Killer Secrets (29 page)

down a week later."

"You did it a week early. Technically, a
deserter."

He inclined his head in mocking agreement. "My lawyers
are arguing that case in Washington as a matter

of fact. The cartel has some excellent lawyers."

And that was the truth. Of course, neither the Navy nor DHS
was pushing too hard at this time for

charges.

A smile tugged at her lips as her gaze went past him to the
vista of perfect blue waters that surrounded

the island. Her sharp frown was his first warning.

"Evade! Evade!" Trevor's voice across the
receiver located in the radio at the side of the

backward-facing seat was his final warning.

He pushed Kira to the floor as the limo swerved and the
back window began lowering. His head swung

around, a curse leaving his lips, as the front of the limo
seemed to explode, the car flying across the road

and burying itself in the side of a rocky sand dune.

The force of the landing flung him across the car as he
fought to hold Kira in place. Even as the vehicle

shuddered he kicked the door open, dragging her out and
throwing her toward Mendez and Cristo as

they rushed for the limo.

"Get Trevor on the ground," he yelled to Mendez
as Cristo caught Kira. "Now."

He gripped the driver's-side door, pulling at it before
cursing when it didn't open. Turning, he jumped

into the back of the vehicle, climbing through the back
partition to check Deke.

"How's Deke?" Mendez yelled.

"Alive." Barely.

Ian gripped the passenger door, forced it open then backed
out as he dragged Deke's heavy,

unconscious body across the seat. Mendez and Cristo helped
lift him as wind from the helicopter's rotors

beat around them.

"Boss, two speedboats," Trevor yelled as he
rushed toward them, grabbing Deke's legs as Cristo and

Mendez grabbed his upper body.

"Get him in the copter," Ian snapped. "Now.
Call the villa and have the doc pulled in. Trevor, did you

get any ID marks on those boats?"

"I know them, boss." He was walking backward,
rushing Deke's lower body to the copter while the rest

of them followed. "Both are rentals out of
Oranjestad."

They loaded Deke quickly into the copter as Ian turned for
Kira and nearly did a double take.

She was poised, shoeless, her hair whipping around her, an
M-16 braced in her arms as she secured the

area. Ian knew he had never seen anything so damned hot in
his life.

"Let's go." He stepped to her quickly, pulled the
weapon from her hands, and tossed it to Mendez.

"Mendez, you and Cristo get to the villa double
time." He pushed Kira into the front of the copter with

Trevor before jumping into the cramped back with a still
unconscious Deke.

His gaze stayed on Kira as the helicopter lifted off,
banked, and raced across the island. He hated using

air power.

"Tracking's on, boss, we're showing no locks. We'll
make it."

The advanced radar and weapons detection equipment he'd had
installed was his best insurance in case

of emergency but it wasn't foolproof.

"Just get us there, Trevor," he called out, his
gaze meeting Kira's as she turned her head and stared back

at him worriedly.

She was in the middle of a war zone and he couldn't force
her out or protect her. The knowledge of that

ate at his guts and tightened his chest as anger burned
inside him.

He wanted her out of here. He wanted her so far from this
situation that there wasn't a chance of it

touching her, and he knew it wasn't going to happen. She
wasn't just a trained contract agent. She was a

woman who had a hold on his balls which he couldn't seem to
break.

Chauvinism, his ass. This was more than chauvinism, this
was an emotion he couldn't conquer and

couldn't force behind him. It was a mix of protectiveness
and possessiveness, fury and worry. She was

getting to him and he had no idea how to stop it.

Seventeen

THE HELICOPTER LANDED DIRECTLY BEHINDthe villa. Men raced
from the French doors that

led to the pool area, M-16s and Uzis gripped in their
hands, to surround the aircraft as Ian jumped from

the side and motioned to several of the soldiers to ease
the lead bodyguard through the opening and

carry him into the house.

Kira accepted Trevor's helping hand from the pilot's door,
her eyes on Ian, seeing the lines bracketing

his lips and eyes, the barely contained rage that glittered
in his gaze.

"The doctor is en route," one of the Fuentes
soldiers that had converged on the villa shouted to Ian as

the helicopter's rotors slowly eased and stopped.
"Ramon called when they left town. Another three

minutes at the most."

Ian nodded then turned, his hand latching around Kira's
wrist and dragging her to his side before heading

for the villa.

"Get him in his room and show the doctor straight to
him. Get out to the limo and get it towed and ditch

it. I want all evidence of this attempted hit wiped away.
Understand that?" he snapped to the soldier.

"Sí."
The soldier turned away, called several soldiers to him,
and rushed to the attached garage rather

than entering the house with the rest of the force.

As they moved through the informal patio room and into the
wide hallway toward the foyer, Kira

watched as Diego Fuentes came out from his study. He said
nothing, but his expression was heavy,

concerned. Black eyes were shielded by dark lashes, his
lips tightly compressed. He was worried, and

perhaps a bit frightened. Kira would have taken the time to
reflect more on that if Ian wasn't pulling her

quickly up the stairs in the wake of the soldiers carrying
Deke.

"Go to our room," he ordered, his voice flat and
hard as he unlocked the door and pushed her inside.

"I'll be right back." The door closed in her
face.

Kira rolled her eyes. There were some moods that she
wouldn't mind opposing, but something in his

eyes warned her to steer clear of pushing him much harder
right now. Waiting would likely be the

smartest decision. And when he came to her—She blew out a
hard breath. She had seen that mood

before, the racing adrenaline, the need for action. When he
began coming down, he was going to be

ready for more than tea and cakes.

She rubbed at the chill that raced over her arms and tried
to still the excitement that began to claw at her

stomach. He was going to be hard, confrontational. Ready to
go head-to-head with the first person

willing to give him the chance.

She knew. The adrenaline wasn't as all-consuming for her as
it was for most men she had worked with.

She had seen some of the operatives and SEALs she had
worked with fight or fuck for hours after

coming down from a dangerous situation.

Fucking just for the sake of the adrenaline had never been
her thing, until Ian. She could definitely see

the benefits of it now.

She pushed her fingers roughly through her hair at that
thought. She could have lost him today. And she

knew it wasn't the first time he had been attacked. In the
past eight months there had been half a dozen

attempts.

Turning away from the door, she walked halfway across the
room before she realized she had left her

shoes in the damned limo. They were a favorite pair too.

She paced to the couch, pulled the slender strap of her
clutch purse from over her head, and lifted the

cell phone from it.

She glanced around before moving into the bathroom,
standing inside the doorway and reaching in to

turn on the water in the porcelain sink before hitting the
speed dial.

"Son of a bitch, I knew this was a bad idea."
Daniel answered on the first ring. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She kept her voice low and hoped any
listening devices Ian might have in the room couldn't

pick her voice up over the flow of water beside her.
"Who was it?"

"We're working on it."

"We?" She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"God, he's going to have a cow if you mean who I think you

do."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, dammit,"
Daniel cursed. "We're tracking down the boats. We've

narrowed them to one rental agency but they weren't listed
as rented. We should have more info soon."

"Get it fast. He's in a killing mood. This could get
ugly."

"Any fatalities?"

"None. His head bodyguard is unconscious though. The
wound to his head didn't look pretty. Head to

steering wheel, I suspect."

"He needs to accept the hand reaching out to
help," Daniel growled. "Broach the subject, Kira. He's

going to need it."

Her laughter was low and bitter as she kept her eyes on the
door. Ian wouldn't accept the risk to his

friends and she knew it. He considered this
his
battle because Diego was
his
father.

"Won't happen. Tell your gift horses he sent them a
message though. Killer Secrets. And let me tell you,

he was serious."

Daniel's curse sizzled over the secure line.

"My thoughts too . . ." She flipped the phone
quickly, disconnecting the call and shoving the phone back

into her purse as the doorknob twisted.

Sliding in front of the sink, she bent and splashed water
over her face, her heart racing in her chest at the

close call. If Ian caught her on the phone he'd likely tie
her to his bed for the remainder of this operation,

because he would know damned good and well what she was
doing on it.

Eyes still closed, she turned off the water, gripped the
hand towel on the silver rack and pulled it free.

Covering her face with it, she quickly dried off, then
opened her eyes and didn't bother restraining her

gasp.

Diego stood in the doorway, black rage flickering in his
gaze as he stared back at her.

"Does he know who did this?" His voice was low,
filled with death.

This was the Diego Fuentes she had investigated, the one
she had worked to break, in several different

missions, and failed.

She shook her head slowly. She didn't have to fake the
flash of fear she felt, especially when she saw the

butt of the weapon sticking from above the band of his
pants.

"You fear me." There was an edge of satisfaction
in his voice and a flash of smug amusement in his gaze.

"I think I am too used to dealing with Ian. He knows
no such fear."

"You're his father. Why would he fear you?" She
cleared her throat, wondering if he was susceptible to a

bit of flattery.

"Yes." He looked away for a moment, but when his
gaze returned to her it was as flat as it had been

before. "I am his father, and I still do not know what
happened. You will tell me."

She shook her head, swallowing tightly, as she let in the
memory of the limo flying and crashing into the

rocky outcropping across the road. Fear had nearly
immobilized her, but not fear for herself, fear for Ian.

Diego's lips tightened again at the flash of emotion she
allowed him to see.

"I don't know what happened." God help her and
Diego both if she told him anything Ian didn't want him

to know. "One minute we were driving down the coast,
the next we were flying in that limo."

He inhaled slowly, his nostrils widening as his expression
turned savage. She could have sworn pain

flashed in his eyes.

"That is unfortunate," he finally expressed.
"I would know who to kill for this action against my son."

"You and me both." She gave him delicate snort as
she moved past him back into the sitting room. The