Page 29 of Trapped

His heart was pounding now, and he forced himself to walk casually—not to his room, the mess hall, or the gym, or anywhere else he could remember.

Words and phrases from the conversation with the doctor were swirling in his head again.

Went berserk.

Endangered the mission.

Post-traumatic stress.

He fought to keep his hands at his sides and not press them over his eyes.

Was he really all screwed up? He didn’t want to believe it. Couldn’t believe it and retain his image of himself.

And yet he’d just stolen some money. As a teenager he might have done it. But he didn’t think it was the kind of thing the adult Cash Baker did.

On the other hand, these were extraordinary circumstances. If he got out of here, he was going to need the money.

American money. But he suspected he would have no problem spending it in Thailand.

He kept walking, knowing he needed something constructive to do instead of thinking about what Montgomery had told him and about how he was demonstrating his character flaws.

He had no real idea what this facility looked like. But he was going to do some exploring. Unless somebody stopped him. Or started following him around. Would they go that far? He didn’t know, but he guessed he was going to find out.

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Sophia’s gaze was glued to the screen. “He’s left Montgomery’s office.’

“Let’s hope he’s walking under his own power.”

She glanced at Phil. “What do you mean?”

“They could have drugged him. They could be carrying him somewhere.”

“No!”

Phil came over and looked at the screen. “Then what’s he doing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Montgomery may be getting desperate.”

She dragged in a breath and let it out. “Let’s see where Cash is going.”

“Okay,” he agreed.

She felt him standing behind her, watching the action like a guy glued to a televised sports event. She wished she had gotten to work with some of the other men who had been in on the briefing sessions. But Phil had volunteered for the assignment, and she was stuck with him.

“Have you been on a rescue mission like this before?” she asked, partly because she couldn’t stand the silence.

“No.”

Not the answer she wanted to hear. But she felt like her choices had been taken away when she’d signed up.

She watched the screen. “He’s going downstairs.”

“Yeah.”

“If he gets into a good position, I can pull him out now.”

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