Shadows and Silk (10 page)

Darcy took off her glass
es
and rubbed her eyes. The deaths were increasing in frequency, and she knew it was
because Ramos had perfected the formula
and was ready to
hold an auction
for
major buyers all over the world
.
And that’s where her expertise came into this. She lined up the pictures of
the
newest hieroglyphs
—nothing more the crude graffiti drawn onto the side of a building
. The note
Declan had
attached said they were only two days old.

Ramos’s
men were using the glyphs as coordinates for drop locations.
It was part of the reason Ramos hadn’t been caught. He had thousands of men to take
the fall for him. The glyphs were a map of sorts. Ramos would deliver the drug to
his cartel members, and then they’d use the glyphs as a map to find the location of
the buyer.
It was a well-organized network. No two people doing the same job twice.
Unfortunately, the bodies they’d been finding also matched the coordinates of where
the buys were taking place. They were testing out the merchandise on site and then
disappearing like rats back to their holes.

The
bathroom door opened
and Darcy
watche
d Brant from the corner of her eye
.
He didn’t look at her, but she knew he was aware of everything she
was
doing. His shoulders were tense and his jaw clenched in anger.
She’d struck a nerve asking about the other woman. At least she knew for sure that
her hunch had been right.

He’d taken the time to shave, and he’d changed into
natural linen pants and a
green
island shirt
the same
color
as his eyes
. He wore loafers without socks, and
she noticed he wore a wedding band on his finger that matched hers. The sight of
it gave her a little thrill she couldn’t explain, even though she knew they were pretending.
S
he
couldn’t help but drink in the sight of him.
He was so big.
So—male.
He dominated every space he was in.
No one should be that sexy.
He turned her on in ways that should be sinful, but it didn’t stop the wanting. She
lusted for him. Ached for him.

The muscles in his shoulders and back bunched
as he pulled a heavy case from an overhead compartment, and she had to roll her eyes
at the distraction he presented. It was a damned good thing he hadn’t been around
the last four years or she never would have finished her
doctoral
dissertation.

Her eyes widened as Brant
unlatched the
case and pulled out a pistol. He checked it over thoroughly and then popped in a
magazine before putting it at the small of his back.

“I didn’t realize we were going in armed,” she said, turning to face him. He kept
his back
to her
and his attention on
inspecting the other weapons
.
“I don’t think I have a place to put my gun
in any of the outfits that were packed for me
.”

“
We’re
not going in armed.
I’m
going in armed. Always be prepared for the worst. Even at five star resorts.”

“I’m sure that’ll be a great relief to the masseuse when we get our couples massage.
Let’s hope she doesn’t pull the trigger on that stick up your ass.”

Brant stopped what he was doing and turned to face her
, his expression thunderous
. If she’d had room to back away she might have given in to the temptation. He was
pissed. Though the day had been pretty varied so far, so she wasn’t sure what
,
exactly,
he was angry about.

“One day, Darcy,” he said menacingly,
stalking her like a big cat,
“You’re going to push me too far
.
And
I’m going to
be forced to
bend you over my knee for the spanking you deserve.”

Her ass clenched and the throb between her legs quickened. It took everything she
had to let amusement cross her face instead of the lust she was feeling.
  

“
In your dreams, lover boy. Now if you’ve finished your Dom fantasies, I’ve finished
deciphering the glyphs Declan left me this morning.”

She should have been warned by the thin smile that spread across his face that she
was in deep trouble. Some day she was going to learn to keep her mouth shut. Her brothers
had been warning her for years that it was going to get her into trouble one day.

He
kept coming
toward her, and she had to lift her chin to keep eye contact.

“They’re not just fantasies, baby
,” he whispered
.
“
Your
sweet
ass is mine. It’s going to burn red from my hand, which is nothing more than you deserve
after all the stunts you’ve pulled
. You think you’re hiding how much the thought of that turns you on? I can read you
like a book, sugar
, and your nipples are hard enough to cut glass
. Now show me what you’ve found
before I bend you over this table and give the babysitters your brother sent something
to report.”

“What makes you think I’d protest?” she purred.

His nostrils flared and a growl rumbled in his chest. “
You are so fucked, baby. The minute we get to the hotel.
” He inhaled deeply and took a step back.
“
Now tell me about the
damned
glyphs
, and stop distracting me
.”

Her heart
thudded
in her chest and her pussy was
weeping
anticipation. Damn him for being able to do that to her.
Just a look.
Barely a touch.
And she was ready to welcome him between her thighs like the Prodigal Son.
She braced her hands on the table and pointed to the map
.

“
The resort we’re staying at is here
.
”
She’d already circled the location in red marker
.
“And the glyphs
were found at the ruins at Bonampak, about an hour or so away.
The wording is vague, but I think we’re either looking at
Chiapa
de
Corzo
or San Cristobal
for their next location
.
The outer limits of the towns are sparsely populated and there are miles of nothing,
so it would be very easy to transfer the drug without being seen
.
Or they might have been seen and no one cares, because those cities are in Ramos
territory.
”

“Shane reported in that a body was found
in
Chiapa
de
Corzo
early this morning,” he said. “I just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago.
His team is already checking out the area, but they’re lying low so no one suspects
they’re there. We can’t let Ramos find out we have men in place.”

A sigh escaped before she could stop it and she dropped her head. “I was hoping I
could relay the message in time to get someone in place.
Before they killed someone else.
Too many lives have been lost, and I can’t stop it.”

“Those deaths lie on Alexander Ramos’s shoulders,” he said. “Not yours. We’ll get
him. And
then
we’ll make him pay.”

“That won’t bring these women back to their families.”

“No,” he said, running his hand down the back of her hair in a gesture so gentle it
almost brought tears to her eyes. “But it’ll save the ones he hasn’t gotten
to
yet.
”

“
The resort we’re staying at is in a good location
.
We’ve got
the ocean
to our backs, and the
cities
where each of the hieroglyphs were found are no more than a two or three hour drive
in any direction.”

“
But we need to find the lab site
, not go over old ground
,” she protested.
“
They haven’t repeated any of the drop location
s
and
Ramos wouldn’t have his men making the drop
s
too
close to where he has the lab
set up
.
I think I’ve got the lab possibilities narrowed down to two locations
. Both within the fifty-
mile radius Declan asked for.
But it’s impossible to know for sure. Ramos has had four years to build the labs,
and there hasn’t even been a whisper of suspicious activity for a project of that
magnitude anywhere in Mexico.
”

“
The lab won’t be far from where these hits are happening
.
It takes about twenty hours to drive from one end of his territory to the othe
r, but only a couple of hours
by plane.
Ramos isn’t known for his delegation skills. He likes to know what’s going on in his
cartel on every level.
And visiting the drop locations is exactly what we need to do. It won’t take them
long before they start noticing how closely we’re tracking the coordinates. Ramos
will have eyes on us within a couple of days.
And then we’ll have fireworks.
”

Brant traced his fingers across the map—along the routes she’d plotted—and the image
of how those hands had touched her so skillfully had her biting back a whimper.

“
Ramos is smart. He’s been patient and he’s kept low.
After Carlos and Miguel del Fuego were killed, all the street traces of
Rabbit
were
found and discarded
.
Or so we thought.
We kept our eyes on Colombia, because we knew that’s where the del
Fuegos
had set up their original labs, and the del
Fuegos
were enemies of both
Mexican cartels
,
so
we knew
they wouldn’t have moved their operation into enemy territory.

“
There were rumblings Ramos had slowly gained control of the cartel, but no solid proof.
Some of the del Fuego cartel’s top lieutenants were found dead, but
once again, we couldn’t prove
it was Ramos behind the killings. So after a year of no new movement or related drug
deaths, the DHS and DEA were ordered to cut the number of agents they had in the area
because of budgetary issues. And now we don’t have the men we need in place to bring
them down as easily.
”

“Well, there’s us,” she said, raising a brow.

“That’s what scares me.” He moved in close, trying to intimidate her with his size,
but she stood her ground. “You don’t understand how fucking dangerous this is, Darcy.
We’re bait, sugar. And I’m going to strangle your brother the next time I see him
for
putting you in this
position.
You think I can’t see the need for the thrill in your eyes? I hate knowing that you’re
going to be a moving target if they get wind of what we’re doing, and it scares the
hell out of me that I might not be able to save you.”

“Brant—”

He touched her lips with his fingers, stopping her from
reminding him
that she could take care of herself. He leaned in closer—so close that she felt the
breath of his words against her cheek.

“Listen to me, and listen close, because I’m only going to say this once.
There’s some
thing
about you, baby. Something that’s always drawn me closer to you
,
even though I knew damn good and well I should be pushing you away. You filled my
mind with thoughts I shouldn’t have been having when you were too young for me to
act on them.
And now you’ve got me so twisted up inside I worry that I won’t see the danger until
it’s too late.
”

The truth of his words slammed into her
. He was telling her that he understood they belonged together, but
he didn’t like it, and he’d continue to fight it
.

S
he drew the finger touching her lips i
nto her mouth. Her teeth nipped
at the calloused pad
of his finger
before drawing it further inside. His breath grew heavy, and she could feel his erection
growing
against her stomach.