Covert Makeover

Sophie Brooks uncrossed her legs and tugged on her skirt hem as she watched her boss pace across the state-of-the-art kitchen of the lavish art deco home that housed Weddings Your Way. Rachel Brennan's soft linen dress swirled around her legs each time she turned. As soon as she'd walked in the door this morning, Sophie had seen that the beautiful, black-haired head of Miami Confidential was agitated.Rachel snapped her cell phone shut and held her iced latte against her temple. "Mornings like this, I really miss Colorado. How can it be one hundred percent humidity?" Her sharp gaze lit on Sophie's black-stockinged knees. "I swear, Sophie, I would melt like the Wicked Witch of the West if I dressed like you."Sophie gave a taut little smile and recrossed her legs. "I guess you can take the girl out of New York -- "Rachel snorted and took a long swallow of her drink, then looked in turn at the other members of the team seated at the table. "That was the hospital. Sonya Botero's limo driver has regained consciousness, but Sean Majors, Botero's chief of security, has given the hospital staff instructions not to allow any visitors until he has a chance to question him."Rafe Montoya slapped the table with his palm. "Has he still got a twenty-four-hour guard on Johnson's room? I don't like it. Majors is holding too tight a rein over that guy. We know Craig Johnson is connected to Sonya's kidnapping. What's Majors trying to hide?"Rachel pushed her hair back from her face. "I think he's just smarting over the fact that it was his man who allowed Sonya to be kidnapped. And he has a right to protect his employee. Let's wait. He's been cooperative so far.""He hasn't heard anything more from the kidnappers?" Julia Garcia asked."He didn't say.""So we still don't have a time or place for the ransom drop?"Sophie heard the concern in Julia's voice.She'd been friends with Sonya Botero for years. She was understandably shaken by her friend's disappearance.When Rachel didn't answer immediately, Sophie spoke. "You think we may not hear anything else, don't you?"Everyone's head turned toward her and she saw on their faces that she'd voiced their fears. "That maybe they don't want anything except to torture her fiance. If her kidnapping turns out to be part of the effort to stop Juan DeLeon from curbing the drug trade in Ladera, we're going to have trouble doing anything from here. And their legislature goes into session within a few weeks."Samantha Peters sat forward. She adjusted her tortoise-shell glasses on her pert nose. "But there's another consideration. What about Juan's nutty ex-wife? Anyone of her family could be behind this. After all, they all have connections with the drug trade."Sophie shook her head. "Why would they act now? They've had years to take revenge on Juan.""But now he's more powerful. The bills he's sponsoring will affect their livelihood, too."Rachel tossed her empty cup into the trash, frowning. "I know it's frustrating that we can't seem to nail down enough specific information to go on. And Sophie's right, we're limited in what we can do from here. One thing's for certain. We operate on the belief that Sonya is still alive. And everything we do must be aimed at bringing her back safely." Her brows knit together in a frown."And we've heard nothing else from the police, although that's probably a good thing," Rafe commented."True. I'd rather keep Miami P.D. out of it as much as possible. In fact -- " Rachel glanced at her watch " -- I have a meeting with the commissioner this afternoon to address that very issue. So far we've been successful in keeping this out of the public eye, and of course the commissioner is being cooperative with the Confidential Agency, but the media is beginning to buzz about Juan DeLeon's presence here and Sonya's conspicuous absence from her usual social and charitable functions."Sophie checked her watch. She had an appointment withKane, Mallory is the author of 'Covert Makeover', published 2006 under ISBN 9780373887019 and ISBN 0373887019.