Tempted Into Danger
Page 15
They were escorted to one of a series of flat boats lining the bank of the Rio Nobu. For the hour it took the Nobu to paddle south, Diego was happy to let someone else work while he caught his breath and processed the truth that he and Vanessa were still alive and unharmed.
The village sprawled over a grassy lowland along the east bank of the Rio Nobu and filled the air above it with the inviting scent of cooking fires and freshly chopped wood. Houses here were painted white or blue to combat rot and termites and built on stilts to weather the frequent floods that plagued the area, a strategy Diego used in designing his Leroy cabin.
He and Vanessa were marched through the center of the village, dodging chickens, stray dogs and curious children. Their mothers, equally curious, stared up from their chores or babies while Diego and Vanessa passed.
Though the Nobu were one of the most isolated native peoples in Panama, signs of Western influence were still present in the occasional pair of sneakers, cotton T-shirts and modern tools. Some Diego recognized as gifts he’d thrown in along with the weapons. It was gratifying to see them put to good use.
They were directed to the same thatch-roofed blue hut on the edge of the village that Diego had stayed in during his first visit to the tribe ten years ago. His first exchange of artillery for access and safe passage through their land. The hut sat two meters off the ground and was walled only waist-high, with mosquito netting covering the opening all the way around.
Shortly after the warriors deposited them in the hut, a tribal woman dressed in a colorful skirt and woven halter top appeared. Smiling broadly, she held a bowl he soon discovered was a poultice for his snake bite.
He sat on a long bench along the wall and pulled his shirt off to let her tend him. Vanessa hovered nearby, looking curious and grateful for the help. The woman then smoothed the medicine over the explosion rash on his neck. He probably looked like he’d gotten in a mud fight, but all that mattered was his arm felt markedly better.
Soon after the medicine woman left, a second woman arrived with a plate of rice and plantains. Vanessa accepted the food graciously and they both dug in.
Finally, as twilight descended on the village, they were alone in the hut. Diego checked the disposable cell phone. He had a few bars of service and had missed thirty-three calls. Time to touch base with Ryan.
“What the hell,” Ryan said by way of a greeting. “I’ve been out of my mind. We all have. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Vanessa is, too, but we almost weren’t.” He gave Ryan an abbreviated version of the truth.
Ryan sighed. “Anyone could’ve intercepted that emergency call she made.”
For reasons Diego didn’t understand, Ryan’s comment triggered an illogical defensiveness of Vanessa’s choice. “She did what she had to do, okay? If she hadn’t made that call, I would’ve died and left her in the middle of freakin’ nowhere by herself.”
“I know she didn’t have a choice. I get it. Doesn’t make it suck any less.”
“True. But we’re living large now at one of the Nobu villages, and even if the hostiles get it in their heads to take a second strike at us, there’s no way they’d risk going to war with the tribe. Vanessa and I will be safe for tonight.”
“Good to hear.”
His eyes stayed on Vanessa, futilely trying to be subtle while listening to the conversation as she washed in the water basin. “Did everyone in the crew join up already?”
“Just about,” Ryan said. “Rory’s not due in until later tonight.”
“We have a new pick-up point, but the road’s a mess and there’s no reason for you to make the drive in the dark. If you’re here tomorrow morning, that gives us twenty-four hours to stop the sub sale.”
“And put an end to the Chiara brothers,” Ryan added.
The man had a one-track mind. “We’ll see what Vanessa and Alicia can do when they put their heads together.”
He gave Ryan directions, along with his assurances that he’d do his best to convince the Nobu not to attack their van. At least he and Vanessa had the good fortune of being brought to the Nobu’s southernmost camp, which was one of two that had recently been outfitted with a crude dirt road.
After the call ended, he walked to the Nobu warrior stationed as their guardian at the edge of the walking path leading to their hut. Using gestures and crude pictures drawn in the dirt with his finger, he did his best to explain that his crew would be there with the morning sun and would he and his fellow warriors please refrain from blowing them up.
When Diego returned to the hut, Vanessa was done at the basin, so he took her place. He dunked his hands, then scrubbed them over his face and through his hair. He’d killed again today, but he’d have to wait to get right with himself until Vanessa fell asleep. He could feel her eyes on his back and figured she was waiting for him to finish everything he needed to do so she could talk her way through processing the day’s events.
Unlike yesterday, the prospect of sitting and chatting with her sounded like the best idea he’d heard in a long time. She could talk all she needed to as long as he could pull her near and let his hands do some PG-rated exploration. She might even get all soft and cuddly like she had before.
If fact, he really hoped she would. It’d been a long pounding of a day. All he wanted to do was get close to Vanessa and stay that way for the rest of the night.
When he turned to reach for a drying cloth, he caught her in the act of watching him. She smiled, not attempting to hide her bold appraisal. His eyes holding hers, his body tight with anticipation, he tossed the cloth aside and walked to her.
Chapter 14
The sunset over the Nobu village lit the sky with vibrant reds and oranges, but Vanessa couldn’t tear her eyes away from Diego as he washed at the bowl of water. And not only because of how magnificent he looked without his shirt on, which he most certainly did, despite the mudlike medicine coating his arm and neck.
She couldn’t stop staring at him because he’d almost died that day, more than once. From a venomous snake bite, anaphylactic shock and then at the hands of vicious criminals. He’d almost slipped through her fingers like so many other people she’d cared about. And it scared her all over again to realize how important he was becoming to her.
She already felt herself falling in love with him and knew it would be easy to fall the rest of the way. They were opposite in so many ways, but it was the kind of difference that was balancing—her softness with his steel, his instinct and her logic. He was teaching her by example to have courage in the face of fear, and she badly wanted to help him give voice to his grief and understand it was all right to feel pain.
Yet even if he felt the same way, even if he wanted her back, she did not want the kind of life she’d lead with him. She’d always come second to his career and would be alone all the time, like she had been as a child during football season when her dad was too busy to notice her. But this would be so much worse.
Although she’d finally internalized today that he’d never purposefully abandon her, the hard, cold fact was that his job of protecting people with his life wasn’t limited to Vanessa. Once she was safe, he’d move on to new assets and new life-threatening dangers. The scars on his back were a vivid testimony to the kind of risks he undertook on a regular basis. She’d die a little every day knowing he was off somewhere putting himself in harm’s way, never knowing when or if she’d see him again.
Sometimes being courageous meant saying no to something that wasn’t good for her. It meant loving herself enough to walk away from a situation that would hurt her. She hadn’t had the strength of character to do that in the past. This time, though, she was going to take a stand—for herself.
When Diego finished at the wash basin, he lit a lamp and walked her way. He sat next to her on the bench and pilfered a bite of food off the plate she’d set aside. �
��You enjoying your jungle shanty tour yet?”
Picking at the mosquito netting that lined the structure’s windows, she attempted a smile. “Parts of it, absolutely. But it’s a little too adventurous for my taste. Were the Chiara brothers behind the attack today?”
He nodded. “I recognized one of the Chiaras in the helicopter. Nico. He’s the youngest. Leo is the oldest and Vincenzo—Enzo is what he goes by—he’s the middle brother. Heartless bastards, every one of them. My crew’s been tracking them for going on ten years.”
“Then I hope I can get you the information to help you catch them.”
“Me, too.”
“What’s going to happen after I pinpoint the account being used for the Chiaras’ submarine sale?”
“I pass that information on to my boss, Thomas Dreyer, then escort you into protective custody or help you get lost somewhere in the world, if you’d prefer. All you have to do is tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.”
“I’d like to go into protective custody,” she said. “I want to be there to testify against the bank and the Chiara brothers when that day comes.” She might even change her identity, as Diego had.
Diego dipped his head in a slow nod. “That’ll go a long way toward helping the Feds put the Chiaras behind bars along with anyone else who’s been helping them.”
After a brief mental debate, she took the plunge on a question she’d been chewing on since the night before. “You don’t have to tell me if you can’t, but I’ve been curious. How did you come up with the name Diego Santero?”
He lounged back against the wall, a hand propped behind his head. “Diego was the name of my great-grandfather on my mother’s side. One of my great-aunts, when she got dementia, started calling me Diego because I guess I look like him. Santero was one of my nicknames when I was a SEAL. That got started when we were training in Puerto Rico. One of the guys showed up for breakfast with a Santeria doll. Santeria is like Puerto Rican voodoo.”
“Let me guess—you were the only SEAL there of Puerto Rican heritage.”
“Exactly. They started razzing me about using Santeria magic to disappear into the jungle because I was so good at it. A santero is a Santeria priest.”
“I like that story.”
“I haven’t thought about it in ages. I’d forgotten what a fun time that was.” He took her hand. “Ask me something else.”
He probably hadn’t intended for that to be a loaded question, but she still felt like she was navigating a minefield. She didn’t want to ask the wrong thing and watch the window to his soul slam shut. It would be too stark a reminder that he’d never fully share himself with her. Better to stick with the safe questions. “What’s your favorite food?”
“My mom’s arroz con gandules.” At her questioning look, he added, “Rice, beans, pork and peppers mixed with this Puerto Rican sauce called sofrito. It’s out of this world. She makes it for me every time I visit. What about you?”
“Papaya.”
“Just papaya?”
She nodded. “I’d never had it until I moved to Panama. There was a vendor at the outdoor market near my apartment who saved me the best papaya every Tuesday. I can’t get enough of it. I think when I’m back in the States it’ll be nice to eat papaya and think of my years in Panama. I’ll miss this place.”
“Why’d you move to Panama?” he asked.
“My best friend, Jordan, followed a guy here, and I followed her. She’s like my family and I couldn’t stand the idea of being...” She swallowed.
He hummed deep in his throat, a sound she had no idea how to interpret, but then he slid his shoulder over until it touched hers. “You didn’t want to be alone.”
The fear of being without Jordan, without anyone, had been suffocating. Even the four-month wait after Jordan had left Nebraska, before Vanessa had secured a job in Panama, had devastated her.
And her life was about to come full circle. Back in the States, alone.
But she was determined that this time around was going to be different. This time, she was going to be all right on her own. She had a higher purpose now, a plan for herself that was totally self-generated and self-sufficient. One that didn’t involve chasing loved ones who were slipping away from her. One that didn’t involve fear.
She nestled into Diego’s shoulder, not because she was feeling weak or scared, but to be inspired by his strength and let it flow into her. Thanks to his example, she was more and more ready to stand on her own two feet, brave and sure.
She still had a small, private smile on her lips when he asked, “You said Jordan’s like your family, but what about your dad? It was just the two of you while you were growing up, right? So then, you and he must be close.”
Her smile faded. “We were never close. My dad’s career as a football coach had him working most nights and weekends. My house was so lonely and quiet. I hung around school or the library or friends’ houses all the time to avoid being in the empty house by myself.”
“You mentioned that he moved to California to work at UCLA. I’m assuming that happened after you moved to Jersey for college?”
“No. My senior year of high school. I refused to go with him because I knew what would happen. I’d be alone in a brand-new empty house, but this time with no friends to take my mind off it. Jordan’s parents took me in. I went to visit my dad a few times, and he came to visit me. My freshman year of college he remarried and his new wife got pregnant. They didn’t have room for me after that. Turned my bedroom at his new house into a nursery.”
“Ouch. Then again, I never had my own bedroom. Shared one with both my brothers.”
“I always wanted a brother or sister.”
“So then you got one when your dad remarried. That’s good, right?”
“They had three kids, actually. But I don’t think of them as half siblings. Not really.”
He released her hand and plopped his arm across her shoulders, tugging her close. “Help me out here. I’m scrounging for a silver lining.”
She huffed and allowed a bit of sarcasm to seep into her tone. “Good luck with that.”
“Didn’t that make you happy, not to be lonely anymore? To have a family? I bet holidays were more fun than ever. In my family, the holidays are manic. My parents’ house is so stuffed full of people on Christmas that my sister’s husband parks their trailer on my parents’ lawn.”
She jumped on the chance to refocus the conversation on him, away from her sorrow. “You go home for Christmas?”
“I try to. Missed it four years in a row, though. One year soon, the bottom-feeders of the world need to cool it in December so I can sneak to Jersey for the day.”
The more they concentrated on his life, the easier it got for her to shed the melancholy that had settled over her while talking about her family history. Desperate to keep him talking, and without thinking it through, she asked, “Have you ever been married or engaged?”
He snorted. “Not even close. Longest relationship I’ve had was in high school. When 9/11 happened, I’d been dating some girl in San Diego for a few months, but when I joined ICE I gave up everything—my apartment, my car, my girlfriend. ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and all that stuff. What about you?”
Yikes. They were back to her, and he was asking about the worst part of her life. Worse than the day her dad had come home and told her about the UCLA job. She hated talking about this particular topic, about Dave, enough that she almost lied. But that didn’t feel right to do with Diego. “Engaged,” she said quietly.
His arms and back went rigid. “You don’t say.”
She nodded, hoping that’d be enough. Time for a redirect. “How long did you live in San Diego?”
“Oh, nuh-uh. You’re not weaseling out of this one. Spill it. What happened? Who was the idiot who let you get away?”
She rolled her eyes, her face flushing with residual embarrassment she still couldn’t shake after all this time. “So stupid, I know. I thought if we were engaged it’d help me hang on to him after he left Panama. Immediately, I put in for a transfer within RioBank so I could follow him. But while I waited for the transfer to go through, I decided to surprise him with a visit.”
He twisted, hitching his knee on the bench to look at her, and held up a finger as a gesture of caution. “Do not tell me what I think you’re about to or I swear to God, I’m going to fly to Brazil and go all black ops on this guy for cheating on you.”
His indignation on her behalf was sweet and reminded her of the long-winded rants Jordan indulged in for months to come after the fact. She snared his hand out of midair and twined their fingers. “He didn’t cheat on me, or at least, if he did I never found out. What happened was I got there and took a cab to the address he’d given me, but it was vacant. He wouldn’t answer his phone, and it was getting late, so I had to get a hotel room and wait at his work in the morning. That was pretty humiliating.”
“Did he ever show up at work?”
“Yes.” She swallowed. The memory still hurt. “He said he forgot to tell me the apartment hadn’t worked out and that he’d moved in with two other guys. I was too shocked to be mad right away. I said, ‘But we’re getting married. We can’t live with roommates.’ And he said, ‘What’s the rush? We don’t have to live together right away.’”
“Like I said, an idiot....”