Desperate Hours Final 103116

by Mondello, Lisa

  There was a hard gruffness about Gil. Yet when he glanced at the baby, Sonny could swear she saw a faint smile touch his lips, as if the big bad wolf was showing a soft side.

  Sonny was about to reply when the female driver, who Gil had referred to as Cooper, spoke.

  “Marco is still trying to hack into that website,” she said.

  “Any luck?”

  “Nada.”

  Gil grimaced and shook his head. “This is not good. We need more.”

  Cooper gestured to the backseat. “Did she tell you anything?”

  “Only that she doesn’t know where Cash is but she wants to find him, too.”

  “She speaks fluent Spanish?” Cooper asked.

  “She seems to.”

  “She’s in the car, by the way,” Sonny called out from the backseat, sounding as annoyed as she felt. “She has a name and she wants to know where we are going.”

  “Sorry. We’re headed to a hotel on the coast with some small villas in the old part of Cartagena. We have to make sure we look like we’re tourists,” Gil said.

  Cooper added, “When we get there, you can tell us all about your brother.”

  Sonny stared at the eyes that met her in the rear­view mirror. “What makes you think I’m going to tell you anything?”

  “Because believe it or not, we want to find your brother alive as much as you do,” Cooper said sarcasti­cally.

  Sonny turned to Gil. “Who’s this?”

  The driver glared at Sonny in the rearview mirror.

  “Calm down, Cooper.” Gil chuckled and shook his head. “Cooper’s a member of my team, Miss Montgom­ery. She’s not all that fond of Colombia, either. It’s making her cranky. Although it could be that she’s been spending a little too much time with me and Marco. We might be rubbing off on her.”

  “Knock it off, Gillespie,” Cooper snapped. “Excuse me if I’m a little tired of waiting around in the hotel all day while you sightsee and Marco plays on the computer. Things are getting a little boring.”

  Gil pretended to be hurt. “Ouch. And I doubt Marco will be happy to hear you said that.”

  With a roll of her eyes, Cooper added, “Oooh, I’m scared.”

  Gil laughed. “You could have gone to the pool.”

  Although Cooper glared at him, there was a hint of a smile playing on her face.

  It was obvious the two had worked together for a while and felt comfortable sparring. Sonny watched Cooper in the mirror. She wasn’t exactly a pretty woman, but whatever attractive features she had were eclipsed by the fact that she did nothing to make herself look more feminine. Her hair was cut short, nearly to her scalp, and she wore no makeup or jewelry.

  Sonny pulled her gaze to the scenery. When had she become so vain? She was used to dressing on the more casual side, preferring an old pair of jeans, which were worn and patched in spots that had become too threadbare, to pants or skirts. Sneakers won over shoes—never mind heels—most days of the week.

  Cooper was different, though, as if she was trying to conceal the fact that she was a woman. Maybe in her line of work she had to.

  “We’ll see what we can get out of her when we get back,” Gil finally said.

  “What are you going to do?” Sonny chimed in, tired of their rudeness. “Beat it out of me?”

  Cooper rolled her eyes again in the rearview mirror and then settled them back on the road.

  Gil turned to her. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Everything about this is ridiculous. Why shouldn’t I be, too?”

  He turned around and they were all quiet for a while. Sonny used that time to hold the baby close. She hadn’t allowed herself the luxury of really looking at Ellie, of enjoying her like she would if they’d been somewhere safe. In the airport bathroom, she’d been afraid someone would see her and know right away that Sonny was not Ellie’s mother.

  But now she studied the warm baby in her arms. Ellie looked a little like Cash, but mostly she looked like Sonny’s mother.

  She wondered what her mother was thinking right now. She had to be worried out of her mind. She’d had a lot to worry about recently with all that had happened with Cash. Finding out that Cash had secretly married Serena and that they’d had a child who’d been kidnapped had been quite a shock for all of them. But Sonny knew her mother wanted her granddaughter home as much as the rest of the family did, and that she’d put aside any fears she had about Sonny coming to Colombia in order for them all to reunite as a family again.

  Ellie had settled now that she’d had her bottle. Sonny knew next to nothing about taking care of babies. But she knew her brother Cash didn’t, either, and he’d entered the world of parenthood. She was a quick learner and she’d do anything she could to keep Ellie safe, happy and healthy. Anything.

  “Tell me again where we’re going?” she said, breaking the silence.

  Gil glanced back at her, giving the baby a quick look. “Somewhere a little more comfortable than that dive you holed up in these last few weeks.”

  Her eyes widened. “You were watching me?”

  His smile was quick. “My talents are many.” When she didn’t appear amused, his smile faded. “Don’t look so surprised. It’s my job. It’s what I do.”

  Gil had been watching her. This man that she’d only laid eyes on a few short hours ago had been watching her the entire time she’d been in Colombia and she’d never even suspected. She closed her eyes as disappointment washed over her. No wonder something had gone wrong. If he had known she was in Monteria, who else did? Had her carelessness been the reason Lucia was now dead?

  She tried to push the thoughts invading her mind aside. For now, anyway. There’d be time enough later to sort through what had happened and what had gone wrong. Right now, she had to concentrate on what to do next.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll both be safe from whatever you’re running from where we’re going.”

  Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision. He said the words as if he actually believed them. What a nice feeling that must be.

  “There isn’t such a place,” she answered. “Especially not here in Colombia.”

  Maybe nowhere in the world.

  #

  Chapter Three

  The woman was an enigma, Gil thought as he turned his attention back to the road, which was still slick from a hard rain earlier in the day. He’d prepared himself for more rain today. In fact, he would have preferred torren­tial rain for the rest of the long ride from the airport to the villa instead of a brightly shining sun. It would drown out this nagging doubt that coursed through his veins making him feel like he’d just fucked up.

  He’d expected Sonny Montgomery to give him a bit more of a fight. Thinking of the baby in her arms, he wasn’t sure how much of a fight she actually could have put up. That baby was the reason she’d given in so readily. She’d really had no other option than to go with him.

  Despite him getting his way, he still felt like shit. Sonny wasn’t the person on trial. She wasn’t the one he was chasing. Her brother was. Sure, she came with him, but he’d given her no choice. He practically kidnapped her.

  No, not kidnap. She was free to walk in the other direction. He hadn’t forced her into the car. He’d forced her hand so she had no choice.

  He was already skating pretty close to the legal line by detaining her at the airport. If Sonny wanted to leave once they got to the villa, there wasn’t a damned thing the team could do to stop her. But if they could do a little good-cop-bad-cop routine before she left, she might spill her brother’s whereabouts and they could all go home a little sooner.

  That made him smile. But only for a second or two before that nagging doubt settled in again.

  They drove in relative quiet for hours, except for the occa­sional whimper from the baby as she stirred in her sleep. They followed the highway until it spilled them into the coastal city of Cartagena where tourists were milling about in shorts, sandals and straw hats they probably paid too much for
from street vendors who had a hard time taking no for an answer. The team had an easier time blending in here than back in Monteria or at the airport where soldiers seemed to outnumber civilians. There were more tourists in Cartagena. There was a better chance for them to blend in.

  A bead of sweat journeyed its way down the side of Gil’s neck. The coast should be a bit cooler, what with the sea breeze and the air-conditioning in the villa.

  His boss’s expense account was paying for their digs as long as they didn’t overstay their usefulness in Colombia. Jared was good that way, but only if it produced results. Gil was good at results.

  It was a pretty place, Gil thought as the car pulled into the parking lot of the main villa. Marco had already checked in, but was only able to acquire one key. They’d need at least two.

  “How are we traveling this time?” he asked Cooper.

  “Married couples,” she said, cutting the engine and pocketing the keys. “Marco and I checked out of the singles at the other hotel before sunrise this morning and camped out at the office until it opened. We got a two-bedroom suite. He’s been setting up his equipment all day, trying to get connected, but Internet access is spotty down here.”

  Gil blew out a breath. He figured as much. “Okay, we’ll take what we can get then, I guess.”

  Married couples. Gil almost laughed. He couldn’t think of himself that way. He’d been part of a couple only a few times in his thirty-three years. Once, he’d almost landed at the altar, but luckily they’d both done a little soul-searching and decided it wasn’t what either of them really wanted.

  Cooper jumped out of the car and made her way to the front office. In the three years Gil had known her, he’d never seen her wear a dress or even shorts. He couldn’t even say if she really had legs underneath the baggy pants she always wore.

  Marco had teased her once about her clothes only to be on the receiving end of a few pointed words. Rumor had it she’d been roughed up by a gang of hoodlums in college on her way back to the dormitory one night. Since then, she just found it easier to downplay what­ever feminine assets she had. She learned how to be tough, but at a price.

  As she climbed the stairs two at a time in her clunky boots, Gil figured she was playing it as close to the ground as she could get. It was one way to survive. Couldn’t fault her for that.

  “You have no idea what you’ve done by taking me here,” Sonny said from the backseat, sounding tired. “My brother Dylan is a Providence police officer.” She paused. “But then you must know all about Dylan, too, I suppose.”

  “That’s right,” he said, finally looking at her. “Why don’t you just keep yourself comfortable until we get into the villa? Then you can tell me all about what I don’t know.”

  “I don’t have to stay with you,” Sonny said, giving him a hard stare.

  He motioned to the door with his hand.

  “You expect me to get out now?” Sonny asked with a gasp. “This isn’t a game.”

  “I don’t much care for games myself. I tell you what. If you tell me about your brother—”

  “I told you—”

  “I’ll go straight to the airport and get you a ticket to fly home tonight. Cartagena has a bigger airport than Monteria. There are at least five times as many flights to the States here than there are from Monteria.”

  “And many more guards with guns.”

  He wasn’t sure, but he thought her saw her bottom lip tremble. He had the overwhelming urge to place his fingers on her lip to steady it. Instead, he turned away from her.

  The minutes stretched on unbearably and Gil was thankful when Cooper appeared, running back to the car. It gave him an excuse to stop looking at Sonny in the rearview mirror and taking note of her sad, ocean-blue eyes.

  Coward, he chided himself. The way she sat there, holding the baby as if he’d snatch her away at any moment, showed how terrified she was. He didn’t like scaring her like that but it was necessary if he was going to get any information about Cash.

  “All set?”

  Cooper nodded and gunned the engine.

  In under a minute, they pulled up next to Marco’s car in front of a small villa. Gil got out of the front seat quickly, glad not to be cooped up in such cramped quarters after such a long ride.

  So close to the equator, the temperatures held steady all year round at about eighty degrees. The back of Gil’s shirt was sticky with sweat and he was looking forward to a little AC to help cool off.

  As he opened the passenger door and stepped out, he could smell the warm Caribbean Sea only a few blocks away.

  “Nice place Jared set us up with,” he called out to Cooper. Then he turned his attention to Sonny in the backseat. He opened the back door, but she just sat there holding the baby.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Sonny glared up at him. “You really have to ask?”

  “I’m not taking you to your death.”

  “How do I know that?”

  Gil was taken aback. Did she really think he was going to hurt her?

  “I told you who we are. I haven’t kidnapped you, Sonny. If you really want to leave, you can.”

  It was important to make that clear to her. Of course, they could tail her and make her life miserable until they got what they wanted. But being a pain in the ass wasn’t illegal—especially in Colombia.

  “Why didn’t you let me get on that plane? I could have been half way to Miami by now.”

  “I told you. I need your help to find your brother. As soon as we find him, you can get on a flight to Miami.”

  “You can’t find him, so you figure I’ll just bring you to him, right? Well, I hate to disappoint you, Mr. Waite, but I haven’t seen or heard from my brother in more than four months. If you want to find him, you’ll have to ask the people who framed him on those bogus drug trafficking charges. Because I have no idea where he is. I wish I did, but I don’t. But rest assured that even if I did, I wouldn’t help you chase him down. Cash is an innocent man.”

  * * *

  The baby was crying again. Sonny fought hard not to break down herself. She longed for the comfort of a familiar voice, to lay her head down on her pillow and sleep without worry. No dreams. No nightmares. No waking with awful visions of things that could—and did—go wrong. Just pure blissful sleep.

  Since Cash had gone missing, her imagination had gone wild. Fear stabbed her heart as she pictured what her father would probably go through a few hours from now when the plane landed in Miami without her and Ellie on it.

  She had to figure out how to get word to him. Some­how. And she needed to do it without Gil and his crew finding out.

  The day had gone wretchedly wrong and now Sonny had a bounty hunter staring her down, wanting her to get out of the car. But as she looked up at him, his ex­pression had changed from impatience to interest.

  “He was framed on bogus drug trafficking charges, huh? Why don’t you come inside and tell me all about it. It’s a lot better than sitting out here in the heat. And you can tend to the baby much easier in the villa.”

  “You mean out of earshot? Where no one will realize that I’m being held against my will?”

  “I told you—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I can leave if I want. But what choice do I really have? You’d just follow me again. Keep me from getting on another plane.”

  “Come inside and we’ll talk about your choices.” His voice was low and held a trace of sympathy. She wasn’t sure if she should use that to her advantage now, or wait until a better opportunity presented itself.

  She’d kissed him at the airport. At the time it had been impulse, a way to get the curious interest of the guards to let them go. It was nothing. And yet, as she stared up at him from inside the car that was growing hotter by the moment now that the air conditioning was off, she couldn’t stop thinking of the feeling of his lips pressed against hers.

  She hated him for what he was doing. What he had done. And she couldn’t stop thinking about
that kiss.

  “I need more diapers,” she finally said. “I only had enough to get me back to the States.”

  Gil nodded. “I’ll send Cooper out to get whatever you need.”

  It would have to do. It’d been risky enough for her to be in Monteria without the baby, but being in Car­tagena with the baby was even more dangerous now that news reports were probably flooding the local TV station about Eduardo Sanchez’s missing baby. She needed to stay out of sight.

  Sonny resigned herself to going inside with Gil. Gathering her strength and the small bag she’d used as a carry-on, Gil helped her out of the car. He walked by her side for the few yards it took to reach the door of the villa. When they stepped into the foyer of the beautiful villa, the cool air bathed her face and she drew in a deep breath. She would have enjoyed staying here under different circumstances, but as the door closed behind her, she could practically hear iron bars locking into place. Prisoner? No. But this was her prison all the same.

  “Shh,” she cooed to the fussing baby, hoping to soothe her. She doubted she could. In her niece’s short life, she had been kept a secret, kidnapped and trans­ported to a South American country and rescued by a woman she didn’t even know. The fact that they were blood related meant nothing to this baby, and Sonny’s attempts to comfort her were feeble at best. But she vowed to build a strong relationship with her niece. Hopefully in the United States, surrounded by their family.

  The cool air inside bathed her face—it was a welcome relief from the hot car. One look at Gil and she knew he was probably thinking the same thing. He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and rolled it across his forehead before cracking it open and taking a long gulp.

  “Help yourself,” he said, taking another sip. “There’s plenty of soda in there, too. I don’t think there’s any milk for the baby, though.”