Alejandro (16 page)

“Thanks,” Audrey mumbled and ushered Angel to a couch. “We’ll find something for you to eat, okay, Angel?”

“Okay,” he said while climbing onto the couch. “Where’s the remote?”

Ale chuckled and handed him the remote. “What do you like to watch?”

“Um, I like to watch Animal Planet and football.”

“Yeeaahh. My kind of guy.”

Still grinning, Ale locked eyes with Audrey. She offered a small smile, her mind still on the letter. “I think we’ll be okay, if you want to go back. I’m sure you have a lot to do to prepare for — you know.” Watching his grin fade, Audrey silently scolded herself for being too pushy. Drawing his attention was the last thing she wanted. Once gone, she could read the letter in peace. Instead, Ale’s massive body faced her fully. Cocking his head to one side, he crossed muscular arms on his chest. Audrey swallowed.

“I’ve got time. Wanna tell me what you and Mel were talking about earlier at the apartment?”

No.

“Something about your sister and me?”

She expected Mel to betray their conversation to her partner. Just not so soon. She wasn’t prepared for his answer. If Ale and Penny were involved…
It doesn’t matter. I have a boy to raise.
Her eyes drifted to Angel, who was bouncing up and down on the sofa, mimicking the movements of the meerkats he was watching on the television.
I did such a lousy job with Penny… I can’t have any distractions this time.
Her eyes scanned the marshal, taking in his dark attire stretched over sculpted muscle, the Absalom-like hair brushing his broad shoulders. She shivered, flooded with feminine awareness.
No matter how tempting. I have to get this right.
“It was nothing.” Not true. “I just wanted to know more about your relationship with my sister.” True. “Mel didn’t really have anything to say about it.” True. Two out of three. That was good, right?

“If you want to know something, just ask.”

Funny how his voice lacked the frankness he now seemed so willing to display.
He’s hiding something.
Whatever it was, perhaps Penny’s letter would explain. If she could get him out of the room… “Thank you, Marshal.”

He cocked a curious brow. “
Marshal
? You know my name.”

Unable to stop the involuntary swallow, she refused to wipe at her damp hairline. “Yes, I know your name.”

He smirked. “Then use it.”

His deep voice reverberated in her ears, tunneling down to her heart, challenging her to resist the pull of a Santiago. Dimples deepened into endless chasms in which she could drown. Veiled iridescent eyes searched her own and she struggled to keep her thoughts concealed. Forcing her lips shut so she wouldn’t blurt her suspicions about him and her sister, or about the letter from Penny tucked in her purse, Audrey plastered a smile on her face, dragged her eyes from his form to a safer one — Angel — and ordered her legs to move to the couch and her nephew.

“Santiago, we need you in the conference room.”

Not venturing a glance in his direction, Audrey took a seat on the couch near her nephew as she heard the voice of another man speaking to Ale. She expected to hear Ale moving to the door, but her body’s temperature steadily rose, so she figured it was due to the man watching her. Swallowing rocks, Audrey put a shaky hand on Angel’s shoulder and exerted all her willpower to concentrating on the television screen.

With the click of the door signaling Ale’s departure, Audrey ripped Penny’s envelope from her purse and tore it open, careful not to lose the key lying at the bottom. Audrey’s eyes rapidly scanned the page as she fingered the key to a locker in a bus station. Audrey blinked, as though the words she’d just read were a figment of her imagination.
Trying to escape… Alejandro doesn’t understand… left the package at the Greyhound bus station…

So her sister didn’t want to participate in the operation. Ale had said she’d volunteered. Audrey rubbed at the twinge of a headache in the space between her brows.
Ale’s lying to me. And he thinks my sister was keeping something from him! She had no choice to help him and died for it.
The crinkle of paper drew her gaze down to her hand. She gripped her sister’s letter. Loosening her hold, she smoothed the paper over her thigh before refolding it and placing it back into the envelope.

I have to get to that bus station.
She glanced at Angel. Meerkats continued to hold his fascination. If she asked Mel to help, she’d just tell Ale.
I have to know what Penny was hiding, if she were hiding anything at all.
Audrey pulled out her phone and searched for the directions to the bus station. Her heart quickened. The station was only a few miles down the road. Audrey again looked to her nephew. She could catch a cab, grab the package from the locker, and be back in the lounge before anyone noticed she was missing.

Audrey moistened her lips. Could she leave her nephew here? Alone? There was no place on earth he was safer. A building full of US Marshals. She would need half an hour, no more. If anything happened to her, best not to have Angel with her. She’d call Mel and tell her the plan as soon as she was out of the building. Confident, Audrey called for a cab. She set about fixing Angel a snack to calm her nerves and keep him occupied while she was at the station.

Telling Angel to behave, she sneaked out of the lounge. When settled in the cab, she phoned Mel, who promptly yelled at her for leaving. “I have to tell Alejandro.”

Audrey cringed at Mel’s declaration. Audrey didn’t want to face his ire, but it was unavoidable. She was her sister’s only advocate, and she’d know the truth before Ale could twist it.

Upon arrival at the station, Audrey asked the cab driver to wait. He promised five minutes and then he’d leave. Audrey hurried into the station. People mulled about carrying luggage and an intercom system called out the bus schedule.
Oh, the smell
. Crinkling her nose at the stench of sweaty bodies, Audrey refrained from taking a deep breath and instead, forced herself to focus on the task. Spotting a few rows of lockers, she sprinted to the gray shelves, located the locker, and inserted the key.

Expecting to see something shocking, Audrey frowned when her eyes saw a hobo, not unlike her own. She pulled the bag out and shut the locker. “Not another envelope,” she breathed after opening the bag and spotting the white letter carrier. But this one was stamped and addressed to her. Audrey opened the envelope and slowly read her sister’s words.

Penny needed her help.
I shouldn’t even be writing you; Alejandro would be furious.
Her sister had been involved with a man named Trujillo, and unfortunately, she had to renew her relationship at the request of the marshals. “Alejandro, how could you,” Audrey whispered furiously, tears stinging the back of her eyes.

Her sister’s fear was clear in her words.
Did you receive my other letter? I’m sorry for being so much trouble after our parents died, but if you forgive me, I’m begging you, please come to Texas. I need help.

Ale had sent her to her death. That much was clear. Audrey turned to make her way back to the cab and stopped short. Two swarthy-looking men eyed her curiously. The hairs on the back of her neck went vertical. The men broke into a sprint in her direction. Letting out a cry, Audrey maneuvered around the lockers, unsure exactly her direction.
Just keep moving.
She screamed when she slammed into something tall, warm, and hard.

“Quiet!”

Alejandro!
He took her hand and pulled her into the throng of people herding to the doors leading to awaiting buses. She returned his firm grip.
Thank you, God!
Once outside, they moved past the buses. Audrey bent low, following Ale’s lead, ducking between cars before stopping at a black Camino. With the click of the locks, Ale opened the door and practically shoved her into the seat.

“Do you know who those men were?” Ale yelled as they tore out of the lot. “Trujillo’s men! They’d been sent to that station on his orders.”

Audrey shook her head, not comprehending his meaning. “How’d they know I’d be there?”

“They didn’t. Today I overheard one of his men discussing your sister. He’d been assigned to tail her right before her abduction. She’d made a stop at the bus station. Trujillo thought she might have been trying to run. She was abducted two nights later.”

Fury and grief bubbled over into screaming. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just found out myself!” Ale answered with equal rage. “I haven’t had a chance to investigate. Just how did you know to come here? You keeping something from me?”

Audrey huffed in indignation, crossing her arms over her chest before crying out as Ale took a sharp turn. Gripping the doorframe, she cut him an annoyed glance. “You’re accusing me of keeping secrets? Penny wanted out — away from Trujillo — and you
forced
her back in. You killed her!”

“What!” Ale slammed on the breaks, sending Audrey forward, her hands crashing into the dashboard.

“You shouldn’t be driving.”

Flinging off his seatbelt, Ale pushed open the car door. Audrey looked up. They were back behind marshal headquarters. She quickly exited the car and squeaked when Ale gripped her arm and dragged her into the back stairwell. He blocked the stairs, hands on hips. Audrey stood her ground — when she felt the door at her back.

“You think I forced your sister to go back to Trujillo.”

Audrey’s hand slammed into the bag, yanking her sister’s letter out, waving it around. “She practically said as much! She wanted out, but you—”

In one long stride he was in front of her, eyes blazing. “If you say I
forced
her one more time.”

Audrey trembled, but not because he stood so near. Green eyes flaming, she feared for her safety. He must have sensed her panic, for his rigid jaw loosened and he took a slight step back. Breathing deeply, his emotions seemed to calm.

“I blame myself for your sister’s death.”

Could she trust him? If the regret in his eyes was genuine…

A shaky hand threaded his hair. “I didn’t — I wasn’t—” He inhaled and forced a frustrated breath out. After dipping his head, he raised his eyes, full of dismay. “I
should
have known Trujillo was targeting her. I’ve been undercover for years. I thought I had his trust.” He licked his lips, his breath rapid. “I was wrong.”

Audrey’s bottom lip dropped. She didn’t expect an apology. He was actually admitting culpability in her sister’s death. Unable to find her voice, she stared at the letter in her hand until her vocal cords loosened. “Penny wanted me to come to Texas, to help her get out. She said you didn’t understand.” Warm fingers closed over hers and the letter slipped from her hand. Audrey waited for him to finish reading. “I went to the bus station to see what she’d left behind.
You
said she was keeping something from you.
You
implied she’d betrayed you to Trujillo. I wanted the truth.”

Ale’s voice was low and calm. “How did you know to go to the bus station?”

Audrey opened her bag and retrieved the other letter. “She’d penned another letter that was given to me at the reading of her will. I confess, I didn’t remember it until an hour ago.”

“And what did that letter say?”

His compliant tone melted her anger. “She said she’d hidden a bag at the bus station where she’d planned to get two tickets. One for herself and one for Angel. I guess she couldn’t wait for me to come—”

“She knew Trujillo wanted her dead. It must have only been a short time later that Trujillo dispatched men to her house and… you know the rest.”

His quiet voice faded into the silence of the stairwell. Audrey wasn’t aware a tear had slipped down her cheek until she felt the rough pad of Ale’s thumb gently brush it away. She lifted her eyes to his. The warmth in them enveloped her, and she involuntarily leaned forward.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

His hands gripped her arms. “Audrey, if anything had happened to you out there. If I didn’t know where you were…” His head dipped down.

Lashes fluttering closed, Audrey parted her lips. When the expectation of his kiss reached boiling point, she opened her eyes and gulped at the hard, black stare.

He was still angry with her.

She wasn’t getting kissed.

“You mind telling me why you abandoned your nephew on this foolish quest for answers? Again, if you had questions about your sister — about the mission — you should have asked me.”

His hands remained on her arms, directing heat to her central core, keeping her unable to form a coherent thought. She struggled against his hold, embarrassed she’d practically stood with her mouth hanging open, begging for his kiss. His hands tightened. “How dare you accuse me of
abandoning
Angel. Nothing is more important to me right now than his safety.”

“And yet you left him alone to follow a lead that should’ve been handled by trained investigators.”

His accusatory tone stiffened her spine. She shook him free and moved around him to the stairs. Finally, air that didn’t have traces of Alejandro Santiago in it. She took a deep breath before facing him. “He was in the safest place he could be. Besides, I only needed thirty minutes. I told Mel that much when I phoned her from the cab.”

Incredulous eyes took her in. He shook his head. “You don’t seem to grasp the level of risk you took for that bag.” He pointed at Penny’s hobo slung over Audrey’s shoulder. “Well, in that way, I guess you are like your sister. She took some pretty big risks getting involved with Trujillo in the first place, but she wised up. When are you going to?”

The elation she felt at being compared to her prettier, edgier sister died quickly. “I needed to know what really happened to Angel’s mother. One day he’s going to ask questions. He’s going to want to know if she tried to leave — to get him away from the danger. He deserves the truth.” He opened his mouth to respond, but she continued. “If I could
trust
you, I’d have asked.”

Chapter Nine