Master of the Game (Rush Series Book 3) (16 page)

Her
stare off with Professor Childers was broken when Roman leaned
down,
she blinked as she hadn’t realized he’d risen.
Pressing his lips to the side of her head, he said, “I’m going to gather some
water from the creek. You
gonna
be alright here?”

She
gave him a small smile. “Of course, go. I’ll meet you in the tent, okay?”

“Okay.
I won’t be long,” he promised.

From a
little ways down from her, Devon heard Sara Daniels say brightly, “Oh, are you
going to get water?” When Roman gave a quick nod of his head, she said, “I
think I’ll come with you.”

Devon watched
the look that passed between the two. As she glanced away, her eyes were caught
by Ben Allred as he stared at her with such
condemnation,
she was forced to look away. Poor Roman! He was being judged just as harshly as
she. She was happy to think tomorrow all this would be over.

Around
nine o’clock, the group began to break up. Devon made sure to stay as far away
from the Professor as she could. As she walked to her own tent, she paused to
look once more in Ben’s direction. He was squatted in front of the fire. He had
a stick in his hand he was using to push embers around. Nate Childers was
sitting in a camp-chair talking about something, using his hands as he told
some tale or other. Her jaw clenched and her stomach muscles tightened as she
remembered the professor’s face as he’d leered at her earlier in the evening.
She wished she’d kneed him harder!

Turning
her mind away from the evil man, she turned her eyes back to Ben. She studied
his almost aristocratic profile. She wished she could tell him goodbye… tell
him, she was going to miss him… tell him, she’d never wanted another man like
she’d wanted him… tell him – no, beg him, not to judge her too harshly when he
found out what she’d done.

Alex
watched Devon covertly under his lashes as she moved about cleaning up before
she gave a small wave and called a goodnight to the group. He turned his head
as anger at her settled low in his belly. Anger at the swinging relationship
she and her husband apparently participated in… that he’d been a participant in.
Of course, in the scope of things, it was beginning to look as if that was the
least of their concerns.

If he
were honest, he was angrier at himself for allowing himself to care one way or
other about her. He’d broken the cardinal rule of espionage, he’d become
personally involved. The fact he’d not known she was involved in the beginning,
did nothing to salve that wound.

As she
walked away, he bent down and picked up a small branch and began to stir the
embers in the fire-pit. He looked around and was surprised to see everyone
outside of himself and Professor Nate Childers had left the site while he’d
been obsessing
again
about that
woman.

He
found he didn’t really like the professor for some reason. He just rubbed him
the wrong way. Also given what Sara Daniels had told him earlier in the week,
he suspected the good professor had been Devon’s attacker. The stronger
threatening those weaker than themselves
was
exactly
what he’d spent his career defending against. Alex took in the man. As men
went, he wasn’t bad-looking – maybe a little past his prime, but still he knew
most women would find him attractive. Throw in his accomplishment at being a
professor in a high ranking college and he would be the total package.

Alex
turned his body to somewhat face the professor. “So, how did you get involved
with Tag?” he asked.

Nate
Childers brought a cigar to his lips and pulled the cherry-scented smoke into
his lungs and exhaled before answering. “Tag is an alumnus of Baylor, we go way
back. We were interns together about a hundred years ago, it seems.”

Alex
nodded before casually asking, “Do you go on all his digs?”

Childers
laughed, “No. In Tag’s eyes, I sold out by going in the teaching direction.
Unlike Tag, I don’t have a trust fund with a very silver spoon. I need a steady
paycheck.”

“How’d
you end up on this dig then?” Alex asked, thinking over the man’s obvious
desire for greater things. He could see him selling out his country for money.

Childers
rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “There is another professor at the
university who normally joins him, but his wife died, so he wasn’t available to
come. Tag needed someone credible to entice his backers for more money, so
wa
-la – here I am,” he said with a small wave of his hand.

“Not
what
you know, but
who
… right?” Alex said in a tone pointing out the man’s good
fortune.

Childers
gave a small tilt of his head in agreement.

“I
believe I heard you also had enough clout of bring along not one, but two
interns,” Alex said conversationally, again stroking the man’s enormous ego.

Childers
grinned. “That’s right. Both Sara and Alcazar are here with me.”

“How’d
you swing that?” Alex asked, with faked awe.

“Well,
Sara was a given. She is… one of the most
gifted
students I’ve ever
had
,” he answered
in a tone which ensured his double meaning.

Alex’s
jaw clenched. He’d never wanted to punch a man so much in his life. The thought
of his hands on Devon… He immediately brought an abrupt stop to his thoughts.
He couldn’t afford to go there for so many reasons.
“How
about Alcazar?
Why him?”

Childers’s
eyebrows drew together in thought. “Well actually, Alcazar was Sara’s choice. I
was actually going in another direction, but she apparently saw some potential
in the lad that I’d not seen. Of course, now that we’re here, I see what the
actual attraction was,” he said with a wry twist of his lips. “Am I right?” he
finished with a grin. “I’m only surprised his luscious wife puts up with it.
She’s quite something, isn’t she?” he asked as he ran his tongue over his top
lip.

Alex
ground his teeth together and wanted nothing more than to reach across and
snatch the other man out of his chair and beat the living hell out of him. But
was
he
really any different from him?
If given the opportunity, wouldn’t he sleep with her again? He knew with a
certainty, that he would. Nonchalantly, he answered, “Yep, she is.”

Nate
Childers rose slowly to his feet. “Well, that’s it for me. I’ve got to get up
early. I’m calling it a night.”

Alex
tensed when Childers placed a detestable hand on his shoulder on his way to his
tent. He gave the man an insincere smile and turned back to stare blindly at
the fire. So, Childers wasn’t the original choice for the dig, but Childers and
Tag went way back so Alex could see how he’d be brought on the dig. Of course,
any man with a pulse could see why Childers would bring Sara Daniels with him.
The only iffy people were the Alcazars. Could Roman have hooked up with Sara
Daniels for the express purpose of getting an in for this particular dig? And
how did Devon fit into all this? Maybe she was just his wife and along for the
ride. Even if she wasn’t in on it, she definitely knew what was going on. She
was emotionally tortured by her secrets – whatever they were. Slinging his
branch aside, he rose and kicked enough dirt onto the glowing embers to smother
them. He glanced once more toward the Alcazar’s tent and his lips thinned at
what he viewed as a weakness.

~*M*~

Later,
across the camp in his tent, Alex lay on top of his cot, waiting till he could
slip away from the camp undetected, and contemplated his cagey conversation
with Devon in the midst of their mid-afternoon tryst.
 
You
don’t know anything about my life… You don’t know what I’ve been through… the
things I’ve done… Nothing will ever be okay. I’ve ruined everything… My life is
over.
He wished he could come up with some different scenario
where she wasn’t involved with the missiles, but it was the only thing that
made sense.

Irritation
with her – then with himself - had his stomach burning. He wondered if she’d
actually been attacked by anyone or if that was all part of their ruse as well.
Did sex with him also fall into their plan to keep him distracted? But if that
was the case, why did she leave him to go off on his own? Did they know who he
really was? No, he didn’t think so.

Alex
scrubbed a hand over his face. It was so frustrating because the vibe felt
wrong. None of it made any sense. He’d have bet his last dollar on the fact
that she couldn’t have been involved in anything like this. It just went to
show that it was time for him to get out of this game. He was getting soft. But
even with Roman Alcazar, he had a hard time fingering him as someone who’d
instigate a raid on US military personnel. Bonnie and Clyde, they weren’t… or
at least he hadn’t thought so.

He
wondered once again if there was anyone else in the camp involved with the
Alcazars. Roman seemed to be friendly with everyone and especially close to
Nate Childers, who’d sponsored him for the dig; and of course, the lovely Sara
Daniels. Devon, on the other hand, didn’t seem to migrate to anyone… other than
himself. He sighed deeply in frustration. None of it made any sense. Normally,
with criminals, or just people in general, there was a pattern that could be
found – a certain way people acted and reacted. But he wasn’t getting that
here. There was no pattern.

He
wondered how long he’d have to wait for them to make their move with the
buyers. He hoped it was soon so he could get the hell out of Mexico. A part of
him hoped the situation prolonged so he could still foster the hope that she
was innocent.
Stupid, so very stupid
,
he thought. The facts were the facts. He knew better than anyone that you could
never tell about people. Even the most sainted grandmother wouldn’t hesitate to
pull a trigger if the circumstances were right. He couldn’t help but speculate
on what circumstances had brought her to this point.

Alex
waited until the camp quieted and everyone had disappeared either back into
their tents or ‘out to gather water’ as Roman Alcazar and Sara Daniels had
professed to be doing, before heading out to return his call to Jacob
Roundtree. The wind howled through the trees as he made his way through the
jungle to the clearing. He could smell a storm brewing in the air. He wondered if
it were a sign of things to come.

As
always, Jacob answered on the first ring. “How’s tricks, Alex?” he asked
mockingly.

“I’m
ready to be out of this god-forsaken jungle if that’s what you mean. You owe me
so big!” Alex grossed, not in the mood for Jacob’s good humor.

Jacob
sighed. “I know. You’re right.”

“What’d
you find out? Do we have anything on Roman and Devon Alcazar yet?” Alex asked.

“Well,
funny thing… Roman Alcazar isn’t married. We ran a search and found his name on
a lease with a woman named Devon Montanez.” There was a noticeable pause before
Jacob added, “Alex, her step-father is Miguel Munoz, the head of the Negro
Caballeros cartel,” he said quietly.

Alex’s
mind spun as he took in Jacob’s words. She wasn’t married? Why had she told him
she was? Then the ramifications of the rest of his words hit him. Her
step-father was the head of one of the very drug cartels they’d suspected of
stealing the missiles. His stomach fell. She was involved… up to her pretty,
little neck. He swallowed against the bile which rose up in his throat.
“There’s our connection,” he replied simply.

He and
Jacob talked for a few more minutes, but Alex’s mind stayed on the connection
between the woman he’d slept with on multiple occasions and her step-father,
the drug dealer. What had he been thinking? He was seriously in the wrong
business! He found it almost laughable that he’d given her the tools to defend
herself… against him, in reality. She’d lied to him at every turn. He didn’t
know if she’d ever told him anything that was true. And he’d fallen for it.
What a sap
, he thought.

“Alex?
You still with me?” he heard Jacob say.

He
sighed heavily. “Yeah, I’m here. Jay… when I get back stateside, we… we need to
talk. I can’t do this anymore. I… I need… I want out. I’m done.”

Silence
met his words before Jacob finally said, “What’s been going on down there,
Alex?”

“Nothing.
It’s just time. Can you
initiate the paperwork for me? Remember you owe me,” he told him gravely.

Anger
seared his insides. More than anything he’d ever wanted in his life, Alex
wanted this mission over. In a place so way down deep that he’d never admit to,
he knew if he had to do it all over again, he’d still sleep with her… he still
wanted her now, even after everything he’d just discovered. But it was more than
just physical, he cared about her. Already his mind was flitting around trying
to figure out how to protect her in some way… how to salvage a relationship
with her that he never actually possessed. Like a child trying to cling to the
tiniest belief that Santa was real, he clung to a sliver of hope that she was
innocent. But how could she possibly be? Everything pointed to her being an
accomplice with her step-father and Roman Alcazar. She’d all but admitted to
having secrets she couldn’t divulge.