Page 41 of Wicked Suspicion

That meant it wouldn’t be tonight. Probably tomorrow. Maybe even the day after. He’d need to return to the room and being a prisoner. And do something about the guard he’d tied up. It wasn’t as if he could hide him indefinitely. “Oz?”

“What?”

“I have an issue. Any ideas how I can?—”

Shouting. Men moving. “Someone’s approaching the gate,” Oz said. “You better get back to the suite. I’m betting that’s the boss. I’ll get word to you when BD is ready to roll.”

When he was back in the rooms, Case checked on the guard. Still out cold, trussed up behind the sofa in the sitting room. He returned to the bedroom and tucked the backpack and the assault rifle behind one of the nightstands. He was slouched on the bed, pretending to doze, when the door to the suite opened and Nyx was brought in. He sat up, but no one spoke to him. He stayed where he was until the men left.

Case crossed to Nyx, scanning her from head to toe. “Are you okay?” he asked when he reached her, his hands gently cupping her shoulders.

“I’m fine.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tightly.

Biding his time, Case waited until her hold lessened. “Is it okay to ask what happened?”

He felt her nod against his chest. “It’s about those rifles, the same ones Julián wants you to get for him.”

Case went still. “Julián?”

“Señor Vargas wanted me to call him by his first name.”

“Did he touch you?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing like that happened. I was only along to further his goal. The M4 replacement.”

“How did your presence help that?” He didn’t worry about bugs. The curiosity would be natural. In fact, it would be considered strange if he didn’t ask.

“We met President Cardozo at a dinner party in Trujillo. Vargas offered the man the treasure in exchange for ten to fifteen thousand of the weapons.”

Case tipped Nyx’s face up to his. “He did what?”

“I know. I was stunned.”

“I’m going to need you to tell me everything that?—”

An alarm sounded outside, stopping him mid-sentence. Case let go of Nyx and went to the windows. He didn’t know what was going on, but men were running, and in the distance, the guards were streaming out of the barracks. With weapons. This wasn’t good.

Gunfire punctuated the thought.

Case grabbed the backpack, tugged it open, and tossed her clothes at Nyx. “Hurry up and change.” He reached for his rifle.

He expected her to go to the bathroom. Instead, Nyx turned her back to him and said, “Tug down my zipper, please.”

More gunfire. A lot more.

As soon as he had the zipper down, she stripped out of her dress and heels and dressed in her normal clothes, right down to her baseball cap in maybe a minute. “I’m ready.” Nyx reached for the pack and shrugged it on.

Damn, he liked this woman. She knew it was go time without him saying a word. “I can carry the pack.”

“No. If someone attacks, you might need to aim your weapon in a hurry. I can handle it.”

The shooting was happening near the rear of the compound. That meant they were going out on a different side. Case turned out the lights in the suite. “Follow me,” he said. He went over the railing, caught her legs as she dangled, and helped Nyx to the ground.

It was only as they moved farther along the side of the hacienda that Case got a good look at exactly what was going on. Armed men were coming over the wall.

It wasn’t his team.

He needed to get Nyx out. Now.

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