now. Not when her sister’s life was in jeopardy.
Hysteria bubbled up at the ridiculous direction her brain went. A coping mechanism? The walls closed in on her making her skin crawl with desperation.
Frantic to escape, she looked for a possible exit besides the locked door. A window high in the wall was the only possibility. Pulling her jacket sleeves over her hands for protection against picking up bacteria or a virus, she tugged at the table but it wouldn’t budge. The feet had been bolted to the floor. Using the sleeve of her jacket, she dragged the chair over to the wall below the window and stepped up. Unfortunately, she still couldn’t reach the window. So much for escaping. She pounded a fist against the wall, the pain barely registering in her desperate mind.
She jumped down and wedged herself into the corner. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she prayed with everything in her. She’d been entrusted by their father to keep her sister out of trouble. She hadn’t done a very good job this time. Thinking back over the many times Liz had had to bail Jillian out of one scrape or another made this latest folly that much worse. Jillian was an adult, but her judgment and maturity hadn’t caught up to the number of candles on her last birthday cake.
Dad would be so disappointed. But Liz solemnly vowed to her father’s memory that she would do whatever it took to save her sister.
* * *
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Blake Fallon watched the woman on the video screen. Elizabeth Cantrell. Or Liz, as she’d been clear to correct him.
Her DMV picture didn’t do her justice. Her honey-colored hair draped loosely about her shoulders, and her thick-lashed blue-green eyes reminded him of the Caribbean. The puffy, knee-length jacket hid her figure except for slender, jean-encased legs. The red color of her outerwear highlighted the pink in her cheeks.
His lips had twitched when she’d tried to reach the window. Good for her for at least trying. She was going to need to be brave and brash for what he had planned. He hoped she had the mental and physical mettle to help him bring down an international criminal.
“Here we go,” Canada Border Service officer Nathanial Longhorn said as he entered the room.
Blake and Nathanial served together on one of many joint teams consisting of various law enforcement agencies between the United States and Canada called Integrated Border Enhancement Teams—IBETs for short. Other members of their team were working to find the illegal contraband smuggler Idris Santini’s far-flung bases of operation in Canada, the United States and Venezuela.
Santini was like a cloud of smoke, visible one moment, then disappearing the next. But now Blake had a viable lead. A way of drawing Santini out into the open where Blake and his team would snag him in a tight net, like the dangerous critter he was. But to do so, Blake would need Liz’s cooperation. He’d get it by any means possible.
Nathanial lugged Miss Cantrell’s suitcase onto the table next to the video feed and popped open the lid. Nestled inside between Liz’s clothing was a small wooden jewelry box. Roses and a hummingbird decorated the lid and sides. It was delicate and appeared old. A family heirloom?
So far Blake’s information from his confidential informant inside the Santini organization had proved correct—a woman named Elizabeth Cantrell was planning to bring contraband for Santini into Canada via the border crossing in Buffalo, New York.
Blake snagged the jewelry box and lifted the lid. The rough stone necklace he’d been told about lay at the bottom of the box. He breathed out a relieved breath and untangled the necklace, then stretched it out on the table.
Nathanial snorted. “That’s it? Huh. Not what I pictured.”
The stones weren’t pretty and sparkly like polished, cut diamonds, but were still ill-gotten gains from the blood and sweat of people forced into labor in horrible mining conditions in a developing nation. “These gemstones may not look like much, but each one, when polished and cut, will be worth millions. There’s a rumor the head of Venezuela’s most violent gang had the necklace fashioned for his wife as an anniversary gift. Santini won’t get paid if he doesn’t produce the necklace before the date.”
Nathanial whistled. “No wonder Santini’s so hot to get his hands on it.”
“Yes.” Acid churned in Blake’s gut at the thought of Idris Santini. A man who’d stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Santini and his syndicate of smugglers funded an illegal mining operation in Venezuela. Though the authorities had tried unsuccessfully on numerous occasions to shut down the mine, Santini either bought off or killed anyone who endeavored to thwart him.
A joint effort between the IBETs and the current Venezuelan government had tracked Santini’s latest shipment to Miami, then to Canada. But by the time the IBETs team had the intel, the goods and Santini had disappeared.
Until today. Word was that a single, valuable piece had supposedly been stolen by one of his lower level minions to give as a gift to the man’s unwitting fiancée. Blake’s informant on the inside stated that Santini had personally abducted not only his man but the man’s new wife, Ms. Cantrell’s sister, and were holding the couple hostage in exchange for the necklace.
Thus Liz Cantrell was making the trek north.
That the woman hadn’t panicked but had followed the kidnapper’s instructions spoke to her determination. But not involving the police was pure recklessness. Liz Cantrell was no match for the likes of Santini.
Blake’s gut twisted. He hated to think what would happen to Liz and her sister if he didn’t intercede.
After swiping the necklace from the table Blake stuffed it back into the jewelry box, then headed into the interrogation room.
Liz had her back propped against the wall, her arms around her torso as if holding herself together. Her gaze lifted from the floor to him. Her pale complexion and frightened eyes tugged at him. He didn’t make a habit of intentionally scaring women. But he had to make sure she was malleable so when the time came she’d follow his directions without question. If the need arose her compliance could be the difference between life and death.
Her gaze dropped to the box in his hands. “That’s mine.” She pushed away from the wall. “You opened my suitcase.”
He set the box on the table. “That’s what happens when you carry undocumented diamonds.”
She made a face. “Diamonds? What are you talking about?”
He narrowed his focus on her. Did she really not know? Or was she playing him? His informant inside Santini’s operation said she was an innocent pawn.
Maybe.
Blake rarely trusted anyone. Let alone a man willing to sell out his boss.
Or most women.
In his experience women in general made the best liars and broke their promises much too easily. Truth and fidelity were moving targets, not hard and fast ideals.
But they were ideals that he honored.
He’d let himself be sucked in before by a woman to only be disappointed and hurt when the inevitable happened. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. Instead he took to heart his father’s motto, never let your guard down.
He shook off the memories scratching
