As they both surfaced, sucking in air, Ana found herself pushed back down, under the water and under Chance as he forced her to go deeper, beneath him as he dragged her toward the falls.
She must have passed out because the next thing she knew she was flat on her back on the stone floor, naked and shivering.
She’d been so warm before, and now she was freezing. Where was Chance?
She pushed herself up, looking for him, and saw he was crouched over by the edge of the falls, peering out. Looking down, she saw her shoulder had been wrapped—his bathing suit—and ached like the devil. In fact, it felt as if her arm was going to fall off.
“Chance?” she said, coughing water. She was surprised to hear her voice so weak.
He turned, rushing to her side. “You’re okay. It’s just a scratch, though I know it doesn’t feel like one.”
His eyes were all over her, searching her face, every feature in his expression tight and strained.
“A scratch? From what?”
“From a bullet. We’re lucky nothing worse, but they’re still out there. Can you walk?”
“I don’t know. I think so,” she said. “Someone shot at us?”
“Seems so. They have the ruins covered and you said the only exit is above the mud bath. But is there any other path out?”
“There used to be some passages up underneath the jungle, under the ruins of the steps, but they aren’t easily accessible.”
Ana was still trying to understand why someone had been shooting at them, her head reeling from the pain in her arm.
“Is there a place you can hide?” he asked.
She thought and nodded. “Yes, but what are you going to do? You can’t take them on, unarmed and...” She looked at him, completely naked. It didn’t seem to bother him at all. If anything, it made him more fierce; a pure male animal.
A shiver went down her spine.
“There isn’t much choice. My clothes are up on the cliff where we jumped. And my phone is in my jeans,” he said, swearing at himself under his breath. “Tell me how to make it back out.”
“You can access the caves to the jungle from the other side of the mud baths,” she explained as he helped her to her feet, making sure she was steady before he let go. When he did, she missed the warmth of his body, the strength of his hands. But she could stand on her own, and she did.
“You find a place to hide, stay there, stay quiet. I’ll be back to get you.” He leaned in, kissed her quickly and walked off. For the first time in a long time, Ana was completely afraid. She wanted to go with him or for him to come back. What if something terrible happened to him? There were men with guns out there.
The shooters wouldn’t come through the waterfall—they’d have to swim to do that—but they would take the caves, which was where Chance was heading. It was the only other route out—there was no way to scale the cliffs on the sides of the cenote.
Her legs were feeling stronger by the minute, and adrenaline was chasing away the throbbing in her shoulder. Peeling away the material, she saw the deep scour in her skin had stopped bleeding, mostly.
Infection, especially here, would be an issue, but not for the moment.
Sliding on her bathing suit, she grabbed Chance’s as well and turned to follow him. She couldn’t let him face this alone, and maybe she could help. There had to be more than one of them, and if something happened to him, whoever was after them would just be coming for her next, anyway.
Padding along quickly, she searched for him in the dim light of the cave and finally saw a shadow up ahead. It had to be Chance.
Hurrying to join him, she tried to get his attention. “Chance? Chance!”
The figure turned and paused, then came back in her direction.
She walked forward to meet him halfway, then froze as the silhouette became larger, and she realized this was not Chance. Too beefy, too short.
And carrying a gun.
Ana froze.
“Don’t run,
chica.
I can just shoot you in the back, then,” the man said in Spanish, making her blood run cold.
“Where’s Chance?”
“Your lover? I don’t know. One of the other men has killed him, most likely.”
As her pursuer broke into a dim bit of light, she held her breath at the sheer cruelty in his face.
“But you...you are mine. Maybe for a while. No need to kill you right away, as long as the job is done sooner or later.”
A peep of sheer fear escaped her lips, and Ana felt her eyes burn with tears, but she couldn’t lose it now. She had to force herself to think. Chance could be hurt or dead, and she was on her own to survive this.
“I’d rather you shot me,” she spat and ran away toward the waterfall.
His laugh followed her down through the caves.
If she made it to the falls, she could get in the water and hide there. He didn’t look like much of a swimmer.
She stumbled, her foot hitting something sharp, and she cried out but picked up and kept running, his laugh following her.
Why would someone want to kill her? There was no way this guy was her stalker. Then again, random violence happened in the jungles all the time—drug runners could think that she and Chance had seen something they shouldn’t have, and that was all it might take.
The light of the opening where the water fell was only yards ahead, and she picked up the pace. So did her attacker, his heavy footsteps breaking into a run. He’d figured out what she was aiming for.
But then, suddenly, the footsteps stopped, and Ana stood at the edge of the waterfall, daring a look behind her.
Nothing.
Hugging the side of the opening in case she had to jump, she felt a trickle down her arm and saw that her wound had started bleeding again.
Shot. She still couldn’t get her mind around it.
Then a shadow emerged, and she stifled a scream, poised to jump into the water. She’d have to dive under the crash of the falls. There was no other option.
A hard hand jerked her back, and she screamed, turning to find it wasn’t her attacker.
“Chance!” she sobbed, shaking from head to foot.
“Ana, what were you thinking? I told you to hide,” he said, pulling her in, holding her tight, until the shaking stopped.
“What h-happened? H-he said you were dead,” she said, trying to get steady again.
“There were only the two. I took out the one ahead of him and was waiting on this one when you burst on the scene,” he said, his lips turning downward in disapproval. “What part of ‘stay here and hide’ did you miss?”
That sparked her temper, and she was glad for it. “I didn’t want to hide. I thought you might need help, and either way, I was just a sitting duck, waiting here. I thought you might need...help.”
Chance’s eyebrows lifted, and the side of his lips, pressed so sternly together, lifted a bit at the edge. “I guess I should have known that you’d do something like that.”
“So you were there all the while?”
He nodded. “I was right behind him, but I had to wait for you to get enough distance, and for him to be completely distracted, before I made my move. I couldn’t believe it when you popped up in the cave, calling my name. Please, Ana, please. Don’t ever do that again.”
The concern, relief and something deeper, in his tone, made the anger leech from her, and she nodded, tucking in against him. She’d been scared to death, sick at the thought of something happening to him—and now she realized he had felt the same about her, when she had appeared in the cave. Because he cared, or because she was his client? Maybe both?
Everything was muddled, her thinking suddenly fuzzy.
“Okay, let’s get out of here. These guys are out cold, but we need to get back to our clothes and call the authorities. Can you make it? You’re too pale. I can carry you.”
“No, I can walk,” she said, intending to do so, though if she hadn’t been convinced before not to leave Chance’s side until they were safe again, she was now. The way his arm was slung around her, holding her close, she assumed he was feeling exactly the same way.
10
“I
HATE
LYING
TO
THEM
,” Ana said, wincing as they left the doctor’s office, her shoulder bandaged and attended to. They’d called the police, but the men were gone by the time they arrived. Presumably, they’d disappeared into the jungle.
The police took their report, but Chance didn’t imagine anything much would come of it. For all he knew, the police could be in bed with whoever had shot at them. It happened.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. I have to tell them, at least Mama. She will find out, anyway. The police know, the doctor... News travels here. It’s a small place.”
Chance leaned forward on the steering wheel, pinching the bridge of his nose. He had a major headache coming on. Ana was right. After something like today, it would be hard to keep his reason for being here a secret. He’d talked with Garrett while Ana was being treated, and predictably, his older brother had advised them to come back to the States, where they could put Ana in hiding until this threat—or the multiple threats—had passed.
It had taken her less than one second to refuse.
His new and unexpected feelings for Ana aside, this situation was becoming untenable, largely because he had no idea what to expect and from whom.
The threat in the States was there, and the kidnapping chatter was a concern, but this wasn’t a kidnapping attempt. Someone had been trying to kill them.
To kill Ana. His hands formed into fists at the thought.
Her hand was on his shoulder then. “Chance. Are you okay?”
He took a breath. “Yeah. I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about. We’re not sure what we’re dealing with here, and that makes it harder to control the threat.” He paused, not wanting to coerce her, but what he had to say was also the truth. “And if these people want you, Ana, whoever they are, it could put your family in danger, too, for you to be here. We really should leave. I know it’s hard, but—”
“I’m not leaving, Chance. Don’t you see? If I leave, it accomplishes nothing. These people could still come after my family to get at me. It’s how they work. Believe me, I know. We grew up with such things. It’s why I’ve worked so hard to help build our village, to build the shops, the medical center, to make them secure and independent. So that they could not be so easily preyed upon. Leaving will just make me a coward. I would be running back to the States with you, hiding, and letting my family stay here, clueless as to the danger.”
Chance didn’t like it, but she had a point, he supposed. He also admired the hell out of her.
“I have to tell them. I have to let them know what happened, so that they know. It’s the only way we can be safe.”
Chance wasn’t sure he could argue. The village was small, insular. They could watch out for anyone new, strange.
Or, for all they knew, someone there was the danger.
There were no easy answers.
“Okay, we tell your family, but that’s all. And, Ana, you have to start listening to me, please. Back at the cave, that guy could have shot you on sight, and there would have been nothing I could do. You have to trust me. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
He saw her struggle with what he was telling her. She didn’t like being told what to do. She followed her instincts.
But right now, she had to trust his.
She nodded. “Okay. Yes. I will. I promise,” she said softly.
“I guess there’s not much way for us to hide what happened today, anyway. We look like we just crawled out of a jungle brawl,” he said, smiling to lighten the mood. “How’s your arm?”
“Fine. The painkillers work a little too well,” she admitted, tilting her head back against the headrest.
“Take a nap while we drive back. You need it.”
She didn’t need to be told twice, snoozing quietly almost before he was back on the road.
Chance took no chances, sticking to public highways and making sure no one was following them. He’d stuffed away his thoughts and reactions to what happened, focusing only on Ana and getting her to the doctor, talking to the police, but now it all rushed back.
The creep who had held the gun on her, who had threatened to do worse.
Chance took a breath, clearing the red haze that formed in his brain when he thought about it. He needed to set emotions aside.
There was something about that guy, something in the way he had approached Ana. What had he said? That as long as he killed her, he’d done his job, regardless of how long it took, or something to that effect.
That meant it wasn’t random violence, as the police suggested. They’d been after Ana specifically. A contract. But why? There was no way this was related to what had happened back in New York.
As Ana mentioned, though, she funneled huge amounts of money into the villages. She’d created wealth and stability among her people and funded several other efforts in the region to provide the kind of safety that drug runners, in particular, would resist. Perhaps Ana was making their lives a little too difficult?
In which case, they wouldn’t stop coming for her. She was also right that they would use whatever they could against her, including her family.
Chance clenched his jaw in frustration. He couldn’t keep them all safe by himself. If this truly was what was going on, he would need help, or something bad was going to happen. He could feel it in his gut.
Fifteen minutes later, they were back at the house.
It was his bad luck that Ana’s mother, Lucia and Marco—always Marco—were standing outside, engaged in an excited conversation. That became even more the case when Chance drove up and Ana’s family saw them, dirty, bloody, bandaged.
“
Madre de Dios,
what happened? Did you have an accident?” Doncia exclaimed as she hurried to the car.
Ana had fallen into a deep sleep, no doubt caused by painkillers as well as exhaustion, and she woke suddenly at her mother’s exclamation.
Chance didn’t miss how Ana flinched as her mother reached for her, still sluggish from her nap. She was tough. Brave. But the confrontation had frightened her, clearly. He knew that, and it was to be expected. He also knew that she would hate being afraid, more than almost anything.
“What happened?” Marco asked with an accusing look aimed in Chance’s direction.
“It’s a long story, and Ana’s tired. We should get inside, and then we can explain,” he said, sliding out of the vehicle and heading around to the other side to help Ana from the Jeep. She leaned gratefully into his side as they walked to the house, unusual for her. That made him worry a little more.
“I will make us some cool tea. It will help,” Doncia said, obviously needing to do something helpful.
“That would be great,” Chance agreed with a smile.
Chance noted that Marco and Lucia stayed by the Jeep, deep in conversation, not following them immediately. That was fine with him.
Inside, Ana let out a sigh of relief, and so did Chance. He led her to a comfortable lounge in the main room, perfectly positioned to catch the soft breeze circulating from the ceiling fans.
“You okay?” he asked, pushing a lock of silky hair back from her face.
She nodded. “The medicine hit me harder than I thought. I could barely keep my eyes open. But I don’t feel anything,” she said, her words somewhat slurred as she smiled and raised a hand to his face. “Hmm, except for all the things I feel for you, which are quite nice,” she admitted.
Chance told himself it was the drugs talking, though his heart skipped a little at her words. A hopeful skip.Chance pressed his mouth into her palm, holding it there as he kissed it, then dropped it as he heard footsteps behind them.
“Here we are. Fresh iced tea with mango,” Doncia said, coming back in with a tray, her tone and smile falsely bright.
“
Gracias,
Mama,” Ana said, pushing up to sit straighter on the lounge and taking a sip from the glass her mother gave her.
Marco and Lucia came in, looking serious and suspicious. Chance knew this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. He sat down at the foot of the lounge that Ana occupied and took a sip of his own tea before speaking.
“I might as well cut to the chase,” he said, looking them in the eye with a grimace. “We were attacked in the jungle. Ana took me to the cenote, the mud baths, and two men cornered us there and shot at us while we were swimming.”
Doncia sucked in a breath, the glass of tea she held tipping in her hand. “My Ana was shot?” she asked, her eyes riveted on Ana’s bandages.
Chance reached across, took her glass and put it on the table, and held her cold hand in his. “Scratched. It didn’t even need stitches. It’s painful, but it will heal easily. There’s no need to worry.”
Lucia’s eyes went wide as she stood, pacing the space between them. “No need to worry? Someone tried to kill my sister, and almost did!”
Chance saw up close that Ana’s temper was apparently a family trait.
Chance had to come clean. “It was a close call, but it’s my job to make sure nothing happens to Ana, and I plan to make sure that’s the case. I was hired by her production company to watch out for her in New York and to come to Mexico with her just in case. But I don’t think this shooting incident has anything to do with the problem back in the States. This is something else altogether. These two men had tracked us to that spot, and they were targeting Ana specifically. The question is, why? There was some talk of a kidnapping threat, but these men didn’t want to kidnap Ana. They were clearly guns for hire,” Chance said, watching the reactions of Ana’s family.
Lucia was markedly not as shocked as Chance would have expected. Doncia had turned a bit more pale, and Marco remained inscrutable.
“What happened to these men?” Marco finally asked.
“I managed to overtake them in the caves and we escaped. But by the time the police arrived, they were gone.”
“Thank you, Chance,
gracias,
” Doncia said, squeezing his hand tightly.
“Don’t thank me too soon, Doncia. Those men are still out there, and we don’t really know why they are after Ana or when they will strike next. The situation has become dangerous for everyone, and that’s why I think it would be best if Ana returned to the U.S. immediately.”
* * *
A
NA
,
LULLED
BY
THE
DRUGS
and the conversation, sat up abruptly, shocked by Chance’s statement.
“What? No. We already discussed this. Even if I am gone, the threat remains the same. I will not run back to the States like some frightened child and leave my family here to deal with this mess,” she said, anger burning off the last of the drug-induced fog.
Her shoulder started throbbing again, but she ignored it.
“Ana, I know—”
“You don’t know,” she bit off, sending him a furious look. “And you don’t get to decide. I am not going back to the States, and that is that,” she said definitively, sitting back in her chair.
Chance raised an eyebrow, staring at her. “I have my orders, and so do you. The company execs said that in the case of a direct threat, you were to—”
“They don’t run my life and neither do you,” Ana insisted and pushed herself up to standing. She swayed slightly, swatting away helpful hands that tried to steady her.
“Ana, be reasonable,” Chance tried, but she only glared at him and stalked to the window, staring out.
“You should listen to Chance, Ana. He only wants you to be safe,” her mother said sternly, making Ana spin around, looking at her mother in disbelief.
“It does make sense,” Lucia chimed in, and Ana’s eyes went wide.
“Are you all trying to get rid of me? Why are you taking
his
side?” Ana nearly wailed, becoming undone by the pain in her shoulder, the stress of her day and sheer exhaustion. This was when she needed to be around her family the most, and they were all trying to send her away!
Lucia crossed the room, squeezing her in a hug, and Ana let her, hugging her back and wiping away tears. She hated being so emotional, but she couldn’t seem to help it. She’d come here to relax, to get away from everything and to be with her family. But it seemed as if trouble followed her no matter what.
“We’re sorry, Ana. We are not taking sides, just trying to do what will keep you safe. You scared us, you know,” her sister said, framing Ana’s face in her hands.
“But it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow,” Ana said and shook her head. “I will be safe if I stay here. No one will come into the village, to our home, especially during the holiday. I can go back afterward, but I want to spend the holiday with you all, so much. Please,” Ana said, but she was looking over Lucia’s shoulder to Chance.
She knew he had her best interests at heart, but she was not leaving. The studio could sue her, and he could leave if he wanted, but she was staying at least through the New Year. She wasn’t about to let a bunch of thugs chase her away.
“I suppose it would work,” Chance said. “If you stay here. If you go out, I go with you, even if it’s just to the store.”
Ana nodded.
“Marco will be here, as well as Lucia, and all of our family around for the holiday,” Doncia said, looking happier, as well. “Our people take care of their own. We will know if anyone comes around who should not be here. And Ana has taken care of all of us for so long. It is time she let us take care of her,” her mother said, nodding resolutely, but her eyes were warm in a way that made Ana’s sting with happy tears again.
“Marco, you are staying? Doesn’t your family want you home for the holiday?” Ana asked, not wanting to sound ungracious but also not wanting to deal with any more awkwardness, of people assuming they were engaged, et cetera, if Marco was staying in her family home.
Her mother smiled broadly. “Marco is our family, or will be,” she said mysteriously.
Ana frowned. “I don’t understand—”
Lucia strode to Marco’s side, took his hand. “Marco and I are engaged. I know it’s sudden, but he’s fulfilling his family’s promise, Ana. He and I have been in love since we were young. There just has not been any chance, and now, well, there is,” she said nervously as they waited for Ana’s reaction.