Hearing footsteps behind her, she slammed the bathroom door behind her and locked it. Last thing she needed was Sam hovering over her.

“Sophie,” he called through the door. “Damn it, Sophie, open the door so I can see if you’re all right.”

She leaned over the sink and breathed deeply, sucking air through her nostrils as she fought the urge to puke. She sensed Sam’s presence for several more seconds before she finally heard him retreat and walk back down the hall.

She splashed water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror until she was sure she didn’t look like she was about to fall apart. She looked down at her hands and raised them in front of her and waited for the shaking to stop. When she was satisfied she could hold it together for however long this “questioning” lasted, she opened the door and quietly walked back into the hall.

When she reached the end, Resnick’s words stopped her cold in her tracks.

“I have to take her in. You know that, Sam. She’s too valuable to let go. She knows something. Even you can see that.”

Fear nearly knocked her to her knees. A dull roar started in her ears as her blood pounded furiously. Hell if she’d escape her uncle only to fall prey to some government lackey who was eager to put a notch in his belt by taking down the Mouton family.

She didn’t escape one prison only to enter another. Her child would have a better life than she had, and she’d do anything to ensure that. She already had.

She turned, her mind working frantically for an escape route. There were windows in the bedrooms, but she certainly hadn’t inspected them to see if they opened. Now seemed a good enough time.

“YOU are out of your goddamn mind,” Sam snarled. “Sophie stays with me and that’s nonnegotiable.”

Resnick blew out his breath and dragged a hand through his hair. “Look, Sam, I don’t have a choice in this. This is a matter of national security. Surely you can see that. I have to do whatever it takes to stop Mouton, even if that means taking his daughter into custody. Hell, I’m not going to hurt her. I’d make sure she was taken care of. She’d have the best medical care for her and the baby.”

Sam grabbed Resnick by the collar and slammed him against the wall. “My child. Mine. That’s my baby and Sophie’s my woman. I don’t give a fuck about what your superiors are saying. She stays under my protection.”

Garrett stuck an arm between Sam and Resnick and pried Sam away. “Cool it, Sam. You two need to chill the fuck out. This isn’t helping.”

Sam jerked away and cupped a hand over the back of his neck as he paced across the room.

“Christ, Sam, you have to know my hands are tied here,” Resnick said.

Garrett held his hands up. “I think Mouton is dead, and I think Sophie knows it.”

Sam and Resnick both glanced sharply at Garrett.

“We have that as one of the possible scenarios,” Resnick said. “But what makes you say that?”

“Sophie’s been holding back from the start. She’s been as jumpy as a cricket, but she’s slipped up a few times and referred to her father in the past tense. She’s said nothing of him being after her, but she’s mentioned the uncle. What if you’re right about Tomas making a power play? He kills Alex, maybe even tries to kill Sophie in the takeover. She escapes, Tomas catches up to her, puts a bullet hole in her, and she comes to Sam for help and protection.”

“It’s plausible,” Resnick said. “It’s something I’ve considered, but the only thing that makes no sense to me is why there is such an emphasis on Sophie. Women have never meant anything in Alex’s empire. They’re used and discarded or kept under tight wraps, as I suspect Sophie has been. If she escaped, while Tomas might be annoyed, I can’t imagine him risking so much to pursue her on U.S. soil.”

“Unless she has something he wants,” Sam said grimly.

Garrett nodded. “Exactly.”

Sam started to head toward the bathroom, but he stopped. Impatience simmered in his veins, but he had to handle this just right. He’d hurt Sophie by keeping this from her. She wasn’t going to be very cooperative now because he’d lost her trust.

For the hundredth time he questioned his decision to allow Resnick to meet with Sophie. He hadn’t wanted to anger a man who handed them so many of their missions, but in agreeing, he’d placed business ahead of his child, and that made him a huge dumbass.

He’d hoped that Sophie wouldn’t know anything, Resnick would be satisfied, and then he’d leave and Sophie would be free of any “interest to national security.” That wasn’t going to happen now, and he was going to have to contend with a woman who felt betrayed.

P.J. scanned the area in two-minute intervals, her eyes peeled for anything that wasn’t supposed to be. It was a damn boring job, but she never allowed boredom to interfere. A single lapse could cost lives, and she’d had to learn patience the hard way when she’d worked in SWAT.

Some lessons you learned by the book. Others you learned from cold hard experience. The latter may not be the best way to learn, but it damn well stuck.

She swept the perimeter again, and when she got to the house, she stopped, not believing what she was seeing.

“Well hello,” she murmured.

Sophie was climbing out the window. Impressive for a pregnant lady. P.J. had always imagined pregnancy making a woman awkward as hell and about as graceful as a moose, but Sophie made quick work of the window and ran like a rabbit for the woods.

Shit.

“Steele, we’ve got a problem. Subject is escaping into the woods. Heading north. Fast.”

“Say again?”

Yeah, she didn’t believe it either.

She repeated the information and heard Steele’s soft curse.

“Dolphin, you’re with me. Cole, you and P.J. stay on lookout, and P.J., relay that to Sam. Tell him Dolphin and I are on it.”

“You two always have all the fun while I get stuck in the trees,” she complained. Not that she really wanted to mess with a pregnant woman. There was too much similarity between them and pit bulls for her liking.

She’d take on a man anytime, thank you very much.

She tapped the button to switch from the privacy of her communication with her team and then fired a message Sam’s way.

CHAPTER 21

“SHE what?” Sam demanded.

He yanked the receiver from his ear and stalked down the hallway to the bathroom. Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch! The bathroom was empty. So was the bedroom. Only the cracked window told him the story as P.J. relayed it.

“Goddamn.”

“What’s going on?” Garrett demanded from the doorway.

Resnick stood to the side of Garrett, his brow drawn in concern.

“She’s gone. She went out the window. P.J. saw her running into the woods. Steele and Dolphin are in pursuit.”

Resnick swore, and it set Sam off. He closed the distance between them and slammed Resnick against the wall in the hallway.

“You stay away from her. You leave here and you forget you ever knew she existed, you got me?”

“I can’t do that, Sam. You know that.”

“Do it for me.”

Resnick blew out his breath and sagged. “Goddamn it, Sam. What a time to call in a favor.”

Sam let go of his shirt. “We have to get moving. Sophie is out there. She probably thinks I’m set to turn her in.”

The peal of Sam’s cell phone stopped him as he strode down the hall. Seeing Rio’s number on the LCD, he jerked it to his ear.

“Sam here.”

“Sam, we need to talk. I have a situation.”

Shit. Fear slithered down his spine and his grip tightened on the phone.

“Can it wait? Sophie took off. Dolphin and Steele have gone after her. Garrett and I need to go as well.”

“No, it can’t wait.”

Sam glanced up at Garrett.

“I’ll go after her,” Garrett said.

“I can help,” Resnick offered.

Garrett shook his head. “You show your face, she’ll run hard in the other direction. You stay here with Sam until we can get you the hell out of here.”

“I feel so valued,” Resnick said dryly.

Garrett ignored him and hurried out the door.

Sam turned away and put the phone back to his ear. “Talk to me, Rio. Make it fast.”

“It’s bad, Sam. Your father had a heart attack.”

Sam stumbled and had to catch himself on the kitchen cabinets. “What?”

“He’s in ICU. They’re monitoring him closely.”

There was a pause.

“What else? Just say it,” Sam demanded.

God, don’t let him die. Don’t let his dad die.

“Your mom’s gone missing.”

“What? What the hell? What do you mean she’s gone missing? She’d never be anywhere but at Dad’s side.”

“I know. Goddamn it I know, Sam. I’m sorry. I’ve let you down. I still don’t know how the hell it happened. I wouldn’t even let her ride in the ambulance with him to the hospital. I told her that she and Rusty weren’t to go anywhere without me. Period. I took them myself. My men are here in the family room. I requested something private. We have tight security around the intensive care unit. I have someone at all possible entries. Your mom was allowed in to see him a couple of hours ago. She came out and Donovan went in. She seemed to be okay. She spoke to Rusty for a few minutes and then excused herself to go to the restroom. I sent a man with her. He stood outside the door. When they didn’t return, I found him dead inside one of the stalls and your mom was nowhere to be found. I’m going over hospital surveillance now, and I have the rest of my team turning the hospital inside out.”

“Jesus. Son of a bitch!”

He’d never felt more out of control in his life. Everything was crumbling around him and he felt helpless to stop it.

“I want this son of a bitch,” Rio seethed. “The bastard preys on helpless women. First Sophie and now Marlene. He killed one of my men.”

“I don’t know what he wants, but I expect we’ll find out shortly,” Sam said. “I just hope to hell he’ll want to negotiate.”

His gut knotted and he wanted to puke. His hand shook around the phone, and he mashed it against his ear to keep from dropping it.

“Make sure Rusty and my father are safe. Do whatever you have to do. I want you to keep me posted on his condition. And for God’s sake sit on Donovan and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“I’ll guard them with my life,” Rio said softly. “I’m sorry I let you down, Sam.”

Sam closed his eyes and slowly pulled the phone away from his ear.

“Is everything okay, Sam?”

He turned to see Resnick standing a few feet away, his hands shoved into his pockets.

“He has her,” he said hoarsely. “That bastard has my mother. My father is in the hospital with a heart attack, and that son of a bitch took her when she went to the bathroom.”

Resnick ran a hand back and forth over his head. “Christ, Sam, I’m sorry.”

Sam’s fist curled into a tight fist and he rammed it into the cabinet. The wood splintered and pain shot through his hand.

“I have to go find Sophie. Then I have to go to my dad. Then I’m going after this son of a bitch.”

He stared Resnick down, letting the full force of his fury bleed into his expression.

“You stay the hell out of my way. Make damn sure no one makes a move on Mouton. Last thing I want is for you guys to finally decide to make a move and have my mother caught in the cross fire.”

Resnick pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of his breast pocket and hastily shoved one into his mouth. He lit it and sucked in a deep breath. Then he exhaled, blowing a steady stream of smoke from his lungs.

“I can only buy you so much time, Sam. We can’t allow whoever it is in charge—whether it’s Alex or Tomas—to sell a fucking nuclear weapon to some shithole third world country with a terrorist agenda.”

“I’ll bring him down. Or I’ll die trying.”

Resnick nodded and sucked on his cigarette again. He paced around the living room in agitation, taking jerky drags and spewing the smoke in noisy exhalations.

Sam checked his sidearm, then reached for the rifle lying on the counter. He shoved his earpiece in and positioned the mic in front of his mouth.

“Report in. Any sign of Sophie yet? I’m coming out.”

“Negative,” Steele responded. “We’re looking.”

Sam swore and shoved out of the door.

SOPHIE huddled between two of the three large stone outcroppings and forced herself to slow her breathing. Her pulse thudded like a hammer, until all she could hear was her heartbeat and each breath, in and out.

She’d climbed over the tall stone face and slipped behind it in an effort to find a hiding place. Unless someone climbed up the same way she had, no one would find her here. She was protected on all sides and had enough room to stretch out in the craggy moss. It was damp and chilly, but she’d be safe here.