Chapter 7 #2
“You just met her.” Chase’s lips twisted in a wry smile.
“Apparently, I went on a bender last night, danced the salsa with this woman, closed down one bar and formed a conga line that stretched all the way down the beach to a twenty-four-hour wedding chapel where we tied the knot, and then ended up in La Casa Loca where I crossed Raul Delgado.”
Trevor’s eyes widened with Chase’s explanation. “Holy shit, man. All that in one night?” He shook his head. “I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I? What are you going to do when I’m not around to bail you out of jail or trouble?”
Chase frowned. “Really, I don’t want you to bail me out of this one. I’m afraid it’s more than you or I can handle.”
“Delgado is one bad mother fucker. He’s known for stealing young girls and selling them into the sex trade.
I hear he makes millions trafficking drugs and humans across the border into the United States.
” Carson raised a hand. “That being said, you can count me in, if it helps. I’ve been bored since I got here. I could use a little action.”
“Thanks, but even three of us can’t go up against an entire cartel.” Chase paced the floor, head down, thinking.
“One of my specialties when I was in the SEALs was explosives. I can make things go boom with practically nothing,” Carson offered. “You don’t meet him until midnight, do you?”
Chase nodded. “Midnight. But we’d have to sneak in, plant the explosives and hope we didn’t hurt anyone else. He’s asked to meet behind La Casa Loca. That’s a pretty popular tourist spot. We could create a lot of collateral damage if we go around blowing up shit.”
“Not to mention, if you kill civilians and tourists,” Gina piped in, “the Mexican government would lock you up and throw away the key.”
“Or turn you over to the cartel,” Carson said. “They don’t like dealing with them any more than we do. Half the time, they pay them to leave folks alone.”
Chase met Alana’s gaze. “Like the bartender said. He pays the cartel to leave him alone. Without weapons, we don’t stand a chance. From what I’ve heard, the cartel has everything from semi-automatic rifles to submachine guns. They aren’t afraid to employ them in crowded tourist areas, either.”
“Cabo is dependent on tourism, as are lots of other places in Mexico,” Carson said. “They’ve lost a lot of business and millions of tourism dollars due to cartel shootings, kidnappings and hangings.”
“You’d think the government would clean up the cartels before they go broke,” Lana said.
Carson laughed. “Unfortunately, the men in charge of the government can be as corrupt as the cartels, and if they don’t go along with the thugs, they’re killed.”
“Why did we come here for our delayed honeymoon?” Lana pushed to her feet, her brow furrowed. “Should we catch the next flight home to Montana?”
Trevor lifted her hand to his lips. “If you want to go home, I’ll get us on the next plane out.”
She frowned. “I didn’t fly all the way to Mexico to turn around and fly home the next day. I want to put my swollen feet in the sand and swim in the ocean.” She swept a hand across her small baby bump. “But I don’t want to put our baby at risk.”
“I’m calling now,” Trevor pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Lana covered his hand with hers. “No,” she said. “I refuse to believe it’s as bad as all that. Tonight’s the deadline. Let’s wait and see what happens.”
“If we stay, I’m going to help out my buddy,” Trevor said, “once we come up with a plan that doesn’t involve getting killed.” He shot a glance toward Chase. “You do have a plan, don’t you?”
Chase shook his head. “Unless you have a stash of weapons in your suitcase, I’m fresh out of ideas.”
Carson raised a hand. “I might know where someone, who will remain unnamed, might have a stash of illegally acquired weapons.”
“Yeah?” Chase looked up, hopefully. “Like what?”
“A couple of AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, one HK MP7 submachine gun, a P226 pistol, some C-4 explosives and remote detonators, to name a few.”
Chase and Trevor’s eyes rounded.
“Holy crap. Sounds like we might be in business,” Chase said.
Alana shook her head. “Just remember, even if you have weapons and ammunition, there are only the three of you who know how to use them. When Delgado shows up, he’s not coming by himself.”
Carson cracked his knuckles. “We can handle a few more.”
“How about thirty or forty more?” Alana said.
“And remember, you’re in a tourist town,” Lana said. “When the bullets start flying, there will be civilian casualties.”
“Lots of bullets means lots more injured.” Gina raised her hands. “Just sayin’.”
Chase crossed his arms over his chest, a frown pulling his brow low. “The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that I need to go alone and unarmed.”
“Or, not at all.” Alana crossed to stand in front of him. “You don’t stand a chance of coming out of it alive.”
He curved a hand around the back of her neck. “Would you miss me if I didn’t come back?”
She narrowed her eyes. “You haven’t even given me a chance to secure a life insurance policy on my new husband. I can’t let you die now.”
His mouth curved. “And here I thought you might be remembering why you married me last night.”
“Actually, I do remember,” she whispered.
“Yeah?” He tipped her face up to his, ready to kiss her when she finally admitted she’d loved making love to him.
Her lips twitched on the corners. “I did it to piss off my father.”
Gina laughed out loud. “That’s rich. Chase, you don’t know her father. I fully expected him to be here by now to drag her ass back to the States, where he’d stand behind her ex-fiancé with a shotgun or a lawyer to see that wedding through.”
Chase frowned. “Is that true? You married me to piss off your father?”
She stepped away, lifting her chin. “Why else would I marry a stranger I barely knew?”
Was that it? Had Alana married him to get back at her father? A hard knot settled in Chase’s gut. Deep down, he’d hoped she’d married him because she might have fallen in love with him.
Who was he kidding? Only fools fell in love at first sight. Fools like him.