Grizz looked around and responded. “Sanchez?”
“No. Dani. She headed for the restroom and never returned. I’ve been looking everywhere for her. I thought maybe she headed up the mountain.”
Grizz’s mind went numb. The radio fell out of his hand and hit the dirt. His legs wouldn’t cooperate. He had to remind himself to breathe.
Dani was missing. And he’d never gotten to apologize for not trusting her. For walking away when she’d needed him most.
TWELVE
Why was she so cold?
Where was Grizz?
Dani grasped around her, trying to find anything that could identify her location. But her arms were useless, tied up behind her back with zip ties while rope secured her to a wooden chair. The last thing she remembered was meeting with Rio. And someone else. Jamie?
They’d been discussing the senator’s involvement in the terrorist organization.
Her mind opened a floodgate, and the deluge of memories assaulted her.
Grizz.
The mystery compound.
Senator Deville.
Assassin bugs.
She tried to move, but her stomach threatened to empty its contents all over the floor. She tried to feel around in her pockets, but her knife was gone.
No, no, no. Not good.
The man Dani had thought she’d ruined with her story happened to be exactly as she’d portrayed him. Evil.
How much time had she wasted feeling sorry for him—for herself? She’d been right all along, but that did little to comfort her when she was tied to a chair in an unknown location with a lunatic abductor. That man was as unstable as the fires Grizz and his team fought.
Fire! The compound was ablaze.
These militia guys were cleaning up. Which meant she was out of time.
Dani would be collateral damage. The senator wouldn’t keep her alive for long.
She squinted to examine her prison cell. To her left, she spotted a rectangular window caked in dirt, but it gave her just enough light to make out some shapes in the shadows. She could see the outline of a door in front of her along with a few objects covered in sheets. In the corner, boxes were stacked against the wall. Storage? Maybe she was in a basement, based on the damp smell and dusty air.
“Hello?” A frail voice startled her.
“Who’s here?” she said.
Something scuffed against the concrete floor. “I was going to ask the same of you. I’m Rodrigo Cortez.”
“Cortez? I know your daughter, but she goes by Sanchez, not Cortez. She’s been looking for you.” She didn’t want to say that the compound was currently burning to the ground. The man had been through a lot and didn’t need to know his daughter was in danger.
He sucked in a breath. “My Maria has been looking for me? No. Please make her stop.”
“What do you mean, Doctor Cortez?”
“Please, I don’t want Maria involved. These men are very bad. They’ll use her just like they’re using me. She needs to stay far away.”
Dani shivered, and not from the cold room. “What did they make you do?”
