"As we've discussed," he told the man, "this has to be carefully executed. America has a lot of military power, and we have to cut off their legs and take control before they have a chance to react.""It is an honor, jefe," Hector told him. "I await your call."It wasn't until they were back on the plane and in the air, and he was seated with a drink in his hand, that he made the next call. As expected, it went to voice mail, so he left a message. Fifteen minutes passed, and he was on his second drink when his cell rang."What is it?" Lorena hissed. "You know we are all meeting. We're finally down to the rest of the details. I'll let you know when I have the information you need." She paused. "You and your men are still ready, yes? You're not calling to tell me you've changed your mind, I hope.""Why would I change my mind? When this happens, the world will be my marketplace, with international distribution.""Then what is so important?" she demanded.He took a sip of his drink.

At that very moment, Max was standing on the patio at the lodge with the rest of the unholy group, trying to do more listening than talking. The afternoon had been devoted to analyzing the timing of each event, whether they should all happen at the same time or one after the other. Where each of the couples should be when it happened. At home, was the prevailing opinion. Max did his best to find out what the plans were after that. The best he could get was they would have observers at each site and convene the next morning to move forward from there. They touched briefly on the steps they would take to put their own people in place but not nearly as much as Max had hoped they would. He didn't want to push and call undue attention to himself, any more than his arrival already had.Immediately after the afternoon meeting broke up, he and Regan had begged a few minutes to unpack their suitcases. Jed followed them upstairs to show them which room was theirs and hung around the doorway.

Lorena Alvaro filled her wine glass and glanced at her husband, who nodded. Then she cleared her throat."Excuse me, everyone. We need to take advantage of the fact that the Ferrens are out of the room for the moment and discuss something that's come up. Something very important ad worrisome." Jed looked over at her."Is it about Max and Regan Ferren? I wonder if I'm the only one here who thinks there's something not right there. I can't put my finger on it even though I spent two days with them.""They're almost too good to be true." Gavin Emery's gravelly voice rattled in the air. "I said that from the beginning.""Exactly," Lorena agreed. "And they might very well be. You won't be happy with what I have to say. Things aren't exactly as we've been led to believe.""Well, what the hell is it?" Kurt Cavanaugh demanded. "Don't keep us waiting. We have enough to be on edge about.""All right." She let out a breath. "I know Luis can be a bit uncontainable at times but he can usual

Jed Whitlow was shaving the next morning, standing at the bathroom sink wearing just a towel wrapped around his waist, when his wife walked in, holding her cell phone."I have a question."He rinsed his razor and stroked it through another line of cream. "Okay. Shoot.""Do you think I should try and call Jeanne? Maybe she isn't sure if she should contact us. Or it might be that Bernardo is worried that somehow whoever has them squirreled away has set up a way to trace cell calls."Jed thought for a moment while he shaved the rest of his face. Finished, he rinsed the razor, knocked it against the sink for good measure, and wiped his face. "Good point," he acknowledged at last. "It might be worth the chance, though, to see if we have enemies in our midst.""Okay. I'm going to call her right now before we go downstairs." Jed watched as she brought up her contacts list, found number for Jeanne Ferren, and hit Dial. He waited, watching, but nothing happened."Don't leave a message

The afternoon brought more of the same with one exception. Everyone at the table seemed a lot more uptight, and every so often he would catch someone glancing at both him and Regan with a strange look. He was beginning to think Si was right and they needed to split ASAP. Nothing changed until late in the afternoon when there was a knock on the door."I'll get it," Lorena said, pushing her chair back.Everyone seemed to freeze in their seats while she walked to the entrance. Max watched her carefully, shocked to see Luis Rojas and three men who could only be his "fixers" walk into the room. The muscles in his stomach tightened, and he pushed back in his chair, reaching slowly for his gun. Before he could get his hand around the grip, Gavin Emery was behind hm, grabbing his wrist. When he glanced at Regan, he saw Whitlow had pulled her from her chair and yanked her hands behind her back. In seconds, he had her gun, also."What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.Anna Whitlow l