Beautiful Sacrifice

started to object, but didn’t. Everyone was always harping on how she should bring a man home to meet the family.
    Hunter was all man.
    “No argument?” he asked.
    “We have to assume the objects came from the Yucatan,” she said.
    “Looks like it. More important, the tools who tried to grab you came from there. Right now I’m as worried about you as I am about Jase.”
    Lina gave Hunter a startled look. “Jase is in more danger.”
    “He’s under guard in the hospital. His family is under guard. He’s safer than you are.”
    “Under guard?”
    “I talked to Stu Brubaker, Jase’s boss. I told him straight up that he had sent Jase blindfolded into a firefight, and if anything else happened to him, Brubaker’s political ass was on my firing line.”
    She looked at Hunter’s eyes and saw the predator she had always sensed beneath his easy movements. It didn’t worry her. Life had taught her that it was better to have a predator with her than against her.
    Predators were strong enough to be gentle.
    “I bet the boss didn’t like that,” Lina said.
    “From me, no, but he got to the bottom line even before I called. He put the guards on Jase and his family. Right now Brubaker is backdating files to make it clear that Jase was officially working undercover for him on a very politically sensitive project.”
    “Wasn’t he?”
    “In a back-door kind of way. The files make it up front, which means that Jase was shot in the line of duty. Uncle Sam will take care of the bills. Every last penny of them. If Jase comes out of this injury less than one hundred percent, he’ll get full disability whether he stays in the field or not. Jase’s choice.”
    She cleared her throat. “Sounds like you and Brubaker had quite a chat.”
    “In our family, we call it a come-to-Jesus talk. Brubaker’s a good man underneath the bureaucracy. It shook him hard to see Ali and the kids. Reminded him that more than an attaboy from the vice president was at stake in this sorry game. And Brubaker’s plenty savvy enough to know that his career is gone if he doesn’t take real good care of Jase.”
    “So he won’t fire Jase over the artifacts even if they aren’t found?”
    “Not while I’m on watch. Brubaker and I have a Mexican standoff on that subject. If my guess is right, he’s quietly twisting arms to get his hands on some objects that are close enough to pass at the repatriation ceremony. Since we’re talking truckloads of goods already slated to be handed over, and there was no hoo-ha over Jase’s artifacts in the first place, it should work.”
    “Then you don’t need me anymore. Jase’s job is safe.” Lina’s voice dried up as she looked into Hunter’s eyes. They were intense, focused solely on her.
    Hunter shook his head. “Sweetheart, you couldn’t be more wrong. You’re not going anywhere alone until I know who and what this El Maya dude is. He pulled the trigger on your kidnapping. And Jase.”
    “My family has bodyguards,” she pointed out. “Everyone with money in Mexico does.”
    He nodded. “Ever think that some of the money your family has might not be clean, and that’s a reason for you to worry and for men to be after you?”
    She bit back her first response, which was a snarling denial. Finally she said, “I’ve never believed that my family was involved in anything truly illegal.”
    Breathing in Lina’s scent, Hunter waited.
    The silence drove her to speak. “Celia sometimes lives on the thinnest edge of legal, but she knows how not to fall off. My father could make a fortune skimming artifacts, but he’s too obsessive about them to let them out of his hands. As long as the family supports his digs, he has no reason to risk the black market for money. Being in charge of a dig is all Philip really cares about.”
    “Okay. Abuelita sounds a little old to be actively involved in the illegal artifact or drug trade.”
    Lina smiled. “Especially when I call her chichi, which is Mayan for ‘grandmother.’ She’s my mother’s grandmother.”
    “Anyone else?”
    “If you researched the family, I’m sure you know Carlos was a small-time drug dealer/user back when he was called Carlitos. Abuelita put a stop to that little rebellion. Carlos cleaned up and began doing manual labor for Philip on the digs. When Carlos was old enough to be respected and respectable, he took over running the family cement business. Ultimately, he became a successful cross-border businessman and a