Ultimate Escape (6 page)

Urgency made Nola’s movements jerky and uncoordinated, but she managed to open his pants and free his hardness. At the first sight of Cruz’s beautiful male flesh, Nola felt heat rush across her skin. He was masculine perfection, his cock long, thick and heavily veined, the helmeted head slick with his desire.

Her throat went dry as she imagined that hardness spreading her flesh, filling her more than she ever had been before. Cruz pulled his hand away and in two fluid movements kicked away his pants and lifted Nola out of hers. Before she could process what was happening, Cruz had grasped her wrist and led her down the narrow hallway into the small bedroom.

After they entered the room, Cruz stood in front of her, eyes full of promise. Then, with one corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile, he sat on the edge of the bed, beckoning her with his eyes, his stiff rod bobbing in front of him. Still caught in the mesmerizing moment, Nola crossed to him and then straddled his waist, one knee on either side of him.

At the first brush of his cock against her pussy, Nola cried out. He lifted his hips, and his hard, wet tip hit her clit. Of their own volition, her hips rolled, and she moaned at the amazing sensation that ricocheted through her.

“Nola,” Cruz said as he traced his fingers down her breasts and over her stomach.

He let his hand settle between their bodies, and she watched avidly as he gripped his cock and rubbed it up and down her slit. On the last pass, he stopped, his crown nestled between her lips. As he lifted his gaze to hers, he released his hold and stared up at her, his message clear. This would only go as far as she would take it.

And for one of the few times in her life, Nola seized the moment.

She looped her hand around the base of his thick cock, and without breaking eye contact, she lowered her hips as she fed him inside.

The feeling of him opening her, filling her inch by inch, was one of the most glorious she’d ever felt.

Her hand was the only thing separating them, so she released him and lowered herself the final few inches, both of them crying out when they were fully connected. His hardness pulsed inside her, and Cruz gripped her hips in an almost punishing hold. But despite the urgency she felt in his grip, he didn’t thrust up, ceding control to her.

Nola rocked tentatively as a shock wave of pleasure reverberated through her. She moved a little faster and the pleasure increased along with Cruz’s hold. But still, he didn’t take over, and Nola reveled in the powerful man under her. The tension built, radiating out from where she and Cruz were connected and through her body.

Cruz loosened his hold on her hips and traced his hands up her waist, fingers ghosting over her sweat-slicked skin in an irregular pattern that made Nola quake.

Her eyes drifted shut in the face of the intense waves of pleasure that shot through her. She sped, lifting off and then settling on Cruz’s stiff dick over and over and over. On the last rotation, she settled on Cruz, his hardness pulsing inside her. Her body was strung tight, and when she shifted, the tension that had tightened inside her snapped.

Bursts of intense sensation coiled through her body, and her pleasure only intensified when Cruz went stiff beneath her and then, on a harsh moan, spilled his seed deep in her body. Nola gripped him tight, held him close as she rode the whirlwind of sensations that raced through her.

When some of her senses returned, she realized Cruz had shifted them and now lie atop her, his cock still inside her. He held her gaze with his, eyes warm, slightly crowded with pleasure. And behind it, determination.

And as he kissed her, Nola knew, for reasons she couldn’t explain but nonetheless believed with all her heart, that she could trust him to keep her safe.

C
ruz watched
Nola as she slept, wishing that he could leave her that way, peaceful, unmarked by the chaos around them.

But he had to wake her, so he did so with a kiss, letting his lips trail across her soft, slightly salty cheek and then capturing her mouth with his. She came awake under his touch, eyes still sealed, but her lips opening under his, her hands moving up to grip his arms. The urge to take her again rode at him, and it was only with a feat of will that he was able to pull away.

“The guys are here,” he said when he broke the embrace. “We need to move.”

She nodded, stood, lifting her arm to cover her breasts, and after a shy glance at him, dressed quickly. And for the first time, Cruz had no idea what she was thinking. He’d seen her fear as they’d run, seen her passion as he’d touched her, moved inside her, but now, save that little smile, he had no idea.

Was she regretting sleeping with him? He hoped not, but he’d understand if she did. She was sweet, sheltered, that was clear, and not the type of woman who’d be with him.

Suddenly uncomfortable, he grabbed her hand and led her out of the building, alert for any unwelcome visitors. When they exited the building, he spotted reinforcements and he moved quickly toward the idling Range Rover and hopped in. Before the door was fully closed, Ace sped off and they were on their way.

Ace looked at them in the rearview mirror, eyes knowing. Cruz wondered how his old friend had so quickly ferreted out what had happened. Maybe it was the way he’d pulled her close so that there wasn’t a millimeter of space between them or the way he had his arm looped around her shoulder. But he supposed it didn’t matter. Whatever Ace saw, he simply smirked and then turned his eyes back to the road, now all business.

“We good?” Cruz asked.

“So far. You didn’t have anyone on the building, and my contacts say that whatever this is, it isn’t officially sanctioned. They’re investigating the hotel as a robbery gone wrong, but it’s very hush-hush, so they won’t be coming at this full force, at least in any public way.”

That was a relief. Dealing with criminals was one thing; adding the government brought another layer of complication—and danger—that Cruz could do without.

“Anything on the file?” Cruz asked.

“Sam’s still on it. Hopefully, he’ll have something once we get to the location.”

“You okay, Nola?” Cruz asked.

Without looking at him, she nodded, and they rode the rest of the way in silence, leaving the bustling city center for another of the quiet suburbs that had sprung up around Ho Chi Minh City proper.

When they arrived, they found Sam, face buried in his cluster of computers, typing furiously.

“What have you found?” Cruz asked.

Sam glanced up and slid his gaze from Nola to Cruz, his message clear. Ace said nothing, silently deferring to Cruz on the matter.

And for the first time since they’d left the apartment, she spoke. “I need to know everything,” she said quietly but firmly.

Instinct told him to resist, but he relented. It wasn’t fair to keep her in the dark.

He nodded curtly, and Sam began.

“I cracked the encryption, and here’s what I’ve discovered,” he said, swirling one of the monitors to face the group.

“What the fuck?” Ace said.

As Sam clicked, image after image filled the screen. Central Park. The Statue of Liberty. Coney Island. Times Square.

“Vacation pictures? What the hell is this, Sam?” Cruz said, frustration filling his voice.

“Looks like someone had a great visit to the Big Apple,” Sam said as he continued to click through the colorful photos.

“Wait!” Nola yelled.

Six eyes hit her all at once, but Nola focused on Cruz’s. They were bright with question, and a sense of embarrassment stole over her at her loud exclamation.

“Sorry,” she said, lowering her voice. It was probably nothing anyway; she should have kept quiet.

“What did you see, Nola?” Cruz asked, crossing over to her. He didn’t touch her, though.

“Nothing,” she said, the embarrassment now tinged with uncertainty.

“It’s something. What?”

As he watched her, a tingling warmth sparked inside, and she couldn’t stop the memory of the way he’d touched her, how his powerful body had felt above her as he’d thrust, taken her to heights she hadn’t thought possible. The slight shift in his expression, the way his eyes turned liquid, told her he felt it as well. And behind that liquid heat, she saw his confidence in her.

Nola didn’t know why, but she believed his confidence in her more than she’d ever believed herself, allowed herself to trust that voice in her head that bade her speak.

“It’s just…” She approached the screen. “May I?” she asked Sam, who lifted his hands from the keyboard.

She clicked through the images, wanting to make sure she’d seen what she’d thought.

“These are very pretty, but is there a point?” Ace interjected.

“Here,” Nola said, pointing at the top right corner of the screen. She clicked through the photos. “Do you see it? That distortion.”

“I saw it, but I figured it was an issue with the camera. You think differently?” Sam asked. He sounded open, curious, but Nola thought she detected a faint whiff of annoyance.

“I think…” Nola started off quiet but when she looked at Cruz, again seeing his confidence, she started again, louder. “I think there’s something embedded in the images.”

Sam’s mouth dropped, and his eyes narrowed with excitement.

“See,” Nola said, copying the image and then pasting it into a new document. A series of numbers popped up on the page.

“Ahh, genius, ma’am!” Sam exclaimed, taking over the keyboard and mouse again and rapidly copying the images. “They’ve encoded the data in the image, hiding it in plain sight…” He trailed off, now fully engrossed in the images.

“Nice work,” Cruz said, “how did you figure it out?”

Nola shrugged. “I took an image manipulation class once, and the instructor mentioned it. I guess it stuck.”

She felt Cruz’s approach but didn’t meet his gaze, not even when he pressed a soft kiss at the crown of her head. Nola wanted to preen under his attention, but she could see Ace’s smirk out of the corner of her eye and stopped herself.

“Guys! Check this out!” Sam called.

Cruz moved quickly, Ace as well, to again crowd around the computers. Nola followed, glancing at the numbers on the screen. It was incomprehensible to her, but the heavy gazes that passed between Sam, Cruz, and Ace told her it wasn’t to them.

“So this is bad. Some kind of criminal activity?” she asked, focusing on Cruz.

“Oh yes,” Cruz said.

“Drugs?”

“Way more valuable and way more illegal than that,” Ace interjected.

“Diamonds, gold, plutonium?” Nola said.

“Nope,” Cruz said, eyes on her. “Tusks.”

“
T
usks
,” Nola repeated. “Like elephants?”

“Probably rhinos in this case,” Sam said.

“What? Like the animal that lives in Africa? Why would someone traffic a rhino?” Nola said.

“Not the whole animal. Mostly just the tusks. It’s big business,” Sam replied.

She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around it.

“But I don’t understand,” she said.

“Do you know how much a kilo of ground tusk wholesales for?” Cruz asked.

“I didn’t know that there even was such a thing, but what, ten thousand dollars?” she said, thinking her estimate was ridiculously high.

“To put it in perspective, a kilo of pure cocaine is around sixty thousand. Rhino runs twenty-five percent more,” Ace said.

Nola’s mouth dropped open, and she was stunned. “Seventy-five thousand dollars for rhinoceros tusk? What do people even do with it?”

“Some think ground tusks have medicinal value, that they cure cancer, AIDS, gout. Others drink it for cleansing, holistic healing. Others just acquire it because it’s so difficult to get. They use it as a status symbol,” Ace said.

“That’s awful, killing those poor animals for no reason,” Nola said.

“That it is,” Cruz said and the others nodded their agreement.

“Something also tells me it is highly illegal,” she said.

“Highly,” Cruz said, “which is where we come in.”

“How?”

“We got a tip that something was coming through, and that you would be bringing it, so we watched. We didn’t know what the cargo was, though now that is clear.”

“Why Vietnam?” she asked Cruz.

“Vietnam used to have rhinoceroses, but they’ve been hunted to extinction. So, this is more of a way station, a place where illegally hunted game are transported from Africa before they make their way to China, Russia, or the Americas.”

“So what now?” Nola asked.

She looked at Cruz, who looked at Ace.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Ace asked.

“I’ll make the call,” Cruz said.

Two hours later, there was a knock at the door. Nola listened as Ace answered and heard two muted sets of footsteps approach. By now she’d gotten used to Ace, so his presence didn’t disturb her, but the man beside him made her want to run, or at least run to Cruz. The newest person was huge, menacing, his features raw and seemingly chiseled out of granite. And though he hadn’t looked at Nola directly, at least that she’d noticed, he made her nervous nonetheless, made her want someone to protect her.

Sam had no such reservations. He stood and approached quickly, dwarfed by the huge, scary-looking man, who glared at the smaller man as if he’d be as happy to break the hand Sam extended as he would be to shake it.

“Mr. Saint? I’m a huge fan, sir. Like to consider myself something of a student of your work,” Sam said.

The man turned away without acknowledging Sam’s statement.

“This better be important, Cruz,” Saint said.

The sound of his voice, deep, filled with barely restrained disgust, set Nola’s heart off on yet another gallop.

“I wouldn’t have called you if it wasn’t,” Cruz said.

And then there was silence as the man openly assessed Sam and then Nola.

“I can vouch for them,” Cruz said.

“Me too,” Ace added.

The man moved his head, almost imperceptibly, just a fraction, but enough Nola felt she could breathe again. She turned her gaze toward Sam, whose face had hardened, no hint of the friendliness that had seemed such a part of him present. She understood his anger. That blow-off had been almost cruel, especially if Sam admired the man as much as he seemed to.

“So what do you know about the wildlife trade?” Cruz said.

“Care to be more specific?” Saint responded.

“Who’s moving illegal parts and in quantity?”

“Well, there’s always three or four players, local gangs, a few corrupt party officials, triad offshoots.”

“Any ties to the US?” Ace asked.

“I assume that’s how your lady friend is involved in this?” Even that simple sentence was heavy with threat.

“My lady friend is none of your concern, Saint,” Cruz said.

The tension that had left was back, and Saint, who was impossibly tall, stood even taller. But Cruz didn’t back down and the two men stared each other down, a battle about to erupt at any moment.

“You two ever gonna get past this bullshit?” Ace asked.

If either man noticed Ace speaking, they gave no indication, and Nola’s nerves snapped, along with them the reason she’d managed to corral.

“I’m glad you think your little…pissing contest is important, but people are trying to kill me, so can you save it?”

Cruz was the first to break the heavy stare, and Nola felt oddly comforted at the knowledge he’d done so to look at her, the jaw that he’d clenched tight relaxing as he stared at her.

The other man looked at her as well, traced her from head to toe with cold, assessing eyes. And then to Nola’s surprise, he lifted one corner of his mouth. It was a nanometer, less, but it was something.

“Yeah. There are a few guys moving product through the Americas and into Vietnam.”

“That’s new. Why the change?” Ace said.

“The government’s trying to put on a good face and is making the right noises about protecting the environment. China and many of the other Southeast Asian countries and Russia are still active routes and destinations, but the Americas are a good alternative. Few people are willing to risk it, so there’s less competition, and though security is tight, no one’s really looking for illegal game and what have you.”

“So how does it work?” Cruz asked.

“Best guess, they have someone inside. Wouldn’t need much, just some idea of when Customs might single out a shipment for a bit of extra scrutiny.”

“Seems like a lot of effort,” Nola said, “especially planting something on me.”

“It’s actually genius if you think about it,” Sam said excitedly, rebounding from Saint’s cold shoulder.

“Why?” she said.

“Well, if you’re running an international trafficking syndicate, keeping info in your head or with pencil and paper ain’t gonna cut it. But do you want to risk using a network? Probably not. I mean, if we know anything it’s that the Internet is not private. So this is a great middle ground. Load up a practically unlimited amount of data on a jump drive, have it brought into the country by some clueless tourists”—Sam looked over at Nola—“no offense.”

“None taken.”

“So they get the drive, drop it wherever, and have access to the information without leaving behind too much of a digital footprint.”

“But would it be something to kill over?” Nola asked.

“Wouldn’t you?” Sam asked, voice serious.

Before Nola could answer, Saint cut in. “Why am I here again?”

“If you lived in this area and you needed to move product, where would you do it from?” Cruz said by way of answering Saint’s question.

“For the animal trade, I’d probably move several hours up the coast. It’s secluded and you can transport down the rivers and tributaries. I can call a guy,” Saint said with a shrug.

Cruz turned his eyes to her, smile on his face. “Nola, you up for another trip?”

She didn’t even bother to hold back her sigh of resignation.