by Zoe York
Leo paused for a beat. “And then you know what? Just like that, I ran flat out of money. One of my Cancun properties went upside down, and then all of a sudden, it was like the early nineties again. I couldn’t pay my credit cards. I couldn’t pay my contractors. I couldn’t pay for food to be delivered to my restaurants.”
“So you called Gerardo Ramirez?” John asked. He sounded disgusted. “Again?”
“Only after I called a bunch of other investors. And a few banks,” Leo said. “But nobody had as much money as I needed—at least, no one would give it to me.”
“So why did Gerardo give it to you?” John asked. He sounded exhausted, and also like he was bracing himself for the worst.
“Because I made a deal with him, and he gave me the money to save my hotel. That devil. I promised him that I was still in touch with you. And that eventually, I was going to lure you down here for a vacation. And then I was going to hand him your wife. On a platter. Except I handed him the wrong wife.”
“You’re a dead man,” I said, interrupting them. I noticed I was gripping the wheel of the car so hard my hands were white.
“Yes,” Leo responded. “I sort of figured that out, already.” He looked down at his blood-soaked shirt.
“Where did he take her?” John asked quietly.
Leo shook his head. “Probably to his compound. He’ll contact me shortly, I know, as soon as he figures out she’s not your wife. I swear that he didn’t tell me anything more about his plan. Except that once he got done with you, he was coming after me if I didn’t have more money for him.”
“Well, you’re screwed,” John said.
“You boys are a little redundant,” Leo said.
I watched Leo from the rearview mirror, my hands still gripping the wheel. “Is he going to kill her? Or torture her first?” I asked.
“There’s only one thing I do know,” Leo said. “Ramirez told me he was going to let you watch him.”
“Watch him what?” John asked before I could.
“Kill your wife,” Leo said.
I just kept gripping that steering wheel as though I was hanging on for dear life.
***
When we got to the resort, we hustled Leo inside and shoved him in one of the linen closets. John took Leo’s cell phone. “I’ll be sure to answer when Ramirez calls,” he said.
Leo just snorted and then sank down against the floor. The blood was soaking through his bandages. “You might want to call a doctor, or something,” Leo said, examining himself and wincing.
John just looked at him. “We’ll be back. Stay alive for a little while longer,” he said. “We need the names of those men.”
We locked him in there and ran up to John and Liberty’s suite, where we could get more guns and ammunition.
Liberty stayed beside me, her face drawn and pale. “We’re going to get her back, Matthew,” she said. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. She’s not supposed to get hurt. And we won’t let her.” She gripped my shoulder. “You won’t, and John and I won’t either. I swear it.”
I nodded at her dully, but I knew the truth now.
You couldn’t ever really leave trouble behind.
— NINE —
LIBERTY
I hated to admit it, even to myself, but the plan had started forming in my mind long before John handed me Leo’s phone to safeguard.
It was a crazy plan. Stupid. Dangerous. Deadly.
But when he handed Leo’s phone to me, it was almost like a permission slip.
Without any actual permission.
The thing was, when the phone vibrated in my pocket, I knew exactly what I had to do. I locked myself in the bathroom while John and Matthew tore through the suite, grabbing all the guns John had packed and anything else they could possibly use to get Meredith back.
But I had the most important thing.
The phone vibrated again. “Hello?” I answered, a little breathlessly. “This is Liberty Quinn.”
***
I told them I was going to check on Leo, and they were so immersed in tactical planning and organizing ammunition that they just grunted at me.
I knew I was going to pay for this, in so many ways, but what choice did I have?
Gerardo Ramirez had Meredith, and he was going to kill her. The thing was, he wanted me. So I was going to give him what he wanted and get Meredith out alive. She could go back to Matthew, where she belonged. And her kids would still have their mother.
And I was going to give Ramirez what he wanted.
But John would get me out, eventually. He would save me—he always did. I didn’t let myself consider the possibilities if he couldn’t. I had to be brave.
I went back down and unlocked the door to the linen closet. Leo was still there on the ground, pale and bleeding, quite possibly waiting to die.
“I need a couple favors,” I said.
“You’re kidding, right?” he asked.
“I need a car. And a gun—a big one, preferably.” I held out his cell phone and handed it to him. “And I need you to give this to John when he gets down here. So Meredith can call him. Or Gerardo. Or whoever. Tell him I went to the ruins in Chichen Itza.”
I straightened myself up and refused to acknowledge the horrified look on Leo’s face. “You better keep it together, Leo. John’s probably going to be a little pissed when he gets down here. You don’t want him to take it out on you. You’re not looking so good as it is.”
***
Enraged was really the more appropriate term for how John was going to be; ‘a little pissed’ wasn’t really going to cover it. That’s what I was thinking as I drove the resort’s car, one of Leo’s big guns at my side, on my way to meet Gerardo Ramirez and his soldiers out at the Mayan ruins.
I had a bad feeling about this, which, given the circumstances, was entirely appropriate.
It was Gerardo who’d called on Leo’s phone. He’d started screaming as soon as I answered, a litany of Spanish expletives so varied and colorful it was almost impressive.
“Mr. Ramirez,” I interrupted him, when he finally paused to take a breath. “This isn’t Leo. This is Liberty Quinn, like I said—John Quinn’s wife. I believe you were just swearing about not having me? Well, tell me how to find you. I’ll come to you, alone. No John, no gun.” I’d lied about that last part, of course. “All I’m looking for, in exchange for me, is the woman you have. She has to be okay, and you have to let her go. Otherwise, I run.”
He’d agreed, of course…but didn’t they always?
I drove cautiously towards the national park, carefully following the signs. I had to think of a plan to make sure they let Meredith go safely—before they got their hands on me. But how could I do that?
I was going to have to figure that part out, and soon.
I pulled into the parking lot at Chichen Itza. As promised, it was empty. My stomach quavered—from everything I’d read in preparation for this trip, the Mayan ruins were usually teeming with tourists. Gerardo Ramirez must have a lot of pull to have the entire park emptied out. Either a lot of pull, or a lot of guns. I took a deep breath and put the car in park. Knowing my luck, he had pull and guns.
I just have to get Meredith away from him, I reminded myself. I would start with that and not let myself think about anything else. Because if I let myself think this through, I would probably just curl up in a ball like a coward and cry.
I shoved the gun into the back of my shorts and stuffed the car keys into my pocket; if Mer wasn’t injured, she could drive back to the resort. I took one last look at the car, wishing I could drive far away.
Then I turned on my heel and followed the signs to the ruins.
***
I took the deep path out towards the esplanade, past some crumbling statues. It was quiet and hot. The late afternoon sun beat down on me in the eerie quiet. I went through the entrance—there was still no sign of any workers or any other tourists—and the ruins and temples spread out around me.
“Oh my God,”
I whispered to myself. Now I understood why this place had been named one of the new seven wonders of the world. I’d read that it had been used as a place of worship for the ancient Mayans, and I could see why. It was clearly a magical place. There were temples and statues and ruins spread out in every direction. The main pyramid, El Castillo, rose up in front of me, majestic and amazing and built before mankind had cranes, bulldozers, or those levels with the little bubbles in them.
Ramirez’s men saw me before I saw them. “Stop!” a voice boomed from somewhere above me, and I obeyed, my eyes filling with tears at the beauty of my surroundings, and also with a quick slice of fear.
I raised my hands as a sign of surrender. “It’s me,” I called hoarsely. “Liberty Quinn. I need to see the other woman. Show her to me. If she’s not okay, our deal is off.”
Someone came out from behind the pyramid, but it wasn’t Meredith. It was a soldier with a machine gun pointed at me.
“We had a deal,” I called, and my voice sounded shaky.
“I haven’t forgotten,” the voice called back, and then another man showed himself at the top of the pyramid. He was so far away and high up I couldn’t make him out clearly. But then he pulled another person from behind him, and I could see her pale-blond hair glinting in the sun. It was Meredith.
She was still alive.
“Send her down!” I called.
The man grabbed her roughly, and then they started coming slowly down the stairs.
The pyramid stairs were high and steep. I held my breath as I watched them climb carefully down. Meredith moved slowly and stiffly. I wasn’t sure if she was injured or just being careful. The late-afternoon sun beat down on me as I waited for them. I could hear my heart thudding in my ears.
I didn’t think about anything other than Meredith, taking each step closer to the ground. Once they reached the bottom, I called out again. “Stop, please!” The man stopped and pulled Mer roughly against him. I winced, breathing hard. “Send her to me!”
The man stepped forward. “You have to come to me.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You have all the guns. All the advantage. I came here alone, to give you what you want. But you have to let her go. That’s the only way I’ll come to you.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes. I swear it,” I said. My voice wavered, and suddenly I realized I was close to tears. I’d never felt more alone in all my life.
He grabbed Meredith and said something to her. Then he shoved her towards me.
It was a long walk from the base of the temple to where I stood. The man with the machine gun kept it trained on me, and I noticed more soldiers, peering out from behind other low temples and columns. I could feel sweat pooling in the small of my back where Leo’s gun was tucked. Meredith came towards me, and I could see how white her face was, even with the heat. When she was a few feet away, she started to run.
“Oh my God,” she said and ran straight into me. I held her as her chest heaved up and down and the words tumbled out of her. “They said they were going to kill me—I thought I was never going to see my kids again—you shouldn’t be here. They’re going to do something horrible—”
“Shh, shh,” I said, rubbing her sweaty back and holding her to me. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to leave now. They’re going to let you go.”
“You can’t trust them,” Mer whispered to me, her chest heaving violently.
“Of course not,” I said. I pulled her to my side. “But you’re still getting out of here. They want me, not you.”
“Because of John?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Mer looked like she was going to say something further, but she stopped herself. We were just standing there, clasping at each other, waiting to hear what Ramirez was going to say.
“What are you waiting for?” he called.
“Nothing,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure she was okay.” I fished into my pocket and grabbed the car keys.
“It’s easy to get back to the hotel,” I told her. “Stay on the main road. Don’t stop to call. Just go.”
“I can’t just leave you here,” she said, shaking her head. “They said they were going to kill me.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, fighting to keep the quaver out of my voice. “John will get me out of here. He does it all the time.” I shrugged and smiled at her, trying to be nonchalant.
Meredith was not feeling my humor. She looked positively sick. “I can’t do it to you. I couldn’t live with myself.” She started to walk back to Gerardo Ramirez.
“Meredith, stop!” I hiss-whispered at her. I grabbed her arm roughly.
“Ladies? Are we having some sort of disagreement?” Ramirez called.
“No. Sir,” I said.
I took a deep breath and looked Meredith square in the eye. “You have two. Little. Children. They need their mother. You were taken by these men on accident. They wanted me. And that’s why I’m here. I am going to turn myself over to them, and they are going to let you go, and then you are going to get John and Matthew and save my ass. Okay? That’s how this is going down.”
“If they kill you, I’ll never forgive myself,” Mer said, and now she was crying. Huge sobs wracked her shoulders.
“It’s okay,” I said and pulled her to me again. I had to be gentle with her; she wasn’t used to all this kidnapping and shooting. But I wasn’t sure how much longer Ramirez was going to tolerate our little sobfest.
“You need to pull yourself together, though. Now. For Matthew. For me. I need you to get out of here so you can get the guys. And I need you to hurry.”
She wiped her face roughly and nodded. “Okay.” It came out garbled, but at least it came out.
“Okay?” I asked. I grabbed her shoulders, squeezing them. She nodded at me again. “Go. And be safe.”
She started walking towards the path, and then she ran, while Ramirez stood watching her.
She disappeared from sight, and he turned back to me. “Liberty Quinn,” he called, “it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
— TEN —
MATTHEW
“Are you fucking kidding me?” John thundered, standing over Leo. “She did what?”
“She went to go get the other girl. At the ruins,” Leo said. He held out his cell phone to John. “She asked me to give you this. In case they called again.”
I noticed that John was staring at a wall, looking like he might punch it, so I grabbed the phone from Leo. “Did Liberty say what her…plan was?” I asked.
“No.”
“If my wife dies, I’ll cut your heart out,” John said, still looking at the wall. I assumed he was speaking to Leo, though.
“Ditto,” I said.
John’s shoulders slumped a bit, and he turned to me. “I’m sorry. I know how upset you are about Meredith. I’ll cut his heart out if anything happens to Meredith, too. I want you to know that. I recognize that this is my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “You were on a job a long time ago, and someone died. It’s part of the job. Now this guy, Ramirez, is back and wants to make you pay. That’s okay, too.”
John raised his eyebrows at me.
“It’s okay because it gives us the opportunity to take him down.” I looked at John with a forced calm. “Let’s go. Let’s go get them. And we’ll deal with Ramirez, too.”
I looked down at Leo, whose shirt was now stiff and caked with blood. “What’re we going to do with him?”
“We need the names of your men—the ones who’ll help us,” John said to Leo.
“And then what?” Leo asked.
“And then we’re leaving and locking the door. Again.”
“Are you coming back?” Leo asked.
“You better hope not,” John snapped.
***
The three men that Leo had said would help us were less than enthusiastic.
“You want us to take you to Gerardo Ramirez? At the ruins?” one ma
n, Iman, asked skeptically. “That doesn’t seem very…smart.”
“No one asked you what you thought,” I said. “We just need backup. One of you guys needs to drive.” None of them moved. I sighed and took out my gun and held it up. “Now,” I said. “Both of our wives are out there. We have to get them back.”
“Good luck with that,” one of the men muttered under his breath.
I grabbed him roughly and shoved him towards the door. “I don’t need luck,” I said. “I have you.” Leo had said he wouldn’t make these men fight for us, but I had other plans for them. Which largely included getting any help I could with threat of force and possibly, bribes from John.
“Gentlemen,” I called, “I am in need of your weapons. Take them all off and throw them on the ground.”
They eyed me warily. “You don’t need to kill us,” the one named Iman said. “We haven’t hurt you.”
“I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to disarm you so you don’t kill us.”
They tossed all of their weapons to us; we were starting to have a veritable stockpile of heavy-duty artillery, which made me feel slightly more upbeat. We took one of the property’s cars, making Iman drive while I pointed my gun at him.
John sat behind me, staring at the phone. “Are you going to call him?” I asked.
“Yes,” John said. “But I’m waiting.”
“For what?”
“Some sort of sign,” John said and stared out the window.
From what I could tell, there were no signs. Just the three men quiet in our car and the punishing sun on the pavement and scorched grass outside. I wondered if Meredith was okay. What she was thinking.
I cut my own thoughts off quickly. There was nothing I could do right now but hope and plan. And then when we got to Chichen Itza, find her and save her. And Liberty.
“I need you guys to talk me through the layout of the ruins,” I said. “I’ve never been there. Have you, John?”
He nodded. “It’s been years, though. I remember there’s a path leading to the main grounds. At the entrance, there’s the big pyramid, El Castillo, and The Temple of the Warriors. There’s all sorts of columns back there. There’s tons of places to hide out.”
