Page 27

Oz drove the two-lane highway back to Trujillo faster than he did on their way to San Isidro, but he wanted to get their vehicle off of it as soon as he could.

With the five-foot berms on either side and the rainforest encroaching to the edge of them, he had no place to go if Petrova and his assholes came up on their tail.

This was the only road back to the city, so the Russians didn’t have to make a guess about routes.

Ayla was oblivious to his concern, dozing in the passenger seat. She’d eaten crackers before getting out of bed today, but unless some smell set her off, her morning sickness seemed to be worse in the afternoons. Or when she was anxious.

He’d enlisted the aid of the three old men.

Senor Garcia’s reconnaissance turned up that Petrova was in town to meet with Senor Vargas this morning.

Made sense. The Russian mob was heavily involved in the narcotics trade, and Vargas was a major player.

The drug lord also would not look kindly on a missed or rescheduled meeting, so Oz estimated he had a short window to get Ayla out of town.

Senors Alvarez, Garcia, and Otero had taken turns keeping watch over Oz’s vehicle throughout the night. Two different tampering attempts were thwarted.

To keep his Pollita safe, Oz needed to reach the outskirts of Trujillo, where he could take random side streets and the Russians wouldn’t have any idea where they were.

He estimated at least another forty, maybe forty-five minutes before that happened, and in the meantime, he was checking the rearview mirror constantly.

He hadn’t lied to her last night when he said they probably wouldn’t invade their room at the inn. Too messy. But taking them out on the highway? That worked.

Unless Petrova still wanted Iona Desmond alive for some reason.

Then they were at risk of being stopped, and Ayla grabbed. Her disguise? It would need to be reconsidered once they reached Trujillo, but that was a problem for when he had her safely tucked away in some obscure hotel.

“Oz?”

He bit back a sigh. The hope that she’d sleep all the way to the city was gone. “What, Pollita?” he asked, digging deep for his patience.

“How much longer?”

“Maybe an hour.” With evasive maneuvers, once they reached a place where he had more than a straight stretch of highway, it might be longer than that.

After studying him for a moment, Ayla said, “You’re worried.”

It wasn’t a guess. “Why do you think that?” Oz was positive his expression and body language were not transmitting that message.

“Because I know you. It’s not only the mobsters showing up in San Isidro. What’s going on?”

Ayla’s answer startled him. Oz didn’t let anyone get too close, certainly not close enough to read him, to figure out his state of mind simply by looking at him.

Fuck, he’d learned as a kid to throw on a facade.

It was safer that way. He couldn’t afford to have Vargas or one of his employees figure out he was more than he seemed.

“I think Petrova was in the lobby of the hotel when I escorted you to your room the day you arrived. If he identified me yesterday, then he probably ID’d you and thinks you’re Iona even with the wig on.” He was sugarcoating it. There was no think or if about it.

“You’re pretty unforgettable,” Ayla said slowly. “He would have recognized you as soon as you walked in. We left this morning while he was…busy? Away from the inn? But now you’re worried he’ll catch up to us. That’s why you’re driving so fast.”

Reluctantly, Oz nodded. “Pretty much, yeah. Don’t worry, Pollita. I’ll do everything in my power to keep you and our baby safe. Trust me.”

“I do trust you.”

Her response was immediate and certain. Her faith in him was a double-edged sword.

Part of him loved it, but it also scared the shit out of him because he’d been lying to her.

That wasn’t all. What if he let her down?

Petrova was dangerous and he had a small army in Trujillo with him that vastly outnumbered Oz’s Special Forces team.

While it seemed the Russian had few of the A-Team with him on this trip, his boss, Ivanov, hired former Spetsnaz operatives and there must be some of them along for the ride. That meant they’d be dealing with peers, not the lackeys Oz had encountered so far.

“Oz? How much of a head start do you think we have on them?”

“I’d guess an hour.” He already calculated the minimum time, but it was likely the window was bigger.

Petrova left one of his men behind at the inn.

Senora Alvarez had added a sleeping powder to his coffee, and Oz had dumped him on his bed while Ayla was in the bathroom.

There wouldn’t be a call to alert his boss that they’d taken off.

Without a warning, there was no need for Petrova to hurry, and Vargas would expect deference and discussion with any purchase. That meant the meeting would be on the longer side. But Oz wasn’t taking any chances. Not with his woman. Not with their unborn baby.

As far as he was concerned, the time frame was one hour.

“This disguise isn’t going to work any longer. Not after the mobsters saw me.”

“I know. We’ll figure that out later. Our first problem is getting back to the city.”

“Can I ditch the wig?” There was definitely a hopeful note in Ayla’s voice.

“We’ll probably get you a different wig instead.”

“And different clothing.” Ayla sounded glum. “ That should be fun when it was already difficult to find this style. This is going to waste even more time. Between me and my sister, we cover a large swath of the fashion spectrum.”

Whenever she commented on wasting time, he felt a sharp jab in the pit of his stomach.

Ayla noticed things, and if she put the pieces together before Baggs found her twin, Oz would lose her trust. The thought of her looking at him with suspicion…

He shook his head. It was the price of keeping her safe.

He’d pay it if necessary and work on fixing things between them later.

“We have a head start on a new disguise since we already ruled out so much. We’ll discuss it more when we have a hotel room.”

The hush lasted about ten minutes. “Oz?”

His lips curved, and Oz shook his head. Even when she drove him crazy, he enjoyed her. “More questions?”

“Sorry. There’s not much to do except think.”

“True.” The amusement faded. Ayla was too smart for his own good. Baggs better move his ass on the search. “We can talk if that will help take your mind off the situation.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to distract you.”

As if her constant questions weren’t a distraction. “Right now I’m mostly driving and checking the rearview mirror. If things change and I need to focus, I’ll let you know.”

There was a brief pause. Oz knew Ayla well enough by now to realize this wasn’t good. He braced himself.

“Will you tell me about your parents? Why are they in prison?”

If he hadn’t prepared himself for whatever she was about to bring up, Oz probably would have swerved into oncoming traffic.

Of all the stupid things to share with her, anything about his family was at the top of the list. At the moment, he couldn’t remember why he did it, but damn, he wished he could call back that admission.

The silence felt heavy, but he didn’t have words to deflect her.

Ayla touched his thigh lightly, her fingers there and gone in an instant. “It’s not only curiosity. At some point, you’re going to bring our baby to meet your parents. I want to know what our child is going to be dealing with.”

Taking a deep breath, Oz relaxed his grip on the steering wheel and glanced in the mirror. No Russian chase car behind them, saving him from this conversation. “It was white-collar crime,” he said, voice tight. “Nothing that will hurt our kid.”

Oz would fucking make sure of it. His parents might have used him in their shit, but he’d protect his son or daughter no matter what it took.

Shifting toward him as much as her seat belt would allow, Ayla waited.

Fuck it. “My parents are grifters, always pulling some kind of con. Before I was old enough to start school, it was simple stuff, like pretending to be homeless.” He shot a quick glance at Ayla.

“I’m not talking penny-ante stuff. I’m pretty sure they were raking in some big money because not only did we live in an affluent suburb, but my parents each drove a Mercedes. ”

“At that age, you couldn’t have understood what was happening.”

“I didn’t. I figured it out later when I was older. By then, my parents were deep into the biggest and most successful con game of their lives. Unfortunately for them, their free ride hit a snag when they were convicted of mail fraud and tax evasion.”

Ayla’s hand rested on his thigh again, and this time it stayed. “How old were you when they were arrested?”

“Fifteen. They were worth hundreds of millions of dollars by then. We had a private jet, a gated mansion, staff, the whole nine yards.” Oz checked the mirror and then risked a glance at Ayla.

“I’d figured them out long before then and distanced myself as far as I could from their games.

I wasn’t always successful, but the older I got, the less useful I was to them.

A little boy is more helpful in the long con than a teenager who’s starting to shave. ”

She squeezed his leg, the gesture one of support. “They must have hired the best lawyers available. They couldn’t avoid prison?”

Oz shook his head. “They were arrogant. Careless. Their lawyers kept them out of prison for more than three years, but the case against them was overwhelming. I was already in the Army when they were sentenced. Some appeals dragged on after that, but they didn’t win any of them.

” He put his right hand over hers and ran his thumb over her knuckles.

“They’ll eventually be out on parole, but trust me, Pollita, there’s no way in hell I’m letting them near our kid.

” He winced over the fierceness of his voice. That was going to raise questions.

“Did they hurt you to force you into their schemes?” Ayla asked with enough vehemence to suggest she might go to war on his behalf if the answer was yes.

He was six-three and outweighed her by at least eighty pounds.

It had been a dozen years since he’d left his parents and their lifestyle behind to join the Army.

Despite this, the woman carrying his baby was ready to defend the boy he’d been.

Yeah. He curved his fingers around hers, wordlessly telling her what that meant to him.

“No, it was mostly neglect, especially when I was too old to be any help in their goals.” From the corner of his eye, Oz read her concern. “Relax, Pollita. I had a nanny once they were pulling in the big bucks, food to eat, and clothes to wear. I had it better than a lot of kids.”

Reaching out with her other hand, Ayla traced the tattoo on his hand with her index finger. “The symbol for new beginnings, you said.”

He wasn’t surprised she remembered. He’d learned not to underestimate his woman. “I got it after I made it through boot camp. My parents routinely used me in their cons. I needed the reminder that I wasn’t part of that any longer.”

“You weren’t part of it long before boot camp,” Ayla said adamantly. “You distanced yourself, you said. Did everything you could to stay out of it.”

Sliding his hand free, he returned it to the wheel and checked the rearview mirror again.

“I grew up manipulating people. I still do it. Sometimes it’s deliberate.

Like when my buddy nearly blew it with the woman he fell in love with and needed a push to make the right decision.

I call that using my powers for good.” Swallowing hard, Oz admitted, “There are other times, though, when I don’t realize I’m doing it. That’s what scares me.”

After a moment of consideration, Ayla said slowly, “You said you got the tattoo on your hand so you could look at it when you needed the reminder. This is your why.”

“It’s one of them.”

She gave his thigh another squeeze and sat back. “If I see you using your powers for evil, I’ll call you on it. But Oz? I’m not worried.”

Manipulating her was using his powers for good, but she wouldn’t see it that way if she figured it out. He didn’t mean to issue a warning, but the words escaped before he could censor himself. “Maybe you should be.”

She shook her head. “No. I might not know where you grew up or what your favorite color is, but I know who you are. I trust you. Not only with my life but with our baby’s life as well.”

He considered her words. Maybe she did know who he was.

Maybe she’d understand why he lied to her if she learned what he’d done.

When they met, she’d seen beyond his rough appearance.

Ayla spent the night with him, and while she’d been nervous, it hadn’t been because of him.

It had been because she wasn’t a woman who did hookups.

She trusted him again when she got to Puerto Jardin.

Traffic picked up, and while they weren’t quite on the outskirts of Trujillo yet, they were getting close. Maybe they got lucky and Vargas had kept Petrova busy for a while. Not that he would let down his guard. He knew better than to?—

Ayla sucked in a sharp breath.

Oz nearly drove off the road. He got them back in their lane. “What is it? What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

“My sister! I can feel Io. She’s more awake, more aware, but she can’t manage an escape. Someone’s coming. She can hear them.” Ayla reached out and gripped his thigh. “We have to help her. Now!”