Deadly Trouble, page 6
part #2 of Vegas Vixens Series
After a closer inspection of her opposition, Lily exhaled. She could take ’em. Capp’n Crunch with the machete had a white eye—blind on the right side. If necessary she could use that to her advantage. The men stopped short of the suspended net. Her gaze bounced from one glaring eye to a matching set. The old man blabbed away again, his tone agitated.
What? Were they mad because she wasn’t a pig dinner? She scowled back. They could be mad all they wanted. If they didn’t like it, then they needed to be better hunters.
“Well, are you going to cut me down or stand there talking all day?”
Old Man stopped his chattering, and the other one grunted. Then they disappeared behind her and into the bushes.
“Hey, get back here!” She squirmed, trying to change positions to get a better view. “You can’t just leave me h—”
The word ended in a scream as she dropped like a bag of stones. She hit the ground with a thud. Before she could gain her bearings, the net was tugged out from under her. The momentum caused Lily to flip face first in the dirt. “Enough!”
The men folded up the net, giving her a level-eye view of their callused, bare feet. As she wobbled to a standing position, the men started to walk away.
These two have the manners of goats. “Hey! Wait just one minute.” She planted a hand on her hip.
Old Man stopped and cocked his head. Capp’n Crunch scratched his arm with the apparently dull blade of the machete, his mouth downturned.
“You can’t just capture a girl in a net, drop her in the dirt, and leave. Your mothers would be ashamed.” If these two even have mothers. Probably just mutated from sludge off the jungle floor.
They didn’t appear moved by her speech. As pathetic as these two male specimens were, she needed their assistance. New tactic.
“I need water and food.” She gestured toward her mouth. “I can pay.”
The men looked at each other. With obvious reluctance Old Man motioned her to come their way, then both men disappeared into the jungle.
She scoffed and threw her hands into the air. “Do you guys have somewhere important to be or what?” Apparently in this culture women walked behind the men—way behind. Given little choice, she sprinted after the would-be hunters and prayed she hadn’t just volunteered for a mugging.
Only ten minutes had passed when Lily popped out of the jungle into a clearing. She wiped the perspiration from her forehead and hurried to keep up with her two unhappy guides. Before her stood a dozen weathered shelters lifted several feet off the ground by stilts. Some were constructed using metal siding and others made of wood painted in vibrant colors. Rickety stairs without rails and storm shutters adorned each dwelling. Clotheslines hung between the buildings, many with drying garments. A scattering of wires connected the modest homes to a tall, wooden pole. It could be electricity or telephones. Maybe she could call the U.S. Embassy from the village and in the morning head onward to the cave.
Lily wrapped her arms around herself as she continued to follow the men deeper into the village down the wide, dirt path. A baby with dark, chubby legs waddled around in a cloth diaper, while nearby, several men and women worked in a communal garden. There wasn’t a single car in the village, and she wondered if the secluded place even had a road so they could get to town. Maybe they just used the river. But shouldn’t they have more boats? The guides, with Lily following, shuffled by a dwelling similar to the others with a wooden sign nailed above the door. She couldn’t translate the foreign word scrawled in purple but figured from the painted fork and knife that it was a diner. Beside the structure, chickens pecked away inside a coop, and a goat tied to a pole bleated. In the distance dogs barked. The eatery door opened, capturing Lily’s attention. A woman in her twenties with caramel-colored skin and a brown braid sent the trio a quizzical look.
Old Man spoke to the pretty woman who now climbed down the stairs, her worn, yellow dress swaying with her movements. A few other locals stared their way. Lily widened her stance, trying to keep an eye on everyone’s positions. Then the woman gasped and rushed toward them.
Lily balled her fists prepared to ward off an attack.
Instead of the anger Lily expected, the woman’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Oh, no, you are hurt. I am Mary. Come with me,” she said with a heavy accent and took Lily’s hand.
“You speak English. Thank God.”
“Oh, yes. God is good.” Mary led her between two dwellings. The foul smell of sewage polluted the air as they passed the community outhouses. Lily held her breath until her lungs demanded she inhale. A teenaged boy eyed them as he burned a pile of garbage.
“Where are we going?” Lily licked her dry lips, fatigue making her steps falter.
“To Dr. Deforest. He will fix you. He is very good.”
“May I have some water, some food? I told those men I could pay.”
“Yes. Yes. I will see to it.” Mary nodded.
They headed away from the village in the direction of two canvas tents, both a little larger than the dwellings. Mary lifted the flap of the closest one and entered. Lily followed and, once inside, blinked repeatedly, her eyes adjusting to the darker interior. A curtain blocked the view of the back part of the tent from the twelve-by-twelve space in which they stood. A cot and a stack of plastic tubs lay on one side and on the other stood a man, partially obscured by shadows, with a broad back and tanned skin, exposed by his rolled-up, white-linen sleeves.
He bent his head over whatever he worked on. He flipped a page of one of the notebooks scattered across the workspace and leaned forward to type on a laptop. Lily stared at his well-formed backside clad in cargo shorts. Her gaze traveled down and stopped. She narrowed her eyes, unsure if the shadows of the room played tricks on her. Then he shifted. Nope. The man wore mud-coated rubber boots and shorts. Lily laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. Not exactly GQ.
“Is that you, Sweet Mary?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect timing. My shoulders could really use your magic fingers right now,” he said in a deep, smooth voice. He flipped another page, his attention never diverting from the notebook.
Lily frowned, unsure of why this guy seemed familiar. She peered closer trying to get a better view.
Mary cleared her throat. “I’d be happy to give you a massage…later. We have company?”
Did the doc and Mary have a little love in the jungle going on?
The doctor turned around, and Lily’s jaw almost hit the floor. Cooper! Hooded blue eyes peered at her through wire-rimmed glasses. A tense silence stretched out before he said, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favorite birder. Did you wander a little too far away from the lodge?”
Chapter Four
Lily narrowed her eyes, confusion swimming in her brain. “You’re a doctor…living here? I thought you were a tourist.”
Dr. Cooper Deforest flashed a killer smile. “Nah, I live here temporarily, and when work is slow, I like to go play cards and drink a little rum with Xavier.”
The mention of rum made her cheeks burn. “And do you do that often?”
“’Bout every few weeks.”
“Is this some kind of game?” Lily growled, planting her hands on her hip. Did he get a kick out of messing with the tourists? The knowledge that he’d left the lodge without bothering to say good-bye spoke volumes. It left little doubt that if they had slept together, she would have woken up alone. The humiliation ran deeper.
He frowned. “Game? Not sure what you mean. Sometimes I’ll rent a cabana and sleep in a real bed for the night.” He pulled off his rubber boots and slipped his feet into flip-flops.
And not alone. She’d almost said the words aloud but glanced at the other woman and decided to hold her tongue.
Mary’s gaze bounced from Lily to Cooper. “You know each other?”
“Met her a couple of days ago. She was feeding birds her fresh fruit at breakfast.” He winked.
“Oh.” Mary handed Lily bottled water. “Here is something to drink.”
Lily accepted it and thanked her. Why hadn’t Cooper said they’d gone on a dinner date? Dread bubbled inside her. If Cooper hadn’t bothered to say he was a doctor at the local village and led her to believe he was a tourist, then he most likely hadn’t planned on her ever setting foot here. Her stomach soured. Was Mary his girlfriend? He didn’t seem fazed at all about having his “girl” in the same room with a lady he’d recently kissed. Lily clamped her eyes shut and counted to ten. Maybe she was reading too much into this. But then why all the games? Well, whatever. She’d just met Cooper, and she had bigger issues to deal with than a little kiss and being played a fool. She needed to help Jamie. Lily gripped the cap to the water and, when it didn’t budge, applied more force before it opened. Cooper switched on another lamp. As he closed the space between them, his expression grew serious. She took a swig from the bottle, the cool water stuck in her throat, and she choked.
“Easy there.” He gently patted Lily on the back.
She wiped off the dribble from her mouth with her hand and took another—slower—drink.
“What happened?” He pointed to her injured arm.
“Umm.” Two people have been murdered, a child kidnapped, and I want to apply a swift chop to your throat. Oh, and by the way, would you mind taking me to this cave, so we can both get killed by a giant Samoan with a scar on his face? Lily started to blurt out the whole story but paused. She didn’t trust Cooper. Who knew what else he was hiding? It was possible he’d been at the lodge when the father had been killed. Could he also be working for this drug lord, Maximo?
Cooper’s brows furrowed, mirth dancing in his eyes. “Did I ask too hard of a question?”
She lifted her chin. “Maybe it’s none of your business, nosy man.”
“What is with you? Stop acting so defensive. Come on. I’m dying from the suspense.”
Lily sighed. She couldn’t deal with another dead body on her day off, so she gave in. “I went on a hike and fell down the bank, hit a rock, and landed in the river.” Not quite the truth, but close enough.
“Really? So why didn’t you go back to the lodge? It’s a heck of a lot closer than here.”
She blinked at him. “I got lost.”
He shifted his stance, a strand of his dark blond hair falling over his forehead. “All righty, if you say so.” He withdrew an orange First Responder medical bag from the top plastic tub. After placing it on the ground, he withdrew a sterile gauze pad and slipped on latex gloves.
“Not to worry,” Mary said. “The doctor will make you better. I will get you some food, and then you must rest.”
Cooper smirked. “Sweet Mary here is a born mother.”
“Thanks, I appreciate your help.” Lily noted the blush coloring the woman’s cheeks as she left the tent. If Mary was indeed Cooper’s girl, the poor thing was doomed. Doctor Love had heartbreaker written all over every I-think-I’m-sexy inch of him.
Lily winced as he peeled the last part of the bikini top from the gash.
“Sorry ’bout that. It stuck.” He clasped her elbow. “Why don’t you sit down? I need better light.”
She studied the gash in her arm, relieved it had stopped bleeding. After she sat on the cot, he examined the wound. It took all her willpower not to command him to back off. His closeness made her flesh tingle, like all of her nerve endings had stood all at once. She inhaled his scent, like fresh earth mixed with something minty—possibly toothpaste, or maybe he’d been rolling in a spearmint plant like a dog. Lily frowned. Why was she thinking about how Cooper smelled? She must have lost more blood than she’d realized.
He flashed her a sideways glance, his face mere inches away. “You okay?”
She nodded and peered toward the slit in the door. Dusk had settled, lengthening the shadows inside the tent. A light rain danced across the canvas roof.
“You sure? You mumbled something about a dog.”
She made a humph sound. “Who’s Mary?”
“A villager. Did you have a headache this morning?”
She tensed, not liking how quickly he changed the subject. “No.”
“You’re lucky.”
“Yeah, I’ll always remember this as my lucky day.” Lily forced her expression to void of emotion as she added, “Thanks, by the way, for taking me to my room. Those drinks hit me hard—as you warned. I just remember leaving the table, and the rest of it is a blank.” He wanted to play games, she could play them, too.
“Really, nothing else? Not even when we—”
“I said nothing else.”
He finished his inspection and leaned back. “You need some stitches to close this up. With the humid environment, not to mention the river water, it’s bound to get infected if it’s left open.”
Briefly she closed her eyes and then schooled her expression. Not exactly her first choice of a place to be doctored. “I take it you know how to stitch people up?”
“I’ve done it a time or two.”
Of course he had. He was a doctor.
He adjusted the glasses higher on the bridge of his straight nose. “Are you allergic to any anesthetics or antibiotics?”
“No.”
“Lie down. I’m going to irrigate the wound with saline.”
Lily lay back, her long, black hair fanning out above her head. “Is there a phone in the village?”
“No. Just electricity. Sometimes.”
Calling the U.S. Embassy was out. She needed to figure out her exact location. The cave couldn’t be too much farther.
He positioned a small trash can under her shoulder and knelt beside her. “This will just catch the dripping saline.”
“I was wondering if you know where the Che Chem—” She gasped from the intense sting as the liquid met her open wound. She clenched her teeth, the air suspending in her lungs.
“Doing well,” he soothed.
She wanted to snap at him not to talk to her as if she were a child, but her teeth wouldn’t unclench.
“Lily, you’re holding your breath. Come on, give me slow, even breaths.”
If given a choice, the next twenty minutes of her life she would happily forget. Except for her pledge to tie up Dr. Deforest and beat him with a stick until he begged for forgiveness. After he had injected her with a local anesthetic, he used sutures from a sterile package to stitch the wound. Then he coated the wound with antibacterial ointment, covered it with a clean bandage, and told her to eat some stew and sleep.
Okay, he’d done a decent job of stitching her up, but hell it hurt, and he’d seen her cry. Exhaustion settled over her. Now surrounded by darkness, alone in a tent with the nocturnal animals chanting outside, she allowed herself to succumb to sleep.
…
A repetitive thumping sound resonated from the darkness causing Lily to stir. Just too comfortable, her limp body refused to move. She heard it again and realized it was the beat of drums. Was there a dinner band at the lodge again? A guitar strummed. Her eyes flickered open, and she stared up at the darkened angles of a canvas tent’s ceiling. For a moment she froze, and panic made her pulse quicken as her mind struggled to identify her location. Not home, not the cabana. Then she remembered being stitched up and falling asleep in Cooper’s tent.
Something from outside cast a dancing, orange glow on one of the walls. She peered around and noted she was still alone. Curiosity got the best of her, and she decided she had to investigate the source of the tribal music. She staggered to her feet and ran her fingers through her tangled, waist-length hair. Lily slipped out of the tent flap into the sultry darkness. A soft, beautiful voice, wafted through the air. She followed the glow, stepping across the dirt and grass pathway, and passed the tent beside Cooper’s, only to stop short to stay in the shadows.
Some fifty feet away, flames from a bonfire licked toward the starry sky. Thirty or so villagers gathered in the open space, some standing and others perched on lengthy logs. The soft voice belonged to Mary, and in the background an older man strummed a guitar while another tapped a slow conga beat. Mary’s hands lifted toward Heaven then gestured to the men reclined on a log near her left.
Lily’s mouth tightened at the sight of Cooper, his gaze fixated on Mary. Next to him was his pale friend and a younger native man, and like Cooper, they hung on every soft, foreign, word that slipped from Mary’s lips. Mary could have been singing about lost love or how to weave a basket for all Lily knew. But whatever it was had the audience mesmerized.
Part of Lily wanted to make herself known to Cooper, but the other part wanted to forget about him and go back to sleep. Her indecisiveness left her immobile. If I don’t leave, he’s going to see me watching him. And that was the last thing she wanted. The song ended, and the conga beat picked up, a youth rattled maracas, and a man she hadn’t noticed before tapped on drums that looked like tortoise shells strung from his neck.
The villagers, apparently knowing the tune, sang in unison and danced to the rapid beat. Children maneuvered quick steps, and young adult couples swayed against one another in provocative movements. A white-furred mutt joined the party and bounced around yipping and wagging its tail. A dry branch was thrown on the fire, causing the flames to leap up. Lily squinted against the sudden brightness.
Mary grabbed Cooper’s hand and his pale friend’s and with the sway of her hips started dancing with the men. How many guys does the lady need? The firelight flickered over her caramel-colored skin and her loose, wavy, brown hair. Lily’s jaw clenched. Cooper stepped closer to Mary, and his laughter could be heard over the boisterous singers. Whatever. He could do what he wanted as long as he left Lily alone. Just as she decided to return to the tent, Lily locked gazes with Cooper. His swaying hips didn’t miss a beat as his mouth curled into a slow, sexy grin. A wave of heat tingled over her flesh.
Suddenly she morphed back to when they danced at the lodge: the warmth of his hands on her waist, and the heat that had swirled low in her belly when he’d brushed his muscular body against her. Just then the music paused, and a rapid drum beat followed. Lily blinked, realizing she stood there like a ninny, staring dreamy-eyed at Cooper.
