Page 10 of Prisoner of War
Chapter Three
“When the helicopter landed,” Minnie told Calli as she drained the last of her coffee, “I could feel Nick pulling me away. I didn’t want to let go of Duardo but, well...” She shrugged and wiped away the tears that had run as she related the story of their forest dash to Calli. Calli had been there at the end, though, and had seen it herself. Minnie didn’t need to explain whathappened in the helicopter.
“That was the last time I saw him, but I swear, Calli, I swear on whatever the hell deity you want to call up, I wasn’t hysterical by then. I wasn’t even upset. It had all gelled over. There was a moment in the helicopter when I could feel it all pushing at me, when I could have let the hysteria out, but I didn’t because I wanted to hold it together for Duardo’s sake.You know?”
Calli gave her a soft smile. “Strangely, yes, I do know exactly what you mean. I’ve had moments like that myself.”
“So when I was lying with Duardo, all I was doing was being with him. Taking in each and every sensation, feeling it all, storing it up to remember later, because I knew that was all I was ever going to get. I wanted to remember the feel of him against me, right then,for the rest of my life. So, I was taking notice of everything. It was only later on the yacht when Nick brought us over to Mexico, that I put it all together and it occurred to me that Duardo’s body was too hot for someone who had died at least thirty minutes before.”
“How would you know how fast a body cools off?”
Minnie could feel her cheeks warm. “I used to have a thing for Ice-T.”
Callifigured it out with a chuckle. “You meanLaw and Order: Special Victims Unit? You watched that?”
“Compulsively.”
Calli’s chuckle faded as she looked over Minnie’s shoulder. Minnie turned around. Carmen had strolled onto the balcony, the jock trailing her.
Minnie’s defenses slammed into place. What was it about Carmen that got her back up so fast? Everyone except Nick openly adored her. Herappearance was stunning and from the little Minnie had seen and heard, Carmen was so smart she made professors blush. She had graduatedsumma cum laudefrom Harvard Law School with a double degree in politics and law. Her English was perfect. Men fell all over themselves to win her attention.
Perhaps that was it. Carmen used that power to the hilt. Only, she wasn’t using it right now becausethe jock looked less than happy with her as he hovered near the door to the balcony.
Carmen came right up to them, stalking with a model’s grace, tossing the waist-length bronzed waves of lustrous hair from her shoulder. “I see you cleared the decks,” she told Minnie. “Not exactly what you were after, huh?”
Minnie straightened her spine. She was sitting on a backless bench, so it didn’t puther on higher ground when Carmen stood about six inches taller than her in the first place. “I hardly think it’s any of your business, Carmen.”
“No?” Carmen folded her arms and thrust out a hip. “Let me see, my father, who was the elected President of Vistaria, was assassinated by Insurrectos who are now driving what’s left of the population into poverty and slavery as they try to run the countrythe way they think it should go. You’re living in my uncle’s house and trying to twist Nick’s arm into sending in a couple of commando teams to rescue one soldier who’s probably dead and if he isn’t, no one knows where he is anyway.” She held up an elegant finger with a long black-lacquered fingernail. “Oh, except he’s inside a country overrun with zealots who shoot first to spare themselvesthe asking later. Nick won’t send anyone into Vistaria to save living people anymore—it’s too risky. Yet you’re insisting, anyway and jostling his elbow with it while he’s trying to keep what’s left of the real Vistaria held together and working to win back our country. And you’re not even Vistarian. You’re a Californian!” She said it with the rich prejudice of an eastern Ivy-league educated snob.
“Carmen, really...” Calli murmured. “That’s not fair.”
“No? Which part of what I said isn’t true?”
“I didn’t say anything about truth. I said fair.”
“Truth often isn’t fair. Haven’t you noticed?” Although, Carmen was watching Minnie as she spoke. “Is there anything I said that isn’t my business, Minnie-mouse?”
Minnie could feel a dull anger throbbing in her gut and her temples. “Are you enjoyingyourself, Carmen?”
“Immensely.” Carmen dropped her pose and took another step forward. She leaned down toward Minnie as if she were about to share a treasured confidence. “Don’t you know anything about how to get a man to do what you want? Screaming at him isn’t the way.”
Minnie jumped to her feet, furious.
Carmen threw herself backward, staggering a step or two, to stay out of the way of Minnie’sthrusting head.
Minnie stalked toward her, too pissed to even care that she had to tip her head back to look Carmen in the eye. “I’ve had enough of you, you arrogant bitch. You and every boy toy you drag in here with you. You think you know how to manipulate men? You haven’t got a fucking clue!”
“Minnie!” Calli breathed, sounding shocked. Yet laughter colored her voice.
“Higa de tu chingadamadre!” Carmen screamed.
This time even the jock sucked in a breath, proving he wasn’t as dumb as he looked. He knew his way around Spanish, at least.
“Who’s the fucking bitch?” Minnie cried. “You’re the one that uses men to try to make Nick mad. You think you’ve got a clue? You’ve got no idea at all. You’re a petty little girl and your Furstenberg shirt is a cheap knock-off. Don’t think I didn’tnotice.”
Carmen’s face reddened. “You little whore! I’ll fucking kill you, I swear!”
Calli tugged at her arm. “Enough, Minnie. God, that’s enough.”
