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Tino forced the two motorcycles off the road, but fearing there would be more attempting to hijack the drugs in the SUV in front of him, he stayed with the vehicle. He ran the events of the last few days over in his mind as Isabella’s soft voice whispered, “It’s someone inside.”
He’d watched señora Garza’s return the other day. She’d been upset and it didn’t have anything to do with her nephew’s death. Why did she take Isabella into the basement? He’d have to investigate down there when he had a chance to slip away.
Lights blinded him as a vehicle on the side of the road flashed their high beams on the drug shipment vehicle and himself.
“¡Coño!” He grabbed his sunglasses from the dash and crammed them on his face in time to stop his vehicle from rear-ending the SUV. Tino opened his door without turning the vehicle off and crept to the far side, working his way into the shadows behind his car, and slipping into the darkness at the side of the road. Four armed men surrounded the SUV with the drug shipment as a fifth man walked boldly up to his deserted vehicle.
“¡Vaciar!” The man yelled telling his accomplices the car was empty. The heads on the men surrounding the SUV swiveled like owls as they scanned the darkness looking for him.
Tino remained hidden in the darkness beyond the vehicles’ lights, until he reached the vehicle with the blazing lights. This pickup was empty as well. He flipped the bright lights off. Shouts and gunfire rang out. Bullets pinged off the pickup.
Drifting back into the darkness along the road, he watched as the tires on the Garza SUV squealed and the vehicle charged down the road. Flashes and the rat-a-tat of guns revealed the banditos taking aim at the vehicle.
Either they were fools or just that pissed. Garza’s drug vehicles were bullet proof. That’s why the men remained inside while the banditos had surrounded it. If they stayed inside nothing could happen to them or the shipment. Which led him to wonder how the other shipments were taken so easily? Someone had to have been inside the vehicle. If the driver had been the snitch, he would have opened the door and not sat in the vehicle.
Coño! This bit of information put him back in Garza’s crosshairs as the traitor.
A round of gunfire echoed through the night ricocheting off his vehicle and ending with a chorus of hisses as the air escaped his tires.
This was just getting worse. He either had to get back to their pickup and get out of here before they shot at him or call for someone to pick him up and have no proof he wasn’t the one who targeted this shipment.
Only one thing to do. He sprinted back to the assailants’ pickup, jumped in, turned the key, and slammed the pickup in reverse as his foot shoved the accelerator to the floor. A volley of bullets shattered the windshield. He whipped the vehicle around and sped down the road in search of the drug shipment.
Once the Garza SUV was in sight, he punched in Garza’s number and waited. After the fourth ring the drug lord growled into the phone.
“This had better be good news.”
“I stopped two attempts at the shipment—” Garza cursed “—it is inside the city limits now and should make it to the warehouse safe.” Tino wondered if Garza had figured out who the traitor was. “I am driving a vehicle that tried to detain us. I will bring it back to the compound, and we can figure out who it belongs to.”
“Good. I need solid proof. It seems surveillance cameras cannot catch the traitor.” Garza disconnected.
Tino followed the shipment to the warehouse and spotted Rico and another in a car two blocks back when he headed for the compound. After the adrenaline pumping evening he’d had, there was a person he wanted to see. He punched the number for Juanita and listened to the rings.
“Hello?” Isabella’s sleepy voice hardened his miembro.
“Querida, where are you? I must see you tonight.” He couldn’t hide the longing in his voice.
She inhaled and he could envision her cheeks darkening in a blush.
“I would like nothing more, but is it safe for you to come to me?” The worried tone made him smile.
“I will be safe. Tell me where you are.”
“You’ll find me on our terrace bed. But don’t go through the lobby, Therese is there and she remembered me. I’m checked in under Dr. Sanford.”
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” He tapped the phone and pressed his foot down on the accelerator. He would need to stash the pickup at Garza’s compound so no one became suspicious of it sitting on a side street near the hotel.
~*~
Isabella shook the sleep from her foggy mind. Tino was coming! She flipped the light on beside the bed and sat up. Checking her breath, she ran in the bathroom and brushed her teeth. What happened tonight to bring him to her? He’d made it clear they had to remain apart yet here he was coming to her. Something happened.
Worrying only made the minutes tick by slower. When she’d pulled out her journal to find something to distract her, a light tapping at her door, drew her attention. She stumbled out of the bed covers and across the room.
With an eye pressed to the peephole, she studied Tino’s profile as he scanned the hallway. The latch clicked under her hand, and Tino pushed into the room, gathering her into his arms and closing the door with his foot.
His lips devoured hers and set her heart to hammering. Heat swept through her, rampant and all consuming, while her hands crept under his shirt and skimmed across his hot skin. His scent trickled into her senses and her body responded to the scent of her man. His kisses moved down her jaw to her neck and lower.
Isabella tipped her head back. “What happened?” she asked, not allowing her heated body to rid her mind of the questions she’d listed while waiting.
Tino halted his descent and sighed. She pulled his head against her chest.
“When will this be over?” she whispered, kissing his temple.
“Soon. Rico will raid the warehouse in two days, and I will bring the DEA the information they want.” He pulled from her embrace, taking her hand and leading her to the bed. Tino urged her to sit. “Tell me why señora Garza took you into the basement.”
He began shedding his clothes. Isabella kept her gaze on his hands slowly revealing more and more of his toned body.
“She—I don’t believe señor Garza knows of them—has three statues that could be worth millions to collectors and historically the biggest find in the Mesoamerican culture.”
Tino stopped undressing and peered at her. “Could?”
“I’m not positive they haven’t been tampered with to make them appear to be the find of the century.” She’d been thinking about the three statues a lot. While they were definitely carved during the time of the triple alliance, she’d never come across any mention of the marking on the bottom. That was why she wanted to do more research. If there was a chance the marking was real, it should be mentioned somewhere. It would have been noted in another carving telling of the making of the statues or from an archeologist who came across another piece from that period.
His eyes narrowed as he shoved his pants and jockey shorts down to the floor. “What are you planning? You have completed your mission. You must go home.” Tino grabbed her upper arms, drawing her to her feet. “Mi pichon, you must leave before you are discovered.”
Sadly, she shook her head. “I can’t let that woman pawn a fake off to some unsuspecting collector or museum.”
“But if you suspect they are fake then others will also.” His arms encircled her, drawing her flush to his bare chest. “Querida, do not put yourself in danger.”
Isabella pushed out of his embrace. When in his arms she wanted to forget everything else, but she had a strong sense of right and couldn’t allow Karyme to dupe anyone. “I have to—” She stopped. Tino wasn’t here to quarrel and that isn’t what she wanted either. If he didn’t know what she was up to he wouldn’t worry.
“I will be careful.” She grasped his hand and fell back on the bed, dragging Tino on top of her. “Show me some Latin loving.”
“I will love you, but this discussion is not over.” Tino made quick work ridding her of her tank top and shorts.
The tenderness and care he took to pleasure her, filled her heart and shot electricity through her extremities, igniting her body and soul. Tino growled his completion and nestled his head on her small breasts, his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. Her chest ached with happiness. Soon. Very soon, they could leave all this danger behind and be together as a couple. The thought settled warm and comfortable.
Her eyelids grew heavy and she started to fall into the darkness of sleep.
Ringing and Tino pushing off, tugged her from the bliss she’d drifted into.
Tino stood over the bed, naked, holding the phone he’d given her as it rang again. “Why is this ringing? Only Rico and I have this number.”
Isabella shoved hair out of her face and sat up. “I gave the number to someone who is helping me.” She didn’t want to lie to Tino but from past experience she knew he wasn’t going to like that she’d taken it upon herself to discover the truth about the statues.
“Shall I see who?” Before she could even attempt to grab the phone, he pressed a button. “Hello?” He frowned. “Sí, this is Doctor Mumphrey’s phone. And who is this?” His eyes darkened and narrowed. “Why are you calling her?”
Isabella jumped across the bed, snatching the phone from his grasp. “Alphonso, I’ll call you back.” She snapped the phone closed and peered at Tino. His face had darkened with rage. His hands fisted at his sides.
“When were you going to tell me about Alphonso?” A muscle in his jaw ticked.
Isabella drew in a fortifying breath. Tino had never been this angry with her. “When I told you about the tunnel leading from the Garza’s basement.”
“What tunnel? And what does that have to do with Alphonso?” He stood by the bed, his arms crossed, staring down at her like an Aztec god. His body was definitely adulation worthy.
“Alphonso knows the tunnels in the city. He’s the one who was labeling the crates at the Templo Mayor basement.”
Tino threw his hands in the air. “Are you loco? You have joined up with the thieves from the museum? How do you know they are not using you to get to the statues?”
“Alphonso is part of the Bohu—”
Tino reached down grasping her upper arms. “You are loco. You cannot make friends with gang members. They will turn on you swifter than a jaguar.” He tapped her forehead. “For someone so brilliant you do stupid things.”
That did it. “I am not doing something stupid.” He’d never used her intelligence against her. Her heart ached at the anger boiling in him.
“I will not stand by and watch you make stupid choices. You will never make a WIA agent or any agent when you do not follow the rules.”
Isabella snorted. “You’re one to talk. All you’re using the DEA for is to cover your own revenge!”
Tino pulled on his pants. “My revenge will save many other lives. How many lives will authenticating those statues save?” He shoved his arms in his sleeves and stared at her. “That is what I thought. None. But it could bring about your death. Ezzabella, for the love of God, do not continue this death wish.”
Her mind understood his argument but she couldn’t let this go. If the statues were real, she wanted to revel in the discovery. If they were fake, her sense of justice refused to let Karyme profit. “I’m sorry but I have to discover the truth.”
“I will not seek you out again. I cannot do my job when I am worrying about you. My revenge, as you call it, will help many. It must be carried out.” Tino strode to the door. He stopped with his hand on the handle. His gaze swept up and down her body before he sent her a wobbly smile. “Take care querida, I would hate to see one so gifted end her life in suicide.”
The door closed behind him.
Isabella stared at the door as her heart thudded in her chest and her mouth grew dry. That was their first real fight. She ran a hand over her head replaying Tino’s angry tirade. Her chest squeezed with fear that she may have gone too far this time. Sniffing back tears, she shook her head. No, he loved her, and he would come around once he got past the anger. But he’d made himself clear. He would not help her. She hadn’t planned on his help, but knowing he was against the whole caper and felt she was on a suicide mission churned her gastro intestinal juices.
Inhaling three deep breaths, she slowly released the air through her nose and picked up the phone. Why had Alphonso called her at three in the morning?