Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(116)

Jennifer had grown accustomed to the buffet layout so favored by Don Espe?osa. Although he could order whatever he wanted, the drug lord most enjoyed making up his mind by looking at an assortment of food spread out before him.

Jennifer filled her plate, but Don Espe?osa seemed distracted, taking just half a grapefruit. He sprinkled it with salt before digging out a slice with his spoon.

"So who am I going to meet?" Jennifer asked.

"Someone whose judgment I trust completely." Jennifer searched Don Espe?osa's face for a smile, but found none.

"Mysterious."

Jorge leaned back in his chair, lifting a cup of frothy cappuccino to his lips before responding. "I don't mean to be. As a matter of fact, I'm a bit nervous." Recognizing what he had just said, the drug lord smiled. "I don't believe I've ever said that before. You see? You confuse me. I'm not a trusting man, yet I find myself trusting you. My key people all tell me to go slow, that I'm behaving irrationally."

Jennifer felt a flash of anger. "The same people who provided such great security for your accounts? I think they’re angry about me making them look bad."

Jorge laughed. "That's exactly what I told them. Of course, I said it with a gun in my hand."

Jennifer's mouth dropped open. "You didn't kill them?"

"No, of course not. It just lets them know I'm not in the mood for an argument."

"I make you nervous?"

"A poor choice of words. You make me feel different. Unusual. It's why I wanted you to meet my associate, so he could form his own impression. I think you'll find him interesting."

Suddenly, Don Espe?osa glanced up. "Ah, here he comes."

As the don rose from his chair, Jennifer turned to see a very handsome young man walk out onto the patio. Dark hair, light skin, dressed in a mocha suit, he moved with easy grace and self-confidence.

"Jennifer Smythe, I would like to present my good friend, Eduardo Montenegro."

Jennifer stood, extending her hand, which was grasped and gently raised to Eduardo's lips. The touch, cool and soft on the back of her hand, matched the look in those beautiful dark eyes.

So this was the one whose judgment Don Espe?osa trusted more than his own. So be it.

Jennifer took a deep breath and centered. Then, with a small smile on her lips, she stepped across the threshold of those dark orbs and into the soul beyond.





124


Jennifer gasped, although she was so disconnected from her body the gasp impulse never arrived at her lungs. Something rubbed against her, sending her mind recoiling, struggling to find its way back to the light of her own body. But she was so deep in shock that she had lost the thread that could guide her back. She only knew that she had to get away from the horror she had mentally embraced.

The thing touched her thoughts again, and once again she retreated, scrambling ever deeper into the darkness. In her panic, she began erecting barriers in her mind, wall after wall of them, each higher and thicker than the last. But instead of blocking out the thing that pursued her, her panic seemed to feed it, drawing it onward like a beacon in the night.

A mental count had begun to tick down, starting at ten, each numeral thundering into her mind loud enough to explode her head. She didn’t have long. She didn’t know how she knew, but if she didn’t find her way back to her own head by the time that count hit zero, whatever was coming would pull her into a madness from which there would be no escape.

…SEVEN…

Jesus! Please help me. Please help me.

SIX…FIVE…

Mark had said something once…something about meditation.

…FOUR…

That’s crazy. No time to meditate.

…THREE…

No time. Just remember.

…TWO…

Jennifer pulled a memory forward, the feel of the alien couch on the Second Ship.

…ONE…

An amazing calmness swept her back, once again in her own head.

A puzzled look had settled on the face of the handsome young man standing in front of her. Then the face, and the look, faded. As the patio swam up to meet her, she felt two powerful hands catch her shoulders. Then, for the first time in weeks, the sweet bliss of unconsciousness swept her away.





125


From the moment El Chupacabra stepped onto Don Espe?osa’s lush patio with its colorful native tile, bright umbrellas, and the elaborate buffet spread across tables in a manner that would have made the Mirage Hotel managers hot with jealousy, he knew. It wasn’t the lavish spread. Not the smell of orchids. Eduardo had been on this patio so many times that these failed to arouse his interest.

It was the girl.

Don Espe?osa rose from the table, his hand extended in greeting.

"Jennifer Smythe, I would like to present my good friend, Eduardo Montenegro."

Although he met the grip with his own firm clasp, Eduardo’s gaze was drawn past the drug lord to the young woman rising from her chair, the one Don Espe?osa had been so anxious for him to meet. Petite, not more than seventeen, her dark brown hair cut short and sexy, accentuating the line of her slender neck. Even in a casual blouse and pants her body called to him, young and supple with a hint of unusual strength and grace.

Eduardo had always had a special hunger for such young women. They hadn’t yet learned if they liked to scream. With Eduardo, they all did.