Exposed

He gave her a wry look beneath his eyelashes. “Yeah, who’d you tick off?”

The list was short and she had a feeling that this problem had followed her from New York. “It could have been one of the people I spoke to at the marketplace. But I’ve got to be honest—I don’t think they like the police.”

“Yeah, but I got the feeling the locals don’t like the americanos that much, either.”

“You didn’t sound American,” she said, then had another thought. “I thought I saw Shannon following us yesterday.” Did Shannon hate her enough to throw her to the island militia, which pretended to be all that stood between Puerto Isla and lawlessness? Tory knew the answer and she suspected Jay did, as well.

“Do you think Shannon called them?”

He shrugged. Reaching out, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You do look very American.”

She waggled her eyebrows at him. She’d been in scary situations before. She’d never forget the first night she’d spent in the maximum-security prison for her story on women behind bars. This wasn’t any different. She’d done nothing the Puerto Isla cops could hold her on.

“I’m good at wiggling out of tight spots,” she said.

“Let’s hope you don’t have to use that skill while you’re here.”

“I want to go to the hospital where King is being held and see if we can’t get our interview tonight.” She’d made another call to Perez and had flat out told him she wasn’t leaving the island without her interview. In fact, he could have sent the police to arrest her. But he’d reluctantly told her to call again in the morning. He’d see what he could do.

What if Del Torro’s government didn’t want her to see King until he’d recovered from his time in their prison? She thought it would be in their favor to demonstrate how different they were from Santiago’s government. But Perez had done an abrupt change in position in the past twenty-four hours. And Tory knew that she was working on a short clock. She needed to get to King, and quickly.

“You got it, boss lady. I’ll grab my camera gear and meet you here.”

They pulled up to the hospital where Thomas King was being treated just after lunchtime.

Jay parked the vehicle and they headed toward the building. Two men with AK-47 assault riffles stood at attention at the entrance, despite the fact that it was a public hospital, not a military one. Considering the fact that there was still a curfew and guerrilla unrest on the island, the guards weren’t unexpected. But they did give her pause as she walked toward them.

There was something unnerving about men in uniform with guns. Tory put on her most charming smile and approached them. “¡Hola! Soy Tory Patton con UBC. Estoy aquí ver a un paciente americano.”

“Ningunos visitantes permitieron adentro hoy.”

No visitors, interesting. She’d hoped they’d just let her in. “I’m with the press and spoke yesterday to Juan Perez. Is there someone here I can speak to?”

“No.”

“I’m just going to go inside and talk to the doctor in charge, okay?” Tory said. From past experience, she knew that, if you kept talking and walking, usually you could get in anywhere.

“No visitors.” Both of the guards stepped closer together, blocking her path.

“Okay,” she said, backing away.

“That was a little weird,” Jay said once they were out of earshot of the guard.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t they let us in?” she asked.

“The police captain who was asking for you mentioned that they are enforcing a strict curfew.”

“What time? It’s only the afternoon.”

“I know. I don’t think things are going as smoothly for the new government as we were led to believe.”

“Me, either. If we have time, we’ll try again to shoot some tape on the street talking to the citizens about the new government.”

She and Jay got back in the Jeep. Tory glanced over and noticed the guards still watching them. “Damn, this ticks me off. I’m not going back to the States without this story.”

“So what’s next? Come back later?”

“Did you bring the hidden-camera unit I used for the prison story?” Tory asked. The hidden camera actually looked like a purse and had a switch that she could flip to record.

“Yes. I wasn’t sure what the situation was going to be like here.”

“Jay, I love you.”

“Ha, you say that to all the guys.”

“Yeah, but with you I mean it.”

He climbed over the seat and dug around in his camera gear until he found the camera and small handbag that went with it. Tory shot some test film of Jay climbing back into the front seat. She rewound the film and played it back.

“This looks good. Okay, drop me off around back. I’m going to make sure King’s really in there.”

“I’ll park up there and wait for you.” Jay gestured to a park a block away, overlooking the ocean. “If you’re not back in thirty minutes I’m coming in after you.”

“I don’t think it’ll come to that.”

Tory got out of the Jeep at the corner, and Jay drove up the block to park and wait.

The afternoon sun was weakened by storm clouds gathering over the mountains. Tory walked as if she had a purpose and a reason to enter the building. She approached the ER entrance of the hospital and saw two armed guards there, as well.

She ducked back in the shadow of the building before they could spot her. Help me out here, Rainy.

A minute later she saw a man with a nasty-looking wound in his chest walking toward the hospital. He was held upright by the swarthy woman under his arm. Two bedraggled kids followed behind her.

There were a couple of teenage girls in the family, as well. The girls were taller than Tory was, and she was able to walk just a few steps behind them and blend into the family.

Thank you, Rainy.

Tory followed the family to the nurses’ station and stood back while they were helped by the one nurse on duty. She led the family to a small partitioned area.

Tory glanced around quickly. Several people sat in chairs in the waiting area, and a doctor in scrubs walked past the desk and down another hallway.

Tory hurried behind the desk and shifted through the papers on the desk. She wasn’t sure if King’s name would be used on file or not. He’d been rescued only three days ago. She assumed he’d be in the critical-care unit.

She scanned the hospital layout and found that those units were on the fourth floor. She walked around the desk as a nurse reappeared.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked in Spanish.

“No, thanks.” Tory got on the elevator and went to the fourth floor.