Gil instructed them before they walked out the door to stay at ease. Sonny only wished she were feeling at ease about leaving the villa, no matter how much they needed to do it. They couldn’t stay holed up there forever. But leaving the relative security these walls provided left them so exposed.

  She climbed into the backseat of the car and Gil slipped in next to her. The car was hot from sitting in the sun. Even as they started to move, the breeze blowing in from the windows gave them little relief.

  Sonny slipped the side of the poncho up, exposing the baby’s face, but keeping her body and feet covered. If she woke up en route to the pier, it would make it easier to give her a bottle.

  As they drove, Sonny’s eyes darted from person to person on the streets, noting who turned to look at them as they passed.

  “No one can see her in your lap,” Gil said, sensing her anxiety. “As long as the car keeps moving, we’ll be fine. Don’t be nervous.”

  “How long is it going to take?”

  “Not long. Olof is in a small pier in the old part of town. He moved his boat there this morning. There are too many boats moored at the marina where he was staying and more soldiers in that section of the city.”

  She nodded. “I just hope he’s there.”

  Gil smiled, his eyes filled with warmth and reassurance. It didn’t take away the nervous energy that was coursing through her, but knowing that he had her back made all the difference in the world.

  They reached the old section of town near a park called Parque Simón Bolivar and immediately got stuck in traffic.

  “Was there this much traffic on the street yesterday?” she asked, biting her bottom lip as she peered out the window at the crowd assembled in the park.

  “I know you wanted to go the tourist route to blend in,” Marco said, looking at them in the rearview mirror. “But we’re going to get caught in all this traffic trying to make it to the coast.”

  “True. Take this right turn, Marco,” Gil said, pointing to a small side road that looked like an alleyway. Only one car could pass down the road easily. “This should take us past San Pedro Claver Square and we’ll only be a block or two from the pier.”

  Sonny drew in a deep breath and glanced down at Ellie. She was wiggling in her arms as if she were trying to get comfortable. Sweat made her downy hair stick to her forehead. Sonny lifted just a bit more so the light breeze from the window bathed her face.

  Under different circumstances, Sonny would have loved to take in all the exquisite, old architectural features of the buildings in the old part of the city. She loved how each of the homes had second-story iron balconies, like the French Quarter in New Orleans. The buildings were painted in bright colors of red, butter-yellow and orange, reminding her of a sunset.

  Many of the residents decorated their balconies with weathered urns filled with spectacularly colored flowers. The stucco walls of the buildings were cracked in places, with paint peeling and the color fading from the harsh rays of the Colombian sun. It was a sharp contrast to the modern buildings near the tourist area with beaches and hotels that reminded her of Miami.

  She wouldn’t be coming back to Colombia anytime soon, thank you very much. As beautiful as Cartagena was, the only memory she wanted to hold on to from this place was reaching into the basket in the back of Torres’s car and pulling Ellie into her arms for the first time.

  No, that wasn’t true, she decided, stealing a glance over at Gil. She had other memories to hold on to. She just wondered if she was still going to feel the same when they reached Miami. Gil’s pursuit of her brother was relentless. If it were anyone else he was after, she’d admire his tenacity. But she wasn’t going to allow anyone to interfere with Cash’s rescue. Especially not in the name of money.

  The car spilled out onto another busy road.

  “This road is no better than the last,” Marco said, glancing in the rearview mirror at Gil, his face steeped with worry. “Looks like they’re having some kind of festival.”

  “No,” Gil said, shifting forward in the seat to look out the front windshield. “They’re checking cars.”

  “What?” Cooper said.

  “Gil, I don’t like this,” Marco said.

  “Don’t worry. There are enough people on the streets for us to get lost in the crowd of tourists. The pier is just on the other side of the square on the inlet,” Gil said.

  In retrospect, it probably would’ve been better for them to wait until later in the evening to move. But they didn’t have much of a choice. They’d been at the villa too long as it was.

  “I still can’t believe Eduardo Sanchez has the Colombian military in his back pocket the way he does,” Marco said.

  “He’s one dangerous man. I want you to take us as close as you can to the pier. And try not to act so guilty, Marco,” Gil said.

  “Look at those machine guns. Is that an M16, Gil?” Marco asked.

  “Keep your eyes on the road,” Gil answered. “I’ll keep an eye on the guns.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Cooper said, gripping the seat. “You’re going to need a lot of eyes out there, Gil. I’ve never seen this kind of manpower.”

  “I have,” Gil said quietly. Sonny knew he was referring to his own duty in the Special Forces. He hadn’t been very open about it. But Sonny understood that kind of silence well. Dylan had never wanted to share stories about his time in the military in any great detail.

  “Are you okay, Cooper?” Sonny asked.

  She drew in a deep breath. “Fine. Or I will be, when I get on that plane.”

  Gil closed his eyes for a brief moment. “You’ll get there, Cooper.”

  “But what about you? I’m not sure I like this plan,” Cooper said, glancing in the back. “Are you sure you can trust this Swedish guy?”

  “No. But it’s all we have to work with right now.”

  “Maybe Sonny can go alone with the baby? This Swedish guy should be able to take her out into the Gulf. I mean, he managed to cross the whole Atlantic in a boat all by himself. Sailing a few hundred miles across the Gulf shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Gil shook his head. “What happens if something goes wrong? Sonny has the baby to think about. What is she going to do then?”

  “She’s in the car, you know,” Sonny reminded them all. “Why do you people keep forgetting that one little fact?”

  Gil smiled apologetically. “If something happens, I’ll be right there. That’s all I’m trying to say.”

  “Whoa,” Cooper said, her hands braced against the dashboard. “Is that a roadblock?”

  “If it isn’t, it’s disguised as a pretty good one,” Marco said, searching down a side street a few hundred yards before the gridlock of cars ahead.

  “Back up, Marco,” Cooper said, turning to look over her shoulder at the traffic behind them.

  “You have to go through it,” Sonny said. “It’ll look too suspicious if you try to turn here now.”

  “We’ll get out here,” Gil said, grabbing Sonny by the hand and opening the passenger door before the car came to a stop. “You won’t have a problem going through the roadblock without us in the car.”

  “Wait, Gil, you can’t get out here,” Marco protested. “We’re still a few blocks from the pier.”

  Cooper talked over him. “You’re a sitting duck on the street. What if the baby wakes up?”

  “We were sitting ducks as soon as I took Sonny and Ellie into the car with us at the airport. I’m not risking the two of you in that roadblock with Sonny and the baby in the car. Sonny’s right. There’s no place to turn the car around without it being obvious.”

  Marco banged his hand on the steering wheel. “I’m not leaving you out on the street, Gil.”

  “It’s only a few more blocks. There’s so much commotion going on outside, no one will notice us.”

  Cooper shook her head. “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “No one does,” Sonny said. “It’s still safer than trying to get through that roadblock.”

  “Gil, the roadblock might not have anything to do with the baby at all. It could be some other random thing,” Marco argued.

  “I’m not taking that chance.” Gil climbed out of the car, waited for Sonny and the baby to follow and then quickly slammed the door. “Get yourself out of Colombia and stick to the plan. If all goes well, we’ll meet up in Puerto Rico at the end of the week.”

  The look on Marco’s face stopped Sonny short. Did he really think he wasn’t going to see his friend again? “Be careful,” Marco said to them.

  “Thank you both for everything,” Sonny said to Marco and Cooper as she stood by the passenger side window. “You don’t know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done—you’re doing—for us.”

  “Good luck to both of you,” Cooper said. “We’ll see you in Puerto Rico in a week.”

  “Take care,” Gil said. He took Sonny gently by the arm and moved her in the opposite direction, away from the roadblock.

  Sonny reached beneath the poncho as she felt Ellie stir awake with her movement. Now that they were walking quickly through the crowded square toward the side street, the baby was being jostled around.

  “She’s waking up,” she murmured to Gil.

  “We’re almost there.”

  They dodged the roadblock by going down an alleyway leading to the wall that surrounded the city.

  Ellie started crying. Even though the sound was muffled beneath the poncho, her voice seemed to echo off the stone walls in the alley. When they emerged on the other side, Gil slowed her down.

  There were military police everywhere, talking to the tourists.

  “They can’t be looking for us,” Sonny said quietly, trying to shush Ellie at the same time. Her pulse thrummed loudly in her ear, drowning out the street noise.

  “No. Something has happened here.”

  A man ran down the street past them, yelling in Spanish to a group of people. Although Sonny knew Spanish well, the dialect and the urgency with which the man spoke made it difficult for her to understand every word.

  “Someone has been killed,” she said, her body limp with dread. “There’s a body.”

  “It doesn’t concern us. Keep moving. We still have to get through this street before we reach—”

  Gil stopped short.

  “What is it?”

  “There weren’t any guards down at the pier earlier. Let’s go this way. We may be able to go around them.”

  They walked through crowded San Pedro Claver Square. The baby was now awake and fussing loudly. Although Sonny knew the poncho would protect her from the harsh heat of the sun, it was still hot under there.

  Gil looked at her, and at the wiggling poncho.

  “She’s awake,” Sonny said, trying desperately to keep her voice from revealing the alarm she felt.

  A woman at the market turned at the sound of Ellie crying.

  “Keep her quiet,” Gil said, his voice low. “Give her a bottle if you have to.”

  “How can I do that without drawing attention?”

  “Quickly.” He took her by the hand and moved faster. Sonny had to practically run to keep up with him. She held her hand steady on Ellie’s back.

  Soldiers were at every stairway leading down to the pier where they were to meet Olof. One soldier clearly heard Ellie’s cries and raised his gun.

  Without thought, Sonny pulled Gil in the direction of a large church. Gil seemed to know what she was thinking and didn’t resist. With one hand gripping his suitcase and the other on the small of her back, he moved her quickly over the brick and concrete streets, weaving in between people in the square, ignoring the shouts of the soldiers at their backs.

  Gil pushed through the door of the church and led her into the quiet, leaving the commotion behind them outside. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the change of light. The inside of the church was cool. With a quick movement, she lifted the poncho off Ellie and unleashed the baby’s cries. The sound of her distress echoed off the walls of the church.

  As the noise outside drew closer, a priest appeared at the altar, curious about what was happening just outside the door.

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

  TWELVE

  They 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?”