Santerra's Sin: A Loveswept Classic Romance

by Donna Kauffman

  There was a pop and the Jeep made a sudden swerve to the right. Diego quickly pulled them back onto the road.

  “What was that?” she yelled, unsure if she really wanted to know.

  “It’s okay, just stay down.”

  She didn’t know whether to growl at the “Me Tarzan” command or smile at his attempt to reassure her. Diego Santerra was easily the most complex man she’d ever known, except perhaps for her father. And she’d hardly had a chance to know him before he was taken from her life all together. She vowed right then and there, in the middle of a high-speed chase with what she suspected were bullets flying, that if they both got out of this in one piece, she would do everything she could to make sure she didn’t lose this man from her life.

  Another series of popping sounds rattled the air, followed by a thud and a sharp ping. Something had hit the Jeep. Or vice versa. Or both.

  “Hold on,” he yelled.

  Blue pushed her feet against the passenger seat and grabbed onto seat-belt straps as the Jeep went careening off the dirt track. She cracked her head as the Jeep hit a bump. She grunted involuntarily, then swore.

  She barely had time to get her vision clear when they bounced hard again, then again.

  “You okay?” he called out.

  She couldn’t even answer, the jarring ride taking her breath away.

  “Blue, answer me!”

  “Fine,” she managed, as loud as she could. The Jeep swerved to the left, sending her to the floor. She bit down hard on her lip to keep from screaming, not wanting to distract him any further. She heard the scraping of brush and the thwack of tree limbs as they beat against the Jeep. It felt as if they were hurtling straight down the mountainside. She didn’t try to get back onto the seat. At this point she was numb anyway.

  White beams of light darted in and out of the Jeep’s interior like some sort of warped strobe light. If they were taking the direct route straight down, then so were the men following them. How had they been found so quickly?

  She spared a thought for John. The delay he’d promised hadn’t happened. Was he okay?

  Blue purposely shut down that train of thought. She couldn’t do anything about it at the moment and it would only cloud her mind with panic. And it was close to choking her already.

  A huge bang rocked the Jeep almost onto its side, wrenching a scream from her that was totally beyond her control. Then her world went sideways.

  She was thrown onto the seat as the Jeep careened wildly downhill on two wheels. After what felt like an eternity the worst happened. It rolled. After that she had no idea what was up or down. “Diego!” she yelled, but the word came out as a strangled gurgle.

  It was like being in a clothes dryer, she thought abstractedly, wondering how much it was going to hurt to die like this. Everything was so fast and loud, she couldn’t make sense of it all.

  Then with a bang and a body-breaking lurch, they stopped. The sudden cessation of sound was the only way she understood just how deafening the crash had been. Dazed, she didn’t try to move.

  Alive. That was her first thought. She opened her eyes. It took her a second to realize she was staring out the rear window. She thought they were upside down, but she couldn’t be sure. She couldn’t see any headlights behind them. Guess rolling down the mountain was where they drew the line in deadly pursuit. A rough laugh forced its way out of her throat. She clamped down on it, afraid she would go straight into hysterics.

  “You okay?”

  Diego! His voice was rough, weak. Was he hurt? Or could she barely hear?

  Calm down, Blue. She tried to breathe in and out slowly to clear her head. It was tough in her current position.

  “Don’t move,” he ordered.

  Did he sound stronger this time? Was she getting stronger? “I … don’t think I can.”

  “You’re hurt?”

  She couldn’t lift or turn her head without moving her whole body, she was tucked too tightly against the roof. “I’m not sure. Where are you? You okay?”

  “I’m okay. We’re upside down, wedged between two trees. Can you feel your toes? Your fingers?”

  Uh-oh. Was she that bad? She swallowed the panic. It tasted horribly like blood. Concentrate, Blue. Her fingers were curled under her chin. She moved them. “Yes, fingers are okay.” She heard the relief in her voice and tried to stay calm. Toes. They were wedged under her almost Indian fashion, but she could feel them. “Toes are okay.”

  “Neck, head?”

  Control of her body returned slowly but steadily. “Other than being wedged in here like a sardine, okay, I think.” She still tasted blood. She gingerly explored with her tongue, then her fingertips. “I think I cut the inside of my lip on my teeth. It’s okay, though.”

  There was no answer. Her hard-won calm teetered dangerously. “Diego?”

  It was a moment before he answered.

  “Yeah.”

  “You aren’t okay, are you?”

  “I’m fine. I’m just … pinned.”

  Blue carefully straightened one leg as far as she could, then used her arms as leverage to uncurl her other one. She ached in some areas and hurt like hell in others, but she didn’t think anything was cracked or broken.

  “You shouldn’t move. You could have fractured something.”

  “I think I’m okay. Just banged up a bit. You need me.”

  There was a long pause while she slowly worked her way around so she could see him.

  “Yeah, I guess I do.”

  “Don’t try to sound thrilled on my account,” she shot back, using sarcasm to keep fear from taking over. How was she going to help him? What if she couldn’t? What if he was really hurt? She pulled herself to the front. He was upside down, still strapped into his seat. The roof had caved in enough so that his head was resting on it. “Oh, Diego.”

  He tried to turn to look at her, but the angle they were at prevented it.

  “Don’t move, your neck might be—” She couldn’t even say it.

  “Trust me, I can feel all my extremities.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “If I unhook you can you slide out? I can put something under you to cushion your shoulder.”

  “It’s not just the belt. My foot is wedged up under the dash. I can’t move without doing some serious damage down there. My thigh is pinned under the steering wheel.”

  “Your good one or your bad one?”

  “I think they both qualify as bad at the moment.”

  Without thinking, she reached up and stroked the side of his face and neck. She needed to give comfort, and was instantly amazed that just feeling his skin, warm and alive against hers, brought her comfort too.

  He groaned. She yanked her hand away. “I’m sorry, did that hurt?”

  “No,” he said, the word more a heartfelt sigh. “Don’t stop touching me, Blue.”

  She immediately pressed her palm to his cheek. “We have to get you out of here. Tell me what to do to help you and I will.”

  Diego’s face glowed oddly yellow in the dim light from the dashboard. The battery was still operational, but the headlights had apparently been smashed.

  “It will take Jacounda’s men quite some time to make it down into this ravine,” he said. “There is no path near here. And even with night-vision equipment, the terrain is almost impossible to traverse on foot.”

  “I’m not worried about Jacounda.”

  “Well, you should be. If I didn’t know my own men so well, I’d think he had someone on the inside. There is no way he should have found the cabin. Certainly not within the hour.”

  “Could they have followed John?”

  “No.” His response was instant and certain.

  Blue hesitated, then said, “Do you think he’s okay? They made up the time from the cabin pretty fast.”

  “I don’t know.” Blue knew the brutal answer was to protect himself as much as anything. She didn’t push the subject.

  “Is there any way to contact T.J.? Or sig
nal the checkpoint?”

  Diego sighed. “You do think like a cop, Blue. But no, not directly anyway. Too risky. They know too much. I don’t know how, but they do.”

  “So what do we do? Wait for them to find us? There has to be a way to contact someone to get you out of here. You can’t stay trapped in here.”

  “You should be worried about getting yourself out of here.”

  “That’s it! Do you know where we are? Tell me where to go. I know these mountains fairly well. Well enough to get where I am supposed to be.”

  “No. You are not going out there alone.”

  “Well, I don’t see what other choice we have.”

  Diego closed his eyes and swore under his breath. He was not sending her out there alone. Jacounda’s latest team was good. Too good. If they got ahold of her after being thwarted so many times … No, he couldn’t even consider it.

  “Help get me out of here,” he said. “I can take it from there.”

  “You just got done telling me you couldn’t handle this when you left the cabin, now you—”

  “Blue.” His tone was both plea and command. “I can’t let you go out there alone. I can’t. Get me out of here. If my gear is still anywhere around here, I can—we can—set something up to buy more time.”

  “Your foot is pinned. And your thigh. What if you have internal bleeding? Diego, I can’t take care of that. Of you. And I don’t care what you say, I know you must be in considerable pain. There has to be a way to alert your team.”

  “There is one way.”

  “Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. How? Just tell me and I’ll do it.”

  “Blow up the Jeep.”

  TEN

  Blue froze. “What?”

  “The explosion will make Jacounda’s men think we didn’t survive the roll down the mountain. It will also alert the base checkpoint that we are in trouble and give them our location.”

  “You seem to have overlooked one minor detail. You are still in the Jeep.” She looked at the smashed-in side panels and the trees and underbrush blocking the doorless sides. “For that matter, so am I.”

  “The back window can be taken out. The hard top should keep the structure, what’s left of it, together.”

  “It’s mostly smashed out anyway.”

  “Kick out the rest with the soles of your shoes. Put something over the edges then slide out.”

  Blue did as he said. It took some doing, but a few minutes later she managed to get through the jagged opening.

  “I’m out.”

  He listened to her progress as she climbed around to the side of the Jeep. “I’m here,” she said, less than a foot away to his left. He couldn’t turn his head to look at her.

  “The tree is blocking almost the entire door. The Jeep is wedged in pretty tight.”

  “My left arm is pinned against my side. I can’t reach the seat lever,” he said. “If you can slide your hand up and release it … I think that may do it.”

  “What about your foot? If the seat moves, you could be injured worse or—” She broke off, the mental image too strong.

  “I can wiggle my toes, move my shoe slightly. I think it’s just smashed in there too tight. If I can get my thighs loose, I can maneuver it out. The seat doesn’t go back far enough to pull that hard on my foot.”

  “Okay.” Blue held her breath and snaked her hand in the small opening between the tree and the Jeep frame. She found the lever, but releasing it was awkward from this angle. “Ready?”

  Diego gripped the steering wheel with his free hand and ducked his head as best he could. “Yeah. Do it.”

  She pulled. Diego winced as the seat slid back, freeing his legs. The returned blood flow was intensely uncomfortable. Okay, it hurt like hell. But he was more focused on his foot. It was still stuck.

  “Blue, come back in here. I need help.”

  She crawled back in to his side. His head was more free now, having moved back to a more open, less caved-in area of the roof.

  He looked at her. “My foot is still wedged in pretty tight.”

  “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

  “Are either of my black bags still in here? I had them strapped in, but—”

  Blue looked around the almost pitch-black interior and spied the two dark heaps almost immediately. “In the back, on the roof. They cushioned me, I guess, since they are underneath where I landed.”

  “There is a thin stick light in a tube pocket on the side of the smaller bag. Get that, then open the top-end zipper and get out the black leather zippered case.”

  Diego’s voice sounded strained and she knew the pain was starting to go beyond endurance. Without another word, Blue followed his instructions, then brought them both back to the front.

  “Open the case.”

  Holding the flashlight under her chin, she slid the zipper around and unfolded the case, revealing over a half-dozen knives. She looked up at him, accusation clear in her eyes. “It was you.”

  Diego didn’t pretend to misunderstand. Too much had passed between them. At least in this he could offer her the whole truth. It wasn’t nearly enough. “Yes, I stopped Leroy.”

  “You mean you stabbed him. You could have killed him!”

  “No. I didn’t aim to kill.”

  “He was trying to warn me. Why stop him?”

  That she hadn’t immediately turned suspicious and wary surprised him. He didn’t feel deserving of her trust. But he couldn’t ignore the pleasure he felt in knowing she truly believed in him. “We were already in place, watching you. Protecting you. You were never supposed to know we were there.”

  “But you were already working for me. Leroy had already—” He saw the light come on.

  “Yes, we were responsible for him leaving. I’m not sure how he found out anything or how he managed to slip out and come back, but—”

  “Why did you come to work for me?” she interrupted.

  “We had word Jacounda had found you. I had to get closer.”

  “And Leroy’s warning made it harder because then I knew something was wrong.”

  “I would have just maintained surveillance until the trial was over. Then I would have disappeared and you’d never have known I existed or that there had been a threat.”

  He didn’t miss the flash of pain that crossed her face. It was in her voice when she spoke. “I don’t want anyone hurt because of me or this. Whatever this is. But I’m not sorry that you came into my life.”

  “I don’t want you in danger, Blue, but I feel the same way. You have had an incredible impact on my life. Whatever happens, I won’t forget that. Or you. Ever.”

  “That sounds like good-bye.”

  Diego stared at her. He hurt like hell. His whole body throbbed and his head felt like someone had used it for target practice. There were a hundred things he wanted to tell her, but this was hardly the time or place.

  “Let’s get out of this thing, okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said softly, setting the case aside.

  “Slide in between me and the steering wheel and reach down there to see what is trapping my foot.”

  She was already moving before he’d finished.

  “Be careful. I don’t know what might have broken off. There could be some jagged edges.”

  She aimed the penlight at the dashboard, fully aware of Diego’s chest at her back and his thighs pressed against her head. She tried as best she could to avoid pressing against his bandaged thigh. If he was in pain, though, he was being very stoic about it.

  “The gas pedal is bent sideways over your right foot. The dash is crushed down on top of that, trapping you left foot.”

  “Can you lift the pedal?”

  “It would squeeze your other foot, but—”

  “Do it.”

  She didn’t argue this time. She didn’t know if it was latent claustrophobia, fear of Jacounda’s men, or just plain shock, but she suddenly had to get out of there. Had to get both of them out of there. />
  She pulled.

  With a loud groan that belied how much pain he was in, Diego managed to drag one foot free. As soon as that space opened up, the whole dash started to cave in.

  “Diego! Pull your other foot out now!” Blue grabbed his jean leg. Between the two of them they slid his toes free just as the edge of the dash came down onto the pedals. His legs were pulled up, pinning her under his knees. She wiggled out, rolled over, and looked at him.

  “You okay?”

  He was grimacing, but managed a tight nod. “Get the knife,” he said between clenched teeth. “I need you to cut the seat belt. The latch is crushed.”

  Her hands were shaking as she slid the slim stiletto blade out of its sheath.

  “It’s like a razor, be careful.”

  “Gee, thanks,” she muttered as she reached for an area of the chest strap that wasn’t digging into his skin.

  “When you cut it, get out of the way. I might fall on top of you.” He shifted a little and groaned again. “Be sure to put the blade point down too.”

  Blue smiled despite her screaming nerves. “Now who’s giving orders? I thought I was the boss here.”

  “You fired me, remember?”

  Her nerves were strung too tight to keep up the pretense of banter. “You ready?”

  She could see his strain in the way his jaw tightened. “Do it.”

  As carefully as she could, she slipped the blade under the strap, then pulled down, yanking her arm away as fast as possible. Diego lost his grip and came down hard on top of her.

  He immediately tried to roll off of her, but his position, bad shoulder and thigh made it almost impossible.

  “Blue?”

  “It’s okay,” she said, her voice muffled. “The knife is out of the way.”

  She flipped her wrist as good as she could, sending the knife toward the back of the Jeep. It took several minutes of grunting and muffled curses, but they finally managed to untangle themselves. With very little talk, they worked to get themselves out of the Jeep. Once Diego had managed to drag himself clear, Blue went back in for his bags.