She tried to put the terror out of her mind and think of the positives. It had been a horrific night, but there was something positive in all this.

She knew exactly where she was. Los Angeles. On the drive in she’d seen the interstate signs giving directions to Hollywood, and then, after they got off the interstate, the street signs told her she was in Beverly Hills.

When they’d pulled up to this building she saw one last sign before she’d been whisked inside.

The Four Seasons Hotel.

If she could just find access to a phone or get online somehow, she could contact her sister and tell her the Director was right here with her.

It was too late to save her, Roxana was certain. They would kill her soon enough, no matter what she did. But if she could only get the information out before she was murdered, she might be able to help all the other women held in bondage by this horrible organization.

The Director stopped pacing and looked out the window a moment, then his plaintive voice kicked up again at something Jaco said that Roxana could not hear.

The American said, “I’m not leaving the U.S.! Why the hell should I? The government is watching out for me here, and I don’t have a single personal tie to what happened at Rancho Esmerelda.”

Jaco replied in a strikingly calmer manner. “A week, Ken. Two, maybe. We go down to Antigua, or to Costa Rica, work from your property there, make sure that everything here is cleaned up and this fookin’ Gentry bloke is dealt with.”

Sean started to second Jaco’s proposal, but Cage shouted over him.

“How’s that going to happen? You’ve lost all your men but two, and you haven’t put a scratch on him as near as I can tell. There were thirty cartel soldiers on that property. Thirty! And still we hear that the men who attacked escaped in their helicopter. Along with the merchandise, I might add. Expensive fucking merchandise, each one of whom has seen very important faces around here. Do you have any idea what this will do to every man who’s gone to Esmerelda? They’re all gonna come at me now! Studio heads, financiers, high-profile lawyers. I don’t have to remind you the power of our clientele, do I?”

“All the more reason for you to get out of the country while we get to work cleaning this up! Look, the American government is actively trying to kill the Gray Man. He’s in the U.S., they know it, and now they will know what area he’s in. That aspect of this problem will clean itself up in short order. Either he runs away, or they get him. You just have to be clear of the area until one of those two things happens.”

The Director sat down now, the first time Roxana had seen him do so since his arrival here at the Four Seasons.

He closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hands, his elbows on his knees, the cuffs of his blue bathrobe drooping, exposing his hairy forearms. “I’ve got so much shit at the house that I can’t leave without. Bearer bonds, hard drives. Physical stuff.”

“I’ll send Sean and his men to get it all.”

Sean began to protest this; Roxana knew he’d refuse to leave his boss’s side, but Cage said, “If I’m leaving the country, then I’m going by the house first. Sean’s not getting in my safe; only I go in my safe.”

Jaco stood now, looked out over the balcony at the morning. “How much time will you need?”

This time Sean did break into the conversation. “Wait. You aren’t suggesting he actually go to his residence. We don’t know if Gentry and his people know his address, his name. Shit, I’m not sending him into—”

Jaco pointed at the American bodyguard. “You’ll do your job!” He turned to Ken now. “How much time, boss?”

“I need two hours, and I need Sean’s men to help me load up cars. If I tell my wife we’re leaving the country and she can’t go home first, she’s going to do more damage to me than Court Gentry.” He leaned back on the sofa. “Shit! Heads are going to roll when this is over, I swear to you both!”

Jaco spoke to Sean. “Two hours? The seven of you can watch him. Me, Loots, and Duiker, too. That’s ten armed men there. Claudia can help, as well.”

Sean looked defeated to Roxana, but he didn’t give in completely. “One hour. We go in hard and fast, all of us, together, and my men are on watch while me and the four of you help the boss get what he needs.”

Claudia had not said a single word, but now she spoke up. “I can pack Heather’s clothes, get the kids’ stuff, while you are dealing with potential evidence.”

Ken just nodded and rubbed his eyes some more, then took his hands away and again looked right at Roxana. “What about her?”

Jaco didn’t hesitate. “She comes with us. If Gentry and his mates arrive, I’ll have a knife at her neck to slow them while you get away. If he makes contact with us, we’ll use her to bargain, or as bait.”

Roxana’s teeth chattered, but through the fear she recognized that she was about to go to the home of the Director. Ground zero of the Consortium.

She didn’t see this as yet a new danger.

No, this was her chance, her last chance, and she knew it.

FIFTY-TWO

   Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Cage stepped out of the kitchen door of her girlfriend’s house in Bel Air, then walked down the driveway as the gate opened automatically in front of her, thumbing open her phone’s screen along the way. With a couple of clicks she ordered an Uber Lux to take her to her home in the Hollywood Hills, fifteen minutes away in morning traffic.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. Her mom routinely disallowed her daughter from overnighting with her eighteen-year-old friend, thinking Clara to be a bad influence, so Charlotte had quit asking permission. Instead she told her mom she was spending a couple of days at Lake Arrowhead with a friend her own age whom her mom trusted. This wasn’t the first time this summer she’d pulled this off, and she hoped it wouldn’t be the last.

As Charlotte stood there waiting for her ride, she noticed she’d missed a text message and a phone call. The text was from her mom, and it was demonstrative and unusual, but not particularly worrisome.

Call me as soon as you get this. Do not, under any circumstances, go to the house.

She didn’t bother listening to the voice mail.

As she climbed into the back of the BMW 5 Series that arrived to pick her up, Charlotte considered calling to see what was going on, but she decided against it. She also decided against complying with her mother’s wishes. She was only leaving the house so early this morning because she was meeting Sean for a surfing lesson. Sean didn’t work Wednesday mornings, and they’d made plans the week before.

She hadn’t said anything to him about Arrowhead, knowing all the time she’d be in town and excited to go surfing.