Page 14 of Fear No Evil

Jake’s reply, spoken with a heavy French accent, teased a giggle out of Maggie, which she squelched at the last instant. Back in Paris, his impersonations of the French had never failed to make her laugh.

“Which hotel?”

Jake looked at Maggie, then shrugged. “We don’t know yet. We have no reservations.”

“Hmph.” His mouth pursed in disbelief, the official nonetheless stamped their passports and handed back their Type-V visas. His suspicious gaze traveled from Jake’s face to Maggie’s. “Enjoy your stay.”

“Merci.” Jake snatched up both passports and slid them into a zippered pocket on his thigh before he ushered her swiftly toward the exit.

Pretending to adjust the strap on her pack, Maggie glanced back at the official as they walked away. Her heart skipped a beat. “He’s making a phone call,” she relayed in French.

“Walk faster.” Jake gripped her elbow again and drew her into the crowd thronging toward the exit, eyes peeled for Charles, who’d said he would be picking them up.

Maggie spotted Charles first, lounging beside an advertisement for theTransMilenioRapid-Transit System. At their approach, the Frenchman turned and marched ahead of them through the sliding glass doors, giving no sign that he’d actually seen them.

Humid air, choked with the smell of car exhaust, enveloped them as they hurried after their French counterpart. Charles was waving down a taxi. As they caught up to him, he opened the rear door for Jake and Maggie, his dark eyes snapping with urgency.“Montez.”Get in.

Maggie ducked into the back seat with Jake right behind her. Charles slammed shut their door, then slipped into the front seat. “Hotel Hacienda Royal.”

“Sí,señor.” The driver pulled away from the curb, immediately switching lanes to overtake the taxi in front of them.

Maggie groped for a nonexistent seat belt while she shrugged off her backpack. She caught Charles’s eye as he craned his neck to peer out the rear window. “Do we have company?”

As if comprehending her French, the driver veered into the oncoming lane, playing chicken with a bus loaded full of passengers, before lurching back onto the right side. Maggie seized Jake’s arm without thinking.Dear heaven!

Charles smirked, clearly impressed. “I dare anyone to catch us.” He stuck to speaking French. “Javier is the craziest driver in Bogotá, but he works for us, and his record is flawless. How was your flight?”

“Good.” Jake had to pitch his voice louder as they’d just turned onto a boulevard laid with stone, causing the tires to rumble. “Nothing out of the ordinary, although these backpacks drew some attention.”

Seeing Jake untie the laces of his right boot and haul it off, Maggie watched with increasing perplexity as he reached inside it, pried up the sole, and then shook out an oddly shaped device. When he pulled up a retractable antenna and held down a number on the keypad, she guessed the device was a satellite phone. So, this was how they would keep in contact with the outside world.

“Hey, Hulk, this is Iron Man. We’re here. Do you see us?”

Jake had switched back to English and, given the names of superheroes he was spouting, he’d lapsed into code speak. Hulk had to be one of his teammates situated at the Joint Intelligence Center within the U.S. Embassy, and Jake was asking him if their microchips were showing up on the Joint Intelligence Center’s geodesic map.

“Great. Let Wolverine know, and I’ll see you all this evening.”

This was the first Maggie had heard of any kind of meetup. She waited for Jake to end his call with the JIC before asking, “Iron Man?” Her lips twitched. It suited him perfectly. “Did you pick that name yourself, or was it given to you?”

Jake worked to put his phone back into his right boot. “One of our teammates is obsessed with superheroes. He gave me the name. Not sure if it’s a compliment or what.”

Fighting a smile, Maggie watched him pull his boot back on. A question occurred to her. “How’s that thing charge?”

“It doesn’t. The battery should last a week, and there’s a spare one in my other heel.”

“Huh.” That didn’t leave them any wiggle room should they have to stay longer than two weeks. “Those heels had better be waterproof.”

“Yeah.” His flat tone told her he shared the same concern, which was in no way reassuring.

Neither was her first look at their accommodations once they reached the hotel. The single queen-sized bed raised a red flag. Considering Jake’s broad shoulders, sleeping together on that thing would resemble a contact sport, which‍—recalling the allure of that one kiss on the plane‍—made her pulse flutter with the hope that she might get another one.

“C’est une belle chambre.”Nice room. Unaware of her unprofessional thoughts, Jake placed his backpack on the luggage rack by hers while sending her a nonverbal cue to help him sweep the room for bugs.

The methodical procedure cleared errant thoughts from Maggie’s mind.“Il n’y a rien ici.”There’s nothing here. Sinking into the upholstered chair by the window, she winced at the twinge in her hip.

Jake’s gaze sharpened. “Your incision’s bothering you.” Alarm colored his voice.

“Non, c’est bon.I’m a little sore, that’s all.”

---