Ana did step forward then and raised her hand to strike Marco’s face. But she stopped, her hand dropping to her side. He never flinched.
“How could you? How could you do this to our family, to me, lying to us all? And sending Lucia away in the night, when you thought she could be pregnant? Because you had to return to your job, and you couldn’t deal with it?”
Chance had seen Ana’s passionate personality in many guises, but he had never seen her so purely angry. Electricity nearly crackled around her, and he set his hands on her shoulders before she forgot and hurt herself, her own wound still fresh.
Tears rolled unrestrained down her cheeks as she glared at Marco.
“If she dies, it will be because of you,” she spat. “And because of me. If I had not come back, if I hadn’t ignored the threats...” she said, her anger turning to guilt and defeat all at the same time.
Chance drew her in close. “No. This is no one’s fault but the men who took her, and we’ll find them. And we’ll find her. I have my brothers working on tracing her cell. Marco, what do your people say? The ones you can trust, anyway? What do these guys want? What will happen when they find out that they don’t have Ana, but Lucia?”
Marco seemed to wake up, responding to Chance’s no-nonsense tone. They couldn’t just stand around here arguing and crying, or Lucia would die.
“Two things. They will try to trade her, or...they will decide they don’t need her around.”
A strangled cry escaped Ana’s lips, and Chance’s heart squeezed painfully. He hated seeing her suffer like this, and he was hell bent on doing whatever he needed to in order to make her happy, as well as safe.
“Do you have any idea where they could be holding her?”
Marco was also clearly flat-out in love with Lucia and ready to hurt someone himself. Chance would be happy to help him, but it appeared he was going to be the coolheaded one around here.
“Listen, all that matters is finding Lucia. Do you have any idea where she could be?” he repeated.
Marco was quiet for a few beats, then looked up, shaking his head. “They could be anywhere.”
Chance didn’t like feeling helpless. It wasn’t in his repertoire.
At that same moment, both his and Marco’s phones rang, and they answered.
“Chance?”
“Jonas, do you guys have anything?”
“It’s sketchy, but we may have a lock on Lucia’s cell phone. I’m texting you the coordinates. It looks like it’s in the middle of who knows where. Do you have anything from the police?”
“I’m standing here with one of their federal officers, and he’s talking to his people now, I think.”
“Good. Coordinate with them, and don’t handle this yourself. These guys usually come in groups and they come heavily armed.”
Chance nodded. “Copy that.”
“How’s Ana?”
“Upset, of course. Angry as hell,” he said, watching her pace the courtyard a few yards away.
“Can’t blame her, but it’s even more important that you stick to her like glue, Chance. This threat was directed at her, and this could be a decoy, or who knows—this Marco, anyone, could be involved. Even her sister.”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“You don’t know. Believe me, I’ve seen worse. Just...stick with her. Let the police go find the sister.”
Chance felt his spine stiffen. Sometimes his brothers forgot that he was an adult, completely capable of doing his job.
“Chance, we just want you home in one piece. Her, too, but this is nasty. Stay in contact, okay?”
Chance’s annoyance dissolved when he heard the strain in his oldest brother’s voice—they were worried. He knew his brother would send in the troops if he could, but they weren’t in the United States, and Lucia was a Mexican citizen, and so was Ana, for that matter. There was nothing Jonas and Garrett could do but watch and try to help from afar. Chance knew how frustrating that could be.
“Don’t worry, Jon. I don’t intend to let anyone lay a hand on her.”
There was a pause before Jonas simply said, “I see.”
“See what?”
“Nothing, Chance. It happens to the best of us,” Jonas said, and Chance shook his head at the phone. Why did everyone keep saying that to him?
“Okay, I have the coordinates,” he confirmed, looking down at the incoming message. “I’ll let you know what’s happening,” he said, cutting off the call.
“What did they say?” Ana asked both men as they converged on her.
“We have the coordinates on Lucia’s phone,” Chance said. “They could have ditched it, so we don’t know for sure, but it could at least give us some direction on where they took her.”
Marco’s expression was dark, his eyes dangerous.
“We won’t need them. I know where she is.”
Chance understood immediately. “That wasn’t the federales. That was whoever took her,” he stated.
Marco nodded.
“They know they have the wrong sister, and they want Ana. They also want me.”
“They know who you are? That you’ve been working undercover?”
Marco nodded. “I spoke to Lucia,” he whispered, his tone choking. “I know she is alive. For now, but they said I have to come with Ana right now, or she won’t be.”
Chance swore under his breath.
“Okay, well, if we know where they are, can’t you send in a team to get her out and apprehend these guys?”
Marco shook his head. “If they have someone on the inside, they’ll know we’re coming, and they’ll kill her without a second thought.”
“I will go. There is no time to do anything else,” Ana declared, and Chance turned to her in shock.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said and winced as he saw her eyes blaze. “I didn’t mean it to come out like that, Ana, but you can’t possibly go. They’ll just kill you, Marco and probably Lucia, too. There’s no benefit in you going. You don’t think these people will really honor their word and let Lucia go, just because they said so?”
“Well, we have to do something!” she said, keeping her voice down. They had been trying to not alert everyone else in the house, especially Doncia, about what was going on. “I cannot take this. How will we save her?” Ana said, suddenly pale and lifting a hand to her shoulder.
“You’re hurting, Ana. Have you taken any medicine?”
“No. I need to have a clear head.”
“A couple aspirin, at least, won’t muddy your thinking. I’ll get you some,” Chance said, turning to go inside.
“No, I’ll get them. You two must find a way to work this out. There isn’t any time,” she said. She hugged Chance tightly and then headed toward the house.
Chance took a deep breath.
“They are independent women, Ana and Lucia,” Marco commented. “Very passionate, very determined.”
“You said it. So what next? I can’t leave Ana here alone. This could be a trap. If we leave, she’s here unguarded.”
Marco pursed his lips. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he said. “You stay here, and let me see if I can pull something together.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Ana and Lucia are very beautiful women, but we have some undercover officers who could look very similar to Ana, especially this time of night. If I can get one to go with me, with backup, we might pull it off.”
“That’s brilliant—but I thought you worried about whom you could trust?”
“It’s getting too late for that now. We have to do something, so I’ll just have to risk it,” he said, pulling out his phone to make the calls.
It was Chance’s turn to pace as he once again found himself feeling at loose ends, unable to help. But then Jonas’s words came back to him; he had to focus. His job was the protect Ana—that was why he was here. As much as he wanted to help Lucia, he had to leave that up to Marco and the federales, and hope they could pull something o
ut of their hats.
He supposed he should call Jonas back and let them know what was happening. Hed reached for his phone.
But it wasn’t there.
Searching the ground around him, he couldn’t find it, and panicked.
Ana.
When she’d hugged him, she must have lifted his phone. She had the coordinates for where Lucia might be, and she had the phone’s GPS to use them. He heard the rumble of a car starting in the driveway, and cursed, running full speed to the driveway, only to see the brake lights disappearing down the dark road.
“Damn it,” he yelled, Marco racing out to meet him.
“What happened?”
“Ana. She took my phone, and she took the car. She’s going to try to go after Lucia herself.”
Marco swore loudly. He’d driven his family’s produce delivery truck to the house, his truck being stuck in the jungle where Lucia had been taken. The large, lumbering truck could never catch Ana in time.
“Doncia. She has a car out back. I can hot-wire it,” Marco said, turning, only to find the woman he spoke of standing behind him, looking regal, as usual—and petrified.
“Or you can just ask me for the keys,” she said. “You will find my girls?” she said, her eyes traveling from Chance to Marco and back.
“We will,” Chance promised and hoped that he could keep it.
“Go, please. Please don’t let them be hurt,” she said, handing Marco the keys.
When he looked at her questioningly, she just said, “The courtyard is an odd place. Voices travel there. Even when you think you are not being heard, you are.”
With that, she left them and walked back inside.
“Ready?” Marco asked Chance as they ran to the car. “I contacted my office, and they have someone meeting us there, though I don’t know how Ana’s going to affect the situation if we can’t get to her in time.”
“Then let’s go,” Chance confirmed as they sped out of the drive and down the dark road after Ana.
“You drive,” Marco said, throwing him the keys. “I have to make a few more calls.”
Chance hit the gas and pushed the cold fear in his heart back, knowing he couldn’t even think about losing her. Losing Ana, and not having her in his life, wasn’t an option. He’d do whatever was necessary to save her, even if he had to put his own life on the line to do it.
* * *
LUCIA SAT VERY QUIETLY ON the dirty floor in the corner of the dark barn, closing her eyes and trying not to think about it as she felt something run over her foot. Her hands were tied to post behind her, so tightly that they hurt, and her mouth was dry from the rag wrapped around her face.
Who were these men?
They had to be the group that Marco had infiltrated, that he was trying to take down. They might have seen her with him and thought this was a way to get leverage?
“Ha,” she huffed through the gag, the effort making her choke. Her eyes burned with tears as she thought about him. He wouldn’t even know she was missing, and if he did, he’d probably only be angry that she had messed up his undercover work.
She couldn’t wipe the look on his face, or the words that he’d spoken, from her mind. The last moments she had with him—maybe her last moments forever—were angry ones. He didn’t want to marry her—it was just a ruse for his job.
He certainly didn’t want children or anything that would interfere with his work.
And now here she was because of his work.
How could she have been so stupid? She could be pregnant right now—so reckless, to have thought of bringing a life into the world and having it end like this.
Despair gripped her heart, and she tried to hold on, to think. The men had dumped her here and left her. She didn’t know if there was anyone outside standing guard, but she didn’t think so. She’d heard some cars come and go, and some voices, but that was all. Perhaps there was a house and she was just put here for safekeeping until they decided what to do with her.
They hadn’t said a word, just laughed when she cried, asked who they were. They told her to shut up and hope that her boyfriend came through.
Came through with what?
Lucia had been trying to work the rope around her wrists, but it was too strong. Her wrists were abraded from the rope.
What did it matter? What did anything matter?
Then she thought of the possibility of the baby—the baby that she wanted, even if Marco didn’t—and started struggling again. Marco could go to hell. She was going to save herself, whether he came through or not.
Struggling more, she sobbed as she pulled at the rope, scoring her skin but not giving up. With one hard tug, she heard something rattle and then fall, making a crashing sound at the other side of the barn.
Lucia froze, scared to death of who might have heard the noise. Sure enough, the wide doors at the other side opened, and she saw the silhouette of one of her captors fill the doorway, an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder. He hit a light, making her blink at the sudden brightness.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked in unaccented, perfect English. Not one of her people, not Mexican.
She didn’t say anything, because she couldn’t, but glared as best she could. Her struggles had knocked some copper buckets from a shelf. That was all.
The man was big—definitely white and mean-looking. He walked closer, squatting down by her and reaching out to touch her cheek.
“Were you lonely? You want some attention? I could help you with that,” he said with a leer, smiling to reveal sharp, white teeth. He looked like a shark. A monster.
And she was helpless to defend herself.
A tear worked down her cheek as his hand drifted lower, and she closed her eyes, not wanting to think about where this was going.
“Such a waste. Might as well put you to some use while we have you, right?” he said, taking his gun from his shoulder and laying it on the floor, reaching for his belt.
Lucia cried in earnest now, gagging on the cloth, wishing she hadn’t knocked the buckets over. She didn’t want to look, didn’t want to see, and kept her eyes tightly shut, as if she could escape somehow through the dark she found there.
The next thing she knew, she heard a grunt, and the man’s weight was on her, and she tried to scream, but realized something wasn’t right—he wasn’t touching her or molesting her; he was just lying there, and someone was saying her name.
“Lucia. Lucia, honey, it’s me. Open your eyes,” she heard a woman’s voice whisper, and she did open her eyes to see Ana, the gun in her hands, the man at their feet, unconscious.
She had to be dreaming, and started to struggle, to fight, but Ana touched her face, calmed her down.
“Shh. You will make more of them come to check. Be quiet, and let me get you loose.”
Lucia couldn’t believe it; Ana was really here, really saving her.
It didn’t seem real, but it was, as Ana released her hands and pulled the gag from her mouth.
Lucia coughed, moving her stiff, sore limbs as she stood.
“Ana, how...?”
“I had the coordinates for where they dumped your phone, not far from here. I followed tire tracks from there, all dirt roads, the idiots. I waited in the brush and heard the crash—I was coming in, but then saw the man come in first. I knew I had to move, knew he was going to hurt you,” Ana said, taking the rope and tying it none to gently around the man’s hands, and stuffing the gag into his mouth.
She grabbed the automatic weapon and handed Lucia the knife she had freed her with.
“Where did you get this?”
“I’m a cook,” Ana said with a smile. “I knew I would need a weapon and took it from the kitchen before I left.”
“But you are here alone?”
“I took matters into my own hands. You are here because you were mistaken for me. I wasn’t going to wait around for everyone else to save you. But hurry. We need to go before someone comes to check.”
Lucia nodded, gripping the knife in her hand, and then she grabbed Ana’s hand, stopping.
“Ana, how did you know I was here?”
“Marco knew. I was calling to try to find you. Chance found out about Marco being undercover, or something like that. He told us you were on your way home, but we knew you hadn’t made it. Things just...developed from there.”
“So you are not alone? They are here?”
“No, I came alone.”
“So...he would not come for me?” Lucia knew it was stupid, but her throat burned with the acknowledgment that Marco hadn’t come to save her.
But Ana had.
“Lucia, we have to go. Marco was sick with worry for you, ready to kill them all, but I took it into my own hands and came myself.”
“They don’t know you are here?”
“They probably do by now,” Ana said, grinning. Lucia, though she was crying, and so grateful, while still being scared out of her mind, also grinned.
“Okay, then, lead the way, my warrior sister.”
The two women snuck out of the barn and along one side to the back, into the darkness of the jungle. Step by step, Lucia felt safer and calmer.
“Where is the truck?”
“Buried in foliage by the water. A few hundred feet that way.” Ana pointed. The jungle was black and dangerous at night, but Lucia didn’t care as long as she was out of that barn, away from the animal who was about to attack her. Better to be bitten by a snake or a panther than have suffered what he had planned.
As they got closer, Ana ducked down, pulling Lucia with her. Ana cursed under her breath.
“They found the truck. They are there by it. There’s no way we can get close. We’ll have to find a way to walk to the road, but they could have men in the area looking by now,” Ana said worriedly. “Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing I did, taking off on my own,” she added.
“Well, I’m just glad there are witnesses to that statement,” Chance said from behind, startling her as she spun around, the gun pointed out.
“Whoa,” he said, hands up, backing away. Marco did the same. “We’re friendly.”
Lucia’s heart nearly burst seeing Marco, and she couldn’t have been more shocked as he came toward her, wrapping her in his arms so tightly she couldn’t breathe.
His Kind of Trouble Page 15
