Page 47 of Hot Soldier's Rescue

Elise said brightly, “In the few minutes we have left before we get to Mercado, we should probably strategize how to approach Raoul again and explain our absence.”

“Who’s he?” the older woman asked.

Drago answered, “The leader of the Army of Freedom.”

Grandma frowned. “What are you talking about? Eduardo Lentano is the leader of the Army of Freedom.”

Drago’s head whipped around. His voice was deadly quiet. “Excuse me?”

Chapter Ten

Elise gulped. Was the Army of Freedom playing him for a fool? Just how much danger were they all in? “Uh, maybe you should reconsider the whole idea of getting us picked up by the rebels.”

He shook his head. “No. We continue on. I have to finish this deal.”

“No, you don’t. You can walk away from this.” When he merely scowled stubbornly, she added desperately, “Have you not looked around you? You have a car full of women and children.”

He shrugged. “You can leave me when we get to Mercado, or you can take your chances with me. But I have no choice. Particularly now that I know they’re messing with me. I must continue my mission.”

His mission? What was he? Some kind of soldier? Or a spy, maybe?

Grandma surprised her by speaking up from the backseat. “I stay with the children. And they should stay with you, Drago. You know how to handle yourself. You’ll protect them with your life.”

An array of emotions passed across his face. Surprise. Dismay. Resignation. And then a reluctant smile of reassurance toward the elderly woman in the backseat. Did she dare interpret that to mean he’d accepted the fact that he was stuck with all of them until they left Colombia?

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or appalled. Assuming he didn’t draw the entire Army of Freedom down upon them, he might actually increase the children’s safety. But he’d made it clear that his goals came before any women and children. Did she dare trust him? Did she have the right to risk the children’s lives on his tenuous connection to them? Particularly after he’d made it crystal clear to her that the mission came first?

Hurt tore through her, paralyzing her brain. She had to think. Make the right decision. The children’s safety, not to mention her own safety, depended on her making the right choice. But what was that?

“What more can you tell me about the Army of Freedom?” he asked Grandma quietly.

“They struggle to survive. The government’s reforms are working. The cruelty and corruption of the regime have mostly disappeared. That is what drove people into rebel groups. With el Presidente giving back the farmland the drug cartels stole, the Army of Freedom can’t even find supporters among the poorest people in the countryside.”

“Are you telling me the Army of Freedom is dying?” he asked carefully.

“They used to have nearly ten thousand members. Now they’re down to maybe five hundred.”

“So few?” Drago blurted.

“Aye.”

“So. They’d rather go out in a blaze of glory than fade quietly into the night,” he mumbled.

“Excuse me?” Elise asked. She didn’t like the sound of that. In her experience, blazes of glory had a tendency to consume anyone standing near them when they ignited.

“Nothing,” he snapped, obviously distracted.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this arms deal?” she asked. “What if they can’t pay you? Or what if they’re planning to do something stupid with your weapons? Won’t the authorities come after you, too?”

“This isn’t about talking me out of doing business with these guys.”

“What is it about, then?” she asked.

He glanced at her, his expression closed, and did not answer. Yup, he had shut her out completely.

“I don’t want to approach them tonight,” Drago announced suddenly. “We’ll find a place to stay and I’ll approach them—by myself—tomorrow.”

Elise snorted. Which was a fancy way of saying he was going to ditch them tomorrow. How could he promise in one breath to keep them safe, and in the next intimate that he’d like nothing better than to get rid of them? His mood swings were giving her whiplash.

---