Nate jumped to his feet as Cyn struggled to hers, tears streaming down her face. Grabbing her, he jerked the gag out of her mouth.
"Oh, Nate."
He pulled her into his arms as he stroked her hair, kissed her face, and worked frantically to untie her bound wrists. Once Cyn was free, Nate looked down at Ryker. A small round bullet hole marred his smooth forehead. Nate could well imagine what the back of his head looked like. He didn't want Cyn to see it.
"Señor Carranza," Cyn said, her voice ragged and hoarse. "He's hurt." She tugged on Nate's arm, the gesture pleading.
Together they knelt down beside Carranza. Cyn took his head into her lap as she brushed back the strands of white hair that had fallen into his eyes. "You're going to be all right, Ramon," Cyn said. "We're not going to let you die."
Ramon Carranza looked up at Cyn as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "You will take care of him," he said as he gazed up at Nate.
Nate saw Emilio standing over them, the revolver that had killed Ian Ryker still in his hand.
"We must get him to a hospital," Emilio said, dropping the gun onto the sand, then reaching down to lift his employer up into his arms.
Nate helped Cyn to her feet and walked her toward the black limousine. Cyn got in first, then Nate helped Emilio place Ramon across the seat, his head resting in Cyn's lap.
Once Emilio started the engine and turned the big Cadillac around, Cyn looked over at Nate. "He saved our lives."
"I know," Nate said.
Chapter 16
Cyn sat beside Nate on the orange vinyl sofa. His head was thrown back, his eyes were closed, and his big arms were crossed over his chest. She wished he would allow her to comfort him as he had comforted her when they had first arrived at the hospital. While the emergency room staff had gone to work on Ramon, Nate had insisted that Cyn's scrapes and bruises needed immediate attention.
He had held her when the reality of what they'd lived through finally hit her. The nightmare was over. Ian Ryker was dead. Cyn and Nate were alive.
Cyn glanced around the surgery waiting room. A plump, middle-aged woman stood at the pay telephone, her voice hushed as she told the listener that her mother was still in surgery. In the corner chair, a teenaged boy flipped through the pages of a magazine with bored indifference. A young couple stood by the windows, his arm draped around her shoulders as he wiped her tears with a handkerchief and promised her that their little girl was going to be all right.
Two coffee machines sat on a metal table by the doorway. One glass pot was empty, the other contained no more than a cup of liquid. The wastepaper basket beneath the table was littered with dozens of foam cups, plastic spoons and empty sugar and creamer packs.
Emilio Rivera stood outside in the hallway, his back braced against the wall. No one had given comfort to the big, quiet man, whose silent eyes and hard face gave away none of his emotions. Cyn wondered how long Emilio had worked for Ramon, how close their relationship was.
"I'm going to talk to Emilio," she told Nate. "I'll be right back."
Nate grunted an acknowledgment, but didn't open his eyes or move a muscle. Seeing Nate like this, so cold and withdrawn, broke Cyn's heart. It was as if he'd closed himself off from her, from the whole world, and refused to allow anyone near. Perhaps it was the only way he knew how to deal with everything that had happened, Cyn thought. Her kidnapping. Ryker's death. The knowledge that Ramon Carranza had risked his life to save them.
Emilio gave her a welcoming glance when she approached him. "How is Nathan?"
"I honestly don't know." Cyn touched Emilio's meaty forearm and looked up into his squinty black eyes. "Ever since they took Ramon up to surgery, he just sits there. He won't talk to me. He won't let me help him."
"Si, he is like his padre. A strong man who thinks he needs no one." Emilio patted her hand where it rested on his arm. "He needs you. He will accept your help, later."
As his words began to sink into her consciousness, Cyn wanted to deny her suspicions, but the facts could not be dismissed. Clutching Emilio's rock-solid arm, she asked him for the truth. "Is Ramon Carranza Nate's father?"
"Si." A hint of a smile softened Emilio's battered face. "I have worked for Señor Carranza since before he met Nathan's mother. Since I was a boy of sixteen."
"You knew Nate's mother?"
"A most beautiful woman, Señorita Grace Hodges. As beautiful as you with her long blond hair and big green eyes. Señor Carranza loved her greatly." Emilio's eyes glazed over with memories.
"But Nate thought his father was dead."
"Si, it was his mother's wish, and they agreed it would be best for the child. Under the circumstances."
"You have to tell Nate, tell him everything. He has a right to know, and there is no one else who can tell him." She realized she was taking a chance that Nate would respond in a positive manner to the revelation that Ramon Carranza was his father. But regardless of how he would react to the news, he had to be told the truth.
"You think he wants to know?" Ernilio asked, giving Cyn a skeptical look. "He is a hard man. His heart may be closed to the truth."
"There's no way to know unless we try."
Emilio nodded, the tentative smile widening as Cyn took his hand, and together they entered the waiting room. Cyn sat down beside Nate. Emiho took a chair opposite the sofa. When she touched Nate's shoulder, he flinched, but still didn't open his eyes.
Cyn felt his big body tense beneath her touch. "Nate, Emilio wants to tell you—"
"That Ramon Rafael Carranza is my father."
"You knew?"
"No, not until... Sitting here, I finally figured it out."
"He was never your enemy." Cyn couldn't tell what Nate was thinking, but she could guess, knowing him as she did. "His interest in you was personal."
"Yeah, I guess it was." Nate opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling, then darted his gaze at Cyn. "But he was a little late in showing fatherly concern, don't you think?"
Nate closed his eyes again, and Cyn knew he was trying to blot out the truth—a truth he had yet to understand.
"Emilio can tell you about your parents," she said, longing to comfort him, to ease the pain she saw in his eyes, to remove the anger she knew was barely hidden beneath the surface of his falsely calm exterior.
Nate opened his eyes, uncrossed his arms and sat up straight. "What about them?" he asked, glaring at the huge man sitting across from him.
"You will listen, Nathan Hodges?" Emilio's dark eyes pleaded with Nate. "You will let me tell it all so that you will understand why you mustn't hate your father."
Cyn held her breath, praying for Nate's acquiescence. "Don't you think you owe it to yourself as well as your parents to know the truth?" she asked.
"So talk," Nate said, his voice brutally harsh. "I'm listening." Bending over slightly, he let his hands drop between his knees as he looked down at the shiny tile floor.
"Señor Carranza owned a casino in Havana. He was already rich and successful at thirty-five, and had very influential friends. The most prominent friend was his father-in-law, Luis Arnaz." Emilio hesitated briefly as he watched Nate for a sign of reaction. Seeing none, he continued. "Arnaz had arranged his daughter's marriage to Señor Carranza... a business arrangement ten years before ... before your mother came to Havana."
"What was my mother doing in Havana?" Nate asked, finally glancing over at Emilio.
"She had just graduated from college and came down on a holiday with some of her friends. You must remember that Havana in 1949 was a playground for the rich and famous."
"She met him at his casino?" Nate couldn't imagine the sadly beautiful woman who had been his mother as a carefree young woman jaunting off to Cuba with her friends.