The Winter Soldier. Diana Palmer

do the work instead. For reasons he didn’t understand, he didn’t like having his good-looking foreman Harley around Lisa.

      He went to the meeting with his banker and then on to Ebenezer Scott’s place, careful to phone ahead. There were men on the gate who didn’t like unexpected company and might react instinctively.

      Eb met him at the front door, more relaxed than Cy had seen him in years.

      “How’s it going?” he asked the newly married man.

      Eb grinned. “Funny how nice a ball and chain can feel,” was all he said, but his eyes were twinkling with delight. “How’s it going on your end?”

      “Let’s go inside,” Cy said. “I’ve found out a few things.”

      Eb took him into the kitchen and poured coffee into mugs. “Sally’s teaching. I don’t usually do more than grab a sandwich for lunch…”

      Cy held up a hand. “I haven’t got time, thanks. Listen, they’ve got the beehives on site around that new warehouse on the land adjoining mine. There’s a lot more activity there, panel trucks coming and going and deliveries after dark. I’ve spotted a number of unfamiliar faces. They don’t look like beekeepers to me. Besides,” he added curtly, “I saw a couple of Uzis.”

      “Automatic weapons at a honey plant,” Eb murmured thoughtfully. “They must have armed, militant bees.” He grinned at his own whimsy. “I’d hoped that Lopez might hesitate after his failed attempt on Sally’s family.” Sally, along with her aunt Jessica and Jessica’s young son, Stevie, were targeted for vengeance by the drug lord. Luckily Lopez hadn’t succeeded in his mission.

      “We knew that Lopez had mentioned to one of his slimy followers that he needed a new distribution center. What better place than a little Texas town not far from the Gulf of Mexico, with no federal officers around?”

      “He knows we’re around,” Cy pointed out.

      “He only knows about me,” came the reply. “Nobody locally knows about you. And he thinks I won’t do anything because he’s backed away from harming Sally’s family. He figures the two guys who are taking the fall for him will keep the wolves from his door.”

      “I don’t like it.”

      “Neither do I, but unless we can prove he’s channeling drugs instead of honey through here, we can’t do anything. Not anything legal,” he added slowly.

      “I’m not going up against Uncle Sam,” Cy said firmly. “This isn’t the old days. I don’t fancy being an expatriated American.”

      Eb sighed. “We’re older.”

      “Older and less reckless. Let Micah Steele go after him. He lives in Nassau and has connections everywhere. He wouldn’t be afraid of getting kicked out of the States. He doesn’t spend much time here anyway.”

      “His stepsister and his father live here,” Eb pointed out. “He isn’t going to want to put them in harm’s way.”

      “From what I hear, his father hates him and his stepsister would walk blocks out of her way to avoid even passing him on the street,” Cy said curtly. “Do you think he still cares about them?”

      “Yes, I do. He came back with the express purpose of seeing his father and mending fences, but the old man refused to see him. It hurts him that his father won’t even speak to him. And I’ve seen the way he looks at Callie, even if you haven’t.”

      “Then why does he live in Nassau?”

      Eb glanced around warily. “He’s over here doing a job for me, so watch what you say,” he cautioned. “I don’t want him on the wrong side of me.”

      Cy leaned back in his chair and sipped coffee. “I suppose we all have our crosses to bear.” He narrowed one eye at his oldest friend. “Do you think Lopez will make a try for Lisa?”

      “It’s possible,” he said flatly. “Down in Mexico, a ‘mule’ crossed him. He killed the man’s whole family except for one small child.”

      “That’s what I thought. I sent Nels Coleman over to her ranch to stay nights in the bunkhouse. He used to work for the Treasury Department back in the late seventies.”

      “I know him. He’s a good man.”

      “Yes, but not in Lopez’s class. Your guys are.”

      Ebenezer nodded. “I have to have good people. The government and I are more than nodding acquaintances, and I run a high-tech operation here. I can’t afford to let my guard down, especially now that I’ve got Sally to think of.”

      “It’s been a long time since I’ve had to consider a woman,” Cy replied, his green eyes quiet and thoughtful.

      “Lisa Monroe is sweet,” Ebenezer said. “She’ll love that child to death.”

      “She’s like that,” Cy agreed, smiling. “I wish she wasn’t so bullheaded. I went by to see her this morning and found her out in the barn, trying to pull a calf all by herself with her bare hands.”

      Ebenezer chuckled. “I won’t turn your hair white by mentioning some of her other exploits, before she got pregnant.”

      “This isn’t the first time she’s done something outlandish?”

      “Let’s see.” Ebenezer pursed his lips, recalling gossip.

      “There was the time she stood in the path of a bulldozer that was about to take down the huge live oak in the square that a peace treaty with the Comanche was signed under. Then she chained herself to a cage in the humane society when they were going to put down half a dozen dogs without licenses.” He glanced at Cy. “The Tremayne brothers suddenly developed dog fever and between them, they adopted all six. Then there was the time she picketed the new chain restaurant because they refused to hire immigrants…”

      “I get the idea,” Cy murmured dryly.

      “We were all surprised when she married Walt. He was a real man’s man, but his job was like a religion to him. He didn’t want anything to tie him down so that he couldn’t advance in the agency. If he’d lived, that baby would have broken up the marriage for sure. Walt said often enough that he wasn’t sure he ever wanted children.” He shook his head. “He wasn’t much of a husband to her, at that. Most of us felt that he married her on the rebound from that model who dropped him. He felt sorry for Lisa when her dad died and she was left all alone. Even after the wedding, he flirted with every pretty woman he saw. Lisa went all quiet and stopped staying home when he was around. He wasn’t around much of that two months they were together, either. He volunteered for the undercover assignment the day they married. That shocked all of us, especially Lisa, and he got killed the same day he was introduced to Lopez.”

      “They knew who he was,” Cy guessed.

      “Exactly. And it was Walt’s first undercover assignment, to boot. The only reason Rodrigo hasn’t been discovered infiltrating Lopez’s distribution network is that he’s still a Mexican national and he has at least one cousin who’s been with Lopez for years. The cousin would never sell him out.”

      “Lucky man,” Cy remarked. “I hope we don’t get him killed.”

      “So do I,” Eb said with genuine concern. “Rodrigo’s been in the business for a lot of years and he’s the best undercover man I know. If anybody can help us put Lopez away for good, it’s him. But meanwhile, we have to keep Lisa safe.”

      Cy went thoughtful. “She’s a kind soul.”

      “Kind and naïve,” Eb replied. “People take advantage of her. That baby will wrap her right around its finger when it’s born.”

      “I love kids,” Cy said. “I miss mine.”

      “Lisa will love hers,” came the quiet reply. “She’ll need a friend, and not only because of Lopez. She can’t