The Jungle - Cussler Clive (электронную книгу бесплатно без регистрации TXT) 📗
“Another mystery solved,” Max said, turning back to Cabrillo, “is the bombing at the hotel.”
“What? It wasn’t random?”
“It’s obvious that Bahar considers us such a threat that he felt the need to infiltrate our team, but he also took a shot at blowing us up in Singapore to end that threat early.”
Juan considered this for a moment and shook his head. “I don’t think so. As I said before, why not just have Smith blow our brains out as soon as we entered the room?”
Hanley’s face split into a wicked grin. “Because he would know the rest of the Corporation would search the ends of the earth for the shooter. But if we’d died in a suicide bombing, who would they hunt down?”
Cabrillo thought that his old friend might be onto something, but a lingering doubt remained. For the time being the past was unimportant. “For now, we need to concentrate on Bahar. We need to find out what he has planned. It’s something he sees us threatening, and it’s linked to whatever they pulled from the temple.”
“That’s specific,” Max said sardonically
“What about my little girl?” MacD asked, mustering as much dignity as he could. “Now that Smith, or this Bahar guy, knows Ah’ve been found out, they’re goin’ to kill her. They’ve let me talk to her over a webcam. The guys with her are strapped with explosive belts. They’re going to blow up my baby.”
“Who said anything about Smith and Bahar knowing we’ve discovered why you’re here?”
“Ah don’t understand.”
“It’s simple, really. You contact Smith like you’re supposed to and report that the rig was gone by the time we got to it.”
“Okaaay,” Lawless said, drawing out the word as if to draw out more information.
“And then we rescue your daughter, figure out what these sons of bitches are really up to, and nail them to the nearest outhouse door.”
AFTER THE LONGEST, hottest shower he’d had in a long time, Cabrillo went to find Linda Ross. She’d write up a full report of her ordeal, but he wanted to get the highlights quickly to help establish their next course of action. He went first to her cabin to discover that Soleil was there and just out of the shower herself. She had one towel wrapped around her and tucked under her arms and another wrapped in a turban, covering her hair.
“Again, you catch me when I am not at my best,” she said with a coy smile.
“Story of my life,” Juan replied. “Good timing with everything but the ladies. Linda didn’t show you to one of the guest cabins?”
“She did, but your selection of feminine toiletries is a little lacking. She was kind enough to let me use hers.”
“I’ll get on the steward,” he promised, and then asked with genuine concern, “How are you?”
A shadow passed behind her Gallic eyes. And, just as quickly, it faded. “I have endured worse.”
“I read up on some of your accomplishments,” Cabrillo said. “And I was very impressed. However, there is nothing quite like being held against your will. That lack of freedom and control can get to anyone. Powerlessness is perhaps the worst feeling in the world.”
She opened her mouth as if to reply, then suddenly plopped herself on Linda’s bed and buried her face in her hands. She sobbed quietly at first, but soon it grew, until her whole body was shaking. Juan wasn’t the type to be put off by a woman crying, at least when she had a reason. Pointless histrionics just irked him, but something like this naked expression of fear was something he understood all too well.
He sat on the bed next to her but kept his hands to himself. If she wanted human contact, it would be up to her to initiate it. His instincts at times like this were spot-on. In seconds, Soleil had pressed her face into his shoulder. He put an arm around her and simply waited for her to get it out of her system. Less than a minute later she straightened and sniffled. Juan plucked a couple of tissues from the box on the nightstand and handed them to her. She dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose.
“Pardonnez-moi. That was not very ladylike.”
“You’ll be all right now,” he predicted. “I can tell you are a strong woman, but you’ve bottled up your emotions for a long time. I suspect you never showed weakness to your jailers.”
“Non. Not once.”
“But that doesn’t mean you don’t have any. So they come out in a rush in the end. Nothing to it.”
“Thank you,” she said softly. Her voice strengthened, and a little smile played at the corners of her mouth. “And thank you for saving my life. Linda has such faith in you that she never doubted our rescue. I was not so sure. But now?” The smile turned into a grin. “Now I think you can do anything.”
“Just as soon as I get my red cape back from the cleaners.”
The reference confused her for a moment. “Oh, your comicbook Superman.”
“That’s me, but I don’t do tights.” Juan turned serious. “I need to ask you some questions. If it’s too difficult, we can do it another time.”
“Non. I will do my best.”
“Or I can come back when you’re dressed.”
“I have a towel. It is enough,” she said with European pragmatism.
“Did you overhear anything during your captivity? Anything that would give us a clue what this is all about?”
“No. Nothing. They took me from my home in Zurich. Two men broke into my house and attacked me while I was asleep. While one held me down the other gave me a shot. It knocked me out. When I came awake again, I was in that cell where you found me. I did not even know that it was an oil platform until Linda told me. You see, they had drugged her too. But she says she woke in a helicopter on its way out to sea.”
Juan knew that, like himself, Linda would have remained motionless after coming to in order to get a sense of her surroundings. It was a trick he’d taught her.
“Do you have any idea why you were targeted?”
“I assume it has to do with my father,” Soleil replied. “He is a wealthy and powerful man.”
“I met him in Singapore when he hired us to go into Burma to look for you.”
“It is true that I was planning on going to Bangladesh with a friend of mine on an extreme backpacking trip.”
“We know. The man behind your abduction went so far as to update your website to make it look like you’d left for that trip. They covered themselves well. Anything specific about your father? Any recent business deals?”
“We are not so close anymore,” she admitted sadly.
Cabrillo knew that pretty soon she’d have to be told that in all likelihood her father was dead. Bahar had what he wanted, so Roland Croissard had become a loose end. They would keep searching, of course, but the odds were long that the Swiss financier had been left alive.
“Okay, then,” Juan said, and stood. “You get some rest, and we’ll talk more later.”
“There are some people I’d like to call. My father and some friends.”
“I might as well tell you now. Your father is missing. We’ve been trying to reach him for several days but haven’t had any luck. Also, I’m afraid that until we have a better handle on the situation we need to keep up the pretense that you died back on that oil rig.”
“My father? Missing?”
“And the last time anyone saw him he was with the man that most likely kidnapped you in Zurich.”
Guilt, fear, and anger played across her face in a kaleidoscope of emotions. She sat as still as a statue, a beautiful mannequin, her soul having just been torn out.
“I am sorry,” Juan said softly. He wished she hadn’t asked about making calls. She wasn’t ready to hear this kind of news. Not now.
Soleil finally looked up at him, a pleading look in her eyes that he wanted more than anything else to satiate. He’d never seen such naked vulnerability. Now he was in territory where he wasn’t all that comfortable because it brought up feelings of his own loss. He hadn’t been told about his wife’s death until he’d returned from a mission for the CIA and she’d been in the ground for weeks.
