True Peril

by Veronica Forand

  “I’m not controlled enough to be a decent husband, and I have no interest in being a father. I can’t handle my own life, never mind being responsible for others.”

  “The right woman can change that.”

  “You don’t understand. Eve needs a bright future with a guy who will place her on a pedestal and make his life revolve around her. Anything less would be a waste.”

  “Maybe she’d rather hang out with her husband and work with him, side by side.” Cassie was always the optimist.

  “That’s you and Simon. I don’t want Eve near the field, although Simon thinks otherwise.”

  “That is an issue.”

  “I could arrange an office job or a maybe a teaching position somewhere for her.”

  “She doesn’t seem like the office type.”

  “You don’t know her like I do. She’ll be happier in a more simple life.”

  “I guess you know her best. After all, you’ve been married for how long again?” She sighed and stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some work I need to take care of before Simon returns.”

  He thought back to first meeting Eve in the heart of the Andes two weeks ago. Only two weeks? They had to have known each longer than that. It felt like a lifetime. Maybe he should let her go her own way. As long as her own way didn’t involve Simon or the Red Hawks.

  After Cassie left, he logged on to his laptop, and researched some of the technology markers needed to monitor the sale to India. Cassie must have some crazy wi-fi security throughout the house, because his ability to hook into the internet through his hotspot came and went every few minutes.

  By six o’clock, Dane was hungry and frustrated. The third Scotch didn’t help to calm him. It made him edgy and pissed off.

  The sun had dropped below the horizon by the time Simon arrived. He banged the door open and laughed at something the person behind him had said. Dane blinked to clear his vision. Eve, his wife, wrapped up in a long black wool coat and wearing the high black boots he fantasized about, strolled into the kitchen with a brazen stride meant to knock down every man in her path.

  When she saw him, her smile fell flat. She pulled her gaze away and started toward the stairs. “If you’ll excuse me. I’ve had a long day and would like to rest for a while.”

  His emotions drained out of him at her abrupt departure. All he could feel was the thumping of his heart, mocking him for all the hearts he’d left empty and alone over the years.

  After she disappeared upstairs, Simon went to the bar and poured himself a vodka.

  “I’d offer you a drink, but you smell like you drank my entire supply of Scotch. How was your flight?”

  “I’m here to tell you to hire a new assistant.”

  “Not possible. My assistant is becoming quite the expert in small arms, has police training, is fluent in a South American dialect of Spanish, and has a better handle on the day to day economics of this business than I do. And she has no one else to rely on and nowhere else to go. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for someone better, except perhaps you.”

  “She’s my family, my wife, and she’ll survive longer if you didn’t add to the list of people who want her dead.”

  “Eve is your wife via computer hacking alone. More importantly, she’s my employee.” Simon placed his glass on the counter, opened the refrigerator, and took out green peppers and some garlic. He pulled out a large knife and started chopping with deadly precision. “I need an assistant, and she fits the bill. As I recall, you turned the job down.”

  “You can’t be serious. She knows nothing about what you do. She’ll be dead within the month.”

  “I’m training her.” He finished the chopping and scraped the cut vegetables into a bowl next to the stovetop. “So far her instincts aren’t bad.”

  Dane swallowed more of his Scotch. He needed to numb his senses. “And Cassie approves of you taking a female companion?”

  “Cassie suggested it. She’s very open-minded when it comes to my job.” He picked up an onion and proceeded to chop half of it into small slivers.

  His nonchalance at bringing Eve into his dangerous world grated on Dane’s patience. She was only a tool for Simon. “She’s off-limits. Hell, her prior career involved taking guns away from soldiers, not supplying them. I won’t allow you to suck her into this field.”

  “You don’t have any say over her, do you?”

  The sound of footsteps on the stairs caught his attention. Eve stood on the landing in jeans and a gray sweatshirt. Her hazel eyes, always full of skepticism, narrowed as she waited for his answer. His hope for Eve to be safe and have a good life away from Columbian drug lords and arms dealers shattered. A dull ache rocked his system.

  “No. I have no say over her life and how she lives it.”

  …

  Eve should hate Dane. And part of her did. But another part, so deep inside her she couldn’t reach it, like an annoying tickle at the base of her throat, wanted him. She wanted the caring, compassionate man who had helped her acclimate to life away from Columbia. She wanted his arm around her waist again, urging her forward through guidance, not control. And yet, he’d left her. And when he’d returned, it wasn’t to be together, it was to send her away. To Canada of all places. Not that Canada was bad for others, just not for her.

  Dane glared in her direction when she walked back into the kitchen. He didn’t look pleased about her new position, but he didn’t demand she quit. Not that she’d listen. She couldn’t give up this opportunity. This was a chance to understand the supply chain of guns and ammunition into the battle zones where children were used and discarded as though inanimate objects. No weapons, no war.

  In addition, she enjoyed going to the firing range and using the weapons she’d be selling, learning how to build them, how to shoot them, and how to sell them. Simon had let her handle some of the most powerful handheld weapons on Earth. She tried to remain casual about training with him, until he brought out an AK-47. This was one of the preferred weapons of rebel groups in South America, and she needed to know everything about it. He’d had her dismantle one and then reassemble it with modifications several times, until she could confidently do it herself.

  That particular gun had been there during one of the darkest moments in her life. She’d only been twenty-four years old and fresh out of Long Island when she’d witnessed a soldier forcing a ten-year-old boy to kill his mother with one. His sisters had stared at him as though he’d turned into a monster. Eve, however, understood that the biggest victim of all had been the little boy. She’d fought for two years to try to rescue him, only to have the village refuse to allow him to return. He ran away from the camp where they’d been trying to rehabilitate him and back to the soldiers who had initially stolen him from his family.

  No weapons, no war.

  Each night, after lectures on preferred collateral in transactions where cash wasn’t available, and how different arms treaties affected different sales, Simon had briefed her on the biggest arms dealers, brokers, and middlemen in South America, and their resources versus his. She wrote down everything she learned in a notebook she could bring to the authorities.

  She learned fast and had helped him plan an exchange. Although Simon handled the actual transfer of arms without her, she’d arranged transportation logistics, money transfers, and contacted sources for quick import into the destination countries. Her economics major and the time she’d spent coordinating travel for some of the international groups she’d been working with was finally paying off. Her education also included memorizing which banks were involved in Simon’s business and how he bribed customs border patrol and airport personnel.

  Cassie also helped her understand how to move around the world with a minimum of exposure. She brought up Dane’s credit card transactions to show how easy it had been to follow her to Long Island.

  “If you want to stay hidden, use counterfeit documents. Use a different credit card with a different name for each trip. Pay for things with c
ash.” Cassie’s fingers had flown across the keyboard to show her what Eve’s mother had done in the past three days—lunch, shopping at Saks, and placing a deposit for Allegra’s wedding reception at the yacht club.

  “Can’t you go in and clean up any marks I leave on the internet?” she’d asked.

  “Sure, but it would take too long. It’s easier to keep yourself underground initially.”

  The more time she spent with Cassie, the more she appreciated her intelligence. The woman could do just about anything on the computer. Yet she was modest and soft-spoken and seemed to care about Eve like a friend. The problem with that? It made her eventual takedown of Simon’s operation involve more parties than she wanted. She’d even begun to respect Simon’s abilities and work ethic.

  He never glossed over the risks involved in this business. She could be jailed, raped, shot, blown up, or tortured until she begged for death. These challenges, however, didn’t frighten her.

  Why Simon had trusted her with so much information she didn’t think about. Instead she focused on shutting down his business. As she had tried to save one child at a time, now she could curtail one arms deal at a time.

  Danes arrival, however, could derail her plan. Why was he here? Sure, she wanted to see him again, but didn’t at the same time. Simon left Dane and her alone in the kitchen. He glanced back at her as he went, with a small sparkle in his eye as though he wanted her and Dane to have it out. Might as well get it over with. She grabbed a Coke out of the refrigerator and sat at the table, kicking the chair next to her toward Dane as an invitation. He took a seat with his drink. His expression didn’t beam loving intentions. Instead his lips perched an inch from a scowl and a mile from any semblance of affection.

  His normally beautiful appearance was lost under dark eyes and a sullen face. He slugged down more Scotch before beginning his lecture. “Do you have any clue what you’re getting into, working with Simon?”

  “He acts as a middleman in the sale of arms, mostly legit, sometimes not so much. He deals with men I should never trust,” she recited with emotionless precision. “My life is at risk just being in his presence, and the more deals I make, the less I’ll be able to leave my position without a bounty on my head. And he pays well. I’m thinking about buying a beach house in Costa Rica.”

  His brows creased, and he took another drink. “Eve, you can’t do this. I didn’t save your ass for you to put it right back in front of a firing squad.”

  “You can’t stop me.”

  Her tone must have flicked a switch in him, because his posture straightened, and he glared at her. “You’d be surprised what I can do.”

  She sighed. She didn’t want to fight. She just didn’t want to be treated like a child. Why couldn’t he be happy for her? “You need a reality check. My name is Trista Patterson. You rescued me from a really bad situation, and I’m thankful for that. We’re not married, and you love beautiful women and have commitment issues.”

  “That’s not true,” he replied, ignoring her final question.

  “What part?”

  “Every part.”

  “The name? I’m sure I can go back to being Trista eventually. Maybe we’ll be lucky and Juan Carlos will die of a heart attack in the next year or so.”

  “As I told you before, Trista is dead. Your legal name is Eveleen O’Brien. You’re my wife under the laws of California until such time as we decide to divorce, which as of right now, I’ve decided against, since you’re displaying an incredible lack of judgment.”

  “You legally changed my name? I thought it was a computer hack—just hack back into the computer and change it back.”

  “As I told you in Long Island, it’s not so much I changed your name, it’s more like I eliminated your old one. I had to in order to protect your identity. Besides, I like Eve. It suits you.”

  “Your mother’s name suits me?”

  “I named you Eveleen. That is my mother’s name. It means child who was wished for. And somehow, if I had wished for a wife, she’d be just like you, only less stubborn.”

  Child who was wished for? She couldn’t speak. He’d done it again. Took her off guard and made her feel special. That untouchable part that favored Dane’s presence exploded within her. Her family gave her the cold shoulder, but Dane was different. Some of the little things he did gave her that warm mushy feeling. Even if it was fake and never returned.

  “Listen, Eve. Things can be altered someday, but that was the easiest way to get you out of Bogotá and keep your family safe as well. And as for the rest of your list—yes, I’ve enjoyed being with beautiful women in the past, but right now, I have an obsession with one particular beautiful woman who is consorting with the wrong crowd.”

  “An obsession? You’re obsessed with me?”

  “It’s not like I can’t live without you. I mean, I like you, a lot. More than a lot.” He stumbled over his words and tapped his fingers on the table without making eye contact with her. “And we’re married, so we should be together for a while to see where this thing goes.” Okay, his awkward attempts to downplay his attraction just took mushy up a notch. She laughed. If he was railroading her, he was doing a wonderful job of it.

  “So you have a crush on me?”

  “Not so much a crush. More like an infatuation, a fascination, an addiction… Pick one. They’re all true, and believe me, I’m not happy about it.” He shook his head as though the idea of liking someone was fatal.

  Okay, maybe he isn’t so smooth with his declarations. Doubt came back in full force. “That’s the most loving statement I’ve ever heard. Did you say that to Blondie, too?”

  A grimace appeared on his face. Not a pleasant look for such a gorgeous guy.

  He pulled his laptop in front of him. “Cassie,” he called out. “What’s the network I can log on to? My link doesn’t work well in the Dunn Compound.”

  “Viper,” she called back from the other room. “Stay off Eagle, Groundhog, and Friendship. They’ll destroy your operating system if you try to log in.”

  Eve remained in her seat, while Dane typed something into his computer. She took a few sips of soda and had almost decided to leave when his head lifted from the screen.

  “Come here.” He waved her over, even though she was only two feet away.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t cheat.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It certainly does. What time did you arrive at the pub that night?”

  “I don’t know? Seven o’clock?”

  “Fifteen minutes after me. Look at this.” He angled the computer in her direction. On the screen was an airline reservation. “What time was the reservation made?”

  The screen showed the time for receipt of the email as seven fifteen. “I see it.”

  “Fifteen minutes alone with Blondie, probably less, and I was on my phone making plane reservations out of there. Now look at this.” He showed her a confirmation email for a cab to the Royal Guard Tavern. “Seven twenty-two.”

  “So?”

  “So I took the cab within ten minutes and went back to Dolphin House to shower, pack, and leave for the airport.” His jaw clenched as though he was restraining himself from saying more.

  The time sequence made sense. He wouldn’t have had time to play snuggle-and-grind with the tramp.

  “So you didn’t cheat that night. I believe you.” The proof made a difference, but they had even bigger issues to overcome. If he had to prove his truthfulness, then she really didn’t trust him as she should. And then there was the small matter of Canada.

  “As for our week apart, I never called on a former lover in Greenland. I remained in my room and worked…alone.” He lifted his eyebrows and raised his hands, as though he’d made the greatest of sacrifices.

  “Dane, I don’t understand why this is so important to you. I know you didn’t want to marry me, and you took the hit anyway. Sure, I enjoyed traveling with you, and sightseeing in London, and if you said t
he word, I’d probably fall into bed with you again, but a relationship isn’t built on a few days together and sex between strangers.”

  He didn’t have a clue how to be committed and neither did she. They’d drive each other crazy.

  “I want to give this thing between us a chance.”

  This thing? “After you and Simon wrestled on the floor, you took off for the pub,” she continued. “Then, to make matters even more screwed up, you fled to another continent when I saw you with another woman. That’s what sleazeballs do. I was never waiting for Prince Charming, but I’d at least prefer a well-mannered frog.”

  “Take time to get to know me. Come with me to San Francisco.”

  “The place you didn’t want me just a week ago?”

  “It’s safer than here.” He waved his arms out as though all of the Dunn compound was linked to something bad. And it was, but she couldn’t stop what she’d already put in place.

  “Sorry, I can’t. I’m employed now, and my boss won’t give me the time off.” And you’d break my heart even more.

  “Don’t you understand what he does for a living? You can’t work for Simon.”

  “The hell she can’t. She’s the best thing to happen to me since Cassie, and trust me, Cassie’s one hell of a fantastic addition to my life.” Simon barged in the room, probably after listening the entire time. “If you’re here to convince Eve otherwise, get out of my kitchen.” He headed to the stovetop and fired up a burner.

  Dane faced her and ignored Simon. “This isn’t a life you’d like. It’s dangerous, you’ll never be in one place for more than two weeks, and the men in the game play hard—real hard. And why the hell do you want to arm rebels in third world countries? I thought you wanted to disarm people.”

  “I need a job, and Simon assures me that the guns he handles don’t go to groups that arm children.”

  “And you believe him?”

  “To an extent, yes. But what’s the alternative? Going with you to find a boring job so I can linger around your house, cook, clean, and be available for sex at a moment’s notice? I don’t think so. I want more out of life. So far, I feel like I can handle this job. If it gets too much, I promise I’ll quit.” If Simon lets me.