by Jane Graves
“Did you get the hair spray?”
“It’s in the backpack. Nonaerosol, so you can dump it all over a hay bale to get a fire going. The receivers are also in there, along with a camera with a nice telephoto lens, and a lighter.”
He had to hand it to her: she did have the right equipment for the job.
“I talked to Dave while you were getting dressed,” Alex said. “So far Stanley hasn’t contacted Henderson.”
“Really?”
“Looks that way. But if Stanley got that fax, so did a lot of other law enforcement agencies.”
“Well, after tonight, maybe we won’t have to worry about any of that.”
They looked at each other a long time. Finally she turned away and put on her tennis shoes, then tossed her high heels into another pocket of her backpack. “Ready to go?”
They retraced the same path they’d taken that afternoon, this time skirting the tiger enclosure. Alex knew they were approaching the house when he smelled barbecue. The twang of country-and-western music filled the air.
“Wow,” Val said. “Those guys really know how to party.”
That was an understatement. Alex glanced at the group gathered beneath the awning—about twenty men and at least half that many women, most of whom he could see, even at this distance, were dressed comparably to Val. There was a tremendous amount of activity, with everyone eating, laughing, dancing, and drinking, which meant they’d lucked out and hit the party at its high point. And the music was so loud that Alex breathed a little easier. Any sound Val made inside the house would never be heard outside.
“We need to get closer. We can move right to the edge of the clearing behind those cabins.”
They moved through the trees, and a few minutes later they came up behind the cabins that sat northwest of the house. They were all dark—everyone was clearly at the party—making it a perfect position from which to operate. From here, looking between the cabins, they could see most of the action. When the time came, Alex could swing left to the hay barn that sat almost directly behind the house, and Val could swing right and circle the west side of the house, then move to the front door. Alex could monitor the movement of the party guests and inform Val if anyone made a move toward the house, keeping the lighter and the hair spray handy in case something went wrong.
Alex pulled the binoculars out of the backpack and handed them to Val. “Tell me which one is Reichert.”
She took the binoculars and scanned the crowd. “There he is. The guy sitting to the right of the blond we saw this afternoon.”
She handed them back to Alex. He zeroed in on Reichert—big man, cowboy hat, dark mustache, holding a cigar in one hand and a beer in the other. Sitting next to him was a bearded man, who leaned over and said something to him, and they both laughed.
“He’s sure living it up for a guy who just buried his wife,” Alex said.
“And I think we know why. Now tell me what that bus is doing here.”
Alex turned his gaze to a small, rickety bus in the driveway. “It probably brought the women in. There are all kinds of brothels along the border towns. They recruit the Mexican women by telling them they’ll get them across the border. Then they coerce them into prostitution to pay off the fee they charge. They’ll leave here tonight as soon as Reichert’s finished with them.”
“He’s disgusting.”
“I think we’ve already determined that.”
“Then let’s get him, okay?”
Alex returned the binoculars to the backpack, while Val swapped her tennis shoes for black heels. She tossed her tennis shoes down beside a tree.
“All your hardware in place?” he asked.
Val fiddled with the receiver in her ear. “Yeah. How about you?”
He had her backpack over his shoulder, containing the receivers and recorders for the bugs. He clipped the transmitter to his belt and the microphone to his shirt so he could talk to Val. He turned on the receiver, then clicked the transmitter on. They tested communication in both directions and found it sufficient.
“When you get closer, get some shots of Reichert with his bimbo,” Val said. “Unless they actually have sex on the patio, photos probably won’t mean much, but get a few shots anyway.”
Alex nodded. “Okay. You stay put until I’m in place behind the barn. Don’t move until I give you the word, okay?”
“Of course. I always do what you tell me to.”
“Now, Val. I hear you can go to hell for lying.”
“Nah. I don’t think just one sin would do it. I’d have to do at least a little coveting or something, too, wouldn’t I?”
God, he loved her smart mouth, even when she was using it against him.
“Don’t take any chances,” he added. “If you can see you’re going to get into trouble, just clear out and we’ll go to plan B.”
“Which is?”
“I have no idea. I’m counting on you for that.”
She smiled, and even through all the makeup, she looked so beautiful that he wanted to kiss her.
“Be careful,” he said, a smile curling his own mouth. “Don’t make me come in there after you.”
“I’ll be okay. I’ll see you back here in a minute.”
But neither of them moved. They just stared at each other in the near-darkness, until finally Alex took a step toward her, rested his palm against the small of her back, and eased her against him. Val leaned into him, her arms circling his neck, and they fell together in a slow, deep, sensual kiss, wishing each other good luck and a whole lot of other things. Then she stared up at him in a way that made him want to forget this mission altogether and pick up where they’d left off earlier.
“I think you messed up my lipstick,” she whispered.
“Which means I’m probably wearing it now.”
She rested her fingertips against his cheek, then ran the pad of her thumb slowly across his lower lip.
“All gone.”
She let her fingertips rest against his cheek for a moment more, before finally falling away from his face.
“Be careful,” he said.
“You, too.”
He slung the backpack over his shoulder and started to skirt north around the cabins and head for the hay barn, the taste of Val still hot on his lips. Looking over his shoulder, he saw her moving toward the back of one of the cabins, stepping lightly in those high heels. She reached the cabin and peered around it, and even at a distance he found his gaze sliding right down her body to those beautiful legs. God, she was something else.
Concentrate. You have things to do.
He slipped through the darkness, using his flashlight only when he had to, walking in a wide arc around the edge of the clearing to come up behind the hay barn. There were only two floodlights in the area, both of them at the horse barn, leaving the hay barn in near-darkness.
He slung the backpack onto the hood of the pickup truck behind the barn and pulled out one of the bug receivers, then the camera.
“Val? Can you hear me?”
“Yeah. Are you there yet?”
Her voice was a little muffled, but he could clearly make out her words coming through the receiver.
“Right behind the hay barn.”
“What does the party look like close up?”
He peered around the corner of the barn. “Everybody’s on their way to one hell of a drunk. They’ve got at least half a dozen coolers of beer and a margarita machine.”
He swung the camera up and zoomed the telephoto lens, zeroing in on Reichert and his girlfriend. The man didn’t seem to be one for public displays of affection, but Alex snapped the shutter a few times to document the two of them together, then put the camera back in the backpack.
“Okay, Val,” he said. “Time to move in.”
“Gotcha.”
Suddenly a voice came through the receiver. A man’s voice.
“What the hell are you doing back here?”
Every nerve ending in Alex’s body jum
ped to attention. “Val?” he whispered. “What’s up? Val? Talk to me!”
She whispered back, her voice shaky, “I’ve got trouble.”
chapter twenty-one
Val had been so busy concentrating on what Alex was saying that she hadn’t heard or seen the man come around the back of the cabin. But now he stood not ten feet away from her, a big, dark, bearded man who looked at her first with surprise, then wariness. Adrenaline flowed so wildly through her body that it was all she could do not to turn and run.
“Val?” Alex whispered in her ear. “What’s going on?”
She couldn’t answer him. The man was too close.
The man took a step closer. “I asked you what you’re doing back here.”
Val felt a jolt of apprehension. He knows you don’t belong here. He knows.
“Just getting some air,” she replied in Spanish-accented English.
He came closer, his expression filled with suspicion. She forced herself to move forward, to meet him halfway.
“Get your ass back to the party,” he said. “That’s what you’re being paid for.”
It was nearly dark behind the cabin, but still she could make out his face. He was handsome in a harsh, almost brutal way, the starkness of his features emphasized by a deep scar that ran from his right ear to his chin, an irregular slash through his beard that made him look even more dangerous than he already did.
Then she saw a flicker of confusion in his eyes. “Did I see you at the party earlier?”
“Play the part for now,” Alex whispered. “It’s all you can do.”
“Now you’ve hurt my feelings,” Val said. “I thought you’d been watching me all night.”
The man’s gaze traveled from her face to her breasts, then slipped lower to her legs and came back up again. “Maybe I should have been.”
Val’s heart pounded unmercifully. She wanted to run, to scream, to do anything to get this hideous man away from her. But she couldn’t blow her cover. The minute he knew something was up, he’d tell Reichert, and Reichert might realize who she really was. God only knew what would happen then.
“What’s your name?” the man said.
She thought fast. “Elena.”
“Elena. I’m Rick.”
He moved right in front of her, and she smelled alcohol on his breath, along with the choking scent of cigarette smoke. With his fingertip, he brushed a strand of her phony hair back over her shoulder, staring at her as if it were dinnertime and she were the main course. “Yeah. Maybe I should have been paying more attention.”
“Val,” Alex said. “Tell him you have to go to the bathroom.”
“The bathroom,” she said. “Where is it again?”
He gave her a lecherous look. “Right off my bedroom.”
Every nerve in Val’s body came alive. “Your bedroom?”
“Let’s go.”
Rick took her arm in a rough, aggressive grip and started toward the house. Then she heard Alex’s voice in her ear.
“Just take it easy,” he said, his voice calm, controlled. “Go along with him so you don’t blow your cover. I’ll create a diversion. Trust me, sweetheart. I’ll have you out of there in a minute.”
Rick led her across the small clearing to a side door of the ranch house. Her heart was beating like a jackhammer.
“You live here?” she asked. “I thought Mr. Reichert—”
“Yeah, technically it’s his house. But he only shows up during the hunts. Who do you think takes care of the place the rest of the time?”
So he was Reichert’s right-hand man.
“I’m the one who really runs the show around here.”
His arrogant right-hand man.
She had to stay calm. Alex was going to get her out of this. The moment he set the fire, this guy would let her go. Then she’d plant the listening devices and get the hell out of the house.
Rick unlocked the door, pulled her through it, and shut it behind them. They were in the kitchen, and the only light in the room came from the floodlights outside.
“I’ve got the lighter and the hair spray,” Alex whispered. “But it’s going to take a minute. Stall him.”
Rick backed her up against the wall, his gaze traveling leisurely over her again, stopping at her breasts.
“Nice tits, honey. Really nice.”
Val thought she was going to be sick. She forced herself to stand motionless as he put his hand on her waist, slinked it downward to her hip, then curled it around the back of her thigh and pulled her closer to him.
“Of course, after where I’ve been for the past few years, any tits would look good to me.”
He had her trapped against the wall, with no intention of letting her go. Suddenly she felt light-headed, and the music outside was so loud that even in here it pulsed through every nerve in her body.
Small talk. Keep it up.
“So … where you been the past few years?”
“Huntsville. Accommodations courtesy of the state of Texas.”
Prison. Val’s heart skittered wildly.
Alex wasn’t talking to her. What was going on? Please, please do something, she begged silently. Please.
“I know there’s a limit to what Lorena will let me do with her girls,” Rick said. “But since I know she doesn’t pay you much, there’s no reason you and I can’t work out a deal on the side. How would you like to earn a little extra money?”
She couldn’t imagine what, in this man’s estimation, would warrant a big tip, and she had a feeling she didn’t want to know. “What do I have to do?”
He told her. In gross, disgusting detail. She swallowed hard, hoping she could maintain some kind of composure. Hoping she could keep from kicking him right in the balls so he’d associate that excruciating pain with the act he’d just described.
“I don’t know—”
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a bill folded in half, then held it up between his index and third fingers. “A hundred bucks. Does that sweeten the pot?”
Val swallowed hard and didn’t answer.
“Hey, I don’t have to ask for it. I can take it, then deal with Lorena later. And I sure as hell don’t have to pay you for it.”
“No!” she said quickly. “I-I can use the money. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Now, that’s better,” he crooned, slipping the hundred into the front pocket of her purse. “I like it better when a woman is willing, so I don’t mind offering a little extra bonus. You’ll find I’m a pretty generous guy when I get what I want. Let’s go upstairs.”
She heard a muffled curse through her earpiece. What was Alex doing?
She thought about the gun in her purse. But with Rick’s hand clamped around her arm, dragging her toward the stairs, she couldn’t reach it without his realizing something was up. And could she actually shoot him when he hadn’t threatened her life? He thought she was a prostitute. He’d paid her. Of course he thought she should do whatever they’d agreed to. She knew she’d never be able to shoot a man under those circumstances, no matter how perverted he was.
Every step Val took was shaky, and she had to concentrate to keep from slipping on the stairs in her heels. By the time they reached the second-floor landing, she was trembling all over and prayed he didn’t notice. He pulled her into the first bedroom on the right, then closed the door behind them.
“The bathroom?” she asked.
He made a sweeping motion with his hand toward a door. “Right through there. But don’t keep me waiting long.”
She went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. The music outside was so loud that even standing in this upstairs bedroom Rick wouldn’t be able to hear her if she whispered.
“Alex. I’m in the bathroom. What’s going on?”
“The lighter won’t work!”
Panic shot through her. “It was working earlier. Try it again!”
“I have been trying. It’s no use.”
“Shake it!”
<
br /> “I tried everything. And I can’t find another lighter in your backpack, and I can’t find anything around here to start a fire with. Do whatever you have to do to get away from that guy, Val. Anything!”
“But I don’t have the bugs planted yet!”
“Forget the damned bugs!”
“No! I’m not blowing this cover!”
“Then I’m coming in.”
“No! Don’t do anything! No matter what you hear, you stay put, do you hear me?”
“No way. I heard that bastard. I heard what he wants—”
“Do you want to get us killed?” Val whispered. “That’s what’s going to happen if you come blasting in here. There are men all over the place out there with all kinds of firepower, and all they’ll know is that their buddy Reichert has a little intruder problem. Neither of us would stand a chance.”
“Damn it, I don’t want that degenerate to lay a finger on you!”
“He won’t. I’ll make sure of that.”
“How? How can you make sure of that?”
She couldn’t. But this might be their only chance to get the bugs in place, to get the information they needed to prove Alex’s innocence, and nothing was going to stop her from doing it. Nothing.
“Val? Are you there?”
“He might find this earpiece,” she told Alex, “so I’m taking it out. I won’t be able to hear you anymore.”
Over Alex’s protests, Val pulled the earpiece out and dropped it into her purse. She squeezed her eyes closed. She had to do this. She had to.
“Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I mean it. I can handle this guy. Just go back to our rendezvous point and wait for me. I’ll be out soon.”
She was glad Alex could hear her but not see her, because he’d know just how much she was lying. She couldn’t handle it. No matter what she’d told Alex, without blowing her cover, she couldn’t stop Rick from doing whatever he wanted to do with her.
For a moment she felt so weak that she sat down on the edge of the bathtub, clasping her hands together to stop them from trembling. She blinked several times to ward off the tears that filled her eyes, then took a deep breath and stood up again.
You can do this.
