Outsider (22 page)

“But, my job,” she began. “Your job…!”

“We'll work it out with Cobb and Ritter and Hunter,” he said. “It's well-known in the company that you and I are keeping company, and that Bernadette and I are getting close. It would be pretty natural if we went down to Jacobsville, where we both have friends, and took a few days off together.”

“Well, it's not bad, as a blind,” she considered aloud.

He frowned. He didn't mean it that way. But she sounded serious. Perhaps it was too soon to start making long-range plans.

“I wish we knew where those drugs were hidden,” she said after an uncomfortable silence.

“So do I, but at least we have some idea of where they're taking them, if the gang leader wasn't leading us astray,” he pondered. “Cy knows the lay of the land around Jacobsville, and he and a few friends put Lopez on the run. If they did it once, they can do it again.”

“I guess so,” she agreed.

“I like Jacobsville,” he said abruptly. “It's small, but that's not such a bad thing. I remember when I was a boy,” he added quietly, “and if anyone got sick, the whole community showed up to help take care of them. It isn't that way in cities.”

“I wouldn't know much about small communities,” she said quietly. “I lived very high. I had everything in the world, except love.” She laughed hollowly and didn't look at him. “Money alone isn't enough to make anyone happy.”

“Bernadette loves you very much,” he remarked.

She smiled. “Yes, she does,” she agreed. “And I love her. She's the most important thing in my life.”

“I'm beginning to understand that feeling myself,” he said slowly. “I'd like to be around for her, when she needs a father.”

Her heart was turning cartwheels. Was he was offering her a future, or just pointing out that he'd be visiting his daughter? “Are you going to be around? How about the call of the wild, Colby?” she asked solemnly. “You've been restless ever since you've been at the oil company.”

He curled the cup into his big, lean hands. “I won't deny that it's hard to give up the adrenaline rush. But I'm getting too slow for combat,” he admitted a little curtly. “I've lost my edge. Besides that, I want to stay alive long enough to become a grandfather.”

She smiled slowly, but she avoided his eyes. “Do you honestly think you could settle down in a small town someday?”

“Why not?” he asked. “I might actually enjoy the security of neighbors and friends in a small community. Especially among a few ex-mercs,” he added only half humorously. He glanced at her. “What about you? Have you ever thought of moving Bernadette to a small town? And if you ever did, could you give up fieldwork for it?”

“I don't know. Maybe.” She grimaced. “But even if I had a job here and a place to move to, I just don't know how I'd explain it to Rodrigo.” She stopped abruptly, afraid she'd made her wishes all too clear.

“I could explain it for you,” he offered with a glint in his dark eyes. “I think I still have some bullets in my left pocket…”

“You stop that,” she said. “Bernadette loves him.”

“She likes all sorts of serpents,” he replied. “You should have seen her at the reptile house at the zoo. She even knows the names in Latin.”

She grinned. “I taught her. I like snakes, too.”

“Well!” he exclaimed, and returned the grin. “Lucky Ramirez.”

“Colby!”

He glanced at his watch. “We'd better get going, hadn't we?” he said, finishing his coffee. “We don't want to be late.”

She gave up and let the subject go. He wasn't going to take to Rodrigo, even if half his family did. But she wondered if he'd been serious about settling down…

C
OLBY ARRIVED
at Ritter Oil just after Sarina did, and he went straight to Hunter with what he'd learned from the gang leader, and his proposal about doing some snooping in Jacobsville.

“The hitch is that we'll have to explain our absence from here, without arousing suspicion,” he added. “And you and Jennifer will have to agree to keep Bernadette for three or four days. We have to have a solid reason for being in town there.”

Hunter pursed his lips, considering this. “We might stage a conversation for Vance's benefit,” he began.

“Not a bad idea,” Colby had to agree. “I'll have Cy put it around town that I might be looking for property, with Sarina and Bernadette in mind. Gossip runs rampant in small communities. I remember that from my own childhood,” he added, chuckling.

“So do I. Cy would be willing, I'm sure. Micah, too.”

“I owe him one for coming all the way to Houston to treat me for malaria,” Colby said with a smile.

“You'd have done the same for him, if circumstances had been reversed.”

“I would,” Colby agreed.

Hunter frowned. “I wonder why Vance is keeping such a low profile lately,” he said. “He hasn't made a single wave since the assault on the warehouse.”

“He probably thinks we suspect him,” Colby replied. “And he's not wrong.” His eyes narrowed angrily. “He could have killed Sarina. I owe him one for that bullet he sent into her. If I could get enough evidence…”

“I know how you feel,” the older man interrupted. “But we have to keep playing a waiting game here, until we have a solid lead. Your bit of information, if it's true, is a big help. But until we actually see drugs being moved, we can't prove a thing. And if Sarina fingers Vance for shooting her,” he added, “there goes any chance of flushing out Cara Dominguez and her lieutenants.”

“I guess so,” came the quiet reply.

“Don't be so impatient!” Hunter chuckled. “We'll nail Vance, and Dominguez, and the rest of the bunch. I promise you we will. Don't forget how long it took Cy and the others to bring down Lopez.”

“I know. Things move so slowly.”

“But they do get done. While you and Sarina are in Jacobsville, the rest of us will put a little more pressure on Vance and see what he does. I'll have one of our men monitor that wire you put in his car. So far he's been pretty quiet.”

“He'll slip eventually,” Colby said with certainty. “They always do.”

“Give Cy my regards,” Hunter told him. “Maybe one day we can have a reunion and talk about the old days.”

“I'll see if I can arrange that,” Colby told him with a grin.

 

T
WO DAYS LATER
, Colby and Sarina were installed in separate rooms in the Jacobsville Hotel. Colby might have suggested a single room, but he wasn't ready to share what he'd learned about their marriage with her just yet. She was still wary of him and distant, despite their intimacy in the recent past. He didn't want to push too hard. He wanted her to think about all he'd said.

They went together to Eb Scott's training camp. Colby felt right at home with the mercs. He was somewhat easier with his past now that Sarina knew about it. Her reaction hadn't been quite what he expected. She was a straight arrow, very conventional. He'd expected that she might not want anything to do with him once she found out about his past. It hadn't been like that at all.

Not that she was letting him get any closer. She was polite, courteous, and as cool as ice water.

“You're quiet,” he remarked as they got out of the car at Eb's ranch.

“I don't have anything to say,” she replied.

“You're still mad about Vance,” he guessed, nodding when she gave him a startled look. “I wanted to take him in, but Hunter stopped me. He said we couldn't afford a ripple in the stream.” He looked angry and frustrated, all at once.

She was vaguely surprised at the anger. She turned to look up at him, her dark eyes wide and quizzical. “I didn't think it mattered to you that he got away.”

“He shot you,” he said curtly.

She turned away, but not before he saw a faint smile on her lips.

Eb Scott was tall and lean, with blond-streaked brown hair and green eyes. He shook hands with Colby warmly.

“Long time, no see,” he said. “You've weathered well.”

“So have you,” Colby replied. He glanced around the camp, which he knew was state-of-the-art. If there were any advancements in surveillance, Eb had them first. “You've expanded since I was here last.”

“That was years ago,” Eb reminded him with a grin.

“I guess it was.” He turned to Sarina. “You don't know Eb, do you?”

She shook her head, smiling. “I've heard of him, of course. Cy meant to introduce us, but there was never time.” She held out her hand. “I'm Sarina Carrington, DEA.”

Eb shook the hand, glancing at Colby curiously.

“We were married, once” was all Colby would admit. “We have a daughter. She's just turned seven.”

Eb had heard about Colby's marriage, but from what he knew, the woman had been a brunette. This one was a blonde.

“You probably knew his second wife,” Sarina said, anticipating the question. “I'm the first one. But we were only married for one day.”

Eb raised an eyebrow. “Wise lady, to know so quickly what a rotten husband he'd make.”

Colby burst out laughing. Sarina was surprised, because she'd expected him to take offense. Apparently these two knew each other very well, indeed.

“What are you two doing down here?” Eb asked. “I thought you were working for Ritter, in Houston.”

“I am,” Colby said. “But we've had some drug smuggling complications, and we understand that a big shipment of cocaine is going to be sent down here for concealment. We plan to stop it.”

“Good for you,” Eb said. “We've had enough drug smugglers here to last us a lifetime. Cy and Micah and I shut down Lopez's operation, with a little help from Harley Fowler, and put Lopez's men on the street.”

“I heard. Good work.”

Eb shrugged. “It wasn't that difficult. He underestimated us right down the line.”

“His successor is heading in the same direction,” Colby told him. “She thinks Lopez's survivors invented the mercenaries to explain their failure.”

“Obviously she doesn't read magazines,” Eb mused, recalling that his operation in Jacobsville had featured largely in one about the time Lopez died.

“She's a very superior sort of woman, in her own mind,” Sarina interjected. “But she depends on the wrong people. One of her operatives spilled the news that she was going to attempt to move the shipment from its hiding place at our warehouse in Houston. He assumed that he was the only man in the company who understood Spanish.” She smiled wryly. “His mistake.”

“If you know the shipment is in the warehouse, why don't you just do an inventory?” Eb asked.

“You have no idea how big the warehouse is,” Colby replied, “or how many cartons would have to be opened and inspected. Besides that,” he added with narrowed eyes, “I don't really think the drugs are in cartons. I think they're concealed somewhere else.”

“Where?” Sarina wanted to know.

He grimaced. “I'm not sure. Just a hunch.”

“Your hunches used to be pretty accurate,” Eb recalled.

“They still are,” Sarina murmured, without looking at Colby.

“Well, we'll get Micah and Cy in, and hold a council of war. I've got contacts everywhere,” Eb mentioned. “And Cy knows a man who went undercover in Lopez's outfit…”

“I know him, too,” Colby said, and his eyes spoke volumes to his old comrade.

Eb was quick. He knew immediately that he wasn't supposed to mention Rodrigo in front of the woman.

“We can discuss him later,” Eb said, carelessly. “Come on in and I'll give you a tour of the place. Sally will be home from school about four. We have a son who's in day care while mommy and daddy work, but he'll come with her. You can meet him, too.”

“You with a wife and son,” Colby shook his head. “Who'd have thought it six years ago?”

“I could say the same of you,” Eb returned, grinning. “Haven't we changed, though?”

“We have, indeed,” Colby agreed, with a warm smile at Sarina, whose cheeks colored just faintly.

 

E
B
'
S OPERATION
was enormous. There were two barracks with electronic hookups and every sort of gadget known to modern science. There was a huge metal building used for martial arts training. There was a gun range. There were exercise trails through the woods, and marked areas, including an urban setting, where mock combat took place. There was even a track where one of Eb's experts taught defensive driving tactics. It was a counterterrorism school of which any country would be proud.

“We do a lot of contract work here for various governments,” Eb told them. “I add people as I need to. The defensive driving range is new. So is the combat area. We have to keep up with current terrorist trends. Street fighting is a recent innovation, starting in Iraq. We have an instructor who teaches Arabic and Farsi, along with some Bedouin dialects. I had plans to teach demolition and bomb dismantling, but Sally put her foot down. She hates explosives.” He shrugged. “You win some, you lose some.”

“She just didn't want you blown up,” Colby ventured.

He chuckled. “It was just as well. I'd planned to ask Cord Romero to teach the course, but he got married and has a child on the way. He's going to retire from merc work and raise prize bulls.”

“He and Maggie were in the papers a few months ago,” Colby recalled. “They shut down a child slavery ring and killed the ringleader in Amsterdam.”

“They did, indeed. And just think, she was formerly an investment counselor.”

“She,” Colby jerked a thumb at Sarina, “was an oil company clerk. She's one of the best intelligence agents I've come across in recent years.”

“I got shot,” Sarina reminded him dryly, but glowing from the praise.

“Anybody can get shot,” Eb said. “I've got a few holes in my hide, too, and not from carelessness. The wounds heal, eventually.”

“Eventually,” Colby agreed.

 

S
ALLY CAME HOME
with their little boy, who was the image of his dad. He was shy around the newcomers, but sweet.

Eb's wife taught grammar school. She was blond and slender, and obviously in love with her husband. She and Sarina kept each other company while Eb and Colby talked over old times.

The next day they spent with Cy and Lisa, at their ranch. They arranged for some surveillance at the known haunts of the late Manuel Lopez, with trusted cowboys riding fence lines and keeping their eyes open.

“Did you know that there's a ranch near by that's up for sale?” Cy asked Colby.

“No. What sort of ranch?” he replied.

“It's not a big one, by local standards,” Cy told him. “But it has potential. Lots of good grazing land, plenty of water. It could support a nice herd of horses.”

Colby glanced at Sarina, who was listening carefully. “Where is it?” he asked.

Cy grinned. “I'll show you.”

They left Lisa at the house, because her pregnancy was advanced and she found riding difficult. It made her sick. Cy loaded his visitors into his big red Expedition and drove them over past the D Bar G, Judd and Christabel Dunn's prosperous cattle ranch to the old Hob Downey property.

“Hob was killed by one of the notorious Clark brothers,” Cy told them. “He was a good old man, everybody loved him. The property has been deserted ever since.” He parked at the front door of the ramshackle ranch house. “The land is the thing,” he added when he saw their dubious looks. “The house is a dead loss.”

“It is,” Colby agreed. “I'd pull it down and rebuild. Maybe a Spanish revival style. It would fit in well with all those agaves and cacti.”

Sarina glanced at him with a warm smile. “Yes, it would. And painted a pale yellow, like desert sand…”

“…it would be perfect,” he finished for her. “Bernadette would love it. She could ride horses every day.”

Sarina's heart jumped up into her chest. Her eyes widened, darkened, as they met his across the backseat. “Yes,” she said softly. “She would.”

They exchanged a look hotter than a jalapeño pepper. Cy cleared his throat to get their attention.

“And we're here,” he said, hiding a smile as he got out at the front door of the ramshackle shack. At the end of the driveway was a dull, lackluster For Sale sign, which had obviously been there for quite some time.