Her Only Protector (13 page)

Taking Sonny by the hand, Gil pulled her toward the altar. “Sanctuary! Please give us sanctuary!”

T
hey hurried to the front of the church. It broke Sonny's heart that Ellie was upset, but she couldn't stop to soothe her.

“Why do you need sanctuary?” the priest asked, his accent evident even though he spoke perfect English.

“We need to get to the pier,” Gil said as he reached into his bag for the bottle they'd prepared before they left. “There are too many soldiers roaming the streets.”

The priest nodded his head. “Yes, I know. They're questioning people in the murder of a man found in an alleyway. He was a prominent businessman.”

“I see,” Sonny said, closing her eyes as the news sunk in. They weren't after her and Ellie. Marco had been right. It had nothing to do with them. At least for now. Gil handed her the bottle and she quickly gave it to Ellie to silence her.

“That's too bad,” Gil said. “May we stay here a while to get cool?”

The priest smiled, yet questions remained in his expression. “Stay as long as you like. If there's anything—” His attention was pulled toward the church doors as a soldier stepped inside.

“Excuse me, please,” the priest said, and then went to talk to the soldier.

“Keep your face toward the front,” Gil said.

Sonny sat down on the old bench and pulled the poncho off her body slowly. Gil followed and sat down next to her, sliding the suitcase in front of the bench to hide it.

“We'll be safe here for a while,” Gil whispered as she held Ellie in her arms.

Reaching over, he brushed his hand over Ellie's forehead to wipe off the sweat and smooth back her hair. Ellie was drinking as if she hadn't had a bottle in days. Every so often she'd choke and cough from taking in too much too fast.

“She was really thirsty,” Sonny whispered, closing her eyes, trying not to think about the soldier in the church.

“Are you listening to what they're saying?”

“What?”

“The priest is saying the soldiers are not to come into the church except to pray,” he whispered.

Sonny hadn't been paying attention. But now that the baby was quiet, she could make out their words.

“Just because the guards won't touch us while we're in the church doesn't mean we're safe. We can't stay here forever, Gil. At some point we need to leave. Who knows if Olof will wait for us?”

“He will. He needs the money. And I don't intend for us to stay here any longer than we need to. The soldiers may honor the sanctity of these church walls, but they're going to get antsy and make a move eventually. I don't want to give them enough time to make a plan.” Gil stole a glance backward to see the soldier leave. The priest stayed by the door, watching the activity outside. “The soldier's gone.”

He turned back to her and their eyes met in a way that spoke of understanding. “This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, isn't it?” she asked.

Gil's jaw clenched. “Not if I can help it.”

She touched his arm, letting her hand linger there, but said nothing more. She wanted to tell him that he was just one man. That he could only do so much. The rest they had to let go of and put in God's hands.

Instead, she nodded.

Ellie had pulled away from the bottle and was babbling happily. The sound of her glee rang out in the church.

Left alone with his thoughts, Gil's face looked serene, unmarred by the worry she'd seen all day.

“What are you thinking of?” she whispered, wondering if she should disturb him.

He looked at her and sighed. “Just praying.”

Her eyes widened.

He smirked. “Don't act so surprised.”

“I'm not. It's just…” Suddenly stunned by her initial assessment that Gil was not a praying man, Sonny felt herself shrink. She should know better than to prejudge a person. His initial reaction to her putting her faith in God had her thinking that he was a nonbeliever. Clearly she'd been mistaken.

“I've never been comfortable being open with my faith. But I'm almost ashamed to say that it's something I've let slip away from me for a while now.”

“You don't have to explain.”

He smiled. “I know I don't. And I don't want you to think I just come to the Lord when I'm in crisis. It was actually a crisis in my life that had me questioning some things.”

“Bruce?”

He chuckled. “You and Cooper must have had quite a conversation about me.”

“She wasn't gossiping.”

“I know. That's not her way.”

“She said you still feel responsible.”

He gave a slight shrug of his shoulder. “Yeah, well, that's a thing I do. But it wasn't Bruce. I'd backed away long before he was killed.”

“What was it?”

“It doesn't really matter why. Only that I did.”

Her expression was filled with empathy. He cleared his throat.

“I went to one of the other churches yesterday,” he said, looking around. “The cathedral. Cartagena has some beautiful churches.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I was walking and trying to figure out what I could have done differently to protect my team. To protect you and Ellie. I just walked inside and sat there like this. It felt good just sitting. I wasn't praying, I was just sitting there and no one paid me any mind. It had been a long time since I'd been inside the walls of a church.”

She let Gil talk, keeping her own thoughts to herself. Sometimes the only way to let God in was to just get out of His way.

“He's innocent, isn't he?” Gil said quietly. “Your brother?”

Sonny closed her eyes as a rush of emotion enveloped her. To have someone on her side for a change was overwhelming. “Yes.”

“Can he prove it?”

“No. Not yet, anyway.”

She saw his shoulders slump. “Then you all have quite the fight ahead of you.”

“I believe he knew that. Cash has never backed down from a fight.”

“He's a brave man to be an army of one against the DEA.”

She glanced down at the baby, who was looking up at the ornate ceiling. “He's not fighting against the DEA. There's someone behind it all. Just one man or maybe a few. I don't know. Manuel Turgis and Eduardo Sanchez are only part of it. It wouldn't be so hard to fight if we could just see their faces and know what they're truly after.”

“That's a mighty tall order.”

“Then we'll reach high.”

He chuckled. In the quiet of the church, it seemed to boom. “I wish I had your kind of faith.”

She smiled as she looked at him. “You might surprise yourself.”

He paused, and his face changed. “You know I'm going to have to take Cash in when I find him, Sonny.”

“You don't mean you're still going to go after him.”

“Not right now, no. But when I get you and Ellie to safety, I'm going back out.”

She sighed. “Why do you need to do this? You just admitted you believe in his innocence. You know he's not guilty of these crimes he's been accused of.”

“My belief isn't enough. The only way he can prove his innocence is if he comes in to face justice.”

She looked at him hard. “His bondsman must really be paying a lot for his return.”

“It's not about the money.”

“Isn't it?”

Gil sighed. “At first it was. It's what I do, Sonny. It's how I make my living. When you have money like that dangled in front of you, it's hard to pass it up. That's my burden to bear in all this. I wanted that bounty and look where it got me—and you.”

He draped his arm across the back of the seat and touched her hair. “I can't help but think how my greed put you in harm's way.”

She spoke soberly. “It's out of our hands. If we could go back and change things, we could keep my brother from ever getting arrested. Go back even further and we could keep Ellie's grandfather from working with Aztec Corporation and putting the family in danger in the first place.

“Don't you see? You'd have to keep going back to change things. You can't do that. You can only move forward. You can't change what Manuel Turgis and Eduardo Sanchez have done to my family.”

“Did I hear you say Manuel Turgis?”

Sonny turned to find the priest standing at the end of the aisle. She'd been lost in the conversation she'd been having with Gil, encompassed by the safety of the church walls.

“Did you know him?” the priest asked them with interest.

Gil turned in his seat, his body acting like a shield. “Why?”

“The soldiers are searching for anyone with a connection to the man whose body they found in the alley.”

“Let me guess,” Gil said. “His name was Manuel Turgis.”

 

The streets of Cartagena were dark when they finally emerged from the back door of the church. The priest led them to a stone path that brought them to the pier. It was well past midnight and the activity that had dominated the street had vanished.

“You'll need to be careful,” the priest said. “There may be some soldiers on this path, in the shadows. It is sometimes guarded to prevent crime.”

“I appreciate all your help,” Sonny said. “And thank you for not giving us away to the soldiers.”

The pastor looked at Ellie, then at Sonny. “Colombia has its law to follow. But I follow the Lord's law. Stay safe on your journey.”

“Thank you,” Gil said.

Sonny didn't feel as sure-footed as she wanted to, taking the footpath down to the small pier at the end of a private beach.

“Do you think anyone saw us?” she asked Gil.

“Let's hope not. It wouldn't be anyone we'd want to meet.”

They reached a stairway that led to a tunnel. From the small light Gil held in his hand, she could see the red tile on the floor and green moss growing up the cement walls. It was damp and hot, and no place she'd ever think of venturing on her own.

“Take my hand. There's no railing,” he said, holding a hand out to help her down the stairs.

The chill of the cement underground seeped into her bones, mingling with the chill of fear. She walked quickly to keep up with Gil. The baby babbled beneath her poncho, warm against Sonny's body, protected from the chill and wondering eyes.

“The pier is just beyond these stairs.”

As they emerged from the tunnel, he pulled her close, draping his arm around her and slowing his pace.

“Stay close to me,” he said, walking with her like a couple in love would do. “I hear voices.”

“They'll hear the baby,” she said quietly, looking up into his eyes. The moon that had been so bright last night was hidden behind clouds. But she could see his eyes shining back at her. She loved their dark-brown color and the way they looked at her intently. Now they were stormy and showed the gravity of their situation.

“No one will notice us, unless we give them a reason. We're almost there.”

As they reached the beach, the small pier came into view. Although there were two boats moored against the dock, only one boat was lit up. The ghostly looking sailboat that was tied to the other side looked abandoned.

“Good, he's here,” Gil said. “I wasn't sure he'd wait with all the commotion in the square this afternoon. Don't worry. We'll be safe.”

Sonny nodded. But nothing was really going to feel safe to her except standing on solid ground in Puerto Rico. She couldn't help but wonder what she'd find when they reached the boat.

Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man who has purposed to overthrow my goings.

“Are you ready for this?” Gil asked, breaking into her quiet reflection.

“Do we have a choice?” He said nothing, which was answer enough. “There's no way out of Colombia for us, except by boat, right?”

“Yes,” he said honestly.

“Are there still pirates in these waters?”

“Possibly. There hasn't been an attack on Cartagena in a long time but out there on the water…Boats have been known to be overtaken by pirates.”

He held her gently by the upper arm and looked into her eyes.

“Sonny, there's no other way. I know you're scared, but remember, Olof doesn't have loyalty to Eduardo Sanchez or anyone else who might be looking for us. We're just tourists to him and he's just a sailor who wants to make some money.”

She sighed. After all this, how could she be such a coward? “Once we're on that boat, there's nowhere to run.”

“You're right. But you're going to be with me. And I'm not going to leave you. You can be sure of that. Come on.”