Heart of Danger

by Sidney Bristol

  She turned and stared at Duke’s chest

  “Abuela says it’s time for dinner,” Val said in English.

  “Oh?” Duke glanced from Val to Abuela, who was snickering behind her hand like a pre-teen girl. That woman was trouble.

  “Yeah.” Val kept her smile in place and prayed that Duke didn’t ask questions, like why was she blushing?

  “What’s so funny about dinner?” He knew they were up to something.

  “Abuela and I were talking about playing Pajita en Boca.” Val stared at her grandmother. The woman nodded along.

  “Which game is this?” Duke circled the table and sat on the other side.

  “It’s the one where when someone yells out Mis Aguinaldos you have to put something in your mouth.” Val turned toward Abuela and switched languages. “I told him we’re playing straw in mouth.”

  “At dinner?” Abuela harrumphed, none too impressed. “That’s too easy.”

  “Well you shouldn’t have tried getting me in trouble with my boss.” Val flicked the rag at her grandmother again.

  “Just to be clear, when someone says that, I stick anything into my mouth?” Duke asked.

  “Yup.” Val folded her hands together and smiled.

  “What trouble are you getting into?” Mom set a steaming hot dish on the table, frowning at them.

  “Mis Aguinaldos!” Abuela shouted. She grabbed the spoon from the dish, along with a bite of dinner, and stuck it in her mouth.

  Val bit down on the corner of the dish towel and let the rest dangle from her mouth.

  Duke grinned around a toothpick he’d gotten from somewhere, while Mom and Dad were left scrambling to grab flatware. No sooner had they shoved a utensil in their mouths than Abuela spat out the too hot food, fanning her mouth. Val doubled over laughing, laying her head on the table and both Mom and Dad braced their hands on the edge, snickering around the spoons.

  “Minus one to Abuela,” Val said around the dishtowel.

  Her grandfather ambled into the room, his brows arched as he stared at the spectacle they made.

  “Time for dinner?” he asked.

  Those seated at the table devolved into a laughing, snickering fit.

  This was what Val missed about the holidays. Laughing, having fun, remembering the good things in life. She wiped away the tears, and they set the table to rights. Everyone took their spots, plates were passed around and the food dished out.

  “I feel bad I’m the only person you can understand,” Val said to Duke.

  “Happiness is a universal language. Everyone understands a smile and a laugh.” He turned toward Abuela and grinned.

  The old woman covered her mouth and practically giggled.

  “That one is trouble.” He squinted at Abuela and wagged his finger.

  “Is he promising me babies?” Abuela leaned toward Val.

  “What?” Val gaped at her grandmother.

  “What did she say?” Duke chuckled.

  “A look like that says babies.” Abuela wagged her finger at Duke.

  “Did I say something wrong?” Duke asked.

  Val covered her ears and closed her eyes. These two were going to be the death of her. Listening to two languages at the same time was overwhelming, and that was before she took into account what her crazy grandmother was saying.

  “Did you ask about where all the bread went?” Duke asked.

  That sobering question killed all her joy.

  “No.” She cleared her throat and straightened. A few moments of what it used to be like didn’t change the present. Something was going on her family wasn’t telling her about.

  “You going to?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” She sighed and peered down the table. “Abuelo? Where did all the bread go that was cooling this morning?”

  “Special order. Delivered it this afternoon,” he replied without missing a beat.

  Val frowned. Special order from who? There wasn’t a vendor in the surrounding villages who’d use that much bread for an event, much less afford it.

  Everyone stared at their plates, the momentary holiday cheer dying.

  They were all in on it.

  “Is no one going to tell me what’s going on?” She glanced from person to person. “No lights. No tree. Abuela’s nativities aren’t out. What’s going on? Why won’t you tell me?”

  “Nothing is wrong, mija. We just want a quiet holiday for a change,” Mom replied.

  “Bullshit.” Val banged her fist on the table.

  “Valentina.” Dad failed at stern, because he knew he was guilty?

  “I can’t sit here and watch you all lie to me like this.” She pushed to her feet.

  “What’s wrong?” Duke asked.

  “I’m going for a walk before I say something I shouldn’t,” Val replied. She stared at Dad, who probably understood her English better than anyone.

  “I’ll come with you,” Duke said.

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I’d prefer it if you weren’t alone.” He was so calm in the face of all this, which meant he was her voice of reason.

  “Fine.”

  No one at the table tried to stop her. Because they knew they were guilty?

  Val strode out the door and into the night air. She tipped her head back and stared up at the stars. When Duke offered her the job, she’d jumped at it, in part due to Mom and Dad moving back here. She’d have been alone in the city without any family. Besides, it was a chance to get out into the world and not feel terribly guilty about it. Had she ever paused to think how leaving would affect her family?

  Duke’s boots scraped against the stones underfoot. He was a quiet, comforting presence amidst the uncertainty. She had an alarming tendency to want to lean on him that she couldn’t, and maybe didn’t want to, fight.

  She turned and headed toward the street, cutting around the back of the U-shaped structure, striking off toward the outskirts of the village. Clearly no one was out and about in town. Maybe she’d take one of the short footpaths through the fins and trees close to town. Perhaps they’d learn something out there.

  “Everyone is in on whatever this is, and no one is telling me anything.” She peered at shuttered windows with barely any light leaking out. Normally the doors were open and candles burning in on the sill. “It’s like everyone is...hiding?”

  “Maybe they’re trying to protect you?”

  “Maybe.”

  “They’re your parents. They get to do that.”

  “Not like this though. Whatever it is,” she gestured at the houses they passed, “it’s affecting everyone. Where would they take that much bread? Who could eat all of that? It’s not like they bake with preservatives that keep it fresh longer.”

  “And no one said anything earlier when you went out with your Mom?”

  “No. More of the same. People don’t want to talk. There’s no laughing, no chitchat, it’s strange. They’re scared of something.”

  “What is there to be scared of?”

  “Lately, not a lot, but in the past, it could be anything from leftwing guerillas to right-wing paramilitary. Drug dealers. War lords. You name it, we’ve had it.”

  “If that’s the case they can’t hide it forever. Stop asking questions and wait for something to happen. One way or another, the truth will come out.”

  “Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”

  They strolled along the edge of the village in silence. It wasn’t the first time they’d encountered people too scared to ask for help, but when they were sent into a situation, they usually had some knowledge of what was going on ahead of time. They were blind here, which was worse, because La Playa was her home.

  “Your grandmother’s quite a character,” Duke said after a while.

  “She is, isn’t she?” Val couldn’t help but grin.

  “I see a lot of her in you.”

  “Oh, shit.” She stared up at the stars. There was more truth in that than he knew.

  “What was she callin
g me earlier? I couldn’t muddle it out.”

  Val cringed.

  “She’s hassling me by talking about you.” She was glad it was dark out. It saved her the mortification of Duke seeing her blush again. At least it was just them and not the rest of the team.

  “Yeah? What’s she saying?”

  “To understand this, and not read anything into it, you have to know that after Abuela gave up on me being a nun, her new goal was for me was to get married and have children. Preferably soon so she’d be alive to spoil them.”

  “I see. So she wants to know if we’re together and if you’re going to have a kid?”

  “Something like that.”

  “What was the word? Novee?”

  “Novio.” Val sighed and stared at the stars to keep from looking at him.

  “Well that’s nicer than my first guess.”

  “Oh, stop. My family likes you, especially Abuela, which is half the problem. She doesn’t listen when I say you’re my boss.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything.” He peered at his wrist watch. “Speaking of work, I need to go make a few calls. Ready to head back?”

  Val swallowed.

  His being her boss didn’t mean anything?

  “Uh, no. I think I’m going to walk through the cemetery real quick.”

  “The cemetery?” He stared at her.

  “I like to sit and talk to my brother’s headstone.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Yeah. He died when I was very little, but he was still my big brother. I guess it makes sense why my family would be so protective.” She shrugged. Her best friend Jackie had a similar reaction when Val had listed off the family members who’d died during her lifetime. Loss was a part of life, she’d merely experienced more of it than others in a short amount of time.

  “I feel like I should say something...”

  “Losing people is what made me want to save them. Being sorry for their loss means being sorry I am who I am.”

  “You are a remarkable woman.” Duke took her hand and lifted it to his lips. The way he stared at her made her wonder what he was thinking and fear it. He pressed a light kiss to her knuckles and gave her hand a squeeze. “I want to continue this conversation later.”

  “All we’ve got is time.”

  “Are you sure I can’t convince you to come home with me?” He winced. “Not like that, of course.”

  Val laughed and shook her head.

  “Fine. Be safe, and if you’re not back soon, I’ll come looking for you.”

  “Yes, sir.” Val gave a mock salute and earned a smile in return that sent her heart hammering against her chest.

  Duke shook his head and strolled away from her.

  Val watched him until he rounded the corner, but the tension growing in the pit of her stomach didn’t ease.

  What was she going to do about Duke?

  He was her boss. The guy who called the shots for their team. She couldn’t let herself fall for him any more than she already had. A relationship with him would rip her apart. Duke would always be in charge, no matter the situation, and that would choke the life out of her. It didn’t stop her from wanting him.

  She groaned and turned toward the cemetery. Maybe it was time to call Jackie and lay it all out there. Val had fessed up about her crush on Duke, but not how deep her feelings ran. Jackie would have all kinds of great advice like, who cares if he’s your boss? Follow your heart!

  No, talking to Jackie about Duke would only make the situation more complicated. Jackie had a strong personality. There was no way anyone would ever smother that out of her. She was a motivator, a doer, and it was because of Jackie that Val had looked beyond the borders of her own country to do more. Her friendship with Jackie had changed her, for the better. Val knew what she wanted in life, to make a difference, to help people who were in a bad place. People had helped her family when they lost her aunt, her uncles and her brother. She wanted to be there for others, to show them that life went on, and it wasn’t always bad.

  Except while she’d been away doing that, something was happening right here at home. She’d left behind her family, the people she loved the most, and now they needed help.

  The whole situation sucked, and she’d brought Duke along for the ride.

  What was she going to do about Duke?

  The arch leading into the cemetery stood out from the darkness in all its whitewashed glory. Beyond, the tombs created a mosaic of figures in the dark.

  She glanced around at the homes and shops, all shuttered up tight. It was so strange to not see one other person on the street. Usually, at this time of year, all the doors and windows were open. People would turn the family meal into a party, and friends would go from house to house, sharing in the spirit of the season. Which made this...deadness all that much more wrong.

  A muted cry of pain stopped her in her tracks.

  She strained to hear more.

  She’d only had to hear it a few times to recognize the sounds of someone being beaten.

  Val turned to her right and struck off down one of the smaller side streets. La Playa was not a large village.

  Trees lining the lane threw deep shadows ahead of her, so she followed her ears. Words emerged from the grunts, a man pleading for something.

  She rounded the corner onto a one lane street. In a small courtyard between the more recently built homes, three men had a fourth on the ground. The back door to the house hung by one hinge, and the kitchen light cast a sickly aura of illumination around the scene.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” She pitched her voice over them, almost yelling.

  There were people in the surrounding houses. People who were doing nothing to stop this.

  The three men turned their heads toward her.

  She didn’t recognize any of them, which, in a town of less than eight thousand people, was saying something.

  “Who the fuck are you?” the one closest to her asked.

  “I was about to ask the same question. Leave him alone.” She grasped at her hip before she remembered—she wasn’t kitted out. She’d simply been out for a walk to clear her head.

  “Okay.” The man grinned and took a step towards her.

  The neighbor’s doors didn’t open, and she didn’t have her stun gun or the baton on her.

  4.

  THURSDAY. LA PLAYA de Belén, Colombia. 9 days until Christmas.

  Duke jogged back to where he’d left Val. The uneasy feeling gnawing at his gut hadn’t let him get to the courtyard before he turned to come back for Val. The cemetery was a hard feature to miss what with the arched entry and the above ground tombs that must date back to the original settlers of La Playa. He didn’t spy her dark hair or a bit of movement ahead. She couldn’t have gotten far.

  Duke paused and strained to hear the slightest sound. Val had a loud mouth, which was often how he found her. Laughing, barking orders, she didn’t blend in very well.

  A raised, female voice drew him to the right. He broke into a jog, leading with his ear.

  More voices joined the first.

  Duke skidded around a corner.

  Val backed toward him, three men spread out in front of her, their attention solely on her.

  “Hey,” Duke barked. He might not speak their language, but hostility was universal.

  Two kids barely out of their teens and one meaty guy with a limp. He’d gone up against worse odds.

  “Val, what the hell did you find?” He reached down and pulled his knife out of his boot. Now he was glad he’d argued to bring the thing.

  “They were beating up the dishwasher from the cafe.” She flung her hand out toward a lump on the ground.

  “Okay, boy on the right’s going to dart in and the one in the middle’s going to rush you. Big guy’s going to hang back and try to not get involved, but he’ll go for me before you. Got it?” Duke twisted the knife in his hand. He didn’t like this kind of close quarters fighting, but it was a necessary ski
ll.

  “Great,” Val muttered.

  Sure enough, the bulkier kid on the right sprinted for Duke, his arms flailing and his face twisted up.

  Duke sidestepped, grabbed the guy’s arm before he could swing a punch, and kicked the kid’s ankle. He stumbled and Duke spun, driving the kid to his knees. He brought the handle of the knife down hard right on the kid’s head. His whole body went slack, and he collapsed onto the ground. He wasn’t out, but a direct skull crack like that would ring his bell.

  Val dodged a punch and delivered a nasty kick to the other guy’s abdomen. Duke winced. He knew how much that could hurt from firsthand experience. What Val lacked in strength and size she made up for in strategy. Her knowledge of the body and its pressure points meant she could take on a man twice her size and still come out on top.

  Duke turned his attention on the bigger guy. The boss of this little three-ring circus.

  “You want to do this?” Duke took a step toward him.

  The man pulled his button-down shirt aside and reached for something at the small of his back.

  Duke threw the knife.

  The big guy moved sideways at an astonishing speed. He wobbled a bit, regaining his balance. Duke dove. He grabbed the guy’s arm and struck out, driving his fist into the man’s face. He felt the jar of bone on bone, all the way up to his shoulder.

  A fist to the skull knocked Duke sideways. He went to his knee, groping for the bit of metallic shine he’d spied.

  “Duke!” Val yelled.

  He moved, dodging left while blinking spots out of his vision. He grabbed the big guy and pressed the sharp edge of the blade to his throat.

  “Duke, don’t,” Val said.

  He glanced left.

  The smaller guy had his arm around Val’s shoulders, a gun pressed to her head, and words poured from his mouth.

  “He says to stop or he’ll shoot,” Val translated.

  “A trade then. You for big and ugly here,” Duke said.

  The guy on the ground pushed to his feet, shaking his head.

  Val went back and forth with the man holding her. Her words grew clipped and forceful. The exchange was not going well. If he had to move, he’d be hard pressed to get to Val before the man pulled the trigger. Judging by the way the kid was holding the gun, he very well might have never fired at a person before. The grip was all wrong, which meant when he fired the kick would send the muzzle up. If Val ducked, it could save her life.