Red Leopard (The Vistaria Affair Series)

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  She kicked off her shoes, regretfully casting them aside. She had enjoyed the few minutes she had been wearing them before the explosion. It was unlikely she’d experience anything quite like that ever again.

  She stepped onto Nick’s hands. He boosted her as if she weighed the same miniscule amount as Minnie, which she knew for a fact she did not. She barely put any weight on his shoulder. Many hands caught at her arms and drew her swiftly up. The motion shot pain through her shoulders, but it was over before she could protest. She found herself lying once more on the debris and sand scattered across the tiles.

  She wanted to stay there, to rest and recover, but the same many hands hauled her up, made her sit and move out of the way. They raised her to her feet and led her to a battered but still whole, chair, where she sat, grateful to be still for a moment.

  She watched as Nick was hauled up over the edge and then Pietro, Jose and the last of the human chain clambered up. Pietro’s AC/DC tee-shirt hung torn and dirty now. His face was smeared with ash, but he smiled brightly.

  Many more people moved about the remains of the courtyard now, including men in uniform. She remembered the valley was a popular residence for army officers. The explosion would have brought them running.

  A very senior-looking officer, a man with graying hair and a buffet table’s worth of medals across his chest, walked up to Nick. As Nick brushed himself off, the officer saluted.

  Nick spoke. It sounded like a question.

  The officer pursed his lips then shook his head.

  Nick looked down at the ground and sighed. After a moment he straightened again. “Okay,” he said and spoke more Spanish. Short sentences. Emphatic.

  Orders.

  The officer saluted again then turned on his heel and strode away. He called out to others, who came running to his side as he walked, some wearing uniforms, some not. He issued orders, too, and they scurried off to do his bidding.

  Nick stopped in front of her, picking up her hand, pulling her from her comfortable seat, while all around them the courtyard seemed to suddenly burst with activity. Lights came on everywhere and she heard the distant “thwock-thwock” of helicopters.

  “Come here,” he said.

  She allowed herself to be led to the dark far corner of the yard, the left side where, just beyond the jagged remains of the courtyard wall, the truck in which they had traveled here was parked. The triangular-shaped side pocket lay in quiet shadows.

  He turned her to face him, letting her rest up against an intact section of the wall. The cut below his eye had stopped bleeding, but his face was still dirty and scratched. “You look like hell,” she said.

  “You should look in a mirror,” he said, with a grin. Then his grin faded. “Calli....” Then he shook his head. “You’re a hero, Calli. You saved Duardo’s life and every man here knows it. But there will never be any acknowledgment of what you did here tonight. There can’t be.”

  “I don’t want it.”

  “You deserve it. There are a handful of Vistarian men who will for the rest of their lives consider themselves in your debt because of what you did for their captain. But they cannot speak of it and neither can I.”

  “No problems.”

  “Yes it is a goddam problem!” he said sharply and his fist slapped the wall by her head. “We should not be in such dire straits that we dare not breathe about the efforts of an American amongst us, but we are and it is only going to get worse.”

  “Worse?”

  “Much worse. This is the beginning, I think. I will know more later but if I’m right, then this is the first faint sound of disaster for Vistaria.”

  “You mean, this explosion was deliberate?” Calli shook her head. “Someone blew up the house on purpose? My god....” She caught at his arm. “Nick, I know someone was hurt. Is Duardo...did he...?”

  “Duardo will be fine,” he said quickly. “But Menaka died. She sat right next to the kitchen. She had no chance. Nor did Hernandez.”

  “Oh, Nick, and the baby?”

  “Lives, poor orphaned soul. They delivered it a few minutes ago.”

  “Elvira?”

  “She is badly hurt.”

  Deep sadness welled in her and she hung her head. Nick drew her to him and she rested her cheek against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, but nothing stirred in her. The waste, the pointless loss, pained her too much.

  Then a more terrible possibility occurred to her. “Nick, this didn’t happen because of Minnie and me, did it? They didn’t do it because we came here?”

  “No,” he said quickly. “This valley is full of army personnel and a party at any house here with a concentration of officers is a natural target, if you’re looking for targets. It’s just that no one thought they were looking for targets.” He sighed.

  She closed her eyes and let her hand rest against his shoulder, feeling the silk and the firm, warm flesh beneath.

  His arms came around her, tightening. Then with a low groan, he pulled her away from him. “I only have a moment, Calli. You must listen, for this is important. You and Minnie will be flown back to las colinas. I’ve arranged medical care for you both—you’ll be checked and treated as needed. You’ll get fresh clothes, a chance to clean up, then you’ll be dropped at your apartment tonight just as if you had been to the party. You may feel the need to tell your uncle what happened and I can’t prevent that, but you must not tell anyone else. Things are going to start happening now and you must be kept out of them. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  He paused and drew back a little, as if he had been expecting a protest from her.

  “I’m not stupid, Nick. I can see what is happening here as well as you. If this was not an accident, then the rebels have made their first move. You have to find out how they knew about this party, how they managed to penetrate it without detection. The only way that could have happened is that you have rebel sympathizers inside the army. That means everyone is suspect, no one can be trusted.”

  He smiled a little and cupped her cheek. “You continue to astonish me,” he said.

  His praise, his admiration, warmed her. It made the touch of his hand more than a simple comfort. She could feel her senses wakening and stirring but she pushed aside the distraction because another horrible possibility occurred to her. “It also means you’re a possible target, doesn’t it?”

  His hand dropped away. “Yes,” he said flatly. Truthfully.

  From the valley came a roar of an engine. A rhythmic percussive sound that beat at her ears, inside her head. It was a helicopter, very close.

  A man stepped around the corner. He carried a rifle and wore a bandolier of rifle shells over one shoulder. “El helicóptero espera, señor.”

  “Gracias. Deme un momento,” Nick murmured.

  “Sí, señor.” The man stepped back around the house.

  Nick turned back to her. “This is a race, Calli. If we can find them, root them out, then we may still win the day. We have to pull their teeth—weaken them before we can dig them up out of their mountain strongholds. We must do it quickly, before this gets out of hand. So for now everything must appear to go along as usual. The mine must still operate, people will work and live and we must give no indication that we are hunting them. And you must stay out of it.”

  She gave in to her need to touch him and rested her hands on his chest. “I’m afraid for you, Nick.”

  “Don’t be. I have the nine lives of a cat, don’t you know?”

  “Señor?” The soldier had returned.

  Nick barely glanced at him. “The helicopter is here for you,” he told her.

  “I know.” She looked at the soldier. “Uno más momento, por favor.”

  “Sí,” he agreed and moved away again.

  Nick smiled. “You’ve been studying.”

  “I’m a fast learner,” she said and gave a laugh. “Economics seems very remote right now.”

  “You have one moment more,” he reminded her
.

  She gripped his shirt. “It’s not enough,” she confessed. “I’m confused, Nick. I thought I had it sorted out before all this happened, but now...I don’t know. You’re right to send me away. All I know right now is that I don’t want to leave you.”

  His hand settled around her neck, curled around it as if he would draw her face to him and she held her breath, her heart suddenly leaping and her pulse fluttering. He gazed into her eyes.

  “Nick,” she whispered. “Nicolás Escobedo. El leopardo rojo. I have seen you all ways. I want them all.”

  He closed his eyes. She knew he battled temptation and his own better judgment. Right now, though, she didn’t care about prudence and good sense. She only cared about the truth in her heart—and damn the price of speaking it aloud.

  “Señor!” came the imperative call.

  Nick growled under his breath and opened his eyes. He pushed her gently towards the waiting soldier. “Go,” he told her.

  Then she was being hurried away, towards the military helicopter, with no answer, not even hope to cling to.

  Chapter Eight

  For the first time since she had landed in Vistaria, Calli slept the sleep of the dead. They had been dropped at the apartment a little past midnight, after being checked over and given a shower and a change of clothes. Calli was barefoot. They could find no shoes that fit her. She dropped into bed as soon as she had seen Minnie tucked into hers, and slept dreamlessly for ten hours.

  Minnie had woken her a little after eleven a.m. Her cousin bubbled over with happiness, for Duardo had phoned and assured her he was okay. Now Minnie straddled Calli’s back and doing her best to work the stiffness out of her shoulders. Calli had found herself nearly unable to move for the soreness.

  “Calli, the way the men deferred to Nicolás Escobedo yesterday...he’s the one they call the Red Leopard, isn’t he?”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Red hair, red leopard. And Duardo said ‘rojo’ yesterday just before you went over to talk to him. He’s the one that helped you in the jail. That’s how you know him.”

  “Yes.”

  “You know who he is, don’t you?”

  Calli sighed into her pillow. “Yes.”

  Minnie kneaded and worked at one of the knots by her right shoulder blade. “He would be a very dangerous man to get involved with.”

  Calli jumped a little at her unexpected statement. “I rather doubt he’d trouble with the likes of you and I, Minnie. He’s virtually royalty here, or so your dad keeps telling me.”

  “Maybe. But he wants you anyway.”

  This time the leap of her heart made her whole body twitch. Calli rolled over, dislodging Minnie and drew the gown back around her shoulders. “How do you know that?” she asked her cousin.

  “I know men. Much better than you, Miss Academic. I saw him watching you, and later when you talked, just before the explosion. He wants you. Most people wouldn’t see it, but it came off him in waves. He barely held himself in.”

  Calli chewed at her lip. “No one else would know?” she repeated.

  Minnie wrinkled her nose. “Unless they could tune into that sort of thing, like me.”

  “God, I hope not,” Calli muttered.

  “You can’t get involved, Calli. Not with him.”

  “I know.”

  “You told him no, didn’t you?”

  “Well, more or less, but....”

  “But?” Minnie pounced on the prevarication.

  “But afterwards...” She shook her head. “After the explosion, Minnie, it felt like nothing really mattered, like I should just cut through all the bullshit and tell it like it is. And I did. I told him how I feel.”

  Minnie drew her knees to her chest and hugged them, resting her chin on them. “What did you tell him? That you’re in love with him?”

  “It’s more...in lust. I know I go a little crazy when he’s near. I can’t breathe properly. The ache to have him...it’s overwhelming and I can’t think of anything else. It’s the first time I’ve felt that since....”

  “Since Robert,” Minnie finished.

  Calli shook her head. “I’ve never felt this, not even with Robert. Not this way.”

  “You don’t think that could be love?”

  “I don’t even know him,” Calli protested.

  “You don’t have to know him,” Minnie whispered and Callie was alarmed to see two big tears roll down her cheeks. She brushed them away impatiently.

  “What is it?” Calli asked. “Duardo?”

  Minnie half laughed, even as she began crying in earnest. “I’m such an idiot,” she said. “But watching him hanging there yesterday, God, Calli, I would have died if he’d let go, if you hadn’t been able to hold on for as long as you did, if Nick hadn’t come along.”

  Calli felt her own eyes welling with tears, in reaction to Minnie’s genuine distress. She rubbed her cousin’s shoulder, trying to find something appropriate to say. “It could just be the stress of the occasion,” she offered.

  Minnie gave a gigantic sniff, like a little girl. “Yeah and tell me that the way you want Nicolás Escobedo is just the stress of the moment,” she said.

  Calli stayed silent.

  “There you go, then,” Minnie said.

  * * * * *

  Uncle Josh listened in total to silence to all Calli had to say and even Minnie repressed her natural tendency to slide in shocking side commentary. He remained silent for long moments after she had finished, absorbing it all.

  Finally he blew out his breath, making his cheeks pop. “I’m glad you were there, Calli. For Minnie’s sake. Thank you for that. But what concerns me more is Escobedo’s airy assurance that Americans are safe. Why would we be safe?”

  “There’s no advantage to hurting Americans,” Calli explained. “Or anyone but the Vistarian Army, who are the power-holders.”

  “And how long will it take the rebels to figure out that the army needs us here to get to silver production going? And how long after that will they start taking potshots at us?”

  Calli had no answer for that, but she knew Nick would have and wished he were here to supply it.

  “Can you give me any reason why I shouldn’t phone Dan Mellon right now and recommend we shut down the mine and ship everyone back home?” Josh asked.

  “If you do, then the president will have no chance of sorting this out at all. None. The rebels will have won.”

  “We didn’t come here to get mixed up in their politics,” he replied.

  “Dad, you threw your lot in with the government just by coming here,” Minnie said. “You can’t leave them to the wolves now.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. I don’t like this at all. Knowing this—in a way I wish you hadn’t told me. It’s a responsibility.”

  “It is,” Calli agreed. “What if you spoke to Nicolás Escobedo yourself, uncle Josh? Would that reassure you?”

  He thought about it and shook his head. “It’s not just me I have to think about, or even you two. It’s the whole damned company. It’s everyone out here.”

  Minnie sat forward on the sofa. “What if Dan Mellon spoke to Nicolás Escobedo? Or even the president?”

  “That,” he declared, “would make a difference.” Then he looked at them both. “Don’t tell me you can pull that off?” He looked sharply at Calli. “You can?”

  “Not without Minnie’s help,” Calli said. “Minnie has to make a phone call.”

  Joshua turned his head to look at his daughter. Minnie shrugged. “What can I say? It’s this femme fatale quality I have.”

  He shook his head. “I get the impression you’re not joking and I don’t know that I want to know the details. Okay, make the call.”

  * * * * *

  It took one phone call and a great deal of waiting but eventually the phone rang and Uncle Josh went off to a meeting with a worried look. He returned several hours later, very quiet.

  “We’re staying. For now,” he added. “Nicolás Es
cobedo can be very persuasive.”

  “What did he say that convinced you?” Calli asked.

  “It’s more what he didn’t say. The President was very clear about economic impacts and even the impact on the company should we pull up stakes—they have a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of our own financial situation. He insisted it hadn’t been proved yet the explosion at Dominio de Leo was rebel action. Rebel action or not, it had been aimed at the army. No one else. Dan Mellon didn’t accept any of it. That’s when Nicolás leaned forward and said in a quiet way he would personally guarantee no harm would ever come to any American in Vistaria. Not one. Because the moment that happened, his country would be lost and he had no intention of losing it to rebels who would run it into the ground inside a generation. And Dan Mellon looked at him and nodded. And that ended it.”

  Minnie smiled.

  Her father lifted a finger. “But you stay away from the army from now on, Minerva. It’s too dangerous. I can’t lock you up behind palisades because you’re a grown woman, but I wish to God I could. I want you to promise me.”

  Her smile faded. “I can’t promise that, Dad.”

  He stared at her, surprised. “Why not?”

  She put her hands together in her lap. “There’s a man. A captain in the army.”

  “With you, there’s always a man, Minnie. D’you think just because I’m your father I’m deaf, dumb and blind?”

  “This is different,” she said firmly. Simply.

  “Calli, help me,” he pleaded.

  “I can’t,” Calli said softly. “I believe her. This is different.”

  He scrubbed his hand backwards and forwards through his hair. “Oh hell’s bells,” he muttered. “Minnie, don’t you understand that hanging around with army personnel is liable to get you into trouble?”

  “It already has.”

  “I could ship you back to America,” he said. “In fact, I’m thinking of sending your mother back home anyway. The climate here isn’t helping her.”

  “I’d just leave home,” Minnie said quietly, without undue emphasis.

  He growled a little under his breath and Calli knew Minnie’s passive, truthful answers drove him into an unaccustomed corner. She put a hand on her uncle’s forearm. “I’ll watch out for her, Uncle Josh, and we will be very careful. We know, better than you, the dangers here.”