She didn't want to leave yet. Gardner had betrayed Phillip and she cared nothing about him. She didn't care how idealistic his reasons were for doing it. For once she felt no empathy for another's pain. He could have found another to get his funding. But Jordan and the head nurse had also died in this room. It seemed callous to just walk away from them.

"Megan."

"Okay, okay." She got to her feet and headed for the door. "I know what you're saying. I just don't like it." She strode down the hall toward the front entrance. The corridors were as dim and quiet as they had been when they had walked toward Phillip's room.

Dead quiet.

And so were those three people who had been alive and well and full of purpose only hours before.

She took out her phone as they reached the car. "I'm calling 911 and telling them that there's an emergency situation in this annex. I can't leave this place unattended. There are helpless patients that might need urgent care."

"Go ahead." He started the car. "We'll be blocks away before they get anyone over here from the main building." His phone rang and he picked up. "We're leaving the grounds, Harley. You and Renata get out quick." He listened for a moment. "Okay, we'll get back to her." He hung up. "Renata has been following the nurse who ran out of the annex. She didn't like the fact that she was in such a big hurry and that her car had no hospital parking ID. She tried to call you but wasn't getting an answer. So she called Harley and told him to get in touch."

"Did Harley spot Darnell or any other Molino men here?"

He shook his head. "But he found a truck that met the description. Darnell might have had to transport Phillip in an ambulance to avoid suspicion and been forced to leave his truck. Harley's going through the glove box now."

"If Darnell's as smart as you told me, he won't have left any evidence."

He shrugged. "You can never tell. At least, we have two threads to Molino to work on that we didn't have before."

"If Renata doesn't lose that nurse she was following."

"I don't believe Renata has a habit of losing what she's going after," he said dryly. "Call her."

"After 911." She was already dialing. "The patients." He nodded. "By all means, after the patients."

RENATA'S CELL PHONE WENT immediately to voice mail when Megan called. She tried three other times and got the same result.

"She has her cell phone turned off." She bit her lower lip. "Or someone else turned it off for her."

"The nurse?"

"If she worked for Molino she could be as bad as he is. For God's sake, the least she did was stand by and let three people be butchered."

"I don't believe she could take down Renata. From what Harley said she's remarkable."

She dialed again. "Renata is wounded. And she doesn't know for certain that the nurse was—She's picking up. Thank God. Are you okay, Renata?"

"I'm fine," Renata said. "I was just a little busy. It was a trap?"

"Yes. Dr. Gardner, the head nurse, Madge Holloway, and Jordan, the guard were murdered. Phillip is gone. Molino has him. The woman you followed is a phony."

"I'd already gotten that far. Well, a little more actually. The name of the woman I followed is Hedda Kipler. She does work for Molino and she's pretty good at his brand of ugliness."

"How do you know?"

"I told you I was busy. We're at her motel room at the Fairfield Inn on Highway 40. Come and get her." We re on our way.

"Take your time. We're having a nice chat, aren't we, Hedda?"

Megan hung up and turned to Grady. "Fairfield Inn on Highway 40. She said that there's no hurry, but I'm not sure that's true."

"Why?"

"She already knows the woman's real name. I don't know how much Cousin Mark has taught Renata about interrogation methods."

THE FIRST THING MEGAN SAW when Renata opened the door was Hedda Kipler tied to a chair with a drapery cord. She was gagged and her face was bruised and bloody.

Megan glanced at Renata with a frown. "Renata."

"I didn't do that while I had her trussed up like a turkey," she said quickly. "She jumped me when I got out of the car here at the motel. I had to defend myself." She made a face. "She got in a few licks herself. You're going to have to restitch me."

For the first time Megan noticed the bloody patch on Renata's shoulder. "You opened your wound. Sit down and I'll fix it."

"Not now," Grady said. "We need to know about her orders from Molino before he finds out we have her." He glanced at Renata. "How much did you get out of her before we came?"

"I need to tend to that wound," Megan said. "And she said she was only defending herself."

"To start off with. I imagine she's not totally innocent, are you, Renata?"

She met his gaze. "No, I'd already shaken her up. I had to follow through or it might have taken hours or days to pump her. Mark would have thought it 'inefficient.'" She turned to Megan. "I didn't do any permanent damage. Just enough to make her know I was serious. She helped them take your Phillip. Would you rather I let her lie and make up stories until it was too late for him?"

She wearily shook her head. "No, but I don't like it that it was you who did this. There has to be damage to you too."

"What did you find out?" Grady asked again.

"She's worked for Molino in Paris, Athens, and Miami in the past ten years. She's done everything from transporting drug money to be laundered to jobs like this one tonight. She thinks he's got a hideaway in Tennessee, but she's never been there." Shit.

"But she has been to an apartment he keeps in Miami. 1230 Ocean View. Last month she delivered a package to him there from Central Africa."

"He's not in Miami now, dammit."

"No, but you can get the CIA to go to his apartment and get me that personal object I need to find him. They don't seem to be able to get anything from anywhere else."

"Are you sure there's something you can use in that apartment?" Megan asked.

Renata's lips twisted. "Oh, yes. Hedda Kipler says he keeps the things she brought him in the second drawer in the chest by the bathroom door. Tell them to bring me any object in that drawer and I'll be able to find Molino."

"You seem certain."

Renata's gaze shifted to meet the malevolent glare of Hedda Kipler. "Absolutely."

"Megan is supposed to meet with Molino at Redwing, Tennessee, tomorrow night. Redwing could be a starting point for you." Grady shrugged. "Or maybe not. He could have chosen a place to meet at the opposite end of the state from his headquarters."

"I'll try Redwing. If you can make the CIA move fast, I'll be out there on the road tomorrow."

"I'll call Venable right away," Grady said. "He can send someone to pick up Hedda Kipler and get a man out to Molino's Miami apartment. Will Molino be expecting a contact from her?"

Renata shook her head. "She phoned Sienna when she left the hospital. Darnell had left over an hour before with Phillip in an ambulance. He'd pretended to be delivering a new patient to the annex and he and another of Molino's men were sent into Phillip's room to see Gardner. After that it was all over." She glanced at Megan. "You did know that Gardner was in Molino's pay?"