I think she needs it.” He leveled his gaze. “She’s a machine. Just like you, Jack.”
“I know.” Jack was proud of her. But he worried about her, too. “So the mission… it’s also time for her to have a break. Is that it?”
“It’s soft surveillance. No contact needed. We want information about buildings and points of entry.” Oliver hesitated. “But to answer your question, no.”
“No?” Jack was confused.
“She has one more year on her contract. You need her on this one.” Oliver stood and walked around his desk. “Also… we have possible information on her family.”
Jack hesitated. “Eliza’s mother and brother?”
Oliver took a folder from his desk and handed it to Jack. “Here. You can read about it. There’s a slight chance they could be in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.” Oliver went on to explain that a Belizean police officer had gotten a tip from someone in Little Belize. A woman and her young son had come to the village around the time of the disappearance. But not long after, the two had left with a few other families and started a new outpost deeper into the mountains.
“What makes them think the mother and son might be in Pennsylvania?”
“That’s where the other two families wound up.” Oliver hesitated. “The thing is, Susan James and her son should’ve gone back to Lower Barton Creek. Back to Ike Armstrong. Which is why I’m doubtful about the tip.”
Jack wasn’t going to tell Eliza. He wouldn’t dare get her hopes up. Not unless her family was actually found. Until then, every sign pointed to Eliza’s mother and brother being dead.
At least the trip to Cancún was on. Jack remembered Eliza’s email again. I really only see you as a friend, Jack. The words still made him sad. If she had been honest in her email, then whatever feelings she’d had for him were gone.
Jack would have to be okay with that. She was his friend—his only friend—and he was hers. From the moment he’d heard about the chance to work with her again, he had been counting down the days.
Two hours later the SUV pulled up in front of her hotel, where Eliza was waiting in the lobby.
Jack stepped out to help with her bag, but instead he couldn’t do anything but look at her. It took about two seconds to wonder if maybe everything she’d written in her email had only been a cover.
So that the next four days would be theirs alone.
She looked younger, if that were possible. Maybe after pretending for so long to be a seventeen-year-old. Or maybe it was God’s Spirit inside her. Either way, she left him unable to move or breathe. “Eliza.” That’s all he could say. Just her name.
And without another word between them, she was in his arms. “You’re really here.” She clung to him, pressing her cheek to his chest. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
Jack wished he could freeze time. With her, he didn’t want the sun to set, didn’t want four days to come and go with cavalier indifference.
They were still undercover, still working a honeymoon mission, so this was appropriate behavior. But he wasn’t acting. She stepped back and kissed his cheek. Slowly. “I missed you every day, Jack.”
“Me, too.” And once more he had doubts about the operation. How was he supposed to say goodbye to her again? After spending time with her at a beach resort, talking with her and holding her hand? Pretending she was his wife?
Jack tried not to think about that. He would figure it out. They had work to do, and since this was a job, he couldn’t allow himself to feel more than friendship for her. You’re a machine, Ryder. Be a machine. That was his order from Oliver. Even if it took every bit of concentration and willpower he had.
Otherwise, even a less dangerous mission, like this, could get them killed.
* * *
THEY HAD THEIR hotel keys and they were walking down the hall of the eighteenth floor to the end suite. The setup was similar to the one in the Bahamas. A single door leading to a pair of separate doors. Other honeymooners might rent the full suite simply for privacy. But the situation here was the same as before. Eliza had her room and Jack had his.
They spent an hour apart and then headed for the beach.
Surveillance from a few weeks ago on this part of the beach told Jack the operatives in a local trafficking ring were probably somewhere on