Chapter3
Corkie understood—mostly by the resentful sneer—that she wounded Camo Man's pride by feeding him like a child, but she wasn't stupid. There was no way she was untying his hands. They were anchored to his waist, and that's where they were staying.
Gazing into his eyes as they finished the last of their breakfast, she couldn't help liking the view. He was just absolutely gorgeous. And she honestly never liked military men. Always so cocky and bulked up. But this man was different, she thought. Muscular, but not overly so. And yes, he was cocky and arrogant, but she liked it on him.
Then as the last forkful of food disappeared into his mouth, his lips and teeth clamped down on the metal tines, not letting her pull it free, and he smiled.
Heaven help her...a smile. Dang. Just absolutely gorgeous.
"You can't keep that fork," she leaned over and whispered close to his ear, her fingers still attached to the handle. He let it go, chewed, swallowed and turned his head just enough so that their noses brushed against one another.
"Untie me," he murmured, his eyes drifting down to her mouth.
Corkie smiled. "Now, why would I do a thing like that?"
"It will make things easier for you in the long—"
The rhythmic burst of an assault rifle filled the morning. Everyone around the table froze.
Another round of gunfire had Juan jumping to his feet and grabbing his gun from the side table. He left the room. Corkie bolted up and unhooked the baby from his chair. Ana clapped her hands, and the rest of her children exited their seats. Ana opened the secret hatch under the table and awaited further instructions from her husband.
Alex struggled to untie himself, all teasing and seduction gone.
When Juan came back, his face grim. "It's Espinoza's men. Ana, into the basement."
With precise actions, Ana ushered her children down the ladder and into the basement. Corkie handed over Jacobo after Ana disappeared down the hatch, and she shut the lid behind them. She left Alex tied to his chair to see what was happening out front.
Juan stood beside a window looking out into the yard and listening to the voices shouting at the house. Corkie peered out. Three trucks stood in the middle of the now-empty village. Ugly, mean-looking men called for Juan to bring out the "güerita."
"Güerita? Me?" Corkie asked.
"There is no one else here who fits that description, nińa," Juan said.
"How did they about me? Or know where I am? No one followed us. Well, except Camo Man."
Juan thought for a moment. "Enrique. It seems my cousin has a rat problem in his office."
"But you didn't tell him it was me who saw Espinoza, did you?"
"No." Juan frowned severely. "I believe you were spotted by more than just your peste."
Corkie chewed on her lip. She'd been very careful yesterday. No one from the airstrip should have seen her on the ridge. "What are we going to do?"
"We, nińa? No, you will go with Ana and take the tunnel to the church. Mi Amor will worry about you, and Fr. Ramiro will take you to Chihuahua when it is safe."
"I'm not leaving you to deal with...them," she said, waving at the men outside.
"I will take care of this, nińa," Juan argued. "If Espinoza is looking for you because of those pictures you took, you need to get out of Mexico. You are not safe here. Espinoza is a dangerous man."
"But...but my photos," she said, getting childishly pissy about the circumstances that currently arose. Why the hell did Espinoza have to interfere now? She had Camo Man right where she wanted him, and soon, she might have her pictures back, and only then could she go home.
Juan turned to her. "Nińa...go to Chihuahua, ask for Ivan's help. He will take you to the border and get you across without anyone else knowing you've been here—"
"But—"
He held up a hand, stopping her. "If I find out you have not gone back into America within the next three days, then I will call your Papa, do you understand me?"
She squinted at him. "You wouldn't—"
"I would, and I will," he affirmed. "And I have my ways of knowing exactly when you cross that border."
Corkie huffed. Dang it. He was right. Juan always found out things...everything. It never failed.
The racket from the kitchen—Camo Man trying to get free—intensified, and she sighed again. She couldn't let Espinoza's men know he was here, too. That wouldn't be very hospitable toward her guest.
"What about—"
A splintering crash came from the kitchen. Juan and Corkie raced back there to see Camo Man picking himself up from the floor amid the broken pieces of the chair he'd been sitting in. Ana is going to maim me, she thought, seeing the mess he created. He managed to free his feet before Juan leveled his shotgun at his chest.
Corkie placed a hand on the barrel and lowered it. "Leave him alone, Juan. He's in as much danger as the rest of us, and we can't leave him tied up while Espinoza's men are here."
She didn't have time to worry about undoing the complicated knots around his wrists and waist. Picking up a sharp knife from Ana's sink, she quickly approached and began sawing at the ropes.
"What's going on?" he asked, warily eying the knife in her hands.
She glanced up from her cutting. "Espinoza must have found out that I was at the airstrip yesterday. He sent his men after me."
"Do you work for him?"
She shot him a wounded glare. "Of course not! I wasn't even there because of him. I was there because this is the first time Niro Sultanovich has been spotted in the past two years."
"Niro Sultanovich? The Serbian mobster who's been dead for two years?"
"Oh, he's very much alive. It's a long story, and frankly, I don't have time to explain."
He looked at her skeptically. "Did you know Espinoza would be there?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "But the man works fast on finding out I was."
"You stand there and tell me that you don't have any idea what you photographed yesterday?" he asked as she continued to saw at his ropes. I think I overdid these knots, she groused to herself. This is taking forever!
"Nope," she affirmed. "And really there's no time for me to sit around and figure it out. We have to go...or I'm in big trouble." She mumbled that last part to herself. If her father found out she was in Mexico...
Camo Man raised an eyebrow. "We?" He said that the same way Juan did! So aggravating!
"Yes, we," she repeated haughtily. "If Espinoza discovered that I had been there yesterday, then it is only a matter of time before he finds out about you, too. We may not see eye to eye on a lot of things, especially since you stole my pictures, but I won't leave you to that fate."
"I can deal with a few lowlifes—" he began, but Corkie shook her head.
"Not at the expense of endangering this village," she told him. "Most of the folks around here want to escape violence. We will let Juan handle the problem outside, like he always does."
Their captive said, "Then let me use a phone and I can have a chopper here in an hour—"
"No!" Corkie and Juan said at the same time, and Camo Man cocked an eyebrow at them. Choppers meant more military, and more military meant her father discovering her location. Corkie inhaled smoothly and added, "We need to keep this quiet."
"Why?" Camo Man asked. "Who else are you hiding from?"
Corkie didn't answer as she finished the last length of rope, and as soon as the bindings fell to the floor, Camo Man grabbed the knife from her, whipped her around to his chest and held that blade to her throat. Juan's shotgun aimed for his head.
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Corkie growled. "Stop it, both of you! We don't have time for this!"
Camo Man said nothing. Juan said nothing. Both men stared long and hard at each other. Corkie, getting really fed up with this macho crap, gently placed her fingers around Camo Man's wrists and tried to carefully pulled the knife away from her throat.
"Don't," her capture said darkly in her ear.
"What could you possibly do?" she asked. "You won't kill me, because you came after something and not just my pictures, and if you so much as twitch your pinky finger, Juan will shoot you. Look at him. He doesn't like you very much."
"Who told you about that meeting yesterday?" he asked her while he continued to stare at Juan.
Corkie snorted. "It'll take more than a knife to my throat to get me to disclose that."
"Is it him?" Camo Man nudged at Juan.
"Juan?" Corkie laughed. "Let me explain something. Juan tries his darnedest to keep me out of trouble, not give me information to send me toward it."
Juan's lips twitched, but otherwise neither man moved. The seconds ticked by. More shouts came from outside, warning Juan that they would come in, if he didn't appear in the next few minutes.
Corkie was done playing around. She knew—with everything in her whole being—that Camo Man would not intentionally hurt her. So...she pushed that blade deeper into her flesh, and instantly he tensed and released her.
"Are you crazy?" he snarled at her, tossing the knife across the room, where it embedded into Ana's cabinet. Ana is never going to let me back into her house, Corkie thought, seeing that knife poking a big hole into the wood.
"Crazy enough," she said. "I just know that you wouldn't do anything."
Camo Man glared hotly at her. Then he nudged his chin at Juan, who still had Camo Man's head in his sights. "What about him?"
"What about him?" she asked, checking her neck to see if there was any damage. She didn't feel the sting of the knife cutting her, but that didn't mean anything. Her heart rate and adrenaline were pulsing like fire. She probably wouldn't feel a gunshot right now either.
"You will leave him to the fate of Espinoza?" Camo Man inquired coldly. "I thought the two of you were friends."
"Juan can take care of himself. Espinoza won't dare hurt him."
His eyes lightened curiously as he rubbed the chafe marks on his wrists, his demeanor no longer threatening. "And why is that?"
"Again, a long story," she told him. "Now, are you coming or not? I have to grab my stuff. Juan, give him back his gun."
"No—"
Corkie turned to her friend. "Give him his freaking gun!" She didn't bother to see if Juan obeyed her, or if he lowered his weapon. Rushing out of the kitchen, she mentally listed everything she'd need. Then she shoved it all in her pack and ran back to Juan and her peste. She got there just as Juan placed Camo Man's gun and combat knife in his hands and menacingly said, "Protect her, or your life no longer exists."
Corkie rolled her eyes. "Juan, be careful...and don't you dare tell Daddy about this."
"I cannot promise that," Juan said, staring straight into the other man's eyes. Juan looked at her a second later, gave her a brief, fatherly smile and said, "Stay smart, nińa. No foolishness."
"I will," she said, kissing his cheek. "But don't you do anything stupid. Ana will never forgive me if you get shot again."
Juan opened the hatch under the table. Corkie scooted down the ladder there, dropped to the dirt floor of the basement and waited on her camouflage buddy. He jumped through the opening, not bothering to use the ladder.
"Try to help out a woman once, she beats the shit out of me," he began. "Now, you're going to get me killed."
"Just when were you trying to help me?"
"Yesterday," he said angrily. "That's the last time I let a pair of big blue eyes manipulate me."
"Whatever, Adam," she said. "You shouldn't have stolen my pictures." And she headed deeper into the darkened basement where the underground tunnel started.
"My name is Alex," he said behind her.
She grinned to herself. "Yeah, I figured that, but Adam seemed to piss you off."
*****
Alex growled as a cobweb feathered across his cheek. Spiders! Ugh! That was the third time he ran into a web, and he was certain that the woman he followed through that rock-walled tunnel avoided them on purpose. His neck and shoulders ached from sleeping on the floor most of the night, and of course, from being tied up all morning. Now, he was forced to hunch over as he walked, barreling blindly into spiderwebs.
He was not in a good mood.
"Just a little further," she called back. They'd been traveling through the tunnel for nearly ten minutes now. Why would a supposedly peaceful village have and escape tunnel? Alex considered the older man, Juan. What did he have over Espinoza, the drug lord couldn't touch him? And, how can he use that to his advantage?
After listening to Corkie and Juan speaking that morning, Alex had some other questions rolling around in his head. Who was her daddy? Corkie insisted that her father didn't discover where she was. Was this woman actually afraid of someone? Leverage for him, maybe?
A faint light could be seen ahead. Alex sighed with relief. He'd never been the claustrophobic type, but even he was anxious to see the sun and breathe fresh air again. The tunnel ended at a set of steps carved into the rocky ground. Corkie trotted up them effortlessly, and Alex stopped a moment to take his bearings. He glanced up through the hole above the steps, saw the flicker of candlelight and heard the sound of a baby crying.
Corkie and Juan said the tunnel led to the church in the village, which wasn't far from the house. So, how were they to leave the church without being seen in bright daylight? All he had was his .45, several spare clips and his combat knife, and he wasn't sure if Corkie carried her weapon or not. But even if they both had guns, it wasn't enough to clear a path away from the village if they were spotted by Espinoza's lackeys.
"You coming or not?" Corkie asked, sticking her head through the hole and frowning at him.
"I'm coming," he grunted. Up the steps, he traipsed. The room at the top was an old storage room, full of broken furniture and a small crumbling statue of St. Mary. The wife from the house was there, with her children, keeping them as calm and quiet as possible, and another man had joined the group. Just a glance told Alex that this was the church's priest.
"Alex, this is Fr. Ramiro. He'll help us get out of the village safely."
Fr. Ramiro spoke to Alex in his native Spanish, basically greeting him and relaying the same message that Juan had threatened. Protect Corkie.
Alex's eyes found the woman who seemed to garner so much respect and love from the few people he'd met today. She smiled impishly at him, and said, "They like me here."
"I can't imagine why," Alex replied sarcastically. His wrists still chafed from her ropes. She smiled bigger. Alex moved to the door and carefully peeked out. He could see into Fr. Ramiro's living quarters, and through a window, he spied Espinoza's men conversing animatedly with Juan in the village's courtyard.
"Is there a back way out of here?" he asked over his shoulder.
Corkie chewed on her bottom lip. "Um...sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Yeah..." she said slowly. "How good is your Spanish?"
Alex stared at her. "Pardon?"
She sighed. "Juan will tell Espinoza's men that I'm not here, and that I left last night, or something like that. They won't believe him, but they can't do anything to him. They'll keep a few guys around for a little while, just in case—"
"And you know this, how?"
She waved at him, unconcerned. "It's typical behavior for these types."
"And you've had a lot of experience with these types?"
She gave him another grin. "Anyway...Fr. Ramiro will sneak us out on the bus, but you'll have to pose as one of his missionaries."
Alex became as still as the St. Mary. He breathed and exhaled twice. "Repeat that."
Corkie huffed. "Don't worry so much. We've done this before."
He really wanted to shake some sense into her, but they were in a church, and that seemed rude. "You'll have some explaining to do later," he said to her. "Now, how are you supposed to get us both out of here in disguises? That blonde hair of yours will stand out like a neon sign spelling 'Here I am!'"
She rolled her eyes. "You really worry too much, Alex. Trust me, okay?"
"I don't seem to have much choice, do I?"
"No, you don't." She turned away from him, kissed every child's face and murmured soft words to them before facing him again. "See if they've left yet," she commanded him, as she bent over to dig through her backpack. She pulled out her 9mm and checked the clip and chamber. Her smooth, precise motions fascinated Alex. She knew how to handle weaponry—he figured that out when she disarmed him last night. But now, he couldn't help noticing the delicacy in which she cradled that pistol in her palm...and how sexy she looked holding it.
Damn.
Her blue eyes found him again. "Well?"
Alex cleared his throat and looked through the window in Fr. Ramiro's room. "All the trucks are gone. But there are two men still out in the courtyard. I don't see your friend."
Corkie nodded to herself. "Okay. They'll start searching the village soon, trying to look inconspicuous as they do it. We don't have much time. Fr. Ramiro, I think the villagers need to go into Chihuahua for shopping today?"
Fr. Ramiro smiled and said, "Si, nińa."
"Can you get Alex some clothes? Then you and Ana and Alex can exit the church, make it seem as though Ana came for a quick visit this morning. I'll send the older children back through the tunnel."
Ana gathered her two youngest, the baby and a toddler, as Fr. Ramiro went into his bed chamber. Alex approached Corkie. "Why exactly is your plan here, Corkie?"
She offered him a smile. "That's the first time you've said my name, Alex."
"Just answer the question," he said under his breath. "I don't like to be kept in the dark."
She crawled over to the tunnel door and shooed the children through. As she did, she explained, "There's a secret compartment in the bus. I can fit into it, but you can't. So, that means you're going to have to leave the village in broad daylight. And the only way to do that is by acting as a missionary. Fr. Ramiro has missionaries in and out of the village all the time, so a stranger here will not seem so odd. But as soon as Espinoza's men see you and that Anglo-Saxon face of yours, they're going to question you, so I need you to act the part. Be humble and religious, you know? Think you can do that?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. That was actually a decent plan. If a lot of the people in the village got on the bus, it won't seem so strange for it to be leaving for the city. And acting as someone else to get out of a jam was almost second nature to him. He'd been trained by some of the best in his specialty. Of course, they would probably laugh their asses off if they ever found out about this slender blonde taking his gun away from him and tying him to a chair, but that was one story he wasn't about to share.
To prove to her that he could do exactly what she was demanding of him, he put on his most penitent face and recited Psalms 23 in perfect Espanol, with a quaint accent and all. She seemed impressed as she listened.
"Not bad, Alex," she said. "How many languages do you speak?"
"Four."
"Spanish, English, and...?"
"French and Mandarin."
Her eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Mandarin? Wow. How long did it take you to learn that?"
He shifted uncomfortably from her praise. "I'm still working on it."
"So...you're really only fluent in three? And I'll betcha you took French in high school to impress the girls, right?"
Well...yeah, but he wasn't about to admit that. Just that fact that she had him pegged on so many levels disturbed him. Fr. Ramiro entered the room with a bundle of clothing and some old brown calfskin boots.
"I'll make sure the kids get to the house okay, and then I'll be back," she said, hopping down into the tunnel after the last child. Alex watched her blonde hair disappear into the darkness below. He hoped she wasn't trying to escape on her own, but from all outlooks, the only way out of the village at the moment was by her plan.
This better work.
*****
Silently and alone, Corkie crept back along the tunnel toward the church. She peered up through the opening, saw the back of Alex's head as he faced a far corner and changed his clothes. Her eyes blinked, taking in the Army Ranger tattoo on his right forearm and the rounded, muscular lines of his bare back. Wow. He'd already wore Fr. Ramiro's old brown pants, which were a little on the snug side, and now he pulled a baggy chambray shirt across his wide shoulders. He took off his desert boots and bent to retrieve the dusty, old replacements. Corkie shied backward, afraid he'd catch her ogling him.
But then, he plucked a small black square from the inside clasp of his belt and stuffed it into the top of his sock. Corkie's lips pursed. He had it with him...this whole time! Her fingers clenched around the grip of her gun, her body poised and ready to charge up those stairs and take back was what hers!
And then what? she thought. He would fight her. He would cause enough ruckus to bring Espinoza's men down on them and everyone else, and then what?
Dang it!
Now was not the time. She had the safety of Ana's children and the rest of the villagers to think about. And her own.
I'll get him, she promised herself. I'll get my pictures, too....just you wait, Camo Man.
Corkie retreated far enough into the tunnel to appear casual as she approached the opening again. "You decent?" she called, not waiting for an answer as she trotted up the steps into the church. Alex turned quickly toward her.
"And if I'm not?"
She waved her hand at him. "I've seen it all before." Well, not all of him, but he didn't need to know the details.
"Do you make a sport of stripping unconscious men?" he inquired impertinently. She grinned.
"And if I do?"
"Did you enjoy what you saw?"
She just shrugged. "You ready? You'll need to distract the guys out front long enough for me to get into the bus unseen."
"And how long will that take?"
"Um...a minute or two. Still think you can do it?"
He sent her a disgruntled frown. "Just don't sneak away from me. You and I have business to discuss."
"I'm not going anywhere until you give back the pictures you stole," she replied. And she waited to see if his body language belied his secret. Nothing. Not even a twitch of an eyelid. Dang. He was good.
"It looks like we'll be together for a while then," he said back to her.
"Looks like."
He swept her with his piercing gray gaze, from head to feet and back up again. "Don't get us caught," he said sternly. "My orders didn't include killing anybody if necessary."
"You don't get us caught," she retorted. "I've never had to shoot at someone, so I'd rather not do it because of your charming personality."
He looked strangely at her. "You have never shot anyone? At all? How the hell did you get so good at handling a gun?"
"Watch your mouth; you're in a church. Unlike you, my lovely personality gets me out of lots of scrapes."
"Then go talk your way out of this village, sweetheart, if you're so damn charming."
"Watch your mouth," she hissed. "You're in a church."
He bit down on his back teeth, making his jaw clench tightly. "Just give me five minutes, then get your ass on that damn bus."
Corkie threw a chunk of statue at him. "This is a church! Show some respect!"
He dodged the piece of stone easily. "Coming from the woman who's throwing pieces of the Mother Mary at me!"
"If you don't get out of here, you'll be the first person I'll shoot!"
He lifted an eyebrow with wry amusement. "Watch yourself...you're in a church." He turned on his heel, sticking his .45 in his waistband before donning a lightweight jacket. Then he was gone, and Corkie picked up another piece of stone and threw it at his back. She missed by a longshot, sighed in disgust, and gathered her bag.
In the sanctuary, she crept along the shadows, keeping clear of the windows until she reached the side door closest to the bus parked outside, but unfortunately that door was still visible to the courtyard and Espinoza's men. She waited, counting in her head, and when she reached one hundred, she cracked open the door and peeked out.
Fr. Ramiro, Ana with her babies, and Alex were conversing with the two stragglers. After a moment, Ana left toward her house, and the four men were still talking. Corkie grunted. Get on with it! Espinoza's men seemed fascinated by Alex, and Corkie hoped it wasn't for the wrong reason. But then, all four of them out there began laughing at something Alex said, the two gunslingers clapped Alex on his back, and they all walked away.
Corkie let out the breath she'd been holding. With their backs turned, she made a dash across the side yard to the bus and plastered her body against the back end. Peering carefully around the corner, she saw that they were still walking away. Quiet as a mouse and as quick as a fox, she opened up the back door, winced when it squealed on rusty hinges, and crawled into the long cab. She found the secret compartment in the floor near the driver's seat and lifted the hatch. The interior of the bus was suffocating and hot. Corkie didn't know if she could handle staying inside that compartment until it was safe for her to come out. Then again, she didn't really have a choice, unless she wanted to make a run for the nearest ridge, which was a thousand yards away over flat land. And doing so would forfeit her pictures to Alex. She wasn't about to let him get away with them. She needed them.
Taking a deep breath, she curled herself into the small space under the floor and flattened out her body as best as she could. She turned her head sideways and forced her feet to lay at awkward angles before she was able to get the hatch closed and locked down.
Then she waited. Her breathing echoed in the small area, sounding louder to her ears, and the air in there was hotter than if she'd crawled into an oven. Immediately, she began to sweat.
Closing her eyes and controlling her muscles and lungs, Corkie imbued a calmness into her body. She loathed enclosed spaces, but now was not the time to freak out. She waited...and waited, and prayed her confinement would not take long.
Finally, she heard muted voices. Heavy footsteps. Two pairs. Male voices. They were searching the bus. Corkie could see straight upward through a tiny hole, and a pair of mud-encrusted boots stopped right at her head. Then the other pair of boots. The two men talked to each other, arguing over where to look next, and finally settling on the church. They left, and other sounds could be heard—lots more footsteps. Male and female voices. Children laughing. Babies crying.
And Corkie breathed again. The villagers were getting on the bus now. It was safe. And then she heard Alex speaking with Fr. Ramiro and Juan. Her heartbeat skittered sideways. She had half a mind to leap out of there and ask Juan to hold down Alex so she could get her camera card. But that would be a foolish endeavor. She'd jeopardize everyone on the bus. She'd just have to wait and find another way.
The bus's engine roared to life. Then she felt movement as it drove out of the small town. The swaying made her stomach roll. And she prayed that someone would soon let her out.
The seconds slowed and quickened as her anxiety and frustration weaved through her. Her neck and shoulders ached, and her ankles throbbed from the uncomfortable angle of her feet. Were they ever going to let her out? She opened her mouth to say something, but her voice came out as a dry croak.
Suddenly the hatch opened, and she blinked from the bright morning sunshine falling down on her through the bus's open windows. Alex crouched above her head, frowning.
"This is on that list of things I'll want you to explain...why a church bus has a secret compartment."
She lifted her head and licked her lips. She swallowed, trying to work moisture into her mouth. "It wasn't always a church bus," she said hoarsely.
"Of course, it wasn't," Alex replied. He grasped her under the arms and hauled her up into a seating position. He handed her a canteen of water. She drank thirstily, spilling the cool liquid down her chin.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Alex helped her out of the hole in the bus's floor and held her until she stopped swaying. Then he jumped backward. "You have a spider on you."
"Where?!" Ugh! Spiders! Corkie hated spiders. Creepy little things!
"On your back."
"Well, get it off!"
Alex raised his palms to her. "I'm not touching that thing."
"Are you serious?!" She leaned to the next nearest person, a woman by the name of Rosa, and asked for her help. Rosa made a joke about it, which made everyone on the bus laugh, but she plucked the disgusting creature off Corkie's shirt and tossed out the open window. Corkie shivered and brushed at her shoulders and arms, still feeling it crawling on her.
"Interesting," Alex muttered.
"What is?"
"I hold a knife to your neck, and you don't blink an eye...but spiders?"
"Bite me, soldier boy," she retorted and walked to the back, plopping down in a vacant bench. Alex sat next to her, stretching his legs out and crossed his arms over his chest...effectively caging her. He said nothing else, no more questions, and she didn't offer any answers. Together, they rode along with the dozen or so villagers, side by side, silently.
The trip to Chihuahua normally took about an hour. It had been a tiring morning. Not to mention the little sleep she received last night, thanks to Alex. Eventually, the gentle rocking of the bus lulled her to sleep. The last thing she remembered before succumbing to dreamland was leaning her head on Alex's shoulder and him putting his arm around her, holding her softly. It was a considerably warm-hearted gesture from a man like Alex, who probably hated her at this point.