Dying for You

“I’ll be waiting for you outside the restrooms,” Jason said.

After ordering drinks and putting their names on a short wait list, Cara and Lucie asked about the restroom and were given directions. The men’s was on the left side and the women’s on the right, both marked with cute primitive drawings, one of a man and the other of a woman. The poorly lit interior of the restroom was like a stucco cave, the walls painted a cinnamon-red, the two stalls a dark green, and the ceiling a mustard-yellow. There was an out-of-order sign nailed to one of the stall doors.

“You go first,” Lucie said, as she removed her sunglasses and hung them on the elastic neckline of her blouse.

“No, go ahead.” Cara removed her hat, fanned herself and then shoved her sunglasses up on top of her head. Then she put her heavy bags on the floor, laid her hat on top of the bags and removed her cell phone from her purse. “I should call Suelita and let her know not to expect us for dinner. I’ve been having so much fun that I forgot about our host and hostess.”

Lucie placed her shopping bags on the floor beside Cara’s, but she carried her purse with her as she shoved open the door of the in-working-order stall. “Don’t leave the restroom.”

“I won’t,” Cara said, then Lucie heard her begin a conversation with Senora Delgado, explaining where they were and what they were doing.

HECTOR AND PEPE entered the men’s restroom directly behind Cara Bedell’s bodyguard, the man who had done a good job of stalking his employer without being obvious about it. They each smiled and spoke to the American as they approached the urinals. After he finished and washed his hands, Pepe walked out of the restroom a couple of minutes ahead of his companion, just as they had planned. Their instructions had been clear. They had to do the job today.

Pepe lay in wait for the bodyguard. When he saw the man exiting the restroom, he went over to him, keeping his broad, toothy smile in place.

He tapped his naked wrist. “I do not have a watch. Do you know what time it is? My wife will be angry if I’m late.”

Although it was obvious that the man was uncomfortable with Pepe’s friendliness and probably suspected him of being up to no good, he didn’t immediately reach for his concealed weapon. While Pepe tried to distract the bodyguard, Hector came out of the restroom, moved in behind the man with silent precision and before he could react, Hector drove his knife into the man’s back, puncturing a kidney. Pepe grabbed the man as he slumped forward, holding his body upright. Hector assisted Pepe and together they dragged the dying man out into the alley behind the restaurant.

Chapter Six

LUCIE CAME OUT of the bathroom stall and went straight to the single decorative sink to wash her hands. When she turned on the faucet, she discovered there was no warm water, so she hurried through the process. At least there was a stack of paper towels on the tiled shelf above the sink.

“I spoke to Suelita to let her know not to wait dinner for us.” Cara hung the strap of her small leather bag over Lucie’s shoulder. “Keep that for me, will you?” Then she disappeared into the stall.

Lucie checked her makeup in the mirror and decided that since they were going to eat soon there was no point in applying lipstick until later. Just as she readjusted her straw hat and removed her sunglasses from where she’d hooked them on her blouse, she heard the bathroom door squeak open. In her peripheral vision, she noticed a dark figure, and then suddenly realized a man had entered the ladies’ room. Immediately sensing danger, she reached down for the Glock in her shoulder bag, but before she could reach it, the man wearing a fake beard and mustache lifted his foot and knocked her hand away from the purse. Pain shot through her hand and up her arm, but she jumped back, hurriedly assessed the situation—one man, no visible weapon—and prepared to defend herself.

“Do not fight me, Senorita Bedell,” the man said, in heavily accented English. “I do not wish to hurt you.”

“What’s going on out there?” Cara called from inside the stall.

“Stay where you are, Lucie,” Lucie said to Cara, realizing that this man believed she was Cara Bedell. “Don’t come out. Please, stay there. Do you hear me? Stay where you are. That’s an order.”

“You do not wish your bodyguard killed,” he said. “That is good. You will cooperate, yes?”

The door opened again and another man, also wearing a fake beard and mustache and with a 9mm pistol pointed directly at Lucie, entered the room. He spoke rapidly to the other man in Spanish. Lucie wasn’t able to make out everything he said, but she got the gist of it. They were going to kidnap Cara and kill her bodyguard. Only they thought Lucie was Cara and vice versa.

Damn, where was Jason? He was supposed to be waiting outside for them. If she hadn’t been confident that he was watching their back, she wouldn’t have been caught off guard this way.

“Wait,” Lucie said, speaking directly to the two men. “Don’t harm my bodyguard and I’ll go with you without putting up a fight. Both of us will cooperate.” Lucie glanced toward the stall door, which was easing open. God, she had to stop Cara. As long as these men thought she was their target and Cara stayed put, they both had a chance of coming out of this alive. “No, Lucie, please stay there and don’t come out. Do as I say. I’m bargaining with these men for our lives.”

“Uh…all right…Ms. Bedell,” Cara said, her voice trembling.

Thank God, Cara had realized these men had mistaken Lucie for Cara.

The unarmed man grabbed Lucie, yanked Cara’s shoulder bag down her arm and then tossed it on the floor. It took all her willpower not to fight him. If Cara’s life wasn’t on the line, she wouldn’t hesitate to defend herself.

“You understand Spanish, senorita? I must remember that.” He tugged on her arm. “Come with me.” He glanced at the closed stall door. “Please stay there and do not try to follow us. If you disobey, it can mean death for you and Senorita Bedell.”

“I—I’ll stay here. I swear,” Cara said.

Lucie knew that the only way to keep Cara safe was to continue the pretense and allow these men to believe that she was Cara Bedell. It was her job as Cara’s bodyguard to be prepared to lay down her life, if necessary.

They hurried her out of the bathroom, down a poorly lit back hallway and out the door leading into the alley. A few feet away, shoved up against a row of stinking garbage cans, lay a man’s crumpled, lifeless body. Now she knew why Jason hadn’t come to their rescue. As they hurried her past the bloody corpse, she glanced back, praying that Cara could handle herself on her own and make the right decisions about what to do next. If Cara made even one mistake, Lucie was as good as dead.

CARA COUNTED to a hundred. Her hands shook. Her stomach churned, creating a bout of nausea. She had obeyed Lucie’s orders, knowing her bodyguard’s training served them both well. She had listened to the two men speaking in Spanish and realized that they believed Lucie was Cara and they intended to kidnap the American heiress and kill her bodyguard as they had killed the other one. That meant Jason was dead. And if she hadn’t done exactly as Lucie had instructed, she, too, might be dead. Or she would be the one they had kidnapped and Lucie would be dead.

Cara eased open the stall door and peered out into the bathroom. Empty. She walked out into the room and took a deep, calming breath.

Stay here, think, reason this out and make a logical decision.

Jason was dead. Those men had killed him. She couldn’t look to him for help. Oh, God, poor Jason. He had a wife and teenage son.

She was on her own. She could call the local police. Absolutely not. The San Luis police were part of the Amecan government, which was run by Ortega and his kind. She could call Felipe and Suelita. Maybe. She trusted them.

No, I can’t call them. I can’t risk having the truth about the abduction leak out here in San Luis. I have to buy time. I have to keep up the pretense as long as possible. Apparenty the kidnappers think Lucie and I look enough alike that, at least for now, they don’t know the difference. If they discover that they’ve abducted the wrong woman, that they took Lucie Evans instead of me,they’ll kill her. I have to contact Deke. He’ll know what I should do to help Lucie and keep myself safe.

She looked down at the floor beside the sink and saw her shopping bags and Lucie’s, too, side by side. They had enjoyed their afternoon jaunt through the market. Cara couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun. She liked Lucie so much. She had to find a way to save her.

She scanned the restroom and saw her purse lying on the floor, as if it had been tossed aside. Cara bent over, grabbed the purse and unzipped it. She rummaged around inside until she found her cell phone. She checked the information bars. Batteries fully charged. But she couldn’t stay here. Someone could come in at any moment. Leaving the shopping bags where they were, she opened the bathroom door. When she peeked out into the hall, she heard the hum of voices and music coming from the restaurant, but she didn’t see anyone. She slipped out into the hall.

Now what?

Find a back entrance and leave quietly. Once you’re outside and in a safe spot, call Deke.

She made her way quietly down a back hallway and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a door that she thought probably led to the alley. After glancing over her shoulder and seeing no one, she shoved open the door and entered the putrid-smelling alleyway. Early evening shadows fell across the dirt-and-gravel path. The sun would set soon and it would be dark. She had no time to waste.

Covering her nose with her hand as she approached the trash cans, she gasped when she saw the man lying on the ground. Jason! She stifled the scream that vibrated in her throat. Oh, God. Oh, God!

There’s nothing you can do for him now. Keep moving. Get away from this place. But where can I go?

The church.

On their way here, she’d seen a church half a block from the Plaza Bazaar. She could find sanctuary there.

Cara removed her hat, threw it in one of the open trash cans and then ran her hand through her shoulder-length hair. Perspiration bubbled on her forehead and upper lip and rivulets of sweat glided from between her breasts to her belly button. All but running down the alley, away from Jason’s body and the sickening garbage odor, she stayed in the back alleys as much as possible, but had no choice but to slip in and out of the marketplace, which amazingly was still crowded with people, mostly tourists. She could see the entrance to the plaza. Safety was nearby. The church was close.

After slipping into the alley behind a pottery shop, she sucked in deep breaths of semifresh air. With twilight fast approaching, she hit the number that put her directly through to Deke Bronson’s cell phone.

He answered on the third ring. “Good evening, Ms. Bedell.”

“Deke, we…I have a situation here. I need help and I need it immediately.”

“Where are Jason and Lucie?”

“Gone. Jason’s dead and Lucie has been kidnapped.”

“Are you all right?”