Undercover Wife. Debra Webb

at the harsh order for them to drop their weapons.

      It was over.

      They were dead and it wasn’t even the seventh day.

      SHE WAS STILL ALIVE.

      That in itself felt like a miracle.

      Erin paced the primitive cell. It was larger than the one she’d called home back in Atlanta, but lacked the modern conveniences. She glanced at what passed for a toilet and sink and grimaced. Well, at least she was alive.

      She stalled in the middle of her dingy surroundings and prayed the same was true of Logan. The police had separated them as soon as they arrived at the prison camp. She’d been practically strip-searched. Thank God she’d been allowed to keep on her underwear. She closed her eyes and fought the urge to cry. Unlike in the United States, there had been no female chaperone during the proceedings. Once the guard had given her a thorough once-over, he’d told her to get dressed.

      The interrogation had begun then. They’d questioned her for over two hours. Erin hugged her arms around herself and tried to ease the weak but steady trembling rampant in her. She’d managed to stick to her story. She was Sara Wilks from Austin. They’d shown her a wanted poster with a picture of Logan and his former partner. The mirror image of herself, only with black hair, had stared back at Erin. The likeness was eerie. The man who appeared to be in charge had questioned her unmercifully. Called her a liar on more than one occasion and suggested that perhaps she needed additional motivation to tell the truth. She’d known what he meant. She fully expected to be dragged from the cell any time now and tortured until she said what they wanted to hear.

      Erin threaded her fingers through her hair and released a heavy breath. Maybe she should just tell them the truth about who she was and where she’d actually come from. But Logan had warned her to remember everything he’d taught her. There had to be some reason he didn’t want these people to know the truth. She paced the length of the cell again. Would they kill them if they knew the truth or would it simply blow their cover for the mission?

      She frowned, confusion and renewed fear drilling into her brain. Logan was too smart to let anything like this happen, wasn’t he? A man with enough clout to come into a federal prison in the middle of the night and leave with a prisoner surely knew his business.

      But here they were just the same. In a Mexican prison that verified everything she’d ever heard about the less than savory institutions.

      She remembered enough Spanish from high school to understand that they were in deep trouble. Obviously believing that she didn’t comprehend a word they said, the men had spoken freely. She shuddered when she recalled the remarks one had made about what he would like to do to her.

      Footsteps coming from somewhere beyond her line of vision jerked her attention to the bars at the front of the cell. Her chest tightened with renewed dread. Logan, flanked by two guards, stopped at the door. Her heart did a funny little leap at the sight of him. She resisted the urge to shake her head. It just wouldn’t do to analyze that bit of irony. She was stuck in this place because of Logan and yet she couldn’t stop such a silly reaction to him. Thankfully, he looked no worse for the wear. She’d imagined all sorts of terrible things the guards might have done to him. She shuddered when she considered some of the ones she’d feared would be done to her before this was over.

      Prayer appeared to be their only recourse now. If their circumstances grew any more dire, that might not even help.

      “Abra la célula y déjenos.”

      The order to unlock her cell and leave them came from Logan. Stunned, Erin watched in disbelief as the two guards obeyed without hesitation.

      Silence thickened for a full minute before she could bring herself to do anything other than stare at Logan. The woman in her reveled in every handsome detail of his face and his tall, lean frame. And at the same time, her more rational side demanded that she fear this man she scarcely knew and who had complete power over her universe. The most ludicrous part was that somehow, some part of her trusted him though she knew she shouldn’t.

      “I don’t understand,” she finally managed to articulate. None of this made sense. Had Logan somehow talked his way out of this predicament? Were they free to go now? Was the mission blown?

      “You did good, Bailey,” he said, a wide grin spreading across his beard-shadowed face. “I didn’t think you had it in you, but you did.”

      The epiphany dawned three seconds later. “This was a setup.” The anger she’d felt when he forced her to fire that weapon at him when she hadn’t wanted to slammed into her twofold.

      “A test,” he countered. “We had to be sure you could take the mental pressure.” He leaned against the open door. “This was the only way to gauge it.”

      “I thought they were going to kill me.” She advanced on him. He’d let her think the worst. Let her waste her time and energy worrying about him…praying for him. “I worried that you were being tortured or worse.” She poked him in the chest with her forefinger. “And all the while you were probably sitting at some desk with your feet up and laughing your ass off at how gullible I am.”

      He folded his arms over his chest, for protection maybe because she definitely had murder on her mind. “Actually I’ve been observing your reaction to interrogation.” He cocked an eyebrow. “I am impressed, Bailey. You stuck with the story until the bitter end.”

      Erin could barely hear him over the roar of fury in her ears. She struggled to keep her cool, but it was becoming increasingly difficult with him looking so damned smug about the whole thing.

      “I’m surprised you didn’t go for three or four hours!” she fairly shouted, her cool disappearing completely in spite of her best efforts. “How can you be sure two hours of interrogation was enough? Maybe my humiliation wasn’t quite complete.”

      His gaze turned dead serious. “Because any more than that would have been a waste. Esteban doesn’t waste time. He would either have believed you by then or he would have killed you.”

      She held that too serious gaze for a couple of anxious seconds more before another blast of fury shored up her waning anger. “No more surprises, Logan.” She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. His only reaction was another of those infuriating grins. “I mean it. If I’m in this thing, I’m in all the way. You keep me up to speed on what’s going on or I’m out. Do you hear me? No…more…surprises.”

      “Loud and clear, Bailey.” He straightened and stared down at her. “There’s just one more thing we have to get out of the way first.”

      She braced herself for yet another tactical maneuver. The sudden realization that he’d seen her in her underwear during the body search seared through her brain. “I’d better get advance warning from now on before you say or do anything,” she cautioned. No way was she playing this game one minute longer.

      “Agreed.”

      Uh-oh. That was entirely too easy.

      “Today’s our third anniversary, Baby.”

      She hated that he called her that. But that’s what Logan Wilks, aka John Logan, had deemed the best solution for ensuring she didn’t forget who she was. It was part of the cover. But she didn’t have to like it.

      “So,” she shot back. “What’s that got to do with here and now? And I don’t want you calling me Baby unless it’s necessary.”