Read Online The Protector of Ambra (Mercenaries of Fortune, #5) by Lyn Brittan - Free Book Online Page A

for. How do you know what is and isn’t supposed to be there?”
    “Well, I—”
    “And you’ve missed one pretty big clue,” she said, arms crossed and looking a little too Mussolini at the balcony.
    He hadn’t missed a damned thing. A set of tire tracks maybe from a couple of small cars. Cigarette butts and candy wrappers lined the road, but they were old and faded. “This used to be a pedestrian walkway but people stopped coming this way. Though, not all them. Just those who would walk. Farmers, laborers, but not the big wigs. Maybe two or three months back.”
    “You’re almost right,” she said.
    “Almost? Okay, Murder She Wrote, let’s hear it.”
    She closed her eyes and leaned back into the seat. “It’s going to feel so good to throw something back in your face again. Again,” she added, with a one-two punch above her head.
    “Oh, God.”
    “Look at this beautiful view. All these lovely cacao trees. You can smell the cocoa on the breeze. Take a good deep breath.”
    “You’re cute when you’re cocky, but your point?”
    “See those orangey-yellow football-looking things? Those are the pods that hold the cacao. The tree has two seasons per year. From now until the end of the month, this land should be filled with harvesters. If they’re not here, then there’s no work here.”
    “You said that you worked with individual families. Why can’t they sell to someone else?”
    “Like who? Aside from the groups we worked with, every other producer around here comes from old Spanish families. They’ve got a lock on the market. No way they’re risking their bottom line to work with these guys. Well, that’s one possibility off the list. I kinda thought Noah was selling the cacao to someone else. Turns out, he’s not selling it at all.”
    The man was probably selling something a lot more profitable under the cover of her business. Not a large-scale operation though. He and Melody couldn’t have driven up this close without red dots blinking on their shirts. It wasn’t adding up.
    He wanted to go in and get it over with. He would have if he’d been on his own. To that point, there would be no it to discover without her. He checked the flight schedule on his phone. “If I ask you to stay behind, will you pretend that I’m an agent who knows what he’s doing?”
    “Of course. That doesn’t mean I’m staying behind though. How will you know—”
    “Right. How will I know what to look for,” he finished for her. “Figured as much. Let’s take cover in this tree line until we figure out what to do. I’m thinking, given your attitude, it’ll be easier to knock on the front door. We get the info we need and bounce. Our flight leaves at ten tomorrow morning.”
    “That’s hella confident.”
    True, but the reality was pretty freaking simple. Either he was very right or they were very, very dead.

Chapter Eleven
    H is confidence wasn’t as infectious as he’d planned. She was more nervous now than before and had the sweaty palms to show it.
    Faking it until she made it, only made it so far.
    While she paced, he checked weapons and reloaded magazines or clips or whatever they were called. Her ears rang in memory of the last gunfight. She wasn’t looking forward to another one. “Maybe we should call the authorities?”
    His thumb pressed a final bullet into place, before picking up a gun with canisters on the side. “The time for cops was before I had a pilfered antique in my backpack.”
    “Don’t remind me. But if you’re thinking Noah’s involved in some sort of drug operation—”
    “Those words did not leave my lips,” he said with a glance in her direction. “This drive up here was that test. A big grow operation would have unkindly turned us around. This is something small scale, assuming there’s anything at all. He might just be stealing from you. Probably is, in which case we get a confession, get your money and go home.”
    Pierce was saying all the right things,