A crackling sound came from directly behind her a fraction of a second before she felt the pain. The jolt of electricity searing through her every nerve rendered her helpless, causing the gun to fall from her hand.
Every muscle in Natalia’s body contracted from the current racing its way through her system. The recognition of pain combined with her awareness of what was happening created an unpleasant wave of déjà vu.
She’d been tased. Again. Just like when she’d been taken from her car on her way to Homeland. Only this time, Natalia managed to find the strength to open her eyes.
A man’s face appeared, and a sense of familiarity nagged the back of her mind. But the remnants of shockwaves still making their way through her system caused her vision to blur and his features to appear distorted.
His gloved hand moved toward her face. Terror consumed her when she realized he was holding a syringe.
Not again!
She attempted to fight him off, but her body was simply too weak. A flash of a stinging pain struck the side of the neck as the needle pierced her skin. Three pounding heartbeats later,Natalia’s battle to remain conscious was lost for a second time that night.
The last sorrowful thought Natalia had was of Jagger. She’d come so close to finding her way back to him only to be bested by some psychotic freak. Now she was going to die here, in the middle of nowhere with no one to keep her company except a killer.
And the worst part of it all was, she still had absolutely no idea why.
19
“Last chance, Lopez.”Jagger stood near a seated Ryker with his arms crossed at his chest. “Tell us where Agent Foster is.”
“I told you before, I don’t know.”
Mateo Lopez looked more scared than defiant as he sat across from Ryker. His hands were cuffed and secured the bar mounted on the table in front of him.
They’d been going at the incarcerated man for nearly ten minutes. If he knew where Talia was, he sure as hell wasn’t saying, but it didn’t matter. Jagger wasn’t about to give up.
“But you know something that’s valuable.” He continued to prod. “That’s why Agent Foster was coming here. Because you claimed to have more useful information. But I’m thinking maybe that wasn’t actually the case.”
The room was silent, the air stifled by the tension Jagger’s fear had created. Oh, he was pissed, of course. Lethally so. But his concern for Talia and what she could be suffering was the driving force behind his anger.
“An innocent woman’s life is at stake!” He slammed the palms of his hands down onto the table’s smooth surface when the man remained quiet.
Ryker blinked at the unexpected motion—and the sudden, deafening sound. Lopez, however, was startled so badly he nearly shot out of his chair.
“Come on, Mateo.” Jagger leaned in close enough he could count the many droplets of sweat on the guy’s forehead. “You can still do the right thing, here. They could be torturing Agent Foster as we speak.”Please God, no.“Tell us the truth. Someone else ordered you to lure her here tonight, didn’t they?”
A tear fell down the man’s olive-skinned cheek as he whispered an ashamed, “Yes.”
“Who?” Ryker demanded. “And don’t even think about jerking us around. I want a name. Tell us which of Sanchez’s men wanted you to meet with Agent Foster?”
Lopez blinked with a frown. “Not one of us.” He shook his head. “It was one of you.”
Jagger pushed himself off the table, standing tall as he shot Ryker a look. The seasoned Homeland agent’s expression said he was ready to kill.
“We need a name,” Jagger reminded their witness.
Ryker followed with a very stern, “Now.”
“I do not know his first name.” Lopez lifted his gaze to meet Ryker’s. “Only his last. It’s…V-Vaughn,” he finally choked out. “His last name is Vaughn.”
Jagger’s chest tightened as Ryker pulled out his phone. After a quick search, he held the screen up for Lopez to see.
“Is this him?” Ryker waited. “Is this the man who forced you into setting up Agent Foster tonight?”
The jerky bob of the prisoner’s head confirmed the man who’d played bodyguard to Talia had been in on it all along.
“So Vaughn’s in bed with Sanchez?” Jagger’s question was directed to Lopez.
