Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
“He never spoke to me in English,” Steph said. “He said something to me while I was working on him, but I have no idea what it meant.”
“I’m betting on European,” Ten replied. “Given what I think he was researching, I’m betting these boys spoke a similar language. I’ll start poking around here. My bet is he started somewhere in the south and was trying to make his way back to Europe. They caught him in Sierra Leone.”
“And I was the closest clinic,” Steph surmised. “But why does de Vries think I have something?”
“Likely he was trying to get information out of the journalist and he thinks you’re the only one the man could have passed it to,” Ten replied. “Look, I’m going to make a few calls. I don’t understand exactly why this has escalated the way it did. That’s not how these men tend to work. They’ll do their jobs, but they try to keep things quiet. They don’t want the kind of scrutiny that would come from killing a journalist. Unless whatever he had could kill corporate profits. I would bet we’re not looking for a diamond. We’re looking for information. We’re looking for his report.”
“I don’t have it.” Steph leaned back against him and Brody could practically feel her fear.
He had some serious work to do. How could he have ever thought for a second that he didn’t have something to give to her? He’d been blinded by his own insecurities, too wrapped up in his bloody self to see what she needed—and that he was the man who could give it to her. She spent way too much time in that pretty little head of hers. He needed to get her to let go and feel. “It’s going to be all right. We’ve got a name now. We can deal with this.”
“He’s right,” Ten replied.
“But he’s got Anya.” Steph’s voice shook. “We have no idea what he’s done to her, what he could do to her.”
Adam smoothed out his jacket and looked to Brody. He seemed to understand what Brody was asking. “Well, I think my job is done here. Why don’t you allow me to escort you into the lounge, Dr. Gibson? I think you could use a drink. You’re only allowed two and I usually have one before and one to wind down.”
She looked up and Brody nodded. “Go on. I’ll be with you in a second. I want to make sure Ten has everything he needs.”
She bit her bottom lip, as though trying to decide whether or not to leave.
“We can look in on the kids before we go up,” Adam offered, proving he was a smooth customer. “There’s a window we can watch through. It’s fun sometimes to see how they act when we’re not around. I know you’ve got a newborn so he mostly kicks his legs and poops, but let me tell you once they start crawling, it’s a whole new world.”
Adam continued talking as he led her out of the room.
“Tell me about this Anya person.” Ten seemed to know exactly what he wanted to talk about.
“She’s fairly new to the clinic. She’d recently come on when I was about to leave. Steph’s nurses come and go. Same with other doctors. They’re usually there for anywhere from six weeks to a couple of years. I met Anya a couple of times. She seemed nice enough, but she’s got a few shady relatives back in the Ukraine.”
Ten’s head fell back and he groaned. “Tell me they’re not mob.”
“Wish I could, mate.” He’d started vetting her nurses, though she had no idea and would probably get mad pissed at him if she did. It was one of those things she didn’t need to know about. “Her brother has close ties, but according to everything I can tell, she’s not involved directly. Otherwise, she’s clean. On paper it looks like she’s there because she cares about the world and the people in it.”
“And have there been any problems around the clinic? Any odd losses of vaccines or meds?”
The mob was known for stealing medicines from charities and reselling them on the black market.
“Not according to Alfi, but he’s a son of a bitch who lies a lot.” Still, he didn’t think Alfi hated him enough that he would let someone hurt Steph. “I don’t think so, but I’ll ask him about it. I have to watch Steph carefully because she’ll sacrifice herself if she gets the chance.”
“Tell her about the mob connections,” Ten urged.
He wasn’t sure that would work. “I don’t know that she’d believe me, or even if she did, it wouldn’t matter to her. I think she’s been looking for a way to sacrifice herself for a long time now.”
“I don’t have any idea why she would do that, but she’s got a baby. She has to think about herself. Even Faith’s toning down her work. She’s heading her charity organization, but she knows we’re going to stay in Dallas most of the time. Grant needs roots and family around him. Oh, I’m sure that kid will see a whole lot of the world before he’s five, but he’ll know where home is. Let me tell you, man, becoming a parent is the single scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve done some scary shit. Tag’s right. Family men are crap when it comes to field work.”