Risky Engagement

by Merline Lovelace

  Well, that answered that question. It also confirmed Wolf’s guess that Cordell had Nina lined up in his sights as a potential mark. Dollar signs must have flashed in front of the bastard’s eyes when he discovered Dr. Grant was leading the charge in medical data collection, analysis and exchange. The possibilities for profit—and fraud—probably had him salivating.

  The unexpected arrival of Nina’s fiancé would have thrown a monkey wrench into whatever tentative plans Cordell had formed for her. If so, the fact that Kevin was still relegated to the living room sofa must have put a smile on the snake’s face. He’d be eating that grin before too long, Wolf vowed silently.

  Still restless, he prowled the small cabin. On a hunch, he sat down in front of the runabout’s marine navigation system. It was state of the art, like everything else on the craft. Housed in a waterproof, shockproof case with an IP66 rating that ensured it would withstand the heaviest seas, the system connected wirelessly via Bluetooth to a GPS, a wind meter, a knot log, and depth-sounder fish-finder. All viewable on a fifteen-inch touch screen LCD with a sunlight readable display, no less.

  Damn, Wolf thought wryly. Stealing government secrets obviously paid better than retrieving them. Lusting for a system like this one, he fingered the chart plotter icon and squinted at the long list that painted down the screen.

  Another touch of the screen highlighted the three courses plotted in the past twenty-four hours. As each came up, Wolf studied them intently. The first charted the runabout’s course from Sebastian Cordell’s seaside villa to the Mayan Princess. The second would take the runabout home again.

  The third, he saw with a leap of excitement, integrated the weather forecast and tides for 11:00 p.m. Thursday. This course led to a point off the tip of the Baja peninsula some seventeen nautical miles out to sea.

  Cordell had invited Nina and Wolf for a short cruise on Thursday afternoon before he took his yacht out for a longer voyage that evening. Made sense that he’d have the runabout shadow the yacht and stay within hailing distance. Just in case.

  Reenergized, Wolf went into the water and swam back to shore with clean, strong strokes. His phone came out the moment he cleared the surf.

  “Yo, Wolfman. You’re up early.”

  “So are you, Ace. Any news?”

  “It’s going down just as we anticipated. Cordell received a final bid for the merchandise just before his midnight deadline.”

  “Did he accept it?”

  “Negative. But he did contact your pal, Alekseev, right after that call to advise him the bidding had closed. Alekseev wanted to know when he would designate a time and place for delivery.”

  “I think I know the time and place.”

  “No kidding?”

  “No kidding. D-day is Thursday. H-hour is twenty-three hundred local, give or take.”

  “And the coordinates?”

  Wolf relayed them, then waited while Ace pulled the location up on the control center’s wall-size digital map.

  “Looks like Cordell intends to make the exchange outside Mexico’s territorial waters.”

  “Looks like. Mannie will want in on the take-down, though.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll work the coordination at this end. We’ll put eyes in the skies, buddy, and have an assault team hovering just over the horizon. What else can I do for you?”

  “Arrange an extraction for Nina—Dr. Grant—before the assault Thursday evening. I want her safe and out of the picture.”

  “Roger that. I may just fly down there and extract her myself. I’m getting saddle sores from all this sitting around. I need some action.”

  Wolf’s reaction was instant and visceral. He knew damn well that Ace’s code name didn’t refer solely to his ability to throw a jet around the sky at Mach 2. The cocky pilot scored as many hits on the ground as he did in the air.

  “Fly down if you want,” Wolf told his friend, “but understand this. Dr. Grant is off-limits.”

  His controller didn’t pretend to misunderstand. A low whistle drifted through the phone.

  “Like that, is it, Seabiscuit?”

  “Yeah, Flyboy, it’s like that.”

  It was most definitely like that.

  The realization shook Wolf. It also made him feel as predatory and territorial as the gray wolves re-introduced into Yellowstone National Park the last summer he worked there. He was just a kid. A long, lanky seventeen-year old about to enter his senior year.

  Controversy over the proposed plan had been raging forever. Despite years of objections and a series of lawsuits by ranchers and hunters, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally brought in thirty-three breeding pairs to counter the out-of-control elk population. Wolf had never forgotten his first glimpse of the animals in their acclimation pens a few days before they were released into the wild. Those bared fangs and black, quivering gums made an indelible impression on a seventeen-year-old kid. So indelible, he had no trouble choosing a code name when he signed on with OMEGA.

  Of course, Ace would tell it differently. He claimed Rafe had earned his handle by cutting love ’em and leave ’em women out of the pack, then doing precisely that.

  Wolf should have listened to his instincts when they warned him Dr. Nina Grant wasn’t the love ’em and leave ’em type. In less than forty-eight hours she’d gotten under his skin more than any woman he’d ever known. It wasn’t just lust, although the prospect of sliding into bed and losing himself in her severely impacted his ability to walk upright.

  The truth broadsided him while he made his way back to the pyramid illuminated dramatically against the night sky. For the first time in his life he wanted more than casual sex.

  Damn if he didn’t feel the most ridiculous need to brush the soft brown hair back from her cheek and nuzzle the skin behind her ear. To chuckle at her grimace when he laid that Pumpkin tag on her. Hear her gasp with surprise and delight as the surf swirled around her ankles.

  He’d like to see her in her own world, too. She had to be one savvy business exec, more than able to hold her own in the boardroom. Throw in her expertise in the area of biomedical systems…

  Wolf jerked to a halt in the shadow of a leafy jacaranda, as disgusted with himself as he was disconcerted. Christ! He had it bad. Much worse than he thought. Good thing he’d arranged to get Nina out of Cabo. He needed a clear head and the absolute assurance she was safe when he faced down Cordell and/or Alekseev.

  He’d get her out now, he thought grimly, if he didn’t need to maintain cover until Thursday. After that all bets were off.

  Chapter 9

  Nina woke Wednesday morning feeling sluggish and disgruntled and bitchy as hell.

  Part of her pissy mood she could blame on the heat pouring through the sliding glass doors she’d left open last night. With the screen latched and the fan turning lazily overhead, she’d counted on the sea breeze and the murmur of the waves to help her get over being left high and dry by a certain rat fink undercover agent.

  The ploy didn’t work. Sticky with sweat, she rolled out of bed almost as uptight as when she’d flopped into it.

  “Some vacation,” she said, grousing to the tangle-haired woman in the mirror before she padded across the room to close the sliding glass doors and flip on the air conditioning.

  The sound of the shower going full blast didn’t improve her mood. She urgently had to use the bathroom.

  Still grousing, she went into the kitchenette and dumped the cold dregs from the coffee pot, then tapped an impatient foot while the fresh brew bubbled and her need to hit the bathroom mounted. Jaw set, she tried to think about what she would order for breakfast, about what she’d wear today, about anything except Rafe Blackstone wet and naked under those gushing jets.

  That ploy didn’t work either. Consequently, she greeted him with something less than friendliness when he finally emerged with a towel slung around his neck and his unsnapped jeans riding low on his hips.

  “About time,” she said, huffing. “I thought you were
going to spend all day in there.”

  With a crooked smile, he zeroed right in on her problem. “Rough night?”

  “Not at all. I slept like a baby.”

  Damn it! Why couldn’t she lie better? She could feel her cheeks heating even as his smile took a wry twist.

  “Sure glad someone did.”

  She started to remind him that sleeping on the couch was his idea, but settled for an airy wave in the direction of the kitchen. “I made a fresh pot of coffee. Help yourself while I hit the bathroom.”

  One more day, she reminded herself, as she twisted the jets to full power. Two at the most. That’s all she and Wolf had to get through before they ended this farce.

  After last night, the end couldn’t come soon enough for Nina. She’d thought Kevin had put her through the mother of all emotional upheavals. This was fifty times worse. At least her former fiancé hadn’t left her so sexually frustrated she wanted to hurl a lamp at his head.

  Still simmering, she toweled off and clamped her wet hair on top of her head before examining the meager contents of the bedroom closet. There wasn’t much to choose from. She hadn’t packed for cruises with smarmy expatriates or lounging around with fake fiancés.

  Since Wolf was in jeans, she went with white slacks, a turquoise T-shirt and a pair of flip-flops. Her soles slapped the tiles as she marched into the living room.

  “What’s on the agenda today?”

  He hiked a brow at her tone, but shrugged and handed her a fresh cup of coffee. “This is your vacation. I’m just along for the ride. What are you up for, Pumpkin?”

  Enough was enough.

  “Grinding your head into the sand if you call me that again. You know I hate it, Kevin.”

  “Right. Sorry.” He looked anything but contrite as he leaned his hips against the kitchen counter. “What do you want to do today?”

  She knew several things she didn’t want to do. Floating hip to hip in the pool for one. Sipping Champagne under a starlit sky for another.

  “Let’s start with breakfast,” she said, sounding tart even to her own ears. “We can decide what to do or where to go from there.”

  When they stepped into the elevator that would zing them up to the main section of the resort, Rafe tried to soothe her ruffled feathers.

  “I need to explain about last night.”

  “No explanations necessary.” Chin held high, she stared straight ahead. “I got the message.”

  “Not the message I intended to convey.”

  “Really?” She turned and slid her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose. “You’d better clue me in then. I obviously misinterpreted those hot-and-heavy kisses down on the beach.”

  “No, that part was real enough.”

  “So, which part wasn’t? The part where we hustled back to the resort? Or the part where you backed away like a frightened virgin?”

  Wolf couldn’t help it. He had to laugh, even though he knew Nina would take it the wrong way. Which of course she did.

  “You think last night was funny?” she fumed.

  “Not hardly. It’s just—”

  “What?” she demanded when he tried unsuccessfully to smother another chuckle.

  “I’ve been accused of a lot of things over the years, but this is the first time anyone’s ever thrown ‘frightened’ and ’virgin’ at me in the same sentence.”

  Her mouth opened then snapped shut again.

  “Okay,” she said after a silence. “I’ll concede that being nervous about your ability to perform last night may not have been the issue.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Then what was?”

  His grin fading, Wolf tucked a loose strand behind her ear. The truth was harder to admit than he would have thought possible two days ago.

  “Okay, here’s the problem in a nutshell. I almost forgot where we were last night. Worse, I came close to forgetting the situation I’ve dragged you into.”

  Nina scowled, but before she could reply the elevator glided to a halt at the resort’s terraced café.

  “We’re not done with this conversation,” she warned before she stepped out.

  Wolf suspected as much, and used the time that it took the hostess to show them to a table by the window and a waitress to supply them with a pot of coffee to gather his thoughts.

  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “Last night was all my fault. I shouldn’t have let things get so out of hand down there on the beach.”

  “Let them get out of hand?” She sat back, studying him with another frown. “Are you usually so in control that you can turn your feelings on and off?”

  Pretty much, Wolf admitted silently. Until last night.

  “I dragged you into this mess,” he reminded her. “It’s my responsibility to get you out again safely. To do that I need to stay focused.”

  “Focused,” she echoed stiffly as she buried her face behind the menu. “Right.”

  Hell! He was handling this all wrong. Wolf tried another tack.

  “Listen to me, Pum…Nina. I don’t want you hurt. If it wouldn’t rouse Cordell’s suspicions, I’d put you on a plane out of Cabo this morning. I may yet, if the situation gets any dicier.”

  The menu came down again and hit the table with a silverware-rattling thud.

  “Now you listen to me. I’m in this as deep as you are. More to the point, I make my own decisions.”

  “Granted, but—”

  “No buts.” Temper flaring in her brown eyes, she leaned forward and stabbed the air with a forefinger for emphasis. “Get this straight, Blackstone. You are not ‘putting’ me anywhere.”

  She jerked the menu up again, leaving Wolf to contemplate the gold-embossed Mayan pyramid on its front cover…along with the possibility he might have to break another capsule, hold it under Dr. Grant’s nose and call in Ace to make the extraction after all.

  They spent the rest of the morning in what Nina would term a state of armed neutrality.

  Conditions started to thaw when they went up for a late lunch. Nina found it difficult to remain hostile to a man with Rafe’s quick, slashing grin and complete imperviousness to her snubs.

  By early afternoon, she was ready to declare a truce. Especially since Rafe had cranked up her iPod and made several trips out to the balcony to take or return calls on his juiced-up phone. Each time he came back in, his leashed tension was almost palpable.

  The call he’d obviously been waiting for came a little past three. He beckoned Nina out to the balcony and broke the news while she sat on the edge of the hot tub and swirled her feet in the bubbling water.

  “Cordell’s accepted the Russians’ bid for his merchandise.”

  She shook her head in disgust. “How much is he getting to sell out his country?”

  “Six million. Half to be wired to his account by the close of business today, the rest when he makes delivery.”

  “Which you think he’s going to do by boat? Tomorrow? Somewhere off the Baja coast?”

  “That’s our best guess. We’ll know for certain soon enough. Cordell told the Russians he would let them know when and where to rendezvous. If he sets up an exchange at sea, they’ll need time to charter a boat and crew.”

  Nina shook her head in disbelief. Less than a week ago work had constituted her whole world. She went in to the office at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. and didn’t leave until late in the evening. The long hours and thrill of bringing in major new customers for her company’s medical trending data had gone a long way toward blunting the sting of Kevin’s betrayal.

  Now here she was, sitting on the balcony of her luxurious casita, looking out over the sparkling blue Pacific. With this sexy hunk standing just a few feet away, no less. And instead of enjoying the view—or each other—they were calmly discussing a traitorous act of piracy that had already led directly or indirectly to the death of a United States senator.

  “I don’t understand why they’re rendezvousing at all,” she said, struggling to wrap her mind around the b
izarre situation. “Why doesn’t Cordell just transfer his ‘merchandise’ electronically?”

  “The disk that disappeared from Senator Dewitt’s office is encrypted. Its contents can’t be copied or e-mailed.”

  “If it’s encrypted, wouldn’t Cordell need a special password or code to access it?”

  “We have to assume he got the code from Senator DeWitt. Otherwise he’d have nothing to sell.”

  Ouch! That hit a little too close to home.

  Before the Kevin fiasco, Nina would have scoffed at the idea of Sebastian Cordell duping a smart, savvy woman like Joyce DeWitt into allowing him access to highly classified technology. Now she felt only sympathy for the woman.

  “Our boy is now in a classic standoff,” Wolf said with a predatory smile. “He can’t let the merchandise out of his hands until he sees the final payment, but he doesn’t receive that payment until the customer sees the merchandise.”

  Nina shifted her gaze to the shimmering Pacific. Incredible to think Sebastian Cordell planned to take them aboard his gleaming yacht for the promised cruise along the Baja Peninsula a few hours before setting out on a far more dangerous voyage.

  The silver-maned traitor had nerves of steel. She had to give him that. Not many men could play the gracious host simply to kill some time before rendezvousing with a badass lieutenant in the Russian mafia.

  No, not simply to kill some time. If Wolf was right, Cordell had her lined up as a potential mark. The prospect gave Nina a creepy feeling that crawled along her nerves more with each passing hour.

  Sheer desperation finally prompted her to suggest a temporary distraction. She waylaid Wolf in the living room and was careful to play for Cordell’s listeners.

  “You haven’t seen much of Cabo San Lucas yet, Kevin. Why don’t we walk around town, then have an early dinner at the marina?”

  “Sounds good,” he replied, his eyes glinting. “One of the waiters at the pool yesterday mentioned a great place for margaritas and shrimp fajitas. The Pink Parrot, or something like that.”

  Incredible. She was a twittering bundle of nerves, and he was yanking her chain.