THURSDAY. LA PLAYA de Belén, Colombia. 9 days until Christmas.

Val’s emotional state walking into the house was one part angry, one part hurt, one part shocked and one big part of her wanted to grab Duke and run off to ignore the real world. She’d never thought she’d hear Duke utter the words, I’ll follow your lead. He’d practically given up his always-the-leader mentality without the least bit of pushing. It had her whole view of him wobbling. In the field, he was a benevolent dictator to the team. They all loved him and trusted his judgment, but unless someone had facts to back up plans that ran counter to his, they always went with Duke’s way.

“Is everyone okay?” Mom rushed toward them the moment they stepped through the door.

“Yes,” Val replied. All that warm, fuzzy elation died in an instant.

“What happened?” Mom followed her into the kitchen where someone had covered their plates from dinner.

Field surgery often left her hungry after all that adrenaline burned off. Usually she carried some sort of high protein bar with her for just this occasion, but she hadn’t exactly anticipated patching up a bullet wound. She uncovered the plate, grabbed a fork and dug in.

There might not have been an incident if she hadn’t intervened. If she’d minded her own business, how might things have turned out differently? The dishwasher would no doubt be in worse shape, and who would they have gone after once they were done with him?

“Val? What happened?” Dad closed in from the other side.

Duke pointed down the hall, and she nodded. Given how fast he’d been there to back her up, she doubted he’d ever made that work call. Both grandparents sat at the dining table, the years weighing heavily on them in a way she wasn’t used to.

“I met some of your protection detail tonight,” she said between bites.

Mom and Dad glanced at each other, their faces lined with worry.

“One of them tried to shoot me, but the bullet went wide and hit the butcher’s nephew—what’s his name?” She tilted her head to the side.

Mom began muttering a prayer, her face going pale.

“It makes sense now. The bread. Everyone’s silence. No decorations. They’ve got the whole town scared, don’t they?” Val looked at each family member in turn.

Mom stared back, eyes wide, the fear so plain on her face Val couldn’t believe she’d missed it.

Dad seemed sadder than anything else.

Abuela wouldn’t look at her.

Abuelo had that hard, stony gaze pulled up, but his hands were clenched into fists.

Without asking, she knew he’d tried to do something, maybe in the very beginning, and it hadn’t gone well.

“What have you done?” Mom whispered.

“What have I done?” Val put her plate down. “I saw someone getting hurt, and I did something about it. Now I have to live with the fact that someone got shot because of me, and who knows what else will happen now? Why didn’t you tell us?”

It wouldn’t have stopped Val from acting, but maybe she’d have gone in with a plan. Something better than waving the proverbial red cape in front of the bull.

“They’re going to come after us.” Mom turned toward Dad. “What do we do?”

“Sh.” Dad wrapped his arm around Mom and held her against his side.

“Who? Who are these people? Where did they come from? Why wouldn’t you tell me about this?” Val threw her hands up. Now she couldn’t even eat.

“Come and sit.” Dad gestured at the family table.

Everyone gathered around it, taking seats, assembling with one generation on one side, one on the other, and Val at the head of the table.

“Three months ago, a truck full of men rolled into town just after mass. They blocked the doors to get out, and they had guns. A man named Esteban got out and told us then that we either paid for protection, or they were going to start taking—our choice.”

“They took the gold crosses and candle sticks from the alter.” Mom blinked back tears.

“At first, some people gave them what they wanted because they were scared. Some of us tried to push back, but they attacked Raul and Jose. Nearly killed them.”

Raul and Jose were like a town patrol. They did odd jobs, from keeping things safe to a random assortment of civil duties. They were good guys.

“It was me,” Abuela said.

“You?” Val frowned.

“People were getting hurt.” Abuela leaned forward, her wrinkles creasing into deeper lines of concern. “Good people, and no one was coming to help us. So I went door-to-door and told them we have to do what they asked—so more people didn’t get hurt. I thought someone would help us that it wouldn’t go on this long.”

“Let me guess...no one has come along to help?”

“No,” Dad said.

“They’ve got you over a barrel. You can’t tell anyone or they’ll go after you, so you can’t ask for help or warn people away. And you have to give them what you want. They’re draining everyone dry.” She stared around the table at her parents and grandparents. “I’m going to go talk to Duke.” She needed his guidance and a clear head. Anger and guilt were going to make her do something stupid.

No one stopped her as she took both her plate and Duke’s down the hall to the guest room. She tapped the edge of the plate on the door and a moment later Duke whisked it open. She walked in and set the plates on his bed, then turned toward him.

Duke was right there. She wrapped her arms around him, needing his strength because hers was eroding. All she wanted to do was keep her family safe and understand what the hell was going on. Now, because she’d jumped before thinking, she might have brought the demons to her door. What would she do if those men came for her family? What if they killed them? She buried her face against Duke’s chest and sobbed.

The world was an ugly, cruel place sometimes. But she’d always seen La Playa as apart from that. And here they were, smack in the middle of it.

“Sit. Tell me what’s wrong.” Duke guided her to the edge of the bed and moved the plates onto the windowsill.

She sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, desperate for some support.

“It’s exactly what you said it was. It’s a protection scam. They came in, made the threat in church, then took the gold pieces off the alter and left.” She couldn’t bring herself to tell him about Abuela’s part in all this. Val understood. She’d lost enough children and grandchildren in her lifetime.

They’d made the best decision given the circumstance and hoped for the best.

“I’m sorry,” Duke muttered against her hair.

“What do we do?” She turned toward him and hugged him tighter. “We might have just made things worse.”

“I see two options.” Duke smoothed her hair off her face, his voice rumbling against her ear. “First, I believe we should stick to the plan to evaluate what we’re up against. That will inform our options. Second, we can plan a counter attack ourselves, or we can wait until Jackie and Felix arrive, see if they can back us up on this.”

“I’d rather tell them to not come. Felix is just getting back to full strength. If he got hurt again, I couldn’t do that to Jackie.”

“Okay, then we have to plan carefully. A few, highly motivated individuals can accomplish more than those who are merely doing what they’re told. We should get some sleep and wake up early. We’re more likely to catch these people unaware if we go earlier rather than later.”

Val nodded, some of her ragged emotions soothed by Duke’s calm, certainty.

“I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here. I mean, I hate that I dragged you into this, but I’m so glad you’re here, too.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

Val swallowed and closed her eyes. For a moment, just this second, she wished they were anywhere else.

Duke was the kind of man she’d dreamed about finding. Maybe she was wrong, and something between them would work out. They operated well together in the field, and she’d only been around him on a few off weeks and weekends here and there. Perhaps she didn’t know Duke, the real him, under the mantle of responsibility. Was finding out what they could have worth the price of losing him, the team and her job?

“You should eat and then rest. Tomorrow is likely to be a long day.” He kissed the top of her head, his lips lingering for longer this time.

Maybe there was a side of Duke she hadn’t met yet, a tender, kinder man who wasn’t all about work. Who wanted a family and time away from the atrocities they worked against.

“Here.” Duke handed her the picked at plate.

She straightened and took it, toeing off her shoes to sit cross legged.

“Tell me about happier times. Tell me your favorite Christmas memory.” Duke scooped up a bite, his attention fully on her.

“Hm.” Val chewed slowly, sifting through the past, trying to think of just one.

“The last Christmas my family was alive, we crammed so many people into our home I had to sit up in the rafters.” Duke smiled and Val stopped breathing. “They are good memories.”

It wasn’t a secret that Duke’s family had been killed by some of the same refugees they’d befriended in a gruesome attack, but he hardly ever mentioned them.

“What is Christmas like in Ghana?” That was a safe enough question, wasn’t it?

“Lots of family. Lots of laughing.” He smiled and stared out the window. “It’s harder to remember them the older I get. I can’t quite remember my mother’s face, but her laugh? She had the loudest, happiest laugh you ever heard.”

“And let me guess, you did everything you could to make her laugh?”

“I did, though half the time I also got in trouble for it. Her laugh was worth it.”

Duke the silly troublemaker. That was a side of him she hadn’t seen.

He leaned against the wall, his feet stretched out, and told her of his childhood antics, the trouble he got into and how much he loved his mother.

FRIDAY. LA PLAYA DE Belén, Colombia. 8 days until Christmas.

Duke wished there was time to spare. He had favors he could call in with half a dozen people who had the manpower and connections to make this situation go away. But time was not a commodity they had. It wasn’t like these thugs would wait patiently by for them to get ready. He didn’t want to say it, but he agreed with Val that they had to act now, before the group of tough guys decided to strike back. At the very least, assessing what they were up against would allow them to be ready to face it.

Val left a small package at the door of their gunshot victim’s house. More antibiotics and a few painkillers. It was smart to dole those out a little at a time. With junkies putting pressure on people, it was very likely the family might offer up the medication if they thought it would help them at all. Desperate people did desperate things.

The dishwasher’s kitchen window was open and a familiar face stood inside, his figure silhouetted against the interior lights.

They continued down the path the truck had taken, more people peering out at them. The gang terrorizing the town had enough time molding them to conquer them with fear. It was an unfortunate turn of events. Instead of being able to enjoy the holidays, they didn’t even feel safe in their own homes.

“The track goes this way for about a hundred yards or so, then we’ll have to figure out which way they went.” She gestured at a dirt track leading off the paved road. It went between two towering spires of rock and disappeared around a bend.

“Stay behind me. If we meet them on the road, I want them focused on me.”

“But—”

“No buts.” Duke stopped and grasped hold of Val’s hand. “You are too important to risk. I get hurt, I can still do my job. If you get hurt, who is going to patch me up?”

“Okay. You’re right. You and Jackie, right all the damn time.” Val huffed.

One of the things he admired about Val was how she led with her heart. She believed in doing the right thing, in helping people and being a good person. He’d seen her work miracles with patients so close to death. That was a skill that couldn’t be lost, even in the name of saving others.

Sure, she’d grind her molars, frown at him and have a couple dramatic sighs, but it was only because she cared too deeply.

“We won’t need to come up with a prank if this is what we’re getting into. Is this part of the national park?” He stared up at the walls of rock.

“Yeah, the fins and walls like this one on our right make this whole area a warren of hidden valleys and crevices around here. You sit and listen to anyone whose family goes back generations and they’ll tell you stories about robbers and bandits that used to hide out here. Most of it's bullshit, but some of it’s based on fact.”

A hundred yards in, just like Val said, the path became less clear.

“What kind of truck were they in last night?” Duke examined the way the sand was disturbed, picking out tracks of multiple vehicles, wildlife and feet.

“Had to be something four wheel drive. You can’t be back here and not have four wheel drive.” Val strode ahead of him and gestured to the right. “That way is where kids go. They take dirt bikes, ATVs and whatnot to go drive around and have fun. People will go left to fish or hunt.”

“And straight?”

“Lots of rough terrain, nothing super interesting.”

“Our guys wouldn’t want to be around a lot of activity. They might go where there’s a food source. But my money would be on avoiding everyone. And see, here?” Duke walked forward, following a line of unbroken tread.

Val pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the markings before they went much farther.

The sand gave way to a compact sand stone that had more grip than the usual slippery mountain rock.

“How close to town do you think they are?” Val asked.

“Close enough, but not too close. They wouldn’t want to get too chummy with the neighbors.” He squinted into the distance. “Are there any other paths through the part?”

“Old trading roads, but nothing anyone maintains.” Val closed her eyes. “But they could be using them to get around faster and where we wouldn’t see them.”

“You made a comment about how the two villages the bus stopped in before La Playa weren’t decorated. What if this isn’t the only town they’re targeting?”

“Shit.”

“Let’s not bite off more than we can chew, okay?”

Val nodded and fell into step with him.

The going was slow. They could go ten feet without spying a bit of disturbed ground or evidence that anyone had passed this way, which caused them to double back and examine other possible paths. The biggest indication they were going in the right place was an occasional oil stain. The vehicle must be in shoddy condition to leak so much oil, but it gave them a trail of bread crumbs to follow when other signs weren’t as clear.

The terrain was indeed rough. Even he wouldn’t want to take one of the safari trucks out here for fear it would get stuck, and those vehicles were built to traverse all kinds of obstacles. It was a beautiful, rugged view, though, reminding them how small and young humans were in comparison of the time it had taken to wear the mountains down into these graceful spires of stone. Eventually the elements would wipe the fins and towers off the planet and all they would have was the memory and photographs of such wondrous things.

“Duke.” Val grabbed his elbow and pointed to the sky.

He’d been searching the ground for some sign that a vehicle had passed this way, and he hadn’t glanced up.

A thin tendril of smoke curled toward the sky.

“I’ll be damned,” he muttered. “I’m betting they just woke up.”

“And they’re making a fire for coffee. Power lines don’t run up here. About ten years ago someone wanted to make a campground, but they needed places for RVs to plug in. Couldn’t get it to happen, so they abandoned the plan.”

“Did they ever construct anything?”

“No, but there are a handful of shacks all over the mountains. Some are ancient, others are newer, built by hunters or people grazing cattle.”

“Anything over that way?” He nodded at the smoke.

“I don’t honestly know. Most I ever did was me and Val hiking around for an afternoon. We didn’t come out much farther than we are now.”

“I want to follow their path, in case we need to steal a vehicle to get back to town.”

“Your Dad have a truck that could get up here?”

“Yeah. Maybe not all the way up, but close enough I bet.” She strode forward, her head hanging. “I can’t help but feel like if I’d been living in Bogotá, none of this would have happened. Abuela would have called me. I’d have helped deal with it. This wouldn’t be an issue.”

“How would you have handled it from Bogotá?” Duke glanced at her. That bus ride had taken forever.

“I know cops. Good ones. I could have called them and at least tried to do something. Couldn’t I?”

“You could. And maybe Abuela would have made the same choice she did now, to not bring you into this in an attempt to protect you. If you have those connections, wouldn’t your family know about it? Those don’t go away just because you change jobs. You could have made the same calls from our office as you could at the hospital.” He reached over and grasped her elbow, pulling her to a stop. “You can’t blame yourself.”

“But—”

“No. If you live your life for everyone else, what’s left for you?”

Val snorted a laugh. And kept walking, pulling him along with her.

“What’s so funny?” he frowned and let go of her arm.

“That statement coming out of your mouth is funny.”

Duke grimaced. He got enough jabs for focusing on work, but work was what he had. He’d lost two sets of parents, and his adopted brothers. His job kept him going. He loved it, but it wasn’t enough. He knew he needed more in life. Val reminded him of that daily.

“I haven’t been as good at that lately. My brother died a year and a half ago, and since then... I think about what we wanted to do, the things we wanted see, the places we’d go. Without Marc it’s been harder to enjoy life.” Until he met Val. Showing her his country, his continent, it breathed joy back into his life. Made him remember that he used to have a life of his own, and he wanted it back.

“You’ve never mentioned Marc before. I’m sorry to hear he died.”

“You’ve heard all about him.” Duke smiled. “His family was the refugees that lived with us. When my parents died, they didn’t hesitate. They brought me into their family and treated me like I’d been there all along. Without them, I don’t know where I’d be.”

“Was Marc the guy with the leg injury?”

“Yes. He never let anything keep him from doing what everyone else could.”

“I wish I could have met him.”

“He used to say people knew my parents because they’d met me. A piece of them lived on in me. I guess, you know me, so you know him as well.”

“I like that.” Val’s smile turned warm. “I guess I got to know Marc when we went on safari then? He was the one who knew how to take a break, I’m guessing?”

“He knew how to take breaks, but safari wasn’t his idea of a good time.”

“What was?”

“Video games.”

“You know how to play a video game?”

“Shocking, I know.”

“I’m impressed.” Val’s smile spread into a grin.

“Being with you has reminded me to do more than work. Losing Marc felt like I lost part of me.”

“I get that. When my brother died I was pretty lost, too. It gets better with time, but it’s hard. Every time you think you’re okay, something reminds you they’re gone, and it hurts all over again.”

“How old were you when your brother passed?”

“He was killed when he was fourteen. Drug runners rounded up a bunch of kids to do some work and got caught between two sides of the conflict. Half of the kids died.”

Duke swallowed around the lump in his throat. They’d both lost so much in this lifetime. Everything they did with the team was to stop the loss. Even now, their focus was on what they could do to prevent more people from being hurt or killed.

“I’d like more time away from the team. For myself,” he said.

“From a medical standpoint, I’d suggest it. You give everything to everyone, what do you do for yourself?”

“I take pretty girls on safari.”

Val shook her head.

The words, I’d like to spend more time with you, stuck in his throat, probably due to that pesky lump. That was a big sentence to utter when all they’d done was ignore the chemistry. He couldn’t imagine this. She had to feel it, too. So why had neither of them addressed it yet? He hadn’t dared because he was her boss. Was her reasoning the same? Or was there more to it?

The smoke was close enough he could smell the fire. Whatever they were burning wasn’t wood, and it didn’t leave a pleasant aroma.

“Wait here. I want to look around first,” he said.

“Really?”

“Yes. Wait here.”

“Okay. Fine. But I’m crawling up on these rocks.” She gestured at the rubble big enough to hide behind.

“Good.” He turned toward the source of the smoke.

“Duke?”

“Yeah?” He glanced over his shoulder.

“Be careful?”

“I fully intend to come back in one piece. It might be a while, so do not follow me.”

The more time he spent with Val, the more he wanted to pursue something more substantial with her. Yes, he was her boss, but he didn’t think she’d let something like that sway her decisions. If Val wasn’t interested she wouldn’t pretend as though she were. He’d just have to trust that if he was wrong, if the chemistry was all in his head, they would still be able to work together.