The Protector of Ambra (Mercenaries of Fortune, #5) (7 page)

“Hmm?” He frowned a little and shrugged. “I guess it’s like handling the finances of your business. A certain percentage goes back into work, a certain percentage you save for yourself and the last bit you save for others. It’s not enough to have money or in this case, time. We all have the same amount of time in a day. It’s how we use it.”

“That’s high-level thinking right there.”

“It’s true. I was in the Navy before. I’ve lost good men and women in the field. I know that every day is a gift some people don’t receive. Have you ever heard of a man named Laozi?”

“Should I have?”

“Probably not,” he said with a chuckle. “He lived thousands of years ago. He basically said that if you’re nervous about something, you’re living in the future. If you’re sad about something, then you’re living in the past. The only way to find peace is to live in the present. That’s what I try to do. I enjoy life and try to find happiness where I can. Clay pottery included.”

It was a beautiful sentiment, but the practicalities of it were...well...awesome. And unlivable. “So, what, people don’t have responsibilities according to this guy?”

“Sure they do, but once you’ve done all you can and the moment has passed, let it live in the past. Leave it behind you.” Then he looked over and winked, “It’d be like trying to right a wrong that doesn’t need to be righted and completely overlooking the beautiful jungle that led you there.”

She couldn’t tell if she was being talked down to or not. And since she couldn’t, it made a whole lot more sense to stick her arm out the window and watch the neon and forest greens of the jungle take her away. Easier to look out there than to analyze why she was here in the first place.

Apparently, Pierce wasn’t a man for expectant silences. “How did you learn to drive like that? Fancy stuff back there at the monastery.”

She blew on her fingertips. “Never count out a truck driver.”

“You drove trucks? Consider me impressed.”

“A delivery truck. Before we had our space, we rented a group kitchen. Our orders and catering took us over most of the state. It wasn’t a lightweight truck either – not with the cold storage we needed. I learned through trial and painful error, but today, there’s no parking space too narrow. My reign as parallel parking master goes unchallenged.”

“You’ll have to give me lessons someday.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I mean it,” he said, glancing from his phone to the bumpy road ahead. “I’m that guy who parks at the end of the lot and it’s not because I’m worried about
my
paint job.”

“Something you’re not good at? And you’re admitting it? Save the date.” More like he was lying to make her feel better. It worked, until she realized that it shouldn’t work. That wormed around until she ended up with the craziest damned question. What was the worst that could happen if she
let
it work?

He caught her staring and winked. “You okay?”

“I’ll teach you. Even if you’re just lying to make me feel better.”

“The tightest of spaces?”

“Gross. Just stop,” but her admonishments drowned in a wave of soft chuckles. “You’ll get one free parallel parking lesson—” 

“Free?”

“Wait, wait. I’ll need to assess where you are before I put my life and property on the line.”

Pierce’s lips dropped and the phone fell from his hand. His fingers didn’t stop wiggling until she laced her own through his. “I will not put you in danger, Melody. And if by some strange circumstance, you go driving into danger – not referencing anything in particular, I’m just saying – I will always get you out of it.”

“Always is a long time. Especially between strangers.”

He bobbed his head from side to side and slowed the car to a stop. “We shared DNA. Not in the traditional way that some people do, but we swapped it with that unusually chaste kiss. So, there’s that. And the stitches. Even if you’re only using me for my superior ass-kicking skills, you’re still my patient. If for no other reason than that, I’ll always make sure you’re safe.”

His hand was like fire around hers. It was no less burning when he cupped her chin, leaving a trail of lava and starting blazes all over her body.

It was an impulsive move, but then again, he’d been impulsive from the second they’d met. For the moment, as her toes curled in her super sexy Birkenstocks, she was grateful as hell. She couldn’t move her gaze away from his lips. She just sat there, taking in the fullness of him. His mouth was sex on tap.

The jeep groaned. It didn’t like standing idle. Neither did her hands. They needed to feel him and the next thing she knew, her arms were latched around his back.

Everything stopped around the two of them. Nothing else existed aside from the honeyed taste of his mouth. She was fourteen again, having her world rocked on the lockers outside of homeroom.

He pulled away too damned fast for her liking. “Was I out of line?”

“Well...” she wiped at the corner of her lips. “Don’t think this means I’ll go easier on you during parking tutoring.”

“Oh, no. I like rough, mistress.”

And whether he did or didn’t, it was said with all the heat of an Easy Bake Oven. This was him, playful and at peace. Relaxing her in a whole new way and again making her wish for something more cheerful out of life.

Not that she had any say. She was his patient after all. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t in control and it really didn’t suck.

I
t was close to noon before they neared the town of Camerra, thick in cacao tree-growing territory. Pierce’s mind had been occupied by two things the whole trip up here: Melody and work.

Three things – Melody, work and how Melody was impacting his work.

He should be on a plane flying somewhere over Kansas by now. He’d been busted. Maybe. Ava had sounded too frantic to be angry. With her closest friend on a mission in Macedonia, Pierce had to be in the far back section of her mind. Or, possibly Ava was quietly plotting his demise.

He wouldn’t know until he got back to the base.

While Melody chatted on about different types of chocolate, he was coming up with a plausible...truth. Lying to his boss wasn’t an option. If even lightly investigated, which was very likely at this point, the details of his trip would be impossible to hide. So, what to say then? An innocent woman needed his help? True. He had to mention the struggle on the street with the thieves. It certainly bolstered his cause. Did he go so far as to mention the Olmec artifact?

Eh
.

Lying for duty? Sure. Lying for friends? Easy. Lying to friends and bosses? A little harder, bordering on impossible. He’d have to carefully truth his way into their good graces. So, yes that meant the artifact and coming clean about everything, including his affection for Melody.

The sooner they solved her problems, the sooner he solved his. And the sooner he solved his problems, the sooner he could take her out for a proper date.

“Tell me what you know about the chocolate facility.”

Melody blinked and put down her phone. “Well, don’t think factory. Think a series of small patches of land connected to a larger facility. Noah works in the main house. The different aspects of the business branch out from that one building. Land-wise, each plot is owned or leased by another family. On their own, they wouldn’t make much. By bundling the shipments, they increase their selling power, drop-shipping costs and I still get a good deal. It was perfect.”

“Until it wasn’t.”

“Basically.” She propped her sandaled feet on the dashboard and cupped her chin. “The pictures don’t do this place justice. All of these rolling hills...the air. It’s perfect out here. When the business starts turning a more consistent profit, I need to come back.”

“Make it a thing.”

“A thing?”

He threw another shrug and a wink. “Yeah. Once you’re super rich, bring your mom and sister down here once or twice a year. Partly for a vacation, but mostly to connect with your farmers. Isn’t that the problem now? You don’t know what’s happening on-site? That’s not a knock, by the way.”

“To be fair to me...and let’s be fair to me—”

“Of course,” he added with a half bow.

“Mama’s the checkout lady, my sister’s the baker and I’m the chocolatier, along with being the chief finance officer, chief business executive, marketing department, website manager and the woman who flung the paintbrush when the chair railings needed touching up. Translation, it’ll be a while before any fun trips to Mexico happen.”

“Maybe not. If this guy’s skimming money off the top, that stops today. That’s a start. Far be it from me to tell you how to run your business, but if you need help with—”

With a headshake and snapping fingers, she cut him off. “I know what needs to be done. Have you ever started a business? Owned your own private practice?”

“Nope.”

“Let me be first to tell you, it is what it is. These are standard growing pains for any small business. If it were easy, everyone would do it. It’s not even that it’s hard most times. If I had 36 hours in the day, or a clone, I’d be light-years ahead. What makes it bearable is knowing that every other businessperson goes through this too. I’ve gotta earn my stripes. I’m not scared of them. Just sucks sometimes.”

“No, Ms. Melody, I don’t think you’re scared of much,” he said, still eager to do his part to lighten her burden.

The village was one of those blink-and-you-miss-it places, but on the other side of it, the road narrowed to a pair of trails about a truck axle wide. “Remember how I got out of the jeep at the last place and walked up to where I needed to be?”

Melody looked back at him like a twelve-year-old being sold on Santa Claus. “It worked out so well then. Plan B?”

“It’s a good Plan A when it works.”

“Are you serious?”

He sure as hell was. She had it in her head that they needed pictures of something. Wrong. Also, any place worthy of picture taking was likely to be occupied. “We need data. Therefore—”

“You need me in there. You don’t know what you’re looking for. How do you know what is and isn’t supposed to be there?”

“Well, I—”

“And you’ve missed one pretty big clue,” she said, arms crossed and looking a little too Mussolini at the balcony.

He hadn’t missed a damned thing. A set of tire tracks maybe from a couple of small cars. Cigarette butts and candy wrappers lined the road, but they were old and faded. “This used to be a pedestrian walkway but people stopped coming this way. Though, not all them. Just those who would walk. Farmers, laborers, but not the big wigs. Maybe two or three months back.”

“You’re almost right,” she said.

“Almost? Okay, Murder She Wrote, let’s hear it.”

She closed her eyes and leaned back into the seat. “It’s going to feel so good to throw something back in your face again. Again,” she added, with a one-two punch above her head.

“Oh, God.”

“Look at this beautiful view. All these lovely cacao trees. You can smell the cocoa on the breeze. Take a good deep breath.”

“You’re cute when you’re cocky, but your point?”

“See those orangey-yellow football-looking things? Those are the pods that hold the cacao. The tree has two seasons per year. From now until the end of the month, this land should be filled with harvesters. If they’re not here, then there’s no work here.”

“You said that you worked with individual families. Why can’t they sell to someone else?”

“Like who? Aside from the groups we worked with, every other producer around here comes from old Spanish families. They’ve got a lock on the market. No way they’re risking their bottom line to work with these guys. Well, that’s one possibility off the list. I kinda thought Noah was selling the cacao to someone else. Turns out, he’s not selling it at all.”

The man was probably selling something a lot more profitable under the cover of her business. Not a large-scale operation though. He and Melody couldn’t have driven up this close without red dots blinking on their shirts. It wasn’t adding up.

He wanted to go in and get it over with. He would have if he’d been on his own. To that point, there would be no
it
to discover without her. He checked the flight schedule on his phone. “If I ask you to stay behind, will you pretend that I’m an agent who knows what he’s doing?”

“Of course. That doesn’t mean I’m staying behind though. How will you know—”

“Right. How will I know what to look for,” he finished for her. “Figured as much. Let’s take cover in this tree line until we figure out what to do. I’m thinking, given your attitude, it’ll be easier to knock on the front door. We get the info we need and bounce. Our flight leaves at ten tomorrow morning.”

“That’s hella confident.”

True, but the reality was pretty freaking simple. Either he was very right or they were very, very dead.

H
is confidence wasn’t as infectious as he’d planned. She was more nervous now than before and had the sweaty palms to show it.

Faking it until she made it, only made it so far.

While she paced, he checked weapons and reloaded magazines or clips or whatever they were called. Her ears rang in memory of the last gunfight. She wasn’t looking forward to another one. “Maybe we should call the authorities?”

His thumb pressed a final bullet into place, before picking up a gun with canisters on the side. “The time for cops was before I had a pilfered antique in my backpack.”

“Don’t remind me. But if you’re thinking Noah’s involved in some sort of drug operation—”

“Those words did not leave my lips,” he said with a glance in her direction. “This drive up here was that test. A big grow operation would have
unkindly
turned us around. This is something small scale, assuming there’s anything at all. He might just be stealing from you. Probably is, in which case we get a confession, get your money and go home.”

Pierce was saying all the right things, but he’d just added a knife to a holster around his ankle. He had a gun on either side of his waist now, with a third on a rock between them. “Is that for me?” she asked. “Because I froze last time.”