Asking the woman for her identity would be useless. They might have to use the hidden escape door behind the wardrobe—that had been the entire reason he’d chosen this location out of his handful of places to lay low. Even when he’d worked for the Fed League, he had wanted backup escape routes in case something went wrong.
He caught Sabrina’s eye and put up a hand with all five fingers. He nodded his head to the wardrobe and back. Sabrina understood that he had a plan—even if she didn’t know what it was—and nodded back. He lowered one finger and then another before the woman on the other side of the door spoke again. “If you try to escape through the secret passage behind the wardrobe, I most definitely will not share my pastries with you.”
He stopped the countdown. Even if there was a camera in the room, and the woman outside had seen him nod toward the wardrobe, no one knew about his secret passageway. With that comment, he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Who are you?”
“I’m surprised Aislinn didn’t mention me. Hmph. I’ll have to talk to her about that.” The woman waved a few fingers through the door. “Hello, my name is Neena Chatterjee. I help run DEFEND, and I highly advise you to let me inside unless you want me to start drawing attention from people down on the street.”
Aislinn was the woman who had organized the rescue for his sister last week. Still, this Neena hadn’t given him specific enough information for him to believe her yet. He needed to know more. “Prove that you work with Aislinn—tell me where they found my sister.”
Neena removed her fingers and her voice was serious when she answered, “Tied-up naked in a freezer, on a sprawling estate about an hour from Merida, off the main road to Celestún.”
Her answer was correct. He still wanted to question her further, but he wanted to do it away from possible prying eyes. “Okay, I’ll open the door, but I want you to have your hands raised when I let you in to make sure you don’t have any weapons.”
Neena answered, “I don’t usually take orders, but just this once, I’ll agree.”
Before the woman started talking again, he unchained the door and slowly opened it until he had a short woman with wild, curly black hair and golden tan skin standing in front of him. Her hands were up, and she had a clear plastic bag of Mexican pastries in her left hand.
He only hoped the pastries didn’t hide something much worse inside of them.
He waved her inside. “Hurry up.”
She walked in, and since he knew Sabrina would watch his back, he locked the door before turning around to find Neena giving Sabrina the once-over.
Despite the fact Sabrina had to be as confused as hell as to what was going on, she was alert and had her gun trained on Neena. Sabrina’s trust in him chipped away even more at his belief she’d turned him in on purpose. But if he were ever to have a discussion with Sabrina and possibly get her naked again, he needed to make sure they survived this encounter.
He gave Neena a wide berth and stopped a few feet away from both Neena and Sabrina. Before he could ask Neena a question, the woman tilted her head and said, “The sooner you lower your guns and talk with me, the sooner you can plan your take-down of Watkins. Once that’s done, I’ll let you have a week off to hump each other like rabbits. Or whatever animal mating rituals you fancy imitating. Horses, perhaps? Or turtles? No one ever says, ‘hump like turtles’.”
Jorge ignored her needling. “How about you start talking some sense? After this job, you have no say in what I do.”
Neena shook her head. “Tsk, tsk. Sometimes I forget not everyone knows what’s going to happen.” She looked at Sabrina. “Like Sabrina here. She has a very big secret, one that should lead to a wonderful partnership in the future. DEFEND could use the help of her employer.”
He wasn’t going to completely just take this Neena at her word, especially since he didn’t know if Sabrina had an actual employer outside the Fed League or not. “Why would your precious organization need her help? Once the Fed League crumbles, she’ll move on to something else.”
Neena glanced to him. “Why don’t you ask her? I’m sure she’s heard of DEFEND and could see why her employer might be of some value to me and my organization.”
He growled at Neena. “Sabrina, tell her you aren’t working for anyone else so I can tell this woman she’s crazy.”
Sabrina remained silent, so he darted a glance to her face and back to Neena. Even in that split second, he could see how pale she’d become. “Sabrina?”
Neena smiled. Her voice was calm and coaxing when she said, “Go on, my dear, tell him. I promise you won’t be ‘relocated’ and banished for the rest of your life. You have no reason to trust me, but surely you’ve heard about the ‘colorful’ DEFEND co-leader and her reach. That’s me, and if you cooperate, I’ll protect you.”
Jorge looked to Sabrina again. “I’m lost. What’s she talking about? Who do you work for?”
Chapter Nine
Sabrina stared at the woman who called herself Neena Chatterjee. Somewhere in Sabrina’s basic training, she’d heard of the eccentric DEFEND leader and her knack for always showing up at a critical time to sway things her way. Sabrina had dismissed most of the rumors as bullshit, but she was starting to reconsider her call.
Then Neena had to mention how Sabrina had a secret to share, and she barely resisted panicking.
So many things had happened in the last few hours with Jorge. She had started to think she’d tell him the full truth, but this was not the way she’d imagined it—half-rumpled and bra-less, pointing a gun at a strange woman clinging to a bag of pastries.
The strange woman in question had assured her she wouldn’t be relocated if worse came to worse, but she didn’t trust her word. Instead, she cleared her throat and chanced a quick glance at Jorge. “Before I say anything, I want to know why you give any credence to her words. Why does mentionin
g this Aislinn person mean anything to you?”
He looked like he wanted to press her to answer, but after he gave a glance to Neena, he looked back at her and said, “Aislinn is the one who orchestrated my sister’s rescue. There is more to the story than that, but if you have any faith in me at all, then let that be enough for now.” He waved his free hand toward Neena. “Please answer her question. The sooner you do, the sooner she’ll leave.”
“Hmph,” Neena said but kept her attention on Sabrina. “Maybe I can help ease your worry. That’ll make this easier for all of us.”