Enticed by the Operative (Doctors in Danger, Book 1) (12 page)

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CHAPTER 11

O
livia tried not to wince as the acrid stench of cigarette smoke burned the lining of her nose. She didn’t want to let this man know he affected her in any way. There was something about his cold, flat gaze that told her a show of weakness, no matter how small, would be a dangerous mistake. He was a predator, plain and simple.

And she refused to be his prey.

“You have something for me?” She spoke the question in English, wanting him to think she had no fluency in Spanish. Let him be the one to underestimate her—it might be her only advantage.

He tilted his head to the side, openly studying her. She met his gaze, ignoring the ongoing insect harassment. A few bites were a small price to pay to make him think she wasn’t intimidated, even though her insides were quivering like jelly.

After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke. “Where is the money?”

“Where is the product?”

He glanced at her shoulders where the straps of her backpack were plainly visible. His mouth twisted in a cruel smile. “I could just take it from you.”

“You could,” she agreed. His eyebrows shot up—he clearly hadn’t expected her to display such sangfroid about the suggestion of assault. “But I think we both understand it would not be in your best interest to do so.”

“What if you did not live to talk about it?” His voice was low and menacing and he took a half step forward. Olivia’s heart shot up into her throat, but she stood her ground.

“Then you would not live long enough to spend it.”

Hesitation flickered in his eyes, and she pressed her advantage. “They are expecting my call after I retrieve the product. If I do not contact them, well...” She let the suggestion hang in the air between them. In truth, she had no such arrangement with the cartel, but he didn’t know that. Given the fearsome reputation of Fantasmas del Mal, she was only too happy to let his imagination run wild. The theoretical consequences he conjured up were likely much more frightening than anything she could say.

His lips flattened and he nodded once. “Very well.” He raised his hand, and the three men who had walked into the clearing behind him moved forward.

They didn’t speak while they waited for his cronies to join them, and Olivia deliberately kept her gaze on him and off the tree line. If he suspected for even a second she was looking for someone else... She mentally shuddered, not wanting to imagine the bloodbath that would result if Logan’s presence was detected.

The men fanned out behind their leader and didn’t speak, but they studied her with open curiosity. Olivia met their eyes and refused to flinch in the face of their speculative perusal. One of the men licked his lips and leered suggestively, but she merely raised a brow and stared at him until he looked away.

The leader held out his hand, and the man carrying a stained cloth bag withdrew a rectangular brown-wrapped package and passed it over.

The leader lifted his brow, plainly expecting Olivia to show him the money. Instead, she reached into her backpack and pulled out a penknife and a small vial of liquid. She almost laughed at the man’s incredulous expression as she made a tiny incision in the package and used the blade to scoop out a bit of white powder, which she deposited in the vial.

“What are you doing?” he asked, caught between astonishment and annoyance at this delay in the proceedings. Olivia didn’t respond as she used her finger to flick the vial, mixing the powder into the liquid. After a few seconds, she held the vial against a scrap of paper.

“I’m checking the purity of your product,” she said finally, showing him the chart. Let him think the cartel was doing a bit of quality control. In reality, Logan had packed the tests before they’d set out, wanting her to confirm that she was actually receiving cocaine in exchange for the cartel’s money. Otherwise, the bad guys could claim she had merely picked up a brick of baking powder and switched it out for the drugs later, to falsely incriminate them.

A murmur rose up from the men, and Olivia couldn’t tell if they were offended at her lack of trust or amazed the cartel would go to such lengths to ensure it was getting what it had paid for.

“Are you satisfied?” His tone was huffy, but there was uncertainty in his eyes.

She dug in the pack and tossed the stacks of bills at his feet. Then she held the bag open before her. “Put the rest in here,” she instructed.
It’s almost done
, she thought. Just a few more minutes and they’d be gone and she could give in to the shakes she was trying desperately to control.

One of the men who’d stepped forward glared at her, not bothering to disguise his hostility. “She needs to be taught a lesson,” he said in Spanish. “No one treats us like this.”

His compatriots grumbled in agreement, and another one spoke up. “This woman thinks she is in charge. She should learn the truth.”

Olivia kept her gaze on their leader, who did not respond. As his men continued to complain, Olivia decided to take matters into her own hands. It was clear the idea of hurting her was starting to override their fear of the cartel, and if the balance tipped in the wrong direction, she wasn’t going to get away unscathed.

“Are you really that stupid?” she said in Spanish. The men stopped talking and stared at her, their jaws hanging open in shock. She rolled her eyes at their surprise. “Did you honestly think I don’t know your language? I know everything about you. Where you eat. Where you sleep. Where your families live. Fantasmas does not take chances.” She let that sink in and looked at each man in turn. “And neither should you.”

The men glanced at each other, chastened into silence. The one putting the drugs in her bag swallowed hard, his face now pale under his tan. He hurried to complete his task and then stepped back, clearly wanting to distance himself from her.

The leader gestured to one of the other men, who knelt down and scooped up the money. Olivia slung the bag over her shoulder and nodded. “Our business is finished. You can go now.”

The three men didn’t waste any time heading for the tree line, but the leader stayed behind a moment, glaring at her. Their tables had turned, and it was plain he didn’t like being on this end of the deal.

Just go
, she urged him silently. She wasn’t going to leave until he did—it would be foolish of her to turn her back on him. She had won this round, but she wouldn’t put it past him to go for a cheap shot if given the opportunity.

He muttered something under his breath, then turned and stomped off after his men. Olivia waited until they disappeared in the forest before releasing her breath in a gusty sigh. It was done. Now she just had to get back to the apartment and hide the drugs.

She waited a moment longer, just to be sure they weren’t coming back. The normal forest sounds of birdsong and wind-rustled leaves filled her ears, and her heartbeat gradually slowed back to its normal speed. With one last look at the clearing, she turned and walked back into the forest.

She’d gone about thirty yards down the trail when Logan stepped out of the vegetation and onto the path in front of her. The shock of his sudden arrival made her freeze in place, and she emitted a startled yelp.

His frown eased as he realized he had scared her. “Sorry,” he muttered, taking her arm and tugging her farther along the path. “Don’t stop here. We need to keep going.”

She stared up at him, taking in his mud-caked skin and dirty clothes. “What happened to you?”

He cast her a puzzled glance, then seemed to remember his appearance. “Oh. That. It’s bug repellant.”

“I see.” She bit back the urge to laugh, but was unable to stop a squeak from escaping. Logan frowned down at her and she quickly smoothed her features into an appropriately serious expression. She didn’t let his display of grumpiness affect her, though. Relief had made her feel lighter than air, and she had the sudden, absurd thought that if Logan let go of her arm, she’d float away.

I did it
, she thought, with no small amount of wonder. Somehow, she had stood up to those men and come out a winner, despite the fact that her confidence had been nothing more than an elaborate bluff. It was unlike anything she’d experienced before, and she felt simultaneously buoyed and drained by her success.

Logan tugged hard on her arm and she picked up her pace to keep up with him. “Where’s the fire?” she asked, a little breathless. When he didn’t reply, she dug in her heels and wrenched her arm free. “What is your problem?” He hadn’t said a word, but she could practically feel the angry tension radiating off his body. Why was he so upset? Everything had gone according to plan.

Logan glanced around, then stepped off the path into the shadows of a small grove. Having no other choice, Olivia followed him.

He stood with his back to her, scrubbing furiously at the dried mud on his face. It flaked off in a shower of dust, but when he turned to face her, she could see his skin was still dark from the dirt left behind. The filth caked onto his skin gave his features a masklike quality, but his displeasure still came through loud and clear.

“You want to know what my problem is?” he said, practically hissing the words. “Do you have any idea how close you came to getting killed just now?”

His question popped the bubble of her relief, and she felt her own anger rising in response.

“What are you talking about? I thought that went about as well as it could have gone.”

His eyes widened and she had the distinct impression he was reevaluating his estimation of her intelligence. “Those men were inches away from violence.” He held his hand up, fingers almost touching in illustration. “If they had decided to hurt you—” He broke off, shaking his head.

“You would have stopped them,” she said, placing her hand on his arm in the hopes of calming him.

“That’s just it. I don’t think I could have gotten to you in time.” He was still upset, but now she heard a new dimension in his voice: fear.

Olivia rocked back on her heels, uncertain how to respond. She’d never considered the possibility that Logan might be afraid, as well. He’d always seemed so confident, so sure of himself and what they needed to do in order to get through this alive. His unflappable demeanor had comforted her on many occasions and reassured her that she was going to be okay.

The fact that he was scared, too, should have worried her, and for a brief second, it did. How was she going to survive if her protector was just as afraid as she was? But the concern passed before she took her next breath. Logan’s fears didn’t make him any less reliable or any less capable. If anything, they made him more human.

The urge to comfort him rose in her chest, and she stepped forward and put her other hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said, pitching her voice low in the same tone she used to soothe an anxious patient. His muscles were tense under her fingertips and she squeezed gently, urging him to relax. “Nothing happened. You don’t need to keep worrying about an outcome that didn’t take place.”

“You took too many risks,” he said through clenched teeth. “You practically dared them to kill you.”

“I did not!” She may have goaded them a little bit, it was true. But only because it was her best chance at keeping them at bay. Surely a man like Logan would understand that?

“I saw the expressions on their faces—you said something to make them angry. Did you forget you were outnumbered?”

“No.” She glared up at him, indignation quickly replacing any remaining sympathy she felt for causing him undue stress. “Did it escape your notice that they
didn’t
hurt me?”

He dismissed this point with a wave of his hand. “You don’t get it. I—”

“No,
you
don’t get it,” she interrupted. “I did what I thought was best to complete the deal and get out. Maybe I didn’t make the choices you wanted me to, but it worked and we have the drugs. Why are we standing here arguing when we should be celebrating?”

Logan simply stared at her a moment, emotions flickering across his face in rapid succession. Then he shook his head again. “Let’s go,” he muttered. “It’s not safe for us to stay here. We need to get back to the apartment.” He walked past her and stepped onto the trail, pausing for her to join him. As soon as she did he took off again, setting a punishing pace.

Olivia gritted her teeth and trotted behind him. She’d let this slide for now. But as soon as they were back at the apartment, she was going to find out what exactly was bothering Logan. It wasn’t like him to act this way, and they couldn’t work as an effective team if they didn’t communicate.

“Get ready,” she muttered to his back. “This isn’t over.”

* * *

Logan pushed a vine out of the way, remembering just in time to hold on to it so it wouldn’t fall back and hit Olivia in the face. She probably wouldn’t believe it after his behavior in the glen, but he hadn’t meant to take his frustrations out on her.

How could he explain it, though? She’d think he was crazy, getting all worked up over seeing her in danger like that. He was the DEA agent after all. He was supposed to deal with this kind of thing all the time.

And he did. But a woman he was beginning to care for generally wasn’t part of the mix.

As he’d learned the hard way, it was one thing to put a stranger in danger. Quite another to watch someone close to you risk themselves.

His heart had nearly stopped when she’d faced off with the four men. He’d been too far away to hear what they were saying, but their facial expressions spoke volumes. It was clear that, at least initially, they’d seen her as little more than a nuisance. Perhaps a plaything to be used up and discarded. He’d very nearly blown his cover when the man had leered at Olivia, but he’d stopped himself just in time.

For her part, Olivia had kept her cool. He still wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but she’d shifted the balance of power in her favor and managed to hold on to her edge until the meeting was over. And it had ended just in time. The leader wasn’t happy about the way things had gone, and if he’d stuck around much longer, his fear of Olivia probably would have given way to his anger.