“Perhaps he’s dead,” Cantara suggested.
“Perhaps, but my gut says not,” Raoul replied, absently playing with a strand of her hair. “You sure you’re okay? No ill effects?”
“Will you stop asking me that? I’ve told you the last dozen times you asked that I’m fine.” She paused. “Well, I would be if I could persuade you to do it again. Once isn’t enough when you haven’t had any for so long.”
“You came twice,” Zeke pointed out, grinning.
“That was last night. You guys didn’t used to settle for just one round.”
“No running before you can walk, sweetheart,” Raoul reminded her. He lifted her from his chair, sat in it himself and settled her on his lap. “There, that’s better.”
“Can’t argue with that,” she said, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“Why don’t we try coming at this another way?” Zeke suggested.
“What’s on your mind, bud?” Raoul asked.
“Well, we have enough damned contacts in that part of the world. If someone’s keeping him hidden, they must have a damned good reason. If we can figure out who…”
Zeke was cut off by the sound of the intercom from the adjoining barn, occupied by Mark and Karl.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Mark’s disembodied voice echoed through the speaker.
“No problem,” Raoul replied. “What’s up?”
“You’re not gonna believe this, but there’s a guy at the main gate who says you’ll want to see him.”
“This guy got a name?” Zeke asked.
“Yeah, that’s the thing.” Mark paused. “He says he’s David Levi.”
Raoul, Zeke, and Cantara gaped at one another.
“Seriously?” Raoul asked, recovering first.
“Why now, of all times?” Cantara asked no one in particular. “It has to mean something.”
“We’ve got him on the security camera,” Mark said.
Zeke headed for the screen that…well, screened all would-be visitors to the ranch. Raoul looked over his shoulder as Zeke pulled up the appropriate angle.
“Wadda you think?” Zeke asked. “Is that him?”
“He’s lost weight, and he looks older,” Cantara said, peering between them to take a look. “But I’d say it was him.”
“And he’s in the States. It was the last place we thought to look,” Raoul said. “No wonder we couldn’t find him. Okay, Mark. Go down to the gate, search him for weapons, and drive him back up here in your own vehicle. Let’s see what the jerk has to say for himself.”
A terse silence reigned while they awaited the arrival of their uninvited guest. Raoul paced the length of the room, rubbing his chin in his cupped hand as he thought it through.
“The guy’s got balls, coming here, I’ll give him that much,” Zeke said.
“But why come now, of all times?” Raoul asked, repeating Cantara’s earlier question. “I just don’t get it.”
“Calm down, Raoul,” Cantara said, taking his hand and dragging him back to his chair. “I’ve had my doubts about him all along, but one thing’s for sure, if he’s the guilty party, he wouldn’t risk coming here.”
“Unless he’s fed up of being a fugitive, heard about your release, darlin’, and thinks he can talk us around to supporting him,” Zeke said, scowling.
Raoul felt his hostility rising alone with his temper. “Good luck with that one,” he muttered.
“Stop trying to second guess the poor guy and give him a chance to speak for himself,” Cantara admonished. “It could just be that he’s a victim in all of this, too.”
“You wanna wait in the yellow room?” Raoul asked her. “This might get a little unpleasant.”
“I don’t need protecting, but I do want to know what’s going on as much as you do. Besides, with me here you won’t be able to kill the guy.”
“Don’t put money on it,” Zeke said in a glacial tone.
They heard Mark in the entrance way and shortly after that he entered the great room with a man who, up close, was definitely Levi.
“Thanks, Mark,” Zeke said.
“Shout if you need us,” Mark replied, leaving them to it.
Raoul and Zeke stood protectively in front of Cantara, legs apart, arms hanging loosely at their sides, prepared for trouble, even though Levi was a shadow of the man they had once known. He had lost weight, aged ten years, and his eyes had the fixed, haunted look of a man who never stopped looking over his shoulder.
“I know what you think,” he said by way of introduction, “but it wasn’t me. I swear it on my children’s lives.”
“Let’s all sit down and stop this posturing,” Cantara said.
“I’m glad to see you looking well, Cantara,” Levi said.
“You didn’t see her a month ago.” Zeke growled.
“Okay,” Raoul said. “You’ve got our attention. Now explain why we should believe a fucking word that comes out of your lying mouth.”
“Well, to start with, I had absolutely no reason to betray Cantara, or you guys, to say nothing of my country’s efforts to broker peace.”
“You were having an affair,” Zeke replied. “Those e-mails they found on your personal computer prove it. There’s not much men in your position wouldn’t do to keep that secret.”
“Those e-mails were planted.”
“Well, of course you would say that,” Raoul said, heavy on the sarcasm.
“Even if I was having an affair, do you think I’d be careless enough to leave the evidence where a first-year hacker could get at it? I’m way better with computers than that. It was such a clumsy plant it was almost laughable.” Raoul and Zeke exchanged a look. He had a point. “I love my wife and my kids and I wanted peace in our region as much as Cantara did. Why would I sabotage her efforts?”
“You were set up?” Cantara said softly.
“Yeah, I was set up all right.” He paused, looking angry and upset. “By the Americans.”
Raoul and Zeke both protested.
“How do you think I broke out of jail?” he asked, making quote marks with his fingers around the words broke out.