Rolex, Luis picked his way through a potentially explosive international minefield.
“As you’re aware, Elena’s father—President Alazar’s youngest brother—emigrated to the States as a young man. He and Ellie’s mother met in Santa Fe and married after a whirlwind courtship. Unfortunately, Carlos Alazar died before his daughter was born, but his wife made sure Ellie spent summers with her father’s family in Mexico. During one of those visits, Ellie met a Marine pulling guard duty at the U.S. Embassy. Their affair was brief and, I’m told, rather indiscreet.”
“Indiscreet enough to get Gunnery Sergeant Carstairs sent home in disgrace and subsequently booted out of the Marines,” Nick acknowledged.
“Evidently Ellie feels a lingering responsibility for ruining the man’s military career. When her uncle decided she needed a bodyguard, she insisted it be Carstairs. Which is why President Alazar hired me to check him out.”
“How did you get past Renegade’s cover and make the link to OMEGA?” Nick asked, not liking the idea that one of his agents had been compromised.
Luis merely smiled. “I think Chameleon will attest that I, too, possess certain skills. Suffice to say I uncovered his connection to OMEGA and advised President Alazar, who subsequently made the call to your President, requesting Carstairs’s services.”
“And now President Alazar’s having second thoughts about the request?”
“Let’s just say he’s worried that Carstairs’s past involvement with his niece might get in the way of his ability to maintain the detachment required for this job.”
Nick Jensen, code name Lightning, didn’t for a second doubt Jack Carstairs’s ability to do his job. During Nick’s days as an operative, he’d gone into the field with Renegade more than once and had gained a profound respect for his skills. Nick also, however, possessed a Gallic understanding of the power of passion.
Once a skinny, perpetually hungry pickpocket who called the back streets of Cannes home, Henri Nicolas Everard had been adopted by Paige and Doc Jensen, moved to the States and had grown to manhood in a house filled with love. He’d parlayed the near starvation of his childhood into a string of high-priced restaurants scattered around the globe.
Nick was now a millionaire many times over. His cover as a jet-setter gave him access to the world of movie princes and oil sheikhs. It had also led to a number of discreet affairs with some of the world’s most beautiful women. A true connoisseur, he could understand why Jack Carstairs had sacrificed his military career for a fling with Elena Maria Alazar. The background dossier compiled by OMEGA’s chief of communications had painted a portrait of an astonishingly vibrant, incredibly intelligent woman.
Not unlike OMEGA’s chief of communications herself, Nick thought. A mental image of Mackenzie Blair replaced that of Ellie Alazar and produced a sudden tightening just below his Italian leather belt. Both amused and perturbed by the sensation, Nick offered his assurances to Colonel Esteban.
“OMEGA wouldn’t have sent Renegade into the field if we weren’t absolutely confident in his ability to protect Dr. Alazar. If it will ease President Alazar’s mind, however, I’ll pass on his concerns.”
“Perhaps you might also keep me apprised of the situation in San Antonio,” Esteban suggested politely.
Everyone in the room recognized that they were treading tricky diplomatic ground here. Relations between the United States and Mexico had reached new, if somewhat shaky, levels with the recent North American Free Trade Association Treaty. The last thing either president wanted right now was an ugly international incident souring an economic agreement that had taken decades to hammer out.
“Not a problem,” Nick said smoothly. “Once we ascertain that’s what President Alazar wishes, of course.”
“Of course.” Rising, the colonel dug into his suit pocket and produced a business card. “You can contact me day or night at this number.”
His gaze drifted to Maggie, who rose and gave him a warm smile.
“Don’t worry, Luis. Renegade’s one of the best field operatives in the business. He wouldn’t be working for OMEGA otherwise.”
With that blithe assurance, she strolled across the office and clipped a leash on the unblinking iguana. Identical expressions of repulsion crossed the faces of Nick and the colonel as the creature’s long tongue flicked her cheek in a quick, adoring kiss. Adam merely looked resigned.
“We’ll walk you out,” he said to Esteban. “Lightning has some calls to make.”
OMEGA’s acting director made the calls from the control center located on the third floor.
Mackenzie Blair ruled OMEGA’s CC, just as she used to rule the command, control and communication centers aboard the Navy ships she’d served on. She loved this world of high-tech electronics, felt right at home in the soft green glow from the wall-size computer screens—far more at home than she’d ever felt in the two-bedroom condo she and her ex had once shared.
One of the problems was that she and David had never stayed in port together long enough to establish joint residency. He’d adjusted to the separations better than Mackenzie had, though. She discovered that when she returned two days early from a Caribbean cruise and found the jerk in bed with a neighbor’s wife.
She’d sworn off men on the spot. Correction, she’d planted a very hard, very satisfying knee in David’s groin when he’d grabbed her arm and tried to explain, then sworn off men.
Lately, though, she’d been reconsidering forever. Her itchy restlessness had nothing to do with her boss. Nothing at all. Just a woman’s natural needs and the grudging realization that even the most sophisticated high-tech gadgets couldn’t quite substitute for a man.
Which was why goose bumps raised all over her skin when Lightning strolled over to her command console with the casual grace that characterized him.
“Patch me through to the White House.”
She cocked a brow. She wasn’t in the Navy now.
“Please,” Lightning added with an amused smile.
All too conscious of his proximity, Mackenzie transmitted the necessary code words and verifications, then listened with unabashed interest to the brief conversation between Lightning and the Prez. When it was over, she leaned back in her chair and angled OMEGA’s director a curious look.
“Sounds like Renegade’s got the weight of the free world riding on his shoulders on this one.”
“The weight of North America, anyway.”
His gaze lingered on her upturned face. Mackenzie had almost forgotten how to breathe by the time he murmured a request that she get Renegade on the line.
His eyes, narrowed and rattlesnake-mean behind his mirrored sunglasses, Jack Carstairs snapped shut the phone Mackenzie Blair had issued him mere hours ago. The damned thing was half the size of a cigarette pack and bounced signals off a secure telecommunications satellite some thirty-six thousand kilometers above the earth. Lightning’s message had come through loud and clear.
Renegade was to keep his hands off Elena Maria Alazar.
As if he needed the warning!
