Tag Archives: blood diamonds

Meet Will and Rod from The Diamond Diva Vendetta

All the men jumped out to assess the situation, shining their headlamps at the ruined tire. “That’s a goner,” pronounced Will.

“It sure is,” Rod agreed.

Logan sighed. “Get the spare. I’ll get the jack.”

He started to move, but Will put a hand to his arm. “Why don’t we pull the jeep off the road, cover it with branches and camp here for tonight.” He nodded toward their guest who was holding her head in her hands. “She’s stuffed, and all this bouncing can’t be good for her ole lemon spread.”

“English, man,” Rod huffed. “What the hell did you just say?”

Logan looked around the area as he considered Will’s idea. “She’s tired, and the bouncing hurts her head.” He looked back to Will. “Is that right?”

“A course. What else would I be sayin’?”

“So why can’t you just say that?”

“It ain’t the first time ya heard cockney, ya nong.”

“They’re completely nonsensical! How can I possibly remember them?”

Will shook his head and pointed a little further up the road. “I thought there was something familiar about that last bend. There’s the burned spot we cleared last month for our tactical exercises campie.”

“I thought it smelled different here,” Rod said, but Will looked at him skeptically.

“It still smells burned after a month?”

Rod shrugged and tapped his nose. “Some of us got it, and some of us don’t.”

Meet Logan Stafford from The Diamond Diva Vendetta

Will got to his feet, but before he could help her up, Logan put out a hand. She took it and slowly stood. He moved her forward, his hand on her elbow, but her wobbly gait had him throwing an arm around her, making her stand still for a moment. She closed her eyes and leaned into him, and he felt guilty for rushing her. Guilty for other sensations that fluttered through him as well. He tried to remember all the unflattering things he’d read about the Diamond Diva, but it would take a bucket of ice water to douse his body’s reaction to her. “Maybe you should lie down. We can do this later.”

She shook her head and pushed her hip away from him. “No, I need to see.”

He started forward again, and this time she seemed steady, so he walked her out of the room and to the door where Will was waiting. He opened it, and she pulled away from Logan’s support completely, shuffling out into the small clearing. After a few moments, she turned back, a mystified look on her face. “Does America even have a jungle like this?”

Logan nodded. “South America does. You know you’re in Brazil, right? You had a meeting with the sex trafficker Justin Miranda and were nearly killed by someone who thinks you’re the Diva de Diamante, the infamous, almost completely anonymous, head of a very lucrative diamond smuggling organization that milked blood diamonds out of the native-owned lands of Brazil for a decade.”

She put a hand to her temple and started to sway again, and Will leapt to her side, putting an arm around her. “Godammit Logan, cut it out. You’re hitting her with too much too fast.”

Logan’s lips went tight at the scolding. He felt every thread that had led them so close to finding Tiffany Morrow come completely unraveled. If this woman was just a lady from Kansas City with a lousy ex-husband and a cheap phone from a Brazilian lover, they had nothing. No inside information. No bargaining power. Nada.

And he could be in deep shit for having her here at all.

He spun in irritation. “Bring her back inside.”