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Chapter Thirty-eight
The backless red dress, Mari snuck into her suitcase, had tempted her before, but tonight she couldn’t ignore the temptation. Trying it on, she stood in front of the long mirror, and the shock floored her.
It was beautiful. She was beautiful. With her hair up in the fancy way she’d been taught, high heels to match the dress and a sparkly chain to highlight the slopes of her breasts, she almost removed it.
Then she turned and saw the back and knew that Jake didn’t stand a chance tonight. If the man left her at her door, he had to be either gay or a eunuch.
Fetching the lacy black shawl she’d bought while in Aruba, she checked the peephole after a knock sounded and opened the door for Carl.
“Holy Mother of God, woman, that poor dude doesn’t have a hope in hell of walking away after this assignment without taking you with him.”
“Now why would you say something like that? You know this is just a job.”
“Job my ass. It’s like a shipboard romance, and you’re cuckoo over the dude. How the mighty have fallen.” Rylee knew Carl was just having fun at her expense. Having worked together many times, she valued him, but his sense of humor left a lot to be desired.
“This stays between you and me, partner. No doubt, once we see him back in Miami, safe and sound, Jake and I will go our separate ways. Until then, I have work to do. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Right. Sure.” Carl bobbed his head up and down in a maddening way that almost made her laugh. “I talked to Harrison. The boss says he’s making arrangements to have Madelaine and the other dude picked up from the ship tomorrow.”
“Did you get a chance to question Hakim’s man that we have in custody? Did you run a make on him?”
“Yeah, I sent the info to the Bureau. Turns out, he’s a small-time hood from Minnesota. One of several Somalian Muslims Hakim must have hired as his bodyguards. All-around bad boys willing to do anything for money and Allah… in that order.”
“Which means, he has a record.”
“A mile long. They have him on multiple drug charges, and he’s wanted for trafficking and even an old rape case. This nasty boy’s going to be put away for a long time.”
Rylee listened; her attention fixed on Carlos. “Think he’ll turn on Hakim, give us the goods to lock him up? Maybe lighten his own sentence?”
“Not a chance. You know what these boys are like, they’ll die before they squeal.”
“Yeah. Well there’s still two of these sweethearts, plus Hakim, rolling around out there free as the vultures they remind me of.” She took the gun from her purse and handed it to Carl. “That’s his partner’s, he dropped it last night when he had something more vital to hold onto.”
“Bet the poor bastard’s still talking soprano.” Carl stuck it in his belt at the back, under his steward’s jacket and grinned.
“He deserved it, sneaking up behind a guy like that.” She went to her safe to retrieve her own weapon and snuggled it down low inside the fancy evening bag. “Jake’s determined to go to the steak restaurant tonight. I’ll be on my guard after what they tried to pull yesterday. I want you to take care of Miguel, make sure he’s safe. I could have sworn I saw one of those bearded goons at the pool today, watching us with the boy. I’m worried they’ll take him as bait.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Don’t tempt fate, my friend.” Rylee grinned at him and after hearing Jake’s knock went to open the door.
