Into the Deep

by Virginia Smith

  “Yeah, I just got home a few minutes ago and saw I missed a few calls from you. Sorry about that. I forgot my phone again. I’ve been out shopping all day. You should see the adorable shoes I bought. Perfect for that red strapless number I got last month. You remember the one?”

  “I remember.” Nikki tried to filter the tension out of her voice. No sense setting off an alarm back in Portland if she didn’t have to. “Listen, Allison, I have a question. Did you send me a gift certificate for a water excursion for my birthday?”

  A delighted laugh sounded through the phone. “That wasn’t me. It was your mom! She wanted to give you a special birthday surprise. How cool is that?”

  Nikki wilted against the seat back. Beside her, Ben glanced her way. Nikki smiled and mouthed, My mom. He blew out a relieved breath.

  “I never thought of asking her,” she told Allison. “What a relief.”

  “A relief? Why would you say that?”

  Nikki closed her eyes to shut out the sight of Ben. “I can’t explain right now. It’s a little complicated.”

  A note of alarm crept into Allison’s voice. “Complicated? Nikki, what’s wrong? You sound funny. Is everything okay?”

  Now was not the time to go into an explanation. Not with Ben inches away from her, listening to every word. But she needed to ask a favor of Allison, and she wanted to make sure her friend understood how important it was. And she couldn’t mention Joshua by name.

  The carefully planned lie fell easily from her lips. “Everything’s fine, but I had an incident today that spooked me a bit. Somebody tried to mug me this evening. It’s too complicated to go into right now, but I think the guy picked me out when I went to collect on that gift certificate.”

  “Nikki! That’s terrible! Are you okay? Did they steal anything? If you need me to wire you some money, that’s not a problem.”

  Warmth flooded through her at her friend’s offer. “I’m fine. They didn’t get anything. I’m just a little shook up, you know?”

  “I can understand that. I’d be freaking out.”

  “Listen, Allison, don’t mention anything to Mom. I don’t want to worry her. But could you do me a favor? Keep an eye on her. Give her a call tonight. Maybe drop by tomorrow and check on…things.”

  Beside her, Ben turned his head to give her a curious look. Nikki ignored him. The urge to call Mom was so strong it sat like a hot lump in her stomach, but she didn’t dare. Joshua would want to talk to his mommy, and there was no way she could hide the fact that she was talking to a child with Ben listening to every word.

  Allison’s voice took on an edge. “Why would you getting mugged in Key West make you worry about your mother in Portland? What’s going on, Nikki?”

  She forced a laugh. “Oh, I’m just paranoid, that’s all. But could you do it? Just make sure everything’s okay. Please?”

  “Of course I’ll be happy to check on her and Joshua.”

  Nikki pressed the phone closer to her ear. Could Ben hear Allison’s voice over the roar of the engine and the noise of the wheels on the road? His expression hadn’t changed, so she didn’t think so.

  “Thanks, Allison. I really appreciate it.”

  “Now you’re spooking me. Listen, be careful, okay? I mean, Key West is supposed to be pretty safe, but a woman traveling alone is a target for unscrupulous people. Don’t go out by yourself at night.”

  Nikki poured more confidence than she felt into her voice. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  When she pressed the button to disconnect the call, she stared at the blank screen.

  Ben’s question broke the silence in the car. “Your mother sent the gift certificate?”

  She nodded. “As a birthday surprise.”

  “Well, that’s one mystery explained, then. It really was just a coincidence that the Reynosa people saw us together yesterday and decided to use you as leverage.” A muscle in his jaw bunched into a knot. “It worked, too.”

  “I guess it did.”

  He awarded her a tight smile. “Well, we’ll be in Miami in a few hours. I’ll take you to the airport, and you can get on the next plane home.”

  “What about you? Are you going through with it?”

  Ben’s teeth appeared and clamped down on his lower lip for a moment. Finally, he shrugged. “I’m going to Mexico for sure. After that, who knows? I wasn’t kidding when I told that guy the flash drive might not even be there anymore. I hid it pretty well, but you know how strong the current is there.” He flashed a quick smile her way. “You don’t have to worry about it. You just go on home. I’ll take care of everything.”

  Nikki stared straight ahead. Clouds blocked the moon and shrouded the landscape in darkness. The beams from their headlights illuminated the road between their car and the red taillights in front of them. Could she trust Ben to take care of things? No, she couldn’t. Not that he wouldn’t follow through with his plan, but Joshua was her responsibility, hers alone. As much as she wanted to hop on a plane tonight and head home to stand guard over him, she couldn’t do that. Until that flash drive was in the hands of the Reynosa cartel, she had to assume they were looking for her. What if they were being followed right now? She cast a nervous glance over her shoulder at the line of headlights behind them. The last thing she could do was go home, where she would lead them directly to Joshua.

  Actually, the right thing to do would be to retrieve the flash drive and turn it over to the FBI. Expose the crooked senator.

  “You know, Ben, you really should turn the drive over to the FBI. The country needs to know about Senator Webb.”

  He shrugged, but didn’t respond. Nikki studied his profile for a moment. Could she convince him? Maybe, but first she’d need to talk to the federal agents privately. They’d have to promise to protect her and Joshua and Mom. Give them a guard or put them in protective custody or something.

  Lord, what should I do?

  The answer to her question became clear almost immediately. Until Ben had retrieved the flash drive, she could do nothing. With that drive in their hands, they had bargaining power.

  She fixed her eyes on the yellow line in the center of the road. “I’m not going back to Portland. I’m going to Mexico with you.”

  The car jerked violently as the right-hand tires swerved dangerously close to the concrete barrier protecting them from the dark, churning waters.

  Ben steadied the steering wheel before he turned an outraged look on Nikki.

  “What are you, crazy? You heard that guy back there. They were going to hold you captive until I got the flash drive to them. Do you really want to spend time getting up-close-and-personal with a couple of Mexican drug dealers? Because the next time they grab you, I don’t think they’re going to be so easy to get away from.”

  “That’s exactly my point. If they’re back there—” she inclined her head to indicate the line of cars behind them “—watching to see our next move, I don’t want to lead them straight to Portland. I want to make sure this situation is resolved, or I’ll be looking over my shoulder forever.”

  Ben had to admit there was some truth in her logic. “Okay, so you’ll barricade yourself in a hotel in Miami until this thing is over. I’ll call you when it’s done, and you can go home then.”

  “Right, ’cause they don’t have connections in Miami or anything.” Her mouth twisted in a tell-me-another-one grimace.

  “They probably do.” He conceded the point with a nod. “But Mexico is their turf. We’ll be a lot easier to spot there. And you can bet they’ll be watching every flight into Cozumel.”

  She turned sideways in her seat to face him. “Come on, Ben. I know you better than that. You’re not planning to fly to Cozumel. You wouldn’t want to be that visible.”

  He wanted to deny her statement. She did not know him, not anymore. Not since she walked out on him without a word almost three years ago.

  But in this case, she was right. Flying straight back to Cozumel woul
d be stupid, and wasn’t part of the tentative plan that had begun to form in his mind.

  Nikki went on. “And since the next closest airport is Cancun, I don’t think you’re planning to fly there, either. They’d expect that. Mexico City would be the best place to make sure we’re anonymous, because it’s so big. But that’s way too far to drive. So I’m thinking…” She folded one arm across her middle, propped her elbow on it and tapped her lips with a finger while she stared at him through narrowed eyes as though trying to read his thoughts. “Mérida,” she finally said. “Smaller, but far less likely to be watched. We can pretend we’re tourists, rent a car and be in Playa del Carmen in a few hours. Then we can hop on the ferry with the rest of the tourists for the ride over to Cozumel.”

  Ben stared through the windshield. She does know me too well. He didn’t know whether to be amused or irritated.

  He lifted his foot from the gas pedal to slow the car as they approached Marathon, the town that marked the halfway point through the Florida Keys. They were a little over two hours from Miami. He had that long to convince her to change her mind.

  But even as the thought occurred to him, he knew it would be a wasted effort. Nikki had always possessed a stubborn streak wider than the Grand Canyon. Actually, that was one of the things he had admired about her when they first met. When she set her mind on doing something, she refused to be sidetracked.

  Not that he’d always agreed with her. That whole church thing, for instance. Right at the end of their relationship, she’d insisted on hanging around that church in Cozumel, no matter how hard he tried to make her see reason. The more he thought about it in the months after she left, the more he became convinced those religious people were the reason she’d left Cozumel. Left him.

  Ben clenched his teeth. His dad had been right about church. Ben remembered the time when he was ten, when Dad blew into town on his Harley for one of his unannounced, infrequent visits. It was Sunday morning, almost time to leave for church, and Ben and Mom were just finishing breakfast. Dad had wolfed down the eggs and toast Mom fixed for him, using his fork between bites to emphasize his point.

  “What do you want to drag the boy into that mess for? Nothing but a bunch of people sticking their noses in each other’s business, telling people they’re sinning.” Dad’s nostrils had curled. “I’ve got no use for religion, myself. When Ben here’s old enough, he can decide on his own what he thinks. Besides, how often do I get to see my kid?” He’d slurped from a mug of coffee laced heavily with milk and set it on the table with a bang. “You go on and do whatever it is they do at church. Us guys’ll just hang here till you get back.”

  Ben still remembered the thrill he’d felt at the look Dad gave him across the table. Us guys. His father’s carefree lifestyle as a sound mixer for a heavy metal band kept him on the road much of the time. When he wasn’t traveling with the band, he rode with a motorcycle gang that rarely stayed in one place more than a couple of nights at a time. He showed up for unannounced visits with his son and the woman he’d never married only a few times a year. Ben cherished every precious moment of father-and-son time. If his idol thought church was a waste of time, it would have taken a two-ton tow truck to drag him to church after that.

  When Mom returned home that day, Dad climbed on his motorcycle and left. Ben would never forget the final wave of his leather-clad arm and the way his long hair splayed out behind him in the wind as he zoomed down the street.

  It was the last thing Ben ever saw of his father. Two weeks later, a state trooper came to their door to tell them he’d been killed in a motorcycle accident. Devastated and without another male role model, Ben held on to his father’s memory by emulating his lifestyle—carefree and church free.

  Brake lights flashed red on the car ahead of them. Ben slowed as the vehicle executed a left turn onto a residential street.

  Beside him, Nikki watched him closely. “Am I right?”

  It took a minute to remember what she was talking about. Oh, yeah. Mérida.

  “Yeah,” he admitted. “That’s where I was thinking about going. But I still think you’d be better off staying in Miami while I take care of this. Don’t get involved.”

  “I’m already involved, whether I want to be or not.”

  The set of her mouth, the way she jutted her chin forward and dared him to argue with her, stirred his memories. He never could win an argument with Nikki. Didn’t look like that had changed. Besides being the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, she was still as stubborn as ever. Ben knew when it was time to give in and let her have her way.

  “Fine. But don’t hold me responsible if you get yourself in trouble.”

  Her mouth gaped open and her eyes went wide, as though he’d just said something shocking. After a few seconds, she closed her mouth and twisted around in the seat until she was facing the passenger window. He barely heard her whispered response.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

  At the softness in her tone, an unnamed emotion twisted in Ben’s chest.

  SEVEN

  Their flight from Miami landed in Mexico City at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. It would be about an hour or so before they could catch the connecting flight to Mérida, where they’d take the ferry the rest of the way to Cozumel. Nikki had spent nearly all her vacation cash to pay for her tickets. She didn’t want to use a credit card in case someone was trying to track her whereabouts by watching her accounts. Probably a paranoid thought, but she didn’t care. Ben, who didn’t have a credit card, used his debit card. Easily traceable, but Nikki bit her tongue. He had no cash, and she didn’t have enough to pay for both tickets.

  They stepped off the airplane and into the bustle of the Mexico City airport. Even though they were inside, Nikki felt the familiar humidity in the air she drew into her lungs. She clutched Ben’s arm when the people filing past them brushed against her. It was almost as crowded here as it had been at Mallory Square last night. It would be so easy to get separated.

  Ben pressed her fingers with his other hand in what was probably supposed to be a comforting gesture, but he was busy scanning a board listing the departing flights.

  “There it is.” He pointed toward the board. “We’ve got to take the shuttle to terminal two. But first, I need to find a phone.”

  He set off with a confident step, alert but outwardly at ease. If Nikki hadn’t felt the tension in the muscles of his arm, she would have thought he was nothing more than the American tourist he pretended to be. She forced what she hoped was a relaxed smile and matched his step.

  “Who are you going to call?”

  “Cesar.” His glance flicked down at her, and she noted the worried lines at the corners of his mouth. “I hate to get him involved, but I can’t think of anyone else I’d trust. We need a boat and equipment, and we need it quickly.”

  They spied a pay phone up ahead, and Ben strode toward it. Nikki stood beside him as he punched numbers on the keypad. She watched the people who passed, looking for a pair of familiar faces.

  Don’t be silly. The men from Key West weren’t on our plane, and there were no other flights out of Miami this morning.

  Still, mightn’t the Reynosa cartel have airplanes at their disposal, even in Key West? “Cesar. Buenos dias, my friend.” Ben gave her a brief nod, and then began speaking quietly into the phone in rapid Spanish.

  Nikki kept her eyes on the crowd. She didn’t spot a single familiar face, thank goodness. Her gaze swept across the moving people.

  A pair of dark eyes snagged hers. A man, standing in front of a newsstand not far away, was looking directly at her. Their eyes met for a split second, and then he looked away.

  Heart thudding against her ribs, she watched him. Latino, judging by the dark skin and jet-black hair, but he was taller that the two in Key West. He appeared to be inspecting the people who filed past, much as she had done. But after a few seconds, his gaze strayed back in her direction. Their eyes met once again. Nikki’s pulse kicked up anot
her notch.

  “Ben.” She poked at his arm. “Ben, look over there.”

  Ben kept the phone to his ear, but turned and looked in the same direction. When he did, the man casually stepped inside the newsstand. Ben looked at her, eyebrows drawn together in a question.

  “He was watching us,” she hissed.

  After whispering a few more Spanish words into the phone, he replaced the receiver. He studied the newsstand through narrowed eyes. “Are you sure?”

  Nikki hesitated. Was she, or was she just being paranoid? “I think so.”

  “Then let’s go while he’s inside that store.”

  He placed a hand beneath her arm and pulled her away. They blended into the crowd moving in the opposite direction. Nikki couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder, but she didn’t catch sight of the man again. Maybe she really was imagining things. Still, she couldn’t calm the uneasy feeling that fluttered in her stomach.

  The sun had long since passed its apex by the time Ben and Nikki stepped off the ferry onto the dock in San Miguel, Isla Cozumel’s only town. Ben rested a hand lightly on Nikki’s back as they flowed with the crowd of tourists past the brightly colored buildings toward the town square. Mexican vendors called to them as they passed. “Buenos dias. Best prices right here.”

  “Turquoise, señor. I make a good deal.”

  Ben refused with a brief smile, his gaze fixed ahead of him, though many of their fellow ferry passengers swarmed the covered wooden stalls with the enthusiasm of vacationing tourists with pockets full of money. He glanced at Nikki. She used to love dickering with the vendors, practicing her broken Spanish and making full use of her blond beauty to get the lowest price on whatever caught her fancy. Today she didn’t spare them a glance.

  As they approached the San Miguel square, a waving hand caught Ben’s attention.

  “There’s Cesar.” He pointed toward the curb, where his former boss stood in front of a dirty white Volkswagen Beetle.

  They headed in that direction, and when they neared, Cesar wrapped Nikki in a quick hug. Ben nearly dropped his backpack in surprise. Though friendly, his former boss usually possessed more than his fair share of Mexican reserve and had never been much for outward displays of affection. “Señorita, you are as beautiful as ever.” White teeth gleamed in his broad face.