Romancing the Alpha: An Action-Adventure Romance Boxed Set (121 page)

“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 man, 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.”

“There’s too many places to hide,” Iman said, “and too many people. This is crazy.”

We pulled into the parking lot, which was entirely empty. Except for one car.

“No,
this
is crazy,” one of the other guys said. “This parking lot hasn’t been empty like this…ever.”

John got out and inspected the lone car in the otherwise empty lot. “This is one of Leo’s cars from the resort,” he called. He headed back and started swiftly assembling an arsenal of guns. He strapped an assault rifle, courtesy of Leo, to his back.

“The girls are here,” he told me. “Both of them. I know it.”

“This is a setup,” I said, careful to keep my voice low. I didn’t want the men getting more alarmed than they already were; we were going to need their help.

“I know,” John said. “Ramirez wants me. He wants me to see him hurt my wife. The fact that he has Mer as well is probably just a bonus for him.”

“What else can you tell me about him?” I asked, strapping a semiautomatic gun to my arm.

“He has lots of loyal employees. There’s not much he’s afraid of.”

“Any weaknesses?” I asked.

“Just the one that I killed the last time I was down here,” John said, his face resigned.

“Right,” I said. I turned to the other men, who were looking like they were about to run. “We gotta do something with these guys,” I said to John. “I think they’d be happy to shoot us and get out of here. Do you want to bribe them?”

John looked at them for a beat. “No. Cut them loose. We’ll be fine on our own.”

“Gentlemen,” I called to them. “I’m going to send you on your way.”

Iman watched my face. “Why should we trust you?”

“You shouldn’t. But you don’t really have another option. If you try to shoot me, I’ll just shoot you first. So before you go, tell me anything that might be helpful about the ruins. Anything useful.”

“There are cenotes in there,” one of the men said. “They have tall grasses around them that are good for cover.”

“The Temple of the Warriors and the Columns could provide decent places to hide. You just have to make sure no one’s in there, first,” Iman said.

“You’re walking into an ambush,” the last man said. “If they’re up in the pyramid and hidden in the columns, they will shoot you down like dogs. You need to go around back and walk from the road. Enter where the Sacred Cenote is and come up on the temple and the plaza from behind.”

John took the car keys and tossed them to the last man. “You drop us off there. You can take the car from there.”

“You’re crazy, you know that—right?” the man asked John.

“I know that. Right,” John said. He smiled tightly at him. “Let’s do this.”

***

The men drove us around the back and we got off near the edge of what looked like a forest. “Thank you,” I said. “You might want to check on Leo when you get back. He’s not doing well.”

“Do you two…
have
this?” the man asked me. He looked at me as if he were looking at a dead man.

“Oh yeah,” I said, with false bravado. “We’ve totally got this.”

He nodded at me, and they drove away, the dust rising from the street. “How many men do you think Ramirez has?” I asked.

“Plenty,” John said. “I think he has plenty.”

Without another word, we headed into the trees, towards what I hoped was the Sacred Cenote. John pulled out his phone and checked a map on it, also checking the compass. “We’re actually pretty close,” he said. “The cenote’s right on the other side, once we get through these trees. I don’t remember seeing it before, but the map says it’s separated from the rest of the plaza by a walkway. If it’s clear, we’ll be able to come into the main area from the back.”

“Okay,” I said. We were moving fast. “Then let’s hope it’s clear.”

“Do you want to make some sort of plan?” John asked, as we continued to move closer.

“Let’s get our wives back,” I said. “And then let’s get the hell out of here.”

“That sounds appropriate,” John agreed.

We came to the edge of the trees, and I could see the Sacred Cenote, down at the bottom of a spiraling cave. Unlike the beautiful water we’d swum in earlier, this lagoon was thick and green, surrounded by brush and crumbling ruins.

“For a sacred cenote, it sure looks like an immunio-booster smoothie,” I told John.

“You definitely don’t want to swim in that,” he said, looking at the water warily. “The Mayans believed that the spirit of the
Kukulkan
, the plumed serpent, went back to the heavens through that cenote after he visited for the equinox. It’s not for casual, mere mortal swimming.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“I told you—I’ve visited the ruins before. This is an amazing place. The Mayans built these temples in accordance with their calendar. During the Equinox, you can see the descent of the
Kukulkan
down the biggest pyramid—
El Castillo
. It’s incredible.” He paused for a beat and looked at me. “This really was going to be a cool trip. We should come back sometime under, uh, different circumstances.”

“I think I’ll vacation in Florida next year,” I said. “Just sayin’.”

He nodded at me and then checked the map again. “There’s a path straight ahead. We can follow that to the main plaza.”

I tried not to think about Mer in this ancient, holy place. Or Liberty, captured by a man who wanted to kill her to settle a long-standing debt. “Do you think they have them both?” I asked.

“Knowing Liberty, I’m sure she tried to get Meredith free before she turned herself in.”

I nodded, but I didn’t say anything. I’m sure that’s what Liberty had done, too. But would Ramirez have let my wife go so easily?

We crept along the path, on the verge of finding out.

LIBERTY

I would have said it was a pleasure to meet Gerardo Ramirez, too, but I didn’t want to start out with a lie. I was in enough trouble as it was. I watched as Meredith disappeared, and I sent silent prayers her way.
Please be safe,
I thought. I looked up at Ramirez, who was waiting for me.

Because otherwise, this will have been for nothing.

“Come,” he called and motioned for me.

I took a deep breath; the sun suddenly seemed hotter. My head hurt as I walked towards him, my temples throbbing dully.

“You know that I know your husband,” he said, as I got closer. I could only see the outline of his face.

“So I’ve heard,” I said.

When I reached him, I sucked in a deep breath. His face was lined harshly, the amber-colored skin weathered by years of too much sun. But it was his eyes that had me worried. They sparkled with curiosity as he looked at me, like I was a shiny new toy for him to play with or a puzzle to try to piece together.

After he took me apart.

He grabbed my wrist as I reached him and held onto me tightly, his fingers sinking into my skin.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said, looking at his hand. “It’s not like I’d get too far if I ran.”

“I know.” He smiled at me and then turned to the guard behind him. “Go get the other girl,” he ordered.

“No!” I yelled. “We had a deal!” I struggled against him and tried to get free, but he just laughed.

“I don’t make deals when it comes to revenge,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I’m going to enjoy every opportunity that comes my way.”

“Every opportunity for what?” I asked, still struggling.

“Every opportunity to make your husband feel regret.”

I stopped struggling and looked up at him. “He already feels it. He didn’t want to hurt your wife. John would never have done that on purpose.”

“It’s nice that you have such faith in your husband, but you happen to be wrong. I was there. He shot her and killed her and then he tried to kill me, too. There was no remorse. Nothing. He just came down here, killed a bunch of people—all to protect that criminal, Leo—and then left the mess behind. And now he comes back here for a
vacation
.”

“He didn’t know she was driving,” I insisted. “It was a shootout. I’m sure you’re familiar with them—the people involved get shot. And killed.”

“What he did was kill someone innocent to protect someone guilty. And he did it for money.” Ramirez watched my face. “Sounds like a crime to me. He deserves justice.”

I pointed to myself and to him. “This isn’t justice. It’s revenge.”

“To me, that’s the same thing,” he said. He looked out to the far side of the plaza. “Ah, here we are.”

I watched in horror as the guard came back, his arms wrapped around a struggling Meredith. He brought her alongside me, and we just looked at each other. She was pale and sweating, on the verge of tears.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Meredith shook her head. “I should’ve run faster. Both times,” she said. She looked flushed and resigned as the guard put her hands behind her back and nudged her towards the pyramid.

I tried to get my arm away from Ramirez again, and he held it tighter, pushing me towards the pyramid as well. “Where are you taking us?” I screeched. The pyramid steps were steep; the structure rose above us like a skyscraper. At the base of the stairs were two large carvings of a serpent’s head.

I shivered; I didn’t want to go up those steps. The serpents were ominous, frightening. There was a building at the top with a lone, dark door.

I didn’t want to go through that door.

“We’re going to see the view,” Ramirez said. “And wait to see who else shows up.”

Meredith just looked at me, and I tried to get myself under control. The pain in my head had been usurped by the pounding of my heart. But I had to put on a brave face for her; it was my fault she’d been taken in the first place.

Plus, I’d been kidnapped a few times before. I had to lead by example.

“Please don’t make me go up there again,” Meredith pleaded. Ramirez didn’t acknowledge her, and the guard nudged her forward. We climbed up the steep steps slowly. Ramirez released me but kept me in line by aiming his gun directly at me. I had no choice but to climb. As frightened as I was, I was still in awe of the pyramid. The stones were enormous. The intricate design and construction were amazing.

How did they do this?
I wondered, trying to picture the ancient Mayans piecing this behemoth of a building together. It was a relief to have something to ogle over, other than my current predicament. But I tried not to look down. The stairs were at an angle that was extremely steep; every time I looked back towards the grass, I got dizzy.

Meredith was looking even more pale. “It’s okay,” I told her, even though it wasn’t.

“I’m afraid of heights,” she said, clinging to the stones

“Just look up. We’re almost to the top, see?”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” she said. I could hear her breathing—rapid, almost hysterical gulps.

“We need to stop,” I told Ramirez. “She’s ill.”

“Not this act again. Carry her,” he snapped to the guard. I watched in terror as the guard immediately hoisted Meredith up over his shoulder, grunting and swaying underneath her weight and the odd angle.

“Oh my God, oh my God—” Meredith screamed and clapped her hands over her eyes as she dangled over the guard’s shoulders, facing the ground.

“It’s okay, Mer,” I said again, stupidly. Clearly, it was not okay. “We’re almost there. Just close your eyes.”

She kept her hands over her eyes. I could hear her sobbing.

“Fucking Americans,” Ramirez said and nudged me forward again. “Everybody’s got a phobia.”

“You don’t have phobias in Mexico?” I asked, exasperated.