Phoebe lifted her chin in Sam’s direction. “’E asked me about that, too. No. They gagged me and put a sack over me ’ead before I was moved. Another bloke could ’ave been around, but I couldn’t tell.”
Sam suggested, “They’re probably holding that captive in a different place.” He asked Phoebe, “Is there anything you can tell us about this bunch, the man in charge, maybe any discussion you might have heard?”
The girl finally realized she had value in this situation. She could share what she’d learned about the group. She shifted to sit taller. “There’s a big guy wot runs everythin’. That one ’as an accent.”
“Russian sounding?” Hallene asked.
“Yeh, like that. I’ve seen up to five guards, but I don’t think they’re all ’ere now. One brought me into the tower and tossed me in this room.”
Sam rubbed his jaw, which rasped with the sound of his beard coming in. “If we could trick the guard to come in here, we might be able to escape.”
“Mebbe,” Phoebe allowed. “But when they brought in you two, a guard further up the food chain ordered the one stayin’ ’ere to not come back in this room even if it caught fire.”
Sam got up to pace. He had to think.
“Why ’asn’t me dad paid the ransom money yet?” The longing in Phoebe’s voice hurt Sam. He could only imagine what it did to Hallene.
Would she tell Phoebe the truth?
“He’s not paying a ransom but doing a job for the big guy you mentioned.” While Phoebe chewed on that, Hallene asked, “Did you hear about whatever this group is planning? Any details.”
“Not exactly. I ’eard the Russian say everythin’ ’ad to be ready by Saturday mornin’.” She sounded small when she asked, “Saturday is ... tomorrow, yeh?”
Hugging an arm around Phoebe, Hallene said, “Yes.”
Continuing to walk around the room where everything had a red cast, Sam asked, “Did anyone say what would happen at that point?”
“No, but the Russian did say they were movin’ me out of ’ere at daylight.” She described how they’d moved her from place to place and she had sensed the time between each stop getting shorter.
Damn. That narrowed the time for an escape. He looked at his watch. Almost three in the morning. He and Hallene had been out for a while.
He scanned the room and Hallene.
How could he get a signal out to his team? There was no way he’d reach any of the windows on each side of the room. His team had to be in the area. They likely had a tracking device on the vehicle, which Sam hadn’t mentioned to avoid arguing with Hallene.
Good news? She’d been willing to call his team before they went into the river.
Nitro would have sent everyone to search the resort.
Had they seen Sam and Hallene being captured or at least the ATV with Phoebe?
Even so, this place was like a fortress where the guard could hold them off on his own so long as he had ammo. Nitro wouldn’t risk hitting the entrance with a hand grenade or C4 without knowing where Sam, Hallene, and the captives were.
He looked at the windows again, glancing to his left then his right.
It was dark enough in here for a light to reach that glass. He swung around. “Hallene, is your ring still working?”
She gave him a confused look. “It should be.” She fingered her ring. It came on then went off.
“Whoa,” Phoebe breathed out. “I wondered why you always wore that ring. Thought it was from a boyfriend.”
Standing, Hallene glanced at Sam as she said, “A male friend had it made for me, but he wasnotsomeone I dated.”
Now that Sam knew more about Hallene and her friendship with the MI6 operator, he had nothing but admiration for everything she’d been taught. He lifted his eyebrows at her then winked.
If it wasn’t so red in here, he’d probably see a blush in her cute cheeks.
Phoebe began to watch her half-sister with respect.
