Demon Seed Read Free Page B

wasn’t playing him for a big-time sucker.
    There are no coincidences in life.
    She had to be a plant.
    None of this would’ve happened if he hadn’t had a recurrent malaria bout three days ago. The low-grade fever that signaled the end of his chills and sweats had slowed his reactions and dulled his senses. No way could those fuckers have snuck up on him under normal circumstances. By now he was supposed to be halfway down the Orinoco on the way to the Brazilian border. He studied her profile for a brief moment. Plant or not, he had no choice now. She was coming with him.
    Demon crossed the road and wound his way through the trees until the camouflaged jeep came into view. He put Jacinta down. “Don’t move.”
    His team always ribbed him about being too softhearted about women. He’d fucking admired her and liked her gumption. And the odds of her being a mole had skyrocketed with her mention of Roraima.
    He was grateful he could keep his hands busy, because he wanted to shake the stuffing out of her. Demon stripped the tarp from the vehicle and retrieved the distributor cap from where he’d hidden it. He popped the hood, replaced the cap, and got some measure of satisfaction when he slammed the lid closed. She never said a word, but he felt her eyes on him.
    “Get in.” He opened the passenger door.
    She flinched but did as she was told.
    Demon stalked to the driver’s side, slammed into the worn leather, and snapped, “Buckle up.”
    After they’d been on the road for a good fifteen minutes, she said, “You are angry with me.”
    Too right . “Who the hell are you, lady?”
    “Jacinta Maria da Silva.”
    “Why were you in a cloister?”
    “I grew up there. When I turned twenty, I wanted to say my first vows. But Sister Helen said I had to live for six months in the city first. She took me to La Esconsa, a school run by the Dominicans, near Boa Vista. I lived in the dorms with the boarders. It was truly exciting. I can still remember the first time I had ice cream.”
    “As fascinating as your tale is, I’ve got no time for it now. We’re almost there. I’m meeting business colleagues in a few minutes. Here’s the deal: You’re my woman. You don’t speak unless I give you permission. If anyone asks you a question, don’t answer. You stick to my side. And you are never to be alone with anyone. No one. Got it?”
    “Yes.”
    The SUV bounced and jiggled when he drove off the paved road. Demon shot her a glance. She’d fallen forward and winced when the seat belt tightened, banding her neck. “Hang on to the strap.”
    She scanned the passenger side and shrugged.
    “Above the window.” He gritted his teeth.
    Without saying a word, she obeyed his terse command and clung to the strap. So she intended to take him literally. Big shitting deal.
    Dawn stole over the night like a thief. Light crept in bit by bit, and like a scene unfolding, the panorama came into view. First, the dark outline of the mountain peaks in the distance, then the tall grasses, and finally the river, the mighty Orinoco.
    Nothing he loved better than the start of a new mission, but the usual adrenaline rush hadn’t kicked in. And the reason for that sat in the other seat giving him the silent treatment.
    Demon hadn’t been able to do a complete assessment of any of them—the fuckers, the blonde, or Jacinta—before darkness had fallen, and he’d kept out of the moon’s beams for most of the night. He jammed on the brakes, hit the overhead light, reached across, held her chin, and turned her to face him.
    He had only ever seen eyes that shade of turquoise once before.
    He wanted to howl. Or put her over his knees and paddle her fanny red.
    “Where was Emilio taking you?”
    “To meet my mother. He said he knew her. He showed me a photograph. I look like her. A lot.”
    She had no idea. Jacinta didn’t just resemble her mother. She was her mirror image. Her mother, Rosa Nunez, was dead. Killed by her drug lord brother in a