by Maggie Shayne, MaryJanice Davidson, Angela Knight, Jacey Ford
The gates screamed in protest when she hit them again, but this time they moved far enough apart for the van to squeeze through. The revelers outside, alerted by her honking, had moved away from the compound's entrance and stood watching, clapping and hooting as if this were a part of the festivities.
Lauren drove ten feet from the compound and stopped the van.
Hurriedly, she unbuckled her seat belt and swung around to roll open the divider between her seat and the cargo area.
"What are we doing?" Jake asked, after removing his seat belt and standing up.
"Giving out free rum," Lauren answered. "I don't think Rafael will harm the people of Isla Suspiro. If we can bring the party inside, to the manufacturing plant, maybe we can show Rafael what's happened to Tomas and end this thing without bloodshed."
Jake reached up to grab a case of rum from the top of one stack, his face turning a shade of green Lauren had never seen before. But he didn't complain. Instead, he tossed the box on the passenger seat and ripped it open. Then he pulled out one dark brown bottle and squinted at the plastic container that had been shrink-wrapped to the bottom. Unlike the single-dose packages of promotional aspirin that had been glued to the side of the smaller bottles of rum, the rum company must have decided to ship full-sized bottles of aspirin with their larger bottles of rum. Grabbing his knife from his pocket, Jake slit the plastic and separated the pills from the rum. Then he popped open the lid of the aspirin container, shook out two tablets, and washed them down with a mouthful of liquor.
"Hurry, we've got to get the crowd to help us before Santos's guards get here," Lauren urged, pulling her own case of rum off a stack and ripping it open.
"What makes you think Rafael won't harm them?" Jake asked.
Lauren met his gaze briefly and then shrugged. "It's just… he said something when I was with him, back at his camp. It made me think that maybe he and Tomas didn't have such different visions for the people of this island after all."
"I hope you're right," Jake said. Then he threw open the delivery van door and shouted, "Free rum! Get your free rum here!"
The crowd around them surged forward. Lauren saw the dark brown hats of Tomas Santos's guards as they attempted to force their way through the thickening crowd, but the revelers didn't pay them any notice. She crossed her fingers and started handing out bottles. Soon, the van was engulfed with people. When one of the guards finally reached them and grabbed Lauren's arm to pull her out of the van, she yelled, "Everyone, the president's army is here to protect you today. Please, show them your appreciation. Come on, hug a soldier."
A large woman in a brightly colored dress turned to the man who had a hold on Lauren and enfolded him in her arms. Around them, Lauren saw other soldiers being patted on the back, hugged, and even kissed by the grateful people of Isla Suspiro, who, many for the first time in their lives, had enjoyed a period of peace since Tomas Santos's election, in large part because of the efforts of Santos's army. The people's appreciation for this peace was enthusiastic, and Lauren couldn't help but grin when she saw the frustrated look the guard shot her from where he was being held captive by the large woman's embrace.
"You should write a secret agent's handbook," Jake said wryly from the other side of the van.
Lauren blushed and stammered out a "thank you" as she went back to handing out bottles of rum. Her first case was soon emptied, so she reached for another one and then another. With each box she emptied, she backed the van closer and closer to the rum plant, luring the revelers into the compound while the guards looked helplessly on.
As the empty boxes stacked up, she noticed that they were all stamped with the letters VG on the bottom left-hand corner. She hadn't bought Emilio's explanation for what the codes meant, something about the way his eyes had shifted when he answered told her that he was lying. But she didn't have time to worry about that now. When she looked up to hand out another bottle of rum, she found herself face-to-face with none other than Rafael Santos.
Lauren glanced over at the looming building of the Isla Suspiro Rum Company plant, shrouded in darkness. Party goers had flooded the compound, but they seemed to avoid the manufacturing plant, perhaps because it reminded them of work on a day of play.
"Rafael, how good to see you again," Lauren said loudly to alert Jake that the man they sought was here.
"Ah, my good luck charm. I was very disappointed when you disappeared yesterday," Rafael said smoothly, reaching up to clasp Lauren's hand with his own.
Jake stepped forward and put his arm around Lauren's shoulders. "She's CIA. If anything happens to her, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth and kill you."
He voiced the threat so calmly, so rationally, that it took Lauren a moment to realize what he had just said. She looked up at him, wide-eyed, and had to blink several times to get her mouth to work.
"Jake," she protested with a half-laugh, but her stomach was fluttering madly.
Rafael Santos gazed coolly at Jake, taking his measure. If Lauren hadn't been so flummoxed by Jake's sudden protectiveness, she might have suggested they get out a ruler. This was obviously one of those "whose dick is bigger" moments. She figured Jake won when Rafael let go of her hand and nodded. And when Jake leaned over her and she felt his erection pressing into the small of her back, she nearly gasped. Well, well, well. Guess she didn't need a ruler after all.
Jeez. Where had that come from? She'd thought he was in serious pain, but apparently not. And if he could get aroused just by standing near her… Sheesh. Was it hot in here, or was it just her?
Lauren fanned her suddenly warm face and tried to slow her racing heart. She was jerked back to the seriousness of their situation, however, when Jake announced to Rafael, "Your brother is dead. Emilio shot him."
Rafael Santos stepped back as if Jake had just slapped him. "Pardon me?" he said.
"Tomas is dead," Lauren repeated, jumping down out of the van with Jake behind her. "That's why we were doing this, to lure the people of Isla Suspiro here in the hopes that you wouldn't attack your brother's men."
"My brother is dead?" Rafael said. He put a hand to his forehead and rubbed, as if something were paining him.
"You should be happy. Wasn't that what you were planning to do here today? Kill your brother and take over the island?" Jake asked.
Rafael raised his gaze to them, his eyes full of sadness. "No. I was merely going to take back my family home and force my brother to acknowledge my rightful role in the government. He banished me two years ago, using his troops to keep me hiding in the jungle like some sort of leper. I owe it to the people of Isla Suspiro to aid in their economic recovery, to be a voice for their rights, to ensure that their leaders are not taking their money and using it to line their own pockets. I know Tomas let the power corrupt him, but the worst thing that could happen to the people would be if someone—even I—were to overthrow their duly elected leaders. That would only throw the island back into chaos. I would never do such a thing."
Lauren swallowed hard and looked over at Jake, who looked as ill as she felt. "Why do you think Tomas had been corrupted?" she asked.
Rafael shrugged his broad shoulders and gazed down at the grass beneath his feet. "Emilio told me about the money. About the bribes and about Tomas's illegal drug scheme and how he knew he couldn't be stopped because of his position as president."
"What illegal drug scheme?" Jake asked, frowning.
"The drugs that are hidden in the rum," Rafael said, with a wave toward the delivery van. "Tomas bought shipments of drugs from America—some that were past their expiration date and had to be pulled from the shelves, others that were not approved by your FDA, and still others that simply require a prescription that the purchaser does not wish to obtain. Then he sold these drugs via the Internet and shipped them back to the United States. To escape detection at Customs, he had the drugs packaged with our island's rum. If anyone were ever to inspect a shipment, it would appear that the rum comes with aspirin, as our adv
ertisements state. Instead, my brother was shipping Viagra, Oxycontin, Vicodin, Percocet, Cialis, and other drugs to the United States."
Lauren jerked her gaze back to the van, which was nearly empty by now. Several revelers had taken over handing out the bottles, and the rum supply was almost gone. She squeezed her eyes shut and said, "That's what those codes were for. They told the person picking up the shipment which drugs were packaged inside."
Jake coughed and Lauren opened her eyes to look at him. "That explains it," he muttered, and Lauren choked. So much for him getting turned on just by touching her. All the boxes in their delivery van were marked with VG—Viagara, Lauren presumed.
"Where is Emilio?" Rafael asked, a hard look coming over his features.
"He was in the plant the last time we saw him," Jake answered. "Tomas is there, too. In Emilio's office."
"Wait a second," Lauren said as Rafael turned to leave them. "I don't think Tomas knew anything about this drug operation. When I asked about the codes, he seemed surprised and looked to Emilio for an answer. It was Emilio who lied. There's no way he couldn't have known what those codes meant. He had to be involved."
Rafael frowned. "Emilio did seem to have a lot of cash to donate to my cause," he murmured under his breath.
"They could have been in on it together," Jake suggested.
"It's possible. We may never know," Lauren said.
"Perhaps not," Rafael agreed and started toward the manufacturing plant. When a gunshot rang out, he began running, with Jake and Lauren right behind him.
They reached the loading dock at the same time, just as Emilio Santos staggered out of the building, his chest covered in blood. His body lurched when he was shot again from behind. He swayed at the edge of a four-foot drop-off, his eyes locked on the trio who had frozen on the pavement a few feet away.
"I should have had it all," he whispered. Then, without another word, he fell, facedown, onto the concrete.
Lauren looked up to find a bloodied Tomas Santos standing in the open doorway, his hands clutched around a small black pistol.
"We keep this in the plant to kill the rats," Tomas said, his eyes glazed over with shock. And then he crumpled, going down like a balloon that had suddenly lost all its air.
Rafael leaped up onto the loading dock while Jake bent down to feel for Emilio's pulse. When he looked up and shook his head, Lauren knew that Emilio Santos would no longer pose a threat to his brothers. Lauren pulled herself up and into the manufacturing plant, taking the steps up to Emilio's office two at a time to find a phone so she could call for an ambulance since she had left her cell phone back in her purse in the delivery van.
When she got back downstairs, she found Jake awkwardly watching Rafael as he sat on the floor cradling his oldest brother's head in his lap.
"Emilio planned this all," Jake said quietly as he pulled Lauren outside to wait for the ambulance. "Unless Tomas is lying, which I doubt he has the presence of mind right now to do, he just told Rafael he knew nothing about the drugs. He said that Emilio warned him that Rafael was going to try to overthrow the government, that Rafael claimed he wouldn't be satisfied until he and he alone ruled Isla Suspiro."
Wearily, Lauren shook her head and sighed. All of this could have been avoided had Tomas and Rafael just talked to one another instead of believing the lies their brother had told them.
"So, how does it feel?" Jake asked, smiling down at her with a strange glint in his green eyes.
"How does what feel?" Lauren leaned into him, craving his strength. She felt as though she were about to collapse and didn't know how Jake managed to remain upright after all he had been through the past two days. He was a hell of a lot tougher than she was. She marveled at how different he was from the image he showed the world. He wasn't some one-dimensional movie hero, but a man committed to do whatever he had to do—even sacrifice his own life—to do what was right.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest, inhaling the scent of sweat and rum and Jake.
"How does it feel to have almost single-handedly saved this island from a civil war? These people"—Jake waved at the revelers behind them, the families with children, the young people squealing with delight while their elders looked on with serene smiles—"owe their futures to you."
Lauren breathed in deeply and felt the tears welling up in her eyes. Stop that, she ordered herself. According to her Secret Agent's Handbook, spies never cried. Instead, she tightened her hold on Jake and looked up at him with a wobbly smile.
"It feels like you were right," she said. "I am whoever it is I believe I can be."
Jake smiled back at her and leaned down to kiss her with a light touch that instantly turned hotter, leaving them both breathless. "Do you believe you're the sort of woman who might agree to go out with me once we get off this island?" he asked, sounding charmingly unsure of himself.
Lauren laughed and pressed herself to him, feeling his arousal poking into her stomach. "Yeah, I believe I'm that sort of woman."
"Good," Jake said as he leaned down to kiss her again.
After another few breathless moments, Lauren pressed her lips to the sensitive spot just below Jake's right ear and rubbed her hips against his erection. "If that ambulance would hurry up, we could get back to the resort and take care of this little problem," she said with a throaty laugh.
Then Jake Haven, a man who two days ago Lauren had believed would do just about anything to get laid by a supermodel, shocked her speechless when he took a step back, clasped her hands in his, and solemnly said, "What I feel here"—he reached down and cupped one of her hands at his crotch, his arousal clearly evident to her touch—"is nothing. It will be gone in an hour. But this"—he pulled her hand away from his erection and put it against his heart—"will last forever."
And Lauren was so overwhelmed that all she could do was to smile up at Jake and think, My hero.
* * *
Epilogue
Eight and a Half Months Later on Isla Suspiro
"We need to pass emergency legislation to increase funding for health care," Rafael Santos said, pacing the floor of his brother's office overlooking the Caribbean Sea.
Tomas Santos sighed and rested his head in his hands. "We've already flown in hundreds of obstetricians and midwives from America. The new hospital will be finished in a week. I don't know what more we can do."
The men looked up when there was a knock on the door. Tomas's pregnant assistant entered, waddling over to his desk with a sheaf of papers that needed to be signed. She was followed by the head housekeeper, also very pregnant, who wheeled in a cart with the lunch she had prepared for the men.
"This is all Emilio's fault," Rafael muttered, once both of the women had left.
"God rest his soul," Tomas added. He was the superstitious sort and didn't believe in speaking ill of the dead. Fortunately, the American CIA agents had not confiscated the money from Emilio's illegal drug operation, with the caveat that Rafael and Tomas shut it down immediately. Those funds had been poured into building hospitals and improving the roads leading to those hospitals, as well as bringing in the medical staff the island needed for the enormous increase in births expected to begin within the next few weeks.
Tomas supposed he should be angry that his brother's folly had led them to this, but in a way, he saw the pregnancy epidemic as a sign of hope. Perhaps all of the new lives on the island would only make the people work harder for peace and prosperity. That was what he chose to believe, anyway.
And if there was one thing Tomas Santos had learned in his life, it was that you could accomplish anything… if only you believed.
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