Adam shook his head in frustration. Then his gaze drifted toward the television, and his eyes suddenly widened. "Sera. Look."

She turned, shocked to see a familiar face on the screen.

Lisa Merrick.

Adam fumbled for the remote and turned up the sound.

". . . pilot for a humanitarian organization who was presumed to have died in a plane crash in central Mexico two days ago surfaced alive and well today, only to be arrested in San Antonio on suspicion of drug smuggling. . . ."

Adam stared at the screen with an expression of shocked disbelief. "My G.o.d. It's Lisa. She's alive."

chapter fifteen.

By the time Lisa arrived at her apartment, it was nearly five o'clock. She'd never spent a more horrendous three hours in her entire life-three long, unbearable hours filled with accusations she'd had to endure, anger she'd had to swallow, and anxiety she'd felt at the thought that Dave was being questioned at the same time she was, with the same accusations being thrown at him as were being thrown at her.

And Robert Douglas was the one who'd tipped off the customs agents.

The very idea that he'd have the audacity to turn the tables on them so completely flabbergasted her. But it hadn't taken long for her surprise to turn to anger. He may have won this battle, but somehow, someway, she was going to make certain he lost the war.

Right now, though, she had a king-size headache and her mind felt muddled, just as it had felt for the past three hours. Out of desperation that Dave not be dragged down with her, she'd told those agents over and over that he had nothing to do with it, that she alone had knowledge of the drugs in her backpack. But they clearly didn't believe her. And it was probably because Dave was in there telling the truth. But then, had she really expected him to do anything else?

They told her he was going to be released, just as she was, but she was terrified to see him. She couldn't bear the look that was sure to be on his face, the one that said, All I did was All I did was try to help you, and this is what I get? try to help you, and this is what I get?

If he was smart, he was on his way to San Antonio International right now and before the day was out he'd be back in Tolosa where he belonged. She wished she'd never called him that night, wished he'd never come to Santa Rios, wished she was still sitting at that abandoned mining camp, injured and delirious, even if it meant dying there. Anything but having him facing a prison sentence because of her.

She'd taken a cab from the airport to Blue Diamond Aviation, where she'd managed to pick up her car without running into anyone she knew. They'd hear soon enough that she was alive. They'd also hear she'd been detained on drug charges, and she certainly didn't want to talk to anyone about that.

She strode up the sidewalk leading to her apartment, and as she approached her front door she turned and saw somebody sitting on the porch railing. Her heart skipped wildly.

Dave.

He just sat there, his arms folded and his eyes narrowed, his angry expression sending an avalanche of anxiety plundering through her. He rose slowly. She started to unlock her apartment door, then thought better of it. She turned and faced him, her back to the door.

He approached her, his gait slow and threatening. "Open the door."

"Why are you here?"

"We have some talking to do."

She felt a jolt of apprehension. "About what?"

He inched closer, his jaw tight with anger. "I've got something to say to you, Lisa, and I can't guarantee it won't be at the top of my lungs. So unless you want your neighbors to wander out here to find out what all the commotion's about, you'd better open the door."

With every word he spoke, Lisa felt the weight of guilt press against her until she could barely breathe. She turned, her hands shaking, and opened the door. She went inside and headed straight for the kitchen. She heard Dave close and lock the door and drop his bag beside it, then heard his footsteps behind her. She tossed her backpack onto the kitchen table. When she turned back, his expression had become positively glacial.

"Tell me about your drug conviction."

Lisa felt as if the floor had fallen out from beneath her feet. She would have done anything-anything-to keep him from finding out about that, but apparently the customs officials had filled him in.

"It doesn't matter now," she told him.

His eyes widened. "Doesn't matter? What do you mean, it doesn't matter? Did you think you could just hand those drugs over to the customs agents and accuse Robert of counterfeiting without them finding out you'd been convicted of a drug offense?"

She blinked. "What?"

"What's the first thing they do when somebody blows a whistle? They check out the whistle-blower! Even if you hadn't been accused of the crime yourself, the minute they found out you had a drug conviction any credibility you had while trying to take Robert down would have been shot to h.e.l.l. And now that you've been accused," he said, glaring at her, "let's just say that they're not the least bit inclined to believe anything you say."

She raised her chin, her voice quivering. "So they told me."

"I want to know what happened. Tell me how in the h.e.l.l you got convicted of cocaine possession. And by G.o.d, you'd better tell me the truth."

"I suppose all you want is the facts."

"That's a d.a.m.ned good start."

"Fine. I was at my brother's apartment. The police stormed the place. Lenny was caught dealing for the fourth time, which meant he bought a fifteen-year prison sentence. They found five grams of cocaine in my purse. I was convicted of possession and got probation."

"Were you using cocaine?"

"Would you believe me if I told you no?"

"To tell you the truth, right now I don't know what to believe."

She glared at him. "Then nothing I say will make any difference, will it?"

"Lisa," he said, his voice escalating, "if you want me to believe you were innocent of those charges, you'd better start talking!"

"I don't give a d.a.m.n what what you believe!" you believe!"

He stared at her in silence, his face tight with anger. "Fine. Just forget it. I shouldn't have come here in the first place. There's a seven-thirty flight to Dallas. I intend to be on it."

He started out of the kitchen, and suddenly Lisa couldn't bear the thought of it ending this way between them. He'd been like a lifeline to her, a lifeline she was watching slip right out of her grasp.

"Dave. Wait."

He stopped and turned back, his face fixed in a harsh frown. She shouldn't have to defend herself against accusations that weren't true. d.a.m.n it, she just shouldn't have to. But she didn't want Dave walking out of here thinking she was guilty of anything.

"It happened the summer after our high school graduation," she said. "I wanted out of Tolosa, but I had almost no money and nowhere to go. So I took a chance and called Lenny in San Antonio. He told me I could stay with him as long as I wanted to."

"I'm listening."

"I figured if I could stay with him, I could save more money and be able to take flying lessons sooner." She paused. "And Lenny was my brother. I hadn't seen him in years. All of a sudden we were together again, and we were actually talking. I remember feeling so excited that my life had finally taken a turn for the better."

"So what happened?"

Lisa closed her eyes. It was a memory she had no desire to dredge up. "The day after I moved in, guess who showed up? The police. They decided it was a good time to raid a drug dealer."

Dave stared at her for several seconds, his angry gaze faltering. "Was it true? He was still dealing drugs?"

"Oh, yeah. Big-time."

"So you were caught up in it, too?"

"Yeah. And my brother, who'd been oh, so nice to me, didn't think twice about stuffing five grams of c.o.ke into my purse to get rid of it, then swearing it wasn't his. That was the least of what he had hidden around his apartment."

"He took you down with him?"

"Yes. Even when he could have told them I had nothing to do with it, he didn't. I was lucky I was charged only with possession. But do you want to know the bad part? I actually thought that he'd changed and that somehow, someway, I could have an actual relationship with my brother. Can you imagine anyone being that stupid?"

Dave just stood there, stunned. As tears filled Lisa's eyes, he imagined her going to Lenny's house and the glimmer of hope she must have felt when it looked as if she had at least one family member who was going to act like family. Instead, he'd handed her yet one more reason never to trust anyone again as long as she lived.

"I knew what he was," she went on. "I knew knew . But what did I do? I walked right into his life like some kind of fool and ended up getting taken down right along with him." Her jaw trembled. "Maybe you did the same thing." . But what did I do? I walked right into his life like some kind of fool and ended up getting taken down right along with him." Her jaw trembled. "Maybe you did the same thing."

"What?"

"If you hadn't come to help me, you wouldn't be in this mess. Instead, you're taking the fall right along with me." She wiped her eyes, swallowing her tears. "You need to go home, Dave. Go home to your family where you belong."

Common sense told him she was right, but something far more powerful was keeping him from walking out the door. Every step of the way, this situation had grown more chaotic, and he'd gotten dragged into it right along with her. Further a.s.sociation with her could only hurt him in the eyes of the law. He should be on his way home to Tolosa by now, to a life that didn't get him personally involved in c.r.a.p like drug convictions, attempted murder, and women who couldn't seem to stay out of harm's way. The only problem was that he felt an overwhelming need to be the one to keep her out of harm's way.

"I can't stand this, Dave," she said, her voice faltering. "I can't stand knowing that you might be facing a prison sentence when all you did was try to help me. I can't stand stand it!" it!"

She turned away, her hand over her mouth, as if she was trying desperately to keep from crying. He reached out and touched her shoulder. She shuddered away from him.

"Don't. Please Please don't." don't."

"Lisa-"

She spun back around. "d.a.m.n it, Dave! Will you just cut your losses and get out of here?"

Suddenly the telephone rang. They both turned to stare at it, and after a few seconds Lisa took a deep breath, swept her hair away from her forehead with a rake of her fingers, then picked up the phone and said h.e.l.lo. A moment later she froze, her eyes widening. She slid her hand against her throat, stumbled a few steps to the kitchen table, and collapsed on a chair, wearing a look of shock and disbelief. "Wh-what did you say?"

When Dave heard the tremor in her voice, he came to attention. "Lisa? What is it?"

She turned her tearful gaze up to meet his. "Adam is alive."

For the next ten minutes Lisa spoke to the person on the other end of the phone, her voice tight with emotion. Dave sat down beside her and listened to half a conversation that told him that while Adam Decker was alive, something was still terribly wrong. Finally, after a promise to call back, Lisa hung up the phone and sat back in her chair, looking completely overwhelmed.

"Who were you talking to?" Dave asked.

"Serafina Cordero. She's the one who's taking care of Adam."

"Did you talk to him, too?"

"For just a minute. My G.o.d. He's alive. Adam really is alive." She shook her head slowly with disbelief, tears filling her eyes again. She smiled briefly, then placed her hand against her chest, taking a deep breath. "He's alive. I just can't believe it."

"Tell me what's going on."

She sighed with weary relief. "I barely know where to start."

Little by little, she filled him in on the whole story, telling him that by the grace of a sixteen-year-old kid with a conscience Adam had survived the execution Robert had ordered. But now he refused to leave Santa Rios.

"What you're telling me," Dave said, "is that no matter what condition Adam is in, he won't leave without Gabrio?"

"Yes," Lisa said. "And Sera hasn't been able to convince him to come with them. But the clock's ticking. He still has a bullet in his chest, and she's afraid his head wound is worse than it appears to be. They won't know the extent of that until he has a CT scan. And every minute he's down there is another minute that Robert might find out he's still alive and come after him again."

Dave let out a long breath. He'd seen no-win situations before, but this one topped them all.

"I have to help them," Lisa said. "I have to get Adam to a doctor. And I have to talk to Gabrio. G.o.d, can you imagine how scared he must be right now?"

"Yeah, but what can you do from here?" Dave said.

A gleam of determination entered her eyes. "Nothing. That's why I'm flying back down there."

"You're flying-?" Dave shook his head. "No. It's not safe for you down there. If Robert or Ivan sees you, they'll kill you."

"They don't have to know I'm there," Lisa said. "I can fly down and help Sera talk Gabrio into coming along. I always knew he was a good kid, in spite of where he came from. What he did for Adam proves that. And he loved it when I took him up in my plane. He didn't admit it, but I could tell he did. He'll listen to me. I know he will."

"Surely if he thought his brother would kill him, he'd want out of there. He'd be grasping at straws. Looking for anyone to help him."

"It's the logic of the abused. No matter how impossible it seems, you always hold out hope." She paused. "You know. That your brother might not be as bad as you think he is."

Lisa's gaze never faltered, driving home her point, and he realized just how right she was.

"So you're going down there," he said.

"Yes. And if you're thinking of trying to stop me-"

"I'm not going to stop you." He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm going with you."

She turned away. "No. You need to go home. You have a family to think about, a daughter-"

"Do you really think I'd leave you at a time like this?"

"I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have. I have a drug conviction-"

"You were innocent. I know that now."

"You're taking my word for that."

"Yes. And that's good enough for me."

"I can't guarantee what we'll find down there. What will happen. We managed to get out of there once. Our luck just might run out."