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Carter quickly backed away from Gwen and dragged his hand over his mouth before facing me, his breathing a touch ragged.
“Shit, you startled us,” Gwen whispered, tossing an angry hand my way.
I stepped into the room and locked my arms across my chest, feeling like her father had hijacked my body, a reprimand on the tip of my tongue.
“We heard someone coming.” Gwen approached me, waving a hand to ask me not to overreact. “I had to think fast. Two people having a hot moment seemed plausible if someone found us. I grabbed him and made him kiss me.”
Made Carter kiss you? Sure, sure. No one made Carter do anything. I cocked a brow and shot a hard look at Carter, waiting for his side of the story.
“I needed to call Gray. She wanted to plant some of her gadgets in here,” Carter explained, keeping his voice low. “This room has a strong Wi-Fi signal, but no camera.”
I freed my arms from my chest, semi-satisfied with his response, then checked the hall, ensuring we were still clear.
“Gwen was right, they watch us from this room.” Carter pointed to the only wall in the room free of books. Two flat-screen TVs were mounted there, but they were currently off. There was a box with antennas on a table by the TVs and a mess of thick cables on the ground. “And no cameras in here because they don’t want anyone watching them watching us.”
“We’ll have eyes and ears on them in the room now, though. Gray can pick up the signal and get names on whoever comes in here.” Gwen motioned to a book on the shelf, and I assumed she hid a device there.
That was something. A step in the right direction. I couldn’t believe I needed to remind myself I was there on an op and not for other reasons. But Charley being there had thrown my focus. The curveball I’d never have predicted. And who could’ve?
“Let’s talk outside.” Carter urged us to walk, and we managed to get out of the building without encountering anyone from the lodge or show.
“You get ahold of Gray?” I asked once we were in the clear from the main building.
“He and Jesse are here in Brazil with the team I managed to pull together. He was able to offload the weapons, too.” Carter removed his shades from his pocket and slipped them on.
We were in an open area where the trees were most likely cut down for the sake of constructing the lodge, and the sun was now high enough in the sky to also signal to my stomach it was breakfast time. But today, I was hungry for something other than food. I shoved the messed-up thoughts of kneeling before Charley to taste her from my head and asked, “Who’d you call to come in and help?”
Hopefully it was someone not only Carter vouched for, but a team I could trust with my best friend’s life out there. Gray was looking to grow his family, and I’d made a promise to his wife, even his cute dog, Lucky, that I’d ensure he always made it home. No matter what.
Hell, a few months ago, we even shook on it when Gray wasn’t in the room. Well, Lucky and I did. He’d been snuggled in the crook of my arm when I took his paw and we’d made a deal that I’d look after his “dad.”
“Camila,” Carter said, drawing my attention.
“I thought she was on a job in Vancouver,” I noted as we turned down another trail that would soon put us in view of the three “treehouses” set up in the jungle. “How’d you pull that off? Her job finish early in Canada?”
“She was . . . already in Brazil. Canceled her job in Vancouver,” Carter shared, a bit hesitantly. “It’s like she knew we’d be needing her team’s help.”
“Knowing Camila,” Gwen spoke up, “she probably did. Doesn’t she get visions?”
Carter grumbled something under his breath. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact Camila somehow “just knew things” and she’d kept that a secret from him for so long. From what I remembered, unless I was confusing shit in my head, Carter and Camila had known each other most of their lives, and the truth about her visions had only come out during an op together in South America last year.
“Camila said she owes us one after assisting her on that op in—”
“Cape Town,” I blurted, cutting off Carter, and I abruptly stopped. Camila had invited me to the bar only to cancel on me. Then I bumped into . . . Charley. And now Charley’s here. Camila’s here. What the . . .? “Camila knew.”
“Camila knew what?” Carter faced me, hands going to his hips.
Gwen spun to the side. “What’s wrong?”
“Last month, before we flew home from Cape Town, I was supposed to meet Camila at the bar. She said you called her away, so she couldn’t make it. That’s when I met Charley.”
Since Gwen didn’t look shocked at the fact I knew Charley, I had to assume she’d been briefed on that fact. And Carter had more than likely shared that news with Gray on the phone, too.
I shook my head, then focused back on Carter, who was hanging his head as if uncomfortable with the new information.
“I didn’t call her away that night,” Carter revealed as he stroked his jawline.
Gwen stood between us. “Are you saying you think Camila set you two up because—”
