Dangerous Curves

by Karen Anders

  Less than two weeks with him and it was going to be an internal battle for her all the way.

  MAX STOOD IN THE now-empty, steamy bathroom, wondering what in the hell had just happened, once again.

  One second her barriers had fallen, revealing something quite surprisingly vulnerable beneath that confident surface. The next moment, not only were the barriers wholly back in place, but they’d also been reinforced with a fair amount of anger. But he had no idea what he’d said to provoke it.

  He knew she had a lot of pride in her abilities, which had been well earned, he was sure. He hadn’t thought she’d bristle quite so ardently at the mere suggestion that they eat in the room where it was safer. And he started to wonder if he hadn’t been right on target from the beginning about this babysitting assignment.

  He’d had a sense there was a lot more to it than a protection detail and he couldn’t shake the thought she might have an alternative agenda, either DEA-sanctioned or not. He didn’t enjoy that feeling, especially when he particularly liked the woman, but he played back over the time just after his offer. He might not understand the rest, but he needed no additional clarification for that particular moment. There had been something quite…exposed in the expression that had crossed her face. He had absolutely no doubt he’d hit on something there. The question was, what was it?

  What he did know was there was more going on here for her than her hiding from the Ghost.

  The image of her face, her eyes, the way her lips had instinctively parted when he’d asked her what she’d left unsaid, played through his mind again. And again. There had been both fear and yearning in her eyes. Whatever it was, for a second there, or two, she’d wanted to tell him.

  So he dressed in one of his loud shirts and a pair of jeans and took her down to the restaurant.

  He walked with her to a table and tried to seat her, but she pulled out her own chair with a defiant look at him and sat down, daring him to comment.

  He wasn’t giving up, not even close, but she was clearly in retreat and regroup mode. Pushing someone when they’re scrambling often worked to break down that resistance, at least enough to get them to the point where they’d ask for help. He knew with someone like Rio, it would only make her rebuild those defenses twice as fast, and make them twice as sturdy. Now was the time to back off and do a little regrouping of his own.

  He pulled a roll from a basket that was set on the table and once she gave her drink order, he gave the waiter his.

  “I saw in the brochure there’s quite a lot to see along the Hana Road. Want to rent a car tomorrow and drive it?”

  Rio shrugged. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ve felt confined too long.”

  “Makes me antsy, too. I’m not one for inaction.”

  “You’re pretty good on the action stuff, Carpenter,” she said, leaning forward.

  Max settled back in his seat, only partly relieved to be on solid footing again. The rest of him was still stuck in the steamy bathroom and their disturbing conversation.

  He held her gaze. “The best.”

  The waiter brought her a glass of wine and him more bourbon. Maybe he’d taken everything his boss had told him too much on its merits and ignored his instincts too long. He was tempted to contact Drew Miller or Callie to dig a little deeper on Rio Marshall. He decided against it. He didn’t want anyone or anything intruding on this time, at least until he got a better personal handle on it.

  The waiter delivered their dinners—succulent seafood platters, filled with lobster and scallops.

  “Don’t worry, Max. I’m not going to skip out on you. I know I can take care of myself, but the DEA put me here and I’m not going to jeopardize my job by being stubborn.”

  “I’d find you, Rio. Wherever you went. That’s a promise. I, too, take my job seriously.”

  Rio mulled that over as she chewed a chunk of lobster, then sipped her wine. “Noted. But you really don’t have to worry.”

  Max was distracted by her lips, but diverted his attention back to the discussion as soon as he realized what he was doing. “What I worry about when I’m on an assignment is lack of information. Not getting the full story can compromise your mission or, worse, get you killed.”

  She took another bite, sucking on the buttered lobster chunk she’d put in her mouth, and Max watched her face for any telltale sign, but she’d obviously regrouped as her expression didn’t give him any clues.

  It was damn frustrating to watch her eat as he tried to keep his mind on what they were talking about, all the while gazing at her mouth doing something as innocent as sucking on buttered seafood. He’d never wanted so badly to be a lump of lobster.

  Concentrate.

  “I don’t intend to cause anyone’s death, unless, of course, I have to defend myself. Satisfied?”

  She licked her slick lips and Max had to wonder if she was being intentionally provocative. Or was it the fact anything this woman did turned him on?

  “No, not yet, but I’m trying not to remember that you’re a bit sore.”

  She glanced at him then, only there was no amusement to be found in her stare. For some perverse reason, that made him smile anyway. He wondered what she’d say if he told her she was quite cute when she was irritated, but figured that would only get him the silent treatment. Or possibly shot.

  “There’s way too much of an audience for me,” she said archly.

  Before he could answer, her eyes went steely and she pushed back from the table. “We’ve got to go.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s found me.”

  She pulled Max out of the restaurant and took the elevator at a run. Once inside, she punched the number to their floor.

  “What’s going on?

  “It was the Ghost’s man I saw. He’s here and that can only mean one thing.”

  “What?”

  “One of our agencies does have a mole and that traitor pointed the Ghost in our direction. How else could he know where I was going to be?”

  Max pulled out his cell. “Let me call the FBI.”

  “No, Max,” Rio said, grabbing his arm. “Don’t you understand? We can’t trust either agency. If it gets back to the mole, they’ll know where we’ve gone. No. We have to do this on our own.”

  “Why are we going up?”

  “I’ve got to get my flee bag. We need it, and then we can go. It’ll only take a minute.”

  They were out of the elevator in a flash. Rushing down the hall, Rio swiped her card to enter the room. The second the door opened, a meaty fist sank into her hair and dragged her forward.

  Max barreled in to find Rio struggling with a man who pointed a gun at him. Caught flat-footed, Max froze. Rio brought up her knee into the man’s crotch, but he dodged, so she grabbed on to his balls and jerked. He yowled in pain. Preoccupied with Rio’s viselike grip on his jewels, he dropped the gun and grabbed for her hand, allowing Max to surge forward and plant his fist into the man’s face.

  As soon as he was down, Rio didn’t hesitate for an instant. She grabbed her backpack and then Max’s hand. Racing from the hotel room, they ran down the hall toward the elevator, but saw it light up and ding. Changing direction, she hit the door to the stairs and they raced down them at a breakneck speed.

  Max heard shouting and soon bullets followed, causing mortar to fly as they ducked and continued to run.

  Exploding out of the doors, they ran for the dock. Quickly, they jumped aboard a boat and Rio made quick work of getting it started. They were off, moving so fast water sprayed up over the hull.

  Max thought they had gotten away until he heard gunshots and realized the thugs had a boat waiting. No, make that two.

  “Hurry, Rio. We’ve got company.”

  “It’s at full throttle.”

  Max hesitated, thinking they would outrun them, but then he saw the missile launcher and his mouth went dry.

  The sound of the small missile leaving the tube whistled through the night. Max leaped for Ri
o and their world exploded.

  5

  THE SOLID WEIGHT of Max propelled her over the side of the boat into the water. Because they’d been traveling at top speed, the impact jarred her, twisting them around in the wake left by the rushing speedboat. Disoriented in the black water, Rio tried to get her bearings as her body finally settled, allowing her to kick for the surface.

  Her battered body ached in new places, her bruised ribs throbbing in time to her heartbeat. Coming up for air, Rio ignored the pain and looked frantically around. When she saw Max’s body floating on top of the water, her heart stopped. She swam to him and flipped him over. He was breathing, but he had a cut on his head that told her he took the brunt of the explosion.

  Grabbing Max in a swimmer’s hold, she turned to make her way back to Maui. Two boats circled the burning speedboat, but Rio moved quickly when the light flashed their way. With any luck, they’d think she and Max were dead and move on.

  “What the hell happened?” Max asked when he came to.

  “Your quick thinking got us away from those thugs. They’re still searching for us.”

  Max studied the scene, the fire on the speed boat still sending up flames and oily smoke. The smell of gas was heavy on the water.

  “Are you okay to swim?” Rio asked.

  “Yes. My head hurts, but it’s not bad enough to keep me from dry land.”

  Rio nodded and followed Max as he headed toward the beach. She was convinced those were Eduardo Fuentes’s men. What chilled her was they wanted her alive. They could have killed her easily, either in the hotel room or by aiming directly at their boat. Instead, they had targeted the engine.

  What could he possibly want with her?

  Guilt washed over Rio. She should tell Max the truth about why he was “babysitting” her, but she was under strict orders to not compromise the undercover DEA’s mission.

  She didn’t like lying to Max, but that’s the way it would have to be.

  When she hit the beach only moments after Max, her legs felt like rubber. Her pretty white dress with the colorful fish was ruined and she was soaked to the bone. But she’d managed to snag her backpack, and that meant everything she’d stashed in the waterproof liners survived.

  She didn’t have a moment to catch her breath. Bullets chipped at the sand, sending little puffs up, the sound like a sizzling zing in her ears.

  Rio burst into motion. Grabbing on to Max’s hand, she propelled them forward. They pelted up a black sand hillock, through lush undergrowth, until they crouched in a copse of trees.

  “The other boat has hit the sand. We’re in for a fight unless we get the heck out of here.”

  “Agreed.” Rio looked around and saw nothing but wilderness. No lights, no illumination, nothing but darkness.

  “I want you to wait here. I’ll lead them off. Don’t move from this position or I’ll never find you in the dark.”

  She gave him a quick nod. Fear for his safety caused a tight knot to form in her stomach. She grabbed his wrist before he took off. “Be careful, Max.”

  At the doubt in her voice, his brows thickened with a frown. “Military guy, remember? Now, let me see your mean face.”

  She chuckled even with the threat all around them. She searched his face, liking the man beneath the tough-as-nails exterior. He trusted her. Right now he was laying his life on the line for her and guilt was a bad taste in her mouth. “Kick ass, Max, and don’t worry about taking names.”

  His features smoothed, and there was tenderness in his voice. “That’s better. I will. Remember. Don’t move, Rio.” He pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans. “I don’t even know if this will work.”

  “Club them with it, then.”

  He laughed.

  “And if I don’t come back…do the best you can.”

  Max was still standing there. “Go—go, then.” She shooed him. “I’ll be fine.”

  He smiled, took a step, then cradled the back of her head and kissed her, hard and fast.

  “Whoa. Screw these guys. Let’s find a room,” Rio said.

  He chuckled as he disappeared through the trees. She breathed deep, checked the time and started to dig in her bag for the weapons she’d stored there.

  Before she could get to them, out of her peripheral vision she saw a shadow move. Even at this distance, she knew it wasn’t Max.

  She was trapped with an open area behind her and nothing for cover. She felt the presence seconds before a gun poked her in the ribs.

  “Hands up,” he said. With the gun, a man motioned her toward the beach.

  Rio moved slowly, staying out of arm’s reach. “What do you want with me?”

  He shrugged indifferently. “That’s for Fuentes to decide, puta. I just bag ’em.” He kept his aim tight on her, circling and forcing her where he wanted her to go. “Where is your bodyguard, chica?”

  “Bringing up the rear,” Max said.

  The man spun and Max punched hard. The would-be kidnapper hit the ground like a stone and didn’t move.

  “That was amazing. Excellent KO,” she said, bending to snatch up the downed man’s weapon.

  Max reached for her, and she fell against him. He squeezed her hard. “Are you okay?” She nodded. “Time to go.”

  An explosion roared across the small spit of land, shaking the ground and disrupting the birds in the trees. She felt the burst of hot air on the back of her head, smiled and turned to look. Orange fire blazed into the night sky, white smoke turning black and sooty before another explosion ripped the air.

  “It’s amazing what you can do with the enemy’s weapons.” Max chuckled. “That will slow them down a bit.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” Rio said just as gunfire erupted around them. They turned and ran, and soon they hit a dirt road. Not slowing their momentum at all, Rio headed for the wall of dark green dead ahead.

  While East Maui was densely populated, West Maui was not. Being the windward side of the island, it was much too breezy and too rocky to entice large resorts or settlements. According to the map they had checked today, most of this area made up the Ko’olau Nature Preserve. They might as well be in the middle of nowhere.

  “Let’s keep moving.” Her ribs protesting with each step, Rio plunged into the quiet, cool darkness, with Max behind her. She fought her way through the underbrush, adding many more cuts and scratches to her skin. They ran in silence for quite some time, tripping through vines and bushes as creepers clutched at their ankles, her breathing in time with Max’s as he stuck to her tail. Sweat beaded on their skin, aggravating the fresh, stinging cuts.

  Taking a different direction would give them a fighting chance. She could only hear the sound of rushing water and her own heartbeat in her ears. She froze when she heard gunfire sweep back and forth a ways behind them, then suddenly cease.

  She stopped, cautious about falling down a ravine or into a pool of water. It was so dark she could barely see Max. “We need to move slowly. I hear water.”

  “It could be a waterfall. There are quite a few around here according to the brochure,” he said.

  Trying to see through the darkness, she took cautious steps. She had flashlights in her pack, but she didn’t want to chance using the light this close to their assailants.

  “Let’s go slow, then. I don’t want to take a header off a ravine.”

  “I don’t want to fall, period.”

  Rio put her hand on his arm to gauge his distance and reassure herself he was as solid as she remembered. “I don’t think they’re going to chase us while it’s dark. It’s too dangerous. They’ll probably regroup and then come after us when it’s full light.”

  “Sounds reasonable.”

  “Let’s get to the waterfall, and then decide what we’re going to do from there.”

  “You take the lead,” Max said, finding and squeezing her arm.

  “You know…it’s a rare man that gives over the lead to a woman,” she said. “Especially in a situation like this.�
��

  He smiled, his teeth flashing in the dark. “You’ve recently been in a jungle. Your skills are more honed. I’ll watch your back. It’s a great view.”

  “Me Tarzan, you Jane?”

  He chuckled as she started down a steep incline, cautiously placing her sandaled feet. All she needed right now was to twist her ankle. They would surely catch them then.

  Rio had climbed a lot of rocks and mountains with nothing but a resin bag and some water. She’d negotiated some of the most dangerous jungles in the Southern Hemisphere, so this trek felt familiar to her.

  The trouble was she had to worry about Max. In the past, she’d often worked alone. She slowly and methodically moved down to the base of the incline and encountered a stream. Part of the water sound she’d heard. She waded across the stream to get to the waterfall.

  She stepped in the muck in the bottom. It oozed up over the tops of her sandals and lodged between her toes, yet the water felt refreshing on her overheated body. When she hit the other side of the stream, Rio continued along, picking her way until they reached a trail of hard-packed dirt. She followed it toward the rushing water and descended down to the base of the falls.

  Rio looked around, a shiver working along her spine. They would be hunted by Fuentes’s men without impunity. No law enforcement to help them out.

  Max tripped on a root half-buried in the ground and Rio’s hand shot out to steady him. Something inside her clenched and released at the feel of his warm skin beneath her palm. Damn, she had wanted to avoid this…this feeling of caring deeply for another person. And now that she cared what happened to Max, she cared how he would feel if he found out she’d been lying to him. He would feel totally betrayed now because they had gotten close, at least physically. But her heart twisted inside her thinking that he would look at her differently. She shifted at the uncomfortable feeling, dreading the look that would come into his eyes. She shook off the feelings, thinking she was going soft. Soon she’d be back on the job fighting bad guys and she was glad of it. At least that endeavor was black and white.