Danny sat motionless while Dietz spun his tale about Michelle and her supposed illegal activities. Tiny droplets of blood had formed on his lip where he had bitten through it.
This couldn't be happening, Danny thought, not now. Dietz had been misinformed and that was all there was to it. He knew Michelle. He knew how much she loved doing the right thing. She had become a doctor because of her naturally benevolent instincts. There was no way that she would be capable of doing what Dietz was alleging she had done. She wouldn't turn her back on everything she believed in.
Unless..........What if Mick had threatened her somehow? Mick was not above using these sort of strong-arm tactics to get what he wanted. He was not above threatening their daughter to keep Michelle in line or to do things that she normally wouldn't even considering doing.
Danny would kill him with his bare hands if he harmed Rosie. If he was using his daughter to get Michelle to transport the secrets that he was selling to his contact in Switzerland, then Mick was gonna wish he had never been born.
He would get to the bottom of this. He would simply tell Michelle he knew what Mick was making her do and together they could figure out what to do. If she was an unwilling accomplice, then she had a chance of being exonerated. He had some friends in some pretty high places and he wasn't above calling in a few favors if need be to keep her out of jail.
He would get her side of the story and then they would bring Mick down. He and his contact would be handed over to the proper authorities and this whole ten month long nightmare would be over.
He stood up, stretched and checked his watch. Michelle had been in the ladies room for over twenty minutes. She should be done by now and coming out any second. He stood and watched for the door to open and to see Michelle emerge from the bathroom but after five minutes when it became evident that she wasn't coming out, he began to get worried.
Was she ill? She had trembled so much when the memory of the dogs had been brought back that she might have gotten ill while she was in the rest room. Had she fainted while in there?
He sprinted down the hall with Dietz calling after him. Not caring if he was embarrassing anyone by entering the ladies rest room, he practically burst through the door.
No one was in there. He called Michelle's name and his only reply was the sound of his own voice as it echoed between the tiled walls.
He hunched down and looked under the stalls again not caring if he embarrassed anyone. She wasn't in either of the two stalls. Where had she gone?
Panic set in and he burst out of the door as violently as he had burst in it calling her name. Dietz came running and met him at the hallway in front of the restrooms.
"Michelle's gone," he said and Dietz stared at him with a look that told him that he had expected nothing else.
"Where did she go Dietz?" Danny said knowing that Dietz probably knew more than he was telling about this situation.
"She has probably met with her contact Danny. I am sorry. Alan and I figured she would try to ditch you once we got to the airport. But don't worry, we will catch her" he said and that brought about a look that was so intense that Dietz had to look away from it.
"She didn't meet with any damn contact Dietz. She didn't do those things that you are saying. There is a perfectly acceptable explanation for all of this and if you are going about this with the attitude that Michelle is already proved guilty then you can just get the hell out of here and I will find her myself" he said and began his search of the back lot for Michelle.
Dietz watched Danny's fruitless efforts of finding Michelle out in the dark lot. She was long gone by now. She and her contact were probably on their way to meet with Mick right now. He would keep a certain piece of information he had to himself for now so that Danny wouldn't go off halfcocked and try to follow them right now. He had to allow them to get to their destination first.
What Danny didn't know was that while Danny and Michelle were talking right before Dietz went to find his coffee, he had attached a transmitter to the inside of her traveling bag. She was unknowingly leading them right to her and when they found her, then they would find Mick and bring them both down.
He would keep that to himself for now for if Danny knew that his motives had changed somewhat since Alan's revelation about Michelle's activities, then he wouldn't allow him to stay and help him find out where Michelle had gone and even Alan himself didn't know how personal this was to Dietz. This was very personal for him too and he would see it out to the end.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Michelle felt the car come to a halt. Her head was still swimming from the gas fumes that were seeping into the trunk. She had nearly passed out from the pungent smell but her resolve to stay conscious had won. She still had to fight for Rosie. She wouldn't let anything get in her way.
Had Danny found her missing yet? She couldn't stop the tears from leaking as she realized that this was twice that she had been taken from him. PoorDanny. He would be devastated and relive the last ten months all over again. And like before, he wouldn't know what had happened to her.
While she had been fighting to stay alert, she had wondered why Miguel would take her away from Danny. He had been her ally during these last horrific months. Why would he suddenly turn on her like that?
Had he actually been sided with Mick the entire time? That didn't make sense because she knew how cruel Mick was and Miguel had lost his brother because of that cruelty. She didn't think that Miguel would hold any real loyalty to Mick but something had made him take her away from Danny in the tiny airport terminal.
She heard the front door being opened and then closed. The sound of the door closing went through her like a piercing knife. The crunching of the gravel as it was being stepped upon signaled Miguel's arrival towards her. She heard the footsteps stop and held her breath.
The key being turned in the lock make her let out her pent up breath. The truck was raised and Michelle got ready to adjust her eyes to the difference in light and was surprised to find that there was none. The place he had driven to was as dark and desolate as the confines of the trunks itself.
"You can come out now Miss Michelle" Miguel said and Michelle thought for a moment that she heard a touch of sorrow in his voice.
"Where are we?" she asked trying not to sound as frightened as she actually was.
"I cannot tell you that. We have to get into another vehicle and I am afraid you are going to have to get into the trunk again" he said in a voice full of resignation.
"Oh no, Miguel, please don't put me in the trunk again" she plead. "Why can't I ride in the car with you? I will cooperate fully and wont say a word, I promise" she said and didn't try to disguise the desperation that she was feeling.
"No, Miss Michelle. I am afraid that is not possible. I don't like it either but that is the way that it must be" he said.
"Why Miguel? Don't you know how scary being in the trunk is? I nearly passed out from the gas fumes and I hit my head against the spare tire everytime you hit a bump or rut in the road" she said and rubbed the back of her head to illustrate her point.
Miguel looked at the little wisp of a woman and decided just this once to bend the rules and pray that Mick didn't find out. He was already doing the work of the devil and he couldn't bring himself to cause her any more pain than he was already going to be causing her. He knew Mick had a dastardly plan in store for both she and Danny and if he could help make her a little comfortable before she reached the hacienda, then he would do it and hope that Mick didn't make him pay too dearly for his disobedience.
"Okay Miss Michelle. You can sit up front with me, but I am going to have to tie up your hands so you don't try and escape" he said and she shook her head in agreement.
She was willing to let him tie up her hands just as long as he kept her eyes uncovered. He was not aware that he had fallen into her hands. She only needed to be able to see some of the surroundings as they traveled. She would study the sights around them as they traveled and she hoped that something she saw would help her to pinpoint where they were going and then somehow she could get the information back to Danny.
She would not give up the hope that Danny would come looking for her. Please, Danny she thought hoping that somehow he could feel her thoughts, please find me, she thought and then stepped into the car and allowed Miguel to secure her hands behind her back.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Mick slammed the phone back into its cradle nearly shattering it in he process. Damn. Their plans were going to have to change.
His contact had barely had time to call him and tell him of his plans to flee his country. Interpol was on his trail and they knew that Mick was involved in the espionage as well. He would not tell him where he was going but only eluded that he would try and contact him once he got there. Evidently he didn't trust Mick not to turn the tables on him and Mick had to suppress a smile because he would have been right. He would sell him down the river to save his own butt. He would even sell his own mother to save himself which was a distinct possibility now.
He was going to have to call her and tell her of the unexpected turn of events. She would not be happy that their operation had hit a snafu but they would just have to find a way to deal with it. He needed to make her aware that she could also be in danger if their contact in Switzerland decided to eventually turn the tables on them.
He had no idea how anyone could have found out about their plan. His contact in Switzerland had been forwarding the secrets to his contact in Iraq for the last year and everything had been going along swimmingly. Until now. Someone had messed up and had aroused suspicion. He thought his plan was fool proof. No one would ever suspect him of selling sensitive secrets provided to him by Carmen to a contact in Switzerland. Switzerland had no need of United States Intelligence secrets. They didn't even have an army and they got along with virtually every country in the world. It was a perfect plan.
But it hadn't been fool proof or perfect and someone had found out and now they were on the verge of being caught. He was going to have to decide what to do next but first he had to wait until Miguel had secured Michelle and she was safely back in his possession. Then and only then, would he worry about what to do with Carmen.