by Desiree Holt
The guards spoke too softly to hear what was said, even as Lisa strained to listen. She was afraid to look up at Ethan, knowing the censure she’d see on his face. And well deserved. She’d done a stupid, foolish thing and endangered both of them.
“Go out and look around,” Charles shouted, holding a kicking Jamie firmly under one arm. “I’ll take the boy inside. Find whoever is out there and bring them to me.”
Lisa’s heart beat so rapidly she was sure it would burst from her chest. As hot as the night was, the sweat trickling down her spine was like ice water. The guards would find them, and this would be over. Their efforts would have all been for nothing. And Ethan might be killed because of her stupidity.
She didn’t know where she found the courage to do what she did next. She pulled off her NVGs and her backpack and stuffed them in the crotch of two branches, looked up at Ethan, and whispered, “It’s up to you now.”
Before he could stop her, she dropped down out of the tree.
She could feel Ethan’s anger vibrating in the air even at this distance, but she had no choice. She pretended to be thrashing in the underbrush when the guards found her. They stared at her, stunned to find a woman alone in the jungle outside the finca.
“Se habla español?” one of them asked as he grabbed her arm roughly.
Lisa tried to jerk away from him, but his grip was too tight. She shook her head at his words. “English. I speak English.”
“And what’s a gringa like you doing running around in the Quintana Roo? Tourists never come this deep.” He looked behind and around her. “Who else is with you?”
“No one.” Her throat was so dry she had to force the words. “No one,” she repeated. “I’m alone.”
“A gringa alone, wandering in the jungle at night? I don’t think so.” He motioned to his partner. “Esteban. Look around. See what you can find.”
Esteban moved off into the foliage, slashing back and forth with the barrel of his rifle. Lisa held her breath, praying he wouldn’t look up. Praying that Ethan was well concealed.
“If its money you want, I have friends who will pay you,” Lisa said. “Just don’t…hurt me. If you hurt me, no one will pay.”
The guard laughed. “You think we do this for money? Ah, senorita, if we do not bring you back to the hacienda, we will not live to spend even one peso.”
“Then what do you want? I’m not hurting you.” She peered toward the finca. “If your boss knew you were doing this, he’d punish you.”
The man’s eyes glittered as he looked at her, his fingers tightened even more on her arm. “You will be lucky if he does not kill you himself. He does not take kindly to strangers on his territory.”
At that moment, Esteban came back to where they stood. “Nada, Ramon. No trace of anyone.”
Lisa allowed herself a sigh of relief. Get away, Ethan. You’re our only hope.
Esteban raked his eyes over her. “She’s muy linda, Ramon. Perhaps we could enjoy her charm before taking her back to el patron.”
“Are you a fool? He’d kill us both. Come on. Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Lisa tried to drag her feet. “Where are you taking me? I’m just out here collecting plant specimens. Your boss can’t complain about that.” It was the first thing that came to her mind.
Both men laughed.
“Oh yes?” Esteban raised an eyebrow. “Where is your specimen bag? Your tools? A flashlight to see at night?”
Lisa just stood there, saying nothing.
“Tell that to el patron,” Ramon said. “He’ll get a good laugh out of it.”
They maintained a bruising grip, one on each arm, as they half walked half dragged her through the jungle growth up to the perimeter wall, through a gate, and up to the house. Her heart was pounding so loud she was sure they’d hear it. Her stomach heaved at the thought of facing Charles again, but maybe being in the house would give her a chance to get to Jamie.
Help us, Ethan. I trust you. I know you can do this.
Then they were dragging her through the door and Charles Mallory, not one bit dead, stood before her, his face a mask of rage.
****
Sitting rigid in the tree while the guards manhandled Lisa was one of the hardest things Ethan had ever done. One minute he wanted to kill her, the next jump down and save her. She’d done a foolish, foolish thing, but he knew the minute she did it that it was the only choice she had. If they were both discovered, Jamie Mallory would never leave Mexico and neither would they. She’d left everything in his hands, trusting him to find a way to get both her and her son to safety.
But a cold rage gripped him. He could only imagine what she’d face at Charles Mallory’s hands.
Mallory! With the confirmation he was alive, every answer fell into place. The man had been smart enough to fake his own death to get out from under the drug dealers and the IRS and give himself a fresh start. The kidnapping allowed him to get his hands on the ten million dollars. And he had his son without the inconvenience of the mother.
No wonder he’d tried twice to have Lisa killed. She was the one stumbling block he needed to rid himself of. With her gone, no one would ever look for Jamie or the money. Or him. And to his way of thinking, Josh was just a minor stumbling block to be eliminated. He’d be home free.
If he only knew.
Ethan ground his teeth as he sat in the tree in total stillness, waiting for the guards to leave with Lisa. Everything had changed now. He’d need a new plan, and he’d need it damn quick.
From his vantage point, he saw Lisa dragged up to the open doors of the finca, and Charles confronting her before the front doors closed. Ethan was sick at the images that flashed through his mind of what might happen to her, but he couldn’t afford that kind of self-indulgence. Lisa had done what she had so he’d be free to save them all.
He’d better get to it.
He gave himself another hour surveilling the finca and surroundings before finally climbing down from the tree and making his way back to the campsite. He dropped into the open tent where he and Lisa had made such incredible love the night before. And that was truly the only word for it. Even as he cursed himself for the insanity of it, he’d lost himself in her loving body, her kisses and caresses more healing to his damaged soul than all the alcohol or pills in the world.
Ethan had had many women in his life. Almost too many to count. But none had had the sweetness or goodness of Lisa Mallory. None had given of themselves with such unrestrained fervor, holding nothing back. He could still smell her scent of vanilla and jasmine, still feel the satin warmth of her skin, still feel the heat of her body clench around him like a wet fist.
As he fought to pull himself together, he was shocked to discover his emotions had broken out of the cell he kept them contained in. And he had no idea what to do with them. For the first time in his life, this was more than just an op to him. More than an assignment. But Lisa was a forever kind of woman and that wasn’t even in his wheelhouse, so what in the ever-loving fucking hell was going on with him? Yet, if ever a woman could reach his black soul, she could do it. But he had no right to ask it. To expect it. Even to want it. He had nothing left to offer a woman like her except a ruined life
Giving himself a mental shake, he used all his discipline to shut down those thoughts. Time was fleeting and he could do this one last thing for her. He could save her and her son.
****
Charles sat in a high-backed leather chair, his eyes taking in every inch of Lisa as she stood before him. The two men who had dragged her in still held her firmly by the arms.
“You can leave us,” he told them. “She won’t run away. She has no place to go. And besides, I have what she wants. Oh, and Esteban? Call Cortez and tell him to get his mangy ass down here. We may have use of his talents tonight. I don’t know who else is out there in the jungle, but you can be damn sure she’s not here alone.”
“Si, patron.”
She rubbed her arms when the men release
d her, but she kept her back straight and her eyes firmly locked with Charles’s. She would never again give him the satisfaction of seeing her cower.
“So you’re alive,” she said, the sight of him making her ill.
“Of course, my dear.” His demeanor was arrogant. “I was far from ready to leave the mortal world. I just needed to rid myself of some…difficulties.”
“I want my son,” she told him defiantly.
“He’s my son, too.” Charles’s voice was like ice. “Believe me, if I could have gotten rid of you in time and taken him with me I would have.”
“But why?” she cried. “What for? What place can he possibly have in this life you live?”
“Because he’s my son,” he told her in a mild voice. “I knew the minute I met you that you and I would produce an exceptional child. An heir to carry my name. After that, I had no use for you.”
“Then why didn’t you let me go?”
He laughed, a sound so unpleasant it made her mouth go dry. “Too many reasons, my dear. You would have fought for custody of Jamie, and I couldn’t have that. And then you’d have hired a shark lawyer and cost me a great deal of money.”
“Money you owed to a lot of not so very nice people,” she pointed out. “Not to mention the IRS.”
“Yes, well, things got a little dicey there at the end. That’s why I had to bow out, so to speak.”
Lisa’s legs threatened to give out on her, but she refused to show any sign of weakness. “It certainly took you a long time to make your move.”
“There were many reasons for that. I had to wait for the media circus to die down from my supposed death. Make sure I was far enough removed from all the events that some stupid cop didn’t get a bee in his bonnet and decide to take a closer look at the remains. Or the situation. And I needed time to prepare for my future.”
“You staged the kidnapping so you could get the ten million dollars.”
His smile held no warmth. “Of course. It was, after all, my money to begin with. And I needed it.”
She stared at him, trying to comprehend that the man she’d been married to had been, on top of everything else, a killer. “You killed another man so you could get away. Just…killed him.”
Charles shrugged. “A pitiful bum. People like that are disposable.” He leaned forward in his chair. “I’m curious. How did you find me? I spent a lot of time and money covering my tracks. People better than you haven’t been able to discover where I am.”
But Ethan’s smarter than all of them.
“I wasn’t looking for you. Just Jamie. I… Someone I hired discovered this was where he’d been taken. I didn’t know you were the one who had him until tonight.”
“Amazing.” He rubbed his moustache as his eyes raked her from top to bottom. “I wouldn’t have believed you had it in you.”
“I want to see Jamie.”
His eyes widened. “I beg your pardon?”
“I want to see my son. Right now.”
He shook his head. “First of all, you’re in no position to make demands. Secondly, he won’t want to see you.”
Lisa gripped her hands together and forced herself to breathe evenly. “Because you told him I’m dead? He doesn’t believe you.”
“Ah. So you heard us.”
“I saw how you treated him. I want to see him right this minute.”
“Why don’t you tell me who else was out there prowling the jungle with you? Maybe then, I’ll give you a few minutes with your son. There’s no way you’re in this by yourself.”
“No one.” Please let him believe me.
“Surely, you don’t think I’m gullible enough to believe you could manage all this by yourself. A name, Lisa. I want to know who came here with you. You want to see Jamie, don’t you?”
Even for the chance to see her son, she couldn’t betray Ethan. He was the only salvation for all of them.
“I told you. I’m alone.”
Charles stood up so fast Lisa didn’t even see him move. The blow he struck against her face rattled her brain, and blood trickled onto her chin where her lip had split.
“Do you take me for a fool? Give me his name.”
Lisa clenched her hands into fists and tightened her body against what she knew was sure to come. “There’s no one.”
Smack! His hand cracked against her cheek again. And again. Forward then back. Her vision blurred, and tears ran down her face. She held onto the image of Ethan’s face to give her strength.
Charles drew in a deep breath. “Whoever he is, he won’t get away. I’ll have my men out covering the entire area. They’ll find whoever is out there. Then I can take care of you all at the same time.” He picked up the phone on the table next to the chair where he’d been sitting. “Come take this piece of trash out of my living room. Put her in one of the rooms upstairs. And do not let her anywhere near the boy.”
Shaking her head to clear her vision, Lisa saw Charles hang up the phone and turn to her. “Perhaps you need time to consider your situation, my dear. I’ll be up to see you in a little while.”
Lisa choked back the nausea rising in her throat. She would almost prefer a beating to what she was sure Charles had in mind.
Hurry, Ethan. Please.
Chapter Seventeen
Ethan had spent a good deal of his life sitting and waiting. Part of the job. And he’d trained himself to do it patiently, not to lose focus, to always be alert. This time he’d stupidly let what was left of his emotions get involved, and his patience was wearing very thin.
How the fuck had he let Lisa Mallory slide in under the concrete wall around what was left of his heart? He had nothing left to give her, or anyone else, but definitely her. If he believed in love, that would describe what he felt for her. Fuck. He needed to save her, then get her away from him as fast as he could before he did more damage to her. Because forever was a word not in his future, and that’s what he saw with Lisa.
He’d been sitting with the phone in his hand for two hours now and not handling it very well. But when Mallory’s headbangers grabbed Lisa, he realized he was running out of time. He punched a number into the sat phone that connected to Nick.
“Mallory’s alive,” Ethan said in a voice so quiet it was barely a whisper. “She was right.”
“Why am I not shocked?” Nick said. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“But I fucked up, Nick. I let Lisa fall into his hands.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t let anything happen,” Nick corrected. “Lisa was her usual stubborn self and did something to protect you and Jamie.”
“Stupid woman,” Ethan grumbled.
“Brave woman,” Nick corrected.
“I never should have let her talk me into bringing her along. Except—”
“Except you knew she’d try to do it on her own. Right?”
“Yes. And my ego is so big I thought I could control the whole situation.” If he could manage it, he’d kick himself in the ass. With both feet.
Damn, damn, damn.
“Okay. It sounds like it’s time for us to move.”
“It is. Let me know when you’re on the way.”
He was still missing one piece of the puzzle, however. He chewed it over in his mind while he waited for Nick to call back. Mallory had to have some kind of help setting everything up, and right now, he had no idea who or what that could be.
As he was considering the wisdom of taking another look at the man’s compound the sat phone beeped.
“All set?” he asked.
“We’re in the air,” Nick told him. “Hogan’s driving the helicopter, and two other Guardian agents plus two of Dino’s men make up the rest of the team. We’ve got enough firepower with us to hold off the entire federales if they happen to show up.”
“How are we doing this so we don’t alert Mallory? He’s sure to hear the ‘copter cruising overhead.”
“I checked the area. There’s an ecotours company that does night flights
over the jungle. A friend cranked out a magnetic sign in his little shop, and we slapped it on the ship. We only need to hover long enough for the drop. When he comes back for the pickup, he won’t care who hears him.”
Ethan looked at his watch. “What’s your ETA?”
“Ten mikes. I figured we’d better wait until we were almost there to call you. Otherwise, you’d be bugging us every other minute.”
“You’ve got the coordinates?”
Nick chuckled. “Do you even need to ask? See you in a few.”
Ethan clicked off the phone and began to make his own preparations.
****
There was a bathroom adjoining the bedroom Lisa was locked in, and she took advantage of it to clean up as best she could. Her lip was badly split from Charles’s blow and already puffy. One eye was closing, and the other one didn’t look too good.
After washing her face and hands, she took one of the towels, soaked it in cold water and held it to her face. Then she sat down on the bed and tried to figure out what her next move was. Charles would be showing up any minute, determined to extract information from her. And she also knew how he would do it.
In the last few years of their marriage, sex had not been like it was in the early years. It had become something Charles used to punish her with. Humiliate her. Debase her. Just remembering the things he did to her brought back the nausea, and she had to swallow hard to fight it.
If she could just make him let her see Jamie, maybe she could come up with a plan to get the two of them out of there. She could do anything for Jamie. She had to keep remembering that.
As she was wetting the cloth again, a key turned and the door to the bedroom opened. When she looked in the mirror, she saw Charles come up behind her. He dropped his hands to her shoulders and a shudder ran through her.
“I don’t like hurting you, Lisa,” he smirked, “but I can’t have you ruining all my plans. Not when I’ve worked so hard and so long to put them in place.”
“And what exactly are your plans? What do you do here, anyway?”
“I barter. I trade. Not unlike what I did in my other life.”
She frowned. “You’re a stockbroker? You manage finances?”
