Page 61 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

He returned his gaze to her as he shoved the Glock back in its holster.

He shook his head firmly. "I told you what the meeting involved."

Her expression was scoffing. "Come on, Ian, don't pull that on me. Tell me what's really going on."

"There's nothing to pull." He shrugged. "I need to meet with some of the men that are transporting loads between Colombia and American waters. I give them their GPS coordinates for the first phase of delivery. After that, they receive transportation routes in phases."

What he wasn't telling her was the fact he suspected at least one of the transporters was going to be mildly upset when they learned that their loads had been shifted to other parties.

The men he was dealing with here weren't regular Fuentes soldiers or cartel members. Diego had been using independent contract workers for the most part until Ian arrived. Ian had slowly been replacing those contractors with cartel members. Efficiency, he had explained to Diego. Efficiency be damned; it would make the cart

el that much easier to take down when Diego fell.

In this particular instance though, the men he was getting ready to replace wouldn't exactly take it with a shrug and smile. He wasn't firing a union member, he was firing a cutthroat, murderous drug dealer with delusions of status.

Rodrigo Cruz was on the DEA's and FBI's most wanted lists. When this was over, Ian hoped he would be either dead or maneuvered into a position that would allow capture within a matter of days.

At times like this, he was forcefully reminded that perhaps genetics and DNA were indeed stronger than hatred. Because he had learned he could be just as deceptive, controlling, and manipulating as the man who had donated the sperm in his conception.

"How dangerous do you anticipate this little meeting turning?"

He stared at her, proud of her, terrified of losing her, though a part of him knew she was his greatest strength now.

"Oh, I don't know, Kira," he drawled. "I'm meeting with half a dozen cocaine transporters whose fortunes depend upon securing each successive shipment. What do you think?"

"I think that if you weren't planning something to piss them off then there would be little danger involved. Unless you suspected one of them of conspiring with Sorrell."

"Right now, I suspect everyone in the Fuentes camp of conspiring with Sorrell." He snorted. "I've learned to be careful, that's all."

"If that's all, then I can go in with you," she stated.

"Do you want me to tie you to the bed the next time I have a meeting that I refuse to allow you to attend?" He stared back at her, knowing the look on his face was just short of savage. Hell, he felt savage. He knew each time he walked into one of these meetings that it could be his last. And now it could endanger her as well.

"Chauvinism doesn't become you, Ian." She sighed. "Very well, I'll wait in the limo like a good little girl."

Ian nodded sharply. "This shouldn't take long," he told her as the limo neared the port town Oranjestad. "It's just a meeting. The business Fuentes does here in Aruba is simple. Orders go out from here. Dealers pick up their cargo in Colombia. I don't risk actual shipments onto the island."

"What I'd like to know is how you've managed to keep your head on your shoulders here. Aruba isn't exactly a good hiding place."

"I'm not hiding." He shrugged. "I've not been arrested because I've managed to escape every operation sent out against me. I don't have predictable travel routes and I don't let myself become comfortable. And that's besides the fact that money does talk. Aruba hasn't yet given the U.S. permission to conduct an operation against me on their turf."

"I was under the impression Aruba had a very close relationship with America," Kira pointed out. "You're a deserter . . ."

"You didn't do your homework." That word had the power to clench his guts. "The truth is, I resigned my commission. The papers were logged in to the system during the Atlanta mission; I was due to step down a week later."

"You did it a week early. Technically, a deserter."

He inclined his head in mocking agreement. "My lawyers are arguing that case in Washington as a matter of fact. The cartel has some excellent lawyers."

And that was the truth. Of course, neither the Navy nor DHS was pushing too hard at this time for charges.

A smile tugged at her lips as her gaze went past him to the vista of perfect blue waters that surrounded the island. Her sharp frown was his first warning.

"Evade! Evade!" Trevor's voice across the receiver located in the radio at the side of the backward-facing seat was his final warning.

He pushed Kira to the floor as the limo swerved and the back window began lowering. His head swung around, a curse leaving his lips, as the front of the limo seemed to explode, the car flying across the road and burying itself in the side of a rocky sand dune.

The force of the landing flung him across the car as he fought to hold Kira in place. Even as the vehicle shuddered he kicked the door open, dragging her out and throwing her toward Mendez and Cristo as they rushed for the limo.

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