The Reunion Mission (16 page)

Daniel kept silent, searching the horizon for signs of trouble.

“Nicole has deep feelings for you, LeCroix.”

Though he tried not to show any reaction to that statement, Daniel felt his muscles give a telltale twitch.

“And because of that, I’d like to bury the hatchet.”

When the senator paused, Daniel glanced at him. “Bury it where? In my back?”

Nicole’s father shook his head. “I’m trying to offer a truce. A cease-fire for my daughter’s sake.”

Flexing and balling his hand in agitation, Daniel faced the senator. “I have deep feelings for Nicole, too. I’d like to think we have a future together, but recent events have proven that’s nothing but a pipe dream.”

The senator drew his gray eyebrows together. “Recent events?”

“Like our extra passenger, Diaz. You put your political well-being ahead of your daughter’s safety.”

The man’s eyes widened. “I didn’t—”

“I don’t trust you, and I’m learning I can’t trust Nicole when it comes to you, either.”

Senator White raised his chin, and his expression hardened. “Do not ever question my motives regarding my daughter. Her safety and happiness are my top priority. Always.”

“Then act like it.” Before heading back down to the lower level, Daniel slapped a scrap of paper with the GPS coordinates of the rendezvous spot on the dash and aimed a finger at the locked compartment. “Have your weapon ready in case it’s needed.”

On the ladder to the main deck, Daniel cast a glance to the senator to be sure he’d complied. Nicole’s father slid the Colt revolver in the waist of his pants at the small of his back and met Daniel’s gaze with a nod.

* * *

Nicole stood with Pilar at the bow of the
Serendipity,
trying to soothe the knots in her stomach and cool the burn in her heart. If the tension over the Colombian attaché’s surprise appearance and her impending goodbye to Pilar weren’t enough, Daniel’s earlier caustic comment ate at her, leaving her stinging and raw.

I told you your father couldn’t be trusted. Apparently, neither can you.

Daniel had avoided her for the past hour and a half as they cruised out into the Gulf of Mexico, and she had tried to stay busy, keep her mind off the newest rift between them, by entertaining Pilar.

The little girl had shaken off the tension from the confrontation on pier, clearly focused on seeing her father, the seagulls clamoring near the boat, and the spray of water splashing her face as she hung over the railing at the bow. Suddenly Pilar’s face brightened, and she pointed toward the horizon.
“Papi!”

Shielding her eyes from the glare of sun, Nicole squinted at the spot Pilar indicated.

“
Mira,
Nicole!
Papi!
” Pilar squealed and waved an arm excitedly.

Sure enough, a small boat with two men aboard rocked in the waters ahead of them. One of the men, his hair as black as Pilar’s, stood and waved an arm back at Pilar. The second man wore a telltale cowboy hat.

The girl’s shouts and excitement brought Diaz and Daniel to the railing, as well. Daniel lifted a pair of binoculars and confirmed that the other boat was Jake and Pilar’s father. “Anchor here!” he shouted to the cockpit. “Let them come to us.”

Her father gave a nod of understanding, and the drone of the
Serendipity’
s engine quieted.

Daniel raised a hand radio to his mouth. “
Serendipity
to Connelly. You there, cowboy? Over.”

“Roger that. Over,” Jake’s voice crackled over the radio.

“We have extra company. Over.”

“So I see. What’s the plan? Over.”

Daniel cast a glance at Diaz and scowled. “Same plan. We’re anchoring here. Copy?”

“Roger that.”

Daniel’s jaw tightened, and he stared across the Gulf at the small fishing boat that was even now turning toward them. Raising the radio to his lips again, he added, “Greek protocol.”

Nicole furrowed her brow, shooting him a question in her glance. He returned a hard stare but said nothing.

Having dropped anchor, her father came down from the cockpit and joined her at the bow railing. He put his arm around her shoulders. “You’ve done well, Nicole, caring for Pilar the way you have. You can be proud.”

A bittersweet pang sliced through Nicole’s chest and squeezed her lungs. She stroked Pilar’s head and winked at the girl when Pilar angled her a grin. “It’s hard to let her go. I’ll miss her so much.”

Her father patted her arm. “I know you will. But you can stay in touch.”

When she moved to hug her father, her hand brushed something hard at his back. A gun. She gave him a puzzled look.

“LeCroix’s idea,” he said quietly.

Pilar bounced on her toes, clapping her hands, as Jake steered the fishing boat within a few yards of the
Serendipity. “Papi!”

From the fishing boat, Mario Castillo beamed at his daughter and blew kisses. “Pilar!
Mija!
”

Diaz crowded in next to Nicole and her father at the railing, and Castillo’s attention shifted to the new face. And his smile faltered.

Nicole barely had time to register the judge’s reaction before chaos erupted.

Castillo pointed an accusing finger at Diaz.

Diaz snatched the gun from her father’s back. Aimed at the fishing boat. Cocked the hammer and fired. Jake jerked and stumbled backward, and Castillo shrank to a crouch.

Pilar screamed, and adrenaline surged through Nicole. Fear and stunned confusion sent her pulse skyrocketing.

Producing a gun from under his jacket, Daniel swung his weapon toward Diaz. “Drop it!”

Jake lunged at Judge Castillo and tumbled with Pilar’s father into the water on the far side of the fishing boat.

His primary target hidden behind the fishing boat, Diaz turned his weapon toward Daniel. Cocked the hammer.

As Nicole turned to grab Pilar, ready to take evasive and protective measures, her father tightened his grip on her shoulders and shoved her behind him.

“No! Pilar!” Panic swelling in her chest, Nicole fought to get past her father, but he held her arm tightly and shielded her with his body.

“Nicole, stay back!” her father growled.

Daniel and Diaz glared each other down in a deadly game of chicken. Nicole stared in horror at the weapon aimed at Daniel, and a numbing terror swept through her, strangling her breath.

“Drop the weapon,” Daniel snarled, his dark eyes flinty and unyielding.

“Not until Castillo is dead.” Diaz reached Pilar in one giant step and, snaking an arm around her, he hauled her back against him in a death grip. “He is responsible for my brother’s murder!”

The girl’s eyes rounded, wild with fear, and she cried, “Nicole!”

Only someone who knew Daniel the way Nicole did would have noticed the small tic in his jaw muscle, the slight catch in his breath. Diaz’s move had rattled Daniel. Because Daniel loved Pilar.

Diaz cut a quick glance to the water, holding Pilar between him and Daniel. A human shield. “Come out, Castillo, or your daughter will die!”

“No! Don’t hurt her! Please!” Nicole cried. Fear pooled like ice water in her veins, and Pilar’s pleas shredded her heart.

“Let the girl go,” Daniel grated through clenched teeth.

Diaz shook his head. “No,
señor.
She is my bait to draw out
her traitorous father!
” He shouted the words toward the water.

“You are the traitor, you BACRIM coward!” Splashing sounds preceded Castillo’s appearance in front of the boat as he swam toward the
Serendipity.
“All of you who murder innocents in our streets and poison our children should be hanged!”

Diaz saw his opportunity and fired at the judge.

“Castillo!” Jake shouted, swimming with one arm from the protection of the fishing boat. Blood trailed Jake in the water, and his other arm hung loosely at his side. Nicole’s gut tightened with concern. Jake needed a doctor, but they were miles from shore.

Despite his injury, Jake seized the back of Mario Castillo’s shirt and dragged him back toward safety, even as Diaz cocked the gun again and squeezed off another shot. Re-cocked.

From her peripheral vision, Nicole saw Daniel shift, edging toward Diaz. But the movement, slow as it was, drew Diaz’s attention back to Daniel, as well. Without hesitating, the attaché fired.

“Daniel!” she screamed, terror sluicing through her.

The bullet flew wide to the right. With a two-handed grip, Daniel aimed at Diaz but clearly had no shot, not with Pilar in the way.

Wearing a gloating grin, Diaz thumbed the hammer back with a click and tightened his finger around the trigger.

Nicole felt her father’s muscles tense. His hands released her, and instantly, without a second thought, she lunged for Pilar, jerking her free from a distracted Diaz.

But even as she pulled Pilar close, she watched, as if in slow motion, as her father sprang toward Daniel, as a bullet hit his back, as he knocked Daniel from his feet and lay motionless on the deck. “Daddy!”

Then Diaz spun toward Nicole, his lip curled in disdain, and he pointed the gun at her.

Chapter 13

D
aniel shoved the senator off him in time to see Diaz whirl toward Nicole and Pilar and take aim. An icy fear unlike anything he’d ever experienced stole his breath. Nicole!

Acting purely on training, muscle memory, instinct, Daniel jerked his gun up and fired. Fired again. Didn’t stop until Diaz crumpled on the deck, his eyes fixed and lifeless.

As the concussion dissipated over the Gulf, Daniel lay still, the aftershock of adrenaline sending a shiver through him. He cut his gaze toward the woman he’d thought, just seconds earlier, he could lose forever. Another shudder rolled through him. “Nicole!”

She jerked her head up from her protective huddle over Pilar. Terror filled her eyes as she looked first to Diaz’s body, then at him.

“W-we’re all right.” Tears spilled from her eyelashes, and she lowered her gaze to her father. “Daddy?”

Daniel holstered his weapon and rolled to a seated position beside the man who’d taken a bullet meant for him. Nicole’s father had saved his life. That truth sat in Daniel’s gut like a rock, and he shoved the thought aside to deal with later.

The senator lay on his back, and though his eyes were open, he didn’t move. No blood showed on the front of his shirt, which was a bad sign. No exit wound meant the bullet had likely ricocheted around inside the man, wreaking havoc with his internal organs.

When Daniel pressed his fingers to the man’s neck, searching for a pulse, a thready wheeze issued from the senator’s mouth. “Nic—”

Nicole scurried across the deck to her father’s side. “Daddy? Oh, thank God!”

The senator’s eyes turned toward his daughter. He gasped for a breath. Raised an arm.

“No, lie still, Daddy. Let us help you.” She stroked his head with a trembling hand and sniffed as she cried. “How badly are you hurt? Can you breathe?”

Daniel fumbled with the shirt buttons at the senator’s throat, loosening the collar to help him draw air.

“Back,” he wheezed.

“Pilar!” Castillo’s voice rang from the water.

Daniel glanced over his shoulder as, sobbing, Pilar jumped to her feet and reached over the railing toward her father.
“Papi!”

“Daniel?” Jake this time. “A little help here?”

“Give me a minute! We’ve got a man down!” he shouted back.

Nicole met his gaze. “Jake’s injured, too. The shoulder, I think.”

The senator made a strangled noise and tried to sit up. Grimaced and groaned. Wheezed.

Daniel finally freed the buttons at the senator’s neck, and as he worked the lower buttons, he discovered a stiff, unyielding garment beneath the senator’s undershirt. Startled, Daniel flattened his hand against the garment, feeling the material and weight, confirming his suspicion. His gaze connected with the senator’s, and the man read his expression, gave a small nod.

“Kevlar,” Daniel mumbled, then gave a chuckle of relief. He caught Nicole’s hand to capture her attention, and when her panicked eyes darted up to his, he flashed her a crooked smile. “He’s wearing Kevlar. A bulletproof vest.”

Nicole’s mouth opened, recognition brightening her eyes. She turned to her father and laughed through her tears. “The vest Mama bought you when...”

“Thought...it was...prudent.” This time when her father tried to sit up, Nicole helped him, and Daniel worked the senator’s dress shirt up to reveal the point of the bullet’s impact.

Senator White moaned, then rasped, “Knocked the...wind outta me. Hurts to...draw breath.”

“I bet.” Daniel sat back, rubbing his own aching knee, which had taken a blow when the senator knocked him down. “You don’t have a bullet in you, but you could easily have a broken rib or bruised lung.” Guilt kicked Daniel, along with an uneasy gratitude.

He’d sworn he’d hate White forever for his part in keeping him away from Nicole. For betraying his and Alec’s cover and putting their lives in peril while they were on a mission in enemy territory. For dividing Nicole’s loyalties.

Daniel swallowed the bitterness those memories still stirred in him and met the senator’s gaze. “Thank you.”

Still panting for air, White nodded. “Because...my daughter...loves you.”

Nicole gasped, and fresh tears puddled in her eyes. She divided a look between her father and Daniel, and bit her lip. “Oh, Daddy...” Carefully, she leaned in to hug her father’s neck. “I love you, too.”

“No,
mija!
” Castillo’s shout drew Daniel’s attention back to the scene that had been playing out as background noise behind him.

Pilar had climbed under the railing, and before he or Nicole could scramble to stop her, the little girl jumped into the Gulf.

“Pilar!” Nicole cried, dashing to the bow. Daniel groped for his cane and met Nicole at the rail. Below them, Pilar swam into her father’s arms and was greeted with tears and kisses and admonishments for her impetuous leap into the water.

Spying them at the rail, Jake called, “Hey, I’m feeling a bit like shark bait down here, bleeding like this. Could you drop a ladder so we can come aboard?”

“Roger that, cowboy,” Daniel returned, then faced Nicole. “Help them out of the water. I’m going to raise anchor and find a first aid kit. Then we need to radio the Coast Guard and have them alert the police on Grand Isle to pick up Menendez before we reach shore.”

* * *

Jake grunted as Nicole shoved a wad of sterile gauze into the hole in his shoulder, and Daniel cringed in sympathy. Even though the bullet had passed through and done minimal damage, Jake had to be hurting like the devil. “At least it’s not your gun arm.”

Jake nodded. “There is that— Ow!” He sent Daniel a gloomy look. “My own fault. You warned me, and I didn’t take enough precautions.”

“You warned him? Is that what that Greek protocol business was about?” Nicole asked.

Jake nodded. “As in, the Greeks should have been more wary of their Trojan gift. Proceed with caution.” Shifting his attention to the father and daughter reunion across the room, Jake hitched his head toward Castillo. “You oughta debrief the judge so we can vamoose before the Coast Guard arrives.”

Daniel glanced at Nicole. “You got this?”

She nodded. “Of course, it would help if the patient would
sit still.
”

Twitching a grin at Jake, Daniel stepped over to the cluster of overstuffed chairs where Castillo and Pilar were huddled together, wrapped in blankets and alternately chuckling and crying.

“You speak English,” Daniel stated, confirming what he’d gleaned from the day’s earlier events.

Castillo nodded. “Enough to get by.”

“You recognized Diaz,” Daniel said, getting right to the business at hand. “How did you know him?”

Castillo clutched Pilar to his chest and met Daniel’s gaze levelly. “I grew up in the same neighborhood with Ramon and his brothers.”

“What did he mean when he said you were responsible for his brother’s murder?”

The judge snorted. “Carlo was not murdered. He was executed for his crimes.” His eyes darkened. “Carlo and their youngest brother, Hector, joined a BACRIM— how do you say—? A street gang….”

“Go on,” Daniel answered with a nod, well-familiar with the criminal gangs that were the scourge of daily life in Colombia, dangerous hordes of competing drug runners, rebel factions and lowlifes exploiting the civil unrest in the country as an excuse for lawlessness and personal gain.

“When he came before my court, I gave him what he deserved. Death sentence. His brothers said I was traitor to him. That he was fighting other gangs to keep the neighborhood safe.” He scowled darkly and shook his head. “But no one is safe while he runs his drug traffic through our streets and poisons our children with his
cocaína.
” He paused and stroked a hand down Pilar’s head, his expression sad now. “It was after this that they attacked my family. They murdered my wife and daughter and took Pilar. Only if I, ah...” He fumbled as if looking for the right word. “Obey their demands, turn my eyes away from their crimes, will I get Pilar back.”

“Did you do as they asked?”

The judge sneered at Daniel’s question. “Never! I will not surrender my country to these criminals!” He looked down at his daughter, his face crumpling in anguish, and he made the sign of the cross. “God forgive me, I couldn’t give in to them, even if it cost my daughter’s life.” He drilled a hard gaze on Daniel. “We are at war with these BACRIM. The drug cartels and traffickers. They have—what’s word? Infil—”

“Infiltrated?”

Castillo nodded. “Infiltrated too many
policía
and government posts already.”

Daniel sighed heavily. “Like Diaz did in the embassy here in the U.S.”

Pilar whispered something in Spanish to her father, and he kissed her head.
“Sí.”

“Is she all right?” Daniel asked.

Judge Castillo smiled. “Eager to get home.”

Daniel frowned. “In light of everything, her kidnapping, the threats against you and the turmoil in your country, you still want to go back to Bogotá?”

“I must. It is our home, and we cannot let the evil win. We will go home to fight for what is right.” Castillo must have read Daniel’s concern for Pilar in his expression, because he grunted and added, “I will be hiring a bodyguard for Pilar. More protection at our house.” He arched an eyebrow. “Would you or Jake be interested in the job?”

Daniel tugged a wry grin. “A few months ago, I might have jumped at the offer but...” He rubbed his injured knee. “I’m not the man for the job anymore.”

Castillo cut a telling look toward Nicole. “For many reasons. Pilar tells me you and Señorita White are in love.”

Daniel’s gut rolled, and he battled down the bitter taste of betrayal he’d shoved aside earlier when they’d encountered the senator, Diaz and Menendez at the pier. “I’m not sure what we are. But...I don’t see a future for us. It’s...too complicated.”

Judge Castillo leaned back in his chair, a disappointed glare fixed on Daniel. “Too complicated? For the man who rescued my daughter and her lady-guardian from a rebel camp?” He shook his head and narrowed his eyes. “No. Nothing is too hard if it is also what is right. If you love her, you will not say it is too complicated and walk away.”

Daniel opened his mouth, unsure what to say, but Jake saved him the trouble of a response when he strolled up behind them.

“All done here.” Jake gingerly tested his freshly wrapped shoulder with his fingers. “I think it’s time we hit the road...or the water, in this case. Judge Castillo, are you ready to go?”

Castillo nodded and nudged Pilar, whispering to her. The girl’s eyes widened, and she searched the room until her gaze landed on Nicole, who was still packing up the first aid kit. Scooting off her father’s lap, Pilar ran across the room to her surrogate parent. “Nicole...”

Daniel couldn’t hear what Pilar told Nicole, but reading Nicole’s expression was simple enough. Melancholy, the bittersweet ache of goodbye.

Nicole dropped to her knees and wrapped Pilar in a firm embrace. With her eyes squeezed shut, she clung to the little girl. “I’ll miss you,
mija.
You are so brave and strong. I know you’ll do great things with your life,” she told her in stilted Spanish.

Pilar said something softly that made Nicole’s face crumple with grief, and she squeaked, “I love you, too,
mija.
”

Seeing Nicole’s pain, knowing how much he, too, would miss Pilar, Daniel was blindsided by a wrenching ache in his chest. His airway tightened, and he had to clear his throat to loosen the knot of emotion. When Nicole and Pilar joined the men, Judge Castillo shook hands with Daniel and Jake and gave Nicole a kiss on each cheek. “I can never thank you enough for the love you have shown my daughter, the care you’ve given her and the risks you’ve taken to bring her back to me.”

“There is one thing you can do,” Nicole said, wiping her cheeks. “Stay in touch?”

Castillo nodded. “Of course.” Taking Pilar’s hand, he looked to Jake. “We are ready.”

But when her father turned to leave, Pilar tugged her hand free and threw herself against Daniel’s legs. “Goodbye, Daniel.”

Shifting his weight to his good leg, he bent and lifted Pilar in his arms for a bear hug. He kissed her head, and through the fresh onslaught of emotion choking him, he rasped, “
Adios,
tadpole.”

When he set her back on the ground, Pilar took her father’s hand, and they followed Jake out to the deck. Daniel paused at the door and looked back at Nicole, who sat on a sofa with her face buried in her hands. “You coming to see them off?”

“No.” Lifting her head, she swiped at her red eyes and shoved to her feet. “I’d better go check on Dad.”

Without another word, she headed back to the small bedroom where her father was resting. Daniel watched her go, and wondered to himself— if saying goodbye to Pilar hurt this much, how much more would it hurt when he and Nicole went their separate ways?

Because he still had a bad feeling in his gut about where they were headed.

* * *

The Coast Guard met the
Serendipity
a couple miles from shore. In addition to examining her father’s injury and reaching the same conclusion as Nicole had—significant bruising but no broken ribs, a diagnosis that they would still confirm with X-rays at the closest emergency room once they reached shore—the Coast Guard officers took an initial incident report on the shootings. As they had all agreed to ahead of time, Nicole, her father and Daniel gave truthful accounts of how the senator and Diaz acquired their wounds.

Diaz had joined them for a day trip to discuss business. The senator kept the gun on the boat in case of trouble from pirates or drug runners. He had the gun tucked in the waist of his pants, and Diaz snatched it and threatened them all with it. When Daniel produced his own weapon to defend them, Diaz fired, the senator knocked Daniel out of the way and took a bullet in his Kevlar-protected back. Diaz turned toward his weapon on Nicole and Daniel fired to save her. Initial forensic analysis supported everything they reported, as would later tests. Nicole was confident the case would be closed as justifiable homicide. No mention was made of Pilar, her father or Jake.