by Tawny Weber
Jake didn't like that Maria and Bliss had separated from Rob, even though the team had both sides of the street covered. Maybe it was better Ash had eyes on Bliss anyway. Her costume showed off her femininity much too well, his eye drawn to how the skirt swirled around her legs and draped her hips. Maybe now he wouldn't be distracted so much from the crowd—from the potential danger surrounding his charges.
But when Maria crossed back to Rob, Jake's focus snapped to Bliss still on the far side of the street…in the shawl vendor's grasp.
"You got her?" he growled into his mouthpiece, surging forward even though his job was to stay on his side of the street.
"Yeah," Ash said, just as the parade blocked Jake's view of Bliss.
His pulse beat double time. He reminded himself she was in good hands under Ash's surveillance. Then…
"I lost her," Ash shouted.
To Dozer, Jake ordered, "Eyes on Rob and Maria. I'm going after Bliss."
He pushed his way through the parade, snarling at Ash, "What the hell happened?"
"Some giant head got in my way. When I got clear, the shawl vendor no longer had her!"
Jake should have sent Celestina's son with them. He should have put more men on the job.
He should have been prepared for the possibility Rob and Bliss might get separated.
He cleared the parade and broke through the crowd just past the shawl vendor. Ash was talking to the woman. He looked up, spotted Jake, and motioned him up the street.
Jake turned, scanning the crowed ahead for a head of rich brown hair crowned with big yellow mums as he pushed his way forward.
"Dozer, where are you?"
"The next street up from you with Maria and Rob."
"Ash, take Dozer's place, get Maria and Rob to the safe house. Dozer, cross the street a couple blocks ahead and work your way back to me. She can't have gotten far in this mob."
Something crunched beneath Jake's foot. He stopped, backed up, and saw the crushed sugar skull on the ground. Jake looked at the vendor of candy skulls. The man looked away, too quiet among the string of vendors hawking their wares.
Jake scanned the man's stock, noticed his sugary sweets looked less than pristine, noticed pieces of sugar littering the ground in front of his display…noticed the table to one side sat off-kilter. He craned his neck to see better under the table and spotted three bright yellow mums.
Jake snatched the flowers off the ground, grabbed the vendor by his shirtfront, and shoved the mums in his face. "Dónde está la mujer?"
The vendor glanced at the back drape of his booth. Jake threw the man off, the flowers crumbling in his fist as he swiped aside the drape revealing the narrow opening between buildings. If he was too late, he'd come back here and strangle this vendor who let her be dragged into an alley. Then he'd go back to the shawl vendor and break her neck for preventing Bliss from getting to safety.
Well into the darkness between buildings, he heard struggling. Jake broke into a run. His eyes adjusted enough to see her flattened against a wall, a fist cocked to strike her.
Bliss braced for the blow, her captor's hand at her throat holding her off the ground.
Out on the street when the man had looked her in the eye, she'd wished she'd suffered the discomfort of the contacts that would have disguised her green eyes. When he'd jerked her away from the street she should have done more than scream for help. She'd taken a self-defense course. She'd flipped a man…in that class.
But she couldn't get the hold she needed on him, couldn't maneuver with the crowd and vendors' booths pressing in on them. He motioned a sugar skull vendor out of the way. The man's eyes widened.
Her abductor kicked a table of the sweets out of the way, sending the vendor's wares toppling to the ground and loosening the drape at the back of his booth, revealing an opening between the buildings. Once he got her in there, no one would find her.
Bliss dug in her heels. He jerked her toward the dark opening. She sank her teeth into the man's hand. He yelped, but his grip on her arm tightened and he slapped her hard enough the pins holding the flowers in her hair loosened.
For one eternal second she met the terrified gaze of the vendor.
"Help me," she'd pleaded.
Guiltily, the vendor lowered his eyes, dropped to his knees and gathered his sugar skulls.
Her captor dragged her toward the dark alley. The flowers pulled at her hair, the big, bright yellow mums slipping. She ripped them from her hair and flung them toward the sidewalk. It was all she had, the only way she could think to mark her path for those who would be looking for her and, hopefully would find her alive.
A sob escaped her.
Her attacker glanced back at her, muttering, "Shut up. I not kill you."
"I. Don't. Believe. You."
He jerked her arm. "They want you alive."
They? As in the twelve they?
Recalling a defensive move, she shifted from resisting and rolled into the man's grip, twisting until he was forced to let her go. She ran for the light—for the street. He tackled her. She rolled onto her back, bringing her knee up against his chin.
Cursing, he hauled her to her feet and slammed her back against the rough wall, his fist cocked to strike. She held up her hands to block the blow, her feet scrabbling in the air in a final attempt to trip him up.
A fist shot past her face and her captor went flying. The sudden release sent Bliss flailing toward the ground. A hand caught her, righted her.
Jake shoved her behind him. "Run!"
She staggered a few steps toward the street before glancing back. Jake straddled her captor on the ground, pummeling him.
"Jake," she yelled.
The man was clearly out, yet Jake kept hitting him. She ran back to him, tugged at his shoulders. "Come on, Jake. He's unconscious. Let's go."
He said nothing, just kept hammering his fists into the man's face.
"Jake," she screamed. "You're going to kill him."
A pair of meaty hands lifted her by the shoulders and set her back. Dozer bent over Jake and pulled him off the unconscious man. "I'll get him from here, Boss. Go."
Jake staggered back to the wall beside her. Dozer picked up her abductor and slung him over his shoulder. Jake took her by the upper arm, his grip punishing, and steered her toward the street.
"You found me," she said. "How?"
He didn't answer. But, when they stepped out from between the buildings, the space where the vendor had been was vacant save for fragments of sugar skulls and…three shredded, yellow mums.
Jake hadn't been able to look her in her made-up face, but he'd noticed the flowers in her hair. SEALs and their attention to detail. Hooyah!
Bliss stood in front of what appeared to be a two story hotel still in the process of reconstruction. Jake was behind her issuing orders to the SUV driver who'd delivered them. Their cover likely blown, he'd called in backup to meet them a couple streets away from the festivities.
Three black SUVs had arrived. She and Jake had gotten into one, Maria and Rob into another, and all three vehicles took off in different directions. She'd been mistaken to think her first ride to the compound was the wildest ride she'd ever taken. It wasn't nearly as hair-raising as speeding down narrow streets lined by buildings and through intersections or fishtailing around corners.
Jake snagged her by the upper arm and steered her through the double doors of the not-yet-open-for-business hotel without a word—without looking at her. That's how it had been since he'd hauled her out of that alley.
The men in the lounge were doing anything but lounging. No doubt every one of them packed more than one weapon on his body. She glanced at the sparse furniture, noting how easily more lethal weapons could hide between their cushions.
Maria's brother came out from behind the reception desk, handing Jake a key as they strode past. Jake didn't speak until he closed and bolted the second floor room door behind them.
"Go take a shower."
"Jake,
I didn't mean to get separated from Robbie and Maria. It was just a series of—"
He turned on her, the hinge of his jaw popping. "Go wash that stuff off your face."
She chewed at her lower lip. He was still too wound up. She reached out to touch him.
He swatted her hand away and advanced on her, forcing her to take a step back. Through gritted teeth, he gnashed out, "I told you to go wash."
"Jake. We're safe here. Take it easy."
"We're not safe anywhere," he growled, taking her by the shoulders, turning her, and steering her into the bathroom.
"But we're safer here than out on the street," she protested, trying to draw him down off his adrenalin high.
"Damn it, Bliss. Get in the shower."
When she still didn't move, he set his Sig on the sink vanity, shoved her into the tiled surround, followed her into the spacious stall, and turned on the water.
Cold water splattered over his shoulder and hit her in the face. She blinked into the spray, sputtering, "What are you doing?"
A soapy washcloth ground a path across her cheek. "Scrubbing away this death mask."
"Is that it, Jake? The makeup? What it represents?"
"Have you ever seen a skeleton? A real one with the flesh half-rotted off it?"
She could tell him she'd had the good fortune to take a tour of the body farm. But he didn't need reminding that she wasn't quite the babe in the woods he thought her to be. He needed reassurance. He needed tending.
She stroked his cheek.
He jerked his face away.
"I don't see anything beautiful about painting your face up like a skeleton," he muttered, re-soaping the washcloth.
"It'll come off more easily with warm water," she said, reaching around him and adjusting the water temperature.
Though he swiped away at her face with less force, his jaw remained clenched. She kicked off her sandals and took the cloth from his hand.
"You'll ruin your boots if you stay in here."
"They've gotten wetter," he barked, taking back the washcloth.
"You have blood on your chin," she said, scrubbing it away with wet fingertips.
"Don't."
She picked up his free hand. "Your knuckles are raw."
He tried to pull his hand away, but she hung on tight as she soaped his bloody knuckles.
"Stop."
"Never."
He slumped against the shower wall and closed his eyes. She stroked soapy hands over his cheeks and down his neck, washing away the grit and grime of fighting and fleeing.
He dropped the washcloth.
She worked her hands under the black tee, her palms sliding up his chest.
He groaned.
She peeled the shirt up over his head.
Straightening from the wall, he met her gaze and caught her by the wrists. "Don't do this."
"Let me help you, Jake."
"No."
She saw the soul-deep pain in his eyes, reached under her skirt and pulled off her panties. "You need this as much as I do."
He moaned and tipped his head back into the shower spray, causing the steamy water to cascade down over them.
She tugged his belt free and unzipped his pants. He caught her by the hips, lifted her, pressed her back against the stall wall, and drove himself into her.
The first round came fast and furious, venting years of pent-up emotions. The second round, when they were clean, renewed, and in bed, was slow and thoroughly satisfying. She didn't burden him with words of love. But Jake's last words as he drifted off to sleep, spooned against her back, spoke volumes.
"I nearly lost you tonight."
Chapter 14
Jake stood by the bed in the darkened room, alert to the breathing of the sleeping form before him.
He'd awakened only a couple hours after he and Bliss had made love.
Yes, love. There it was. And it had scared him more than anything in his life ever had. He didn't know how to protect Bliss against a danger as insidious as twelve power mongers who ruled a secret organization from the peak of a wide-reaching empire.
But he could stop one of them, and maybe that would be enough.
Jake closed his hand over the sleeping woman's mouth. Renata Pena woke with a start and Jake emptied the contents of a syringe into her. The ambient light from a bathroom nightlight shown the whites of her eyes and, for a few seconds, Jake took enjoyment in watching her struggle. Because of this woman, Bliss had been attacked. Her life was in danger.
But he had a message to deliver, and Renata Pena dying of fright wouldn't suit his plan.
"The drug I injected you with will paralyze your larger motor functions and your ability to speak, but it will not kill you."
Pena grew slack beneath his hold. He lifted his hand from the woman's mouth.
Pena tried to speak, but little more than a breathy "Why?" escaped her lips.
He turned his face enough into the light for her to see him. "If you recognize me, you know why."
Recognition and anger flashed in Pena's eyes.
He put his face close to hers. "First, know this. It's not in my nature to talk things out. But I'm willing to try it this one time. I advise you to listen closely."
The eyes staring up at him narrowed. He eased back.
"Here's the deal. I and my team have found your little meeting place under this house. But you know that. What you may or may not know is we've figured out that you and your eleven compadres have your fingers in Mexico's political system, and we've got enough proof to take it to the Mexican government."
Pena's eyes darkened.
"But we—I don't care about any of that. I do care about Rob and Bliss O'Hara." He leaned in again, their noses nearly touching. "That kid you've been chasing and his friend you had killed, they knew nothing about your organization or what you were up to."
Pena's lips actually formed a sneer from which she issued a breathy threat. "Kill You."
Jake closed his hand over Renata Pena's mouth, pinched her nose shut, and waited. As she ran out of breath, her struggle was evident in her eyes and in the futile twitches of her body. When her eyes began to roll back in their sockets, he removed his hand from her face.
She sucked air, her eyes huge.
"As you can see," he said, "I'm in a much better position to kill you. Even if you send someone after me, I'll get to you before they get anywhere near me. And, next time, I won't be so gentle about taking your life. Or your husband's. Or your son's. Or your grandsons'."
She narrowed her eyes again, but this time he could see she was ready to listen.
"So, back to those kids who stumbled onto one of your meetings by mistake. If you'd left them alone, we wouldn't be here now."
Renata's eyes closed briefly before fixing on his again.
"Here's what's going to happen," he said. "You will order your people to stop hunting Rob and Bliss O'Hara. If so much as a hair is ruffled on either of their heads, I'll come back and there will be no talking next time. That goes for all twelve of you and your families, and any muscle that gets in the way. Got it?"
Renata Pena hissed through her teeth, "Si."
Bliss woke to the predawn glow filling the window, the mattress beside her empty and cold. She sat up and looked around. The room was likewise empty and, judging by its open door, so was the bathroom.
Spotting her bag on the luggage rack, she rose, pulled on her jeans and tee, tugged on her boots, and headed for the hall door. She was reaching for the doorknob when it turned. Jumping back, she scanned the room for her pack which held her gun.
"Don't shoot," Jake's voice lifted through the cracked open door. "It's me."
His words suggested teasing, but his tone lacked any genuine lightness; and the man entering looked far too much like the man who'd beaten another guy half to death in a dark alley.
"You look like hell," she said.
He dropped onto his back on the bed. "Didn't get much sleep."
She stood over h
im, looking him over. "Why's the dust on your shirt glittery?"
"Must have been in a glittery place," he said, an arm slung over his eyes.
She knew exactly where that silver dust had come from and it sent a shiver through her. "What did you do?"
"I made it so you and your brother will no longer be hunted," he said without lifting his arm from his eyes.
Apprehension clawed up Bliss' spine. "And how did you do that?"
He sighed wearily. "I had a chat with Renata Gutierrez Pena."
"You just walked up to her front door in the middle of the night and asked to chat with her?"
"I know a back entrance."
Gooseflesh rose up Bliss' arms. "Should I ask if she's still alive?"
He lifted his arm enough so one eye peeked out at her. "A chat wouldn't do us any good if she were dead."
Bliss released the breath she'd been holding. "So she's alive?"
"Alive and—" he looked at his watch "—by now, kicking."
"Meaning?"
"Let's just say I made her an offer she couldn't refuse," he muttered and dropped his arm back over his eyes.
Stunned, she sputtered, "That's it? This thing has been settled with a chat?"
"Yup."
"I don't understand how this works," she said, her voice rising with each syllable. "Munch was killed because he and Rob discovered those tunnels under the judge's house. They were hunting Rob to kill him. Your team nearly walked into an ambush because of this—this organization. And now everything is settled with a chat? What the hell did you say to her, Jake?"
"You don't need to know the details."
She shook her head. "You mean, you're not willing to share the details. Whatever. What do we do now?"
"I'm sending you and your brother back to the compound until I'm certain this is over."
She hugged her arms across her middle. "Then it's not settled yet."
He ratcheted himself up on his elbows. "I need to insure Renata Pena and her cohorts comply with my request."
"You aren't coming back to the compound with us, are you?" she asked, her voice hollow in her ears.
