Cantara smiled at the guy’s feeble attempt at humor, then sat twiddling her thumbs, not surprised when he didn’t come back immediately. Hospitals ran to their own timescales. She filled the time thinking about the events of the past twenty-four hours, nervous about the arrival of the military that afternoon, but anxious to get it over and done with. Levi had suffered almost as badly as she had. More so in some respects since she knew she was placing herself in danger when she volunteered for the role of go-between. Levi was simply doing his job. It must be the worst thing in the world to be separated from his family, to miss his children growing up, to have them think he was a traitor. She really hoped they could fix things for him—to say nothing of themselves.
She hugged herself when she thought about all the things she and the guys got up to in the yellow room. They had spanked her again last night, then tied her up and took turns to fuck her until every bone in her body felt gloriously liquefied. She wanted them both at once, but Raoul, in his infinite wisdom, decreed she wasn’t strong enough yet. Cantara harrumphed and straightened her shoulders. She was perfectly willing to play submissive but hell would freeze over before either of them told her what she was or was not strong enough to attempt.
“Come on,” she muttered, when the waiting appeared to stretch on forever.
As she said it, the door opened behind her and an orderly in scrubs came into the room, but not the same one as before. She gathered up her purse but barely looked at him, until she heard the door lock click behind him. Her scalp prickled as she slowly looked into his face. She recognized him immediately.
It was Romney, and this was clearly not a social visit.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” he said accusingly.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
Cantara was astonished when her voice sounded so level when her heart was pounding, and her pulse was racing out of control. At least the nagging feeling she’d been wrestling with all day now made sense. Why hadn’t they stopped to consider he might not be at the Pentagon? Because they hadn’t thought he would be stupid, or desperate enough, to come anywhere near her, Cantara supposed.
“How did you know I would be here?” she asked.
“I figured you’d run to your doctor just as soon as you got your memory back.” He shrugged. “I hacked into his appointments calendar and struck pay dirt.”
“You won’t get away with whatever you’re planning to do. We know it was you who set Levi up, and then got daddy-in-law to clean up for you.”
“Aw, he didn’t need to do that. Far as I was concerned, Levi could go down for the crime and that would be that.”
“You didn’t plant convincing enough evidence against him.”
He did a one-shouldered shrug this time, arms folded across a disconcertingly solid-looking chest. “Where there’s smoke there’s fire.”
“You didn’t stop to think they might look at you next?”
“Your boyfriends didn’t.” He chuckled. “All this time, they’ve been fretting about what happened to you, chasing their tails trying to find Levi, and didn’t once think it could be me.”
“They think so now. So Does Agent Parker and Colonel Hassan. You won’t get away. They’re looking for you.”
“That’s okay. They won’t look here, but if you’d stayed dead, or at least brain-dead, it would have saved us both a heap of trouble.” He waved a syringe in the air and grabbed her arm. “Now don’t make a fuss. This will send you to sleep, no pain.” He giggled like a girl. “You’ll like it, trust me on this.”
Shit, she was in trouble! He was twice her size and strength, and he had a damned good reason to want her dead.
“You can’t kill everyone involved,” she said in a reasonable tone. “Raoul and Zeke know everything I remembered.”
“Hearsay,” he said dismissively.
“Not if Colonel Pool testifies against you.”
“He won’t do that.” But Romney sounded a little less sure of himself. “He always puts his daughter ahead of everything else, and his daughter worships the ground I walk on.”
“Don’t count on it.”
She wanted to tell him they had Levi but if she mentioned him, would he give it up and disappear? Most likely not, but the only alternative was to die, here and now. It had to be worth a shot.
“How do you think we found out the truth?” she asked.
He fixed her with a chilling look. “Like I give a shit.”
“We have Levi.” His head shot up and his grip on her arm momentarily loosened, but not enough for her to break free. Even if she did, the door was locked. She would never get past his bulk. “Pool brought him to the States, got him a new identity, a job, and he can prove it.”
“Really!” He quirked a brow. “Too bad, but I shall instigate plan B and disappear after I’ve dealt with you. Shame that, I was hoping to build a bigger nest egg first, but Pool’s daughter is becoming a real nag. It’s time to move on to a younger model, as they say.”
“If you’re leaving, there’s no need to kill me and have a murder charge hanging over your head. Raoul and Zeke will figure out it was you and will hunt you down.”
He chuckled, a manic sound that chilled Cantara’s blood. “They haven’t done too good a job of finding me so far.”
“They know who they’re looking for now. You’d never be able to stop looking over your shoulder, especially since the military now has a warrant out for your arrest.”
“Touching of you to care, but I’ll take my chances, thanks all the same.”
Hell, he really meant to do this. There had to be something she could do to help herself. She used to be able to get the better of men his size, but was still weak and out of practice in hand-to-hand combat. Where the heck was the real orderly? Was there a panic button she could reach? She saw the large red button in question on the opposite wall, tantalizingly just out of her reach. She delved into her purse behind her back with her free hand and searched frantically for the cell phone Raoul had given her. Who was the last person she’d called on it? Think, Cantara, think!