He eased open the outside door to the salon, thankful that no one had thought to check it after he had unlocked it earlier in the evening. Once inside, he slipped through the shadows and cracked open the hallway door.
Two of the men stood by the stairway talking. He waited with trained patience until the conversation had been completed. One of the men headed toward the front of the house, the other toward the back, leaving the hallway empty.
Zeke reached into his pocket for the slivers of metal he needed and eased the door open. He moved without sound to the office and worked the lock, relieved to hear it quietly click in less than a half minute.
He stepped inside, closed and locked the door, and waited for his eyes to adjust before edging toward the desk. He knew Lorenzo kept his records on a personal computer and gave silent thanks he had a working knowledge of the machine.
Using only the light from the screen, Zeke wasted precious moments in an attempt to find the access code. With sudden inspiration he tapped in the name ANGELA and was offered the directory.
There was too much for him to scan. The safest course was to copy as much as possible, choosing the files that looked to be the most promising.
He found the drawer where Lorenzo kept floppy disks and went to work. Every muscle was tense as he listened for any sound from the hallway. So far, everything was quiet.
As soon as he could, Zeke finished copying the files and pocketed the disks. He would leave Lorenzo a note as he promised Angie he would. Leaving the computer screen on for light, he took a sheet of stationery and wrote,
Lorenzo,
I decided to follow your advice and marry Angela. Know that I will always take care of her.
Z
Now all he had to do was to get out of there without being spotted.
❧
Several hours later Zeke glanced over at Angie, asleep in the seat beside him in his car. She had slept through most of the night, which was just as well. They would soon be reaching Reynosa, where he intended to stop to get married.
As he guessed, they had had no difficulty leaving the compound. He had hidden her in the back seat once they reached the garage where he kept his car. When he stopped at the gate, he told the men on duty that he was restless and planned to drive into Monterrey to look for a little action. They had laughed at his words and waved him on. Once they were out of sight of the gate, he had pulled over and had Angie join him in the front seat.
He knew she understood that the men would not have been so quick to wave him through if they had known she was with him.
When she asked him where they were going, he explained that he intended to drive to Reynosa. By the time they reached the border city, the government offices should be open and they could get a license. He had taken her hand and laid it on his thigh, where it still rested. Her trust and acceptance had only added to his guilt, but he knew he could live with his guilt easier than he could walk off and leave her to what was coming once he got the information he had to Washington.
"Angie, we're almost there," he said quietly.
She stirred and opened her eyes. In a drowsy voice she said, "I was dreaming about Tio. He's going to be upset that I didn't give him a chance to be at my wedding. He was pleading with me in my dream."
Zeke reached for her hand. "I still think this is the best way, Princess. Wouldn't you rather him be a little hurt because we ran off to marry, rather than have to face him with the news that you're not married ... and pregnant?"
She pressed her hand to her middle and sighed. "I don't wish to hurt him at all. I wonder how many times I have thought that, and said it, after I did something without thinking it through." After a moment, she said, "Tio will also be very angry with you, you know. What if he fires you? What will we do?"
He smiled. "I think I'll be able to find a way to support you." He squeezed her hand. "Or maybe I'll put you to work to support me."
"You're teasing me, but I could, you know."
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "I have a hunch you could do anything you set your mind to do."
She glanced up at him. "I'll take that as a compliment, even though you may not have meant it that way."
Zeke laughed and replaced her hand on his thigh. He liked feeling her touching him.
He turned onto a main thoroughfare. He used to spend considerable time here in Reynosa with Charlie when they were teenagers. He would find the office issuing licenses and find a judge to marry them. He wanted the marriage legal in case Frank or someone else in the bureaucracy attempted to ignore his attempt to bind Angie to him before all hell broke loose.
Later that morning they crossed the Texas-Mexico border. Zeke explained to the official at the border that they had just married and showed him the certificate. He pointed out that he was a United States citizen and that Angie would get her papers updated as soon as possible.
Once he was officially across the border into Texas, Zeke felt the tension leave him. The first big hurdle was past. He glanced over at Angie.
"Are you hungry?"
"A little."
He found a restaurant near the airport in McAllen and pulled into the parking lot. As soon as they ordered, he excused himself and headed for the phones. By the time he returned, their order was on the table. He saw the questions in her eyes when he slid into the bench seat across from her, but for the moment ignored them.
"This looks great. I didn't realize how hungry I was." He quickly demolished the food on his plate in silence, finished his coffee and asked, "Are you ready to go?"
She smiled. "Go where?"
"That's a surprise. I've been arranging our honeymoon."
Her eyes widened. "Really?"
"But the only way we can get there is to fly."
"Oh, Zeke!" she wailed.
"I know. But the plane will be large and I'll be right there beside you."
She shook her head. "Couldn't we go someplace closer, so that we could drive?"
"I have to deliver something important before I can be free to enjoy some time with you." He took her hand. "You'll be all right. I promise."
She sighed. "Something tells me I don't have a choice."
He slid out of the bench seat and extended his hand to her. After a moment she took his hand and followed him from the restaurant. "Just because we're married doesn't mean that I'm always going to let you tell me what to do, you know."
He waited to respond to her provocative remark until he got into the car. "I wouldn't dream of always telling you what to do, Princess. Why, I'll treat your every wish as my command from now on."
She watched his profile as he pulled into traffic and followed the street signs to the airport. "My every wish?" she asked, intrigued by the idea.
"Weelll," he drawled, "maybe we could negotiate on a few of them."
"I thought so! You're already trying to weasel out of your promise."
He hugged her to him, ,but waited until he'd found a place in the long-term parking lot and stopped the car before he grabbed her and gave her a leisurely. .. and very thorough... kiss. They were both flushed when he finally released her.
"Enough of that, woman! You're damned distracting, did you know that?"
They claimed their tickets and found the right gate for the plane that was leaving for Dallas, where they would catch a connecting flight into Washington, D.C. He'd called Frank and told him to meet him at the airport without telling him that he would not be alone.
The main thing was that he had gotten the necessary information without blowing his cover, and had gotten himself out of Mexico safely. He'd successfully completed his assignment and as far as he was concerned, he was on his own time once he turned over the disks to Frank.
If Frank was upset, let him fire him. He'd discovered by working with Lorenzo that he had some decidedly marketable skills in the security business. He could always hire himself out as a consultant.
The main thing he had to do was to be there for Angie when she
discovered the truth about her uncle.
❧
Zeke spotted Frank in the crowd of people waiting for the passengers to disembark. He wore a pullover shirt and casual slacks, blending in with the people around him. Zeke gave a slight nod when they made eye contact, and waited for the slower passengers ahead of them to get out of his way.
By the time he and Angie were clear he had taken her hand. He stopped in front of his boss, who wore an unprofessionally startled look.
"Hi, Frank! It was great of you to agree to meet us and give us a ride to my place. I told you I had a surprise for you—" Which was a lie. He hadn't told Frank anything but the time of his arrival, when he'd asked him to meet him at the airport. "Here she is. Angie De la Garza and I were married this morning." Before Frank could respond, Zeke continued. "Angie, I want you to meet an old air force buddy of mine, Frank Carpenter. We go back several years together, don't we?"
Frank had his emotions under control, and the smile he gave them both was affable and admiring. "One thing I have to say about you, Zeke, you're a fast worker. I didn't even know you were seeing anyone." He turned to Angie and held out his hand. "I'm pleased to meet you, Mrs. Daniels. I can see that Zeke deserves congratulations."
Angie's cheeks were pink and her smile radiant. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Mr. Carpenter," she said in her fluent English. "I must admit that Zeke keeps surprising me. I had no idea where we were going when we left Texas."
Zeke slipped his arm around her waist and hugged her to him. "I won't let anything happen to you, believe me." He kissed her on the tip of her nose, then looked up at Frank, knowing that his boss also got the message.
"The car's this way," was Frank's only comment, as he started down the concourse.
The men rode in the front seat while Angie took in the sights from the back seat of Frank's car. Zeke reached over and turned on the radio, setting the sound to come from the back speakers, which he knew would effectively muffle the conversation in the front seat.
"That too loud?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder. Angie smiled and shook her head, returning her gaze to the sights and soupds beyond the window.
In a barely perceptible tone, Frank muttered, "Are you out of your mind? De la Garza! Who is she, his daughter?"
"Niece," Zeke replied, without looking at Frank.
"Did you abort the assignment?"
"You know me better than that. The information you need is on the disks in the newspaper I just laid at my feet. I'll leave it there when we get out of the car."
"What in the hell do you think you're doing marrying a member of the family?"
"She doesn't have anything to do with it. She has no idea what's been going on."
"Does she know who you are?"
"Yes. Just not what I do."
"Dangerous way to begin a marriage, wouldn't you say?"
"My choices were limited. I did the best J could under the circumstances to protect her."
"So it isn't a real marriage, then. You're removing her from the scene?"
Zeke was silent. His first reaction had been to deny Frank's statement before he remembered that he hadn't given a thought to anything other than getting her away from a potentially explosive situation. Wearily he ran his hand over his face. "Something like that, I guess."
"How do you think she's going to take it when she finds out the truth?"
"I'll deal with that when the time comes. In the meantime, I'm requesting some time off."
Frank's mouth curved slightly. "For a honeymoon?"
Zeke cut his eyes around. "Maybe."
"Can't say I blame you." He glanced into the rear-view mirror. "However, you may have a tiger by the tail once she finds out the truth."
"Believe me, I've thought about that. I'll just have to deal with her reaction when it comes."
"Are you going to tell her the truth?"
"Not until he's arrested. I don't want to take the chance she'll warn him."
"She may never forgive you."
"That's the risk I'll have to take."
Frank smiled. "I'm still in shock. I never pictured you as a knight rushing to a fair maiden's rescue before. That's quite an image adjustment, let me tell you."
Zeke turned his head and looked at his superior without expression. "Go to hell," he muttered, before he too watched the traffic and the scenery.
❧
Zeke fished his keys out of his pocket as they walked down the hallway to the apartment he'd rented the year before when he'd been recalled from his European post. "You'll have to excuse the place. I haven't been here in months. I just hope it's livable."
Angie felt as though she'd received one shock after another since Zeke had awakened her from a sound sleep last night. She wasn't certain how many more she could handle in one day. "Why haven't you ever mentioned to me that you had an apartment in Washington?"
He shrugged. "I guess I never considered the information important enough to bring up. I had to live somewhere once I left my European job. I haven't used it very much, but since I hate, staying in hotels, it was worth keeping for whenever I was in town."
He opened the door and motioned for her to go inside. Instead, she asked, "Don't you intend to continue working for Tio?"
Zeke placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her into the musty-smelling apartment. He closed the door and edged her over until the door was at her back. He leaned into her, resting his forearms on either side of her head.
Nuzzling her ear, he whispered, "We've got the rest of our lives to get to know everything about each other, sweetheart. At the moment, I'm kinda distracted." He raised his head enough to find her lips with his. He continued to kiss her while he allowed his aroused body to settle firmly against her, more fully explaining his distraction.
Angie went up on her toes and wrapped her arms around bis neck. She forgot all of her questions and all of her confusion. She even forgot her guilt about running away with Zeke. She couldn't deny her love for this man and would have followed him willingly wherever he suggested.
He scooped her up in his arms and headed down the hallway. "I'll show you around later," he growled, giving her short, hard kisses until he reached the side of a large bed. "For the moment I intend to keep you right here."
Zeke grabbed the bedspread with one hand and jerked it off the bed before he lowered her to the surface. She had become an addiction with him. No matter how many times he made love to her, he could never seem to get enough of her.
He refused to think about the future. Not at this moment, anyway.
He needed this woman now.
His woman.
His wife.
Chapter 9
"Oh, Tio, Zeke has been showing me around Washington," Angie said into the phone. "He's been a wonderful tour guide since we arrived."
Zeke grimaced at Angie's praise of his abilities, remembering his earlier thoughts on the subject of becoming a professional tour guide. He sat across the room from Angie, watching her speak to her uncle on the phone. He knew that Lorenzo would insist on talking to him in a few minutes and was mentally preparing himself for the verbal assault.
He'd managed to delay the inevitable phone call to her uncle for three days now, but had recognized that morning that he could no longer postpone contacting Lorenzo De la Garza.
He'd been waiting for some word from Frank, hoping that the information he'd gotten to him would be acted upon immediately. But time had run out and Angie had begun to fret about her uncle, afraid he'd be worried about her, despite the message Zeke had left for him.
"I don't know, Tio," she was saying into the phone. She looked over at Zeke and grinned. "Zeke hasn't said. Here, I'll let you speak with him." Angie handed the cordless phone to Zeke, whispering, "He wants to know when we're coming home."
Zeke took the phone. "Hello, Lorenzo," he drawled, and waited for the explosion.
"Once I got over the initial shock, I realized what you had done, Zeke," Lorenzo said gruffly.
<
br /> Zeke froze, then murmured, "What do you mean?"
"You wanted to get Angie as far away from what's going on around here as possible. You also knew her reputation would be damaged if she continued to travel alone with you. I understand that. I just wish you hadn't spirited her away in the middle of the night. So although I can appreciate your motives, I resent the manner in which you've carried them out."
"Well, I, uh-"
"In addition, I didn't appreciate the manner you chose to show me the vulnerability of my office security. How did you manage to get inside?"
"It wasn't that difficult, Lorenzo."
"None of the men saw you anywhere near the office. The video cameras didn't pick up anything, either. The only ones who reported seeing you at all were at the gate and they swore you left alone. Were you trying to make me look like some kind of fool, Zeke?"
"Of course not. I—"
Lorenzo gave a loud sigh. "You're good at what you do, Zeke. Damn good. I should be relieved to have you on my side, but it concerns me that someone— anyone—was able to breach the security of my office. What if you had been one of my enemies?"
Zeke met Angie's anxious gaze, then looked away. Once again guilt gnawed at him. He had no one else to blame for his present predicament. He also knew that if he had to relive the past few days, he would make the same decisions.
But the gnawing at his conscience didn't go away.
"I wanted to let you know that Angie is safe, Lorenzo. She's wanted to call, to explain—"
"I know. She told me. I won't pretend that I'm pleased at the way you went about things. I would have wanted to be there, to give her away, to take part in the ceremony." Once again Lorenzo sighed. "But it's done, now, and there's no point in continuing to belabor the point. Once we get this mess cleared up and it's safe to have visitors again, I'll have a celebration dinner and dance, introduce you to all of our friends and family." Lorenzo's voice lightened. "At least I've got some good news regarding the attempted break-ins."
Zeke Page 10
