by Jane Graves
He approached her, his gait slow and threatening. “Open the door.”
“Why are you here?”
“We have some talking to do.”
She felt a jolt of apprehension. “About what?”
He inched closer, his jaw tight with anger. “I’ve got something to say to you, Lisa, and I can’t guarantee it won’t be at the top of my lungs. So unless you want your neighbors to wander out here to find out what all the commotion’s about, you’d better open the door.”
With every word he spoke, Lisa felt the weight of guilt press against her until she could barely breathe. She turned, her hands shaking, and opened the door. She went inside and headed straight for the kitchen. She heard Dave close and lock the door and drop his bag beside it, then heard his footsteps behind her. She tossed her backpack onto the kitchen table. When she turned back, his expression had become positively glacial.
“Tell me about your drug conviction.”
Lisa felt as if the floor had fallen out from beneath her feet. She would have done anything—anything—to keep him from finding out about that, but apparently the customs officials had filled him in.
“It doesn’t matter now,” she told him.
His eyes widened. “Doesn’t matter? What do you mean, it doesn’t matter? Did you think you could just hand those drugs over to the customs agents and accuse Robert of counterfeiting without them finding out you’d been convicted of a drug offense?”
She blinked. “What?”
“What’s the first thing they do when somebody blows a whistle? They check out the whistle-blower! Even if you hadn’t been accused of the crime yourself, the minute they found out you had a drug conviction any credibility you had while trying to take Robert down would have been shot to hell. And now that you’ve been accused,” he said, glaring at her, “let’s just say that they’re not the least bit inclined to believe anything you say.”
She raised her chin, her voice quivering. “So they told me.”
“I want to know what happened. Tell me how in the hell you got convicted of cocaine possession. And by God, you’d better tell me the truth.”
“I suppose all you want is the facts.”
“That’s a damned good start.”
“Fine. I was at my brother’s apartment. The police stormed the place. Lenny was caught dealing for the fourth time, which meant he bought a fifteen-year prison sentence. They found five grams of cocaine in my purse. I was convicted of possession and got probation.”
“Were you using cocaine?”
“Would you believe me if I told you no?”
“To tell you the truth, right now I don’t know what to believe.”
She glared at him. “Then nothing I say will make any difference, will it?”
“Lisa,” he said, his voice escalating, “if you want me to believe you were innocent of those charges, you’d better start talking!”
“I don’t give a damn what you believe!”
He stared at her in silence, his face tight with anger. “Fine. Just forget it. I shouldn’t have come here in the first place. There’s a seven-thirty flight to Dallas. I intend to be on it.”
He started out of the kitchen, and suddenly Lisa couldn’t bear the thought of it ending this way between them. He’d been like a lifeline to her, a lifeline she was watching slip right out of her grasp.
“Dave. Wait.”
He stopped and turned back, his face fixed in a harsh frown. She shouldn’t have to defend herself against accusations that weren’t true. Damn it, she just shouldn’t have to. But she didn’t want Dave walking out of here thinking she was guilty of anything.
“It happened the summer after our high school graduation,” she said. “I wanted out of Tolosa, but I had almost no money and nowhere to go. So I took a chance and called Lenny in San Antonio. He told me I could stay with him as long as I wanted to.”
“I’m listening.”
“I figured if I could stay with him, I could save more money and be able to take flying lessons sooner.” She paused. “And Lenny was my brother. I hadn’t seen him in years. All of a sudden we were together again, and we were actually talking. I remember feeling so excited that my life had finally taken a turn for the better.”
“So what happened?”
Lisa closed her eyes. It was a memory she had no desire to dredge up. “The day after I moved in, guess who showed up? The police. They decided it was a good time to raid a drug dealer.”
Dave stared at her for several seconds, his angry gaze faltering. “Was it true? He was still dealing drugs?”
“Oh, yeah. Big-time.”
“So you were caught up in it, too?”
“Yeah. And my brother, who’d been oh, so nice to me, didn’t think twice about stuffing five grams of coke into my purse to get rid of it, then swearing it wasn’t his. That was the least of what he had hidden around his apartment.”
“He took you down with him?”
“Yes. Even when he could have told them I had nothing to do with it, he didn’t. I was lucky I was charged only with possession. But do you want to know the bad part? I actually thought that he’d changed and that somehow, someway, I could have an actual relationship with my brother. Can you imagine anyone being that stupid?”
Dave just stood there, stunned. As tears filled Lisa’s eyes, he imagined her going to Lenny’s house and the glimmer of hope she must have felt when it looked as if she had at least one family member who was going to act like family. Instead, he’d handed her yet one more reason never to trust anyone again as long as she lived.
“I knew what he was,” she went on. “I knew . But what did I do? I walked right into his life like some kind of fool and ended up getting taken down right along with him.” Her jaw trembled. “Maybe you did the same thing.”
“What?”
“If you hadn’t come to help me, you wouldn’t be in this mess. Instead, you’re taking the fall right along with me.” She wiped her eyes, swallowing her tears. “You need to go home, Dave. Go home to your family where you belong.”
Common sense told him she was right, but something far more powerful was keeping him from walking out the door. Every step of the way, this situation had grown more chaotic, and he’d gotten dragged into it right along with her. Further association with her could only hurt him in the eyes of the law. He should be on his way home to Tolosa by now, to a life that didn’t get him personally involved in crap like drug convictions, attempted murder, and women who couldn’t seem to stay out of harm’s way. The only problem was that he felt an overwhelming need to be the one to keep her out of harm’s way.
“I can’t stand this, Dave,” she said, her voice faltering. “I can’t stand knowing that you might be facing a prison sentence when all you did was try to help me. I can’t stand it!”
She turned away, her hand over her mouth, as if she was trying desperately to keep from crying. He reached out and touched her shoulder. She shuddered away from him.
“Don’t. Please don’t.”
“Lisa—”
She spun back around. “Damn it, Dave! Will you just cut your losses and get out of here?”
Suddenly the telephone rang. They both turned to stare at it, and after a few seconds Lisa took a deep breath, swept her hair away from her forehead with a rake of her fingers, then picked up the phone and said hello. A moment later she froze, her eyes widening. She slid her hand against her throat, stumbled a few steps to the kitchen table, and collapsed on a chair, wearing a look of shock and disbelief. “Wh-what did you say?”
When Dave heard the tremor in her voice, he came to attention. “Lisa? What is it?”
She turned her tearful gaze up to meet his. “Adam is alive.”
For the next ten minutes Lisa spoke to the person on the other end of the phone, her voice tight with emotion. Dave sat down beside her and listened to half a conversation that told him that while Adam Decker was alive, something was still terribly wrong. Finally, after a promise to call
back, Lisa hung up the phone and sat back in her chair, looking completely overwhelmed.
“Who were you talking to?” Dave asked.
“Serafina Cordero. She’s the one who’s taking care of Adam.”
“Did you talk to him, too?”
“For just a minute. My God. He’s alive. Adam really is alive.” She shook her head slowly with disbelief, tears filling her eyes again. She smiled briefly, then placed her hand against her chest, taking a deep breath. “He’s alive. I just can’t believe it.”
“Tell me what’s going on.”
She sighed with weary relief. “I barely know where to start.”
Little by little, she filled him in on the whole story, telling him that by the grace of a sixteen-year-old kid with a conscience Adam had survived the execution Robert had ordered. But now he refused to leave Santa Rios.
“What you’re telling me,” Dave said, “is that no matter what condition Adam is in, he won’t leave without Gabrio?”
“Yes,” Lisa said. “And Sera hasn’t been able to convince him to come with them. But the clock’s ticking. He still has a bullet in his chest, and she’s afraid his head wound is worse than it appears to be. They won’t know the extent of that until he has a CT scan. And every minute he’s down there is another minute that Robert might find out he’s still alive and come after him again.”
Dave let out a long breath. He’d seen no-win situations before, but this one topped them all.
“I have to help them,” Lisa said. “I have to get Adam to a doctor. And I have to talk to Gabrio. God, can you imagine how scared he must be right now?”
“Yeah, but what can you do from here?” Dave said.
A gleam of determination entered her eyes. “Nothing. That’s why I’m flying back down there.”
“You’re flying—?” Dave shook his head. “No. It’s not safe for you down there. If Robert or Ivan sees you, they’ll kill you.”
“They don’t have to know I’m there,” Lisa said. “I can fly down and help Sera talk Gabrio into coming along. I always knew he was a good kid, in spite of where he came from. What he did for Adam proves that. And he loved it when I took him up in my plane. He didn’t admit it, but I could tell he did. He’ll listen to me. I know he will.”
“Surely if he thought his brother would kill him, he’d want out of there. He’d be grasping at straws. Looking for anyone to help him.”
“It’s the logic of the abused. No matter how impossible it seems, you always hold out hope.” She paused. “You know. That your brother might not be as bad as you think he is.”
Lisa’s gaze never faltered, driving home her point, and he realized just how right she was.
“So you’re going down there,” he said.
“Yes. And if you’re thinking of trying to stop me—”
“I’m not going to stop you.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I’m going with you.”
She turned away. “No. You need to go home. You have a family to think about, a daughter—”
“Do you really think I’d leave you at a time like this?”
“I don’t want to hurt you any more than I already have. I have a drug conviction—”
“You were innocent. I know that now.”
“You’re taking my word for that.”
“Yes. And that’s good enough for me.”
“I can’t guarantee what we’ll find down there. What will happen. We managed to get out of there once. Our luck just might run out.”
He stroked a finger through the hair along her temple. She looked back at him.
“I’m not letting you go alone.”
“But—”
“Do you want me to come?”
She stared at him plaintively, then looked away. “I can manage without you.”
“I didn’t ask you that. I asked you if you wanted me to come.”
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. Her rigid expression slowly melted into acceptance. “Yes. Of course I want you to come.”
Dave shook his head slowly. “Why is that so hard for you to say? Didn’t I tell you once that if you ever needed me I’d be there?”
“You fulfilled that promise already.”
“Did I say anything about it being a onetime deal?”
“No.”
“Okay, then. Think of it as a perpetual coupon you can cash in anytime you want to.”
He tucked his hand behind her neck, pulled her toward him, and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll help you get Adam and Gabrio out of there. I promise.”
She nodded.
“Do you have access to a plane?”
“Yes. Blue Diamond has seven in the fleet. At least a couple of them should be available.”
“Will they let you take a plane if they happened to see the news and know what happened at the airport?”
“Probably not. That’s why we’re not going to ask.”
“So we’re moving into theft now?”
“Technically, no. I have the keys and the authorization to fly any of them. The owner might not want me to under these circumstances, but I think it’s best if we don’t ask permission.”
Dave checked his watch. “How soon can we get out of here?”
“Sunset is coming up fast. I can’t land in Santa Rios in the dark, particularly since using the airstrip would attract too much attention even if it were lit. We don’t want Robert knowing we’re even in the country. We’ll have to wait until dawn.”
“How long is the flight to Santa Rios?”
“Three hours.”
Dave nodded. “Okay then. You’d better let Sera know what we’re planning to do.”
Lisa phoned Sera back and told her they’d be there by ten o’clock in the morning, that she was bringing a friend to help, and that they’d be landing in the long, flat valley behind her farmhouse. And Lisa assured her that somehow, someway, she’d get all of them out of there.
She hung up the phone. “It’s a go. We’ll fly out at dawn.”
“If we can get Gabrio to come with us, what about getting him into the U.S.?”
“Adam says he has a friend who’s an immigration lawyer.
He can get Gabrio a nonimmigrant visa very quickly and then do whatever needs to be done to keep him in the country later.”
“Good,” Dave said, then frowned. “Where did you say we were landing?”
“There’s some farmland at the back of Sera’s property that’s plowed under this time of year. Nice and flat. Secluded. With luck, I can put a plane down there.”
“Luck? How much luck are we talking about needing?”
Lisa smiled. “Are you asking the odds of us walking away from a landing like that?”
“Uh . . . yeah.”
“Less than a hundred percent.”
Dave closed his eyes.
“But more than zero.”
He shook his head.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m thinking probably a whole lot more than zero.”
“Okay. I did notice that you seem to fly as well as you shoot.”
“I fly way better than I shoot.”
“Then I’m in good hands.”
Her smile faded, and they stared at each other a long time. “Dave? Why are you doing this?”
“What? Putting my life in your hands?”
“No,” she said. “Letting me put my life in yours.” Suddenly he felt the same way now as he had in high school when he’d stood in that shop and looked at a girl who was so strong and so capable in so many ways, then discovered that she was more vulnerable than he ever would have imagined.
“You’re in a bad situation right now,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Yet you haven’t said a word about bringing Adam up here so he can tell the true story about the drugs and clear our names. All you’ve talked about is going down there because you love him and because you know exactly what that poor kid is facing. And you’re determined to help them both.”
&n
bsp; “Yes,” she whispered.
“So I’m determined to help you.”
She closed her eyes with a gentle sigh. “It’s dangerous.”
“Yes. But I can’t stand to see you take the fall for something you didn’t do.” He drew closer, his arm brushing against hers. “And I can’t stand to see you cry.” He glanced at her lips, so soft and full, thinking how incredible it felt to kiss her. “And every time I look at you, something happens to me that I can’t explain. It’s attraction. It’s admiration. It’s this strange out-of-breath feeling I get when I even think about touching you.”
“Then don’t think about it,” she said.
“What?”
“Just do it.”
chapter sixteen
Dave slid his hand along Lisa’s neck, pulled her toward him, and kissed her. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and God, he couldn’t believe how good it felt. That he was suddenly touching her again made everything they’d done last night come back to him, reminding him of just how much he wanted her. How much he’d always wanted her.
Good God, he had no business doing this. Not in the middle of this terrible situation when their emotions were high and their resistance was low. He kept telling himself that, even as he swiveled around and pulled her into his lap, dragging her right up next to him until her breasts were pressed against his chest. And still he kissed her, feeling her hot, moist tongue twining with his. He moved his hand up and down her leg, shifting it slowly inward, wishing he could get these damned jeans off her and put his hand against the warm, silky skin of her thighs instead of denim.
In lieu of that, he slid his hand beneath her shirt and settled it against her waist. When his cold hand met her warm skin, she gasped a little, her fingers tightening against his shoulder. He paused until her flesh warmed his, then moved his hand upward to close over her breast. He gave it a gentle squeeze, then teased his thumb over her tight, hard nipple. She reacted instantly, shifting against him, grinding her thigh against his erection, a moan of pleasure humming against his mouth. Her hands were moving, always moving, her fingers massaging the tight muscles of his neck, her palm pressing against his chest, her thumb stroking his jaw. A hundred different sensations bombarded him all at once. He’d never been with a woman like Lisa—so hot, so responsive, so instantly ready for anything he could imagine. He was about five seconds away from standing up, sweeping her into his arms, and carrying her off to bed when suddenly she tore her lips away from his.
