Rio let himself look at Conner. He'd been the one who'd selected Conner to seduce Isabeau Chandler. And in the end, Rio had been the one to kill her father. Conner had tried to save him, but Chandler had pulled a gun and tried to protect the leader of a terrorist camp. He'd given Rio no choice. Conner was in the line of fire, trying to talk the man down, but the doctor refused to take the out offered to him. Rio had pulled the trigger and saved Conner's life, but there'd been no way to save his soul.
Isabeau had been so shocked. Rio would never forget the look on her face when she realized Conner had used her to gain entrance to the camp. He cringed every time he thought of it and now he was asking Conner to do the same thing again to another woman. Imelda was no innocent like Isabeau, but it was still a lousy job any way he looked at it.
Conner shrugged. "I appreciate the offer, Elijah, but there's no use in both of us losing out. You still have a chance. I lost mine a long time ago. You can't go to your mate with dirt all over you. It just doesn't work out."
"I'm pretty covered in it already," Elijah pointed out. "I've done things I'm not proud of--things no woman will forgive or overlook."
"All of us have," Conner said, "but that's not what I'm trying to tell you. This is a different situation, and Imelda Cortez is the scum of the earth. You seduce her and sleep with her, when you do find your mate, you won't be able to look her in the eye."
Rio opened his mouth, but there was nothing to say. He could never have gone back to face Rachel with that kind of sin coating his soul black, yet he was asking Conner to once again bear that responsibility. What he was asking was wrong, but there was no way into the Cortez fortress without an invitation.
"You've been there once," Elijah pointed out. "It isn't fair to have you put in that position again."
"I know who my mate is," Conner said. "Isabeau Chandler belongs to me. I won't have a second chance with her, not after what I did. I would never take another woman and ruin her chances at her own happiness. I know all too well how that turns out." His voice had gone bitter and he made an effort to change his tone, shrugging casually. "I have nothing to lose, Elijah, and you have everything to lose. I'll do this one last time and then if you still want the job and it needs doing, you can make up your mind then."
"If you're sure."
"It's my mess. The man my father accuses of killing my mother is working for Imelda Cortez. His name along with his partner is on that hit list. I'm going after both of them. Imelda wouldn't tell anyone about the leopard people. She'd use the information to her advantage, so right now we've got the opportunity to contain this."
Rio nodded. "She'll be looking for more leopard recruits."
"She won't find them in our village," Conner assured. "Raul moved the village deeper into the forest and the two rogues, Martin Suma and Ottila Zorba, are the other two names on the hit list. I recognize the name Suma from my village, but don't remember him. He didn't live with us. His parents took him out of the rain forest. He must have returned after I left. Even though Suma killed my mother, he wouldn't have a way of putting us together. Zorba isn't one of ours."
"Eventually," Rio said, "Imelda will send them to the leopard village to recruit for her. She's got money. Most of those living within the forest don't give a damn, but some of the younger ones will want the adventure."
"If I don't get them first, the elders will have them quietly killed before they ever have the chance to speak to the young ones." Conner looked around at the team. "If you're all certain it's a go, then let's get it done. Do we know what the children look like? How many females? How many males? And be prepared. Imelda likes to use children to guard her compound. She often takes young ones, and puts a gun in their hand as her first line of defense. She knows it's difficult for government officials to kill the children."
"You think she'll have children guarding the hostages?" Felipe asked.
"I'm just saying we'll run into them and we have to be prepared, that's all."
Rio handed Conner a bottle of water and tapped the tabletop with his finger, a slight frown on his face. "Elijah, is it known that most of your operations are now legitimate?"
Elijah shook his head. "No. When my uncle was killed it was assumed I had him killed to take over the entire operation for myself. I've been slowly selling off everything I can that was tainted. I did get out of the drug and gun business. We were never into human trafficking. There are rumors, but I'm considered ruthless."
"Then rather than change your name and pass you off as security, let's use your reputation. You'll have to be there as a friend of Santos's," Rio said. "That will only make her more inclined to think Santos is a big fish."
"That leaves three of us for security detail," Conner said. "Will a man like Santos have more?"
"As a rule he has a four-man team and two dogs," Felipe said. "I didn't want to put any of his regular team in danger. We wouldn't be able to let them in on what was going on."
"And your uncle has agreed to this?" Conner asked. "Does he have any idea who he's dealing with?"
Felipe nodded. "He knows. And he knows she's a threat to our people."
"So who exactly is our client, Rio?" Conner asked. "You say Adan Carpio initiated contact. His tribe wouldn't know of us. My father wouldn't ask for our help. So who knew about us and how? I'd like to have all the cards on the table before we go any further."
"Well," Rio hedged, looking uncomfortable. "There's a small problem with that."