Chapter 2
Special Forces Sergeant Callum Baggnell knew Io’s tells, even after everything. She was at her limits, and she’d push herself until she collapsed. She refused to take care of herself.
“Excuse us,” Cal said, surprised by how calm he sounded.
He didn’t feel calm. He was hanging on by threads.
And when she swayed, the fear that slammed into him wasn’t the same as the day he learned his sister had died, but his body didn’t know the difference—his vision tunneled, his pulse spiked, and that old, jagged terror ripped through him like it had been waiting under his skin.
He forced himself to breathe, to move, to function. She needed him steady.
Io didn’t give in. Ever.
He hated how much it scared him that she wasn’t even pretending to be fine.
Cal took the stairs slowly, letting her set the pace. Her lack of impatience underlined her exhaustion. When they reached the second floor, he asked, “What room did BD put you in?” He kept his voice even, but every instinct he had was screaming to get her somewhere she could rest, somewhere safe.
“It’s at the back of the house, farthest from the stairs.”
Strategically, that made sense. Io was leaning on him now, and Cal wondered how she’d react if he swept her up and carried her. He decided not to test her. She might be exhausted, but she was fierce.
The door she indicated opened into a cramped sitting area crammed with furniture—two sofas, a loveseat, a coffee table, twin end tables, and a credenza. A faded Virgin Mary hung on the yellow wall. Across the room stood another door, warped and streaked with flaking reddish paint.
The space was too tight for side-by-side movement, so they walked single file, Cal keeping his hands on her hips as he guided her forward. He didn’t miss the way she stiffened, a subtle recoil that felt like a slap. He let go immediately, but watched to make sure she wouldn’t fall.
She opened the door. The bedroom was the opposite of the sitting room—huge, dwarfing the king-size bed. A vanity sat against one wall. The blue paint was as dirty as the yellow downstairs, and the torn shades barely covered the three large windows. Both sides of the bed appeared slept in.
“You and your sister are sharing?” Cal asked.
“Yes.” Io sat on the bench. “When did you get assigned to covert ops?”
“Four months ago.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, forcing himself to keep the distance he had no business closing. He took in her curled blonde hair, the business-casual attire, and asked, “Why did you pretend to be your sister?”
“She asked.”
And for Io, that was enough.
She changed the subject. “You look as exhausted as I feel.”
A corner of his mouth quirked up. She was admitting to being human. And reading him easily. “I was looking for you. I couldn’t manage much sleep while I was worrying.” Sobering, he ran a hand across the back of his neck. “Fuck, Io, I was searching brothels for you. What the hell happened?”
She hesitated, and Cal grimaced. He knew exactly what that pause meant. She was waiting for him to say I told you your job was too dangerous, waiting for a continuation of the argument they’d had over and over again.
“I’m not going to be an asshole about this,” he said quietly, forcing the words out steady. “But what I saw…” His voice trailed off. “Where were you? What happened? Why are you in Puerto Jardin? I need to know.”
“My boss sent me down here to learn more about Fuentes. That’s why I’m here.” Io’s voice was quiet. Polite. He hated polite from her.
She said that like he should know the name. He didn’t. “Who is Fuentes?”
Io didn’t answer. He shouldn’t push her. Not when she was this exhausted. “I know you were kept drugged. Did Mazz check you over?”
“That’s what Ayla said. I was mostly unconscious until this morning.”
“Mostly unconscious?”
“I woke up long enough to pass along the hotel room where my things were and to overhear that your teammate got my sister pregnant, and then I went down again.”
He’d been more out of touch than he realized. “Your sister and Oz, right?”
Io nodded.
“And you let him keep his balls?”
“I gave him time to do the right thing. He proposed, Ayla accepted. His balls are safe.”
“It’s why you switched places,” Cal guessed. “She was testing him.”
“Our parents…well, they didn’t care enough to learn to tell us apart. Ay wanted to be sure that she mattered enough to Oz that he could. I told her he’d know, but…” Io shrugged. “Why’d you announce we were married?”
There was curiosity in her voice, nothing else.
“Move over,” he said, and when she did, he sat beside her, keeping as much space between them as he could manage.
“It was my way of letting BD know I’m not abandoning you to whatever the hell you’re involved with.
Someone kidnapped you, Wild Thing. Kept you drugged.
I’m not forgiving that. Now, who is Fuentes? ”
She laughed, but it wasn’t amused. “That’s a complicated question with so many possible answers I’m not sure where to start.”
“Give it to me from the beginning.”
“The beginning is 1820.”
Cal’s lips curved. “Of course it is.” He took her left hand, brushing his thumb across her knuckles. But she wasn’t wearing his ring. Not even a faint line marked where it had been.
“In 1820, the Spanish still held part of Puerto Jardin, but their grip was slipping. Revolutionaries were advancing, and the viceroy feared Trujillo would fall. So he looted the city—everything they’d stolen since the conquest, plus priceless church relics—and loaded it onto a British ship.”
“British? I thought those two countries didn’t get along then.”
“They didn’t, but the viceroy was desperate. The only ship not already loaded was the Bonny Martha.” Io shifted her hand, but didn’t pull free. “He sent soldiers along to guard the treasure, but the crew killed them and stole the goods.”
“This is that damn Lost Treasure of Trujillo, isn’t it?”
Io met his gaze and nodded. “You know about it?”
“More than I want to.”
Her brows lifted.
“BD’s fiancée works for the Paladin League. She’s an archivist in Trujillo, researching the treasure. She ran into trouble.”
“I was briefed on that before I left LA.”
Of course, she had been. “Did you know that another teammate was taken hostage—first by a drug lord, then by war criminals—alongside a Paladin League geoarchaeologist? Both groups thought she knew where the treasure was. I was part of the team that got her out.”
“Then you know that the treasure is estimated at one billion US dollars, and a piece was recently sold at auction.”
“Like I said, I know more than I want to. That treasure is a problem for our op.”
Io nodded. “That’s what I was discussing with your captain when you arrived.”
Cal bookmarked that for later. “Where does Fuentes fit into all this?”
She didn’t answer. She just sat there, quiet, her hand warm in his, and the familiarity hit him hard, sharper than he expected, and he hated that it still could.
“Archer—my boss—had intel that someone named Fuentes was after the treasure, but couldn’t get more.”
“So he sent you down and you kicked a hornet’s nest.”
She jerked her hand free. “I didn’t kick anything.”
His gut clenched, stupid and instinctive, the words scraping against an old wound he never talked about. He covered his fear with irritation. Anger was cleaner, sharper, easier to control. “And yet you were kidnapped.”
Io shot to her feet. “I did not kick anything. I hadn’t even done much when I was grabbed. I didn’t realize the words Paladin League were tantamount to waving a red flag and shouting I know where the treasure is.”
Cal stood and closed the distance. “You were down here for days.”
“I was working on my article while I got the lay of the land.” She glared at him. “I traveled to San Isidro, interviewed people, took pictures. The only thing I did in Trujillo was visit the convent the day after I returned.”
“The convent surrounded by men belonging to an arms dealer.” He glared back. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see them.”
“I saw them.” She crossed her arms. “I figured I’d be tailed. I was. I also figured I could lose them. I did.”
The cockiness. It made him insane. “They grabbed you and held you prisoner.”
“They did not. Torres and his men never touched me. They weren’t even that interested in me. It was easy to shake them off my ass.”
“Maybe too easy. Did you think of that?”
“Of course I did.” She stepped closer. “I didn’t just look behind me and say oopsie daisy, they lost me. I made sure my tail was clear.”
“You were compromised.”
“I was targeted. That’s different.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
She opened her mouth, shut it, and then shook her head. “I’m too tired to argue. Believe whatever the hell you want.” She walked to the windows and wrapped her arms around herself. Giving herself comfort.
Cal bit back the dozen things he wanted to say. None of them would help and he wanted intel. The anger didn’t disappear, he just forced it down, burying it in his gut. “Who grabbed you, Io? If it wasn’t Torres, was it Fuentes?”
“It was Fuentes.” She didn’t turn. “I didn’t know who I was watching for. I was on guard, but Fuentes snuck under my defenses.” A smile that wasn’t a smile. “I should have known better.”
Cal moved toward her. “I should have been with you. I would have seen the threat.” The words scraped out of him before he could stop them. Keeping her safe was part of what he’d signed up for when they’d gotten married.
Io stiffened. “Right. Because you’re the big, bad Special Forces soldier and I’m just a na?ve photojournalist.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Bullshit, Cal.” She glared. “You’ve never trusted me to know what I’m doing. You’ve always thought I was playing at my career. I’m not na?ve. I’m not stupid.”
Cal froze. Stupid? Fuck, he’d never thought that. Not once. The idea that she believed it hit harder than her glare.
“I know you’re not stupid,” he said quietly, moving to stand beside her. “But Wild Thing? You’re holding back something. What aren’t you telling me?”
Her head dropped forward until the crown rested against the window. “How can you read me so easily? No one else ever could.”
“I know you.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Archer. No one knows about this yet.”
“That means it’s dangerous.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“You can tell me. If you want me to keep your secrets, I will.”
“Unless it’s something your team needs to know.”
“Is it?”
“I doubt it. This is centered around the treasure. As far as I know.”
Cal ran a hand down her hair. Io stiffened and the distance between them felt impossible to close. She lifted her head.
“Come on, Thing. What’s the big secret?”
She hesitated, then said quietly, “Fuentes is a woman.”
Cal blinked. “That’s why you didn’t see her coming.”
“That’s why. Like everyone else, I assumed Fuentes was a man.”