Master of the Game (Rush Series Book 3) (28 page)

Breathing rapidly as fear
unfurled within her, she stopped her hand just as she reached out to touch his
face. What if he was dead, too? What would she do? She couldn’t take it. With
fingers that trembled, she lightly brushed them against his cheek which felt
cool to the touch. Did that mean he was dead? She swallowed as she allowed her
fingers to move down to the vein in his neck. Under her fingertips, she felt
the light thumping of a pulse. Pain rocketed through her chest as she inhaled
deeply in relief. He was alive… for now. She laid her head against his chest
and cried in relief.

She patted her pockets for her
phone but couldn’t find it. Panic restored itself once more. Frantically, she
searched his pockets for his phone, her head swimming. Finally finding it, she
clutched the phone to her chest. Who would she call? She had no one to call.
She couldn’t call the
police,
they were in Miguel’s
pocket. Panic and pain seared her. She rose and stumbled back as blood ran
freely from her shoulder.

She swallowed hard and jumped
when a hand landed on her shoulder. She yelped and turned to scamper away, fearing
it was Miguel. “Ma’am, it’s me, Mitch Mallard. Do you remember?”

She stifled a sob and nodded,
remembering the leader of Alex’s team from before.

“Yes,” she murmured as her
strength began to lag. Slowly, she’d turned to face the other man and her world
started to spin before becoming filled with blackness and almost in slow motion
she
slumped
to the ground as consciousness slipped
away.

Chapter
14

Beep…
beep… beep… beep
. The noise was poking through the edges of her
consciousness. She tried to turn her mind away from the noise. She liked the
silky arms of the darkness, longed to remain cocooned within its thickness.
Beep… beep… beep… beep
. No matter how
she tried, she just couldn’t ignore it. Slowly, she pried her eyes open and
blinked rapidly against the light-filled room. She allowed her heavy head to
loll to the source of the beeping and took in the IV pole, the television on a
stand attached close to the ceiling, and various machines. She assumed one of
them was responsible for the annoying invasion of her peace.

She began to shift onto her
side, but stopped immediately as pain spiraled through her shoulder and across
her chest. Then she remembered… and she wished she hadn’t. Tears flooded her
eyes and slid silently down her cheeks. Her mother was dead… was dead because
of her. She was to blame as surely if she’d taken the gun in her own hand and
pulled the trigger.

Even though the pain was
excruciating, she struggled to sit up. She had to find out what happened to
Alex.
God, if anything happened to him
…
she whimpered at the thought. She sucked in a breath at the pain, but managed
to raise herself up into a sitting position.

“Let me help you,” said a voice
on the other side of her bed. She swiveled her head at the sound, panic
flooding over her. The movement just added to her pain. Sitting in the chair
next to her, reading a magazine about fishing, was a man with receding brown
hair and grey eyes.

“Who…,” she began, but had to
stop to clear her throat before continuing, “
who
are
you?” she finished apprehensively.

Stretching out his hand for her
to shake, he said with a smile, “Sorry, I feel like we already know each other.
My name is Jacob Roundtree, Alex’s handler.”

Tentatively, she shook his hand
as thoughts swirled through her mind. “Where is he? Is he… did
he
…” her voice trailed off and she swallowed hard.

Jacob lifted a hand and gave a
reassuring shake of his head. “Alex is fine… or he will be. He’s here in the
hospital – a miserable brut, if I do say so… When Miguel shot him, he was, of
course, wearing his bullet-proof vest. However, the bullet slammed into him
good enough to break his sternum plate, which caused a myocardial rupture -
which is a big word for a laceration or tearing of the walls of the ventricles
of the heart. He’ll be all right, and he’d be here in this room right now if
they’d let him,” he said with a grin.

“Can I see him?” she asked
anxiously, already moving to slide out of the bed.

Jacob once again lifted a hand
to stay her. “Of course, but there’s some things I want to discuss with you
first, if that’s all right.”

She blinked rapidly as she
struggled to understand what they’d need to discuss. “Okay,” she finally
replied.

Sitting back in his chair,
Jacob Roundtree eyed her thoughtfully for several minutes before asking, “What
did you know of your step-father’s dealings?”

She blanched at the question.
Did this man think she had something to do with the missiles being stolen?
“Nothing.”
She paused before asking fearfully, “Did you get
him?”

He shook his head. “No, sadly,
he was gone by the time we arrived. We found his son at the site, of course,
but we haven’t been able to find him or your mother, unfortunately.”

Her head swam at his words. “My
m… mother,” she stammered.

He nodded slowly, “Yes, you
might remember Alex had called me…” he began before she cut him off.

“I don’t understand what you
mean.”

He raised his eyebrows in
confusion. “You didn’t know Alex had asked…” he began again before once again
being cut off.”

“No!” she said with
frustration. “I know he asked you. But my mother… my mother was killed by
Miguel at the ruins. What happened to her? Is her body missing from the ruins?”

Once again his eyebrows drew
into confused lines. “Your mother was at the ruins?”

Frustration wafted off her.
“Yes! She was there when I arrived. Miguel had a bag over her head… then he
shot her… in front of me.” Her chest began to heave as she once again relived
that horrible moment when Miguel had pulled the trigger.

Jacob leaned forward and laid a
comforting hand on the sheet-covered leg closest to him. “Devon, God, that…
that wasn’t your mother. It was a local prostitute, Gabriella Ruiz. I’m so
sorry. I didn’t realize you thought she was your mother. It certainly makes
more sense. No, we haven’t been able to find your mother. But I think she’s
still alive.”

Devon’s stomach heaved as she
struggled to wrap her mind around her mother being alive. A fist seemed to slam
into her stomach as she realized she’d nearly gotten Alex killed for nothing…
then felt guilty for being relieved someone else had been killed other than her
mother.

Jacob sat quietly while she
digested his information. Finally, remembering him next to her, she said, “I
don’t know anything about Miguel’s business. I had nothing to do with them. I
was angry with my mother for marrying him.”

He nodded as he contemplated
her steadily. “That’s what Alex told me. I have something I want you to
consider.” Sitting back in his chair, he adjusted his jacket before
steepling
his fingers. “Have you ever heard of the
I.D.E.A.?” he asked finally.

Slowly she shook her head. “No,
I don’t think so.”

“The I.D.E.A, or International
Drug Enforcement Agency, is a collaboration of both the American DEA and
Mexican DEA to stop drug trafficking between the United States and Mexico.”

She blinked as she tried to
understand what this had to do with her. She was getting impatient to get to
Alex. “Okay…?” she trailed off.

He smiled and twisted his lips
wryly. “Before I say anymore, I want your promise you’ll give my request some
thought before refusing. Okay?”

She shrugged her shoulders.
“Okay.”

He inhaled deeply before
continuing. “I really, really,
really
want to get Miguel Munoz. I think you do as well.”

“More than anything, I want my
mother back and I want him to pay,” she said emphatically.

He smiled, his grey eyes
twinkling. “This is what I was hoping you would say. How would you like to help
get him?”

“Of
course.
What can I do?”

He laughed outright.
“Excellent answer!
Now, what I’m about to say to you will
seem so outrageous, your first thought will be to decline, but I don’t want you
to do that.” He waited until she nodded slowly. “I want you to
come
work for the I.D.E.A.”

“As…?” she questioned, trailing
off.

“An operative,” he replied
simply.

“An
operative?”

“Like Alex,” he answered.

Slowly she began to shake her
head.

He raised a finger to stop her
refusal.
“Uh uh.
Remember, I told you to think about
it before you refused. It’s not like we’d just cut you loose. We’d train you…
prepare you… it’s easier than you think.”

With her eyebrows scrunched,
she contemplated the man she was sure who’d just lost his mind.
“Why me?”

A smile split his face in half.
“Who better to capture Miguel? You want him nearly as much as we do. You have
just as much invested. You know people, have contacts. Plus, you’ve proven you
can handle yourself.”

She gave him an astonished
look. “Handle myself? I fell apart.”

“It’s okay to have those
feelings. But you didn’t fall apart. You handled the situation from what Alex
told me. Trust
me,
you’d do great in this field. But,
I don’t want you to answer me right away… think about it. I’ll leave my number
with you, alright?”

She eyed him speculatively
before nodding.
“Alright.
Can we go see Alex now?”

He nodded. “Sure let’s call a
nurse to wheel you down.” He stood and walked to the door, and turned back. “Do
me a favor. While you’re thinking this over, don’t tell Alex. I promise
,
he’ll shoot it down. This needs to be your decision, not
his. Okay?”

She gave him a quizzical look,
but nodded.

~*M*~

“I want to get up now!” Devon
heard Alex say hotly from within his room. She couldn’t help but smile in
relief that he was well enough to be able to yell.

“Sir, the doctor said you were
to remain in that bed for two more days. I will restrain you if I have to,” a
female voice said.

“Oh, you’d like that, I just
bet,” Alex said, crudely suggestive.

Devon’s eyebrows rose at the
comment. She relaxed, however, when Jacob finally wheeled her into Alex’s room.
The woman he was sarcastically berating was sixty if she was a day. Devon
smiled as she pictured Alex with the nurse. “That’s quite a mouth on you, Cowboy,”
Devon teased him in a watery voice, filled with emotion.

Alex head spun at her voice.
His face instantly transformed from being disgruntled to pure pleasure. She
felt the warmth of his gaze waft over her.

“Little Devil,” he purred.
“Come to me.”

Jacob pushed her until she was
next to him. Tenderly, Alex reached out a hand and brushed knuckles which
trembled against her cheekbone. “How
ya
doing?” he
asked.

“Better now,” she murmured.

He swallowed. “Me too,
Little
Devil, me too.”

~*M*~

Devon sat on the couch at the
front window, her hand holding the curtain open. Today was the day Alex was
coming home… or at least to the oceanfront villa Jacob had rented for them.
It’d been a long month with Alex just being discharged from the hospital on
this day. Jacob had rented a hotel for her to stay close to the hospital so
Alex would stay put as needed. It’d been a long recovery for Alex… and he’d
been an awful patient.

But today, he would be here,
without hospital gowns or doctors, and without IVs and interruptions. Finally,
they could be alone… together. She missed being with him… really being with
him. She needed him… craved him… was scared
spitless
to touch him, afraid to put any strain on the muscles of his heart.

She jumped to her feet when the
rental car pulled into the circular drive. She ran to the door, took a moment
to smooth her emerald colored sundress, and opened the door. Alex had his head
turned to Jacob, who had driven. Jacob was apparently explaining something to
Alex, which required the use of his hands as they were currently being waved in
the air between them. Alex kept shaking his head at different intervals
obviously not agreeing with whatever Jacob was telling him.

Jacob stopped and listened
while Alex spoke. Finally, Jacob gave a small nod of his head and stepped out
of the car. He gave Devon a strained smile and opened the trunk to retrieve
Alex’s suitcase. Alex opened the car door and rose awkwardly to his feet. Devon
wanted nothing more than to rush to him and help, but knew he’d hate it. So,
she waited impatiently while he made his way slowly toward her.

When he reached her, Alex stared
into her dark, sultry eyes, motionless for a long moment. Wordlessly, he
reached up a hand and cupped her cheek. She leaned into his touch. He continued
to study her quietly before leaning down and pressing his lips against hers.
Her breath soughed from her lungs at the soft caress. He moved his other hand
to fully capture her face and deepened the kiss, stroking her tongue with his
own.