Her First Vacation (8 page)

“I happen to know that’s her father. I also happen to know
he’d sell his own mother for a bottle of tequila.”

Colin started to shake his head again, but stopped himself.
He’d made arrangements to put on a little show for Garret’s benefit. It was
scheduled to take place the following day. The DEA and ATF were working with
the Mexican authorities in a joint effort to shut down the pipeline of illegal
drugs and arms that seemed to run unhindered through Mexico. The ATF was trying
to halt the sale of illegal arms to Central American guerillas and the DEA was
out to shut down the drug trade that went hand in hand with the guns. It was
one of the largest joint operations in history. And Colin was right at the
heart of it. Garret was a facilitator. He put dealers in touch with buyers on
both ends of the pipeline. So far no less than five US agents had wound up dead
in the operation. There was no doubt that Garret was responsible for at least
one of those deaths. It had happened on the last cruise Garret had taken the
year before, and the man who’d died had been a friend of Colin’s. That was the
biggest part of the reason Colin was there. He was going to find a way to take
Garret Palmer down. Before he could make that dream come true, though, he had
to gain Garret’s trust. It wasn’t going to come easy, and Colin had figured
there was one sure way to gain it. If Garret witnessed Colin committing a
crime, he’d come a hell of a lot closer to thinking they might be kindred
spirits. If the crime was particularly violent,
all the
better. So they’d made arrangements to make something happen. Colin figured a
drug deal gone
bad
was always a nice touch. Now,
though, he was wondering if there might not be something even better. It took
him all of forty-five seconds to decide to go off script. There would probably
be hell to pay once word of it got back to his superiors, but Colin had learned
a long time ago that following his gut when he was undercover was always the
way to go. Right now his gut was telling him that Garret would be much more
impressed by rape than he would be by drugs. Colin met Garret’s gaze.

“How much do you think he’d want?”

Garret gave him a look that suggested he was vaguely
surprised by the question. Clearly he hadn’t expected Colin to actually go with
his idea of buying the girl. He glanced at the girl,
then
turned back to Colin. “A hundred bucks ought to take care of it.”

Colin nodded, then reached into his pocket and pulled out
his wallet. It proved a hell of lot harder waking the drunk up than it did
bribing him to allow his daughter to be raped. He didn’t even pretend to be
offended or to misunderstand when Colin laid the money on the table in front of
him and nodded toward the girl. The old man snatched up the cash and called his
daughter to the table. As Colin grabbed the girl’s arm he swore to himself that
when this was all over he’d come back to this bar and beat the living shit out
of the greedy old bastard.

The girl didn’t give him any trouble as he led her through
the back door of the bar. Her father had provided a helpful suggestion for
where Colin could take her, and he went straight to the little adobe hut behind
the bar. There was a woman in the kitchen when Colin and the girl came through
the door, but she took off the moment she saw them. One more adult turning a
blind eye to what she had to know was about to happen. Colin glanced out a window
as he passed and saw Garret leaning against the doorjamb in the bar’s rear
door. The sick bastard wanted to hear it happen. He wanted to hear the girl
screaming, and Colin knew he was going to have to give him want he wanted. His
grip on the girl’s arm must have tightened reflexively because she made a noise
and tried to pull away from him. He turned to face her,
then
softly told her to run in Spanish. He gave her a look that brooked no argument,
and she didn’t hesitate to obey him.

He let her take about three steps before he went after her.
He made sure she got out the door before he caught her. He made sure Garret
could hear him tell her in graphic detail exactly what he was going to do to
her. She started screaming just like Colin had known she would. And then he
made certain Garret got a good look at the slap he delivered to the terrified
girl before he threw her over his shoulder and turned to carry her back in the
little adobe house.

Garret was waiting for him when he came out half an hour
later. Colin saw him glance toward the house curiously. He fixed Colin with a
faintly mocking look.

“You didn’t kill her, did you? That might cost you a bit
more money.”

Colin shook his head, refusing to let the revulsion he felt
for the other man show. “She’s not dead, though she’ll probably wish she was
when she wakes up. She wasn’t exactly a willing participant.”

Garret nodded. “Yeah, I saw she tried to run. So how’d you
keep her down?”

“I tied her ass to the bed, that’s how.”

Garret laughed then, and Colin had to use every ounce of
self-control he possessed to keep from hitting him. The girl was unconscious.
Colin hadn’t had any other choice but to put her out with a little pressure on
her carotid artery. She’d wake up with a headache and probably a bruise from where
he’d slapped her, but otherwise she was unharmed. The moment he got away from
Garret, Colin intended to make a call and have someone pick the girl up and
make sure her father didn’t try to pull a similar stunt again. It would also
keep her from telling anyone that she hadn’t actually been raped. He nodded
toward the bar.

“Let’s go get another drink.”

Garret nodded,
then
led the way
into the bar. They downed a couple more drinks while Garret pumped Colin for details
about the event. Colin made it up as he went, lying with so much ease and skill
that it left him feeling even dirtier than he already did. He hadn’t really
hurt the girl, though there was no doubt he’d scared her badly. And he had hit
her because he’d known he had to. Garret wouldn’t have been satisfied with
anything less. Knowing he’d done what he had to do didn’t make it any easier to
live with, though. The girl might have avoided being raped, but she would carry
the fear with her for a long while before it faded. And he would carry the
sound of her screams for the rest of his life.

Back aboard the ship he took a long shower, knowing it
wouldn’t wash away the filth that cluttered his soul. He’d worked undercover
far too long. He’d gone places and done things that he knew he’d never be able
to forget. There were times, like today, that he was forced to act in ways that
made him feel physically ill just so his cover wouldn’t be blown. What he’d
done to the girl today had hardly been the worst act he’d ever committed in the
name of his job. He sincerely hoped it would be the last time he ever had to
cross that line, though. He’d been ready to get out before this assignment came
up. He’d have turned it down if it wasn’t for the fact that the agent Garret
had killed had been someone Colin considered a friend. Hell, Charlie Cook was
the closest thing to family Colin had. And Garret had killed him. They didn’t
know much about precisely how he’d died. There hadn’t been enough left of his
body to make that determination. The one thing they did know was that Garret
had pitched his body over the side of the ship. The current pulled him straight
under and into the propellers. Colin had spent a lot of time praying that
Charlie had been dead before he went over the railing.

There’d been no witness, no clues. There was no doubt that
Garret Palmer was responsible, though. Charlie’s last report had indicated that
he worried Palmer was getting suspicious of him. Obviously, he was right.
Palmer hadn’t even slowed his illegal activities down. In fact, all the
indications were that he was more active than he’d ever been. There were all
kinds of theories about why. Colin worried that it might mean he was getting
ready to disappear. One final big job and he’d vanish without a trace. He had
the money and resources to make it happen. If he succeeded Colin knew no one
would ever see him again. He’d change his appearance and name and start over
somewhere else. Colin had no intention of letting that happen. He was going to
bring Garret Palmer down hard, along with as many of his associates as he could
find. Whatever it took, Palmer was going to pay for Charlie’s death.

Something had happened. Claire could feel it as surely as
she could feel the texture of the cloth napkin she had gripped in her fist. For
the past days she and Colin had spent every morning together. They’d talked
about all kinds of things, and she believed she’d gotten to know him quite
well. She certainly knew him well enough to recognize that there was a new kind
of tension about him tonight. That wasn’t the only thing that had changed,
though. It was evident that whatever had happened had somehow brought him and
Garret closer together. They’d appeared to have a casual friendship before, but
tonight it was obvious that their relationship had gotten tighter.

It made her uncomfortable. She didn’t particularly care for
Garret’s arrogance. She didn’t really understand how he and Colin could be
friends. They were nothing alike. Then again, Colin never quite seemed to act
the same at dinner as he did when they were alone together in the mornings. He
didn’t exactly ignore her, but he made no effort to pay her any special
attention. She was smart enough to guess that he might be playing a role for
Garret’s benefit. She had trouble believing that he was so insecure that he felt
it necessary to pretend to be something he wasn’t just to gain Garret’s approval,
though. Colin never appeared to be insecure about anything.
Which
left her with a lot of uncertainty and no easy answers.

She’d been wondering about the differences in Colin when he
was with her and when everyone else was around. He was certainly behaving like
a different person tonight. He’d drunk more than she’d ever seen him drink
before, and he and Garret kept sending each other speaking looks and smug
smiles. When Garret finally shoved away from the table and said he was off to
the casino, Colin rose to go with him. Claire watched the pair go, feeling
another strange twinge of unease as Garret said something that made Colin
laugh. The two men couldn’t be that much alike. They just couldn’t.

CHAPTER FIVE

Colin was late meeting her the next morning. She kept
telling herself that he’d never verbally promised to keep their morning dates,
but she couldn’t help feeling uneasy when the minutes kept ticking by without any
sign of him. When he finally appeared, the sigh of relief that poured out of
her was much too profound for comfort. A few minutes late and she’d instantly
begun to worry that he was tired of her. Worse, the thought of him ending their
morning routine hurt her in ways that she knew she shouldn’t allow it to. She
was much too attached to him already, but she couldn’t bear the thought of
ending the relationship. She desperately tried not to think about how foolish
she was being.

Colin saw Claire’s relief as her eyes settled on him, and
he instantly felt like a prick. She’d thought he was going to stand her up
again, and the truth was, he’d thought about it. After yesterday, he knew he
had to stop seeing her. She was getting too close, and it was starting to get
in his way. The stakes were too high to risk that. He was also worried that she
was much too observant. In her quiet way, she sat back and watched everyone and
everything around her. Last night he’d practically felt her questions as he and
Garret acted like they’d suddenly become best buddies. She was starting to
notice that he acted like two different people, and that wasn’t something he
could allow. He had to end it, now, before he was forced to do something really
ugly just to get her out of the way. Her welcoming smile made his gut clench.

“Oversleep again?”

He couldn’t bring himself to even pretend to find the
comment amusing. Her smile turned strained, then faded as her brows drew
together.

“Colin, what’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “I think we should stop meeting like
this.”

It was almost exactly the same thing he’d said to her that
first morning they’d had breakfast together, but there was no doubt that he
wasn’t being facetious now. Claire felt a denial come into her mind but
couldn’t force it past the instant tightness in her throat. Colin shifted his
gaze off her face for a moment, staring out at the horizon. He seemed to be gathering
his thoughts, and Claire couldn’t make herself say a word to interrupt him.
When he finally met her gaze again, the expression in his eyes made her want to
cry.

“Look, you’re a great woman and everything, but I just
don’t think it’s a good idea for us to keep seeing each other.”

She nodded and tightened her hands into fists, digging her
fingernails into her palms in an effort to keep the tears from coming to her
eyes. He saw them though, and the pity that filled his gaze made her want to
scream in frustration.

“Aw, Claire-” She jerked back, shaking her head when he
started to reach out and touch her.

“Don’t!” He stopped as she took a couple of unnaturally
deep breaths in an effort to maintain her self-control. Somehow she managed
make her voice sound something close to normal as she spoke, though she
couldn’t bring herself to actually meet his gaze. “
It’s
okay, Colin. You don’t need to explain it to me. I know how things are.”

The pain in her voice ripped at his gut. “I very much doubt
that.”

Her gaze jerked to his, and he saw a flash of defiance as
she lifted her chin. “I’m not a naïve little fool, Colin. I’ve always known
this friendship between us was transitory. I know very well that I’m not the
kind of woman a man like you makes a habit of spending time with. I knew that
sooner or later, you’d get bored with the aberration and put an end to it.
Frankly, I’m surprised it took you this long.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway,
there’s no reason to worry about me. I’ll be just fine. In fact, I’ve decided
that I’m going to go ashore today. You know I haven’t left the ship since we
left port and I figured I might as well go take in some of the local color
while I have the chance. I should get back to my room and grab my things. I’m
sure I’ll see you around later.”