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I remembered when I was a child how much I wanted to see the ocean, but I was twenty-one before I did. I’d never forget how cold the Pacific Ocean was, then a short time after that, I experienced the warmth of the Atlantic. TV shows had me screwed on that one.
“Want to tell me why you’re following me?”
The man was suddenly sitting across the table from me. His strong jaw ticked as his gorgeous, dark green eyes narrowed in on mine. I swallowed and leaned back. He didn’t seem threatening, but my stomach fluttered, and I thought about my words carefully before I opened my mouth. His chest and shoulders were quite broad, and his arm muscles gently stretched the sleeves of the t-shirt he wore, but not to a point where I thought it was intentional. He was intense, but I knew he was no member of a Cartel. He was far too American-looking. It put me at ease, and it came to me that I shouldn’t let my guard down with this man. My danger radar was off.
“Funny, I was going to ask you the same question,” I finally answered him. “You were, after all, digging around where I was having lunch.”
He leaned back and showed he was as comfortable as I pretended to be. “Lunch would mean you ate something. You didn’t eat. You sipped your drink, watched me, and left.”
“So, you were watching me?”
“I watch everyone, Nicole.” I quickly pulled in my chin and sat back as I adjusted to his use of my name.
“If you’re trying to intimidate me by using my name, it won’t work. I’m on the news. I’m in people’s living rooms, phones, and airports weekly. I’m used to others pretending they know me.”
The corner of his mouth rose like he found what I said entertaining. “I was warned you were spicy.”
I tried not to shift in my seat, but he caught it. Who did he know who thought they knew me? “Better you know now.” I pursed my lips and tilted my head in a challenge.
“So, you admit I do know something about you.”
“June 4th, Oaxaca City, New Year’s Eve, three years ago. Could have told you that,” I shot back, referring to the time I got into a fight with a local Cartel member live on air. “I got a raise after that.”
“Or last year when you were in Mexico City covering the story on those kidnapped children from El Salvadore and you tore a strip off the police chief.”
“That was a good one.” I smiled at the memory of his red face when I told him he was live on air.
“But that’s not how I know you, Nicole.”
I leaned back as my food arrived. “Then how?”
“Tell me why you’re here, in this town, and I’ll tell you how.”
I shook my head as I dipped my shrimp taco into a heavenly avocado dip. “A job.”
His smile slowly faded, and I wondered what just went through his head. “Who hired you?”
“I’m press. I get my orders from Washington.” I shrugged because I did work for the military.
“No one hired you to work this location.”
“And you know that how?”
“Because you’re supposed to be in Tapachula, not Campeche.”
Everything in me bottomed out as his words sank in. Who the hell was this man? He got up and left with me more confused than when he arrived.
NINE
PAUL
“Excuse me.” I stepped away from a member of the hotel staff to answer Cole’s call. I hadn’t heard from him since the previous day and had been worried something might have happened. Daniel’s reassurance that all was well had eased my mind only a little. “Tell me you got it.”
“Someone already picked it up.”
“The birth certificate?” My stomach dropped. “What? How?” I fought to remember my training and took a couple of slow, even breaths. This was on a whole different level than anything I’d been involved with before. I already felt the pull of what it would be like to be a parent. Fuck, I was a parent. Breathe, in and out, in and out. “Start from the beginning.”
“Talya didn’t go to the church. You were right about that. She went to an orphanage across the street. The sisters wouldn’t give us much other than confirming she’d stayed there for a few days. They told us we could wait around and speak with Father Antonio, but he didn’t show up until this morning. They must have called him because he knew why we were there. We explained who we were and why we were in Mexico. Plus, we showed him the letter from Talya, and that seemed to soften him up a little.”