The man had returned to his desk. No sign of Gage or Abby. Not good.

Edge changed position again, hoping to pick up his brother’s location somewhere in the house. But the rest of the hacienda was dark, and no sounds came through the glass panes. Where were they?

Suddenly he knew. Gage had said the old haciendas—like the one they were searching—had prison cells under the house.

He checked his watch, then thumbed his mic. “Five minutes. If they aren’t out by then, we go in.”

“Roger that,” Trace said.

“Copy,” said Skye.

And they all settled in to wait.

* * *

Don Arturo had returned upstairs, leaving Paulo in charge.

“We’re leaving,” Abby said to King, squeezing his hand. “We’re taking you to the hospital.”

King’s faraway gaze shifted, and his eyes sharpened on her face. “No . . . hospital,” he said, the words surprisingly clear.

“You’ve been ill for months. You need medical attention. The doctors will take care of you, help you get well. You have to go, King.”

His head lolled from one side to the other in a negative movement. “No . . . hospital,” he repeated.

The woman appeared in the open cell doorway. “I am Zuma, King’s friend. Please . . . we need to speak.”

Abby didn’t want to leave him. She needed to get her grandfather out of there as fast as possible.

“I’ll stay with him,” Gage said. “But we need to go.”

Zuma led Abby into the hallway. She was a handsome woman, with a voluptuous figure. Abby wondered at the relationship between her and King.

“There is nothing a hospital can do for your grandfather,” Zuma said. “He is dying of cancer.”

“What?”

“He talked about the gold when he was delirious with pain. He said that you would be coming. He has suffered greatly because of those words.”

“I won’t just let him die. There has to be something we can do!”

“There is nothing to be done. In the beginning, Arturo paid for the best doctors. He wanted to keep King alive so he could find the gold. When the doctors failed to cure him, Arturo used torture. It made your grandfather weaker and sicker, until he was in no state to talk at all.”

Abby bit back a sob.

“King believed you would come,” Zuma said. “He worried himself nearly to death for fear they would hurt you, but the hope it gave him also kept him alive. If you love him, you will take him out of this evil place. You will make sure his last days are comfortable.”

“No . . .” Abby said, shaking her head. “There has to be another way.”

Gage approached. “We need to go, Abby. I’ll carry your grandfather.”