Leopard 04 - Wild Fire

to be a way for them to get through this intact and still get the children out. She glanced up to see they were getting close to the others. A few more feet. She caught his arm.
    “Whatever it takes, Conner. I would hope you wouldn’t even have to kiss her, but I’m not going to put limitations on what I’ll accept. You can’t go into a life-threatening situation with that on your mind. If we do this, we both commit. Together. Agreed?”
    He groaned softly and pulled her close again. She could hear his heart. “I know you believe you’re that strong, Isabeau, and I love you for it, but your cat is going to have her say and it isn’t going to be easy.
    Cats are jealous and temperamental and we can’t always control them. You saw me with Jeremiah—and I like the kid. If you despise a woman, how do you think your cat is going to react knowing I’m flirting with her—or worse?”
    “If your cat can handle it, then mine will have to, won’t she?” She lifted her chin. “I want the children back—all of them—but especially Mateo because he’s ours. And he was Marisa’s. I want this woman stopped. If anyone comes up with another way into her stronghold, we’ll take it, but if all we’re left with is securing an invite through you, then we’ll have to take it.” She suddenly caught her breath. “Elijah!
    Conner, Elijah could do it.”
    He shook his head, dashing her hopes. “Three reasons. One, Mateo is my brother, and pretending to want to sleep with this woman will be a crap job I won’t push off on someone else. Two, Elijah, as good as he is, and he is good, very cool under fire, is relatively inexperienced. And three, Imelda won’t go for someone she would conceive of as being equal to her. She wants a dominant male, but not one her equal.
    I’ve studied her, and Elijah would pose a threat. He might want to take over her position of power. A bodyguard wouldn’t do that.”
    She let her breath out and forced a smile. “Then we go with our plan.”
    They returned, hand in hand, to the cabin where the others waited. Conner mapped out several escape routes through the rain forest, showing them the safest areas where they might shelter the children and keep them moving as well as the best campsites for them. They’d have to go in and mark the drop sites.
    “I’ll go and take Jeremiah with me,” Conner concluded. “We’ll go as leopards. It will be faster and safer.
    It will give Jeremiah the experience he needs in climbing fast and leaving no trace. Rio always flies the helicopter. Elijah is our supply man.”
    Felipe grinned at Jeremiah and showed off his muscles. “Leonardo and I are the big guns—the brawn.”
    “You mean not the brains.” Jeremiah smirked.
    That earned him a light cuff from Rio, but Jeremiah only laughed, not in the least deterred. Isabeau could see they were already developing a camaraderie of sorts with the newest member of their team. He might be on probation and in training, but they already treated him with growing affection.
    “So we go in, Conner and Felipe will be personal protectors for Marcos,” Rio got back to business,
    “and Leonardo and I will be the same for Elijah.”
    “Don’t worry about our uncle,” Felipe hastened to assure. “He might be in his sixties, but he’s fast and cunning when needed. I wouldn’t want to go up against him. And with Elijah, we’ve got six of us, all Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    leopards.”
    “What about me?” Jeremiah demanded.
    Rio shrugged. “You know Suma is going to be there and he’s tried to recruit you. He can’t see you. How are your shooting skills?”
    Jeremiah looked happy all over again. “I’m a crack shot.”
    “Don’t say it if it isn’t true,” Conner cautioned.
    “High wind. Over a mile.”
    The men looked at one another. “We’ll give you a chance to prove what you can do,” Rio said. “If you aren’t exaggerating, you’ll be watching our backs for us.”
    “And me?” Isabeau ventured. “I could go in as Elijah’s girlfriend. None of them has ever seen me. Elijah could be here to see me and knew his old friend Marcos was coming.”
    “No way.” Conner stated it as a fact.
    “She has to be protected,” Elijah pointed out. “We can’t just leave her out and you know it, Conner. She could prove to be a valuable asset. They have two rogue leopards. Those leopards won’t be thinking of anything but