touch his family.” He hung up.
“Santos won’t kill him. He believes he may need him,” Catherine said. “And he may threaten him, but Montez will be able to fend off torture. He’s smart, and he knows it’s only a matter of time until we find Santos.”
“You don’t think he’ll cave as he did before, when Dorgal sent for him to work on Delores?”
“You didn’t hear his voice when he was looking at that burning monastery. He was sick and horrified at the destruction. Dorgal went too far. It boomeranged. He’s in our camp now.”
“If we can find a way to use him.”
“And to find out where the hell he is.”
“Oh, I have complete confidence we’ll find him,” Cameron said. “Have a little faith.”
She gazed at him in annoyance. His tone had been as confident as his words. “Why are you this certain?”
“Kelly and Luke. Didn’t I tell Dario that you had wonderful people?”
“And that’s the only reason?”
“What else could there be?”
She shook her head. “With you, there’s no telling.” She dropped the subject. “But right now, I’m more worried about Dorgal’s heading back toward the U.S.”
“And rightly so.” His lips twisted. “But we always knew that Montez was only a temporary distraction. Now that he’s scooped him up, it appears distraction time is over, and he’s focusing on the main event.”
“Evidently.” Panic was pounding through her. “I have to talk to Hu Chang and Eve and warn them.”
“It’s not as if they’re not expecting it to happen. They’re prepared for it.” He held up his hand. “I know that you still have to call, but suppose you phone Luke first. I’ll set up Skype so that he can show us the general directions he and Kelly figured out from the gas usage.”
She nodded. Of course, that was the smart thing to do. If they could take Santos out, then any plans Dorgal had would fall apart. But it still didn’t stop her from wanting to turn the plane around and rush back home. “Do it.”
* * *
Ten minutes later, she was looking at Luke’s face on the computer screen. He was wearing a dark red shirt that made his hair appear darker than ever. He was not smiling. “Hello, Catherine. Kelly said that you need me.”
I always need you, she wanted to tell him.
Get it over with. Try to clear the air. “And she told me that you were annoyed. You have a right to be.”
A flicker of expression. “Yes, I do. You cheated, Catherine. You didn’t want to have trouble with me, so you—”
“You’re absolutely right.” She tried to smile. “You intimidated me, and so I just paid lip service to what you wanted from me.”
He frowned. “Intimidated? No one intimidates you, Catherine.”
“You do. Why else did I chicken out? I apologize. Will you forgive me?”
He was still frowning. “I guess I will. But you should have—”
“Take me to task later. I need you to tell me about connecting those dots. Kelly said you’ve been working on a few scenarios to give me a general direction where I might find Santos.”
He nodded. “More than a few. I went through dozens of gas receipts from every city in the Caribbean where Dorgal rented a motorboat. I checked out weather, wind current, tide for every trip, and gave the figures to Kelly to calculate how far the gas used would take Dorgal on that particular day.” He held up an oceanic map chart with arching lines and scrawled numbers issuing from several cities. “And then I charted them all and their approximate distances from the origin point.” He pointed to the sizable circle he’d drawn in the ocean. “There are dozens of tiny islands in this area, and I can’t tell which one was his exact destination, but Kelly and I both think Santos’s island is somewhere in that group.”
“Dozens,” she repeated. “But that’s more info than we had before. We’ll just have to be careful not to be seen when we’re scouting around that area.”
“And it may not be all that difficult to find,” Cameron said. “What’s the approximate mileage of your circle, Luke?”
“Maybe forty miles.”
“Weaving in and out of those islands,” Catherine said. “And I’m sure Santos is equipped with manpower and high-tech missiles on that island.”
“We’ll work it out.”
“Yes, we will, but it won’t be easy.” She turned back to Luke. “Good job. No, exceptional job, Luke. This is a big help.”
He smiled. “Yeah, Kelly and I did good work, didn’t we? It was kind of fun. Of course, she did all that high-tech stuff.” His smile faded. “I hope it helps. I should be down there with you. You take care of her, Cameron.”
“I wouldn’t let anything happen to Catherine. You have my promise. Now I believe that she needs to speak to Hu Chang.”
“Ah, I was waiting for my importance to be properly addressed,” Hu Chang said as he came into view. “Though I have to concur that these young people did a fine and valuable job. I generally prefer that Luke concentrate on chemistry and the rules of—”
“Hu Chang, Dorgal left Guatemala and is probably heading toward you,” she interrupted. “I don’t know whether he’s heading toward Louisville or Atlanta. We’re trying to find out. Warn Eve. I think Santos will escalate now that he has Montez tucked away.”
“It would appear likely. I have a feeling that the situation will turn even more nasty from now on,” Hu Chang said. “I will take it under consideration and act accordingly.” He paused. “You might make an effort to save Montez if possible. He has a fine mind, and I detest the idea of waste.”
“I’ll do what I can. Good bye, Hu Chang.” She broke the connection. “I want to be there with them.” She closed the computer with a click. “He wants me to try to save Montez? What about them?”
“We have a chance at Santos,” he said gently. “I know you’re torn, but you have to—”
“Stop trying to comfort me. It’s not like you. You don’t have to tell me where I have to focus. Cut off the head of the snake. But what if we don’t cut it off in time?”
“Okay, comfort over.” He shook his head. “You don’t have an alternative. So stop agonizing and start thinking how you’re going to kill the son of a bitch.”
“After we find him.”
“No, Luke helped out there. Just work on a plan.” He paused. “Or I will.”
And if he took over, she’d have to fight like hell to regain control. He knew that would be a goad. Stop thinking about all she might lose if she didn’t do everything right. Start thinking what she might win if she did.
“I’m working on it. Just get us to Trinidad. It’s probably the closest place to the island, since they flew directly there from Guatemala. We’ll follow the route Luke drew out of Port of Spain and hope it puts us closer than when Dorgal flew to one of those other Caribbean cities.”
“Logical. Reasonable.” Cameron glanced at her. “Did I scare all of that emotional trauma out of you by threatening to become a presence you might have trouble with?”
“Be quiet, Cameron.” The emotion and panic was still there, but she was trying to keep it subdued. “You told me that I had to think, and that’s what I’m doing.”
“And it’s probably the first and last time you’ll ever do what I tell you to do.”
She didn’t answer, her mind was shifting, moving, probing. So many things to consider.
Find a plan.
Was Dorgal heading for Louisville or Atlanta?
And how could they keep him from more bloodshed?