Never Surrender (Task Force Eagle) (12 page)

Clad in his boxers, Rick sprawled beside her, his head
in her lap, one hand stroking her knee. He turned to nuzzle her stomach, then
glanced up at her with the half grin that always melted her muscles.

“What was that you said, um . . . at the end?
‘Mi
cor’
something.”

His grin evaporated, and he went still. His eyes
clouded with what might be panic before he grinned again. Not a convincing
grin, but pasted on. “Mmm, I really don’t know what I said, some Spanish
endearment like darling. You can’t hold a man responsible for what he says at
such a moment.”

She blinked at his response. Was Mr.
Allergic-to-Relationships being defensive? She merely requested a translation,
after all, not a declaration of love. Was what he’d said more than an
endearment? She might never know.

“Of course not.” She stilled and her chest tightened.
After he’d eased away from her, she was still drooling over him.
Fool, fool,
just like Molly.

He sat up and kissed her. Garlic and wine mingled with
his familiar, dear flavor. “I can’t stay here beyond tomorrow. I need to find
Jordan and stop El Águila’s dirty operation.”

She saw the intensity of his emotions increase with
each challenge he set for himself. A complex scenario. “You aren’t the only agent
who can do that.”

“But I’m the only one who sees how it all goes
together. I shouldn’t tell you, but there’s a leak in the DEA office. I hate
the idea of another agent being dirty.” He pounded a fist into the sofa
cushion.

She wanted to put her arms around him and make it all
go away. “I’m not surprised there’s a leak. The gang has been one step ahead or
one step behind us. But why does it have to be a DEA agent? Could it be someone
else in your offices?”

He jabbed a hand through his hair. “Shit, I’ll call
Donovan now.” He went to his coat and came up with his phone.

“No cell phone coverage here, remember?”

“Satellite phone. Secure. I got this.”

Juliana added wood to the fire while he talked to his
fellow agent. Now she had to tell him what she’d neglected to before.

After he disconnected, he kissed her. “Thanks, Ms.
Super Spy.”

“Anytime. And there’s another possibility.”

He slanted a skeptical glance her way. “Do you know
something I don’t?”

“Maybe. The information about Bar Harbor could’ve come
from Wes Vinson. The day we left for Down East, I mentioned I was going to see
my uncle in Bar Harbor. I didn’t remember I said it until much later.”

He caressed her cheek with his knuckles. “So Vinson
knew where we were. Do you have any other reason to suspect him?”

“I didn’t until yesterday.” Recalling her shock of
discovery, she hugged her knees. She liked Wes both as a boss and a friend. She
felt used and betrayed. “Since I was acting as office manager, I decided to
check my brother’s employment record. The computer file had only his shipping
dates and social security and such. Other employee folders are in a filing
cabinet. Jordan’s contained an interesting note.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“Someone had written one word on a sticky note:
Sudsy
.”

He swore, a staccato burst of Spanish. He leaped to
his feet and prowled the small room like a caged cat.

Edginess sharpened the high curve of his cheekbones,
lending him a predatory aspect. Halting at a window, he stared into the night
and rubbed the back of his neck. He stabbed at the air with an index finger. “I’ve
had suspicions about Vinson.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“What would I tell you? No evidence. Only my gut.”

“If he sent Jordan to work for Sudsy Pettit, that
meant he lied about not knowing who Jordan was,” she said. “Or Pettit.”

He nodded. “The connection with Pettit dumps Vinson in
the middle of the drug and gun trafficking, maybe at the top.”

“Any craft in Vinson’s fleet could easily ferry drugs
from an offshore rendezvous.”

“Did you ever ask him about that call he promised to
make?”

“He said he faxed them about having Finny phone me. He
insisted they must have lost the fax.”

“Want to bet phone records show no call, fax or
otherwise, to Rockland between your visit to Vinson and our trip north? I can’t
check without a warrant.”

“He lied.” Her eyes narrowed as she grasped the
implications. “If he didn’t want me to find Jordan, Wes must know why Jordan
had to hide. Could he have told the Mexicans about Finny?”

His gaze stark with emotion, he knelt before her and
grasped her shoulders. “Your info helps confirm my theory that Vinson could be
Olívas’s American partner.”

How the son of a respectable Portland family
establishment could be the major pipeline for drugs in the Northeast was beyond
her. “How do you suppose he got involved?”

“Easy money, a lot easier than the fishing business.
Talk to any fisherman, any owner of a seafood business. It’s getting harder to
find the fish. They blame too many regulations, shorter seasons, competitors.
Doesn’t excuse Vinson but might explain his motives.”

“He could’ve gotten backing to modernize, to expand,”
she said.

“I don’t have his financial records, but rumor has it
he’s taken out bank loans over the past several years. Had trouble paying them
back until a few years ago. Suspicion is the short cut to an influx of money
could’ve been smuggling. The connection would explain why Olívas didn’t roar
out in a big power boat to grab Finny off
Sea Worthy
. Vinson couldn’t
afford the exposure.”

“You’ll need proof.”

“And in a hurry. We have only a few days until the
Sea
Worthy
is due back in port. Vinson knows you’re looking for Finny and so is
the DEA. We have to get to Finny first.”

“Next week. That’s not much time.” She smiled. He needed
her. Correction. He needed her help.

Pangs of unease dimmed the glow from their lovemaking.
Rick was honorable. Maybe she could trust him to find Jordan and see that he
was safe. But it was the system that failed her dad. The system killed him.
How can I trust the DEA? Anyone?

She couldn’t let doubts weigh her down like a sack of
rocks. She could act, not just sit by and wait. “When I go back to work, I can
try to discover more.”

“No. It’s too dangerous. If he suspected . . .” He got
up and tossed two more logs in the stove before shutting its doors.

He returned to wrap her in his strong arms. “Enough
speculation for one night. I want to devote my attention to a certain woman
whose talents I haven’t fully appreciated.”

His voice flowed over her like a caress. His gaze, hot
and hungry, met hers, and sparks flared into swirling heat. Love was a more
complex emotion than she expected—warm and soft one moment, steamy and sharp
the next.

“Oh, yes, Rick, appreciate me.” Urgency enveloped her
like a sauna.

His uninhibited passion fueled her sensuality. Her
feelings for him had intensified with the heart and soul connection of their
joined bodies. Their idyll would end tomorrow, and she wanted to take advantage
of their time together.

He scooped her up and carried her into the small
bedroom. “This time I want you in a bed. I have a feeling that after I
appreciate every inch of you, we’ll both need sleep.”

She lowered the flame on the gas lamp until its cobalt
globe cast only a hazy blue aura over the bed. He followed her down and didn’t
resist when she pushed him onto his back.

She stripped off her shirt and his boxers before
straddling his pelvis. A calculated wriggle elicited a renewed leap of desire
in his eyes.

He palmed her breasts, shooting a hot flash of
sensation to her center.

She shimmied against the hot ridge beneath her bare
bottom. “You’re mine, Mr. Macho-SEAL-agent.”

*****

The next morning, after they made love again, Rick let
Juliana doze and he stared at the ceiling.

He needed to find Jordan as much as she did. The only
proof against Vinson besides catching a boat in the act would be records of
drug shipments. Or weapons shipments. Without cause, no search warrant. Worse,
the task force had no time for surveillance of the boats or Vinson. Cases like
these sometimes took months.

With only days left, someone unofficial had to snoop
in Vinson’s office. Someone he wouldn’t suspect.
Fuck.
He’d been
protecting Juliana, and now he had to deliberately send her into danger.

If only Jordan would show up. He might know about
Vinson. Maybe that was what the gang feared. No clues in the kid’s apartment.
Most of his stuff was packed in the duffel bag.

What had she said?
He doesn’t have much. Mostly he
lives on a fishing boat.

His pulse sped. He’d kick the idea around with Holt
Donovan and Jake Wescott. Nothing to tell Juliana. Not yet.

Beside him, she shifted and cuddled closer, still
asleep.

A quiet intensity shimmered inside him, a mix of lust
and protectiveness and other sensations he couldn’t name. Shit, he’d been
certain that having her would sate him, would satisfy his raw hunger. Sex was
recreation. Fun. Intimate, sensual fun, no big deal.

But tonight hadn’t been enough. He needed more.

She filled his spirit with her responsiveness, her
sweetness, her caring. She understood him better than anyone ever had. His need
for her shocked him, his need to make love to her over and over, to bind her to
him. But who was bound? The power of their lovemaking had him calling out more
than a casual endearment.
Mi corazón.

My heart.

If she had his heart, what then? How could he fall for
a woman with a drug dealer in the family? Even if she disbelieved the guilt. He’d
be disloyal to his own brother’s memory. And he had no clue how she felt about
him or what she expected from him.

His heart battered his ribs like the wings of a wild
green parrot he’d once seen trapped against a window. He’d freed the frantic
creature, and it had flown to freedom in the sky. Was freedom truly what his
heart wanted?

*****

They finished the
arroz con pollo
for breakfast
and prepared to drive back to Portland. Rick stared out the window. The coastal
rains had found their way west, dampening the ground and dampening spirits. “So
you’re sure you know what to do?”

“That’s the third time in an hour you’ve asked me
that. You sound like me with the dire warnings and reminders.” Juliana grinned
as she checked her day planner.

“Be very careful. Don’t let Vinson suspect we’re on to
him. Don’t put yourself under suspicion. If you can’t get at the files, we’ll
figure out something else.” He held out her parka.

“Believe me, you can trust me to be careful.” She
zipped her coat and kissed him.

“I do,
querida
, about as far as you trust me.”

Her mouth thinned. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve skirted the issue long enough.” Maybe too long.
He hated the official tone of his voice, hated fucking sounding like an
interrogator. “What if Jordan had been here?”

Her chin lifted. “I don’t know. I had to trust you.
But he wasn’t here. You would have been stuck in this cabin together.”

“Instead, you and I have been . . . stuck . . .
together.” He dragged her into his arms and kissed her for a long, satisfying
time. Yes, together, he thought, his senses reeling once more from the heady
sensation of her embrace.

“Why, Juliana? Why after all this time did you have
sex with me?” Damn, what a dumb-ass thing to say. She probably thought he
needed to hear how head over heels she was as a sop to his ego. “I mean why did
you give in after being so adamant that we’re too different, that I remind you
of Molly’s guys?”

“But you don’t remind me of Molly’s men. You’re the
one who said that, not me. You’re kind and sexy and honorable and responsible.”

“I’m not as wonderful as you think.”

“Agreed. You’re also a tease and a flirt who’ll make a
play for anything female.”

“You crush me. I haven’t been with another woman since
I met you. You wiped all other women from my system. You’re all I see, all I
want.”

“And that’s why. Do you know what a turn-on it is to be
wanted so desperately, so single-mindedly? You overwhelmed me. I didn’t want to
resist any longer.” Her gaze slid away, and her lip trembled, as if she wanted
to say more but didn’t dare. She slid toward the door. “Um, we have to go.
Everything will be all right.”

Maybe, maybe not after he said the rest of his speech.
He followed her and held the door shut. “Wait, you have to admit the truth
about Jordan. I’m helping you find out about him, yes, but it’s all pieces of
the same puzzle.”

“I know that. Wes Vinson and Sudsy Pettit, all tied in
with El Águila’s operation.” She turned aside, her brow pleated. “What do you
mean, the truth about Jordan?”

“You can’t keep believing your brother is an innocent
pawn who can avoid prosecution. For a skeptic, you have on blinders the size of
palm fronds.” He steeled himself with a deep breath. “The fish truck job lasted
a month with two trips a week. All those deliveries weren’t to markets and
restaurants. He had to know he was a mule, carrying drugs packed with the fish.
He may go to prison.”

“You’re going to arrest him.”

“I never made any secret of that. You refuse to
believe it. Or to see the truth.” He drew in a steadying breath. “You can’t
separate who I am from my job. From my mission. I’ll do what I have to do to
get these smugglers. And that includes arresting your brother. I swear to it I’ll
see he gets a fair shake. Help Jordan by being realistic. My family failed my
brother because we failed to be realistic about what he was doing.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, the
tension as palpable and the atmosphere as cold as the lake.