Nowhere to Hide (Delos Series Book 1) Read online

  At least he’d done something right. Their housekeeper, despite her grumpiness over their slovenly ways, got paid very well. Smiling a little, he glanced to his right where Lia’s picture sat on his pillow. What would she look like if she smiled? Would those velvety gray eyes of hers shine? Would her skin blossom, her cheeks pink up?

  Cav found himself wanting to know what this woman looked like when she smiled. Butch had been right: He was looking forward to this assignment, for once. It never hurt to be a bodyguard to a beautiful woman about his own age. And yes, Cav was a hardcore realist. He knew she was more than likely married, engaged or had a boyfriend. Someone as pretty as she was, would not be available. So why the hell did his silly-assed heart hope that she was?

  CHAPTER 3

  After meeting Robert and Dilara Culver at the San José airport, Cav rode with them in their black SUV, the driver taking them to a five star hotel, The Empress, in the capitol.

  General Culver’s attache’, Major Dahlgren, had already arrived days earlier with his small, but highly efficient staff. The group was taken to a special, rented room at the hotel. Cav knew both Robert and Dilara from earlier assignments through the General, and had spoken by phone or Skype with them. He was comfortable with these people, and admired them for running the largest charity in the world. He could tell that the shocking attack on the La Fortuna school had left them deeply troubled.

  As they entered the boardroom with its long mahogany table and black leather-and-chrome chairs, Robert pointed to one and told Cav, “Please take a seat.”

  “Yes, sir.” Cav sat down. He found a huge manual in front of him, flanked by a glass of ice water. Culver’s attache’, in his mid-forties, had everything in place. The group sat at one end of the table, while the lieutenant brought down a screen at the other end. Robert sat at the head of the table, the Major next to him with his ever-present laptop. Dilara, dressed in an emerald green pantsuit of silk, her red hair held up by two gold combs, always looked elegant to Cav. He knew that the entire family, which comprised two of the largest shipping fleets in the world, was rich beyond most people’s imagination.

  He also knew that Dilara, who had Turkish and Greek blood, believed in giving back. They’d established 1,800 Delos charities around the world on six continents. Robert had told him once, during a PSD, that a billion dollars was spent annually on these charities. The money kept the charities thriving so they could continue helping the under-privileged and the uneducated. It also increased farm yields for farmers around the world.

  Cav quite liked Robert and Dilara. He could see they were kind, well meaning, and strongly focused. Dilara was actually a big mother hen, but not in a smothering way.

  Cal sat there in his civilian clothes, a light blue short-sleeved shirt, bone-colored chinos and a pair of leather hiking boots. Like any security operator, he always carried a light jacket to keep his weapon out of sight.

  Dilara sat next to him, and on the other side of the table next to the Major was another manual. That meant another person was coming to this meeting.

  “Who’s sitting there?” he asked Dilara as a staff woman poured him coffee.

  “Lia Cassidy will be here soon. We asked her to join us. She was there when the attack happened, so no one knows more about it than she does. She was the sole survivor. At this meeting, we’re going to ask her a lot of questions to get her take on what happened and why it happened to our charity. She’s been working nonstop with the Costa Rican police the last five days, since our two teachers were murdered.”

  Dilara compressed her red lips, her eyes troubled. “I’m worried for Lia. Thank God, she survived. This is just so shocking. We’ve never had one of our charities hit like this.”

  Robert looked up from his seat. “It’s going to happen again and we’ve got to change course and strategy to protect all of them. We’re not going to let our good people be hurt or killed.”

  “Was Lia wounded?” Cav wondered aloud.

  Dilara sighed, clasping her hands in front of her. “No, thank goodness, she wasn’t, but the poor thing is obviously in shock, grieving and utterly traumatized by this horrible event.”

  Nodding, Cav could imagine that she was. Women weren’t used to violence like this. Hell, no one was but a trained operator, who handled it a helluva lot better than any civilian could. His thoughts were cut short when the door opened, and his gaze went instantly to the woman standing uncertainly in the doorway. She wore a simple white, long sleeved linen blouse and jeans, with sandals on her feet. Cav couldn’t tell which was whiter—her face or her blouse.

  His incisive gaze missed nothing. Yes, this was Lia Cassidy, but something was terribly wrong. He spotted the long scar on her left cheek, which seemed to stand out, claiming his immediate attention. Her gray eyes were bloodshot, and her mouth was thinned with what he bet was a whole lot of suppressed emotion. To say she look exhausted was an understatement. There were shadows beneath her large, intelligent eyes. Her hair, naturally curly, was soft and feminine around her face, but cut almost too short for his taste. Worse, as he inspected her from head to toe, he saw the telltale scar that curved around the left side of her neck.

  He’d been right: the photo had been retouched. And the photo sent to him had been angled towards the right side of her face, hiding the scar on the left side.

  His heart lurched, and the sensation was so damned unexpected, Cav stirred uncomfortably. For an instant, her eyes met his. Again, he felt the impact of deep sadness surround him. Then, her gaze moved to Dilara, who was quickly getting up to greet her.

  “Lia,” she called huskily, hurrying around the table, her arms opened wide. “Oh, you poor thing. Come here!” and she rushed to Lia’s side.

  Cav sat back and watched Robert stop what he was doing, instantly getting to his feet and bringing his full attention to the gaunt woman who stood, ghostlike, in the opened doorway. Clearly, both of these people thought a great deal of Lia Cassidy. Dilara got to her first, gently enfolding her in her arms and hugging her tightly. Robert came and stood nearby, his hand laid gently on Lia’s sagging shoulder.

  Lia buried her face into Dilara’s neck, clinging tightly to her. Yes, these people knew her well, and damned if his heart didn’t stir as he watched this scene. Disturbed by the scars he saw on Lia’s face and neck, Cav wondered what the hell had happened to her. Robert hadn’t given him a dossier on Lia, so he was left with his own theories on how she had received those scars.

  Cav really didn’t want to be touched by this show of unexpected emotion. He’d never seen Dilara in person, but the woman exuded a profound maternal energy. He watched as Lia collapsed, almost literally, into her arms. Her face was hidden, but he believed she was silently battling back tears that wanted to fall.

  Dilara was the same height as Lia, and Robert continued gently patting her shoulder, his mouth tight, obviously moved by the meeting.

  This was the first time Cav had seen Culver get emotional. Usually, the Air Force general was all cut and dried, typical of officers of his rank.

  Meanwhile, the Major stuck his head into his laptop, as if ignoring what was going on behind him. His other attache’, the Lieutenant, ducked his head, too, pretending to deal with paperwork in front of him. There was something so fragile, and yet so appealing about Lia Cassidy, but damned if Cav could define it.

  So why was his heart in this? His own emotions had definitely been stirred, which flummoxed Cav even more than the scene in front of him. Just the way Lia’s long, slender hands gripped Dilara told him she was in deep pain. And Dilara’s soft murmurs in Turkish as she held Lia made him uncomfortable. He wished he had a laptop to hide behind, too.

  Finally, Lia broke free of Dilara’s warm, comforting arms, gave her an apologetic glance, and took two quick swipes at her eyes. She had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t cry in front of them.

  “I’m okay,” she whispered thickly, taking a step away from Dilara, whose eyes were luminous with tears. “It’s all right,�
�� she said, forcing a partial smile that failed miserably.

  “We’re so sorry to put you through this so soon after everything happened,” Dilara whispered, her fingers resting on Lia’s shoulder. “But we’re desperate for information.” She opened her hands in apology. “You survived, thank God. And we know how tough it is come down here to this meeting. Is there anything we can get you? Have you eaten yet?”

  Lia fought to push her grief and shock deep down into her. “I’m not hungry. Maybe a little coffee? And this meeting has to take place.” Lia pasted on a brave smile for them, wanting them to stop worrying about her.

  “This has never happened before,” Robert told her, walking to the table, pulling out a chair and gesturing for her to sit down. “We are here to not only find out what happened, but how we can help you, Lia.”

  Pushing her damp fingers down her linen slacks, Lia’s gaze came back to the man stoically watching her across the table from where she sat down. She saw the Major next to her lift his head from his laptop and give her a cursory nod of hello. The other officer did the same.

  “There’s a lot to be decided,” Lia whispered.

  Dilara walked around the table and sat down next to Cav. “Let me introduce everyone to you, Lia.”

  The Major poured her some coffee and pushed it in front of Lia. She gave him a look of thanks, her fingers curling around the warmth of the cup. But inside, she felt icy cold. The attack that had occurred right after she’d gone back to bed, right after her virulent nightmare, had torn her world apart.

  When Dilara placed Lia’s hand on the yet-to-be-introduced man with the thoughtful hazel eyes, she felt her heart beat a little faster. She knew he was military, even though he wore civilian clothes. His training almost dripped off him; she could see it in his sharp glance and his effort to appear casual, but she wasn’t fooled—she could feel the tension radiating from him.

  “This is Cavanaugh Jordan,” Dilara said, patting his broad shoulder. “Because Robert and I want you safe, we called in a security contractor who’s already worked for Robert—several times, in fact, on different missions. We hired Cav to be your bodyguard for now, Lia. Neither of us feels you’re safe at La Fortuna right now, and until we can figure out what’s going on and know you’ll be safe again, Cav will be at your side like a shadow.”

  Lia lifted her head and met Cal’s flat, emotionless stare. “Oh,” was all she managed. Then, turning to Dilara, “But I’ve never had a security detail before.”

  “You will now,” Robert said. “We’re not losing you, too.”

  Lia felt her heart speed up. The man sitting across from her gave nothing away, and yet she could sense his reaction to her. Automatically, she touched her scar on her cheek, then looked away from him and forced herself to focus on Robert, who was looking grim.

  “The police said they sent you their investigation reports, sir?” Cav spoke up now.

  “Yes,” Robert said, pointing at the Major’s laptop. “We have everything on their ongoing investigation. But we want boots on the ground Intel, which,” looking now at Lia, “only you can provide us.”

  Lia knew she would be driving down to San José to give them an eyewitness report. But why five days after it happened? She still felt like ground meat exposed to air, and could barely check her own emotions.

  “Where do you want me to start?” she asked the general.

  “Most important is why did it happen,” Robert said. “Do you have any ideas?”

  “I think I do, sir, but I can’t prove it. I’ve already told my suspicions to the Costa Rican police detectives.” She opened her hands. “Dante Medina, La Araña, is the regional drug lord in the northern highlands. He has a villa near La Fortuna, up in the jungle. ‘The Spider’ is a regional drug lord. He and his men grow marijuana and cocaine in the jungle. He’s married to a woman named Suelo, who’s about twenty-eight. They have three sons—two, four, and eight, and he keeps two mistresses at a villa in La Fortuna, Pilar, seventeen, and Marta, fifteen. These girls are sex slaves, closely guarded by his soldiers at the La Fortuna villa.” Lia’s voice dropped into a painful whisper. “His third mistress, Lupe Zavala, eighteen, escaped and ran to us for help, which we gave her. She flew out of the country and back to her country, Guatemala.”

  Lia forced herself to look at the General. “Lupe came to us five days earlier than the attack. She begged Maria Gonzalez and Sophia Casales, the teachers, to take her in. I wasn’t there at the time, but when I returned from my errands the teachers had taken Lupe in. She was a mess, terribly beaten up, and the teachers cared for her in their homes. I went and got the doctor from Tabacon Resort, who was kind enough to come and care for Lupe.”

  “Had this happened before?” Robert asked.

  Lia shook her head, keeping her hand covering her left cheek. She could feel the security contractor’s gaze, like heat, on her face and inwardly, she cringed, knowing that he must be disgusted, like every other stranger who first saw her face. “No. Oh, we’d run into Lupe and the other two mistresses at the grocery store in La Fortuna, but they always had a guard with them, so we never really stopped to talk to them.” Grimacing, Lia added, “All three of us knew that these women were prisoners at Medina’s villa. I mean, it was local common knowledge.”

  “Why weren’t the police called long before this happened?” Dilara asked.

  Lia looked up at her. “Because everyone is deathly afraid of Medina, Dilara. You don’t know how dangerous he is. He’s killed before, and he won’t hesitate to get his revenge if someone crosses him. People live in absolute fear of him.”

  The Major at the laptop flashed a photo onscreen of the destroyed, charred remains of their school. Gesturing toward it, Lia said, “Now you know why.”

  “But our school has been there for thirty years,” protested Dilara, “and with the approval of the Costa Rican government.” Her eyes showed confusion. What had changed?

  Lia had known this was going to be a brutal session, but it couldn’t be helped. Robert and Dilara couldn’t make wise decisions without good Intel, and she was the only one alive who could provide it. For a split second, her gaze met Jordan’s, and the protective feeling she received from him caught her completely off guard. She desperately needed to feel as if someone were keeping her safe right now.

  Focusing on Dilara, she said, “It was common knowledge in the village that no one was to help his mistresses or to create any trouble for them.”

  “And because our teachers gave Lupe sanctuary,” Robert growled, “Medina attacked our charity?”

  “Yes,” Lia said wearily. “Look, he considers those women his property. He’s a monster, Robert. We’ve always known it. We were careful to keep everything the charity did away from him, his villa, and his mistresses.”

  “Until Lupe came to you for help,” Dilara said softly.

  “I saw her an hour after she asked for help,” Lia said. “Her face was a mess. Medina had used his fists on her, possibly broken her nose. And he’d also whipped her. Medina didn’t like something she did or said, so he strung her up, stripped her to the waist and whipped her ten times with something…I’m not sure what…but her shoulders and upper back were bloody. I immediately drove over to the Tabacon Resort and got their doctor.”

  “I wonder if Medina will go after the doctor, too?” Robert murmured.

  “Oh, the doctor knows how vengeful Medina is,” Lia said, “but the owners of that particular resort are very, very powerful, with strong political ties to the capitol. I seriously doubt Medina will attack the doctor or do his family any harm. You see, the reason Medina has free rein up at La Fortuna is because there are no Costa Rican police force up there. All the major resorts have their own security forces. And La Fortuna is only a mile or two from most of the other forty resorts in the area.”

  Grimly Robert looked to his wife. “This is a typical situation that can develop here. The resorts probably loan a security officer to the village whenever one is needed.”

>   “Yes,” Lia confirmed, “That’s exactly what they do. All the children of the workers at these resorts come to our school in La Fortuna. Up until very recently, we had a great working relationship between the resorts, the village and our charity.”

  “Any indication that Medina has already targeted you?” Robert asked Lia.

  Shrugging, Lia said, “I don’t know. Probably. Even though I wasn’t there when Maria and Sophia took Lupe in, I’ve worked at this school for years. And Medina and his soldiers know everyone in the area.”

  Robert swung his gaze to Cav. “You’re to be with her at all times.”

  “Yes, sir,” he murmured, registering the distress in Lia’s eyes.

  “But, sir?” broke in Lia, “If this man comes in with a gun and everyone in the village knows it, Medina will consider him a threat.”

  “Cav is going undercover as a replacement teacher,” Robert told her. “He can play the part. He’s going to be a bilingual educator, supposedly teaching English to the children.”

  Lia stared across the table at Cav, and again felt something comforting emanating from him.

  “Do you speak Spanish?” She asked him directly. She had yet to hear him say much of anything. Clearly, he was a big, bad guard dog, and Lia admitted she felt relief flowing through her. She knew how much a security contractor cost and she was sorry that the Culvers had to spend large sums to keep her safe. That money should be going for books, pencils, notebooks, instead.

  “I’m passable in Spanish,” Cav assured her quietly, noting her concern. He wanted to reassure her, but under the present circumstances, with his two bosses present, he needed to stick to terse responses.

  Lia felt a sliver of calm enter her, and realized that with this man she felt safe, in a way. She knew he had to be disgusted by her scars because men always were. Except for Robert, who treated her as whole and worthy.