“And give up your family? Everyone and everything you know?” Anguish laced his voice. “No. I can’t ask that of you. I had to do it and it rips my heart out to know that my sister, Rio, thinks I’ve been dead for three years.”
“No,” Callie said softly, but the thought of leaving her family-Allie and Max and her parents-was unbearable. But never to see Jam…Shane again was crushing her heart.
“I love you so much, Callie.”
“Shane, no, please don’t leave. Please uncuff me.”
But he turned, set what looked like the cuff key on the nightstand and walked out of the room. Callie sat there in silence as his footsteps retreated down the hall. Her heart was breaking into little pieces. If anything happened to him, how could she go on? Now that he had revealed his true identity, now that they could really be together, the promise of spending a lifetime with him was something she wanted more than anything.
She pulled at the cuff frantically. Got up and tried to drag the chair, but it wouldn’t budge. Then she heard the doorknob turning and she stiffened. If that was him coming back, she was going to kick his ass.
But Leila slipped inside and rushed over to her. “I wondered what happened to you. Did he leave you here for that bastard Fuentes?”
“No, he’s undercover DEA.”
“What? He’s the undercover DEA agent we’ve heard so much about? Those bastards. Trying to get all the glory for themselves. Well, we’re not standing for that.”
“He left the key on the nightstand,” Callie said urgently.
Leila rushed over to the stand and grabbed the key, unlocking the cuffs.
As soon as Callie was free, she went for the gun she’d concealed in her bag. Cocking it and chambering a bullet, she said, “Let’s go.”
They rushed out the door and down the hall. “This way,” Leila said.
Callie followed her through the dining room and into the kitchen. They slipped out the back door and saw Fuentes and several men in green uniforms near an open box of the surface-to-air missiles that Callie had flown to Colombia.
They were laughing and talking like old friends. Shane was walking toward them. Several men with automatic weapons milled about, looking bored.
Callie took a moment to really study the area. She caught glimpses of men in the jungle, but only because she was searching for them.
“The cavalry is here,” Leila said softly, “Don’t worry.”
They moved around the house, and managed to slip up behind the leaders without being detected by using one of the vehicles as cover.
“Ah, here is the Ghost’s man. When will your boss be here?” he asked jovially.
“Eduardo, he’s already here.”
Eduardo looked around. “But I do not see him, señor. Is this some kind of joke?”
“No, it’s no joke. I’m the Ghost.”
“You? What is this!”
“I’ve used the Ghost as a cover for three years, building my reputation, garnering your interest solely for the purpose of providing this large shipment for you.”
“Because you want to work for me?”
Shane laughed and Callie’s heart constricted. God, she loved him.
“No. I don’t want work for you, you fuck. My real name is Shane McMasters. You left me and five dead DEA agents to rot in the jungle.”
“You’re DEA! You son of a bitch! It is you who are the traitor.”
Just then, men came pouring out of the jungle, bristling with weapons. They were dressed in dark jackets with DEA printed in white letters on the back. They shouted for everyone to stay where they were. They were accompanied by men dressed in olive drab, toting high-powered weapons.
Fuentes turned and fled. But Shane went after him and tackled him to the ground. Unfortunately, several men pointed their guns at him. Callie aimed carefully. She and Leila opened fire.
With bullets flying, Shane held on to Fuentes and dragged him behind one of the buildings, where Callie lost sight of him. She bolted around the truck, only to come face-to-face with one of the Libertad. She never hesitated. She grabbed his rifle and slammed him in the face with it, at the same time sweeping his feet out from under him. As he went down, she used the butt of the rifle to sock him in the jaw.
He went out like a light. She dropped the rifle and sprinted after Shane and Fuentes. Gunfire cut across her path and she and Leila dived for cover behind another truck.
It looked as if the DEA and the government soldiers had Fuentes’s men and the Libertad on the run. Several of their leaders were either putting their hands up or were already dead.
But there was a pocket of resistance still left. She and Leila skirted that group and came around the building. Fuentes had escaped and hidden behind three of his guards, who were effectively pinning Shane down.
“I’ll make my way around and we’ll come at them from the side and front. I hope you’re a good shot,” Callie murmured.
“They don’t call me dead-eye for nothing,” Leila said.
Callie took off and, crouching low, got into position. Then she stood and started shooting to draw their attention away from Shane. That’s when Leila took her own shots, dropping all three guards in succession. Fuentes ran for his garage.
“He’s heading for his all-terrain,” Shane yelled, and started after him.
Leila got sidetracked by a guard. “Keep going,” she urged. Callie followed Shane. He reached the garage before she did, and she drew up short when she got inside.
Shane and Fuentes were already duking it out, and Fuentes was losing. Soon he was down, but Shane wouldn’t stop. Callie ran over and tugged on his arm, shouting at him that it was enough.
Finally he stopped, dropping back against one of the mammoth wheels of the vehicle Fuentes had been trying to access. Shane’s knuckles were bloody as he sat there, breathing heavily, trying to gain his composure.
“It’s over,” she said. “It’s finally over.”
“It’ll never be over,” Shane stated, looking up at her, his eyes filled with raw pain.
“We can make it work.”
He shook his head.
Suddenly they were overrun by DEA agents. One of them grabbed Shane’s arm and escorted him out. “Wait,” Callie said.
Another agent blocked her way. “Just who are you?”
Callie watched as Shane was put into a car and driven away. Fuentes was picked up and also taken. She shoved her way past the DEA agent and met up with Leila-and with Drew.
Her heart felt empty, completely and totally empty. Shane was gone and she was never going to see him again.
IT HAD BEEN THREE WEEKS. Three weeks since Fuentes had been arrested. She’d cried more in that time than she had in her whole life. But Callie had to pick up the pieces and go on. She lounged by a pool in a hotel in Milan, waiting for Reggie to show up with some information she needed. “Hiya, love.”
She looked up to find the Brit in swim trunks that would make a stripper blush. His skin was a deep golden-brown and his blond hair spiked-just like Jammer used to wear his hair. She felt her heart tighten, and was thankful for the sunglasses that hid her eyes. “Hi, Reggie.”
He sat down in the chaise longue next to her and ordered a mai tai. He slid his hand down her sleek leg and smiled at her. “So, what do you say to hooking up? Me and you been dancing around it for some time.”
“No, Reggie. I don’t think so.”
“Ah, still pining for that bloke?”
“Black operatives don’t pine. Just give me the information and I’ll be on my way.”
Reggie smiled and gave her what she needed to know. She closed her eyes and settled back in the chair. “Thanks, Reggie. See you around.”
“You bet, love.”
She wrapped up the rest of the mission and jumped a plane to D.C., to her apartment. Once home, she listlessly went through her mail, still hoping, still waiting for something from Shane. But there was nothing.