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Alex spoke low and hard. “My father’s telling the powers-that-be in his government that I’m working for him. I can use that against him. I ought to be able to use his name to move around inside Cuba with impunity.”

“Until they get wind of you working for the CIA,” she retorted. “If your father thinks D.U. is a CIA front, you have to expect the Cubans to think the same thing. We’d end up in danger regardless of who your father is.”

He shrugged. “I have the skills to evade the Cubans. I know exactly how they’ve been trained. It’s how I was trained, dammit.”

“The CIA can find someone else to do the job,” she said implacably. She felt bad about coming across as a pushy bitch, but no way was she going to show him the true depth of her terror at the course shift his life had taken. He was heading down a path she and Dawn could not follow him down.

He huffed, sounding exasperated.

“What aren’t you telling me, Alex?”

“I already accepted the assignment.”

“Wellun-accept it!”

“I can’t.”

“You mean you won’t.”

“I mean I gave my word, and I’m going to do this.”

“And I’m supposed to sit at home like a good little woman and wait for you maybe not to come back? Ever?”

He shoved a hand through his hair. “Yes,” he finally answered. “That’s about the way of it.”

“You expect me to sit around doing nothing while you sally forth to your possible death? Not a chance. If you go, I go.”

“That’s crazy. You’re not trained for this kind of mission.”

“And yet, Doctors Unlimited asked me to go on it.”

“You need to stay home.”

She planted her fists on her hips. “No. I’m done being apart from you. We’ve already lost an entire year. If you go, I’m going, too. And that’s an ultimatum.”

“I don’t deal well with ultimatums,” he snapped.

“And I don’t withdraw mine,” she snapped back.

They glared daggers at each other. She could be just as stubborn and pig-headed as he could. If he was determined to do this supremely stupid thing, he damned well wasn’t going off by himself alone to do it and die.

A little voice in the back of her head whispered that this wasn’t the way to demonstrate her trust in him. She shoved away the realization that her declaration was partly based on desperation. If he decided to leave her, there wasn’t a darned thing she could do about it, right? Mentally, she knew that. But way down deep in her gut, she was forced to acknowledge that her ultimatum had as much to do with clinging to him as anything.

“What else aren’t you telling me?” she demanded.

“I don’t know anything more than I’ve told you.”

“If you’re dragging me off to Cuba, I have a right to know everything.”

“I don’t want to drag you to Cuba, dammit! I want you stay here and be safe.”

“Which is exactly what I want you to do, too.”

“Not happening.”

“Then I’m going to Cuba, whether you take me with you or not.”

He stared at her in frustration. She crossed her arms defensively and stared back. It was a long stand-off, but she was a McCloud, and they were a tenacious bunch.