Master of the Game (Rush Series Book 3) (20 page)

“Hurt?
How bad?”
Devon asked as she turned to quickly throw on a
black rain-poncho and grab a flashlight before leaving the tent.

The
blonde woman seemed to hesitate before saying, “I think he’s sprained his
ankle… it could be broken. I just don’t know. Come on,” she said as she turned
away expecting Devon to follow. The poncho offered little in protection against
the driving rain. Within seconds, she was completely drenched. For the
briefest
of a second, Devon wondered if maybe she should
have gotten one of the other men to come with them.
Would she
and Sara even be able to get Roman back to the camp?
She wasn’t sure,
but Sara hadn’t really given her any time.

Several
feet up ahead of her, Devon watched as Sara made her way toward the falls. Not
that she could actually see Sara. All she could make out was the beam of her
flashlight which she followed like a beacon. She watched as Sara’s light
slipped through some hole in the rock-face. Devon’s eyebrows drew together and
she swiped at the rain pouring into her eyes. She’d not noticed the entrance
there. Moving quickly, she slipped through the opening and rushed inside what
appeared to be a cave.

Devon
was panting from the rush through the jungle and her body was shivering from
being soaked. She looked to where Sara now stood. Shock and disbelief had her
blinking her eyes – sure she was hallucinating. The cave was illuminated by a
single lantern giving the cave an eerie, semi-lit atmosphere. Sara stood a few
feet from the entrance beside Roman, but they weren’t alone. Standing, holding
a gun pointed at Roman, was
Lex
Vega. Devon blinked
her eyes a few more times, trying to make sense of what was displayed before
her.

“Roman?”
she asked inanely.

“I’m so
sorry,” he whispered brokenly.

“I
don’t understand,” she replied.

“I had
no choice. They threatened to burn down my parents’ restaurant with them in it.
God, I’m so sorry,” he gushed.

“
Lex
?” she directed her questioning gaze to him.

He
smirked at her. “You should have just done what you were told. It would have
saved everyone so much trouble,” he said calmly. “No worries… obedience can be
taught.”

Devon
swallowed and glanced quickly at Sara who’d moved to sit on a nearby boulder
and appeared bored by the whole thing. “I don’t understand,” Devon finally
said. “You threatened his family… because of me?”

Lex
let out a bark of laughter.
“No, of course not.
I want you, but not that much. You’re
just the icing on the cake, that’s all.”

She
fluttered her hand at her side, “I don’t understand what this is about then.”

Lex
tilted his head toward the side of the
cave. “It’s about those.”

She
turned her head slowly in the direction he’d indicated, and shock and disbelief
once again swamped her. Six white, slender cylinders lay stacked together. “Are
those missiles?” she asked perplexed, striving to make sense out of the
situation being played out.

“Yep,”
he replied proudly. “Those are our ticket out of the small time.”

“Our?”
she faltered, already knowing the answer.

“Mine
and your step-father’s,” he replied.

“But…
but he’s dead,” she gasped.

He
reared back his head and laughed. “Is that what you think? Trust me when I say
he certainly is not. He does have a little headache, which he wants you to pay
for.”

“And
pay for it you will… just like your mother did,” Miguel Munoz said as he
stepped out of the darkness near the back of the cave, wiping his brow with a
handkerchief. He was dressed extraordinarily well to be in a cave in the middle
of a jungle. It was obvious he’d been in the cave for a while, as he was
entirely dry and his cream suit still managed to look impeccable.

Devon
gasped and pressed a hand to her mouth.
“Oh, my God!
It’s you!”

Miguel
gave a rueful laugh. “There’s that good education shining through again. You
really are sharp as a tack.”

Her
chest heaved with emotion as she asked shakily, “What did you do with my
mother?”

“She is
no longer your concern,” he replied simply.

“
Nooo
!” she cried as she launched herself at him again in a
repeat of what she’d done in his office nearly a week before. Unlike then,
however, this time
Lex
caught her easily around the
waist and spun her around and held her tight with her back pressed against his
chest. She struggled against his hold, crying and screaming. “Let me go… let me
go!”

Lex
just tightened his hold and chuckled,
infuriating her all the more.

Over
her head, he said to Miguel, “You were right, she is a little hellcat. It’ll be
my pleasure to tame her… I hope she survives it,” he finished with a laugh.

Miguel
stood, looking bored as he straightened the cuffs of his suit jacket.
“How long before the buyer gets here?”

Lex
chuckled again at Devon’s attempt to
get out of his hold. In her ear he whispered, “It won’t be long until I begin
to teach you some manners.” With the butt of his gun, he tapped her hard enough
to rattle her, but not seriously hurt her.
 

“You
bastard!” she spat. “Let me go.”

At the
same time, Roman moved toward
Lex
in her defense.
“Hey!” he yelled, before stopping suddenly when
Lex
turned the gun, practically putting it in his face.

Devon
placed a hand on Roman’s arm. “Roman, it’s okay. Please don’t,” she cried, her
head swimming, as she blinked past the pain.

“Control
your woman,
Lex
!” Miguel snarled out.

“What
did you do with my mother?” Devon begged Miguel.

With a
dismissive wave of his hand, Miguel said, as if it were of no consequence,
“She’s alive, if that’s what you’re worried about. But let’s just say… she
knows her place… unlike you. I pity poor
Lex
here.”
Turning his attention back
Lex
, he said, “Now on to
more important things…” he allowed his sentence to trail off.

Lex
placed a kiss against her temple
before shoving her into Roman. Negligently, he waved the gun to the side of the
cave. “Go - the two of you, sit down over there and be quiet. The grownups have
business to discuss… oh, listen, the rain’s stopped.”

Devon
stood staring uncomprehendingly at
Lex
and Miguel.
Questions swamped her mind regarding her mother and about their current
situation. When she made to place a detaining hand on
Lex’s
arm, Roman grabbed it and pulled her down next to him away from the little
group, which now included Sara.

Her
mind seemed to jump from one thing to the next as she strove to comprehend what
was happening around her. Roman leaned in close to her and asked hesitantly, as
if unsure of her reception of him, “Are you okay?”

With
fingers that shook, she pressed them against the knot forming close to her
temple from where
Lex
had hit her. “I don’t
understand what’s going on here. I don’t understand what all this means… you,
me, them, and those,” she said, pointing at the missiles stacked across the
cave from them. “Can you tell me?” she finally asked.

Roman
scrubbed his hands over his face. “God, Dev, I don’t even know where to start…”

She
blinked slowly as she watched
Lex
explaining
something in hushed tones to Miguel. Sara stood by, her hand resting
possessively on
Lex’s
arm. What did he want with her,
when it was obvious he had a relationship with Sara Daniels?

Her
thoughts swirled as she tried to put the puzzle pieces together. Turning at
last to face Roman, firming her lips which threatened to tremble, she asked
him, “Did you know… when I came to you from Miguel’s… when I thought I’d killed
him… did you know? Did you let me think this whole time that I was a murderer
when you knew he wasn’t dead?”

“God,
no!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t know Miguel was involved at all until tonight. I
was duped as much as you were. Last year when I was still at Baylor, I hooked
up with Sara a few times… nothing serious. But I guess I must have mentioned my
grandfather showing me a secret place here by the ruins… this cave, obviously.
It was just an innocent comment about when I was a boy hunting fossils. The
next thing I knew, I was being referred to
Taggert
Lanier for this dig. I thought it was because I’d made an impression on the
professor, but it was only because I knew about this cave.”

Devon
snatched her head back to him. “Is the Professor involved in this?” she asked
vehemently.

Roman’s
eyebrows drew together at the emotion behind her question. He shook his head,”
No…” he began before he froze. “It was him? He was the one who attacked you?”
he asked incredulously. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?
Son-of-a-bitch!”

With a
little shake of her head, she looked back toward the group that was making
decisions that greatly impacted her life. “I still don’t understand why we’re
here. I mean, once you showed them where the cave was, why did they want us?”

Roman
exhaled deeply. “I followed Sara out one night. She came here and that’s when I
saw the missiles.” He turned mournful eyes to her. “I wanted to tell you. I’ve
loved you my whole life; you’re my best friend. I’ve made a mess of everything.
I wish when you’d first came to me that I’d told you to leave and go to the
States; hide out anyplace else than here with me. I made it so easy for them to
get you. I almost told you last night… but my parents… my sister… her kids… I’m
sorry,
I didn’t know what to do… I’m so sorry.”

She
swallowed as emotion built between them. She licked her lips as she strove to
maintain a hold of herself. “This isn’t your fault. You are a pawn in this as
much as I am. We’ll get out of this somehow,” she said with more confidence
than she felt.

Devon
jumped when
Lex’s
voice rang out in the hollowness of
the cave. “Hey, what you two got your heads together about? Wouldn’t be
thinking of trying to leave us, now would you?”

His
words made her stomach burn. “Only every second I’m around you,” she said
through a clenched jaw.

Miguel
threw back his head and laughed. “Good luck with that one, my friend.”

Lex
advanced on her quickly and backhanded
her, causing her to tumble head-first into the dust and dirt of the cave’s
floor. Roman jumped up to defend her, but
Lex
was
bigger and had a mean-streak a mile wide. He grabbed the front of Roman’s shirt
and pulled him up close to him as he pressed the barrel of his gun against his
temple. “Please give me a reason,”
Lex
begged of
Roman.

Devon
staggered up to her feet, swiping at the blood on her cheek from where
Lex’s
signet ring had cut her.
“Stop!
Please
Lex
, don’t. I’m begging you. Please don’t,”
she said frantically. “Please let him go.”

He
tilted his head and studied her. “Would that make you happy?” he asked softly.

Slowly
she nodded her head. “Yes,” she whispered. “Please let him
go
,
and I’ll do what you want.”

He
laughed sharply. “That’s a given. But you know, I think you’ve grown entirely
too fond of him.
So, in answer to your question… no.”
As he said the word, he pulled the trigger and a shot rang out a second before
Roman’s blood splattered across her face, her arms, and her clothes. A stunned
look crossed Roman’s face as he crumpled to his knees.

“Oh, my God!”
Devon gasped as she moved
forward to kneel in front of him. She grasped Roman’s head in her hands.

Roman
spread his hands out in front of him and they came away bloody. He opened his
mouth to speak but only managed to gasp like a fish out of water before falling
in a heap against her. “No!!” she screamed, as she clutched him to her trying
to keep him up right. “Oh, my God, please help him!” she cried up at
Lex
.

“I
don’t need him anymore. Leave him,”
Lex
said coolly
as he kicked Roman’s body aside.

Devon
fell back onto the dirt floor of the cave once more and stared horrified at the
sight of the boy she’d loved like a brother her entire life lying lifeless now
in front of her. She gulped as tears coursed down her cheeks and fear sat like
a stone in her chest. She lifted disbelieving eyes up to the callous eyes of
Lex
. “How could you do that?” she whimpered.

 
“Because he means nothing to
us.
Besides, it’s important you realize everyone is expendable. Keep
this in mind when you feel like defying me, my little tiger.”