In Safe Hands. Linda Conrad

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СКАЧАТЬ corner of the bar, Colin watched while the blighter who’d dropped off his pint backed away from the table, muttering something in Spanish. Colin tried to ignore the twit’s stares. He knew the fresh scratches on his face must look strange, but they’d already closed over with scabs and were healing thanks to Maggie’s natural potions. Not much else he could do about them now.

      Needing to test his muscles, he stretched in his seat. A little soreness remained, but none of the intense pain from before. That Maggie Ryan had done an amazing job on him.

      He had no trouble understanding why he’d so easily accepted her natural healing ability, yet still could not believe her witchcraft story. Years earlier, he himself had received training from a curandera healer. His father had been a diplomat, stationed in the Mexican state of Vera Cruz at the time, and Colin went for summer holiday. He’d spent a couple of fascinating months there learning about natural healing, honing the healing skills he’d picked up years earlier from his Irish mother and grandmother.

      Colin seldom allowed himself to dwell on his early lessons in native plants, or on the Irish half of his background for that matter. Such thoughts usually turned dark when they led to the uncomfortable memories of his mother’s abandonment, and from there to thoughts of John, and the worthless reasons he’d given himself for neglecting his own brother.

      He now knew that no amount of anger toward his mother was adequate grounds for deserting his baby brother. It hadn’t been John’s fault that their mother drove a wedge between the family. Colin realized, too late, that John had looked up to him, counted on him. And Colin had let him down. Stayed away when John needed his big brother the most.

      Feeling melancholy, Colin tried to shake off the memories. He’d left Maggie’s room because, if he’d stayed, he might have begun to believe all her stories. Her spirit had called to him, her body set his afire at first sight. He couldn’t think clearly around her.

      Natural healing was one thing, but witchcraft and crystals were quite another. Deep in his being, he did not believe.

      He wasn’t ready to give up on John. To admit he’d lost his only brother. Not yet.

      After making a couple of phone calls, Colin had gotten hold of a man who swore to know the truth. He was to meet that man here, in this pub, in the middle of the day.

      It now seemed a waste of time.

      Without warning, Colin felt the cold steel of a gun barrel as it pressed against his neck.

      “Don’t move, Fairfax,” the deep voice said in heavily accented English. “And don’t make a sound.”

      Where had the bastard come from? Colin had been watching the front door, and the bloke had appeared out of nowhere.

      “We’re going to take this out to the alley. But if you make any wrong moves, I’d just as soon shoot you here. Understood?”

      Colin nodded. His mind was busy calculating his chances, and the choice between making a stand here or out in the alley. Would this man have any real answers for him? Or was he just there to stop Colin’s questions for good?

      “Get up. Slowly, por favor.”

      Colin found himself leaning more toward the idea that this hombre wanted to kill him, not talk. The thought chilled him to the bone. His brother must be dead after all.

      Numb and heartsick, Colin shifted and slid out of the booth. The man at his side grabbed his arm and jammed the gun in his ribs.

      “Now walk. Nice and easy, sí?”

      A commotion in the front of the bar caught everyone’s attention. Colin and his captor slowed then stopped dead.

      “Colin, darlin’.” A high-pitched female voice lilted through the barroom. “Don’t you dare walk away from me, you…you…I’ve got something to say to you.”

      Colin turned and blinked at the sight of Maggie shoving her way through the tables and heading directly for him. She looked like an avenging angel, storming through the bar patrons, who all watched her every move. An angel in a familiar, pea-green coat. He wanted to warn her to stay away but hesitated to make any quick moves. Instead, he waited for a chance to take control of the situation. Colin knew he could wrestle the gun away from the smaller man at his side if all things were equal, but he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.

      Particularly not Maggie.

      She stormed up and raised her voice so she could be heard throughout the bar. “Colin Fairfax, you come home with me right this minute. How dare you leave just when I was telling you about the baby.”

      “What?”

      Maggie grimaced and shoved at his chest. “Come on. Stand up like a man. Let’s go home and face the music together.” She grabbed his arm and tugged him away from the stunned gunman.

      Colin shot a glance at the guy and saw the man’s mouth had dropped open. Colin knew exactly how he felt. What the hell kind of game was she playing?

      A dangerous one.

      Maggie pulled him toward the front door. Every eye in the place was locked on the two of them.

      “Maggie,” he whispered in her ear. “The guy has a gun pointed at us and no one is watching him now. We need to disappear before he figures it out.”

      They both hit the door at a run. Maggie leaned against it and shoved. Just as daylight and cold city air blasted him in the face, the zing of a bullet whizzed past his ear and hit the front window. Glass shattered everywhere.

      Bending, he threw his arm over Maggie’s head and shuffled the two of them out the door as fast as he could. “Move!”

      As they hit the sidewalk, he took control and grabbed her arm. “Let’s go. Run.”

      She started off without a word, managing to keep up with him as he dashed along the packed sidewalk. They ran full out and pushed through midday crowds until they were both out of breath.

      Panting, he slowed after they’d gone about five blocks. “What the hell did you think you were doing?” he gritted out.

      Maggie turned and gave him a sweet smile. “Why, Colin darlin’, you know the answer to that. I was saving your idiotic ass. What else?”

      The head of the notorious drug cartel leaned back in his cushioned chair and looked around the veranda. The men in his employ either ate, drank or played cards as they lay around and waited to do his bidding.

      All his money. The power he had accumulated. It would all mean nothing if the one man with more power learned of his past foolish mistake. In fact, his whole life would be worthless.

      Ten years it had taken. He had worked hard and smart enough to climb to the top of one of the largest Mexican drug cartels. It would be too humiliating to have it come down around his ears, all because he had needed to take one small bit of revenge.

      In truth, he’d managed to become the jefe—the boss—by demanding respect, and everyone knew that respect must be maintained.

      No one blamed him because his organization had been infiltrated by an international undercover operation. Those agents had had their jobs to do, and he had his. All is fair in СКАЧАТЬ