Code of Control (23 page)

“Then what’s the
problem?”

“Please don’t
leave me again?”

“Couldn’t even
if I wanted to,” he ruled.

“Why not?”

“Your claws are
attached to bone,” He chuckled, the effort making him flinch. “Unfortunately,
my entire body is experiencing a lot of pain because of you.”

Charlotte
glanced at his ashen face then his arm. Oh, dear Lord! She’d drawn blood. She
eased her hand away.

“I’m glad you
could say you would miss me, but not so fond of another injury at this point,”
he continued.

“I must not know
my own strength. I’m so sorry.”

“Or you like
hurting me,” he teased.

Charlotte did not
take this as a tease. She took it as another dangerous step toward a decent man
hating her. “I don’t like hurting anyone, Nolan.”

“No?”

“No. Contrary to
popular belief, I’m not the monster in this jungle.”

He looked away.
“No. You’re not.” His voice low, she barely heard it. “Think you can walk?”

She nodded.

“It’ll be quite
the trek.”

“At this point,
I don’t care. I’m not setting foot on another boat for the rest of my life.”

“If you’re not
going to set foot on a boat, and you’re not going to set foot in an airplane,
how the hell do you plan on getting home?”

“Bus.”

“Bus?”

“No one tried to
kill us on a bus, yet,” she reasoned.

He gave out a
hearty laugh. “Most buses down here contain live chickens. Think you can handle
that?”

“I’ll cross that
bridge when I get to it.”

“I just bet you
will.”

“Nolan?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you know I
could not swim?”

“Nope. Not until
you hit the water and started sinking like a rock.”

“If you hadn’t
known then why the hell did you just assume I could?”

“It was either
that, or watch you get a bullet in the head. I had to make a judgment call.”

“I need you to
kiss me,” she suddenly said.

“You
need
me to kiss you?”

Charlotte
nodded. “I won’t go another foot in this godforsaken place unless you do.”

His brows
arched. “Why’s that?”

“You owe me—big
time.”

“Excuse me?”

“You threw me
over the side of a boat!”

“And your point
is…?” His smile so wide, his dimples broke apart his face.

“Shut up and kiss
me before I belt you in the face.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Nolan leaned
forward, swore under his breath, yet gave her this asked-for kiss. He drew back,
too swift for peace of mind, rakishly grinning at her.

“Thank you,” she
said sweetly, trying to throw him off track. It didn’t work. He was too sharp,
too arrogant; nothing fazed the man.

“Can we go now?”
he asked.

Charlotte’s head
contradicted her heart, nodding. Her words, however, contradicted her head.
“No. I need another kiss. And this time, actually care about doing it.”

Nolan set his
palm against her cheek, staring into her eyes. “We need to find a place to
hide. We need to change out of these wet clothes, and then I will kiss every blessed
inch of your naked body until you beg for mercy. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds pretty
damn great,” she said. “Lead the way.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Why was he
giving in so easily? This wasn’t the plan. He was supposed to be here, saving a
man from the unknown, doing his job, finding one of
OSHIT
’s highly
trained operatives, making the world a better place. Instead, he was going
completely insane, Charlotte pushing him over the ledge of crazy.

What he wanted
was not happening. What he needed was right in front of his face, smiling at
him as if she held the key to his jail cell, but a life sentence handed down to
him, no parole.

What he desired
most was for her to tell him the truth. That’s all he was asking from her. So
far, she hadn’t been able to do it, or if she could do it, she didn’t want to. Sure,
she pushed him into giving up control only out of necessity. Then, when the
kitchen got too hot for her, she panicked, handing back the control.

Dammit. He could
not keep going from hot back to cold without exploding. Just as he was about to
tell her this fact, another shot from a rifle went screaming past his head,
hitting the tree next to him. The bark ripped right off, leaving a gaping hole
the size of his fist.

“What the hell!”
he shouted, instinct kicking in as he shoved Charlotte to her knees.

“Oh, God, Nolan,
they found us again,” she cried out.

“No shit.” His words
rude, they put a little spark in her behind. She’d been dragging it for the
better part of ten minutes, while he removing branches and fronds with a broken
wrist and rib assuredly sticking into his spleen. It sure as hell felt as if
going through a body organ—perhaps two.

He turned;
already knowing to tell her to stay down would be pointless. Charlotte lay on
her stomach, keeping her body low. He then set his hand to her shoulder,
whispering into her ear, “Stay put.”

“Where are you
going?” Her hands made a mad grab for his shirt, missing as he maneuvered out
of her reach.

“I’m going to
end this once and for all. They want Devon. I’m going to give them Devon.” He
gingerly rose to his knees, then pushed himself to standing, swearing profusely.

Her eyes reached
up to him. “But you’re not Devon,” she said, her tone near hysterical. Mutinous,
the wrath in them was unmistakable.

“They don’t know
that. Do they?” he counteracted.

“They will kill
you.”

“I don’t think
they will. I have a funny feeling they are just giving us warning shots. No one
can miss that many times and not at least graze one of us.”

“I’m glad they
are such terrible shots,” she argued. “I can’t imagine how painful a bullet
through the head will feel if they actually hit us!”

“I’m still feeling
as if they are only warning us.”

“What if you’re
wrong?”

He stared at her
face. “Then I’m wrong.”

“Jesus! If you
are then what happens to me?”

“Nothing. Any
one of those men could have easily taken you out while on the riverbank, if
really wanting you dead,” he mused aloud. “I’m not wrong. Trust me.”

“What if they
want me for something else? Did you ever think of that? You saw the way that
man leered at me when at their compound. I won’t stand a chance seven to one.”

This checked him.
He hadn’t thought that far ahead. Good God! What if he did give up and Charlotte
ended up tortured, worse, raped by a gang of thugs? His gut churned.

If he’d thought
of murder just thinking about his twin touching her, he could not imagine what
his psyche could conjure up when thinking about strangers touching her.

A rushed
decision had to be made.

“Hide. Do
whatever you have to, but stay hidden. Do not come out and show yourself, no
matter what. They can’t touch you if they can’t find you.”

“What about you?
I know for fact they will harm you,” she reasoned.

“Alpha males
can’t be harmed,” he said, smiling through his fears.

Charlotte’s head
bobbed in rapid succession. “Yes. Yes they can! Harmed, tortured, controlled…”

“Charlotte, sweetheart,
I’ll be fine. They can’t get their money from a dead man and they know this.”

“I think this
plan is as crazy as they come. I’m putting this out there so you can’t blame me
when it goes horribly wrong.”

“I think it’s a crazy
plan, too.”

“Then why the
hell are you willing to go through with it?”

“We don’t have
much of a choice. It’s either give up, or keep getting shot at, and eventually
one of them will screw up and actually hit us.”

“I’m scared, Nolan.”

Nolan sobered
quickly. “To tell you the truth…so am I.”

Okay, not the
best thing to admit to a woman already terrified; firmly aware of this as Charlotte’s
eyes bulged out of their sockets.

“You can’t be
scared. If you are, then I’m all the more, and I can’t lose you now,” she said.

“You’ll just
have to trust me on this. I promised you would not lose me. I never go back on
a promise.” He was about to move away from her when she grabbed his ankle.

“I am begging
you… don’t you dare die on me, Nolan Morgan.”

“My plan is to
get out of this mess alive, sweetheart, not die. I’ll be fine. Find a safe
place to hide and if things go wrong, go back to Juan. He and his wife will
help you, I’m certain of it.”

“What if I can’t
find a place to hide? What if I can’t find my way back to Juan?”

His brows shot
up. “You’re starting to sound female, Charlotte.”

“Is that a good
or bad thing at this point?” she asked caustically.

“Right now, you
being female is a bad thing if trying to use it against me.” He cautiously walked
away, hands in the air to signal his surrender, praying she figure it out. He
had no other choice. He could sweet talk his way out of a deep tar pit if produces
desirable results, and this was exactly what he was going to do—sweet talk a
drug cartel into giving
Devon
a second chance to get them their money.
After all, what was the loss of a few million dollars if it kept Charlotte
alive?

He did a quick
over-the-shoulder glance at her, and then faced destiny head on, his throat
tightening. He never thought it would be so hard to leave her behind but there
was little time to think of another plan.

****

Hide?

Where the hell
could she hide in a place like this?

In horror, Charlotte
watched Nolan calmly walk to the river’s edge, one arm at his side, his other
raised in the air. Only a fool would not know he was unarmed and badly injured.

Another shot
rang out, missing him by inches, Nolan flinching and Charlotte squeezing her
eyes shut, expecting to see his head blown apart, a bunch of idiots holding
guns in their hands and intent on using them until running out of ammunition.

She could not stomach
sitting here and watching him die, unable to do a damn thing about it.

Nolan then
yelled, “I’m here. I won’t run,” just as two men pushed their canoe into the
river, paddling to their side of the river.

Charlotte dove
for cover as one of the men jumped from the canoe, grabbing Nolan, and then
scanning the shoreline for her whereabouts.

“The woman?”

Nolan tipped his
head up, his anger surfacing. “She drowned, you motherfuckers. You hadn’t the
need to push it that far.”

“Did not push it
far enough,” the man replied, shoving Nolan toward the canoe. “She was dead
weight anyway, and Rual wants you alone.”

“Why?”

“You ask Rual questions,”
the man said. “I’m not his messenger boy.”

“No? Then who
the hell are you? His appointed ass-wiper?”

The man’s sneer
went right through bone, causing Charlotte’s gag reflex to kick into overdrive.
She wished with all her heart and soul she was not hearing this, more
importantly that Nolan would stop tormenting dangerous men and turn her way to
reassure her his plan hadn’t backfired in his face, but he didn’t. They quickly
took him away from her and she had no idea if or when he would return.

He might make it
through the cartel’s torture program, but she might not make it through the
night in the middle of the Belize jungle, alone and without usual protection, such
as gun or knife. She held a Black Belt, an IQ of 128, but exhaustion, crashing
to the jungle floor in a tangled parachute, and little food or water in her
system had taken its toll.

With dread, she watched
the canoe head down river, Charlotte waiting until it was well out of sight
before she moved deeper into the jungle. If ever she needed God on her side, now
was it. She was having real feelings for Nolan and she did not want to lose
that. Yes, he did make her blood boil. He was argumentative and arrogant and so
full of shit she did not know why his eyes were not a darker brown. And there
were moments when she wanted to strangle him, but every time she looked at him,
saw the man for who he was, she fell head over heels, giddy as a schoolgirl.

She came here to
find her father and dispose the world of his filth. Now, she lost Nolan, she was
lost herself, had no idea how to change the outcome of fate, and felt fate
sucks. That’s all there was to this. Fate sucks, destiny bites the big one, and
she was, as he so eloquently put it, a mere female trying to figure it out on
her own. She knew she could. She simply did not want to do it alone.

She drew in a
deep breath, held it until running out of air, grabbed for another, then
stomped her foot onto the moist earth. One quick release of air—and temper—she
trudged forward, hoping to find Juan’s place again. Traveling less than two or
three miles through thick scrub had seemed like thousands of miles and it was
getting darker by the minute. She would have to hurry. She could not imagine
what Juan would say about her showing up unexpectedly and this time without Nolan.
Then again, she’d have to understand Spanish a whole lot better to even care
what Juan had to say about this. Nevertheless, Nolan told her to go to Juan’s
and Juan’s is where she is going to go.

No way in Hell
was she going to hide in the Belize jungle at dark without a man at her side.