“Where?” he asked, comically turning his head from side to side as though searching for the celebrity.
The Hendrens continued to prod him until he enlightened and entertained them with stories of his adventures as a photojournalist. He downplayed the danger he frequently encountered and embellished some of the more humorous anecdotes.
“But,” he said, pushing aside his dessert plate after eating two helpings of apple pie, “this latest escapade in Monterico was about the scariest situation I’ve ever been in.”
A major portion of the afternoon had been taken up by their recounting their tale. Cage and Jenny, the Flemings and Cage’s parents had listened with disbelief as they told them all that had happened to them on their way to the border.
“I’m in no hurry to go back,” Kerry said now.
“Neither were we once we got out,” Cage said.
Linc looked at him in surprise. “We? You were there? When?”
“After my brother was executed.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s all right. Jenny and I had to go down there and identify Hal’s body and escort it back.” He reached across the corner of the table and took her hand, squeezing it. “It was an unpleasant experience for both of us.” He stared into space reflectively. “Although, if it hadn’t been so spoiled by the civil war, Monterico could be a beautiful place.” He gazed at his wife. “The tropical climate was rather sensuous as I recall.”
Because Cage and Jenny were looking at each other with such absorption, they missed the fleeting look that passed between their guests. Both Kerry and Linc vividly remembered a night spent beneath the shelter of a vine, a heavy rainfall that surrounded them with a pounding as fierce as that of a heart on fire, and the seductive perfume of jungle flowers, naked skin and earth combined into a potent aphrodisiac.
That night seemed unreal now. It could have happened to two other people in another lifetime. They couldn’t have lain together so closely and be this remotely detached from one another now. He couldn’t have quieted her fears and dried her tears then and hurt her as he had this morning with his cruel words.
Kerry looked across the table at Linc; he was a stranger. They had shared cups of water and scraps of bread, passionate kisses and equally passionate arguments, and yet she knew so little about him.
“Neither of you has explained how you came to be teamed up,” Jenny said. “How did you become involved with Kerry’s work, Linc?”
Kerry jumped as though she’d been struck with an electric cattle prod. She met Linc’s hard gaze across the table. His expression was smug. He might have cleaned up on the outside, he might look prettier, but he was still rotten to the core on the inside. He was as cunning and calculating as ever, a ruthless street fighter who never cried uncle.
“I think Kerry should be the one to tell you that,” he said. If she dares. That remained unspoken, but Kerry clearly read the challenge in his eyes.
It was a challenge she didn’t dare back down from. Setting her chin at a stubborn angle, she said, “I recruited him.” He made a rude, scoffing sound. She flashed him a poisonous look. “All right, I...I...”
“Shanghaied,” Linc supplied drolly.
Kerry sprang to her feet, furious with him for airing their quarrel in front of the Hendrens. “You just won’t be nice about this, will you?”
He bolted from his chair. “Nice? Nice? You kidnapped me, lady. You deliberately destroyed a month’s worth of hard work. You made me miss my plane out of that godforsaken hellhole. You got me captured by a bunch of cutthroats, chased, shot at, nearly drowned and you expect me to be nice about it?”
Chest heaving with agitation, he pointed at Kerry accusingly as he addressed Cage and Jenny. “She dressed up like a whore and lured me out of a tavern. That’s how she ‘recruited’ me. I went with her, thinking I was gonna get laid and... Oh, sorry, Jenny.”
“That’s all right,” Jenny mumbled.
“He’s failed to mention that he was drunk at the time,” Kerry sneered. “And I didn’t lure him, I dragged him because he couldn’t stand up under his own power.”
“And that makes it okay?” Linc yelled across the table.
“I thought he was a mercenary,” Kerry told their avid listeners. “And he is. He’ll get paid for his time and trouble,” she said scathingly. “Before you go pinning any medals of valor on him, maybe you should know that he didn’t do anything out of largesse. I had to agree to pay him fifty thousand dollars so he wouldn’t
turn me and the children over to El Presidente.”
“That’s not why I demanded to be paid, and you damn well know it.” Linc moved forward menacingly, as though he was going to climb over the table to get to her. “The money was to repay me for the film you destroyed. That’s about how much revenue you cost me. But it doesn’t begin to reimburse me for having to put up with you for the last four days.” He tossed his napkin down beside his plate. “Cage, would it be too much of an imposition to ask you to drive me into town?”
Jenny Hendren sprang from her chair. “You’re not leaving?”
“I’m afraid so, Jenny.” Linc liked Cage’s wife very much. They had been on a first name basis since earlier that afternoon. She was gracious and kind and straightforward, soft, womanly, and even-tempered—everything that Kerry Bishop was not. “Not that I don’t appreciate your hospitality.”
“But you can’t leave,” Jenny said imperiously. “Not now.” Everyone was surprised by the intensity of her outburst and looked at her inquiringly. Embarrassed, she hastened to ask, “You took all those pictures today to go with the story of your escape, right?”