Family on the Run

by Margaret Watson

  “Who would kill a little baby?”

  Her mouth thinned. “El Diablo. You should know enough about him to know that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill an innocent child.”

  Chase sank to the ground across from her. Weak moonlight filtered through the trees, and there was just enough illumination for him to see her high cheekbones and wide-spaced eyes, but not their expression. He remembered the bright blue color that used to shine like a flame, then he abruptly looked away. He didn’t want to notice anything about Andi, including how she looked in the moonlight.

  “Tell me what happened to Paloma.”

  “Don’t you think we need to get farther away from Chipultipe?”

  “We’re safe enough here for the time being. Now I need to know what’s going on.”

  Her eyes flashed at him and now he could read her perfectly. She wanted to tell him that he wasn’t in charge, that he had no right to ask questions. But she took a deep breath, instead.

  “I owe you that much, I guess.”

  Andi looked down at Paolo, asleep in her arms, and touched his cheek again. A look of fierce love and protectiveness filled her face, and in spite of himself, Chase’s heart moved in his chest. Get over it, he told himself.

  “I’ve been here in Chipultipe for the past two months,” Andi began. “My cover was as a teacher, sent by the Peace Corps. I was really here to collect information from Paolo’s mother, Paloma. She worked as a maid in El Diablo’s hideaway.”

  Chase frowned at her. “How the hell did you hook up with her?”

  “She was a very courageous woman,” Andi said quietly. “Her husband worked for El Diablo, too. When he was killed by government soldiers during a botched drug delivery several months ago, she finally saw how heartless and cruel El Diablo was. He didn’t care about her husband’s death—it was just a cost of doing business for him. She knew she had to stop El Diablo before any more women lost their husbands. She managed to call the police on a trip to Monterez, and they put her in touch with our agency. A couple of months later I was sent to Chipultipe to act as her contact.”

  “So she was working in El Diablo’s house?”

  Andi nodded. “Apparently after her husband died, El Diablo figured she’d be loyal to him because she didn’t have any choice. She was able to get us some very valuable information. She didn’t think he knew what she was doing.” Andi’s mouth thinned. “She said that El Diablo assumed she would be too grateful for the work to ever turn on him. Maybe she was wrong. Or maybe he was just suspicious because a stranger was taking care of Paolo for her, and he didn’t want to take any chances. She was shot as she walked home this evening and left for dead along the side of the road.”

  Chase leaned forward and touched her hand, in spite of his warning to himself. “I’m sorry. That must have been hard.”

  “Of course it was hard.” Her voice was harsh and he saw the guilt in her eyes. She swallowed before she spoke again. Chase looked away, remembering the pain of losing someone he’d worked with, remembering too clearly the guilt he’d felt. And remembering Andi McGinnis’s part in that death.

  “Somehow Paloma managed to make it to my house. I knew she’d lost too much blood and wasn’t going to live, but I did everything I could to make her comfortable. She died a few minutes before you showed up.”

  “Why did that mean you had to leave?”

  She gave him an impatient look. “Her body is in my house. If El Diablo was suspicious of her already, he’s going to think that I was her contact. I was a stranger in the village, and an American, too.”

  “Then why not just get out yourself? Why take the kid?”

  “Because he has no one else now.” Her voice was fierce, and she looked down at the sleeping baby. “Paolo has no family left. Someone has to care what happens to him.”

  “Doesn’t he have relatives in the village?”

  She shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. That’s why I was taking care of him. Paloma had no one else to ask. And even if he did have family there, I wouldn’t have left him. Paloma begged me to take care of him, and I promised her that I would. If I’d left him, El Diablo would very likely have killed him, too, as a lesson to anyone else who considered betraying him.”

  She hesitated, then said in a low voice, “Paloma gave me some information before she died—vital information. I have to get it to Monterez, and I only have five days. So you see, I had no choice. I had to leave.”

  Her fingers tangled in the baby’s hair, and Chase told himself to look away. He didn’t want to see this side of Andi McGinnis. A strange tenderness moved in his chest as he watched her with the baby, a yearning for something he couldn’t quite name. He stood up abruptly, turning away from the picture she presented. A family was the last thing he wanted.

  “Why didn’t you just radio the information to the city?” His voice was harsher than he’d intended.

  “I keep my radio hidden in the jungle. We didn’t have time to stop and get it just now. And I don’t think it would be safe to go back.”

  “You can use my cell phone,” he offered.

  Andi shook her head. “That’s too risky. It’s too easy to eavesdrop on cell phones. I don’t want to tip him off that we know about the meeting. I want him there so we can catch him.”

  Chase scowled, feeling the jaws of the trap closing around him. “So what’s your plan?”

  “My plan is to get to Monterez. I appreciate the offer of a ride, but you can see that El Diablo’s men will be watching the roads. They’ll stop everyone and search all the cars. I can’t go that way, but you should be perfectly safe if you wait until it’s light.”

  He gave her a measuring look. “So you and the kid are just going to take off through the jungle, by yourselves, hoping to reach the city.”

  “That about sums it up.”

  “I don’t think so, McGinnis.” He shook his head, forced in spite of himself to admire her courage. “I’m afraid you and the kid are stuck with me until we get to Monterez.”

  “And why would that be?”

  He gave her a thin smile. She would never accept the truth, that he didn’t want to leave her alone in the jungle. She was too fiercely independent for that. So he said, “I’ve got a nice chunk of money riding on this job. And Paolo is my paycheck.”

  Andi narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on, Remington? Why are you so interested in Paolo? And don’t tell me it’s for the money. You don’t give a damn about money. I know you better than that.”

  “You don’t know a thing about me, McGinnis.” His gaze held hers for a moment, then she looked away. “I was hired to do a job and I’m going to do it. With your cooperation or without it.”

  “Forget it,” she said, and he heard the edge of desperation in her voice. “Paolo and I will be just fine.”

  He shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so, McGinnis. My money says that there’s no way you’re making it to Monterez by yourself. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”

  “Why? We don’t need your help. I don’t want your help.” He heard the beginnings of panic in her voice, and he wanted to snatch back his promise. Andi McGinnis had invaded his memory and haunted his dreams for the past three years. No matter how hard he tried, he hadn’t been able to banish her from his mind. Now, watching the uneasiness in her eyes, he wondered if she had thought about him, too. He damn well hoped not.

  But in the end it didn’t matter. He wasn’t about to walk away from her and the baby in this cruel and unforgiving jungle.

  “Let’s just say I’m feeling like a Good Samaritan tonight. And you’re the lucky recipient of my charity.”

  “You’ve never done anything out of the goodness of your heart in your life,” she snapped.

  He gave her a mocking smile. “Maybe civilian life has mellowed me.”

  “And maybe pigs can fly. Go back to Monterez, Remington.”

  “Can’t do it, McGinnis. Call it my chivalrous side, but it goes against the grain to leave a woman and a c
hild on their own in the jungle. Even if the woman is you.”

  “So you’re going to stay with me until we reach Monterez?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  He saw the anger in her eyes, and he also saw the realization that she had no choice. It made for an intriguing mix of temper and frustration. He wondered if he’d see the same mix if he kissed her.

  The thought appalled him. He wouldn’t ever kiss Andi McGinnis again, he vowed. Especially after their last kiss. He’d learned just how deadly a kiss could be.

  Apparently unaware of his thoughts, she stood up. “We might as well get going, then.”

  Chase raised his eyebrows as he unfolded himself from the ground. “I figured you’d see it my way.”

  “I didn’t realize I had a choice,” she said. His heart kicked against his chest when he saw her temper flare again.

  “A lady always has a choice,” he said, his voice mocking. “Sometimes the choices are less appealing than others.”

  “Given the choice of you or death, then, I guess I have to choose you.” Her eyes flashed at him. “But I had to think about it first.”

  “It’s going to be an interesting trip to Monterez,” he said. “Let’s get started.”

  Chapter 2

  Andi watched Chase pace the small clearing as she put Paolo into his sling carrier. Then she slung the large backpack over her shoulders and stood up. “We’re ready.”

  Chase stopped pacing and looked down at her. He’d always used his size to intimidate people, but Andi wasn’t about to let him intimidate her. She straightened her spine and stared back.

  His mouth twitched once, then he moved a step backward. “How did you plan to get to Monterez?” he asked. “You weren’t thinking of walking through the jungle, were you?”

  “Of course not.” She gave him a scornful look and adjusted Paolo in the sling. “There’s a river not too far from here. I thought we’d get a canoe and float some of the way. Once we’re out of this part of the country, it’ll probably be safe to take the roads.”

  “Where did you plan on getting a canoe?” he asked.

  She hesitated for only a moment. Chase was right. She and Paolo didn’t have a chance on their own. So she sighed and said, “There’s another village about two miles from Chipultipe. It’s right on the river. I thought I’d go there, then start walking downriver. I’d planned on taking a canoe from the next village.”

  She saw a glimmer of appreciation in his eyes. “That’s smart. El Diablo might tell his men to check the first village, but they’d be less likely to look farther down the river.”

  She shrugged off his compliment. “It sounded like a good idea to me.”

  “I probably would have done the same thing.”

  His voice sounded grudging. She gave him a sharp look and said, “High praise indeed. I’ll try not to let it go to my head.”

  She saw him fight the half smile that curled his mouth. “You’re quick, I have to give you that.” He glanced down at Paolo, asleep in the sling, and quickly looked away. “Why don’t you stay here and wait with the kid for a while? I’ll take a look around. If I remember the map, that river shouldn’t be too far away. There’s no sense in both of us fighting the jungle.”

  After all the stress of the past few hours, her body screamed for rest, for sleep. But she couldn’t afford that kind of weakness. Not until they were a lot far ther away from Chipultipe. “How will you find us again in the darkness?”

  “Worried I won’t come back? I thought you wanted to get rid of me.”

  “It’s my fondest wish,” she muttered.

  And it was. She didn’t want to spend any time at all with Chase Remington. The memories from the last time, three years ago, were still too raw and painful. The harsh words he’d spoken were etched into her mind.

  And so was Chase himself. His eyes had held nothing but hatred as he’d stared at her. Contempt and derision had filled his face as his gaze swept insultingly up and down her body.

  And she remembered her reaction. Even now, her face grew hot with embarrassment as she recalled the quickening of her pulse, the faint stirring of desire. He hated her because of what had happened, and she had still wanted him.

  She never knew if he’d noticed her response to him that day.

  She’d told herself fiercely that she didn’t care.

  He had disappeared from her life, but she hadn’t forgotten him, no matter how hard she’d tried. Now he was back, and she wanted nothing more than for him to disappear again. Chase was a distraction she couldn’t allow herself. The information Paloma had died for was the culmination of twelve years of effort. It was too important to risk any distractions, even Chase Remington.

  Especially Chase Remington.

  “Get out of here if you’re going,” she muttered.

  He was already turning away, but he pivoted around and squatted in front of her. “Stay here, McGinnis,” he ordered. “I don’t want to come back and find you gone. It would really tick me off.”

  “And God knows I don’t want to tick you off,” she said, her voice mocking. She hoped it hid the way he made her quiver inside.

  “Look, McGinnis, getting that baby to Monterez safely is going to be hard enough. Do you want to make it harder by not cooperating with me? Because if we’re not working together, we’re just making El Diablo’s job a lot easier. It’s your choice. What’s it going to be?”

  She held his eyes for a moment, then dropped her gaze to the baby. Paolo shivered in his sleep. She touched his dark hair lightly, then looked back up at Chase.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be here when you get back. You’re right. As much as I don’t want to work with you, I don’t have a choice. Paolo doesn’t deserve to die. I’ll go with you to Monterez.” She gave him a quick humorless smile. “I’d work with the devil himself to save Paolo.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind, McGinnis.”

  Andi watched Chase disappear into the dense wall of green that was the jungle. Nothing had changed since she’d last seen him. His blond hair was dark with sweat and longer than she remembered. But his green eyes burned with the same intensity, and he still looked at her with contempt.

  And nothing had changed inside of her, either. Her heart still shriveled a little every time his eyes dismissed her. And her soul still longed for what she couldn’t have, what she shouldn’t even have been thinking about.

  She had a mission. She glanced down at the now sleeping Paolo. She had information to get to Monterez and a baby to rescue from a killer. She didn’t have time for foolish yearnings that had no basis in reality.

  A small voice urged her to leave now, to run away from the threat Chase posed. She wouldn’t be able to concentrate on her mission as long as Chase was around. He would be a distraction and a complication she didn’t need.

  But she couldn’t leave. She’d promised Chase she would wait for him, and she would. She prided herself on keeping her word. She thought of her parents for a moment. Standing next to their graves twelve years ago, she’d made them a promise. She intended to keep that one, too.

  She’d stretched out on the ground and fallen into a light sleep when a sound roused her. Her arm tightened around Paolo and she silently sat up, pulling her gun out from under her shirt. When Chase stepped into the clearing, she put the gun away.

  “You’re still here.” He sounded surprised.

  “I told you I would be.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t trust too many people.”

  “I guess we have at least one thing in common, then,” she said as she began to gather up the supplies she’d left on the ground. “What did you find?”

  He looked at her for a moment and she thought he was going to say something, but instead, he looked away. “The river isn’t far. I followed it for a while and didn’t see anyone. We’ll go as far as we can before stopping—I hope we can reach that second village tonight. There’s a narrow path that runs along the river, so we won’t be fighting the jungle the
whole way.” He looked down at the baby. “How do you suppose he’s going to be?”

  She knew what Chase was thinking—was Paolo going to cry and give away their presence? “I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “I fed him a bottle I brought while you were gone and changed his diaper. He’s normally a very easygoing baby. But he’s not with his mother and he’s not sleeping in his own bed. I guess we’ll find out.”

  “I guess we will.” Chase looked at her pack, then at the baby. “Let me take some of the things from your pack,” he said abruptly.

  “Trying to make sure I don’t run off on you?” She raised one eyebrow, the challenge in her eyes unmistakable.

  “Dammit, McGinnis, I’m trying to make things easier for you.” He scowled. “Is it that tough to admit you need help?”

  “Not if it was true,” she retorted. “And don’t blame me if I suspect your motives. Don’t forget, Remington, I know how you feel about me.”

  “You don’t know a damn thing about it,” he muttered.

  Her heart stuttered in her chest as she stared at him. But he circled around behind her and opened her pack. He was standing too close, and she felt the heat radiating off his body and smelled his musky male scent. Even in the jungle, surrounded by the strong smell of dirt and vegetation, his scent seemed to engulf her. She felt herself start to tremble and she wanted to move away, but he was holding on to her backpack.

  “How does that feel?” he asked gruffly, and he stepped away.

  She wanted to tell him she hadn’t felt anything like it in three years, but she bit her lip and said, “Lighter.” She tried to keep her voice from quivering.

  “Then let’s get started.” He avoided her gaze. “We’ll have to push our way through the vegetation until we get to the river, but after that it should be easier going.”

  “Fine.”

  Chase stepped into the dense undergrowth, and Andi hesitated a moment before following him. This was not good. She and Chase were going to be spending the next few days together, and she had better learn to hide her reaction to him. At the very least it would be totally humiliating if he realized how he still affected her. At the worst it could be downright dangerous if it distracted her from her job.