Page 49 of Diagnosis Attraction

How?

Try it again. Get back into the car—when you were speeding away just now.

She put herself back into the vehicle. When she was sure she’d lost the pursuers, she slowed. Coming to a street sign, she saw she was on Sparks Road, and the cross street was York Road.

He squeezed her shoulder. “I think you’ve got it.”

“Yes.”

When she caught what was in his mind, she went rigid.

“No.”

“Yes. We have to go back and ensure it’s still business as usual out there.”

“Then what?”

“I think I know what will work, but we have to make sure about the place.”

He held her for a few moments longer, pulling her closer.

They’d both wanted to make love, yet now that she remembered the fate of the women Lang had forced into sexual slavery, neither one of them was in the mood for lovemaking.

Again, they didn’t have to discuss anything out loud. They each knew what the other was thinking.

Finally, he slipped away from her and sat up.

“Come on.”

He felt her terror and her determination.

“You won’t be alone.”

“After everything that’s happened, that’s the only reason I can do it, I think.”

Matt went to his computer and looked up the roads he’d seen in her mind.

They were in Harford County, and he mapped a route to the intersection of York and Sparks Roads.

He knew she didn’t want to go back there, but he also knew she had steeled herself to do what was necessary to bring down Derek Lang.

They drove north, and he followed her previous route in reverse. The farther they got up York Road, the more he could feel her tension. But she said nothing as he drove past the entrance to the house, which was on a two-lane rural road off Overbrook.

They came to a long drive with a small sign that said The Mansion. The house itself was up a long driveway, and they could barely see the house through the trees.

“Nice and private for the men who like to get their jollies here,” he said.

“And hard for the girls to escape. They probably don’t even know how close they are to the city.” She shuddered. “I can’t imagine how it is for them. They pay money to get out of their countries, and they’re full of hope, thinking they’re coming to something better. Then they end uphere.”

“We’re going to get them out of the mess they’re in.”

“But Lang didn’t just start with this shipment. He’s been bringing in women for years. How many others did he lure here? And what happened to them?”

Knowing she was having trouble coping with the pain of the revelations, Matt reached over and covered her hand. “We can only deal with the situation that exists now.”

“I know.”

Getting back to practicalities, he said, “Last time, you parked on the other side of the property.”

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