Seduction Under Fire

They stood and listened. Aaron glanced at Camille’s hands, which had started to shake, but decided against asking her about it.

The sound that had been so faint over the thunder of the waves and the hollering and the Jeep’s engine became clearer to Aaron. “It sounds like … huh?”

He and Camille looked at each other, their faces screwed up in confusion.

“Bruce Springsteen?” they exclaimed in unison.

Chapter 5

“Hide the guns. No way are these people cartel hit men.” Aaron held the bag open and Camille wedged her rifle inside. She flexed her fingers, the weight on her chest lighter with the gun out of her hands.

The Jeep hurtled toward them, spitting sand in its wake and blasting Bruce Springsteen. Aaron grabbed the bag and the horse’s reins. Walking the horse behind them, they planted themselves in the path of the joyriders. The music went dead and the Jeep crawled to a stop a few yards in front of them.

The man behind the wheel looked about fifty, with gray streaks in his brown hair, a softened body and the laid-back disposition of a man embracing his inner-Jimmy Buffett. The two women in the backseat looked young and were exactly the type of cupcakes Camille had railed against that morning. Clad in bikinis topped with cover-ups that didn’t actually cover anything up, they were overdone in every way—too much makeup, too many artificial highlights in their hair and massive designer sunglasses.

“Hello there,” the driver said. “You two look like you might need some help. Am I right?”

Aaron answered. “You guessed it. We came down to Baja with friends to go camping and when we left on our horse for a ride along the beach, they ditched us.”

“They don’t sound like very good friends.”

“No kidding,” Aaron said.

The driver rubbed his goatee. “Tell you what. We’re pretty close to our camp. Would you and your girlfriend care to follow us back? I bet we could rustle up a cell phone for you to call your friends, and you can have a bite to eat and let your horse rest.”

“I think we’re done with those particular friends. Maybe we could borrow that phone to make other arrangements?”

“We can do that, too.”

“Thank you.” Aaron smiled wolfishly at the cupcakes. “Oh, and for the record, Camille and I are only friends. We’re not …”

“Friends riding together on a horse?” one of the cupcakes asked.

“Yeah, her horse took off. We didn’t have a choice.”

Camille shifted her gaze to the rusty brown cliff face, regrouping. It wasn’t that she cared about Aaron’s enthusiastic clarification that they weren’t involved—it was the truth, after all. And she didn’t mind that the girls were angling for a better view of him. He was the most magnificent-looking man she’d ever seen, too. It was just that she was disappointed to have been wrong about him.

Since being taken hostage, she’d started to believe he’d changed, that underneath his party-boy persona was a respectable man capable of so much more than preening and seducing women. She’d begun to think of the two of them as a team. But she’d been wrong and the misjudgment stung. But she had more important issues to worry about than a man so easily distracted by pretty girls.

Her thoughts returned to Rosalia, alone and frightened in the compound. Camille hadn’t considered it before, but maybe she’d been dropped in the middle of the Mexican desert for a reason. Maybe this journey wasn’t another case of her rotten luck, but a chance to redeem thirty wasted years. Maybe she needed Rosalia as much as the little girl needed her. A new plan began to take shape in her mind.

The driver offered his hand to shake. “The name’s Charlie. In the back we’ve got Ana and Sarah.”

“I’m Aaron and this is Camille.” He waved to the cupcakes, and added a wink for good measure.

Unbelievable.

Charlie must have noticed Camille’s discomfort because he patted her hand. “Would you like to ride with us? We have room.”

His palm was sweaty and his fingers bloated, but he might prove to be a valuable component to her plan.

“Thank you, Charlie.” And though she wanted to yank her hand away and wipe it on her pants, she gave his fingers a little squeeze. She even pulled off a convincing smile.

He wasn’t being manipulative—that was such an ugly word—but Aaron knew how to be persuasive to women. He knew what they wanted to hear, what little looks and touches would turn them to putty in his hands. Except for Camille. Nothing softened her, but that was beside the point.

As soon as Aaron saw the women in the Jeep, he knew they were his and Camille’s ticket out of Mexico. All he needed was a little time with them to parse out the details. He regretted Camille’s embarrassment when he distanced himself from her, but he needed the women to think he was available, not some letch trying to cheat on his girlfriend.

Charlie’s eyes had turned hungry at the revelation he and Camille weren’t an item. Aaron hadn’t counted on that. She’d already proved she could kick ass and take names, but it went against his basic instincts to throw any woman to the wolves, even a cop.

Not that she seemed to mind. She was laughing and making flirty eyes at Charlie while Aaron was forced to watch through the rearview mirror as he followed the Jeep on horseback. Charlie wasn’t remotely attractive and he was at least twenty years her senior. He seemed like a nice guy, sure, but as spineless as they came. A man like that could no more handle a woman like Camille than a child could handle a pet tiger.

The camp, though visible from the beach, was nestled into a valley between two foothills and demarcated by two palm-thatched palapas on the beach. One shaded a hammock. Aaron followed the Jeep onto a dirt road that wound among the homes, if he dared use such a polite word to describe the dwellings. Reeking of seaweed, the after-odor of bonfires and marijuana, the settlement was the housing equivalent of a pack of stray dogs. Of the twenty or so places, some were less flea-bitten than others, a few even looked rather domesticated, but the whole lot of them was a mangy bunch of misfits.

Charlie directed Aaron to the sea-green shack of some absentee neighbors who often brought their horse with them. Sure enough, a wood-and-wire fenced corral was sandwiched on the side of the property. No doubt the animal would be well cared for here. It didn’t seem to have any identifying marks that might prove dangerous if the cartel went on the prowl for their stolen horse, which was a small blessing. To repay this community with the wrath of a vengeful cartel would be unforgivable.

The hardworking horse had one task left before it could rest, though. Aaron tugged the reins and set off for the perimeter of the settlement to take note of all the paths leading to and from the camp, should they need to make a quick getaway. Jacob would’ve said it was Aaron’s Golden Ticket at work again, but nevertheless, Aaron was relieved to discover only one access point from the west, a steep dirt road leading out of the valley. Perfect.

He returned to the corral, found feed and grooming supplies and set to work tending the horse.

“You’re a sneaky man,” a heavily accented female voice behind him said. Ana, if he remembered correctly. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Seducing these women would be a piece of cake if they were going to throw themselves at him. He kept scrubbing, to see how hard they’d work to get his attention. “Responsibility before pleasure, as they say.”

“How sensible of you,” she purred. A darkly tanned Latina, she was taller than Sarah and looked to be in her late twenties, with long black hair and a temptress’s body. Not too long ago, Aaron might have quit his job and moved to Mexico for the promise of this woman’s company. But his responsibility to Camille and his desire to make it out of Mexico alive superseded everything else.

“This horse worked hard today. It deserves a little pampering.”

“I think I’m jealous of the horse,” Sarah, obviously American judging by her voice, said. A pair of trim, tan legs came into view, complete with a Tinker Bell ankle tattoo. Aaron let his gaze roam over her body, hoping she couldn’t tell how artificial his perusal was.

“When you’re done here, would you like to freshen up at our place? We have a cell phone you can use to make those other arrangements you mentioned,” Ana said.

“That would be wonderful. Speaking of other arrangements, how far from the city are we?”

“We’re fifty miles north of La Paz, where we’re from.”

The women watched him clean the horse’s hooves. “Fifty miles isn’t so bad. I’m thinking my friend and I could hitch a ride with someone and come back for the horse with a trailer.”

“We’d be happy to give you and your friend a ride. We’re going home tomorrow afternoon.”

So far, so good. He put away the grooming supplies and gave the horse a second generous scoop of food.

“I’m ready to get cleaned up. Lead the way.”

Sarah and Ana took him by the arms. As they strolled, Aaron asked, “Which one of you owns the house?”

Sarah answered. “Ana’s brother owns it. He lets us use his place anytime we want.”

“What kind of work do you do?”