Last Spy Standing (11 page)

But as her heart raced, she heard the sound of a few men approaching, and pulled herself into the shadows.

“Then what the hell was the shot about?”

“Guard said he couldn’t find anything.”

“Probably Jose got drunk again and couldn’t help showing off his new pistol to his buddies.”

“The man could never hold his liquor. He’s worse than a woman.” The speaker spat into the dust as his friends laughed in agreement.

She didn’t move back to the door until they were well away. She pulled her set of picks from her back pocket. But before she could put them into the lock, the door opened. The building wasn’t dark—the windows had just been blacked out from inside, she realized, too late.

“Chica.”
An immediate grin spread on the man’s pockmarked face as he looked her over. “I saw you earlier.” He lifted a bottle toward her. “You want to go someplace for a drink?”

He was better dressed and more well-spoken than most of the others. He probably had a higher position in the organization, which didn’t impress Megan.

“No thanks. I like to stop while I can still stand.”

“A woman with principles.” The man nodded. “Can’t find many of those in the jungle.” He watched her thoughtfully for a second. “You belong to Juarez?”

“Gotta have a protector in this business.” She shrugged.

“True enough.” The man looked her over again, this time with regret. “You better find your man before you get into trouble. The boys had too much to drink tonight. They see a pretty girl… They aren’t thinking.”

“I was just looking for him.”

“He’s not in here.” The man locked the door behind him, then took off for the barracks without a backward glance.

She moved on, circling around the building. When a large cloud covered the moon, she tried the front door again. The double lock was tricky to pick, but not impossible. Then she was in, the door closed behind her.

Since the windows were blacked out, not a smidgen of light filtered in from the outside. She reached for the light switch, but couldn’t find it. Some of the small buildings she’d been in had pull switches that hung from a light in the middle of the room. This place probably had the same. She moved forward.

Then a small noise made her freeze.

She held her breath, listening.

She didn’t hear another sound, yet every instinct she had screamed that someone was moving toward her. The short hairs at her nape stood on end. She pulled her knife. The gun would make too much noise and draw an audience.

She backed away slowly, silently, until her back bumped into the wall. Pulse beating, she waited.

No attack came.

The silence continued until she thought she might have just imagined the noise earlier. But no, she definitely felt a presence.

She turned toward the door. She would come back later.

A solid wall of flesh blocked her way. She bit her lip hard to keep from screaming. Then steel arms came around her to restrain her, knocking the knife from her hand.

“It’s me,” Mitch whispered into her ear just as she brought up her elbow to launch an attack.

“Was that necessary?” She smacked him on the chest, both angry at him and relieved beyond words. Something inside pushed her to lean against him. She checked that impulse and didn’t give in to it.

“I didn’t know who you were until you came close enough that I could smell your shampoo.”

He made that up. She hadn’t washed her hair since they’d been at Juarez’s camp. No way he could still smell that.

“How did you get in?” She moved away from him in the darkness. Maybe a little distance would stop her from being so aware of his body.

“Back window, while you were chatting up your guy up front.”

“He’s not my guy,” she snapped, annoyed with the situation, and the fact that she still hadn’t found Billy. “Did you find anything?”

“Two extra rooms in the back. All locked up tight.” His sexy voice skittered along her skin.

“Been inside yet?”

“I was about to see to the locks when you interrupted me. Careful.” He took her hand and led the way back through the darkness. “Where have you been?”

She shouldn’t have enjoyed his touch so much. They weren’t holding hands in a romantic way. He’d already been across the room and knew the path, leading her only to make sure she wouldn’t bump into anything and give them away.

Knowing that didn’t stop heat spreading across her skin, however. She tried not to think of his hands on other places on her body, but she failed. The night she’d spent in his hammock refused to be forgotten.

Focus on Billy.

“I’ve checked everywhere but here and the main house. Did you have anything to do with that gunshot?”

“No, but I was there. Would have gotten caught, too, if not for a hole in the fence.” He lit a match so they could see the lock.

There was a hole in the fence. Good to know. “What was it about?”

“Not sure. Could be Cristobal is making his move. Or private business between the Don’s men? Could be about drugs or a woman.”

They reached the door and he let go of her hand.

She immediately missed his touch. “The Don’s men were shooting at each other?”

“I couldn’t see well enough to tell.”

She thought for a second. “I caught a glimpse of the Don a couple of times, before they locked themselves up in the main house. He was definitely keeping a close eye on Cristobal.”

“All the more reason for us to get moving and get the hell out of here.”

She couldn’t agree more. She shoved her picks into the lock and worked the tumblers, then pushed the door in.

They found themselves in small private quarters. There was a bed, a table, some shelves.

Mitch even checked under the bed. He pulled out a dusty duffel bag. He claimed that, fingering something on the bottom, hesitating before tossing in some dry food, plus a box of matches. “Something for the trek out of the jungle.”

Good thinking. Neither of them had their backpacks. She figured walking around camp with her gear would draw attention. She’d written it off as a loss. Once she found and grabbed her brother, they would be out of here. There’d be no time to go back for anything then. Mitch must have thought the same.

He looked at the last locked door left before them. “Zak and Billy are either here or at the main house.”

Hope expanded in her heart. Her fingers were trembling so this time she held the match and Mitch saw to the lock. Her hands never shook. Ever. At least, not until now. But this time was personal.

She understood, at last, why the agency didn’t let its operatives get involved in missions where they had a personal stake. Everything
was
different. At least she had Mitch with her.

He opened the lock in no time. No surprise there. He seemed to be good at everything.

“Put the match out,” he said as soon as he stepped inside.

She blew out the flame, frustrated that he knew what was in the small room but she hadn’t seen anything. “What is it?” Was somebody coming? She listened for footsteps.

“Explosives storage.”

Given a choice, she would have preferred not to go in there. But something scraped at the front door of the building. Then they heard voices.

Mitch yanked her into the dark room and closed the door behind them.

They flattened themselves against the wall, one on each side, and waited. She had her knife drawn, plus her gun handy, in case everything went to hell.
Please, God, don’t let it end here. Let me find Billy.

Three men came in, judging by the voices. They complained about the food in a mixture of Spanish and some local language. There hadn’t been quite enough to eat, the soup was watered down.

“We’ll go hunting in the morning,” one of them offered a solution. “We’ll make a fire right in the forest and have a full meal. To hell with the visitors.”

“The Don said nobody leaves while the visitors are here,” another responded.

This was followed by some long and colorful swearing.

She heard a familiar beep a few seconds later. Someone had powered on a computer out there. Anything was possible with a generator, she supposed. The main section of this building must be some sort of office. Long minutes passed by. The men talked now and then, but they weren’t leaving. At least they weren’t coming into the storage room, either.

Once their door rattled, setting Megan’s nerves on edge. In a few minutes, the sound of snoring reached her. Someone must have hunkered down right in front of the door for a nap.

After a few tense seconds, Mitch pulled away and sat on the floor. She sat next to him, careful not to bump into any boxes in the dark.

“Are we stuck?” She kept her voice low, although the man snored loud enough outside to drown out her words.

“I’ll figure something out. Give me a second.”

Someone turned a radio on outside. Salsa music filled the air, which meant they could talk a little without being heard.

“Billy will be mad that I came. I might be older, but he always thinks women should be protected. When I was fourteen, I got home from my first date with a guy and he got fresh with me in the driveway. Billy dropped out of our tree house like a ninja and attacked him. He was ten.”

“You don’t have to do that anymore.”

“Do what?”

“Tell stories about your brother to make him into a real person in my mind so I’ll go along with your plans and help.”

He didn’t miss much. At least, he no longer seemed to be mad at her.

“Looks like they’re in the main house,” she whispered after a moment. “Billy and Zak. That’s the only place left. We could bust them out together.” She went for the logical solution. The two of them together would make a pretty good team. Not that she would ever acknowledge that she was asking for Mitch’s help.

“That’s the plan.”

His announcement gave her pause. “It is?”
Since when?

Then something occurred to her, certain events of the past day making a little more sense. “Is that why you didn’t take off with Zak in the woods when you set up the great snake distraction?”

“You’ve vouched for me with Juarez,” he said with some reluctance.

“But keeping me alive isn’t your mission. Taking Zak home is.” She winced. That sure sounded like she was arguing against herself. Better shut up while she was ahead.

“We’ll do this together.”

His voice was steady, like the man himself. Her heart turned over in her chest. She’d set out to do this alone. She’d thought she preferred it that way. The fewer people involved, the fewer chances for mistakes.

But Mitch was… The truth was she was lucky to have Mitch by her side for this, and she knew it.

“The night before last, in your hammock, that wasn’t a ploy on my part. I had no intention… I went there to tell you about the change of plans.”

Silence stretched between them.

“All right,” he said after a minute.

Some of the tightness relaxed in her shoulders.

He shifted toward her. “I need you to answer a question for me. Honestly.”

Considering who she worked for, she couldn’t promise that. “Ask, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“How do you know Colonel Wilson?”

She hesitated for a second. “I met him a year and a half ago.”

“Where?”

“At my mother’s house. He came to visit my brother.”

“Billy?”

“Jamie.”

Another moment of silence. Then Mitch swore softly under his breath. “You’re Jamie Cassidy’s sister?”

“Didn’t I just say that?”

“So this Billy is Jamie’s little brother?”

She grinned in the dark. “We’re all siblings. Do you want me to draw you a map?”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Do you know Jamie?”

A full minute ticked by before he answered. “By name only. We’re connected through…um…”

“You both work for Colonel Wilson.” It annoyed her to death that she knew so little about her brother’s work. If Jamie didn’t want to talk about something, you couldn’t get a word out of him with bloody torture. He’d been like that even when they’d been kids.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can neither confirm nor deny that,” Mitch mocked her, acting just like her infuriating brother.

“The Colonel came to visit Jamie after he got out of the hospital.” He’d lost both legs on a mission he wasn’t allowed to talk about, and she hadn’t been able to uncover anything despite all her CIA connections.

“I heard he’s had a rough time of it.”

She couldn’t talk about that. The way Jamie had been the last time she’d seen him… It had broken her heart. And the worst part was, there was nothing she could do to help. But she could help Billy. Nothing was going to happen to Billy. Not as long as she was alive and her heart was beating in her chest.

“We should get moving.”