“Platinum? You’re kidding!”
“Not at all. Each bottle is individually designed and engraved by Alejandro Gomez Oropeza, one of Mexico’s greatest artists.”
The husky note in his voice told Nina he really got off on this stuff. That, and the slow up-and-down stroke he gave her arm.
“A platinum edition of Pasión Azteca sold at auction last month for well over two hundred thousand dollars. I foolishly let myself be outbid on that one but I have my people looking for another. Today, I’m sad to say, we must make do with a silver edition.”
His “make do” bottle sat in splendor on a wheeled bar cart tended by a servant in a white jacket and gloves. Shaped like a spiked sea shell, the bottle gleamed in the few rays that managed to sneak past the vines shading the terrace.
“Three glasses with ice, Enrique. I shall mix the drinks myself.”
“Sí, Señor.”
With Wolf beside her, Nina watched a master at work. Thankfully, it looked as though he added more fresh squeezed lime juice than tequila to the crystal martini shaker. The last thing she needed was to get a buzz on and say or do something stupid.
She realized the error of her thinking as soon as she took the first sip from a long-stemmed glass. This baby tasted nothing like the drinks at the Purple Parrot. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
Marvelously smooth and deceptively gentle, the tequila-tini glided down her throat. She didn’t feel its lethal bite until a few moments later, when they were seated at a vine-shaded table and had the Sea of Cortez in all its mesmerizing beauty laid out before them.
“I have a confession to make, Dr. Grant,” Cordell said with a smile. “Or may I call you Nina?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And you must call me Sebastian.” He twirled his glass, his pale blue eyes drifting from her to Wolf and back again. “After you appeared at my gates yesterday and gave me your card, I looked for you on Google.”
Oh, God! Here it comes.
Her stomach lurching, Nina was sure she and El Lobo were about to be exposed as complete frauds. She had visions of her companion whipping out his hand sanitizer and squirting their way out of the compound when Cordell gave her an approving smile.
“I’m quite impressed by your business acumen, my dear. Grant Medical Data Systems is perfectly positioned to ride what most experts predict will be the wave of the future in health care data sharing.”
“I certainly hope so.”
Cordell’s beautifully manicured hand twirled the glass stem again. “From what I read, less than half your funding derives from private sources, with the majority coming from government contracts.”
Heroically, Nina managed to refrain from shooting El Lobo an evil glare. “That’s true.”
“I may be able to help you increase your slice of the government pie. Although I now reside in Mexico, I still have a good many friends in Washington.”
One of whom was now extremely dead.
Hastily, Nina masked the grim reminder of Senator DeWitt behind another sip of tequila.
“Perhaps you should provide me with a complete company prospectus and five-year plan,” Cordell said smoothly. “I’ll make sure it gets in the hands of people who can make things happen.”
Sure he would. The man had to be drinking something a whole lot more potent than blue agave sap if he thought she was going to give him access to her company’s finances. She was framing a polite refusal when Blackstone laid a possessive arm across the back of her chair.
“That’s exactly what I’ve been telling Nina. She needs to exploit any and all business contacts. I sure would.”
This time she couldn’t restrain a glare. He was cutting his role as her scumbag ex-fiancé a little too close to the bone.
“Yes,” their host agreed, “I imagine you would. You’re in the investment and financial planning arena, aren’t you?”
“Did you get that off Google, too?”
“I did.” A smile flitted across Cordell’s tanned face. “Along with a rather descriptive account of the termination of your engagement to Nina. How fortunate for you she took you back.”
“She says she’s still thinking about it,” Wolf replied with a wink, “but I’m ninety-nine-point-nine-percent sure of the outcome.”
When he gave her shoulder a squeeze, Cordell dipped his head in a benign nod. “I wish you luck.”
It was all so civilized, so polite. Yet Nina couldn’t shake the nasty feeling she was a small, brown mouse being batted between the paws of two very powerful and very predatory jungle cats.
“It was a long ride out here,” Rafe said, interrupting her uneasy thoughts. “Guess you’d better point me in the direction of a bathroom.”
“Of course. There’s one in the pool cabana at the other end of the terrace. Or you may go back inside the house and to your left.”
“Thanks. Mind if I take a look at some of your bronzes while I’m at it? I’m something of a collector myself.”
“Are you? Then I must give you a guided tour after lunch.”
“Great.”
When Wolf headed for the sliding glass doors, Nina had to swallow a panicky urge to call him back. This was what he’d come for, why he’d coerced her into acting as his entree into Cordell’s compound. Now that she knew about her smooth-talking host’s dark past, however, she didn’t particularly relish being left alone with him. She did her best to hide her unease as he leaned back in his chair and regarded her with slow consideration.
“I hope I didn’t embarrass you by bringing up that article about the termination of your engagement.”
“I’m well past being embarrassed by it.”
“Yet I sense… Forgive me if I’m getting too personal.” His gaze dropped to her ringless left hand and lingered a moment before lifting to her face. “I sense you and Kevin haven’t quite repaired the, shall we say, cracks in the road that led to your breakup.”
“We’re working on them.”
“I see.” He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, the picture of friendly concern. “Would you like a word of advice from one who’s tasted great passion a few times in his life?”
At her cautious nod, he stretched out an arm and laid his hand over hers.
“Someone as young and beautiful as you shouldn’t have to work at love.”
Right, she thought scornfully, for “young”, read “gullible”. For “beautiful”, try “well off”. In a patently obvious attempt to change the subject, she eased her hand from under his and gestured to a gleaming yacht anchored a few hundred feet from the rock cliffs.
“Is that your boat?”
“It is. Would you like to take a cruise aboard her?”
“Well… I…”
“And Kevin, of course. Assuming he’s going to remain here in Cabo with you.”
“I don’t know. We, uh, need to work on those cracks you mentioned.”
“I have commitments tomorrow, but I could take you out Thursday morning. I’ve already instructed my crew to have the boat ready for a sea voyage later in the day. How does that work for you?”
“Let me think about it.”
Desperate, she resorted to polite chitchat about the weather and the crowds in Cabo until Wolf reappeared. She greeted his return with relief. Let him get us out of this entanglement!
“Sebastian has offered to take us out for a spin in his boat.”
His glance shot to the yacht anchored offshore. “By boat, I hope you mean that beauty.”
“She does, indeed,” Sebastian answered. “As I told Nina, however, I couldn’t do it until Thursday afternoon.” His hooded gaze locked with Wolf’s. “Will you be staying in Cabo until then?”
Even Nina, as jittery as she was, sensed Cordell had thrown down a gauntlet. His opponent picked it up without missing a beat.
“Damn straight I will.”
Oh, Lord! He wanted to take Cordell up on his offer! She could see it in his eyes, read it in the speculative glance he gave the gl
eaming white yacht.
There was absolutely no way she was heading out to sea on that monster, pretty as it was. She got seasick in the bathtub, for pity’s sake. She leaned back, out of Cordell’s line of sight, and telegraphed a silent but unmistakable no!
Her “fiancé” acknowledged the frantic signal with a small nod and proceed to completely ignore it.
“Thursday works great for us, doesn’t it, Pumpkin? We didn’t have anything heavier on the agenda than soaking up some rays at the pool. What time do you want us here, Sebastian?”
Chapter 6
Riding a wave of fierce elation, Wolf took a last look at the cliffside compound in the rearview mirror.
He’d managed to plant two listening devices—one in Cordell’s study and one behind a painting of what looked like rotting fruit. In the process, he’d burned the layout and dimensions of each room he’d passed through into his brain. He’d also scouted the grounds. If he had to go back into the compound, he knew exactly how he would do it.
That was looking more and more necessary. All indications were Cordell intended to move the technology he’d stolen from Senator DeWitt’s office within the next few days. Interpol, the CIA, and military listening posts all over the world had picked up increasing chatter about interested buyers. Everyone from hostile heads of state to drug czars would kill to get their hands on the design for a new generation of ultrasmall, ultrasophisticated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
Compared to the UAV’s currently flying combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new generation of drones would cost next to nothing. They would also be almost invisible in flight. If they performed even half as well as advertised, the fifteen-inch-long vehicles could weave through a jungle of skyscrapers, zoom under bridges and land on the balcony of a twenty-story apartment building.
They would also be so simple to operate, any pimply preteen could fly one loaded with, say, fifty kilos of cocaine from a jungle processing center in Colombia to the backyard of a dealer anywhere in the world. Wolf didn’t even want to think about the lethal virus some nutcase could send through a window of the Oval Office. “Pumpkin?”
Nina’s sarcastic drawl cut through his swirling thoughts.
“Do I really strike you as the ‘Pumpkin’ type?”
Wolf shot her an incredulous look. Of all the lies and half-truths they’d just spun for Cordell, that was the one playing heaviest on her mind?
“It was kind of the spur of the moment,” he admitted. “But now that you mention it…”
He made a quick visual sweep, from the strands of soft brown hair that had slipped free of her clip to the chili-pepper-red silk top shaping her breasts. After letting his gaze linger there a second or two longer than it should, Wolf brought his eyes back to hers.
“‘Pumpkin’ suits you. You’re all soft and smooth, like a slice of Thanksgiving pie, but you pack enough spice to face Cordell down in his own lair.”
“Thanks. I think.”
She thinned her lips and gave him a taste of the spice he’d just mentioned.
“Incidentally, I don’t appreciate the way you ignored my very obvious lack of desire to sail off into the sunset with Cordell.”
“Sorry. I thought it best to keep all options open.”
“I hope you don’t think I intend to continue our charade until Thursday!”
“With any luck, this will be over before then.”
By tonight, Wolf thought, if the devices he’d planted picked up any clues to where, when and how Cordell intended to dispose of his pilfered technology. Wire-tight with anticipation, he forced a smile.
“You did good today, Grant. Very good.”
Oooh, boy, Nina thought. There it was again. The crooked grin that crinkled the skin at the corners of his eyes and almost made her forget Rafe had blackmailed her into acting as his entree into a viper’s den. Steeling herself to resist its pull, she demanded clarification.
“So we’re square? No more heavy-handed pressure about my government contracts?”
“We’re square.”
His reply should have satisfied her. She was off the hook. Done. Finito. She could go back to being merely a stressed-out exec on vacation.
So what the heck was with this sudden flat feeling? She wasn’t Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, for Pete’s sake! She’d just about wet herself when Cordell laid his hand over hers. All through lunch her stomach had been so knotted with tension she’d eaten maybe two bites of the coquille St. Jacques his chef had dished up. The entire time, she couldn’t wait to get out of the hacienda. Out of this whole, weird scene Rafe Blackstone had dragged her into, kicking and screaming.
This sudden letdown was a natural reaction, she decided. Her system was readjusting itself, as did every stressed biological organism. Plants faced with drought conditions increased a key hormone called abscisic acid. Animals in tight situations reacted with abrupt changes in neurohormone levels. Their catecholamines and corticosteroids shot off the charts. Serotonin was suppressed.
She was just coming down after the pressure high of the past few hours, she told herself firmly. All she had to do was sit back and breathe. In. Out. In.
Unfortunately, every deep breath ratcheted up her awareness of the man beside her. Each whiff of the sun-warmed scent of his skin or the faint tang of his aftershave threw her neurohormones out of whack again.
She had them more or less under control by the time they approached the roundabout with the spin-off road leading to her resort. Then she noticed El Lobo spearing intent glances at the rearview mirror.
“What’s the matter?”
“We’ve picked up a tail.”
A tail! Good grief. Had she dropped into some alternate universe?
“He’s been following us since we hit the outskirts of town,” Wolf said calmly.
Her nervous system going berserk once more, Nina twisted around. The traffic in the circle was as chaotic as usual, with cars weaving in and out and trucks belching diesel fumes as they shifted gears.
“Which one is it?”
“Gray Chevy Aveo, three cars back, right lane.”
While she searched the stream of traffic, her companion reached into his shirt pocket and flipped open his cell phone.
“Mannie, this is Wolf. I’ve got a Chevy Aveo on my ass. Is it one of your men?”
The response didn’t appear to please him. He listened for another moment, keeping one hand on the wheel and one eye on the mirror. “Gracias, amigo. I’ll get back to you.”
“Who is it?” Nina asked anxiously.
“Hang on a sec.”
Holding his phone at eye level, he punched one button. A second later, he had the phone to his ear.
“Ace, this is Wolf. I need you to run a check on license number…”
He squinted into the mirror and reeled off the digits. Nina dug her nails into her palms until he flipped the phone shut again.
“What’s going on? Who’s Ace?”
“My controller. Same guy who arranged my new identity as your fiancé. Speaking of which…” He shot her a rueful grin. “We have a slight change in plans.”
“How slight?”
“Mannie got a report of a repair order being called in for the flat screen TV in your suite at the Mayan Princess. A technician worked on it while we were at lunch.”
“There wasn’t…”
Her voice trailed off, then came back much weaker.
“There wasn’t anything wrong with the TV last time I checked.”
“Exactly.”
He sounded so blasé! As if the possibility that a person or persons unknown had planted a bug in her hotel room was no more than a minor inconvenience.
Swallowing, she tried to grasp the implications. “Do you think Sebastian is behind this?”
“Probably. You’re just his type. Smart. Beautiful. A power player.”
She blinked, shaken out of her renewed bout of nerves. Smart and beautiful was better than soft and smooth. Much better. She basked in the compl
iment until Wolf added a casual kicker.
“I’m guessing Cordell wants to get a better picture of how things stand between you and me before he moves in for the kill.”
“When you say kill, you are speaking meta phorically, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
She might have believed him if not for a certain dead senator.
“Until we find out for sure what’s going down,” he continued with a sideways glance, “I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. Think you can handle a few more hours?”
“I’ll give it my best shot.”
Her dry response in no way mirrored the quick flutter just under her ribs. Her thoughts zinged back to El Lobo’s “distraction” just outside the gates of Cordell’s compound. Then ahead, to the possibility he might have to distract her again. Her neurohormones skittering all over the place, Nina contemplated that possibility for the rest of the drive to the Mayan Princess.
Late afternoon had brought the resort to life. New arrivals waited in the open-air lobby to check in. Laughter and noisy splashes echoed from the crowded family pool on the lower level. Smiling waiters served tall, frosted drinks to couples lazing on double-wide lounges at the adult-only infinity pool on the upper level.
Just yesterday she’d been stretched out on one of those loungers and so bored she’d decided to drive out to see the countryside. In the twenty-four hours since, she’d stumbled into something right out of a James Bond movie. She couldn’t quite believe she was now returning to her casita with an undercover operative to check it for bugs.
Unreal. Absolutely unreal.
“Act naturally,” Wolf warned as they approached her unit. “If this TV repairman worked on anything besides the flat screen, we’ll know soon enough.”
“How?”
“Remember the woman I told you about? Our communications chief? Mackenzie Blair can pack more technology into a cell phone than NASA did into the Hubble telescope.”
He proved his point once they were inside. While Nina made straight for the fridge and a bottle of chilled water, he flipped up his phone.
Risky Engagement Page 6
