Read Online Volcano by Gabby Grant - Free Book Online Page B

said, drawing
nearer with a sickly smile.
    Ana judged the seconds in slow motion as Hay Long approached
the bed. Still dizzy from the blow, she was clear enough to know was about to
happen.
    Hay Long smirked and unhitched his broad gold belt buckle.
    Ana coiled all her strength into the bend of her legs then
rocketed her heels into Hay Long’s groin.
    The man doubled over with a groan as Ana rolled off the bed. Hay Long righted himself with an angry Chinese cry and
lunged in her direction. Ana sprinted to the back of the
room. He came after her with the fury of a raging bull.
    Ana dove into the bathroom and slammed shut the door,
hook-latching its ineffective barrier.
    The knob rattled.
    More angry curses in a foreign tongue.
    Ana’s eyes frantically searched the small sterile space for
something- anything.
      Not even a
window.

CHAPTER 11

 
    Maria Gonzales set the pay phone back in its cradle with a
shiver. The mere woven shawl she’d brought along hadn’t been enough to ward off
the chill growing inside her. Maria loved Isabel as if she were one of her own.
But now Maria’s own children were grown: her two sons lost to the secret
rebellion in Cuba, her daughter inexplicably missing for years after a
mysterious trip to Miami. After a certain point, Maria had realized that she
couldn’t control her children’s fates. Once they’d matured that had been in
God’s hands.
    Her husband Pepe was all she had left and Pepe wasn’t
getting any younger. But Pepe was weak, had always been weak, unable to fend
for himself in a fierce world. After thirty-six years of marriage, he still
counted on Maria to defend him. And defend him she would, until her dying
breath.
    She knew the threats the men had made weren’t idle. Though
she hadn’t seen, she’d suspected what had happened to her daughter, Conchita,
five years earlier. There were too many evil forces in the world to thwart
altogether. All one could do was fend off one little patch of wickedness at a
time. And, this patch, this one directed at Pepe, she would stomp into the earth,
even if she had to trade a bit of harmless information to do it. Giving away
Isabel’s whereabouts couldn’t really bring the baby to harm.
    The DIPAC was a fortress. And proving her loyalty to El Lobo
would buy her Pepe a little more time. Soon all this would be over. Senor Neal
was a good man, a brave man, and he would find a way to put a stop to it. Until
then, all Maria had done was make one little phone call. Information, really,
that anyone could have gathered had they been observing the situation closely.
    Maria reached into her dress pocket and fingered the rosary
beads there with one hand, while drawing the shawl more tightly around herself
with the other. Just a harmless bit of information. In
the grand scheme of things, one long distance phone call meant nothing.

 
    ***

 
    Carolyn Walker paced the DIPAC’s underground galley kitchen
wondering what could be keeping Maria. She’d made a promise she wouldn’t be
gone long, yet the moment she’d disappeared from view, Carolyn had the
unyielding sensation she’d been wrong to let Maria go. Carolyn wasn’t certain
whether it was fear for Maria or something else. But something was amiss and
she would not be able to relax until the nanny returned.
    Isabel was sleeping peacefully in the next room, blissfully
unaware of the storm that raged around her. Thank God she loved Maria so, and
that Maria was equally so good with her. Mark had been right to insist that
when Carolyn took Isabel into hiding, she bring along Maria. But if that had
been so right, what was it that was bothering the devil out of Carolyn now?

 
    ***

 
    Ana steadied herself on the narrow rim of the porcelain
sink, one boot sole on either side of the basin.
    To her left, the flimsy bathroom door rattled and roared in
its frame as Hay Long pounded from the other side.
    “I’m giving you to the count of three, Ana Kane,” he spewed
from the other side,