"You can't face Ryker alone. Your best chance of survival is to take some cover. Our boys can be discreet." When Nate released him, Higdon straightened his jacket, shirt and tie.
"Ryker is nobody's fool. I'm sure he isn't alone. He'll have lookouts just waiting for any sign of agents. He's probably got all the help he needs from the Marquez family." Nate glanced over at Emilio Rivera. "And from our friend Carranza."
"All the more reason for you to take backup," Higdon said.
"When I leave here, I don't want anybody following me. My survival isn't what's important to me. If I don't go alone, Ryker will kill Cyn." Nate knew his chances were slim, but that didn't really matter. The only thing that mattered was Cyn.
"How the hell do you think that you, one man alone, can rescue her?"
"I'm going to kill Ryker. Once he's dead, the Marquez family will have no reason to keep her, and they can do whatever they want with me once she's free."
Nate gave Higdon one last warning look before walking to the elevators. Punching the call button, he glanced over at Emilio Rivera. The big man nodded, but didn't say a word. The elevator doors opened. Nate stepped inside. Emilio stepped in beside him.
When the doors closed, Emilio spoke, his voice deep and quietly controlled. "Señor Carranza is waiting downstairs in the limo. He wants to speak to you."
"To hell with what Carranza wants!"
"You would be wise to speak with him, Nathan Hodges," Rivera warned.
Neither man spoke again as the elevator descended. The doors opened, and they stepped out onto the entry level of the hospital. Together they walked outside into the warm May night.
Nate hesitated momentarily when he saw Carranza sitting inside the back seat of the limo, the door wide open. When the old man caught a glimpse of Nate, he emerged from the black Cadillac.
Nate walked over to him, Emilio following. "I don't know what your stake in this is, Carranza, but I promise you that if Ryker harms Cyn Porter, your life won't be worth a damn."
Ramon Carranza's dark eyes clashed with Nate's unfriendly glare. "One of my former business associates is indebted to Ryker." He placed his dark, weathered hand on Nate's arm.
Instantly Nate retreated, jerking away, repulsed by the other man's touch. "What you're telling me isn't news. It's no secret that Ryker is part of the Marquez syndicate."
"You do not want to go up against these people alone."
Although the air was warm, almost balmy, Nate felt a shivering chill hit him. He hated Ramon Carranza and everything he stood for. The very thought that this man was deriving some sort of sick pleasure out of helping Ryker, by tormenting him, by threatening Cyn, made Nate want to rip out the man's heart. "Stay out of my way if you know what's good for you."
Gripping Nate's arm tightly, Carranza gave him a hard, penetrating stare. The two men looked at each other, eye-to-eye, man-to-man. "He plans to kill her regardless of what you do. He simply wants you there to witness her death."
The truth of Carranza's words ripped through Nate like one of his sharp, deadly daggers. "You've delivered Ry-ker's message, now you can take one back to him. Tell him that I'm on my way, and before I'm through with him, he'll be begging to die."
Releasing Nate's arm, Carranza slipped into the dark, private confines of his limo. Nate kicked the door closed with his foot. Every fiber of his being pulsated with a rage born of uncontrollable anger and a fear the likes of which he'd never known. If anything happened to Cyn... * * *
Cyn could feel the rounded muzzle of Ryker's gun as he jabbed it into her back. Stumbling in the darkness, she steadied herself as they walked along the arched portico. Why, she wondered, had this crazy man taken her back to Sweet Haven, back to Nate's house? Where was Nate? Was he still at the hospital visiting Nick Romero? She had no idea what time it was, though she suspected it was near midnight.
When she slowed her steps, Ryker poked her in the back again. "Keep walking. We're almost there."
Cyn clutched her purse against her stomach and continued moving, praying for the opportunity to use Mimi's automatic that still lay nestled inside her leather bag. Violence had been thrust upon her, and her only chance for survival might well lie within herself. Did she have the strength and courage to fight back? Undoubtedly, Ryker hadn't even considered the possibility that she might be armed.
If she could manage to get hold of Mimi's gun, would she have the guts to use it? Was she capable of killing a man? Two men? she wondered, remembering that Bedford was still with them. Could she, to save herself, and perhaps Nate, go against her lifelong beliefs?
"Where are you taking me?" Cyn asked, but she already knew. There was anger and pain and fear inside the walls of the old mission as surely as there was passion and love and fulfillment.
"Just shut up and keep walking." Ryker's voice held a nervous edge.
With Bedford standing outside in the dark shadows, Ryker pushed open the storage room door with his shoulder and shoved Cyn inside. She turned on them, irrational fear controlling her actions. Like a madwoman, she flung herself at him. With one deadly backhanded slap, he knocked her to the floor.
Scrambling to find her purse where it had landed beside her, Cyn snapped the catch and rummaged around inside, unable to see in the darkness. Her fingers encountered the cold, deadly metal. Clutching the automatic in her hand, Cyn pointed it at Ryker. In that one heart-stopping moment, she knew that, if necessary, she would kill in order to survive.
With trained instincts, Ryker intercepted her attack. He raised his leg, expertly kicking the gun out of her hand. Cyn's fingers stung from the sharp blow as she listened to the sound of metal when the gun rattled across the stone floor.
Bedford's laughter rang out loud and clear. In the semi-darkness, she could barely make out his stocky form as he entered the room, bent down and picked up her gun.
"She's a gutsy broad," the DEA agent said. "She almost got you."
Ryker growled, like a wounded animal. Cyn could see him, his one malevolent blue eye sparkling in the moonlight that poured in from the open doorway. Flinging his hand backward, he brought it down across the bottom of her face. Cyn jerked from the force of his blow. Blood filled her mouth. She spit it out, then ran her tongue over her split lip.
"Be a good girl, and I'll let you live to see your lover." Ryker motioned to Bedford and the two men turned and left the room.
Once the door slammed shut, Cyn scrambled to her feet and made her way across the room. Standing between the door and the partially boarded window, she listened to the muffled sound of male voices. She could make out another voice beside Ryker's and Bedford's. Who had joined them? she wondered. How many opponents would Nate have to face when he arrived? And she knew, without a doubt, that Ryker had contacted Nate, and that Nate would come for her.
When Cyn heard the door opening, she jumped, quickly moving toward the window. Ian Ryker came in carrying a gas lantern, which he set on top of some stacked boxes. Bedford followed, but no one else. Slowly, Cyn edged her way toward the corner of the south wall. She wanted to huddle into a ball and fall to her knees. But she didn't. She braced her back against the cool coquina wall and glared at Ryker, her eyes beginning to adjust to the new light.
He watched her with the intent curiosity of a cat studying a trapped mouse. She could almost hear him smacking his lips. As cold, deadly fear raced through her, she fought to maintain some semblance of composure. She would not let this animal get the best of her.
Hearing a noise, she glanced quickly over at Bedford, who busied himself pilfering through an assortment of old furniture. Suddenly she saw that a long, thick rope lay draped over his shoulder.