“The coast is clear, I take it.”
“Yeah, but I don’t get it. They could have had easily cut off access to the port and surrounded us.”
“You’re giving them too much credit. Most of those guys are hired hoods like Roman Leto was. They aren’t professionally trained spies like you.”
He glanced down at her. “I’m not a spy. Spying is part of my job, but it’s not what I am.”
“What are you then?”
She already knew too much, but he couldn’t go into any more detail. He pointed toward a local woman selling food from a cart by the dock. “Do you want something to eat? Don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“I could eat.” April gave the woman a brilliant smile and greeted her in Portuguese. “Ola. Bom dia.”
“Ola,” the woman said. “O que você terá?”
April looked up at him expectantly.
“Dois acarajé, por favor.” He pointed to the spicy shrimp fritters.
April nodded. “O mesmo, por favor.”
“I didn’t know you spoke Portuguese.”
“I can’t. Not really. I used to travel a lot with my mom though, and I picked up a few words and phrases. Enough to get by.”
It was still impressive. A lot of people were shy about attempting a foreign language and that was what held them back from actually learning it. Not only did April speak what Portuguese she knew properly, she spoke it with confidence, and it was sexy as hell.
Jonas refilled his canteen with fresh water from the village well before they lined up to board the boat. The few passengers that boarded with them joined the others inside the covered portion of the deck, but Jonas led April around to the stern, where they had some privacy and a clear view of the water in case Linus’ men decided to pursue the boat.
The fast boat came and went quickly as he was warned. They’d barely sat down when it started moving away from the dock.
Jonas unwrapped his fritter, took a bite and almost groaned when the hot spicy goodness touched his taste buds. April did make a noise, and he glanced over to find her eyes closed and her face slightly flushed as she chewed a big bite. He couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and kissed her puckered lips.
Her eyes flew open, and she covered her mouth as she smiled around her mouthful of food.
His heart thumped against his chest, and he fought the smile that tugged at his own lips. He took another bite of his own fritter, slightly more aggressively than necessary.
April laughed. You look like that mussurana attacking the viper.”
Jonas chuckled.
Her beautiful blue eyes twinkled as she nibbled the edge of her fritter and, suddenly, Jonas wasn’t hungry for food anymore, he was starving for another taste of her.
Wait. What was he doing? This farce they were playing at had to stop. She wasn’t his. She would never be his. Maybe if he was normal, had a normal life and a normal job, they might have stood a chance. Who was he kidding? A smart, gorgeous woman like April Linus deserved to be worshiped and pampered by some billionaire business man who could give her everything her heart desired. Jonas took a bite of the second fritter and tossed it in the trash bin beside his seat. He couldn’t eat any more.
April drank from his canteen and offered it to him when she finished. He took a deep drink, wishing it was something stronger than water.
She stood and tossed out her trash, before she went to stand by the railing. Meio Caminho had already faded from site.
What could he give April Linus besides a few months of phenomenal sex and a lot of disappointment? Maybe a broken heart. The was the last thing he wanted.
“You never answered my question.” She turned around and leaned back against the railing. The wind caught her ponytail and blew it out behind her, occasionally whipping her in the face.
“What question was that?” He took one last sip of water and then fastened the lid on the canteen.
“If you aren’t a spy, what are you?”
“I can’t talk about it.”
“Let’s see.” She ticked off her fingers. “You’re a former green beret with Ninja skills who works for the government spying on reputed arms dealers. Not sure what else there is to know?”
He kept his mouth shut not because he wanted to but because he had to.
“What can you tell me?”
“Vera Velez was my counterpart.”
“Nanny Vera?” April’s eyes widened. “No wonder I caught her giving me the stink eye. Maybe I sensed it because I had a weird dream about her interrogating me on a ski slope.”
“It was the ski mask.” He shoved the canteen back into his pack. “She wore one when she questioned you.”
“Wait. What?” Her smile faded.
“In Miami. After the you got the call from Cher.”
“Carly.” April put her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, Carly. Vera and her team busted in on us and drugged you with truth serum.”
“Excuse me? You’re just telling me this now?”
Jonas shrugged. “There hasn’t been a good time to bring it up.”
She eyed him dubiously. “That’s debatable. Well, what did I say?”
“Nothing of value. Truth serum isn’t very reliable. Vera was hoping to loosen your tongue a little bit, but you were stronger than she expected. You did mention how Archie has my eyes and that got me in a load of trouble. Except, it probably doesn’t matter now.”
“What do you mean?”
Jonas got up and joined her at the railing. They both faced the black water, watching the ripples move away from the boat. The Rio Negro was wide at this point, and the dense tropical forest that met the shoreline was good distance away.
“Vera’s missing,” he said, leaning down on his elbows. “She disappeared Sunday morning. A search and rescue team is looking for her, but don’t expect them to find her alive.”
“Do you think my father did something to her?”
Jonas nodded. “Probably caught her in a lie.”
“Oh.” April stared out at the water again.
He wondered what she was thinking but stayed quiet, letting her process the information.
After a while, she turned toward him. “When you disappeared five years ago, did you disappear because you wanted to avoid me after we had sex or were you forced to leave?”
His grip tightened on the railing and he bowed his head. “I was forcibly removed because my superiors felt that having my brothers live in the same town as my target might jeopardize my cover. They didn’t know anything about you.”
“Good thing.” She slid her hand into the crook of his arm and leaned against him lightly. “They probably would’ve flipped, if they found out you’d slept with me.”
“Flipped is too mild a word.” Jonas winced as he imagined the ass chewing he would have received for that monumental indiscretion. He might have even been exiled, the polite term handlers used for punishing operatives who broke the rules or went rogue. Being exiled usually meant spending several months wallowing in a prison cell or a third world country, depending on the level of misconduct, until they felt you’d learned your lesson. Instead, he’d gotten sent to Russia to break up a human trafficking ring. It wasn’t a hellhole, but it was friggin’ cold as a polar bear’s dick.
His gut went queasy as a thought suddenly occurred to him. Had his superiors somehow known about his encounter with April? Is that why he was sent to Siberia, as far away from April Linus and their kid as he could possibly get? That would explain why they were so reluctant to assign him this mission. It had nothing to do with what happened in Novosibirsk.
“Bastards,” he spat the word through gritted teeth.
“What’s wrong?” She placed her chin on his arm and gazed up at him.
“I never questioned the timing. My brother Jimmy had been in Key West from the beginning. When Anders moved there too, and both started families, I figured it made the top brass antsy. It never occurred to me why they picked that n
ight of all nights to extract me from the mission.”
“Do you think there was another operative keeping tabs on you?”
Jonas shook his head. “Not another operative, but an informant.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think someone, maybe on staff, was providing intel to my agency. They may not have been spying on me specifically, but they may have found out what was going on between us and decided to report it.”
“I can’t think of anyone who would intentionally narc on my father. He chooses his employees very carefully and rewards them for their loyalty.”
“He puts the fear of God into most of them or tries too. One of them could have turned.” Jonas sighed and rubbed the top of his head. His hair was getting too long. He was going to have to shave his head again soon. “I suppose it doesn’t matter who snitched on us.”
“I suppose not. What do you think would have happened if you’d stayed?”
He slid his arm out from under her and leaned back against the railing. “I think you already know the answer to that question.”
Pain flickered across her face. Then she pressed her lips together and nodded.
Nothing would have changed. Except, Linus would already be in prison, and Jonas would’ve figured out he was a father a heck of a lot sooner.
And then what?
The hell if he knew.
He wasn’t any more prepared to be a father now than he was back then, but he would’ve helped April the best he could. Given her child support. Made sure she and the kid had a safe place to live.
The Agency made sure he was never given the chance to do right by April or his son and that pissed him off. He planned to confront Wexler about it, but until then, it was going to gnaw at him. When he got through with his handler, Wexler was going to wish he’d locked Jonas up in some third world dungeon and thrown away the key.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
They arrived in San Carlos de Rio Negro around dinner time and immediately sought out a restaurant where they stuffed themselves with skirt steak and boiled yucca before catching an air taxi to Caraccas. After a long and turbulent flight, they flew into Venezuela’s capital under the blanket of night. The city could have past for LA or any other major coastal metropolis, but according to their chatty pilot, the darkness disguised the neglect, the shanty town sprawling across the eastern hills, and the crumbling unfinished sky scraper that had become the world’s tallest slum before the government stepped in and relocated the nearly 5000 squatters who had taken over the place. April was too exhausted to pay close attention the history lesson and dozed lightly for most of the flight while Jonas slept.
Jonas didn’t say much about where the local cab was taking them, so she was relieved when they pulled up in front of a very clean, modern boutique hotel.
“This place looks expensive, Jonas. I’m fine with motel.”
“No, you’re not.” He paused with his hand on the brass knob. “Besides, this is where I stay when I’m in South America. I keep a room here.”
She never imagined he had an apartment somewhere, especially in a sketchy South American city like Caracas. “Do you come here a lot?”
He opened the door and motioned her to go before him. “I’ve been overseas for the past four years but dropped by a few months ago when I was making my way back to the States.”
April took in the sleek marble reception desk and chic black and white décor. An artful monochrome photograph of a nude woman was the only decoration that adored the pristine white walls.
Covered in jungle grunge and stinky day-old clothes, April suddenly felt self-conscious. Jonas didn’t look much better. Thick stubble covered his jaw and dried mud caked his boots and pants up to his thighs. With his buzz cut and the knives strapped to his chest, he looked like a soldier returning from battle.
“Are you sure they’ll let us in here?”
“I’m sure.” Jonas walked past her and pushed a button that was built into desktop. A bell chimed in the room beyond the closed double doors.
When April listened closely, she could hear the sound of muted voices and the soft tinkle of feminine laughter.
An inexplicable felling of unease rolled through her. “We should go.”
“It’s fine.”
One of the pocket doors rolled open and an exotic-looking brunette smiled at Jonas with recognition. “Mi querido, I did not expect you back so soon,” she said in Spanish.
“I didn’t expect to be back for a while,” Jonas replied in her language before switching to English. “This is April Linus. April, this is Carmen Montesino, an old friend. She owns the place.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” April’s smiled faded when the woman eyed her with distaste.
Carmen Montesino was maybe 5’1” in heels. She wore a black wrap dress that showed off her lithe curves to their best advantage. Her face had a sharpness to it that came with age and fine lines creased the corners of her chocolate brown eyes, but she was still a very beautiful woman.
In Spanish, Carmen said to Jonas, “Are you bringing this puta to me as a gift? With a bosom like hers she will be popular with my customers.”
Before Jonas could reply, April interrupted him. “No soy una puta. Sus clients…” She paused, thinking of the right words and went with what she knew. “No tienen suficiente dinero para esto!” I’m not a whore. Your customers don’t have enough money for this. Her vocabulary was limited, but she knew she got her point across when Carmen scrunched her nose and gave April a disinterested once over.
“Come,” Carmen crooked a finger and switched to heavily accented English as she headed back through the open pocket door. “Your brother is here making the chicas muy locas.”
Anders might be a world-renowned country music superstar, but Jimmy Panama with his staggering sex appeal and laid-back charm had a fan base all his own. April once had an enormous crush on Jimmy despite their fifteen-year age difference, but now she thought of him as a big brother. Well, maybe more like a really hot older step-brother.
The contemporary décor carried over from the foyer, except this room included black leather benches, couches, and chaises. Several women in skimpy cocktail dresses sat on a long bench off to the side near the entryway.
Jimmy lounged cross-ankled on one of the chaises wearing his customary cargo shorts and a loose blue button-down shirt dotted with palm trees. He held a frosty Corona in his left hand and one of Carmen’s chicas in his right. Three more knelt on the chaise fawning over him. April could hardly blame them. At six foot four, the blond haired, blue eyed former Navy SEAL was broad-shouldered and long limbed with just the perfect amount of meat on his bones. Any female that didn’t turn their head when Jimmy walked by was lacking a pulse.
But he was a very happily married man now with a child.
“Look what crawled out of the jungle,” Jimmy said when they entered the parlor. “You smell like a water buffalo’s ass. Not you, Sunshine, him.” He added a wink.
April broke away from Jonas’ side and went to the foot of the chaise. “What are you doing, Jimmy?”
“I’m doing fine.” Jimmy grinned and took a swig of his beer.
April sputtered. “I mean what are you doing with those women. What would Sophie say?”
“Why don’t you ask her yourself.” He gestured toward his wife who’d reentered the room from another doorway.
Tall, refined, and beautiful, Sophie Panama was as out of place in the Venezuelan whore house as the Queen of England would be in a dive bar. It had nothing to do with Sophie being British either. She was just far too regal for a place like this.
“Hello, April,” Sophie said with a polite smile that transformed into a sneer when she turned toward her husband. “What did I say, ladies? Nick off!”
The chicas eyed each other.
Jimmy held his hands up in front of him demonstrating he wasn’t stopping any of them from leaving. “I told you before, Duchess, they don’t speak English.”
“They understand my meaning well enough. Off you go, now. Shoo!”
The chicas scrambled off the chaise and darted to the opposite side of the room where the wiser of the working girls had remained.
Sophie slid onto the chaise beside Jimmy and knuckled him in the ribs before turning a warm smile on April and Jonas. “Now then, it’s wonderful seeing you both alive and well despite being covered in muck.”
“What are you doing in Caracas?” April directed the question to Sophie, because she knew Jimmy was picking them up.
“The Duchess and I spent a few days in Cabo on our way here. We wanted to take a second honeymoon without the offspring.”
“Third honeymoon,” Sophie corrected. “Remember Belize?”
A wicked grin spread across Jimmy’s face as he stared into his wife’s eyes. “How could I forget Belize?”
He kissed her in such an intimate, seductive way, April felt awkward watching them.
“Get a room you two,” Jonas said, moving to April’s side. “Any word on Linus?”
They broke apart and Sophie covered her mouth hiding a sheepish expression.
Jimmy winked at his wife and took another swig of beer. “Last time I checked, he was still out of the country.”
“Who’s watching Charlie?” April asked. “Is she with Molly and Anders?” Charlie, short for Charlotte, was Sophie and Jimmy’s daughter. She was almost five.
“She’s with Sue and Oscar,” Sophie said.
“Oh.” April couldn’t hide her disappointment. “I was going to ask if you saw Archie.”
“Sorry, hun. Have you tried phoning Molly?”
“I tried calling from the satellite phone back in San Carlos, but there was no answer.”
“Perhaps she didn’t pick up because she didn’t recognize the number. Want to give it a go from my mobile?”
April glanced over at Carmen and Jonas, who had moved away to speak privately in the corner. Carmen touched his arm and laughed, and April suddenly felt hollow inside. He said they were friends, but their body language suggested they were more than that.
Passion Punch Page 23
