“And neither did your sister, Lena,” Cameron said quietly.
“Lena?”
“Dorgal needed information. He thought she might be able to give it to him.”
Montez turned pale. “She didn’t know anything except that I was heading for this area. Nothing definite. And I was careful not to communicate with anyone after Santos killed my brother. She didn’t know.” He paused. “He killed her?”
“Yes,” Catherine said. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“But being sorry won’t replace her,” Cameron said. “Or get revenge for her death. Only you can do that, Montez. Talk to us. Tell us why Santos is so interested in keeping you alive. Tell us why you and Dorgal had a chat about Catherine. That must have been about the time that Santos ordered your brother’s death. Significant connection?”
Montez was silent.
“Listen, Montez,” Catherine said. “Do I feel sorry for you? Yes. I believe you tried to break with Santos. I think you may be a victim. But I have victims of my own to avenge and protect. I’ve had three friends who have died, another is hanging on by a thread. My son’s life may be on the line if I don’t find Santos. I want to know everything you know about him.” She held his gaze. “I will know it. I’ll give you a little while to absorb your own personal tragedy, but one way or the other, you’ll tell me what I need to know.”
“You’re threatening me?” His lips twisted. “I gave in to threats once, and where did it get me? I’m tired of threats. Look at you. You’re such a beautiful woman. But you’re probably as much a monster as Delores Santos.”
“Catherine’s not a monster,” Cameron said softly. “And I’m irritated that you’d call her that. You don’t want to irritate me, Montez.”
“Drop it, Cameron. We’ve thrown some pretty rough flak at him.” Catherine turned and pulled out the well-thumbed book with the yellow cover she’d taken out of Montez’s knapsack. She pointed to the title Maggi. “What is this, Montez?”
He tensed. “What do you think it is?”
“I can’t make heads or tails of it or I wouldn’t be asking you. It looks like a bunch of chemical formulas.”
“Give it to me. It’s mine.”
“What is it?” she repeated.
“You might as well give it to me. No one would understand it but me.”
“I have a friend who might. Hu Chang would find it interesting.”
“Give it to me.”
“After we have a talk about Santos and how you can help me save the people I care about.” She put the book back in her jacket. “And after I’m sure that it’s of no value to Santos. I’m not giving him anything that he wants.”
“I wouldn’t give him anything he wants if I can help it,” Montez said desperately. “I’ll disappear. I’ll dig down so deep, no one will be able to find me. All I want is to keep him from killing any more of my family. Let me go.”
“I might be able to do that if I was sure that you couldn’t help me find Santos. But I’m not sure that’s true.” She paused, her gaze on his face, waiting for any flicker of expression. “Have you ever been to the place where Santos has set up his new headquarters?”
Montez stared her in the eye. “No, I have not. I dealt only with Dorgal. I talked to Santos on the phone several times years ago, but that was before you managed to topple him and send him to prison.”
“He didn’t communicate with you while he was in prison?”
“No, everything was through Dorgal after that. Nor has Dorgal ever given me a hint as to where Santos’s new compound is located. I knew that Dorgal was setting up a safe haven for Santos somewhere, but I hoped that Santos would stay in prison and not be able to use it.”
“Safe haven,” Cameron repeated. “How would you know what Dorgal was doing for Santos? It had to be top secret. Why would you know, Montez?”
Montez didn’t answer.
Cameron’s voice turned stinging hard. “Why?”
“Because I had to know. Satisfied?” A muscle was jerking in Montez’s cheek, and his dark eyes held panic. “But I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to know anything more. I could see where it was headed. That’s why I ran away.” His gaze flew back to Catherine. “And they let me go, but they gave me a warning.”
“Your brother’s death.”
He nodded.
“But can’t you see that it will just keep on? Your brother, your sister, Father Gabriel? How many deaths will you accept before you fight back?”
“I can see that if I don’t take that warning, Santos will kill another one of my family. My mother is still alive, and so is my little nephew, Nathaniel.”
“Everything you do is a danger to your family. You ran away, and your brother died. You stayed hidden, and they wanted to find you, so your sister died.” Her voice was shaking with passion. “Do you think I don’t know how that feels? Santos is threatening everyone I love, and it seems everything I do is the wrong thing. But your choice is to be a slave to that son of a bitch or fight him. You must know something, or Santos wouldn’t have been afraid of having me find you.”
“I don’t know where he is,” Montez repeated. “I can’t help it if you won’t believe me.”
She did believe him. “Okay, but I think you can help us to find him. Will you try to do that? Look, we could set a trap for him if you’d consent to be the bait. Let Dorgal capture you and take you to Santos. We’ll find a way to track you. We’ll protect you and your family, and we’ll make sure Santos never troubles you again.”
“You’re crazy. You expect me to trust you that much?”
“I hope you will.” She held his gaze. “I’m telling you the truth. Can’t you see it?”
He looked away from her.
“I know it’s dangerous, but so is being on the run from Santos when any moment he might decide he doesn’t need you. Help us, Montez.”
He shook his head.
“I could persuade him,” Cameron offered.
“No, it’s not that simple. Didn’t you hear me? I believe him. I don’t want him hurt. We’ll just stay here, and I’ll try to convince him that—”
“I could do that, too.” Cameron tilted his head. “Or go inside and attempt to find out why Santos wants him kept alive. Though he’s so stubborn, there might be minor damage.”
“Go inside,” Montez repeated warily.
“Not unless there’s no other way,” Catherine said. “I told you, I don’t want him hurt. He’s suffered enough. We just need to make it clear to him what—”
Cameron’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and put it on speaker. “Dario.”
“I hope you’re moving very fast, Cameron,” Dario said. “Because you may have company soon.”
“What kind of company?”
“Dorgal. He must have been on his way to San Esposito and sent those two men who killed the priest on ahead.”
“He’s alone?”
“He was alone when he flew into the airport. He checked out the situation at the church, made a few phone calls, and two hours later he got reinforcements from over the border and a few local villages. By the time he started tracking you into that rain forest, he had twenty-two men.”
Catherine muttered a curse.
“Is that our lovely Catherine?” Dario asked. “You won’t be totally alone. I gathered together five of my own men, who are far superior to Dorgal’s, and we’re only fifteen, twenty minutes behind him. However, he has to be fairly close to you.”
“Closer than you think,” Catherine said. “We had over two hours’ delay after we overtook Montez.”
“Not good. Should we try to ambush Dorgal, Cameron?”
“No, not yet. Keep me informed. I’ll get back to you.” He hung up. “You heard him.” He started putting out the fire. “Let’s move.”
“Untie me,” Montez said. “Unless you want to serve me up for Dorgal. He’d love telling Santos how you did that for him.”
“No, we don’t want to make it easy for Dorgal.” Catherine unsheathed her knife and cut the vines binding him. “And we sure as hell don’t want to have Santos get his hands on you. Which he will do if we don’t move fast.”