“It’s kind of a faded pumpkin spice,” Lacey said.
“What’s our approach plan?” Brett asked.
“Through the market,” Paxton said. “We want as much on camera as we can get.”
“Great. Let’s do this.” Silas flipped his viewfinder open.
Paxton gathered the hand held audio equipment along with the microphone that completed his disguise. He wished he had more than one nine mil on him. Hell, he wished he had a tank to roll up in there with, but he’d make do with his best friend and a former CIA spook.
“Are you boys done chatting?” Coco asked. She had this badass stare locked on the gates. If Paxton wasn’t concerned about how this was going to go down, he’d call it hot.
“Lights, camera, action,” Silas muttered.
Coco and Lacey took the lead, striking out with the guys behind them. Paxton watched the top of the building, the windows, searching for a sniper. They were still working on the assumption that these were the people responsible for the trap laid for Coco.
The teens at the gates drew back, their wary gazes proof that they still had some intelligence in their skulls.
“Fuck me,” Silas muttered.
The once open market was now a collection of stalls. Skins were strung up, drying. The cages they’d had on surveillance were nowhere to be seen. A man sprayed water at a puddle of blood, washing it into the hard-packed earth.
A man approached them, his hand up words spilling out of his mouth.
Coco kept going, talking over him.
The men left their tasks, their attention gathering on this group of interlopers.
“I want to speak to Bekker and Ebrahim,” Coco said, switching to English, and pitching her voice for all to hear. She lifted her gaze and stared around those gathered, dismissing the man who’d approached them.
“Are you guys getting this?” Paxton said over his shoulder.
“Yeah,” Silas muttered.
“Ebrahim, where are you?” Coco called out.
A door to their right banged open and a bald black man stared out, his gaze hostile. He said something, smacked his palms together, and the thugs began moving. Some went back to their tasks, while a few tightened the circle around Paxton’s group. It made for better odds. Not great, but better.
Coco glanced over her shoulder at Paxton. “Coming?”
“Yup.”
They proceeded toward the bald man and through the door into the orange building. A collection of chairs sat around a table where three men were seated in the midst of a card game.
A familiar man with what looked like a 90s flat top pulled a cigarette from between his lips. “You looking for me?”
They’d found Ebrahim.
FRIDAY. SOWETO, SOUTH Africa.
Coco stared at Ebrahim. She knew his name and had seen his handiwork, but this was the first time they’d locked eyes. Or at least that’s what she’d have expected.
She knew this man, but not by the name Ebrahim.
It wasn’t uncommon for the larger poaching operations to get someone hired on at a place like Mlilo. They’d get an inside view on security, a leg up. She remembered working with Ebrahim, even if he hadn’t been there long.
“Decided you didn’t like the name Isaac anymore?” She crossed her arms over her chest and swallowed down the burning sensation in her chest.
Ebrahim wrinkled his nose, a smile curling his lips. “It didn’t fit.”
Someone across the room shifted and their foot scraped.
Coco glanced at the person and her heart fell.
The boy, Cameron, the one she’d run down on her motorcycle for taking Sushi Roll, stood holding a backpack, staring at her. So much for their bargain over groceries.
“Is this what you do? Groom people so you can murder a whole species?” She gestured at Cameron.
“Don’t be so dramatic.” Ebrahim tossed his cards down on the table.
“Dramatic?” Coco could feel her blood beginning to boil. “Do you want me to recite numbers to you? Statistics?”
Ebrahim stood, his chair scraping the concrete as he rose to his full height. The taunting smile was gone, and in his eyes was something more sinister.
“Ebrahim,” the man on the other side of the table said, a note of warning in his voice.
Ebrahim bent his head and stared straight at her. “You know nothing, little girl.”
“I know what you’re doing risks lives. It kills endangered species, making it harder for them to survive. Is it worth it?” She directed that question to the one-word man.
He still had his cards in one hand, a cigar smoldering from between two fingers. He was older, with lines and scars creating a story across his face. There was intelligence in his eyes. This was a smart man. A dangerous one, too.
“Answer me this.” He folded his cards and set them on the table then leaned back. “Where did the land to create Mlilo come from?”
Coco blinked then frowned. She knew the original resort dated back to the seventies because of a sign in the lobby.
“Before there was a Mlilo, there was a village. My village. My home.” The man planted the burning end of his cigar into an ash tray, his gaze never leaving hers. “A few people got together and decided to take the land from us. They forced us to move, for the benefit of the animals.” He smiled and spread his now empty hands.
It wasn’t an unusual story. Coco had heard it before and she hated what had been done. What mattered was what they did going forward. She didn’t think this man wanted to hear that from her.
“That was my land. It should still be my land.” He tapped the table with his index finger. “I will take what I want from my land to feed my people.”
There were too many wrongs here. The injustice of villages being forced to move couldn’t be corrected by a few blood sacrifices. The problems had barbs and there was no easy answer for a complicated situation. And Luke Nodorf made it worse by equipping these people to do the most harm. He locked them into this lifestyle.
Coco stared into the man’s cold eyes. She wasn’t going to get through to him, but maybe Lacey could show his story. “What are you going to do when there aren’t any animals left that people want to buy? What then?”
He shrugged. “I’ll probably be dead and then it won’t be my problem.”
Coco wanted to blurt out that this wasn’t how they fixed things, this mindset only caused more problems, but she knew this man wasn’t going to hear that message coming from her. To him, she was the enemy. She didn’t look like him and she’d come in here with her white friends to tell him how he’d been doing things wrong.
There was no simple solution, and neither of them were totally in the right. Coco’s passion blinded her to the human factor in all of this.
“Now, unless you have something else to talk about?” He waved her off. “Off you go.”
Something clanged and hit the ground behind her.
Coco whirled and saw Lacey, hands up, wincing, a metal canister of some kind at her feet.
“Sorry,” Lacey said.
“Careful, babe.” Shane pulled her to him.
Paxton was righting the canister, but his gaze was on Coco. His left brow quirked, just a bit and so fast she almost didn’t know what she was seeing.
A signal of some kind?
She never did know when to stop.
Coco glanced back at the man. “We need to find a new way.”
“I agree.” The man eased back in his chair. “Move off the land and let my people come home.”
She doubted he would be so kind. A man like this, who thought nothing of risking lives or taking them, wasn’t going to be charitable. He wasn’t going to find the solution to make a better future.
People like Cane would.
That thought smacked her upside the head and for a moment she was utterly stunned.
“Babe?” Paxton took her hand.
Coco swallowed and blinked at him, still taking in those four words.
&nb
sp; Had she just become a believer in Cane De Jong?
Shit.
Paxton drew her to his side and hustled her out of the building.
Anti-poaching training and equipment didn’t solve the problem. Neither would reparations to a displaced village. No, the change they needed was much bigger than that. There were too many dominos.
“We need to clear out now before one of them takes a shot,” Paxton said over her head.
“Did you get it?” Lacey asked.
“Yeah.”
Coco tuned them out, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other as they passed through the former market.
A sleek, black Mercedes pulled up between the gates, blocking their exit. Paxton tugged her to one side as the rear door opened and a face from her past emerged.
FRIDAY. SOWETO, SOUTH Africa.
Luke stared at the offering fate had brought him. Maybe his luck was turning around?
He’d come here to see about making a penny and found the other De Jong.
She’d changed for the better since their high school days. Gone was the scrawny girl and in her place was a shapely woman with shoulders that would carry the world.
Back then, he’d first noticed Coco in a science class. It was impossible not to notice her with the way the teachers always called on her to give the correct answers, and she never failed. With his grades slipping, he’d sought her out, trading snacks for tutoring. He’d liked her, but at that early age he’d let the social opinion of her cloud his advances.
Except for their last year. He’d given in and asked her out. But like so many other parents, hers had intervened, telling him to stay away because his last name was Nodorf.
And his parents thought he could escape that? That if he worked hard enough, studied enough he’d be able to be his own man?
That was the lie.
Luke was a Nodorf. That would always define him.
“Coco De Jong.” He buttoned the top button of his jacket and took a few steps toward her and the entourage at her back.
She blinked up at him. “Luke. What...?”
“What am I doing here?” He stared down at her, noticing how her curls glinted red in the sunlight. It was a nice color on her.
Her back went straight, and those walls came up. “I know why you’re here.”
“Do you now?” he cocked his head to the side.
If Mia was right, Coco was still estranged from her brother. And that meant she had no idea what was going on right this very minute. But Luke knew family would always be Cane’s biggest pressure point. Luke hadn’t exploited that. It was the sort of thing he’d only get one shot at and what he was after was the long game.
What would she do when she did know? And could Luke use that to his advantage?
“We’re going,” the gruff American at Coco’s side said.
Luke stared at that man with his possessive hold on Coco. “Don’t let me stop you.”
“I don’t intend to,” the man said.
Luke pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket and slipped them on as the cluster of people around Coco parted, going around him as they scurried back to whatever rock they’d crawled out from underneath.
How could he use this?
FRIDAY. SOWETO, SOUTH Africa.
Paxton glanced back at the tall, lean form of Luke Nodorf, committing the guy to memory. Tall, thin build. Light brown face. The tan was fake but the suit and Rolex were real. Paxton didn’t know yet if Luke had ordered Coco killed, but he was part of the organization that had tried to murder her. And for that, Luke had to go.
The guys kept it tight around the ladies as they cleared the area without being followed.
He wasn’t sure he liked how they’d been allowed to waltz in and out. Judging by what they’d seen, there was a sizable operation being run out of those buildings.
They finally slowed when they reached the SUV. Paxton hit the unlock fob and opened Coco’s door, juggling the audio equipment he was still carrying. Instead of climbing in she stared into space for a moment.
“Coco?” Paxton grasped her hand.
She lifted her chin and found his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Easy answers aren’t my thing, I guess,” she said.
“We’ll figure this out. Get in.”
“We didn’t even do anything in there.” She glanced back.
“Yes, we did.”
“What?” She frowned at him.
“While you were talking, keeping their attention on you, Lacey and I got this.” He transferred the audio stuff to his left hand and held up the long, slim dart in his right.
They’d have to test it, but visually it was a match for the ones they’d found under Utata, the ones the poachers hadn’t recovered.
Coco gasped and her eyes went wide.
“Get in. I want us out of here.” He nudged her inside the SUV and placed the equipment in the floor board.
Within moments they were on the road, all six of them piled into the SUV. There was some hushed conversation from the back seat, but silence reigned up front. Paxton could see the wheels moving in Coco’s head. She’d had a moment back there. Some realization, and he wanted in on it.
Silas leaned forward. “We know these are the assholes who shot at us and killed the rhino. What happens next?”
“Probably nothing,” Coco replied.
Paxton gripped the wheel harder.
“We can go to the police, but I’m not sure it’ll do anything.” She twisted and glanced back at the others. “Half the police are going to have some family member that works for someone who is loyal to Luke’s family.”
“Then what are we doing?” Silas asked.
“I don’t know anymore.” Coco slumped in her seat.
Paxton focused on the road ahead of him leading back to Mlilo. He understood that some problems were just too big to be solved with one solution. There were many pieces and steps. But there was always something that could be done.
They reached the reserve, heading to the resort side at Lacey’s insistence.
The guard at the gate waved them in, but they didn’t get to go far before Blinky the blind giraffe ambled in front of them. That got a chuckle out of Coco.
“I swear she does this because she can,” she said.
“I saw the other two.” He glanced around, but didn’t spy the crooked neck companion.
“This time of day they’re probably down by the north fence.”
“Hey, Coco?” Lacey leaned forward. “I have that spa thing. Want to go cash that in with me?”
Paxton bit back the answer he wanted Coco to give her, but maybe he wasn’t what she needed right now.
Blinky moved out of the way and he proceeded toward the resort entrance. A safari bus was loading up for a regular tour so he parked out of the way and left the keys for the valet.
Coco met Paxton in front of the vehicle, her troubled eyes searching his. She needed time to process, but she’d still come to him.
He reached out and pulled her to him, hugging her tight.
“Go with Lacey. When you’re ready to talk, let me know.” Plus, there was the mystery of the dart. That was something Paxton could work on.
“Okay. Later, my place?” She tipped her chin up.
“Yeah.”
“Thank you.” She lifted up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
Paxton watched her join Lacey and walk arm in arm into the resort.
“Dude.” Silas landed a light punch on Paxton’s shoulder.
“What?” Paxton wasn’t in the mood to talk right now.
Any one thing from this morning was enough to cause concern. Cane’s behavior. Visiting the poachers. The appearance of Coco’s ex. But altogether? It was a lot to process.
Silas glanced behind them toward Blinky. “We’ve got to talk?”
“About?” And could it wait?
“This thing with Coco.”
Paxton didn’t reply.
“I’m not trying to rain on your parade, just—fuck, man. You’ve been all up her skirt since we rolled in here. That’s not like you.” Silas turned his attention on Paxton, studying his profile while Paxton stared at the glass doors of the resort. “Where’s this going? Huh?”
He considered not answering, but this was Silas and if Paxton didn’t answer he’d start getting calls from Mrs. Herrera then Silas’ sisters. “I don’t know.”
“You couldn’t pick one of the other bridesmaids? The ones who are just lounging by the pool, could you?”
Paxton hadn’t exactly picked Coco, but he hadn’t resisted her either.
“Look, you’re going to do whatever the fuck you want to do, all I’m saying is that this girl is tied to some dangerous shit. I wouldn’t be your best friend if I didn’t point that out to you. Are you serious about her? Because it’s looking serious. Then again I don’t know what you being serious about a girl is.”
“I told you, I don’t really know where this is going.” Paxton grimaced and finally turned away from the resort doors. If he couldn’t talk to Silas, he couldn’t talk to anyone. Paxton gathered his thoughts then said quietly, “It all depends on her.”
“You’ve got it bad for her, don’t you?” Silas shook his head. “I wish, for your sake, she was some suburban, ultra basic chick. But that’s not how you roll, is it, man? I’m not saying she’s bad for you, just... Not everyone is cut out to be with someone like us, you know?”
Paxton knew what Silas meant without him having to speak the words.
There was a lot of baggage in Paxton’s past before adding in what he’d seen and done during his days as a Marine. Out here, it stayed safely boxed up. But there were times when his demons came calling, when he didn’t handle his shit well. Coco needed someone in her life that would give her stability and support. They were two battered people, and that didn’t always mix well.
“You know this is going to make my niece cry, don’t you?” Silas smirked.
Paxton shook his head. Silas’ four-year-old niece had glued herself to Paxton from the day she was born. He liked the kid, even if he didn’t understand how something so precious and pure could be drawn to him. Then again, he didn’t get why Coco liked him either.
Silas continued, chuckling to himself. “You’re going to break her heart when you tell her you’re in love with someone else.”
Dangerous Heat (Aegis Group, #8) Page 21
