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“Because Charlie was meeting Señor Vargas there by himself and I couldn’t let my fiancé go without backup. I didn’t expect to be discovered by his men.”
She’d managed to say Charlie smoothly, but Nyx was walking a fine line between the various lies. The story needed to be consistent because there was no telling where Ramirez had spies, and that included among Vargas’s men.
“You expect me to believe that the Paladin League sent you to sit around Trujillo and wait? I’m not gullible, Señorita.” His tone had her fighting off a shiver of alarm.
“A brooch was auctioned off.” She hated to pass along that information, but it was in the past and there was nothing Ramirez could do about that item now. “It was from the treasure. My boss didn’t want to risk something else turning up without a representative onsite. It’s a nine-hour flight from the US. Anything could happen in that time.”
That sounded logical, right?
“All I hear from you is excuses.”
Nyx could feel the ice cracking beneath her feet.
“Colonel Ramirez, if I knew where the treasure was, do you think I’d still be in Puerto Jardin?” She flicked her braid behind her shoulder. The action matched her tone of voice. “I would have recovered it and gotten out of here. There are collectors who would pay a fortune on the shadow market for a single piece of such a fabled treasure.”
His expression remained flat and Nyx didn’t know how her words had been received.
After a moment of silence, Ramirez asked, “What about your fiancé?”
“Charlie could catch up with me later. The most important thing would be smuggling the cache out of the country before anyone realized it had been located.”
Ramirez continued to study her.
“Sentimentality has been the downfall of many. I wouldn’t let my feelings for Charlie stand in the way of a life of luxury. He understands. He wants that lifestyle as much as I do. It’s why he deals weapons.”
Nyx tried to give off the right vibe, but it was hard to maintain it. If he’d discovered her background and how she was raised, he’d realize she just spewed the biggest load of bullshit ever. Integrity, honor, principles. Those were more than words to her.
“You have no idea where the Treasure of Trujillo is?”
“No, and the odds of finding it are nearly nonexistent.”
“I want that treasure,” Ramirez said.
“What’s my cut?”
“You get to live. Your betrothed gets to live. That’s your reward for finding it.”
Oz sat at the dining room table at the safe house with half of the team. He started to give an opinion, looked between Captain Nguyen and Lurch, and decided to keep his mouth shut. He wasn’t the only one who’d opted to sit this showdown out. Everyone present, even Rusty, had stopped offering their thoughts.
“Sergeant, I’m in command and the decision has been made,” BD said.
“I don’t like your plan, sir,” Lurch said, heat in his voice. “Not only is it too risky, but we also wouldn’t be going in until the last minute.”
“Duly noted, Sergeant.”
“But—”
“No. This discussion is over. Do you understand?”
There was a long silence before he grudgingly said, “Yes, sir. Understood.”
Pivoting, Lurch headed into the kitchen, and an instant later, Oz heard the door to the house close. “I’m on it,” he told BD and went after him.
Oz caught up with Lurch a couple blocks from the safe house and fell into step with him. His teammate gave him a side-eyed look but didn’t say anything. He let the silence linger a few minutes.
Lurch was normally one of the more easygoing members of the team, but right now he was wound tight. “Are you going to take my head off if I ask you a question?”
“It depends on the question.”