The Reunion Mission (8 page)

Sucking in a deep breath, she sought out Daniel’s profile, reassuring herself with his presence. The lights from the dashboard cast harsh shadows over the rugged lines of his face, and she couldn’t help but flash back to the night her hands had traced his chiseled cheeks and square jaw while her body had been tangled with his. That night he’d been smiling, his dark eyes alight with warmth and humor. Her heart pattered with longing. She missed his smile. She had yet to see it since he’d swooped in to save her from her Colombian prison.

“Now that we’re on the road, can you tell me where you’re taking me?” she called over the road noise. Roused by her voice, Oreo meowed, as if to say, “Yeah, where are you taking us?”

Daniel turned in the front seat and met her gaze. “My turf.”

“Excuse me?”

“With my bum knee, I need every advantage I can get against these cretins. We’re going someplace I know inside out.” He cast a narrowed gaze out the side window and muttered something to Jake she couldn’t hear.

A tickle of suspicion crawled up her back. “Meaning?”

“We’re going to the bayou.”

* * *

Daniel peered through the darkness to the weathered house on the bank of a southern Louisiana bayou. He’d spent many nights in the old wooden home. Set on a pier foundation with a wide front porch and a tin roof, his
grandmère’
s one-hundred-year-old house looked exactly as it had the day he’d come to live there as a newly orphaned boy.

From the bayou waters, the eyes of creatures large and small reflected the headlights with a preternatural glow. Daniel had learned to respect the wildlife as he grew up, but Nicole and Pilar would have to be taught basic precautions. As beautiful as the moss-draped bayou was, the murky swampland teemed with hidden dangers.

“The circuit box is just inside the back door,” he told Jake as he handed him a key. “Turn the power on while we unload, will ya?”

Jake nodded, jammed his cowboy hat on his head and climbed out of his truck, leaving his headlights burning, the only illumination on the house, other than the gibbous moon.

Daniel slid out of the truck and pulled his crutches from the backseat, along with one of the cat carriers. Nicole whispered to Pilar, who sat up, rubbing her eyes and glancing around warily.

“Whose house is this?” Nicole asked, rolling the kinks from her shoulders and craning her neck to gaze through the windshield.

“Mine now.” Daniel massaged his sore knee, stiff after sitting so long. “It was my grandmother’s and her parents’ before that.
Mémère
left it to me when she died three years ago.”

Behind him the security light blinked on with a hum that said the power had been restored. One by one lights came on in the windows, indicating Jake was making his way through the rooms, checking things out.

Nicole popped open the truck door and climbed out, then helped Pilar jump to the ground. After circling the front bumper, she took a cat carrier in each hand and looked up at him. “Lead the way.”

Slinging his duffel over one shoulder, Daniel planted his crutches on the soft earth and headed inside. The warped front steps creaked as he climbed them, and he batted a large cobweb out of his way as he hobbled to the front door. He gave the grimy window a quick knock, and Jake opened the door and stood back.

The musty smell of mildew and age assailed him, and as he limped into the familiar living room, he imagined he could still smell
Mémère’s
crawfish gumbo and spicy boudin cooking on the gas stove. When his grandmother didn’t round the corner from the kitchen and spread her arms for a hug, a pang settled over him. The house seemed lonely, lifeless without
Mémère.

“I’ll grab the suitcases,” Jake said, moving to the door. “Which room do you want them in?”

Roused from his memories, Daniel waved a hand toward the back of the house. “Put Nicole in the master bedroom and the girl next door. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Nicole stiffened. “No. Pilar stays with me.” She stroked the child’s head and shrugged. “I doubt she’d stay in a room by herself, anyway. You can have the master bedroom.”

Daniel lifted a shoulder and pulled a dusty, protective cover from a stuffed chair. “Whatever.”

In their travel carriers, the cats meowed and pawed at the cages’ doors. Nicole squatted to peer in one carrier, cooing to the feline inside. “Can I let them out?”

“Go ahead.” Daniel moved to the next piece of furniture and yanked on the sheet cover. A plume of dust rose in the air, and Pilar sneezed.

Yeah, with the accumulated dust and mildew, the house would be full of allergens, but it was secluded, safe. He’d take a stuffy nose over Colombian mercs any day.

Nicole opened the first cage, and the old orange cat crept out, giving the air a cautious sniff. “What do you think, Boudreaux?”

When Nicole pointed to the other cage and nodded to Pilar, the little girl crouched to open the second carrier. The black-and-white cat trotted out and gave an unhappy meow before taking off to explore his new digs.

“How long has this place been shut up?” Nicole asked, joining him in uncovering the furniture and using a corner of one of the sheets to wipe dust from a lamp table.

Daniel wadded up the dirty sheet in his hands and tossed it in a corner on the floor. “Last time I was here was two, two and a half years ago, I think, right before I left for Colombia on an undercover mission with Alec.”

“Is there any food here or other supplies?”

Daniel dragged a hand over his mouth and grunted. “May be a thing or two. I’ll ask Jake to bring in some supplies for us first thing in the morning.”

“What did I do?” Jake asked with a grin as he backed through the front door hauling in Nicole’s rolling suitcase and his duffel bag.

“He’s volunteered you to go shopping—” A loud crash and the predatory howl of a cat cut Nicole off. More rustling and thumping drew everyone’s attention to the back of the house.

Jake and Daniel exchanged a telling look, and both drew weapons from under their shirts. Adrenaline kicking and his muscles taut, Daniel moved down the hall on his crutches as silently as he could while keeping a grip on his handgun. Pressing his back to the wall, he slid a hand into the first bedroom and turned on the light.

Empty.

Drawing a deep, quiet breath, Daniel sidled farther down the hall and repeated the process at the next door. When the lights flashed on, he swept his gaze over the twin beds, scarred dresser and rag-rug-covered floor.

In the center of the room where he’d slept as a teenager, Nicole’s black-and-white cat stood with an arched back and ears plastered to his head, hissing at a fat, disoriented-looking raccoon. While his chest loosened a degree with relief not to find anything more threatening skulking in the shadows, he kept a wary eye on the raccoon. A frightened animal of any size could prove dangerous, and raccoons could carry rabies.

“Casse-toi!”
he shouted, waving a hand at the critter. As if animals at his
grandmére’s
spoke Cajun French by default. “Scat!” he added, in case this raccoon preferred Southernisms.

Jake eyed him and chuckled. “Scat?”

He shrugged. “Always worked for my grandmother.”

The raccoon turned and waddled to a bookshelf, where he climbed up until he reached a hole in the drywall and scampered through.

“Looks like someone’s been living here, after all.” Jake shoved his gun back in the waistband of his jeans.

Daniel groaned. “And chewed a hole from the attic.” He stashed his own gun away and looked around the room for some way to block the varmint’s hole for the night. “I’ll have to evict the rascal tomorrow and make some repairs.”

“Sounds like fun,” Jake said, his tone dripping sarcasm. He knocked his cowboy hat back enough to scratch his forehead. “I can stay a day or two and help out if you want.”

Daniel shook his head. “Naw. I have another assignment for you, if you’re willing.”

“I’ve got some personal time coming. I’m game.”

Daniel nodded his appreciation, then frowned as a thought occurred to him. He pulled out his cell phone and checked his reception. “Hmm. Signal’s weak, but it might do in a pinch. You have a satellite phone in the truck by chance?”

“No, but I can get you one.”

Daniel nodded. “Thanks, cowboy.” The satellite phone might be overkill, but with Nicole’s life at stake, he’d rather not risk being incommunicado should trouble arise.

And lately, trouble seemed to be following Nicole.

* * *

The next morning, Nicole dug her phone from her purse and walked over to a window, searching for the best possible reception, which proved to be rather dismal. When her call was answered, she smiled at the voice at the other end of the line. Stiffly formal, yet familiar and oddly comforting. Some things never changed. “Hi, Daddy. It’s me.”

“Nicole!” Instantly, warmth tinged with worry suffused the businesslike tone. “Where...you? Where...take you? Are you...right?”

She leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes. “I’m safe, and... Daniel’s asked me not to tell you where we are.”

“Damn it, Nic—! I’m...father. I...right to know. Does LeCroix really think...going to let anyone or an...hurt you? That’s ludicrous.”

“Not you, necessarily, but...it’s just a precaution.”

Through the crackle of static, she heard her father sigh. “If he thinks...shut me out of this situation, I—”

“No one is shutting you out. I promise I’ll check in with you from time to time so you know I’m safe. Okay?” Static answered her. “Daddy?”

“You had a call...from Ramon Diaz at the...embassy.”

Nicole perked up and crossed the room to a different window, still searching for a clearer connection. “What did he say?”

“The judge has disappeared. Mario...heard about the attempted kidnapping...went into hiding.”

“Wait, are you saying
Pilar’s father
is missing now?”

“In hiding. He doesn’t trust...because of the attack here involving you and Pilar. Diaz isn’t happy about you disappearing...Pilar, either. She’s a Colombian citizen and you’re—”

A loud burst of static cut him off.

“Dad?” Nicole checked her phone. Her screen read,
dropped call.
She tried to call her father back, but couldn’t get a strong enough signal now to place the call. “Fudge.”

So...Pilar’s father was in hiding, as well? Great. How was she supposed to reunite him with Pilar now? Stewing over this turn of events, she carried her phone into the kitchen with her, in case her father called back.

Pilar was sitting at the kitchen table with Jake and Daniel, watching with wide, wary eyes as the men conferred.

“Good morning.” She sent Pilar a smile, and the men acknowledged her with mumbled greetings. Her stomach rumbled, and she turned to the cabinets to search for food.

“We’re making a list of supplies Jake will get when he goes out in a few minutes. If you have any preferences, speak now.”

“Coffee,” she said emphatically, then checked the counter for a coffeepot. She sighed her relief when she spotted one. “Fresh fruit and vegetables. Milk. All the stuff a little girl needs for a healthy diet. Cat food and litter for Oreo and Boudreaux.” She chose to ignore Jake’s eyeroll as he scribbled these items on the list.

Nicole fixed the only breakfast she could find in the empty cupboards. Instant oatmeal that Daniel warned her was likely several years old. When the kettle water boiled, she stirred up two bowls of instant oatmeal and grimaced. “Add eggs and whole grain bread to the list for breakfasts.”

Jake winked at her and scribbled on his list.

She put the two bowls on the table and watched as Pilar bowed her head over her breakfast, then crossed herself before eating. Though not Catholic herself, Nicole had attended a Catholic high school and had numerous Catholic friends growing up, and it touched her to see the young girl practicing her faith even after all she’d been through.

“I need ammunition for both my Sig .45 and my .22 hunting rifle,” she heard Daniel say, even though he spoke in a hush. She shivered, hating the idea of loaded weapons around Pilar, even if she understood the need.

Daniel must have sensed her gaze, because he glanced up at her and narrowed an all-business look on her. “Can you shoot?”

Alec hadn’t bothered to ask when he’d shoved the automatic weapon in her hands as they fled the jungle. “I can pull a trigger, but I make no promises about what I’ll hit.”

Jake and Daniel exchanged a look before Daniel returned his attention to her. “I’ll teach you to handle a gun. I want you ready next time those cretins show up.”

“Next time?” Her grip tightened around her spoon. “I thought the point of hiding out here was so there was no next time.”

Daniel shrugged and ducked his head to study his notes. “We have to be prepared for anything. No hideout is foolproof.”

Learning to shoot. Hiding from assassins. Dodging bullets. When had her life become so...
hazardous?

Daniel hitched his head toward her phone, which she’d left on the end of the table. “And another thing...no cell phone. A signal can be traced. If you have to use a phone, my cell is encrypted.”

“Oh.” Guilt nibbled at her. “So...I guess I should tell you that I called my father this morning.”

Daniel sent her a tell-me-you-didn’t look, then scrubbed a hand over his face. “Okay. We’ll deal with it.”

“There’s more.”

Jake and Daniel both raised worried gazes to her.

Nicole glance quickly to Pilar, who stared bleakly at her oatmeal. “Her father heard about the kidnapping attempt somehow. He’s gone into hiding. Ramon Diaz, my contact at the Colombian embassy, called my father’s house to tell me that, and my father let Diaz know we’d moved Pilar to a safe house. Diaz is upset, presumably because he wasn’t informed.”

“No one can know we’re here,” Daniel interjected, anticipating her next argument.

She studied Daniel’s unshaven jaw and dark, serious eyes, and a ripple of uneasiness shimmied through her. Her guardian could well be the most dangerous element in this equation. Dangerous to her sanity, her heart, if she didn’t figure out how to rein in her wild obsession with him.