“No one else has this number.”
Jonah leaned back in his chair. “I need information, Paul.”
There was a surprised silence.
“What kind of information?”
“Esteban Morales. What is your connection to him, and why did you turn him on to us?”
There was another long pause.
“Is Esteban a cause for concern?” Burkett asked.
Jonah simmered impatiently. “That’s what I’m trying to determine. I need to know whatever you can tell me about him.”
Burkett sighed. “He’s an old friend. Well, not a friend exactly, but I owed him a favor. He came to me and asked if I’d put in a word for him with you. He wanted a job done, and I knew you were the best at handling discreet matters.”
“How the hell would he know you were in any way connected to Falcon?” Jonah bit out.
“That’s a very good question,” Burkett said softly. “One I don’t have an answer to. I take it from your tone that you didn’t accept the job?”
“No.”
“Then why do you want information on him? Is there a problem? I have a few favors I can call in if Esteban has become a nuisance.”
There was too much eagerness in Burkett’s voice, as though he’d like nothing better than to do away with Esteban.
“Thanks, Paul, but this is one we’ll be handling ourselves.”
“Just be careful, Jonah. Esteban’s influence is far reaching. He won’t be easy to take down.” There was another hesitation. “If you need anything—”
“I won’t,” Jonah said shortly. “But thank you.”
He hung up in frustration. He didn’t know anything more now than he had before calling Burkett. If anything the waters had just gotten muddier. No matter how Burkett played it out, there was obviously some connection between him and Esteban. Why else would he have been so accommodating when Esteban came calling? Burkett was a cagey bastard who didn’t pay much attention to staying inside the lines. It wouldn’t surprise Jonah to discover that Burkett and Esteban had a much more detailed history than Burkett let on.
At any rate, he couldn’t afford to expend the mental energy on trying to figure Burkett out. He, Mad Dog and Damiano were going to haul ass to Paris and hopefully shut Ty down before she ever got off the ground.
Chapter Thirteen
Tyana wasn’t stupid enough to think Eli Chance wouldn’t be expecting her. She didn’t trust Esteban and his motives, and Eli had proved adept at tracking her location. In the end, it wasn’t about the element of surprise. It was about beating him anyway.
She tugged her backpack into place against her chest and cinched the straps tight. She did a final pat down of her parachute and made sure her GPS was strapped to her wrist.
Two minutes to drop.
The pilot radioed for her to get into position, and she moved to the open exit, steadying herself with one hand.
Eli probably had his entire compound booby-trapped in a mile radius around the remote station in the Patagonian Mountains. Which was why she was going to drop right into its heart.
The pilot announced all go, and without hesitation, she jumped. For a moment, panic gripped her as it always did when she first hurtled out of a plane. But then she collected herself and folded gracefully into a freefall.
She dove downward, gaining speed as she kept a close eye on her altimeter. Her timing had to be just right if she didn’t want to open the chute too soon and risk being spotted as she floated to the ground. Wait too long and she’d become a permanent fixture of the landscape.
The wind blew against her face, her hair streaming upward as she gave herself momentarily to the exhilaration of her freefall.
Three seconds. Two seconds. One.
She pulled the rip cord and waited that infinitesimal second before she was jerked upward and her progress halted. The chute billowed and slowed her as the ground came hard and fast.
She curled her knees, bracing for impact, and rolled as soon as she touched down. Still, the sudden landing knocked the breath from her even as she scrambled upward and immediately began disentangling herself from the cords.
In the darkness, she bundled the parachute, wrapping it as tightly as she could. When it lay on the ground at her feet in a wad, she unlatched her pack and pulled out her night vision goggles.
She took stock of her weapons, touching the places she’d secured her knives and the pistol in her shoulder harness. Then she picked up the assault rifle and slung the strap over her shoulder.
She shoved as much of the parachute into her pack as she could and began looking for a place she could hide it from view. After several minutes searching among the rocky nooks and crannies of the valley she’d landed in, she found a suitable place and piled rocks over the bag.
Her GPS lit up and calculated her position as she thumbed it on. Bingo. Right on target.
A quick smile quirked her lips upward before she squared her shoulders and surveyed the terrain surrounding her. The compound was over the next rise, and she’d successfully breached the outer perimeter.
Still, she was careful, keeping low, moving on silent feet as she crept through the trees. Her meeting with Eli might be on his own turf, but it would be on her terms.
And so it began.
Eli bit out a curse as one of the silent alarms was triggered. Though he’d been expecting company, he hadn’t expected it so soon.
She certainly could have picked a better time. One when both Ian and Braden weren’t off prowling the grounds looking for kitty food.
Then again, he might do well to be more worried about them than Tyana Berezovsky. She might shoot first and ask questions later.
Gabe was God knows where, having decided yesterday to disappear into the village down the mountain, probably in search of pussy. His parting words had been something to the effect that since Eli was so keen for Tyana to find his ass then he could deal with her when she got here.
Good help was hard to find and harder to keep.
None of the others seem to think Tyana posed any sort of threat. Eli knew better. To them she was just a woman. Easily handled, easily subdued.
He smiled. He was looking forward to the challenge.
Pulling his hair behind his neck, he secured it with a leather tie then reached for his shoes and tugged them on. He might as well either go save her from the cats or save the cats from her. One way or another, someone better damn well be grateful.
A quick glance of the infrared monitor told him she was slowly making her way toward the south entrance. The most obvious course would just be to meet her, but where would the fun be in that?
No, he was going to enjoy this. Savor it. He smiled again. And maybe before the night was over, he’d take the impending confrontation to the bedroom.
He stepped into the night and breathed deep of the chilly air. Quietly he slipped beyond the shadows cast by the glow of the interior lights. He went east, cutting a direct path to intercept her…from behind.
He closed his eyes and let go, embraced the faint mist, let it curl around him, and then he became the very air he breathed.
A faint breeze carried him through the trees. Ahead, he saw movement. He looked down as he floated above the figure clad in black.
She moved with grace and stealth, her movements slow and calculated. She made no noise, left no disturbance in her wake.
He contented himself with watching her, gauging her patterns as she stopped and patiently observed the area around her. He saw her shiver then look quickly back, and he wondered if she’d sensed him again.
He ventured closer, wrapping around her hair and whispering softly against the nape of her neck. A slight shift in the air alerted him to her movement. Silver glinted in moonlight as a knife appeared in her hand. With the other, she grasped the barrel of her rifle and hauled it over her shoulder to cradle in front of her.