Hard Target (40 page)

Tay had teased her when the posting had been confirmed, saying he'd be her boss. She reminded him that she would be arranging not only his office space, but his sleeping quarters, as well. And considering their wedding was still a week away, she could easily put him up in the Hotel D'Oro.

Weaving around some locals, he hurried toward her. He hauled her into his arms and kissed her soundly on the lips.

"Hmm," she said, kissing him back. "Welcome to Cochabamba. Good flight?"

"Better now I'm here." He looked around. "This is a nice airport. I should have landed here before."

They walked outside toward her car. "I have some news for you."

His face lit up. "You're pregnant!"

She smacked him lightly. "No. And I don't plan on that until we're back in Canada." Stopping by the embassy's car, she sobered. "Chayo was caught last night."

"Where?"

"He was trying to slip over the border into Chile, just near Cardon Plata. An Aymara shepherd found him, and recognized him from the newspaper and dragged him to the church. Chayo had fallen down a ravine and broke his ankle.""Where's he now?"

"The priest, who now has a cell phone, called the police. They took him to the hospital in Oruro. The police have discovered that twelve years ago, the Bolivian embassy had asked that Chayo's file be stripped of any details of the accident. They aren't sure who authorized the pages' removal, but an internal investigation has begun."

"They'll get to the bottom of it, I'm sure."

"They will. Andy Bonner is in charge of it. Ambassador Legace said the government here has two choices. Keep him here and charge him with impersonating another person, or send him back to Canada to face manslaughter charges. He's lost his diplomatic immunity."

"Which one are they going to choose?"

Dawna sighed as she unlocked the passenger door. "If he stayed here, he would get a light sentence in a miserable prison. If they extradite him to Canada, he would face manslaughter charges for Joseph Porter's death, and possibly get 10 to 20 years in one of our relatively nicer prisons."

Tay stopped her hand as she moved it away from the door. "So, where's he going?"

"They're doing up the paperwork now to return him to Canada. Lucy gets her justice, after all."

"But that doesn't compare with a man's life." He took Dawna in his arms and pressed her against the car. "I saw Lucy before I left Ottawa. She's going to try counseling again. And her son has promised he'll visit her as soon as his prison term is up."

Dawna nodded. Thanks to Ambassador Legace's influence, both Lucy and her son had been taken back to North America to serve their sentences.

Feeling the need to hold Tay, she kissed him and clung to him. Her own prison sentence of distrust and bitterness was over. She was free.

Free to love Tay in the way, she realized now, she always wanted to love him. With trust and confidence.

###

Author's note:

Over a decade ago, I became intrigued with my friend's occupation. She was the chief of security at a South American Embassy, and was gracious enough to tell me some of the basics of life there and the way security worked. A story began to form in my head, but I still needed a country. Afraid to make a mistake, I created a small, newly independent country south of Bolivia.

But when the opportunity rose to visit Bolivia as a short term missionary, I jumped at the chance. My research had not been incorrect after all, I was happy to note, but it took another few years and one more trip to Cochabamba to dare myself to set this story in an actual country.

Naturally, any mistakes are my own and discrepancies such as an embassy in Cochabamba, are strictly the result of my overactive imagination. This is a story created solely for entertainment, and to help us ponder our mistakes and regrets and vengeful thoughts. Let them go or they will eat you alive. And if you ever have the opportunity to do mission work, I strongly encourage you to take it. You'll never regret it.

Regards and my thanks for purchasing this book,

Barbara Phinney