Chapter 4

Chapter Four

San Isidro, Puerto Jardin

Present Day

ZO TOUCHED the penlight she'd tucked in the back pocket of her jeans but resisted the urge to pull it out and use it.

San Isidro was her second home, and she'd always felt safe there, but it didn't mean she was going to stroll down the main street. While many of the residents considered her one of theirs, not everyone felt that way. If the government was offering a reward for her arrest, someone could turn her in. Some would even feel honor-bound to alert the authorities. They might regret it, might understand the corruption of the system, but they'd do it.

It was much safer to slip in covertly.

She ducked to avoid a frond, stepped on a rock embedded in the path, and before she could catch her balance, stumbled into some foliage—ferns maybe. Zo righted herself, but something was crawling on her. Frantically, she brushed at herself— her arm, her shoulder, her chest—trying to knock off whatever it was.

The sensation of little bug feet on the back of her neck had her twisting and shrugging off her backpack. As it hit the ground, she swiped at her nape under the braid. Nothing. She pushed off her jacket and ran her hand over her neck and across her shoulders. No bug.

Nothing.

She shuddered, took a deep breath, and bent over to rest her hands on her knees. When Zo had her heart rate back to normal, she cursed at herself.

Damn it. She'd never been a girly girl. Bugs shouldn't bother her.

And they didn't. Really. As long as they weren't crawling on her.

Finn liked how strong she was, how calm she was under pressure—he'd commented on it more than once. Yeah, right. That's why she'd freaked out over nothing.

Zo picked up her jacket, shook it out—although the weight of the disk inside the hidden pocket made it awkward—and put it on. The temperature had dropped, but eighty was too warm for leather. She'd survive, though, and it would offer her protection from the six-legged things waiting to ambush her.

Slipping her arms through the straps, she shrugged until the pack rested comfortably on her shoulders before she resumed walking. Carefully. The last thing she needed was to trip over something else and break a leg.

The inn wasn't much farther, but she was having second thoughts. Zo was starting to suspect that whatever she was embroiled in went high up in the Puerto Jardinese government. If she was right, her presence might endanger Tio Luis and Tia Izel. She wanted to use their phone to talk to some of her contacts and find out why she was being targeted, but phone calls could be traced .

Tio Luis, though, had been in the presidential brigade, Puerto Jardin's Special Forces. He hadn't admitted it, but after living with Finn, it was hard to miss the signs. There was an attitude, a mindset unique to these men.

Zo's foot snagged on something, and she staggered as she caught her balance. Enough was enough. She took the penlight from her pocket. The risk of being spotted was one she'd have to take.

Cupping her hand around the lens end of the flashlight, she aimed it at the ground behind her. Some kind of vine snaked across the path.

Even with the light, Zo walked slowly. The small LED bulb didn't offer much illumination, and there was a whole lot of dark. The path wasn't quite as overgrown as she'd feared, but it was a long way from clear.

It seemed to take an eternity before the outline of the inn rose in front of her. Upstairs was dark, but if there were guests, they could be down in the tavern. The first floor beneath the guest rooms, where Tia Izel and Tio Luis lived, was dark as well, but then they'd be in the bar/restaurant tending to customers. The public room blazed with light on the side of the building, as did the kitchen, which faced the back.

She'd have to wait. It gave her an opportunity to think. Tio Luis and Tia Izel might not be blood relatives, but she loved them with her whole heart. The last thing Zo wanted to do was put them in danger. Would a couple of phone calls do that? That's what she had to decide.

Staring up at the inn brought images into her mind. Tia Izel teaching her and Mari to cook. They'd laughed together in that kitchen thousands of times as they talked and worked. Tio Luis trying to show her how to play chess at one of the tavern tables and shaking his head sadly when her impatience gave him easy victories. The two of them sharing legends about the Huarona civilization and stories of the Lost Disk of the Gods.

San Isidro had been hurting for a decade now. The archaeologists working at the nearby ruins had been the primary source of income for the village, but the civil war had put an end to the excavations.

Zo's eyes started to close, and she shook her head. She needed to stay alert. A few too many adrenaline surges, a run through Rio Blanco, which was at altitude, hiking miles in the heat after she'd gotten off the bus, trekking through the jungle on an overgrown trail—it was all catching up with her.

If Finn were here, she could take a ten-minute break and let him watch out for the two of them. Her lips curved as she imagined his arms around her, keeping her safe and secure. She could almost feel the beat of his heart against her cheek.

The sudden, loud buzz of an insect jerked Zo's eyes open.

If she was going to dream about Finn, maybe she should picture his reaction to her lack of attention.

Zo didn't like standing among the trees with nothing solid at her back. She looked around, evaluating positions, and spotted the shed. The door would be locked, but the shadows next to it should be deep enough to hide her, and she could lean against it, ensuring no one came up behind her. It had other things to recommend it, too. The storage building was on a straight line to the kitchen door, so she'd have a good vantage point as she waited.

Despite her struggle to stay alert, she wasn't sure how much time had passed when disquiet replaced drowsiness. Without moving, she opened her eyes. It was darker than before, a cloud covering the moon. She waited, trusting her instincts.

There. Movement near the corner of the inn.

Hardly daring to breathe, she slowly turned her head to get a better look. Whoever was out there stayed away from the windows and the illumination they cast on the ground .

Zo strained to see, her adrenaline surging and bringing her to full alertness. And a few minutes later, when the cloud cleared the moon, she discerned the outline of a man. The desire to run was strong, but she quashed it. The human eye was good at picking up movement, even in the darkness.

Without warning, the porch light came on. The figure froze. Zo held her breath and prayed it wasn't Tia Izel who'd turned the lights on, not with someone creeping around the yard. The door opened. Stay inside, stay inside.

A man she didn't recognize exited the inn, Tio Luis directly behind him. "You," Tio Luis called in Spanish, "join your friend on the porch."

Only then did Zo notice that Tio Luis had the man's arm twisted behind his back. She didn't have long to wonder what the other bastard would do. Casually, as if the invitation had been warmly offered, he crossed the yard and went up the stairs. It took self-control to keep from gasping when he stood in the light.

The scarred man. Dead Eyes. The one who'd chased her in Rio Blanco.

She looked closer at the guy Tio Luis had in an armlock, but he didn't appear to be the man she'd seen with Dead Eyes earlier in the day. How many people were after her?

"Get off my property, Vargas," Tio Luis said. "And take this one with you." He propelled his prisoner forward. The man regained his balance before careening into Dead Eyes.

"Se?or Ramos will not be pleased to hear how inhospitable you've been," Vargas said with complete calm.

Zo bit her lip hard. Alfonso Ramos. She should have guessed. When they were kids, he'd been as interested in the disk as she'd been. They even searched for it together.

"Se?or Ramos," Tio Luis said, "knows San Isidro is off-limits for his trade. You're not welcome here."

Vargas seemed unimpressed, but with the might of the Ramos drug cartel behind him, the threats of an innkeeper weren't going to scare him. "We're looking for Zofia Parker. Have you seen her?"

"What do you want with Zofia?"

"Answer the question, Alvarez." Vargas no longer had any smoothness in his voice—this was pure demand.

Tio Luis paused long enough to make it clear he wasn't frightened. "I was unaware she was in Puerto Jardin."

"You're saying you haven't seen her? That she's not upstairs in one of your guest rooms right this moment?"

"You've already searched the inn. You know she isn't here."

Neither of the bastards denied it. They'd invaded Tio Luis and Tia Izel's home to find her, and just because they'd struck out, it didn't mean they wouldn't return. Maybe the next time they wouldn't bother to be covert.

Zo dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands to keep from walking into the open. If the men made a move to hurt Tio Luis or Tia Izel, she would give herself up, but right now, everyone was safe.

Vargas stared long and hard before he crossed his arms over his chest. "If she comes here and you help her, you will pay the price. It will be a steep one, understand?"

Without waiting for a response, Vargas pivoted and went down the stairs of the porch, his partner on his heels. The two men headed for the road that ran in front of the inn. For a long moment, Tio Luis stared after them, and he suddenly looked older than his years. Running a hand over the back of his neck, he returned inside. The light went out.

Zo didn't move. She'd believed that whoever wanted the disk didn't know her, that she was merely an anonymous courier, but she wasn't a stranger to Alfonso Ramos. Worse yet, he had employees who lived in San Isidro, and they'd have no choice about turning her in.

Or anyone who offered her assistance.

It meant she couldn't approach the inn, not even to tell Tio Luis what was going on. The danger was too great. She'd have to steal supplies and reimburse people later, once the situation was resolved.

Ramos had worried her when they were children, and he freaking-ass scared the shit out of her now. He was cold as they came.

Last fall, when she and Finn ran into him at the—

"Nooo," she moaned, her voice less than a whisper.

Ramos knew she and Finn were a couple, that every time she'd come to San Isidro the last two years, he'd been with her. And Finn was supposed to accompany her to Puerto Jardin on this trip, too. Would have, if not for the last-minute phone call from the Army. That meant Ramos hadn't only moved against her, he'd moved against her lover as well because Ramos would assume they were together.

And thanks to Archer, Finn was on his way. Her stomach turned over because she had no way to warn him. No idea how to keep him safe.

Alfonso Ramos wanted her without allies, and the only way he could keep Finn from her side was to kill him.