Claimed by the Secret Agent (9 page)

“One hour,” she affirmed. Then she grasped his forearm. “Be careful, Grant.”

“Nice to know you care,” Grant said, and dropped a kiss on her war-painted cheek. Then he faded into the night, looking for the best point of entry.

M
arie couldn’t stay put. She had to know what was going on inside there. If there were any vehicles on the property, they were closed inside those outbuildings with no windows.

The clinic had windows, though. So many of them. Light spilled out the cracks between the drapes in what must be the main living area. Grant had gone around back. He would be inside by now. She crept to the window and peeked in. The room was empty, but in a few moments she heard voices and the clack of footsteps on the tiles.

She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the tones were angry. When they reached the room she was watching, she recognized Onders immediately.

He was gesturing frantically to the other man, a larger, darker and more menacing version of himself. Now that they were farther inside the room, she could hear them. “Why must I go, too?” They were speaking in Dutch. Onders demanded in a near whine, “You can do this one yourself.”

“Brussels is next, and we do it together so there will be no mistakes. The Explorer is repaired?”

“It is. Here are the keys.” Onders reached deep into a pocket and came out with a key ring.

“Good. It’s settled. Come on. Shapur has cooked for us.” They left the living area.

Marie was tempted to go inside, but she remembered Grant’s orders. What if she were caught? It could compromise the whole mission.

No doubt she and Grant could take these two down now, but if the two responsible for Cynthia Rivers’s kidnapping clammed up at capture or were killed in the process, she might never be found. Maybe Grant would locate the woman and they could wind this up tonight.

Moving like a wraith, Marie left the window and slipped back to the stand of shrubs where Grant had left her. She shielded the dial of the watch he had given her and lighted it to check the time. Ten minutes to rendezvous. She had cut it close.

She heard a slight rustle behind her and crouched, gun drawn.

“It’s me,” Grant whispered from the shadows. “Come on!”

He darted across the small stretch of lawn that separated the main building from one of the smaller ones.
Moonlight made them vulnerable when out in the open, but she doubted anyone inside was keeping watch. Onders and his friend were probably eating, and she doubted the old doctor could see much past his nose.

Marie stayed low as she ran, noting for the first time that Grant carried someone over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold. Rivers, she hoped.

With the outbuilding between them and the clinic, he carefully dumped his burden onto the ground. Then he retrieved a light stick from his pocket and broke it open, providing a low level of illumination.

Marie had expected Cynthia Rivers, but it was the old doctor.

“Why did you make me go with you?” the doctor sputtered. “Who are you?”

“Shh,” Grant warned. “Do you know who those men are, Dr. Shapur?”

Shapur nodded as he straightened his old robe, obviously trying to resume what dignity he had left after being treated like a sack of potatoes. “Of course I know. Claude Onders is the grandson of the man who owns the clinic. The other is his partner.”

“They’re kidnappers,” Grant informed him. “We’re looking for the young woman one of them kidnapped in Amsterdam yesterday. Did you know they did that?”

Shapur took a few seconds to answer, looking from Grant to Marie and back again before he replied, “I learned of it today, and I was very near finding out where they have put her,” Shapur said. “They believe I am senile and partially deaf, so they haven’t bothered to guard their words.”

“Then she’s not here?” Grant demanded, grasping the old man by the shoulder. “You’re certain?”

“No, but not far from here, I think.” He paused, then added, “They plan to dispose of her on their way to Belgium, so they must have left her somewhere off the road north.”

“And they’re probably planning to dispose of you before they leave,” Grant warned.

“No, no, they have no cause to do that,” the doctor argued. “Claude told me earlier that he would return by the weekend with supplies and I should make the place tidy for them.”

“You can’t trust his word after knowing what he’s done!” Marie exclaimed.

The old man smiled, his features ghostly in the meager light. “Oddly enough, I do. He needs me here, you see.”

“You’re his front,” Grant said.

“His what? Oh, yes, I take your meaning.” He shook a gnarled finger at Grant. “You should let me go back inside and learn more from them so you can find that young woman. Meanwhile, if they leave, you should follow them and find her.”

Marie grabbed Grant’s arm and tugged him a few feet away from Shapur. “We need to get him safely away from here.”

“
You
get him safely away, back to the road,” Grant ordered. “Then drive him back to the hotel. I’ll handle those two.”

“I’ll take him to Pieter, but you wait here for me, Grant. Promise me.”

He turned away from her and Marie saw him tense.
“Shapur’s gone!” he rasped, throwing up his hands. “Where the hell did he go?”

Marie peeked around the corner of the outbuilding and saw a shadow approaching the side door where Grant must have brought Shapur out. “There! He’s going back inside. Man, he moves pretty fast for an old dude! Now what?”

“We hope he’s not in on the whole thing. And barring that possibility, pray he doesn’t do anything to make them suspicious before they leave. He said they were going to Belgium next?”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard them discussing, so that checks out.” Too late, she realized she’d given herself away.

“You heard them
when?
” Grant asked, his voice like cold steel.

“I only went around to that window.” She pointed. “I didn’t go inside.” She rushed on, hoping to avoid a tongue-lashing for ignoring his orders. “What I heard verifies what Shapur said, so at least we know the direction they’ll take. Like he said, we can follow them when they leave and find Rivers.”

“And pray we can get to her before they kill her,” Grant said.

“So we simply wait?”

“Well, a showdown’s not practical. There are too many places between here and the Belgian border that Cynthia Rivers could be stashed. She might die before anyone discovers where she is.” He sighed. “And there’s Shapur to consider, too, now that he’s back in there with them. I just hope the old boy’s trustworthy. How did he seem to you?”

“Fairly bright. We know he’s an opportunist, living on Dr. Shute’s property, probably catering to the grandson so he can stay here rent-free. He must have some deal with him to look after the place.”

Grant hummed in assent. “He seemed almost too cooperative, though, if that’s the case. I wonder if he’s thought about where he’ll go and what he’ll do after Onders is arrested.”

Marie kept watch on the house. “You don’t think he’d give them a heads up, do you? I mean, he’s got to know we haven’t called in the locals about this or they’d be here already. And you didn’t even tell him we’re agents.”

“No, as far as he knows, we’re just here to rescue Cynthia Rivers.”

“Maybe we ought to go in after them now in case he’s in cahoots.”

Marie liked that Grant thought about that for a minute before responding and didn’t automatically shoot down the suggestion. “Let’s wait and see what happens next. If he tells them we’re out here, either they’ll come looking for us or they’ll run.”

Marie finished the thought. “Or he won’t tell them and they’ll head for Belgium by way of wherever they left Rivers.” She kept her eyes on the clinic. “You’re right, we should wait, but I think we should go back to the car and do that. There’s only one way off the property. They can’t go through the fields because of the irrigation ditches.”

“That means we have to trust Shapur to take care of himself. However, if they decide to get rid of him, we can’t save him anyway unless we take them down now.”

“Our choice is between ensuring his safety when he might not even need us or sticking with the possibility of saving Rivers. I say we let him handle them. He’s done okay so far.”

“Let’s go wait with the car, then,” Grant said. “You first and stay close to the hedge.”

They ran single file down the driveway until they reached the grove of trees where Pieter waited with both vehicles.

“What is happening?” he asked, his voice pitched high with excitement.

“We’re going to follow the kidnappers when they leave,” Grant told him. “When we do, I want you to return to Gouda.”

“Shall I go to the police and alert them?”

“No!” Grant and Marie answered in unison. Then Grant explained. “We stand a much better chance of recovering the victim if we don’t have an armed posse breathing down our necks. You do as I tell you. Go back and wait for us at the hotel.”

“Yes, sir,” Pieter said, obviously disappointed at being cut out of the loop before things popped.

Marie felt a little sorry for him. “Surveillance is tedious, but it’s very important, Pieter. We needed you stationed out here tonight, and you did an excellent job of it.”

“Surveillance! Yes, I can say I did that, can’t I?”

“You certainly can, and you’ll get full credit for helping with the mission,” she told him. “Now what you have to do is wait until their vehicle and ours are completely out of sight, then leave, okay? You don’t want to alert them.”

He nodded succinctly, shoulders straight. “Affirmative.”

Marie smiled to herself. Did she know how to handle men or what? Grant nudged her and told her to get in the car.

Forty minutes later headlights appeared, coming down the driveway.

“Showtime,” she muttered.

Grant watched the car turn left onto the highway. Waiting until it was nearly out of sight, he then pulled out of concealment and followed with the headlights off. Marie waved to Pieter, who returned the salute.

“I hope he follows orders better than you do,” Grant said. “He’s seen way too many Bond movies.”

“Give him a break, Grant. Don’t you remember how thrilling you thought it would be just before you became an agent?”

“I guess. Nobody bothered to tell me it would mostly involve sitting around waiting for something to happen, spending hours doing prep and background work.”

“Then there’s the gadding about European countries with fellow agents, like
now,
” Marie added with a laugh. “Yeah, such boring work. We should have become accountants.”

“With my math grades? Not really an option.”

She laughed again. “Seriously, do you like the job?”

“As of this afternoon, I seriously love it.”

“Keep your mind on the mission, Tyndal. We’re in pursuit, in case you forgot.”

He shifted gears. “I’m with it. I just meant that when
all things come together, the blood’s pumping and you get down to the wire on a case, it’s all I envisioned. You, too?”

She blew out a sigh. “Well, I haven’t actually had that much excitement until Onders grabbed me. Before that, it was mostly sneaking around, plundering through people’s desks during parties, eavesdropping, planting bugs, that sort of thing. A bit nerve-racking a time or two when I nearly got caught, but not all that dangerous. Nobody took me seriously enough to credit I was a spy even if I had been discovered.”

“The dizzy blonde impression is a dynamite cover. You even had me fooled.”

“And now you realize I’m wise as Solomon and can be trusted to handle any situation? Get real, Tyndal. You
still
think I’m a cupcake.”

“Sweet as one, I’ll admit.”

“Shut up,” she muttered, then tensed. “Look, they’re slowing down. Turning?”

“Looks like it.” He cut the lights and decelerated. “Yep, there they go.”

Grant turned, too. Clouds were obscuring the moonlight now and made it impossible to see the road. Minutes later he lost the illumination the car lights ahead had provided. “Where are their damn lights?”

“Maybe they reached their destination?” Marie guessed. She propped one palm against the dash and leaned forward as if that would help her to see.

Grant had slowed to a crawl when all of a sudden, high headlights appeared behind them. “Is that Pieter?” Grant growled. “I’ll wring his neck!”

Suddenly the trailing car roared forward and they
were rammed from behind. Grant struggled to keep control, propelled forward by a much larger force. Marie fought the passenger side air bag, which had deployed. Grant lucked out when his failed.

“It’ll collapse. Don’t panic!” he shouted over the grind of metal and roar of engines.

They hit the car ahead of them hard and came to an abrupt stop, sandwiched between the two vehicles. He quickly popped his seat belt and saw that Marie was out of hers. “You okay?” he demanded as he slid as low in the seat as possible.

“Uh-huh.” She had her weapon in hand and was checking the load.

“When somebody shows, fire at will,” Grant said, hoping that whoever did this wouldn’t riddle the car with bullets before checking things out. He didn’t think they would, since all three vehicles were so close that they could damage theirs and be stranded.

For a long moment nothing happened. Grant wished he could shield her, but her lower half was wedged in the floorboard. She braced her weapon and aimed at the passenger side window.

He leaned sideways into the passenger seat, his Glock close to his chest and pointing at the driver’s-side window.

“Get out of the car!” a loud voice demanded in English.

Grant and Marie remained silent.

There was a scuffling sound outside the car, then voices. “Maybe they’re unconscious. Or dead.” This time, the words were in Dutch. Marie whispered a translation.

“Torch it,” the first voice suggested. Grant understood that much.

“That could draw attention from the highway. There’s no way out of here but the road in. Besides, we need to see who we have. What if it’s only one of them?”

Marie whispered again, “They’re approaching. Get ready.”

A form appeared at her window, but she didn’t fire. Grant realized she was waiting for the other one to show. The headlights from the rear vehicle threw light through their back window, but he and Marie were in shadow.

All of a sudden, the driver’s door flew open and Grant opened fire. Marie’s weapon discharged not a foot from his head, deafening him. He could feel the discharge of gunpowder, hot on his face.