Page 71 of Ground Truth

Hedinger’s anger mounted with every word out of Mario’s mouth until he thought his head would explode. “No unapproved visitors, Mario. No exceptions. I made that very, very clear when I allowed you to come here.”

Mario sorrowful, horrified gaze was still glued to the dead woman.

“Was she a prostitute?” Hedinger demanded.

Mario nodded again.

“Anyone come here with her?”

Mario shook his head.

“How did you get her onto the island? She didn’t have approval. She should not have been admitted.” Hedinger’s outrage had not abated. He wanted to choke the life out of this kid. He tightened his grip on the shotgun to restrain his hands.

“She had no one. No family. No friends. She needed a place to sleep. I liked her. Told her she could stay with me for a few days. That’s all,” Mario said quietly, almost whispering. “I didn’t think you’d see her. She’d be gone before you returned.”

Hedinger’s anger was smoldering. Mario’s answers both inflamed and satisfied. The girl was alone in the world. No one would notice she’d gone missing.

“How did she get here?”

“She—she flew over with me.”

“And why wasn’t she turned away before she boarded the plane?”

“Schmid. The copilot. He sometimes lets us bring dates back to Atabei. He says he knows how lonely it can get,” Mario said, still in shock, still staring at the faceless woman.

“So you’ve done this before? Brought women back to my clubhouse?” Hedinger’s tone grew harder than granite. “Even though you knew you were forbidden to bring them here.”

“Schmid said it was okay.” Mario whispered. “Twice. Only for a few hours. When you were away so they would not bother you. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Hedinger said angrily, raising the shotgun.

Mario raised his face to look at his boss for the first time since Hedinger rounded the corner of the high house and found the screaming woman attacking the kid.

Mario saw the gun.

His big brown eyes rounded and widened even further.

When he understood what Hedinger intended to do, Mario removed his palm from his cheek and began to shake his head, holding his bloody hands out in front of him.

Hedinger was not deterred by Mario’s silent plea. He aimed and fired the powerful weapon.

The close-range shotgun blast almost took Mario’s head clean off his neck.

His body fell to the ground in a heap. Hedinger noticed bits and pieces of Mario had landed a few yards away.

“Stupid kid,” Hedinger growled as he reached into his pocket for his cell phone and pressed redial.

Meier answered immediately.

“Bring the car to the clubhouse. Now. Just you. Alone.”

“Yes, sir,” Meier said. “On my way.”

Hedinger placed a second call. This one to his head of security. He explained the situation.

“We’ll clean up as soon as you leave,” Bauer replied.

“Is Schmid on duty at the hangar right now?” Hedinger demanded.

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