She couldn’t afford to fail. Not Sylvia or herself.
Chapter 9
“I s it true, then?” Foley asked with a sharp smile as he delivered shots for Ryder and Diego. “Is your delectable Diana free for—”
In a millisecond, Ryder had Foley’s throat in his hand, gripped so tightly that he heard the crunch of cartilage beneath his fingers. He lifted the other vamp nearly over the bar.
Somehow Foley managed to choke out, “She’s yours. All yours.” He hissed something else, something unintelligible, with what little breath he had left.
Suddenly a small hand grasped Ryder’s arm and applied pressure. “Beloved, he’s not worth the effort.”
Ryder released Foley, who crab-walked away from them as quickly as he could, and he turned to Stacia. With her vanity, she had mistakenly believed the exchange to be about her. Sensing that she wouldn’t take kindly to knowing otherwise, he said, “I wasn’t expecting you.”
Stacia cupped his cheek. Her palm was cold against his skin. She traced the edges of his lips and her thumb came away stained with a remnant of his snack. She snaked her tongue out to lick it off. “Delicious.” The look in her hungry eyes made it clear that she wasn’t referring to the blood.
“Subtlety has never been your strong suit,” Diego said with a harsh snicker.
She wasn’t about to let the slight go unnoticed.
She slipped an arm around Diego’s waist and morphed, her eyes going from their normally dark hue to an almost phosphorescent blue-green. Her fangs burst from her mouth, sharp, white and lethally long. At least a few inches. Far longer than Ryder’s or Diego’s. Another sign of vamp age? Was this what long in the tooth meant?
His amusement fled when she reached up and jerked Diego’s head to the side, exposing his vulnerable neck.
“You remember, amor, don’t you?” she asked, her tone filled with the dual promise of passion and violence.
She grazed Diego’s neck with her teeth, breaking the skin just enough to draw blood. Diego shivered and moaned with need.
Ryder felt the energy pulse from her body and envelop his friend. As Stacia flicked a glance in his direction, the field of power expanded and he experienced the pull Stacia exerted over Diego as surely as if it was his neck she was now licking with slow, catlike strokes.
Stacia placed one final lick on Diego’s neck, but as she did so, her dark gaze locked with Ryder’s. “Care to join us?”
Ryder peered at the ancient vamp, battling the images that suddenly flashed through his mind of all that she planned to do to his friend in one of the back rooms. Violence mixed with passion so intense, it pulled an arousal from him—not just of the beast but of the human. Summoning his waning willpower, he said, “I never was much for threesomes.”
Stacia smiled, displaying those decidedly dangerous fangs. “Even better, beloved. I’ll wait to have you all to myself.”
She strode away, Diego beside her. Petite shoulders pulled back confidently, reflecting surety in her eventual possession of him. He wondered what Stacia would do if he confessed that no matter how attractive she was, his mind invariably returned to another dark and petite dominatrix.
One named Diana.
Her night had been restless, filled not only with dreams of Ryder but with an unsettling sense that their connection was weakening. Even before he had bitten her, there had been some kind of link between them. With each bite, that connection had grown stronger. What she hadn’t realized until recently was that no matter how far apart they were, she still felt him. Until lately.
The growing chasm between them sat heavily on her mind, so hard to ignore that it kept her awake and made her head to work early.
Surprisingly, she got beeped by her Assistant Director in Charge as she cleared security. She was needed immediately and wasted no time in rushing to the ADIC’s office, where she ran into David.
ADIC Hernandez’s curt response as he saw them provided no comfort. “Let’s go.”
He opened the door to reveal another man sitting in front of his desk. The man rose and turned, a simple act, and yet raw threat came off of him in waves.
“This is Agent Henry Rupert from the CIA. He’s here to discuss the de la Fuente case.”
The older man pulled out his identification and flashed it, his movements brusque, possibly even resentful, she thought.
“Agent Rupert,” she acknowledged with a nod of her head.
The CIA agent showed little emotion as he said, “Call me Hank since it seems as if we’ll have to work together.”
Diana listened patiently to her ADIC’s briefing. It seemed that her investigation into the money-laundering scheme had unwittingly stepped on one being conducted by Rupert and the CIA into the theft of a weapon and its subsequent purchase by a domestic paramilitary group—the Cuban Democratic Army.
Agent Rupert struck her as a man of action and command, his manner as blunt as the tips of the Marine buzz-cut he favored. She pictured him charging bullishly ahead to achieve his objective. She was surprised, therefore, that he sat calmly while ADIC Hernandez turned over command of the investigation to her since domestic terrorism was normally within the FBI’s jurisdiction. Rupert would remain the key CIA contact and work with her and David as necessary.
As her ADIC finished with his speech about interagency cooperation, an oxymoron if there ever was one, he motioned to Rupert. “Hank can fill you in on the specifics of the CIA investigation. I trust you and David can do the same regarding ours. Copies of the latest reports are in your office, Diana. At 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, we will have a meeting of the joint teams.”
Diana bit back any objections. In the close to six years she had worked for the Bureau under Jesus Hernandez, she had found him to be a reasonable man who knew the right political moves. He had supported her on various cases and she respected him too much to challenge his decision. “We’ll do the best that we can. Agent Rupert?”
Rupert exhaled a long, almost strangled breath. “Can’t say I’m pleased, but I’ll do what I have to.”
Exasperation colored his words. He probably resented that she was younger, a woman and, more so, a Cubana. Maybe his pique had been responsible for that earlier sense of threat she’d perceived. Had the situations been reversed, she certainly would have been pissed off. She tried to smooth things over. “I think a man of your experience will help get things moving quickly. I’m looking forward to working together.” She offered her hand.
After a long inspection that gave away nothing he was thinking, he shook her hand and then David’s. “Let’s get rolling. We have a lot to do before tomorrow morning.”
Rupert strode out of the ADIC’s office, obviously expecting them to follow his lead. Diana shoved her anger back. Rupert was likely used to being in command and she would give him that little bit…for now.
Diana leaned back and steepled her elbows on the arms of the chair as she considered Agent Rupert and his comments about the Cuban Democratic Army.
“Are you angry that we have to work together?” she asked, wanting everything out in the open.
Rupert shrugged and barely managed to fold his arms across his barrel chest. “Aren’t you?”
“As a matter of fact, I am. My investigation was going well.”
“As was mine.” Each word was clipped. “We nailed a couple of CDA members.”
“But clearly you didn’t get exactly what you were after.”
He smil
ed at her in recognition of the truth of her statement. “No, clearly not what we were after. Which leaves me here, uneasy allies with the FBI, trying to put an end to—” He stopped abruptly, clearly holding back.
David forced the issue by asking, “What are we trying to end, Agent Rupert?”
Exasperated with every second Rupert delayed, she sat up straighter in her chair and pointedly met Rupert’s gaze. “Agent Rupert—”
“Hank. You two are young enough without making me feel older with all the sirs and ‘Agent this and that,’” he replied.
“Hank,” she began, unduly stressing his name. “This isn’t going to work unless we get one hundred percent cooperation.”
His gaze skittered from her to David. “My undercover source tells me the CDA plans to take down either the United Nations or the Cuban Mission on Lexington Avenue in order to call attention to Cuba’s oppressive regime and pattern of human rights violations.”
“Twisted logic,” David said. “You trust this source?”
A shrewd smile spread across the older man’s lips. “Your partner would know if he’s trustworthy.”
“Excuse me? How would I—”
She stopped when Rupert slid a file in front of her and a familiar face stared back—Alejandro Garcia. Son of a Bay of Pigs soldier and, from what she noted in the file, on special assignment from the Miami branch of the DEA.
But more importantly, Alejandro Garcia was her former boyfriend and lover. Her first love. The man she had once thought she would marry and have a family with.
Her Alex, she thought, sadly remembering how it had ended between them.
“Diana?” David questioned.
She gave the papers to her partner for review. “I’ve known Alejandro since elementary school.”
“He was your high school sweetheart and college love.”
“You’ve obviously done your homework, Hank. Why Alejandro for this assignment?”
Rupert shifted his fullback-wide shoulders in a careless shrug. “His father is as close as you can get to a local hero in Little Havana. Who better to infiltrate a group whose leader fancies one day ruling Cuba?”
“You suspect de la Fuente and Moreno are involved with this group?”
“Garcia has confirmed that Moreno’s a CDA member. We know who’s funding them—a Colombian drug cartel that’s been wanting to expand. Now thanks to you, we know that de la Fuente got the money from them to the CDA.”
“Why New York with all that’s happened lately? The CDA must know we’re on a heightened state of alert,” David said, clearly ill at ease with the picture Rupert painted.
The older man shook his head. “They probably don’t care since—”
“There are plenty of people who want to see a regime change in Cuba?” Did Rupert have doubts about her commitment given her background?
Rupert surprised her by losing his earlier artificially imposed nonchalance. “Tell me you don’t want Cuba free, Reyes.”
“Hear this, Hank,” she said, although her use of his name was anything but friendly. “I’m going to stop this from happening. What you think about my community’s politics doesn’t matter a rat’s ass. Besides, I have my own reasons.”
There was a moment’s pause on Rupert’s part before he said, “A reason besides your friend? Like maybe the drug dealers that killed your father?”
Her head snapped back as if she’d been struck. “I guess you got your hands on my personal file, which prompts me to ask what other kinds of information you shadowy CIA types might have.”
“Just what we need to do the job, Reyes.” He had broken every rule in the book by looking at her file.
She eyed him with suspicion. “My psych profile and other personal information aren’t in that category.”
He grinned, but his eyes were cold and flat, like a snake’s. “Well, you know what they say—know your friends, but know your enemies better.”
“Are we your enemies, Agent Rupert?” David sat on the edge of Diana’s desk in an effort to provide a united front.
“Time will tell,” Rupert said.
Chapter 10
I f God laughed at women who made plans, she was sure He was rolling in the aisles right about now. She was sitting in a safe house in Union City, New Jersey, waiting for a visit from the CIA’s deep cover operative Alejandro Garcia.
Her Alex.
David, with his infinite wisdom, had thought it wiser for Diana to meet Alex by herself and fill him in on the briefings after she settled whatever things she might need to settle with her ex.
Her ex.
At one time, Alex had been the center of her life. They’d fancied themselves getting married. Having kids. Doing all the normal things normal people do. Until the death of her father had changed all those plans.
Changed her.
Had it also changed Alex? What was his life like now? Was he married? Did he have children? Did he have all those things they had once dreamed of sharing together?
Unlike Rupert, she was not about to pull strings to get the answers. She wasn’t even sure she deserved them considering how it had ended between them.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
She had been so engrossed in her thoughts she hadn’t heard him enter the apartment. After what seemed like forever, there he was, up close and personal.
“Alex.” Her voice was husky with suppressed emotion.
He had aged a little, but who hadn’t? Unbidden came the thought that he’d grown into a recklessly handsome man with his perfect smile and light green eyes. His body had filled out admirably with leanly defined muscle well served by the T-shirt and jeans he wore.
She stepped closer, hoping he hadn’t noticed her perusal.
“Not glad to see me?”
Before she knew it, they were in each other’s arms, the embrace one of friendship and solace. One that seemed like a homecoming despite nearly a decade of separation.
“I’m sorry about Sylvia,” he said when he finally stepped away.
“Gracias. I know she’ll get justice with both of us on the case.”
“Sí. Funny thing, both of us on this case. Both of us in law enforcement,” he said.
A funny thing indeed, she thought. She motioned to the bag he’d put on the table. “As late as it is, I’m hoping that’s dinner.”
Alex smiled. “I haven’t had a chance to eat, and figured your day might very well have been the same.”
With a broad nod of her head, she said, “You guessed it.”
“Ropa vieja still your favorite? With sides of platanos maduros and tostones?”
“You didn’t forget the avocado salad, did you?” she asked, both surprised and touched that he had remembered her favorites.
“I could never forget.” His eyes darkened to confirm that was not all he had not forgotten.
Slightly disquieted by that possibility, she inclined her head in the direction of the kitchen. “Care to have a working dinner?”
A touch of tension entered his smile, as if he sensed she was pushing him away. Again. “I’m not trying to pick up where we left off, because—”
“That would be impossible,” she finished for him. Very impossible since she wasn’t sure whether her heart was free at the moment.
“It would. We’re very different people. Or at least, I am,” he admitted as he walked over to the table and spread out the assorted take-out plates.
/> “I am, too, Alex.” She joined him, but opted for removing papers from her briefcase, unsettled by the discussion.
“Diana, mi amor. You’ve still got your defenses up. I felt them the moment I walked in.”
He had always been able to read her emotions, and the truth of it was, he was right. Her defenses were definitely on full-blast. “What I want most right now is to solve this case and get my life back on track.”
“Sylvia’s death having derailed you the way your dad’s did?” The tone of his words held a strange mix of condemnation and concern.
Irritation flared to life, but she tamped it down. He, more than most, had a right to that censure. But it was time to move away from personal issues and on to more demanding ones. “Are you ready to go over what we have?”
A wry smirk flitted across his lips before he gestured to the table. She sat beside him and tried to recall his usual choices. They came to mind as if she was still standing at the noisy take-out counter at La Carreta on Calle Oche. Bistec empanizado. He usually got the chicken-fried steak with beans and rice. The dishes on his side of the table confirmed her recollection had been correct. At least she wasn’t the only one still easy to read.
She ate some of the tender shredded beef swimming in tomato sauce. Flavorful and with just the right blend of spices. “Delicioso. As good as mami’s.”
He chuckled as he flipped a page from the files. “Don’t let her hear that.” Before she could say anything else, he said, “Why don’t you give me your impressions of the case?”
Although it was phrased as a request, there was no doubting the command behind his words. Interesting, she thought. Alex had rarely been the take-charge type. Nevertheless, she did as he asked, and he listened carefully as she explained how she and Peter Daly had unwittingly stumbled upon the money laundering and ended up nabbing Moreno and de la Fuente, as well.
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