“Well, we’ve got to get her home first, then you can argue caffeinated or decaffeinated to your heart’s content. How’s she doing?”
“Exhausted. Weak. Refusing to give up though.”
“Sounds like a good woman to have around.”
He didn’t say anything. After all, what could he say? She wasn’t his to claim or to keep, even if they were currently dancing around each other like a couple of birds in the mating season. There was a long road ahead of her to come to terms with the past decade, as well as assimilate back into the everydayworld. While she hadn’t talked about her physical relationship with Guillermo, it had likely been abusive on all levels, and being undercover, she’d had no choice but to take it.
His anger rose further. She shouldn’t have had to take it. Someone should have been looking after her, undercover or not.
Midas’ voice drew his attention back to the screen. “You’ve got a few more hours to the border, then a couple hours after it. Keep your eyes open. I’ve yet to figure out how they seem to know where you’re going. Did she get rid of everything on her person like she was supposed to?”
“She said she did.”
Pursing his lips, Midas thought for a few moments. “Does she have body jewelry? We’ve got a tracker in one of our operatives’ belly-button piercing as a means of keeping track of her.”
“I didn’t exactly undress her and check. Thought maybe I should take her out for dinner first,” Triumph sniped.
“I’m just asking, dude. Settle. It’s just something that came to me.”
He was about to make another snarky comment when he stopped. Dammit.
Groaning, he hung his head. “She’s pierced. I totally forgot.”
Steel coughed to cover a bark of laughter.
Wes raised an eyebrow.
Midas didn’t bother to hide his grin. “Umm… upstairs or downstairs?”
“Upstairs, jackass. In one of the pictures I pulled up online, you can see them. She had a bathing suit on, and you could see them through the material.”
His temper flared again. Anger and frustration seemed to be his go-to emotions, which was odd. He was rarely angry. If anything, he was overly patient and reflective. Sometimes too much so, according to his friends.
Steel chuckled. “Take it easy on him, guys. I get the sense he’s turning a little green.”
“I am not hulking out,” he snapped.
“Not that green, jackass,” Demon said from the back. “The other green-eyed monster.”
Great. He could hear the conversation back there? Hopefully, Glennon didn’t wake up and hear it.
And what the hell? They thought he was jealous? What was there to be jealous of? “I don’t get jealous,” he scoffed. “Besides, she’s not my girlfriend. I barely know the woman.”
“Sure you’re not,” Wes teased. “Your nose is growing longer by the second, Pinocchio. A man does not travel into the heart of cartel territory with two dead guys to save someone he doesn’t give a shit about. Or ask a computer expert—when he’s one himself—two Texas Rangers, and two FBI agents for help to illegally get her back into the country.”
“You’re helping, and you all know her less than I do.”
“Because you’re a friend of Francesca’s, and she’s family, ergo, you’re family by extension,” he explained.
“And you’re friends with Tripoli, who knows TB, and that makes you part of our family,” Steel said.
Warmth flowed through him from top to bottom and immediately erased his anger. Having people on your side was always a good thing, but people who actually walked the walk, and sometimes ran to actually help? That meant something.
He cleared his throat. Quietly, he admitted, “Thanks for that.” He glanced into the back of the truck at the sleeping woman. “There was just something about her way back then, and when she called, it was like no time had passed,” he admitted.
Under his breath, Steel told him, “Cuando lo sabes, lo sabes. It’s how I was about my Leeza. I met her for the first time at the altar, and when I lifted her veil? It was like lightning struck.There’s never been another woman since, even when we were apart. Almost as long as you two.”
“You met her at the altar?”
