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I work alone. The last thing I need is a woman tagging along with me.”
    “This is a fine time for you to tell me that,” she cried, furious that he would try to pull this on her now. “We agreed that you would accompany me to Zarcero for a price. You collected your fee in bed with me last night. You can’t change the agreement now.”
    The coldness in his eyes sliced her to the quick, but Letty didn’t so much as flinch. “I’m going with or without you.”
    He swore. “I know what I’m doing,” he shouted. “You’ll slow me down.”
    “I’ll help you.”
    He swore again, louder this time.
    “I’m going to Zarcero to find my brother.” Unwilling to debate the issue further, she slipped the backpack over her shoulder and carried her lone suitcase outside. His truck was parked behind her car.
    She set the suitcase in the truck bed and climbed inside the cab, waiting for Murphy to appear.
    It didn’t take him long. He soon joined her, slammed the pickup door, swore again, then started the engine. Once on the road, he drove like a man bent on getting himself arrested.
    Although he’d been more than willing to vocalize his opinions earlier, he didn’t mutter a word during the ninety-minute drive to the airport.
    For her part, Letty was filled with questions. Since they were flying into the country of Hojancha, she wanted to know how Murphy intended to get into Zarcero now that the borders had been closed. No traffic was allowed into or out of the country.
    In the plane that flew from Houston, they were seated next to each other. His massive shoulders rubbed against hers. Once they were airborne, he removed a map from his carry-on bag. She wanted to volunteer what information she had, but it was apparent that he was in no mood to listen to her, so she said nothing.
    Closing her eyes, Letty pressed her head against the window and silently prayed his sour mood would improve. This trip was going to be difficult enough without the two of them constantly at odds.
    She didn’t expect Murphy to be good company, but it would help if they could be civil to one another. She’d make the best of it, she decided, despite his attitude.
    While pretending to be asleep, she studied him as she hadn’t before. Her life and that of her brother rested in this man’s hands. By no stretch of the imagination would she call him handsome. Everything about the man was intense. If she were to describe him—say, to Luke or one of her friends from church—she’d claim the mercenary possessed battered good looks. Nothing about him was gentle or soft. He was paid to kill, to inflict hate and death and pain upon others.
    It came to her then, this contrast she’d discovered, this dark side he flaunted to the world. She’d experienced none of it during their night together. With her he’d been gentle and caring. With her he’d sought to give instead of take.
    At first his words had been cruel and demeaning, but his hands and his mouth had displayed a fierce kind of tenderness that had rocked her very core. Shocked her. By the time he’d readied her for love-making and guided her onto the bed, she’d wanted him desperately.
    It hurt her pride to admit that, but it was God’s own truth. Had the herbs not taken effect at that precise moment, she would have given herself to him eagerly.
    As it was, she’d been left feeling deeply disappointed and at the same time relieved. She’d been lucky for a woman who’d made a deal with the devil himself.
    Damned lucky.
     
    Murphy had made some stupid mistakes in his time, he realized, but this outdid them all. What he needed was to have his head examined. Now he was trapped.He’d agreed to an assignment he fully considered to be a wild-goose chase. He didn’t doubt for a minute Luke Madden’s fate. The missionary was long dead.
    Even now he didn’t fully understand why he’d involved himself in this craziness. It wasn’t often he misread people. His life depended on skill and