“Oh, sir, I don’t know how the roads are. We are encouraging our guests to stay until we can assure their safe transportation.”
“I appreciate that, and I understand your position,” he continued. “But I have government business in Cancún and must leave immediately. If you would be so good as to get the keys to this vehicle, I would certainly show my gratitude.” Sticking his hand in his pocket, he pulled out a wad of cash as a symbol of being willing to pay for his gratitude.
The man’s eyes dropped for a moment before lifting and meeting Walker’s smile with one of his own. “Certainly, sir. I’ll be right back.”
Keeping an eye on the man, Walker observed as he went to a lockbox and pulled out a key. As the man placed the key to the Jeep in his palm, Walker handed him enough pesos to equal a month’s salary.
Eyes wide, the man grinned and thanked him profusely before turning and hustling back to the hotel.
Having a key kept him from needing to pick the lock and hotwire the Jeep, which he could have done easily. But if anything happened to him, he wanted Julie to be able to get away, and the key would offer her that ability.
Keeping a sharp lookout, he saw no one as he pulled out of the parking lot, down the road toward the ruins, and then over the grass, coming to a stop near the Observatory Temple. Driving to the back so that he would be out of sight, he breathed a sigh of relief that the area still appeared deserted. He assumed that would not last for long. There would be some of the hotel residents who might decide to make a visit to the ruins, and there was always the possibility of new people coming by, even though the area had been affected by an earthquake. Not wanting to hang around and see who might make an appearance, he climbed out of the Jeep and looked up, hoping to catch Julie’s attention.
Not seeing her, he was glad to find that she had listened and stayed well hidden. Using the back steps, he climbed to the top without breaking a sweat. “Julie?" Walking toward the dome of the observatory, he ducked his head, entering the building. “Julie?” Whirling around, he hustled back out, circling the perimeter of the dome. Not finding her nor seeing her as he scanned the area looking down, his heart began to pound, wondering where she could have gone. Fuck! I should have taken her with me!
Reaching the bottom, he ran toward the Jeep, skidding to a stop as he saw her walking toward him from the edge of the jungle nearby, carrying her backpack, large bag, and lugging his duffel along with her.
Irritation warred with relief, and he stalked toward her, his long legs making short work of the distance. He could tell the instant her eyes landed on him, a smile spreading across her face. He then watched it slide away as he grew closer. Now, her eyes were filled with concern. Good. You should be concerned!
She opened her mouth to speak, but he got there first. Hands on his hips, he leaned forward. “What do you not understand about staying where I put you?” he growled, not caring how rough his voice sounded.
She opened her fingers, dropping his duffle bag onto the ground with a thud. Straightening her spine, she pulled herself up to her full height, which he observed still put her eyes at his neck level, having to lean her head back to glare into his eyes. Her body shook with a slight quiver as she held his eyes. “Not to be indelicate, Mr. Walker, but I had to go to the bathroom. I couldn’t wait. And I certainly wasn’t going to desecrate this ruin, so I walked just to the edge of the woods where I could be hidden while still keeping a lookout for you.” Leaning forward, mimicking his posture, their chests almost touching, she added, “And I lugged your duffle with me so that it would be protected!”
Lips now pinched tightly together, she sucked in a deep breath through her nose and leaned back. Hefting her bag back up on her shoulder, she marched past him toward the Jeep.
His gaze followed her backside as she stomped away, incredulity mixed with admiration filling him. Trying to ignore the way her rumpled khaki pants cupped her ass as she headed away from him, he focused on the square set of her shoulders, her head held high, and her ponytail swinging as she walked. Bending, he grabbed his duffle and followed her to the Jeep.
Nothing was going as planned, and the sense of being out-of-control left her nervous. She wanted to throw her bags down and then follow by flinging her body onto the hard ground as well. A tantrum would not be unwarranted but would take too much energy. Crying might also make her feel better but might make her dehydrated.
Out of practical options, Julie reached the Jeep and leaned forward, resting her forehead on the passenger side window. Exhaustion threatened to take her legs out from under her, so she used the heavy steel to hold her up. Why is he so grouchy? I’m just trying to do the right thing, and he’s so…so…
“Sorry,” came his deep voice from right behind her.
She had not heard Walker approach but was not surprised. Keeping her eyes squeezed shut and her lips pressed together, she did not move. The electricity in the air shifted as he moved closer and she felt his heat directly behind her. Eyes still closed, her backpack was lifted from her shoulders, and she dropped her hands so that he could slide the burden from her. While her hands were still down at her sides, he lifted the strap of her bag, pulling it over her head. She sucked in a deep breath, letting it out easily, feeling the weight lift from her.
His warm presence was still close behind her, and she felt her ponytail move from the front of her shoulder to where it was hanging down her back again, the slight feel of his fingers in her hair causing her eyes to jerk open. Just as quickly as the sensation came it left, and he stepped back, leaving her uncertain if she had imagined his touch.
He stepped to the side and opened the back door, placing her bags inside. In a voice much softer than he had ever used with her, he asked, “Are you ready to go? We really need to leave.”
Her body jerked slightly as his tone soothed over her. Straightening quickly, she nodded and reached for the door handle, finding his hand already there pulling it open. She looked to the side, forcing her gaze to lift to his, and offered her thanks before climbing inside.
“Buckle up,” he ordered before closing the door, his voice no longer warm but at least not as gruff as it had been.
She obeyed but sighed as he rounded the front and climbed behind the wheel. Sparing a glance in his direction before focusing out the windshield, she wondered Will I ever get used to his flash-changing moods? Giving a slight shake of her head, she realized what a ridiculous thought that was. After all, by the end of the day, they would be in Cancún, she would be reunited with the girls, and she would never see him again.
As he pulled out from the edge of the jungle, she wondered why that last thought did not make her as happy as it should.
15
“What have you got for me?”
“We’ve got you on our radar,” Tate replied. “You’re going to need to avoid Highway 180D.”
“What the fuck?” Walker groused, hearing that the major highway that could get them to Cancún in about two and a half hours was going to have to be avoided.
“There’s been damage to a couple of overpasses that’s got traffic snarled and maybe closed. Some of the back roads were dirt anyway, so that’ll be your best bet for getting there.”
“How about going north? Toward Espita? I know their tour was going to go to Ek Balam today anyway, and that would be on the way to Cancún.”
“We want you to avoid that as well,” Mace said, and Walker realized he probably had the entire Keeper crew in the compound working on this mission.
Continuing, Mace said, “I’ve got Clay here, and he’s been keeping an eye on the cartel movements over the past twenty-four hours.”
He knew Clay was their best security specialist, and if anyone could dig out the detail on the drug cartel movement, it would be him. “Give it to me,” he agreed. “I’ve stopped at the edge of the Chichén Itzá ruins, still hidden from the main road until you let me know where to go.”
“Walker, we’re going to send you south,” Clay said. “You
should be fine on the road toward Valladolid. Before you get there, go south again on a much smaller road to Chichimilá. You’ll head straight south through the jungle to the small town of Chanchen I. From there you will go east to Cobá.”
“How long is that going to take?” he asked, sparing a quick glance to the side, seeing Julie’s wide eyes pinned on him, knowing she could not hear the instructions he was being given, only the irritation in his voice.
Attempting a slight smile, he felt sure it came out more as a grimace when her eyes widened even more.
“Without any problems that should take you about three hours,” Clay answered. “There’s a small town there where you should be able to get food and gas. It doesn’t look like there’s any major damage or cartel movement, probably because it’s a poor area that doesn’t get a lot of visitors.”
“And from there to Cancún?”
“Best route to keep you from avoiding the major highway cutting through the Yucatán would be to have you drop down to the coast at Tulum and then follow the coastal highway all the way north to Cancún. And before you ask, that would take another couple of hours.”
Tate had entered the information into Walker’s GPS, and just as he disconnected the call, Julie hastened to ask, “What about the girls?”
His concentration focused on their surroundings as he pulled out onto the road, heading in the direction they needed to go. “I didn’t ask about the girls.” The road took them past one of the other smaller resorts near the ruins, and he was glad to see that there was some traffic out so that they would blend in. Hearing a huff in the seat next to him, he jerked his head around.
“I know you didn’t ask about the girls,” she said, her lips pinched. “I could hear you.”
Unused to having to explain himself, he fought to keep his voice steady. “Where they are, they’re safe, and Drew is taking care of them. Right now, they’re not my concern. You are.”
“Well, I’m concerned about them,” she argued in return. “So if you’re concerned about me, and I’m concerned about them, doesn’t it stand to reason that you should be concerned about them as well?”
The inside of the Jeep remained quiet for a moment, the only sound heard by the occupants was the engine running and their own breathing. Finally, tapping the button on his radio headset, he asked, “What’s the status of the girls?”
Tate replied, “Drew has landed in Cancún. As soon as he gets to the resort, Tiffany will receive medical care. The other two girls are fine.”
“Thanks, man,” Walker said, before disconnecting once again. Glancing to the side, he watched her eager expression. Not wanting to keep her in suspense, he said, “The girls are fine. They’re safe, and Drew is getting the medical attention that Tiffany needs.”
Julie’s shoulders slumped as her body visibly relaxed, and a strange bolt of guilt slid through him.
“Oh, thank God," she cried. Once again, they fell into silence for a few minutes, before she said, “Thank you, Walker.”
She had demonstrated her concern for her charges more than once, and as irritating as it was to have her question him, he once more respected her diligence. “No thanks needed, Julie. I should’ve asked the first time.”
“I guess I’ve just gotten used to being around them for the past two weeks.” Her shoulders hunched in a slight shrug as she added, “Actually, they were so easy to chaperone, it was more like being with friends. But I never forgot that I was the responsible one and don’t see that duty ending until I hand them back over to their parents in Florida.”
Relaxing his grip on the steering wheel as it appeared they were going to make good time on the road even if it was not a major highway, he said, “I’m sorry your trip came to such an abrupt halt.” Casting his gaze in her direction again, he watched as her lips curved into a smile, her entire demeanor less rigid. Normally, making small talk with someone on a mission was not something he entertained or encouraged, but he found himself wanting to know more about her. It’ll just be a way to pass the time, he reasoned. “Tell me about what you enjoyed before everything fell apart.”
He knew he had chosen the right subject when she twisted her body around, placed her knee in the seat and faced him, her eyes now bright.
“There was so much we learned, I almost don’t know where to start,” she said, reaching into a large bag at her feet and pulling out a colorful notebook. She flipped through a number of pages, then with her hands fluttering in excitement, she said, “Um, let’s see. We actually started our tour flying into Villahermosa. That’s where we met Hernando, and that evening, he gave us a wonderful beginning lecture on what all we would be seeing. Did you know that the entire Yucatán Peninsula is part of a large chunk of land that’s partially submerged? It’s flat, not very much above sea level. And,” she said, waving her hand toward the front windshield, pointing at the thick vegetation on either side of the road, “it’s dense with rain forests.”
“Did you all do any exploring of the rain forest?”
Shaking her head, she wrinkled her nose and replied, “Only on the first day. That day we went to Kolem Jaa, where we had a short boat ride which I thought was beautiful. Then we did a zip line which was not supposed to be very scary, but I confess that I was terrified. Then there was a short rappel down through the water cascade, which I enjoyed mostly because it kept me cool. I’m embarrassed to tell you that that day concluded with Hernando taking us back to the hotel where we got a spa treatment. I’m not much of a daredevil.” Sighing, she confessed, “The rest of the trip we were the type of tourists that went around in Hernando’s nice, air-conditioned van, staying on major roads unless we were going straight to one of the Mayan ruins.”
She looked back at him, scrunching her nose once more, and asked, “I guess that sounds pretty lame, doesn’t it? Just being an ordinary tourist and not searching out the lesser-known areas to explore.”
His brain short-circuited once more as he stared at her crinkled forehead, scrunched nose, and wide eyes staring straight at him. He could not figure out what it was about her other than she was the most unaffected woman he had been around in a long time. As he looked over at her again, he saw her head tilt and he remembered she had asked him a question.
“No, no. That doesn’t sound lame at all. Not everybody’s cut out for adventure, and that’s fine. You came for a tour of the Mayan ruins and that’s exactly what you did. On top of that, you came as a chaperone to three teenage girls, and believe me when I say that was very brave!”
Her face relaxed once more, and he nodded toward the large notebook and asked, “Did you keep all your notes in there?”
She blushed a delicate pink and nodded. “I like to have things planned. I found this planner and it was perfect. There was room for our itinerary, but also for me to make notes of what we saw each day. I feel better if I have a plan and can stick to my plan.”
He wondered how the change in their plans had affected her, but wanting to keep the conversation pleasant, he asked, “So what are some of the ruins you saw?”
Grinning, her hands dancing in front of her again, she said, “We went to a couple of museums the next day and ended up at Palenque, which was straight out of a beautiful picture book. Old ruins with the jungle growing right up to them. The girls absolutely loved it, and so did I!”
With her eyes bright and her face glowing in a smile, she was beautiful in such a way that he had to force his gaze back to the road ahead while being tempted to continue to simply stare at her face. His fingers flexed, tightening on the steering wheel. Let her talk, but I’ve gotta keep my eyes on the road. Distractions can be deadly, and I’ll be damned if I let her distract me.
She continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he did not look at her. “The ruins there were magical. Some of the stone steps of the temples closest to the jungle were covered in vines and trees that were growing straight up through the rock. You could climb up many of them and the views were breathtaking.” She hesitated
for a few seconds, but he kept his eyes on the road, merely giving her a nod of his head to indicate he was still listening.
“I think because the land is so flat that when you climbed to the top of the pyramids it felt as though you could see forever,” she added.
He offered another nod, but this time she did not continue. The silence remained for a moment, and he finally gave in to his curiosity and glanced toward her. Her body had not changed as it was still twisted toward him, but her head was now facing the front. As he stared at her profile, he could see her lips pulled in, pressed tightly together, the animation gone from her expression.
He battled between appreciating the silence so that he could focus on the task at hand and wanting to see her smile again. “You can keep talking,” he said, wondering what it was about this woman that made him want to hear her voice.
“I’m sure my babbling is a distraction that you don’t need,” she said, her voice soft, and he wondered if there was the barest hint of regret that he could hear.
“No, really,” he insisted. “I’m sure the drive will go faster for both of us if you’re talking, as long as you don’t mind me not responding much.”
“Oh, okay,” she mumbled. She shifted slightly in her seat, the leg that had been propped up on the old bench seat now facing the front with both feet firmly on the floorboard. Her head turned away from him, and he had no idea what she was thinking. He started to ask her but halted, figuring if she wanted to talk, she would. But this time the silence in the old Jeep seemed out of place. Sighing, he kept his eyes on the road, determined to make the next couple of hours simply pass.
16
Julie stared out the window, the thick Yucatán jungle growing close to the road. So similar to some of the roads she had traveled with Hernando over the past two weeks, and yet, now, instead of seeing the beauty, it just made her feel more alone. Walker was obviously intent on his mission of getting her back to Cancún, for which she was grateful, but it made him poor company. Inwardly grimacing, she thought of how stupid that last thought was. Jesus, Julie. He’s not here to keep me company or to be entertained. And certainly not to entertain me. Settling back in her seat, she considered the idea of taking a nap but hated to miss any part of Mexico.
Walker: Lighthouse Security Investigations Page 8