by Desiree Holt
He had no idea how long it went on, only that he’d never felt such pleasure. And when at last it subsided and Mallory’s legs fell limp to the side, he cupped her head in his palms and gave her a long, slow kiss, sliding his tongue over hers in a lazy motion. At last, he forced himself to withdraw from her body, easing away from her and rising slowly to his feet.
“Don’t move,” he told her. “Just give me a second here.”
He disposed of the condom in a wastebasket stuck in a corner, then lay back down again next to Mallory. They were both sweaty, and the lack of air conditioning didn’t help the situation, but he didn’t care. He was mentally cursing himself for not making time to find her in the past five years.
Stupid schmuck.
“I have to tell you this.” He brushed damp strands of hair from her forehead, looking hard into her eyes. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’ll be kicking myself for a long time for being so stupid and self-focused that I let the past five years go by without looking for you.”
Her lips, slightly puffy from kissing, curved in a little smile.
“But maybe we weren’t ready for each other. I’m not sure that I was, so obsessed with hitting all the danger spots and writing these books.”
“Which I discovered have all hit the bestseller lists. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. I wasn’t sure I’d get out of here to write the next one until Alicia told me you’d agreed to come and get me out of here.”
He couldn’t help smiling. “Just as long as we don’t make a real habit of this.”
She sighed. “I promise to try, okay?” A small grin teased at her mouth. “Maybe someone could point me in a different direction if they were around enough.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Are you offering me a job?”
She frowned. “I thought you already had one.”
“I might be persuaded to handle two.” All traces of humor disappeared. “I definitely want to talk about it when I get your ass out of here.”
“Okay, then.” She studied his face. “We are getting out of here, right?”
He nodded. “That’s a promise. Now, we need water so we don’t get dehydrated, and we should get some sleep because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
Mallory nodded, but she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be sleeping much tonight. Not with the danger to the Albado family hanging over her head and Barrera determined to find her. Only Rocket’s steady presence settled her at all. The fact that not only had he come to get her out of this mess but also that the chemistry between them was still there and he wasn’t fighting it gave her a bright ray of hope.
But they couldn’t stay isolated in this hut forever. She’d just have to trust that his friends would make this happen.
Chapter Nine
Blaze took a swallow of his coffee and set the cup down on the scarred table. After having cruised the streets carefully for almost two hours, they’d decided they needed to get out of sight of the checkpoints, of which there were a shitload. All the soldiers had communications devices and he was pretty damn sure that if they showed up on too many radars too many times, they’d have a problem. They especially didn’t want the so-called soldiers seeing the faces of the Galaxy men over and over again.
Deciding they needed to get off the road, Ed had taken them to an old coffee bar that stayed open very late and wasn’t really on the tourist scene. But, he told them, it did serve the best coffee on the island. Even at that very late hour, the place was crowded, but they’d managed to find a table in a corner, which was ideal for them. Plus no one seemed to be paying attention, a welcome change from the soldiers at the checkpoints who were scrutinizing the people in every vehicle and even questioning some of them. Smartly, they’d backed away from each station before the guards could lay eyes on them.
Once they were seated, Blaze looked at the man who was taking all these chances helping them.
“What if Barrera’s men see you driving around with three strangers in this car?” he asked. “You’ll be in a shitpile of trouble.”
Ed shook his head. “Maybe if it was a night when there wasn’t something else happening. Something that drew his focus. Plus, neither he nor his asshole-sucking lieutenant, Ruben Vidal, are anywhere to be seen. That means something else is going on, something very important, that’s taking them away from this.”
Viper lifted an eyebrow. “What do you think it might be?”
Ed shrugged. “If I had to guess, it’s either one of their major customers or a new one with a big order.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Anyway, I’ve gone out of my way to present myself as unremarkable to the general. I play the role he expects—a possible alcoholic bum who runs a little bar and takes people fishing. I never give him a problem, he always gets a decent catch when I take him out and I don’t do anything to annoy him. I even take his customers out for daytrips. I’m so unexceptional they treat me like a part of the boat. And his men sitting at checkpoints look at me the same way, I’m sure. However…”
He let the word trail off.
“Right. However.” Eagle gave a soft laugh. “If he only knew that invisibility and the ability to blend into your surroundings were what made you so very valuable to our SEAL team. These guys have absolutely no idea how effective you can be and how much information you can obtain that way.”
“And lucky for us.” Viper touched his beer glass to Ed’s. “‘Thanks seems too small a word for what you’re doing.”
“Wait until we get Mallory Kane out of here safely along with all of you. Then you can give me a big thank you and I won’t even object.”
Blaze leaned forward. “So what do we do now?”
“Now we need to figure out a way to sneak the Albados out of their house before Barrera can pull his big show tomorrow. And that won’t be easy.”
“Is there a way we can reach them tonight and get them into hiding, at least for the time being?”
“Let’s make sure they’re where we think they are,” Ed told him, “then figure out what to do.”
He pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number.
Blaze glanced over at Eagle. “Does he have the whole country on speed dial?”
Eagle snorted. “Seems like, it, doesn’t it?”
They waited while Ed spoke quietly into his phone, disconnected and made two more calls before putting the phone back in his pocket.
“Okay. Here’s the deal. Inez’s parents are still at Casa Valentina, a very homey neighborhood restaurant with a relaxed atmosphere and great food. They met friends for a later dinner and they are now having coffee and dawdling over desert. I’m guessing they’re enjoying the change from the stress that’s been consuming them since Mallory had to start hiding in their attic.”
“We need to get them out of there,” Eagle said, “but how and where? Then we have to get them away from Santa Marita under Barrera’s nose.”
Ed took a swallow of his coffee. “Yes. Okay. First, we need to scope out the restaurant and see if any of Barrera’s men are around there. My guess is he knows where the Albados are tonight and thinks they’re too stupid or weak to be a problem as long as they’re with friends. He’s looking forward to squashing them like a bug. Their destruction will be his satisfaction if he can’t get his hands on Mallory.”
“And where’s Inez?” Eagle asked. “Is she out somewhere, too?”
“She’s spending the night with her current boyfriend, Diego Flores.”
Viper chuckled. “Remind me never to try keeping secrets when you’re around.”
Eagle nodded. “You know it, man. He could work for the CIA.”
Ed gave a fake shudder. “Not in a million years. Government agencies and I don’t get along too well.”
“And don’t ask him why,” Eagle added.
“No problem. But what’s our first move? We have to get the Albados out of danger before the raid scheduled for tomorrow night.”
“We can’t do it tonight,” Ed pointed out,
“or Barrera will think something’s up for sure. Using the boat for any of this is out. Barrera’s got his thugs checking every single point of egress from all of Santa Marita so he can get his hands on Mallory. So let’s look at other options. Our first priority is figuring out how to get Mallory and Rocket off this island unobserved.”
“And you’re sure people who see us won’t wonder who you’re driving around with?” Viper asked.
Ed shook his head. “I hang out here sometimes after I fish with one of Barrera’s fishing trips, or a little jaunt he has me take some of his friends on. The reason I didn’t want to plug you into that same process is that you guys look like you could eliminate a whole country without breaking a sweat. Sorry, but it is what it is. That’s not what my usual clientele is, and I didn’t want to take a chance. For one night, though, we’ll manage. We’ll just avoid places where we’d attract attention.”
“Can’t be good for business if they go after visitors.”
“Sometimes I think they just don’t care about it,” Ed told him. “As long as their drug business is healthy and they control life on the island, what do they have to worry about?”
“Someone else coming in and pulling the same kind of coup Barrera did?” Viper suggested.
Ed’s mouth curved in a slow grin. “Good point. If only.”
“I hate to say this,” Blake put in, “but we may have to do it in order to get all of us out.”
Viper frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s possible we need to create one extraction plan for Mallory and Rocket and another for the rest of us. Moving a crowd of people might be too complex.”
Eagle nodded. “We’ve had to do that before, so I agree.”
“Let’s make plans for it but hope we don’t have to use them,” Ed chimed in. “I’d be a lot happier getting everyone out in one package. Okay, let’s finish up here and go someplace where we’re alone to figure this out. But first we should do some reconnoitering again.” He looked from one to the other. “But carefully.”
“Hey.” Eagle winked at him. “Careful’s our middle name.”
* * * *
Bruno Elizondo was a man hardly anyone ever noticed. In some ways, that was bad. He was never on anyone’s radar when good stuff happened. After five years, he was still a lowly private in Felix Barrera’s army and no one ever brought his name up to El Jefe for promotion and special assignment. He was always given the lowest, most menial tasks and he’d had only had one increase in his pay.
But it also meant that his invisibility was an asset. He could observe things and overhear things without anyone even aware he was doing it. Blending into the color of the walls had its distinct advantages.
For one thing, as the inconsequential driver who fetched Barrera’s whores, he had collected quite a notebook on El Jefe’s sordid sex life. He had even, on occasion, had to dispose of a body or two, someone who had provoked the man’s uncontrollable rage.
He washed and maintained the general’s vehicles, and it was amazing what kind of things the man left lying around. Money, which Bruno stuffed into his own pockets to subsidize his own meager wages. A couple of times, one of the expensive, made-to-order hand-rolled cigars. Women’s panties. Once even a tiny plastic baggie of coke, that he’d sold for what to him was a substantial sum.
And when he was pressed into service as a houseboy, he overheard conversations that he knew people would pay much money for if he ever had the guts to try to sell them.
But tonight, he was sure he had hit the jackpot. Tonight’s menial job had him doing coffee runs, one after the other, to what that asshole Barrera called the real soldiers, who were busy mounting checkpoints around the city. Their theory was that the woman they were looking for had not been able to reach any of the outskirts like La Jungla. She had no transportation of her own. Hadn’t used any of the public ones available. And finally, could not do it without the help of someone else.
So this asinine exercise tonight was an attempt to spot a stranger—or strangers—who might be the one or ones helping her. Exactly how any of these idiots would know who that was totally escaped Bruno. Did they expect people to wear tags that said I am helping Melinda Clayton? For one thing, strangers didn’t just wander onto Santa Marita. Barrera and his men vetted every single visitor, and casual tourists didn’t come here anymore. For another, how would they even get onto the island without being seen? Barrera had every entry spot well covered.
Still, Bruno had to agree that somehow, someone or many someones had slipped through and were getting ready to sneak the Clayton woman away from Santa Marita. If he could find out who that was, perhaps Barrera would finally see his value. He had stopped into his friend Leo’s place, where he knew he could get a richly brewed cup of coffee generously laced with fine brandy.
He happened to be sitting there when four men walked in and sat at a table in the corner. He watched while Leo served them, something tickling his brain. He was sure they weren’t regular visitors to Santa Marita or he would have bumped into them now and then doing one of his many, many menial chores.
But two things made his spidey senses leap to alert. One, he had seen these same men in an old SUV turn away before hitting a few checkpoints. And two, they didn’t look like any tourists he had ever seen, or even regular fishermen. They looked like warriors of some kind. He’d seen plenty in his time and they gave him the shivers. This had to be them. He just knew it. The problem was, how did he find out who they were and where to locate them when they left the coffee bar?
He had a cheap cell phone in his pocket that he carried so his wife could get hold of him if she needed to. It didn’t have many features, but one thing it did have was a camera. He drained the last of his coffee, nodded to Leo and slipped out through the back door. Positioning himself where he was pretty sure these guys would not see him, he snapped a few pictures of the car he’d seen them driving. When they left the place, he managed to get a couple of shots of them, sliding back inside before they could notice him.
This could be the very break he was looking for.
He was sure they weren’t going into hiding anywhere, not if they were planning to get Melinda Clayton out of Santa Marita. He just had to find out where they were going from here and what they were doing. And where they had the Clayton woman stashed. Barrera had already said he was keeping the checkpoints in place through Saturday night. All Bruno had to do was find a way to monitor where the beat-up SUV was going between now and then.
He smiled to himself as he climbed into his innocuous vehicle and pulled out into the roadway. One thing he had become very good at was ferreting things out.
* * * *
Mallory came awake slowly, blinking as she became aware of the warm, naked male body next to her. At once, everything that had happened in the preceding hours popped back into her mind. The past five years disappeared like a cloud of smoke, the connection hot and strong. And God! The sex had been off the charts. If it weren’t for the extreme danger like a third person in the room, it would have been close to perfect. She stroked a hand up and down Rocket’s arm, loving the feel of him beneath her touch.
“Morning.”
His voice had that early morning huskiness to it.
“Morning to you, too.”
He rolled over and cradled her face in his palms.
“I’m never letting you get away from me again,” he promised.
“Good. Because I’m all for that, too.”
“I just—” He stopped and blew out a breath. “For whatever reason, I had it in my head that if I had a relationship, it would distract me from my work.”
“Even though I’m sure you saw other SEALs in long-term situations?”
“Even though. And I saw just as many that didn’t last.” He traced the line of her jaw with the tip of a finger. “But lately I’ve seen two of my partners commit to relationships and they seem better than ever. I decided I needed to stop being such an asshole. Your sister
calling me gave me the chance to see if I could correct the biggest mistake I’d ever made.”
He peeked out through the slats of the shutters covering the windows. “It’s beautiful out there. How about a walk to the waterfall and an early morning shower?”
“I’d like that. Then we can scrounge for breakfast.”
She grinned. “Works for me.”
They dug around through all the displays and found, amazingly enough, toothbrushes, and they shared a bottle of water to handle brushing their teeth.
“We can figure out how to do breakfast when we come back.”
In minutes they had climbed down the ladder and headed toward the sound of the cascading water.
The walk to the waterfall was somewhat complicated, since there was no real pathway and all the overgrown bushes and trees presented one obstacle after another. They also had to navigate and avoid the wildlife endemic to La Jungla. The word was that jaguars had long since disappeared, hunted to extinction, but there were red howler monkeys—which made a horrendous screeching sound—squirrel monkeys, anteaters and tapirs. They both brought their weapons with them, just in case.
Nevertheless, Mallory had to admit it was worth it. When they finally broke through into an opening, she could only stand there for a moment and stare. What she saw was like an entrance into a magic world. Directly ahead of them, a thick waterfall cascaded down over a massive wall of rock, the sound of it thundering in the air. The water dropped into a pool it had carved out from the rock at the bottom, and around it grew more tropical plants than she had ever seen. Vibrant colors—red, orange, royal purples, azure blue—were scattered in and among the thick, wild, low border of greenery.
Mallory just stood there for watching a long moment, mesmerized. “It’s gorgeous,” she breathed.
“It is indeed,” Rocket agreed.
“You could almost forget all the bitter viciousness out there when you’re standing here.” She reached for Rocket’s hand, grounded by the touch of it. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just shut out the rest of the world and stay here?”