Chance Encounter

by MellowMild

Summary:

What if Raquel had never seen those coordinates on the back of the postcards? What would Sergio's Plan B have entailed? Because we all know he would have had one - the Professor left nothing to chance. This story will be light on the adventure and heavy on the relationship.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Doldrums

Truly I was born to be an example of misfortune, and a target at which the arrows of adversity are aimed.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

 

One year and one month after heist

Madrid

Raquel sat down heavily on the edge of her bed and eyed the envelope in her hand with trepidation. The thick, cream-coloured stationery screamed affluence and distinguished the letter from the usual ones she received – the advertisements, the bills (although those were also becoming a source of anxiety after more than a year without a job). She flipped it over and her heart stopped. Jimenez and Associates Attorneys were stamped in big black letters on the back flap and she knew instinctively what this was. Helpless tears filled her eyes and she fought the urge to fling the letter across the room. That son of a bitch. That fucking asshole. Motherfucking bastard. She ripped it open and through the blur of tears confirmed her worst fear: As the legal representatives of Mr Alberto Vicuna we hereby inform you, as a courtesy, that we have begun proceedings to file for sole custody-

She didn’t read any further. The letter slid from her fingers and floated to the floor, and she buried her face in her hands. He was really going through with it – Alberto was suing her for sole custody of their daughter.

 

If she lost Paula too… Her heart broke and she stifled a sob. God. Please. Not that too. She couldn’t bear it. It was the worst thing that could possibly happen, and that was saying something after the horrible year she had already endured. She’d left the Police force under a cloud; the events that transpired during the heist would have made it impossible to stay, even if she’d wanted to. Not that she did, but the manner in which she had left had had the unwanted side-effect that she was now virtually unemployable. What else was she qualified to do? She’d been a police officer her whole adult life, and any other position she might have been qualified for were in the Security Sector, and after she had criticised their methods the Intelligence Service had wasted no time in letting everyone know that they would frown on the employment of a traitor such as herself. Because that was what she’d been branded as – a traitor who had sold out her colleagues. For sex, they said snidely, and what had it brought her? Where was her lover now? Gone, with all his millions, and leaving her with nothing. No job, no money, no sex. It served her right, they said. The only one who still talked to her was Angel, and even that came with its own price – he could not hide the hope in his gaze; that his sacrifice, his refusal to give away the location of the Professor, would finally win her over.

 

She’d borne it stoically, like she always did. She’d said her piece to the media, to try and make it clear that this was about much more than sex, but it had been drowned out by the negative press the Intelligence Service dumped on her head. And the truth was, she didn’t know for how much longer she could remain standing. The black tide was building, and there would come a time when the blows that were raining down, one after another, would simply overwhelm her. She curled into a ball and clutched her knees to her chest, trying to physically keep herself from flying apart. What was she going to do? She had no money to fight Alberto for custody, and no way of proving that she had the means to look after Paula. The reality was that no judge in their right mind would deny Alberto full custody; at least he could afford to raise their daughter.

Oh Sergio, where are you? I sure could use some help…

 

That was how Marivi found her an hour later, still curled into a ball, with dried tear-tracks on her cheeks, in exhausted slumber. The older woman picked up the letter from the floor and read it, and her heart broke for her daughter. How much misery could the universe heap on one person? She sat down next to Raquel and gently combed her daughter’s hair out of her face.

“Kiddo,” she said, and Raquel’s eyes fluttered open. “Paula will be home from school soon.”

“Mama,” she responded and sat up, “Alberto is going to take Paula from me.” It was said with such quiet desperation that Marivi felt helpless anger well up.

She grabbed Raquel and clutched her to her breast tightly. “Oh, darling.”

“I don’t know what to do,” the younger woman confessed, wrapping her arms around her mother. “I can’t afford to fight him. But she’s all I have left. If I lost her too- Oh, God.”

Marivi closed her eyes and stroked her daughter’s hair. “Shhh. You’ll think of something. You always do. And don’t worry about the money. I have a policy that recently paid out – quite a lot, actually – and we can use that. I’ll help in any way I can. We won’t let that prick take her.”

Raquel squeezed her mother tighter. “Thank you, Mama. But I can’t take your money.”

“Pfft, of course you can. What am I going to do with it – take it to the grave with me?”

Raquel smiled. “You could travel – when’s the last time you saw Aunt Sophia? Is she still in Cusco?”

Marivi’s face lit up. “What a wonderful idea. We’ll all go. The schools close in a week-“ she began excitedly, but Raquel tried to bring her back to reality with a sigh.

“Mama… We can’t afford it. You go-“

Marivi waved an impatient hand. “But that’s what I’m trying to tell you – we can afford it.”

Raquel sat up with a frown. “How much did this policy pay out, exactly?”

“Erm, nine-hundred-thousand-and-something,” her mother said, oblivious to Raquel’s astonished expression. “So we can all go and visit my sister, and still have enough left to get a proper attorney- What?” she asked, alarmed, as Raquel gripped her arm tightly.

“What policy was this, Mama?” she asked in a tight voice, and Marivi shrugged.

“Oh who knows. One of those your father took out. You know how paranoid he’d always been about our retirement years.” She did not notice Raquel’s sceptical look, and nattered on. “Come on, let’s go to Peru. Paula loved that book Sophia sent her last Christmas – she’ll enjoy seeing the Inca stuff for real.” She caressed Raquel’s face with both hands. “And you could do with a change of scenery. You’ve been moping around this house for a year now.”

 

Raquel’s mind was working overtime. She knew that the travel-notice the authorities had put on her had recently been lifted; it seemed they finally believed that she really had no clue where Sergio was. She was now free to leave the country without being followed. And her mother was right – Paula would enjoy seeing the Inca ruins. Marivi’s sister was an archaeologist that worked on the Inca settlements in Cusco, and if they could stay with her, it would perhaps not be quite such an expensive trip as she’d feared. And, she reasoned with a pang, she’d always wanted to take Paula on the Inca Trail through the mountains to Machu Picchu, and then they would at least have that joined experience to hold on to if she should lose her daughter. She resolved to secretly check whether Marivi had her facts correct about the amount the policy had paid out, and if indeed it amounted to almost a million Euros, to take her family on this one final trip together.

 

Next day

Palawan

 

It was day 398 without Raquel.

 

Sergio tried not to dwell on the thought and instead focussed on the piece of wood he was carefully bending. It formed part of the hull of the model sailing ship he was building, and if the wooden ribs were not curved to the exact degree required, the whole thing would be skew. But his mind continued to drift to her. He had left the coordinates of his location on those postcards, hoping that she would find them once he’d gone. He’d been so sure that she would want to join him here in paradise – that she also wanted to escape her life. But with every day that passed his certainty waned. Was the fact that she had not come more than a year later an indication that she had not found those coordinates? He hoped to God that was the reason, and not that she had found them, but chose not to come. He could not bear to think about that possibility, but could he really blame her if it was true? After everything he had put her through; all the lies, the manipulations, the wilful damage to her reputation? And things had only got worse since his escape. He’d kept tabs on the developments back in Spain and he knew that she had endured a horrible year since the heist. He’d been here, living in paradise, while she’d been back in Madrid, coping with the fall-out of his perfect plan. She had resigned in disgrace, and about two months after the heist he saw an interview with her on the news, where she’d looked pale, drawn and exhausted, and not at all like the smart, beautiful and funny woman he had fallen in love with. He had done that to her. Was falling in love a good enough reason to overlook all of that, and to take a chance on a man she barely even knew? He really didn’t know the answer.

 

The worst part was that there was nothing he could do to offer support. She was under close surveillance, and any attempt to contact her would only have made matters worse. But it was killing him; did she think that he’d abandoned her? That he didn’t care? There had been times when he’d been tempted to buy a ticket back to Spain, to present himself to the nearest law enforcement officer and to scream to the whole fucking country to just leave her alone. But he could not, because he also had a responsibility towards the others he had roped into his scheme – he knew where they all were and he would endanger them if he got captured. So he stayed where he was, and began to put the mechanisms in place to whisk her and her family away at the first opportunity. And every day he waited for her, hoping against hope that she would come. It was a long, lonely vigil, but he never contemplated doing anything else. This was his cross to bear, his penance for ruining her life.

 

He’d taken to building model ships since his arrival in Palawan, after suddenly finding himself at a loss as to what to do with himself now that he didn’t have a heist to plan anymore. But then he was never meant to have been here alone. Andres should have been with him, at least for the first couple of months, until the dust had settled. He sighed, his heart aching with loss and anger, and purposefully forced his thoughts back to Raquel. God, he missed her. It was still a mystery to him – how he managed to lose his heart so completely in less than five days. He wondered what his brother would have made of it; he would surely have pointed out the irony of Sergio almost ruining his own plan because of a woman. And not just any woman, but the lead Inspector in charge of the heist. And what would he have thought about Sergio giving her the coordinates of their hide-out even before he was certain of her loyalty – before she even knew who he really was and how he had deceived her?

 

It had always been his dream – his only dream, really, to pull off the perfect heist and then to live here in paradise until the end of his days. And yet, now that he had done it, it felt totally wrong. He shouldn’t be here alone, she should be with him – she and her mother and her daughter, for he never wanted to take her away from her family. Somewhere along the line during those fateful five days his dream had changed, and now all he dreamed about was being part of her family. He’d been right that day in the warehouse when he’d told her he’d be fucked even if everything went according to plan. He was fucked; it meant nothing without her.

 

One of his phones chirped and he glanced up from his model, and then he froze. It was the Raquel phone – the one the team of hackers he employed used to notify him of any change in her situation. He jumped to his feet, not paying attention to the wooden rib that promptly sprang out of shape again, and snatched up the phone. The message stated succinctly:

Bought 3 tickets to Lima, Peru. Connecting flight to Cusco. One week from now.

Sergio tapped the phone thoughtfully against his chin. Three tickets – that had to be for Raquel, Paula and Marivi. So they were going on a trip, probably to visit Marivi’s sister, who he knew worked in Cusco along with her husband. This could be the chance he had been looking for. He had to know one way or the other why she had not acted on the postcards; he would never be at peace until he did. So he walked over to the computer and began to pull up information on Peru.

 

tbc

Chapter 2: Shadow

For it will happen that when one thing is looked for another thing is found.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

 

One week later

Lima, Peru

 

The plane broke through the clouds and Raquel smiled as Paula pressed her face against the little window, trying to see as much as she could of this strange and wonderful new place she was about to visit. She felt a pang of guilt; she and Alberto had never taken Paula overseas, and even though she knew that was mostly Alberto’s doing - what’s the point of going to another country, he’d always said when she brought it up, we have everything we want right here in Spain – she still felt guilty. They really should have done so. Raquel used to love to travel before she got married; nothing broadened the mind more than experiencing other cultures. She turned to her other side to wake Marivi, who was slumbering in the aisle seat.

“Mama, we’re about to land,” she said and shook her gently, and the older woman’s eyes flew open. She stared around her in confusion, and Raquel could see the fear flash across her mother’s face and knew that she had no idea where she was. Her heart ached and she squeezed Marivi’s hand reassuringly. Oh, Mama. How much longer until you won’t recognise me or Paula anymore?

“We’re about to land in Lima,” she said and smiled, “and tomorrow evening we will fly on to Cusco and visit Aunt Sophia.”

Marivi sighed in relief and nodded, and Raquel saw the exact moment her mother snapped back into reality. She kept hold of Marivi’s hand until they had to leave the plane.

 

They emerged from the airport into a cold grey mist, and Raquel looked around for a taxi whilst Marivi fussed over whether Paula’s jacket was zipped up securely. The first two taxis sped by without slowing down, and Raquel sighed and dropped her hand. It was as she turned back to her left to look for another that she first saw it – a shadow, darting out of sight the moment she looked in its direction. It didn’t quite register at that particular moment, because she was no longer a woman with a dangerous job, who had to be aware of every movement around her. The third taxi pulled to the kerb and the driver sprang out to help load their bags into the boot, and they all piled in. Their holiday was about to begin, and she quickly forgot about the shadow.

 

For the next two days they explored Lima. Paula insisted on lugging along the book her great-aunt had given her, and was wont to stop in the middle of the sidewalk to regale them with a snippet of information at every opportunity. As the mist rolled in off the ocean once again during late afternoon, the girl stopped and announced, “It’s because of the cold current that runs up the coast.”

Raquel and Marivi shared an amused smile. “Oh yes? What current would that be then?” Raquel queried, revelling in her daughter’s obvious delight with the whole experience.

Paula consulted her book. “The, uh, Hum… Hum-b-o-l-d,” she puzzled over the foreign word and Raquel leaned over her shoulder.

“Humboldt,” she assisted, “it’s a person’s surname, sweetheart. He probably discovered it so they named it after him.”

And there it was again when she looked up, seen out of the corner of her eye – a shadow that disappeared as soon as she turned her head towards it. Raquel frowned; was she becoming paranoid? Seeing things that weren’t there? But then Paula grabbed her hand and dragged her along to a shop that sold the most wonderfully colourful scarves, and she soon forgot about the shadow again.

 

They ate dinner in a small local restaurant, laughing about their experiences over the ceviche and local beer. Raquel was happy; for the first time in more than a year, truly happy. She was making memories with her daughter and spending quality time with her mother whilst Marivi was still well enough to remember it. The only thing missing was-

No. Don’t go there. He was gone. Don’t pine for something that could never be. Perhaps it was time to let go, to move on.

She smiled resolutely and squeezed Marivi’s hand. “Thank you, Mama,” she said warmly. “This was a wonderful idea.”

 

She saw it for the third time as they stepped out of the restaurant, and that was when she knew. She was not paranoid, and she was not imagining things. There was a shadow following them around. Anger welled in her chest and she balled her fist in frustration. They had lifted the travel-notice on her, so why was she still being followed? Why could they not leave her alone? Had she not paid enough for her sins by now?

“Those motherfuckers,” she hissed and Marivi looked at her strangely.

“What was that, darling?”

Raquel plastered a smile on her face. No point in unsettling her mother and daughter. “Er, nothing. I caught my new scarf on the door,” she fudged, and Marivi clicked her tongue in sympathy. But as she took Paula’s hand and turned towards their hotel, Raquel resolved to deal with the shadow as soon as they got to Cusco. If the authorities thought they could follow her around without her noticing, they had better think again. She had been a damn good cop, and although she wasn’t one anymore, she had not lost any of her skills. And spotting and shaking off a tail happened to be one of the skills she had been particularly good at.

 

Next evening

Cusco

It was after dinner when Raquel sidled up to Uncle Juan as he washed the dishes. Paula was playing with Ana, Sophia’s granddaughter, and she could hear them laughing in the living room. The two sisters were still sitting at the dinner table, talking over each other in their haste to catch up, and her heart caught at the sight. She was glad that Marivi had this chance to visit with her sister. She picked up a dish towel and began drying the dishes that he had washed, and he smiled his thanks at her.

“Uncle Juan,” she began, “can I have a look at your digital aerial photograph database of Cusco? I’ve always been fascinated by the city.”

Sophia’s husband was a kind man without a suspicious bone in his body, and he nodded amiably. “Of course, dear. I’ll log in for you as soon as I’m done here.”

They were interrupted by the two girls running into the kitchen. “Mama,” Paula said breathlessly, “can Ana come on the hike with us? Please?”

Raquel looked into her daughter’s pleading eyes. When was the last time she had seen the girl this excited about something? “Sure, sweetheart,” she agreed, caressing her daughter’s cheek. “If her mother agrees.” 

Ana immediately dashed off to call her parents, and Paula grinned happily. “And can Ana and I have our own tent?”

Raquel laughed. She was not too put out not to have to share the small tent with a wriggling child, and agreed readily. They would spend plenty of time together during the day, anyway.

 

Two hours later the house was quiet, the only sound the click of the mouse as Raquel steadily worked through the aerial photographs. Archaeologists relied heavily on aerial images to identify possible areas of interest to explore, and they had a detailed database with a resolution of 5x5 metres of the city, which provided all the detail she needed to map out her route for the following day. She had glimpsed her shadow again that evening as they came out of the local airport, and that had made up her mind. Whoever the unfortunate bugger was that the Spanish authorities had sent after her, he was about to get more than he bargained for on this assignment. She was sick and tired of the harassment – it was time to push back.

 

It was the early morning hours when she was finally satisfied. She had a good head for maps and direction and she was confident that she knew the route she wanted to take by heart. In the end she had chosen the old, run-down area of San Sebastian to execute her plan in, and she knew that it was partly because the name had resonated with her. As soon as she’d seen it on the map her thoughts had gone back to the day she had submitted Sergio to the polygraph test. “Place of birth?” “San Sebastian.” It was a different San Sebastian, of course, but still. God, she missed him. She quickly repressed that thought. Moving quietly through the house, she collected Uncle Juan’s bunch of keys from the bowl in the hall, before coming back to the study and stopping before the gun-safe in the corner. The third key she tried turned smoothly and she eased open the door. There were two rifles, a couple of vintage guns, possibly from the Spanish civil war, and an old .22 Beretta. She picked it up and studied it. It looked like it hadn’t been fired or cleaned in years, but it would have to do. Hopefully she would only need it as a deterrent, because even if it did fire, the small bullet might slow down a grown man for a bit, but would not stop him in his tracks. She grabbed some ammunition and shoved both it and the gun into her pocket, before locking the safe again and depositing the keys back into the bowl. She was ready.

 

Mid-morning

Raquel waited until everyone else had left the house before she made her final preparations. They were going sightseeing, but she had pleaded a headache and told them to go and have fun. Now, finally alone, she dressed carefully in neutral, unobtrusive colours, before rounding off her outfit with a bright red jacket. She put two hats into her bag – a peaked cap and a woolly beany, before checking that the gun was loaded and then stuffing it into her belt at the small of her back. Before she left the house, she paused for a moment to gather herself, feeling the old familiar tingle of nerves in her stomach, like she always used to get before a big operation. “Right, let’s see how good you are,” she mumbled, and then she stepped confidently out of the house.

 

By the time she turned off the main road into the narrower streets of San Sebastian, she knew that her shadow was there, somewhere behind her. She also knew it was a man, dark hair, slim hips, long, lean build. God help her, she was actually beginning to enjoy herself. She plunged into the warren of streets with enthusiasm, stopping every now and then to take photos, playing the tourist to perfection. Gradually she worked her way towards the jumble of alleyways that characterised the centre of the neighbourhood. She knew exactly where she was; she had a perfect picture of the aerial map she had studied the previous night in her mind’s eye. Her pursuer was becoming more bold, or perhaps more careless – once or twice she almost caught a glimpse of him as she turned back suddenly to look at a building she had just passed. It was time.

 

Raquel turned a corner and dashed down the alleyway for a couple of houses, and then suddenly there was a narrow thoroughfare, barely wide enough for her to squeeze through. She hurried through it and took off her bright jacket as soon as she came out the other side, and jammed the peaked cap onto her head. Then she removed the gun from her belt and doubled round the houses, back to the alleyway she had turned into just moments ago. Her nerves were rock-steady now, her breathing slow and even, just like she had been trained, and she peeked around the corner before turning into the alley. He was there, a couple of metres before her, slowly making his way down the narrow street, looking around for her. She moved up behind him, her walking shoes making no noise on the pavement. Careful, now. Don’t lose the element of surprise. She timed her approach with precision, so that she caught up with him just as he reached an abandoned house halfway down the street. He must have finally heard something, because he began to turn around, but she was on him before he had a chance to do so and jammed the barrel of the gun against the back of his head.

“Don’t move, motherfucker,” she ordered, and he froze and automatically lifted his hands into the air.

She cocked the gun and the sound echoed menacingly through the alley, and he tensed.

“To your left,” she commanded, “and no sudden moves or I will fucking blow your brains out.”

He stepped carefully to his left and through the broken door, and the cool, gloomy interior of the house enveloped them.

“On your knees,” she instructed, stepping back a little so that she was not within grabbing distance. Let it not be said that she didn’t learn from her mistakes. He hesitated, and she belatedly began to notice more details about him. The way his hair curled in his neck. The familiar set of his shoulders. His long, slim fingers and fastidiously clean nails. He half-turned his head and she saw the beard and the glasses, and everything stopped making any sense. It couldn’t be.

And then he spoke. “Raquel, it’s me,” he said in a voice she had heard in her dreams so many times over the last year, before he carefully turned around to face her, his hands still in the air. They stared at each other for long seconds before she managed to utter a single word.

“Sergio?!”

 

tbc

Notes:

You are welcome to leave comments in other languages. I have basic Spanish and French, and for the rest there is Google Translate.

Chapter 3: Dreams

To dream the impossible dream, that is my quest.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

 

Time stood still. Raquel was aware of every beat of her heart, of every breath drawn into her lungs. Maybe the earth stopped spinning; she had no idea. All she saw was him. Sergio. Standing before her, in the flesh. He took a step towards her and a strip of sunlight fell across his face, and she could see him clearly now. The way his chest rose and fell with quick, shallow breaths. The anxiety in his expression. The hope in his eyes.

“Raquel,” he said again, his voice strangled with emotion, and a small gasp escaped her.

Oh, God, it was him. It was really him. She had thought that she would never see him again, had resigned herself to a future filled with regret over what could have been, but here he was. Alive and well and… here.

 

He smiled, and although it was wobbly it was filled with unrestrained joy. A tear escaped from the corner of his eye and ran into his beard, and he laughed and shook his head in disbelief. “Won’t you, uh, would you mind pointing that gun somewhere else?”

She realised then that she had remained frozen in position, still aiming the gun at his head, even though it was shaking perceptibly now. Her hands lowered slowly and she flicked on the safety, but she never took her eyes off his face, afraid that he would disappear if she dared as much as blink.

She sniffled, becoming aware of the tears rolling down her cheeks now too. “…I don’t understand,” she said dumbly, and he nodded.

“I had to make sure you weren’t being followed or watched,” he clarified, and she waved the gun dismissively.

“The only one following me is you,” she stated with certainty. “But I don’t mean that. What are you doing here, in Peru?”

He stared at her, prudence warring with his need to know, before he took another step towards her. “The postcards,” he said, and she could have sworn that she detected a note of fear in his voice, “the postcards I gave you in the café. Have you… Have you ever looked at them again?”

She frowned, uncertain where this was going, and shook her head. “No. I couldn’t. I was, uhm,” she paused and took a steadying breath before blurting out the truth, “I was heartbroken. It was too painful.”

 

Sergio exhaled and half-reached for her, but somehow he dared not touch her, not yet. “I left coordinates on the back,” he explained sheepishly, and she frowned.

“Coordinates? I don’t-“ she began, but almost immediately he could see the penny drop.

He nodded again. “To my location. So that you could find me. If you wanted to.” He pushed his glasses up his nose nervously before gathering his courage. “I meant every word I said to you that morning in bed, and throughout the last year I kept hoping… When you didn’t come, I decided to activate Plan B. That meant engineering a chance encounter with you if you ever left Spain, so I could find out why you hadn’t come. Whether it was because you didn’t want to.” He shrugged helplessly and dropped his gaze, and suddenly she couldn’t go another second without touching him, without being touched by him.

“Sergio,” she almost whispered, “I wanted to.” All the doubts of the last year dissipated as she stood before him, and his gaze flew back to hers. Their eyes locked, desperately searching for the truth, and then they both moved at the same time until their lips crashed together.

 

The kiss was rough, urgent, and ardent, as the pent-up love of more than a year poured out of them. He devoured her, his tongue delving into her mouth, and she reciprocated with equal fervour. Yes. Finally. Sergio backed her up until she hit the wall, and she hooked a leg around his to seek more contact, to press against him as tightly as possible. They kissed and kissed and kissed, hungry for each other, unable to stop, until she thought she would collapse from the rush of sensations. His hands were everywhere; in her hair, skimming down her sides to her hips, and every now and then caressing a breast, and each time she gasped into his mouth and grinded against him. They were in danger of losing control, and Raquel only just managed to retain a hold on reality, and to begin walking them back from the brink. She gradually slowed the kiss, and at first he continued to chase her mouth, but at last it dawned on him what she was doing and he followed her lead, until they finally parted. They stayed pressed together, her back against the wall, and he leaned his forehead against hers as they tried to catch their breath. He was hard against her hip but they both ignored it. This was not the time. Eventually she pressed lightly against his shoulder and he stepped back and smiled at her, somewhat shy and… happy. Raquel knew that she had the exact same smile on her face; she felt lighter than she had in a long, long time. Sergio had come for her, even though he had no idea whether her feelings for him had survived the time that had passed, and her heart soared with joy. She reached for his hand and found herself expressing her thoughts.

“You came for me,” she said in wonder, and he squeezed her hand and became impossibly serious.

“I never contemplated doing anything else,” he confessed, and she stumbled back into his chest, into his embrace. His arms went around her and held her tightly, and she buried her face in his shoulder.

“Nothing else matters to me,” he said into her hair and she laughed, a giddy, happy sound muffled by his coat.

 

Dear God, could all her dreams of a life with this man be about to come true? It was almost inconceivable. Perhaps it was this realisation, the nagging feeling that this was too good to be true, the whisper in the back of her mind that reminded her how little she knew about him, that made her disentangle from him once more.

Sergio seemed to sense the change in her mood and let her put some space between them, regarding her warily as he pushed his glasses up his nose once more.

“So, uh, what now?” he asked with some trepidation, and she made up her mind.

For the first time they were standing before each other without any deceit between them, and without the fear that the authorities would storm in at any moment and arrest one or both of them. There was time, now, to connect again and to get to know one another properly. Raquel inhaled, steeling herself. “Well, I’m about to take my daughter and her friend on the Inca trail hike tomorrow. I think you should join us.”

There was a challenge in the look she gave him. My daughter and I come as a package, it seemed to say, so I dare you to come on a four-day hike through the mountains with us. Show me that you really want this. Us. All of us. My whole family.

He felt a flash of panic – this was something he hadn’t planned for. But even so, there was only one possible answer.

“I’d love to.”

 

Raquel walked back to her aunt’s house in a daze. They had agreed that Sergio would meet them there early the next morning, as she wanted some time to prepare her family for his sudden reappearance, but it had been difficult to walk away from him. What if something happened? She could be forgiven for the healthy dose of pessimism she felt towards the universe, as not much had gone her way the last couple of years. So she had been tempted to drag him home with her, to hold onto him with all her might to ensure that fate did not snatch him away again. He had seemed equally reluctant to let go of her, which had made her feel somewhat better and a little less clingy and pathetic. But it was for the best; she needed to make sure that Paula was okay with it. Her daughter had only met Sergio once, and she might not be comfortable with him tagging along on the hike. But Raquel would do her utmost to win her over, and not for the obvious reason that everyone would think. She needed to see him interact with Paula for more than a few minutes before she could really make up her mind about running away with him, her whole family in tow. The hike would provide the ideal opportunity to do so as there would be nowhere to hide, no excuse not to spend time with the girl. And she now realised how nervous she was about the next few days. What would she do if they didn’t get along? It didn’t bear thinking about.

 

She had no such concerns about her mother. Marivi had always liked Sergio, and she knew exactly who he was and what he had done. But she also knew her daughter exceedingly well, and Raquel was aware that her mother could see how deeply she had fallen in love with this man. For that reason she suspected her mother would happily shove her into Sergio’s arms, criminal or not. That, at least, was a comforting thought; she could count on Marivi’s support to sell the idea of moving away with Sergio to Paula. As she neared the house she could see that the others were back already, and stopped for a moment to comb her fingers through her hair. Sergio had left it in disarray, and she had clean forgot to tidy herself up before going home. Damn, she was nervous… She took a deep breath and resolutely walked through the door.

No point in procrastinating – it would not make it any easier.

 

Paula came up to her and she hugged her daughter, listening patiently as she chattered excitedly about everything she had seen. Raquel caught her mother’s eye and something must have shown on her face, because the older woman tilted her head and looked at her daughter quizzically.

“Paula, sweetheart,” Raquel said as soon as she could get a word in, “can you come over here for a moment? I want to talk to you and Grandmama about something.”

They joined Marivi on the couch and she fiddled nervously with her ring. “Do you, uhm, do you remember Salva?” she asked Paula, cursing her voice for going up an octave because of the nerves.

The girl nodded. “He said you were dating because you had kissed,” she recalled, looking at her mother with innocent eyes.

Raquel couldn’t help but laugh and glanced at Marivi, who was watching her expectantly. “That’s right, yes. Well, he, uhm, he happens to be here in Peru at the moment,” she explained, and pointedly ignored her mother who exclaimed in delight, “and he would like to come with us on the hike.” She cupped Paula’s cheek to look her in the eye. “Would that be all right with you?”

She wasn’t even aware that she had stopped breathing until the girl nodded. “Okay,” Paula agreed without hesitation, and Raquel closed her eyes in relief.

“Thank you,” she said, and meant it from the bottom of her heart.

Paula shrugged, unaware of the weight of the occasion, and looked at her mother curiously. “Are you dating him again?” she asked, and Raquel’s heart leapt into her throat.

“Well, er…” she faltered, and Marivi leaned over with a twinkle in her eye.

“It’s an easy question, dear,” she teased. “If you’ve kissed him in the last 24 hours that means you’re dating again.”

To Raquel’s mortification she felt a blush spread across her face, and it told her family all they needed to know.

 

That night, neither Raquel nor Sergio slept much. It had been a momentous day, and the images of their reunion kept playing on a loop in their heads. Now that they had found each other again, both were determined not to waste this second opportunity. The next four days would be decisive; it would either lay the foundation for a shared future, or destroy the fragile bridge they had managed to build in the aftermath of the heist. And neither of them had the slightest idea which way it would go. Only time would tell.

 

tbc

Chapter 4: Talk

Many were the offenses to be undone, the wrongs to be rectified, the grievances to be redressed, the abuses to be corrected and the debts to be satisfied.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

 

Next day

The doorbell rang at exactly 06:00. Raquel, who had been pacing the hallway for the last five minutes, hurried over and yanked it open, and there he was. He had not disappeared overnight, fate had not snatched him away again, and she smiled in relief.

“Hi,” he said, and seemed to sway forward to kiss her before he thought better of it. He had no idea if anyone was watching from the house, and had resolved to let her take the lead in terms of shows of affection in front of her family.

“Sergio,” she smiled, then darted forward for a quick kiss, and it took all his will-power not to prolong it.

Instead he asked anxiously, “Was your daughter okay with me coming along?” and Raquel realised that he had been just as nervous about it as she had been. She reached out and squeezed his arm. “Yes. She’s not bothered at all,” she assured him, and he nodded in relief. As she helped him to gather his daypack and sleeping bag, however, she could tell that he was still concerned.

“Hey,” she said softly, “don’t worry. It’ll be fine.” But of course they both knew she had no way of knowing for certain, and he swallowed.

“I just-“ He sighed and looked at her worriedly. “I don’t have a lot of experience with children.”

It warmed her heart that he was this anxious about it. Clearly it meant a lot to him, and that was a good omen as far as she was concerned. She looked at him warmly. “Kids aren’t as judgemental as adults. But they are pretty good at figuring out whether someone is genuine or not. So the only piece of advice I’m going to give you is this: Just be yourself. Don’t pretend to be something you are not, and you’ll be fine.”

At that moment the shuttle that would transfer them to the start of the hike arrived, and there was only time for some quick introductions and a hug from Marivi, before Raquel ushered the girls into the small bus and they were on their way.

 

As it made its way through the Sacred Valley to the starting point at KM82, their Peruvian guide pointed out places of interest and provided a general talk about the Inca history. Their small group was rounded out by four Canadians and an Irish couple, and Sergio closely observed the others but to his relief none of them seemed to recognise either him or Raquel. Once he was certain that they showed no more than a passing curiosity in the four of them, he shifted his gaze to Raquel and the girls. He was seated across the aisle from them and watched their interaction with interest.

 

As he had told Raquel, he had little experience with children, and he intended to take his cue from her. It was obvious that the bond between mother and daughter was strong; at least that was one positive result of the last year. The fact that Raquel no longer worked such long hours had meant that she had spent a lot of time with Paula, and the two of them clearly adored one another. It made him smile, happy for her, and when she caught him looking and arched a questioning eyebrow, he merely shrugged and kept on looking. He took careful note of the way she patiently listened to the girls and answered their questions, and was not afraid to say when she didn’t know the answer. He could do that, too. He also noted that Raquel was consistent – if she’d said no to something she stuck to it, and no amount of nagging changed her mind. This had the result that the nagging didn’t last for long, because Paula knew from experience that her mother kept to her word. The two girls were well-behaved and polite, and Sergio gradually relaxed. Perhaps this would not be so bad after all.

 

He had barely finished the thought when Paula turned to him and said, “Mama says you are dating again, because you kissed yesterday.”

He stared at her, flummoxed. “Eh…” He looked to Raquel for help, but she watched on without a word, amused. It was only the pink tinge to her cheeks that gave her away.

“Well, yes,” he stammered, heeding Raquel’s advice about honesty. “We did kiss yesterday, so I guess we are dating now.” He smiled, then added as an afterthought, “Again.” He glanced at Raquel, and the softness in her eyes made his heart flutter.

“Kissing boys is gross,” Ana declared, and Raquel smothered a smile.

“I used to think so too when I was your age,” she confided, and the young girl frowned.

“But now you don’t?”

“No, sweetie, I don’t. Now I quite like it,” she said, grinning at Sergio, “especially if it’s the right boy,” and he felt a blush warm his face in response. Maybe he’d spoken too soon; this might be bad after all if Raquel decided to gang up on him with the girls. But he couldn’t bring himself to mind too much; he could cope with anything if he had the prospect of kissing Raquel some more to look forward to.

 

The rest of the morning continued without major incident. They started the 12 km hike at about nine o’clock and Sergio lagged behind for the first part, leaving Raquel and the girls to themselves. It was a relatively easy hike for the first day, and he revelled in the scenery and the clean mountain air. He was having a good time, content to be in Raquel and Paula’s presence, and his good mood lasted until they had passed the impressive ruin of Patallaqta. As they moved on after listening to the guide’s lecture on the site, Raquel drifted back and fell into step next to him. They hung back until everyone else was out of earshot and then she said the dreaded words.

“I think it’s time we talked. Don’t you?”

 

He glanced at her apprehensively. “What about?”

She turned to him incredulously. “Everything, Sergio.” When he didn’t respond she continued, trying to keep her voice even, “The last time I saw you, back in Spain, I was still coming to terms with the fact that you were the Professor; that you had lied to me and manipulated me as part of your perfect plan to steal a billion fucking Euros.”

He was silent as he plodded along next to her, and she felt like shaking him. “Well?” she demanded, and he looked away uncomfortably.

“I thought we were past that,” he hedged, and she laughed in disbelief.

“Past it?” she echoed. “Jesus, Sergio. Did you think we would just pretend that it never happened? That’s not the healthiest foundation for a relationship.”

He looked at her then, mollified by her use of the term ‘relationship’. “No. You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t have a lot of experience with this,” he explained sheepishly, gesturing between the two of them. That, of course, was an understatement – he had none at all. But he didn’t think this was the best time to share that with Raquel. “What do you want to know?”

Her face softened. “Tell me how you planned it.”

Sergio took a breath; he could do that. He started to talk.

 

She let him tell it at his own pace, in his own way, only asking a question here and there for clarification, and he began to relax. She was a good listener; he supposed he should have known that what with her being a negotiator, but he’d never really thought about it. Eventually they came to the actual heist and he told her everything, except the real reason he had been at her house for the first time. He would never be able to tell her that, and he hoped to God she never asked. Lastly he explained how they had escaped, split up, and settled in different places. He had gone to Palawan, and had been waiting there for her ever since. They walked on in silence for a few minutes and he glanced at her, unsure. She appeared deep in thought, a frown creasing her forehead, and a feeling of unease began to grow in his stomach. Something was bothering her, and he had no idea what it could be. Oh, God, did she suspect about his intentions towards her mother…?

“What scares me, Sergio,” she said at long last, “is how casually you destroyed Angel. And my reputation.”

Ah.

 

She peered up at him. “You once accused me- You told me that I had been taught to classify people into good guys and bad guys.”

He opened his mouth but she held up a hand. “And you were right. But see, I think you have been conditioned to do exactly the same. The only difference between us is our definitions of good and bad.”

Sergio digested that as he pushed his glasses up his nose. “You’re saying I see the Police as bad guys?”

“Yes.” She watched his reaction carefully as she carried on. “Everything I know about you, that I learnt about you as Salva – the man who hated violence, who was gentle and caring and loving-” She shook her head. “I couldn’t understand how that man could have destroyed lives without blinking an eye. And the only way it makes sense is if you never really saw us as people. You dehumanised us, classified us into the Bad Guys who had shot your father, and refused to see us as human beings.”

 

Sergio clenched his jaw and looked away, unable to meet her eyes. “It wasn’t done casually, or without blinking an eye,” he objected quietly. “No-one was supposed to get hurt. I hated doing it, but I had to.” He smiled ruefully. “You were smarter than I expected, and you were getting too close.”

But she would not be derailed. She needed to know who this man was, to understand his values and world-views before she could let her daughter live under the same roof as him. “You could have stopped, called it off when you realised that it was impossible to pull it off without hurting people. But you carried on, charging at the windmills like Don Quixote even though you knew they weren’t really giants.”

His head whipped round to her. “It was all I dreamed of for almost thirty years, the thing I spent planning for my whole adult life, Raquel. To avenge my father. To honour his dream. I couldn’t abandon it. And besides, I had a responsibility to my companions. I asked them to give up their lives to join my scheme – to help me realise that dream – and I couldn’t walk away from it. I couldn’t sacrifice them. They didn’t deserve that.”

Raquel laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “No, because you classified them as good guys, right? Whilst Angel and myself – us you could sacrifice. Because we were the bad guys. The enemy. The Police.”

 

He swallowed; he didn’t have anything to say to that. She was right, of course she was, but he couldn’t change the past.

She was on a roll now and turned to him, angry and hurt. “But let me tell you, Professor,” her forefinger stabbed the air to emphasize her point, “there were good guys and bad guys on both sides. Angel? He is a good guy, who never abused his power as a police officer once. Prieto and his pack of dogs? Sure, definitely bad guys. My shitty ex-husband, well, bad guy extraordinaire. But your people – your companions – were definitely not all good guys. My God, what that De Fonollosa did to that poor girl, Ariadna…” She was too caught up in her anger and disgust to notice him stiffen beside her. “At least tell me you don’t condone that-”

“That’s enough,” he hissed, furious, and she took an involuntary step back in the face of his anger. “Don’t you say another word.” His face was white and he ground out every syllable through clenched teeth. “Andres was my brother.” He emphasized the last word, and she stared at him in astonishment.

“What?!”

“He was my brother, and they shot him, just like they did my father. So don’t you dare lecture me about good and bad guys!” He glared at her, before he swung round on his heel and strode off.

 

Raquel remained rooted to the spot, shocked to her core, and could only look after him until he disappeared around the next bend. She ran a shaky hand through her hair and took a breath, trying to make sense of what had just happened. How could it be? That narcissist – Sergio’s brother?

“Fuck,” she exclaimed with feeling, before slowly following after him.

 

tbc

Chapter 5: Mistakes

“You should know, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “that love shows no restraint, and does not keep within the bounds of reason as it proceeds, and has the same character as death: it attacks the noble palaces of kings as well as the poor huts of shepherds, and when it takes full possession of a heart, the first thing it does is to take away fear and shame…”

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

 

Day 1 of hike

They avoided each other for the rest of the walk. Raquel took her time to catch up to the rest of the group; she needed time to think, to analyse what she had learnt, and to decide what it meant to her. Should it change the way she saw Sergio? One didn’t choose your family, after all. Hell, her own sister wasn’t exactly a paragon of virtue, and Raquel knew that she herself would resent being judged on the basis of that familial tie. And she loved her sister, no matter what shortcomings she might have, so could she really judge Sergio for loving his brother? She sighed, lost and conflicted. They couldn’t change the past, and they couldn’t choose their families; the only thing they could control was how they treated each other going forward. Eventually she rounded a bend in the trail and saw the rest of the group ahead of her, and stopped short at the sight that greeted her. The two girls had appropriated Sergio and she watched with a pang as he walked along, holding a small hand in each of his, earnestly explaining something to them. Paula was looking up at him, her expression open and trusting, and Raquel felt the band of anxiety that was squeezing her heart release an inch. Despite his anger at her, he was not taking it out on her daughter. Sergio smiled down at Paula and it lit up his face, and she could only marvel at how content he appeared to be. It reminded her that she was looking at a man who had never really had a family, whose father had been killed when he was just a boy, and who’d spent most of his childhood in hospitals. She wiped at an errant tear that escaped, then rolled her eyes at herself for her sentimentality.

“Ah, shit,” she grumbled, looking away over the snow-capped mountains, annoyed at herself for handling things so poorly.

 

She caught up with them as they entered their campsite for the night. The porters had already put up the little two-man tents and were busy preparing a delicious-smelling dinner. Sergio glanced at her as she joined them at the pile of luggage to look for her bag, but avoided making eye contact. The girls dashed off to select a tent, and she followed at a more sedate pace and dumped her bag outside the tent next to theirs. Sergio appeared at her shoulder, looking uncomfortable.

“I’ll find somewhere else to sleep,” he mumbled, and she looked at him in surprise.

“That’s not necessary,” she assured him, and he dropped his bag next to hers with a curt nod and walked off. She sighed, before moving over to check on the girls.

 

Later that night

By the time Raquel entered their tent, Sergio was already ensconced in his sleeping bag, his back turned resolutely towards where hers had been neatly rolled out. At least he wasn’t so mad that he’d just kicked it into a corner, still tied up. It had taken a while to get the two girls through their ablutions and settled in their sleeping bags, and as Raquel crawled into hers, she couldn’t help but replay her last conversation with Paula in her mind.

Did you girls have fun today? Raquel had asked as she tucked them in and kissed her daughter, and Paula had nodded sleepily. Mama, she’d said out of the blue, I like Sergio. I’m glad he came, and Raquel had very nearly burst into tears on the spot. She lay there in the dark, very aware of Sergio’s stiff back, but sleep wouldn’t come. She was pretty sure he wasn’t asleep either; she knew what his breathing sounded like when he slept, and it wasn’t this shallow and tense. She lasted about ten minutes before she couldn’t take it anymore and rolled onto her side, facing him.

 

“Sergio?” she said softly into the gloom, and saw his shoulder twitch in response. “I’m sorry about your brother. Truly.” She reached out a hesitant hand and touched him, and felt him shudder under her fingertips, and her heart broke for him.

“I’d like to hold you. Will you let me?”

He didn’t say anything, but reached back for her hand and drew her arm around him. She scooted closer and moulded herself against him, pressing her face into the back of his neck. He folded her hand against his chest, and she could feel his heart thump against his ribs.

“I don’t condone what he did, Raquel,” he blurted, and she squeezed her eyes shut in response. “How could I? I can’t stand anyone hurting a woman. I expressly forbid them to-“

“I shouldn’t have-“ she interrupted, but he didn’t let her finish.

“No. You had every right to ask.” He sighed, caressing her fingers as he tried to find the appropriate words. “You were right. About everything, really. About how I dehumanised the Police, about good and bad guys on each side. I know Andres had his faults – big ones. When I thought that he had killed one of the hostages, I planted that button with his fingerprint for you to find. To show him that I did not condone his actions. But he was my brother. He took care of me after our father was killed, and I owe him my life. And I-“ he took a deep breath before he could continue, “I really miss him.” He choked on the last words and she wormed her other arm under his neck so that she could hold him properly.

 

They stayed like that until he got his emotions back under control, her arms wrapped tightly around him. She still felt that she owed him an explanation, though.

“I think,” she began slowly, “that my reaction to everything is coloured by the fear that I will lose my daughter.”

He half-turned his head towards her. “What?”

“I got a letter from Alberto’s lawyers, a week ago. He’s suing me for sole custody. And it brought back all those unpleasant memories, of how he used the public lynching I received during the heist – when you released that phone call to the press about choosing Alison Parker over the other hostages – to begin similar proceedings.”

Sergio stiffened, then turned around and gathered her into his arms. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry. That was the consequence I probably regretted the most out of everything that happened. If my actions had caused Paula to go and live with a violent man I would never have forgiven myself. I’ll help in any way I can,” he promised, tucking her head under his chin and squeezing her tightly. “I won’t let him take her from you.”

And for the first time in more than a year she believed that everything just might be all right. The only thing they could control was how they treated each other.

“Mmm,” she said, pulling away slightly so she could look him in the eye, her hand coming up to caress his face, “like giving my mother a million Euros? That kind of help?”

“Ah.” He smiled ruefully. “I should have known you would figure it out.”

She smiled too and tilted her head forward to kiss him. “Thanks. Things were becoming pretty bad, so it was most welcome.”

He scrunched his eyes closed in distress. “Christ, Raquel, I’m so sorry, for everything,” he said again. “I never meant for you to cope with the fall-out alone-“

“No. No no no,” she interrupted, “don’t do that. Don’t take all the blame on yourself. I had a choice, Sergio, and I chose not to take you to a police station the moment I figured out who you were.” She kissed him again, her lips opening under his to let him in, and they lost themselves in each other for a while. It felt so good to be held like this, to be kissed and caressed, and she knew then that her choice had already been made. The realisation emboldened her, and she whispered against his lips, “I want to make love to you.”

 

She sat up and began to fight her way out of the sleeping bag, but Sergio hesitated. “Er, your daughter and her friend are in the tent next to us,” he objected weakly, but she dismissed it with a toss of her hair.

“I can be very quiet,” she assured him and dragged her t-shirt over her head, and the sight of her naked breasts gleaming palely in the dark killed any further objections he may have had. There was a flurry of activity as they zipped the two sleeping bags together and took off all their clothes, and then crawled into it together, naked. They sighed blissfully in unison as soon as skin met skin, and she chuckled into his neck in response. His teeth glimmered as he grinned back at her, before he used his thumb to move her hair out of her face.

“I’ve missed you,” he confessed, and she turned serious in an instant.

She rolled onto her back and pulled him on top of her, but as soon as his weight landed on her she hissed in pain. “Ow! Shit,” she complained, and he hurriedly lifted off her again.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s not you. Stone in my back,” she explained. “Just shift a little to the left.”

He watched, amused, as she wriggled around until she was satisfied. “Huh. Maybe doing it in a tent is not as romantic as I thought,” he quipped, and she laughed and pulled at his shoulder.

“Shut up. Come here,” she invited, and he moved back on top of her.

“Good?” he asked, and she nodded as she ran her hands down his flanks.

She opened her legs and he settled between them, and leaned over her on his elbows.

“Another first time in a tent,” he murmured as he cradled her head in both hands and brushed his nose against hers.

“Hmm?” she asked, distracted by his length pressing against her heat.

“You lost your virginity in a tent,” he explained, “and this is the first time we will make love now that you know who I really am.”

She looked into his eyes adoringly as her hands retraced their path and buried in his hair. “That’s sweet. But you talk too much,” she grinned and bucked against him, before swallowing the groan that escaped him. “Quiet,” she reminded him in a whisper as her hand found him and guided him to her entrance. He slid inside and it felt like coming home, and he kissed her ardently as the emotion threatened to overwhelm him.

 

Oh God, she had missed this. She spread her legs wider so that she could take him as deeply as possible inside her, and began to move her hips to a steady rhythm. He let her set the pace, meeting her thrust for thrust, and she marvelled again at how compatible they were. They just fit, and sex had never been so good as it was with him. A huge part of that, she knew, was because he was so attentive. He revelled in every reaction he could coax from her, and he was not offended if she let him know when something wasn’t doing it for her. And he never left her hanging. Unlike Alberto, who had only ever been interested in his own satisfaction, Sergio made sure she orgasmed. If he couldn’t hold out himself until she had come, he finished the job in other ways. He had a very talented tongue, she had discovered to her delight, which was at this particular moment employed on one of her nipples, and she felt the first wave beginning to sweep through her. Still mindful that she had to be quiet, she pulled his head up so that she could press her mouth against his shoulder and muffle the gasp of ecstasy as her orgasm ripped through her. It hadn’t taken much after a year of celibacy, and she was vaguely aware of him tensing above her soon after. She had the wherewithal to clamp her hand over his mouth as he came, and he groaned against her palm, his teeth scraping her flesh. He collapsed on her, boneless, and she didn’t mind in the least. It was wonderful; his weight anchored her, let her know that this was real and not just another dream from which she would wake sad and empty.

 

Her hand trailed up his spine and buried in his hair once more as she tried to catch her breath, feeling more content than she had done in years. Yes, they had both made mistakes, but none of that mattered now. It was time to stop apologising for the past, and to look to the future. And for the first time in a long, long time, she found that the thought did not scare her.

 

tbc

Chapter 6: Family

For a knight-errant without love was like a tree without leaves or fruit, or a body without a soul.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

 

Day 1 of hike, late night

“Sergio.”

He heard her voice from a long way away, and knew he was dreaming about her again. He loved the sound of her voice, especially the way it became low and smoky when she was aroused. She could read the fucking phone directory to him in that voice, and it would turn him on.

“Sergio,” he heard again, and then, “darling,” and his eyes flew open. She had never called him ‘darling’ in his dreams before and yes, there she was in the flesh, smiling at him in amusement. Her breast was soft under his cheek and it all came back to him in a flash; Peru, the hike, their fight, making love in a tent in the mountains. He struggled onto his elbows.

“Did I fall asleep on you?” he asked apologetically, and she ran a hand down his chest and through his chest hair.

“Just for a few minutes,” she confirmed, but her content smile made it clear that she didn’t mind one bit. “But we have to get dressed again,” she said regretfully, and he nodded in understanding.

“Right. We wouldn’t want to be naked in case of an emergency evacuation.” He rolled off her and began to work his way out of the sleeping bag. “You never know, there might still be snow leopards in these mountains.”

Raquel snorted inelegantly. “Snow leopards? Really, Sergio. I am more concerned about two eight-year olds waking up early and deciding to surprise us,” she pointed out, quite practically he had to admit, and he nodded.

“Ah. Good point. Shall I separate the sleeping bags-“

She never even let him finish. “Absolutely not. They stay together for the rest of this trip,” she said firmly, and he found himself grinning like an idiot as he put on boxer shorts and a t-shirt. Things were certainly looking up. Once they were dressed they snuggled back down together, and he though his heart might burst from happiness. Maybe, just maybe, they could make this work, he thought as he fell asleep with her hair in his face and the smell of her skin in his nostrils.

 

Day 2 of hike

Just like Raquel had predicted, the two girls piled into their tent before the guide had even rung the bell at 06:00 to wake everyone up. Sergio watched, unexpectedly moved, as Raquel pulled her daughter down and started tickling her, making her squeal. Ana plonked herself down on his legs and he obligingly gave her a pony ride.

“Are you girls ready for today?’ he asked once there was a moment of silence. “It’s a tough hike,” he dropped his voice dramatically, “over Dead Woman’s Pass.”

Ana’s eyes widened in alarm but Paula merely shrugged. “I’m not worried,” she said confidently, and Raquel and Sergio shared an amused look. She had obviously inherited some of her mother’s traits; an indomitable spirit and lots of courage among them.

“No? Why not?” Raquel queried.

“Because Sergio will look after us,” she declared, and Raquel heard him inhale sharply beside her.

“That’s right, he will,” she agreed, before shooing the girls out to get dressed. Only once they were alone did she dare to look at him, and as she suspected, he had tears in his eyes. She smiled and framed his face in her hands.

“I think you managed to steal my daughter’s heart as well,” she said in wonder. When he merely looked stunned, she shook his head gently from side to side.

“She likes you, Sergio,” she reiterated, before she laughed happily and kissed him.

 

The difficulty of the day’s hike lay in the high altitude and not so much in the terrain. They would cross Dead Woman’s Pass at more than 4200 metres above sea level, and the lack of oxygen at that height could cause some people difficulty. Raquel and Sergio informed the guide that they would come along at a tempo that suited the young girls, and that he could worry about the rest of the group. They would take care of themselves. So they set out at a sedate pace, making sure the girls did not over-exert themselves, and soon the group was out of sight and it was just them. This feels like a family outing, Sergio found himself thinking, and when he glanced at Raquel he could see that she was thinking the same thing. She slipped her hand into his and they wandered along behind the girls, hand-in-hand.

 

Ana looked over her shoulder. “Why is it called Dead Woman’s Pass?” she asked. “Did someone die there?”

Raquel turned to Sergio; this was his mess, and she had no intention of helping him out of it.

“Er, no, Ana. Nobody died there,” he assured her. “The Incas thought the shape of the mountains looked like a woman lying on her side, so they called it Dead Woman’s Pass.”

“Why not Sleeping Woman’s Pass?” Raquel asked, and Sergio gave her a look. She smiled innocently.

“No-one knows,” he shrugged. “Maybe the Incas thought it didn’t have the same dramatic ring.”

This seemed to satisfy the girl and she skipped forward again.

“Ganging up on me, are you?” Sergio queried in a low voice, and Raquel grinned cheekily.

“Keeping you on your toes,” she corrected. “You’ve had it easy so far, mister. I’m just making sure that you don’t get the impression that this parenting gig is easy.”

“Uh-huh,” he smiled, and leant over for a quick kiss. “Well, when the difficult times come, I’ll defer to your superior expertise.”

She threw back her head and laughed, and he thought it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. He resolved to make her laugh like that at least once every day, for the rest of her life.

 

They eventually reached the cloud forest and the trail became steeper. Sergio took charge of their progress, breaking down the route into smaller sections and forcing them to stop and rest at regular intervals, and Raquel looked on fondly. At least those heist-organising skills were good for something else, too.

“Tell me about your brother,” she said when they were perched next to each other on a log during one of these breaks, sharing a packet of nuts and dried fruit.

He glanced at her, surprised. “You don’t need to feign interest in him,” he replied, and she gave him a sharp look.

“I’m not.”

When he didn’t respond she took his hand. “He is- was, important to you, and I’d like to know more about him.”

He studied her, but she was obviously sincere. So he told her how Andres had pulled off a big diamond heist when he was barely into his twenties, so that he could take young Sergio to Russia for experimental treatment. Miraculously it had worked, and from then on the two brothers had been inseparable.

Raquel slid an arm around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. “And for that he has my eternal gratitude,” she said solemnly, and Sergio’s heart swelled in response.

He also told her about his brother’s five marriages, and how he used to lecture Andres that women and love only brought chaos and should not be mixed with business.

“Ah yes, your famous rule,” she smiled. “No personal relationships, right?”

He nodded, then grinned bashfully. “That backfired on me rather spectacularly, I admit.”

She watched him, suddenly experiencing a stab of insecurity. “Do you ever regret it? Your decision to get close to me?”

“No,” he said immediately and squeezed her hand. “In fact I think it’s the best decision I ever made.”

 

They reached the top of the pass by mid-afternoon and found their guide there waiting for them. They celebrated with a group photo, and also one with just the three of them, Raquel, Sergio and Paula, and he would cherish it for the rest of his days as the first family photo they ever took. Once they were across the top it wasn’t far to the campsite,  and the rest of their little group made a big fuss of the girls when they came in. Raquel leaned over and kissed Sergio on the cheek, tired but happy, and resolved to thank him properly once they were alone in their tent.

 

And later that night she proceeded to do just that. Once they zipped closed the flap behind them, she stripped them both naked and went down on him. As soon as she took him into her mouth, his hands tangled in her hair and he groaned, “Fuck, Raquel.”

“Shhh,” she admonished around the head of his cock, and the sensation nearly made him come right on the spot. She worked him expertly, alternately swirling her tongue around his tip and tracing the vein at the bottom with a fingernail, and then sucking him hard, and within minutes he was on the brink.

“Christ,” he gasped, squeezing his eyes shut, before tugging on her head. “Please- inside you-“ he managed to get out, and she didn’t need to be asked twice. She loved the feeling of him coming inside her, so she moved up and positioned herself above him. He sat up as she sank down on his shaft, pressing his mouth against her shoulder to keep quiet, and her hair tickled his cheek as her head fell back.

“Yes,” she breathed, and he began to buck up into her desperately, unable to wait. He delved a hand between them and worked her clit, trying to bring her over the edge with him, but it was the sensation of his seed exploding into her in reams that did it for her. She came too, her muscles milking him for everything he had, and they collapsed in a heap of tangled limbs afterwards.

“What’s that you were saying about sex in a tent?” she panted, and he grinned blissfully.

“That it’s pretty damn spectacular?”

 

Day 3 of hike

The third day passed in much the same way as the previous. It was another challenging hike that traversed two passes, but the trail was beautifully paved. It was mind-boggling to Raquel to think that the Incas had done this more than four centuries ago, building this trail through the mountains and even paving it with stones most of the way. It was an awesome feat. Sergio once again took charge of their little group and regimented their effort strictly. The girls were real troopers and seldom complained, following his instructions obediently. She could tell he was loving it, and it made her smile. The two of them made a good team; he did the heavy lifting and kept everyone’s spirits up with interesting tales about the sites they passed along the way, or about the vegetation and landscape formations around them. The girls were fascinated and hung on his lips most of the time. Once or twice she had to step in, when he got carried away and forgot he was speaking to eight-year olds, and she had to translate what he had just said into layman’s terms. And she was there to take care of the girls’ other needs – to provide altitude sickness pills if needed, or to console if someone scraped a knee.

 

He also kept her spirits up in another way – with physical affection. He held her hand whenever they were walking together, and there were quite a few stolen kisses when the girls weren’t looking. And as they stood and gazed down at The City Above the Clouds in wonder, he hugged her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder, sharing the experience with her in more ways than one. He gave every impression of a man that was besotted, and she felt loved and appreciated and cherished. She was falling deeper in love with him with every passing hour, and she knew that if she ever had to separate from him again, she might not survive it this time.

 

That night he reciprocated what she had done for him the previous evening. He went down on her, and it was so good that she eventually stuffed the corner of the sleeping bag into her mouth to keep from crying out. He made her come twice before he slid up her body and entered her in one slow thrust, and she nearly lost her mind from the sensations. She did lose all semblance of control, clawing at his back and urging him on with more, deeper, harder, until he had to clamp a hand over her mouth as he drove into her hard and fast. But even as he fucked her into oblivion, his face was there above her, his eyes overflowing with love, making sure that she was okay with everything that was happening. God, she loved him. She shattered, and the orgasm that swept through her was so powerful that she saw stars. After a few more thrusts he came too, and the last thing she was aware of before she lapsed into exhausted slumber was his lips on hers, his beard scraping against her cheek, and words of devotion whispered into her ear.

 

Day 4 of hike

It was the last day of their hike – the day they would reach Machu Picchu. They were woken early, about 04:30, so that they could reach the Sun Gate high above the mystical city just as the sun came up. The girls could not contain their excitement and it was infectious, and Raquel and Sergio found themselves laughing and chatting along with them. They reached the Sun Gate in plenty of time and found a good spot to sit down and watch the sun come up over the old city. Raquel settled between Sergio’s legs and gathered a girl in each arm, and they sat huddled together in quiet contentment, watching the wonder unfolding before them. As the rays of the sun slipped over the mountain and began to paint the stone ruins in hues of gold, she gasped in awe and leant back into Sergio’s chest, and he pressed a kiss against her temple. No-one said anything; there were no words that could improve the beauty of this moment, and even the children seemed to feel it. Machu Picchu lay below them in all its splendour, still devoid of the crowds that would descend on it in an hour or so’s time. This was why Raquel had wanted to do the hike – one got to appreciate the magic of the city for an hour or so in relative peace, before the first busloads of tourists arrived. When at last they got up to walk down to the ruins, she turned to Sergio and searched his face. Did you feel it too? she asked without words, and he nodded and squeezed her hand. They would forever be linked by this experience, on a level that was impossible to express in words.

 

Six hours later

As the train took them to Ollantaytambo, from where a bus would take them back to Cusco, Raquel leant back in her seat and pondered everything that had happened over the last week or so. She could not believe that she was the same person as the one that had boarded the plane not that long ago, filled with despair and close to breaking point. Sergio was patiently teaching the girls to make an origami rose, and she watched indulgently as he made each precise fold in the paper and then waited for them to follow his example. Now, all she felt was joy and contentment and fulfilment. She was head-over-heels in love with Sergio, and as soon as they reached Cusco she was going to sit down Paula and her mother and discuss moving to Palawan to live with him. Finally, finally things were going right for them, and she fought the urge to drag him across the little table between them and kiss him senseless. And it was in that moment of unadulterated bliss that she glimpsed the movement to her side, and almost immediately grasped its significance. Her equilibrium shattered, and she stiffened.

“Sergio.”

The urgency in her voice made him look up sharply, and the expression on her face almost made his heart stop. Naked fear. When she spoke again, he understood why.

“The man to my right just took a picture of us.”

 

tbc

Chapter 7: Decision

The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

 

 

Train to Ollantaytambo

Raquel was distraught, but she hid it well. Her first thought was, I should have known it’s too good to be true; the universe will never allow us to be happy. Sergio barely missed a beat in his folding and he was careful not to look in the man’s direction, but she could see his mind work overtime. He didn’t ask her if she was sure and she loved him for it; he trusted her instincts without question.

“How long till we arrive in Ollantaytambo?” he asked conversationally and she glanced at her watch.

“Twenty minutes.”

He nodded. “Have you seen him before?”

Raquel took her time, combing through her memory, before she shook her head. “No. He must be one of the day-trippers that came with the train to Machu Picchu this morning,” she concluded.

Sergio absorbed that, before he posed another question. “Phone or camera?”

“Phone.”

“Check your signal,” he instructed immediately, and Raquel took out her mobile and switched it on.

“Nothing,” she reported with some relief. “It’ll probably work in Ollantaytambo, though.”

 

He knew she was right; they would have to do something before they reached their destination and the man got the chance to send the photo to the authorities. Her eyes met his and he saw his own desperation and anger mirrored there, and it strengthened his resolve. He would not let them snatch their happiness away again; he would do whatever it took to keep Raquel and Paula safe. He might be jumping the gun, but after the last four days he already considered them to be his family, and he would fight tooth and nail to protect them.

She reached across the table and touched the back of his hand. “What do you need me to do?” she asked softly, and he realised: he was not alone anymore, he didn’t have to fight them by himself. He had help. It was their problem now, and they would tackle it together. It gave him hope – together they might just be an unstoppable force. And with her assistance, he might pull off the vague plan that had already been forming at the back of his mind.

“Can you and Paula create a distraction?” he asked, and she nodded immediately.

“Give me a couple of minutes.” She stood and held out her hand to her daughter. “Come on, sweetheart. I’ll take you girls to the loo.”

And to Paula and Ana’s eternal credit, they followed her without a murmur, even though neither of them needed the loo at that particular moment.

 

Sergio sat and stared out of the window as he waited for them to do their thing, but he did not see the scenery flashing by. He was watching the man’s movements in the reflection. The phone in question lay on the table before him, and he was sitting alone. That, at least, would make it easier. Come on, Raquel. For the last two days Sergio had been pondering whether he should ask Raquel to come straight to Palawan with him, to not even go back to Madrid to pack. This incident decided him. She couldn’t go back, not after this – once the authorities knew that she had had contact with him, they would almost certainly arrest her as soon as she set foot in Spain. They might even resort to torture to get his location out of her, and he could not abide that. He would plead with her-

A commotion at the other end of the carriage interrupted his thoughts, and everybody stood up and craned their necks to have a look. Everyone but Sergio. He could hear Raquel’s voice, artificially shrill and raised, but he only focussed on the man with the phone. At first it looked like he would not move, but then Paula joined in, wailing pitifully, and the man got to his feet and took a few steps away to get a better view. Even as Sergio’s heart swelled with pride at the performance of his girls, he moved swiftly and snatched the phone from the table, dropping it into his pocket. Just then the train began to pull into the station and Sergio pushed past the man to get to the commotion.

 

Raquel was engaged in a screaming match with a plump, red-faced American woman, whilst Paula clung to her hand and made a racket. She clamped her mouth shut when she saw Sergio coming, and the noise decreased a decibel or two. He side-stepped the American and began to gather his girls together, giving Raquel a quick nod when she caught his eye. But the woman refused to be summarily dismissed.

“Are you the father?” she demanded loudly in English, and he swung towards her.

“Yes I am.”

Raquel was at his shoulder, backing him up and continuing to glare at the woman.

“Your wife had the nerve-“ she began, but at that moment the doors opened and they didn’t wait around to hear the rest of her complaint. They were off in a shot and hurried down the platform. As they went Sergio removed the SIM card from the phone and dropped it into a bottle of water, before throwing both it and the phone under the wheels of the carriage. They only slowed down once they were out of sight of the train, and Paula looked up at her mother.

“How was I, Mama?” she asked with an eager grin, and Raquel picked her up and swung her around.

“You were magnificent, baby. You deserve an Oscar."

“Did you see, Sergio? I pretended she’d stepped on my foot,” she explained, and he smiled at her proudly. “I certainly did.” But then he turned serious. “We have to go now. Quickly, girls.”

 

Four hours later

Cusco

Raquel, Sergio and Marivi were gathered around Sophia’s dining table and the mood was sombre. Sergio was worried; once the man reported that he’d seen them and that his phone with the evidence had been stolen, it wouldn’t take the authorities long to come knocking on Marivi’s sister’s door. They had a couple of hours at most and he wanted them out of there, but first they had to decide where to go. He took a breath, steeling himself.

“Raquel. You can’t go back to Spain,” he implored.

“I agree,” she said evenly.

“They’ll probably arrest- what?”

“I said, I agree,” she repeated, and smiled at him weakly.

“Oh.”

Marivi watched the interaction with interest, but did not say anything.

Sergio was momentarily discombobulated; he had expected more of an argument, but swiftly rallied. “Right. I can have you out of Peru tonight-“ he began, but Raquel laid a restraining hand on his arm.

“I have to talk to Paula first. If we do this – if we run now, she can never see her father again, Sergio. She has to make that decision for herself. If I force her into it, she will resent me – and you – for the rest of her life.”

 

He looked like he wanted to object, but he knew that she was right. “And if she says no?” he asked, afraid of the answer, and that fear only strengthened when Raquel smiled at him bleakly.

“Then we go back to Spain,” she said simply, and his heart broke.

“But they’ll arrest you, maybe even torture you,” he objected, and she shrugged.

“Remember what I said to you about parenting? Well, this is where it gets impossibly hard.”

“Raquel-“

“Uh-uh no, please Sergio,” she implored, tears springing up in her eyes, “this is difficult enough for me. Please don’t ask me what I think you’re about to. Don’t make me choose.”

He looked around desperately, but there was no help to be found anywhere. There was no easy way out, no glib answer to be given. So he nodded; how could he not? He could not deny her anything, this woman he had come to love more than life itself.

“Okay,” she said softly in response, “okay,” and let out a shaky breath. There was a world of hurt contained in those two words. “Will you give me some time to talk to her? Go for a walk around the block or something?”

 

He got up, looking dazed and lost, and moved towards the front door. She watched him go, but as soon as he disappeared from sight she sprang to her feet and went after him, unable to just let him leave.

“Sergio!”

He spun round, and she rushed into his arms and kissed him desperately. He could taste the salt of her tears and crushed her against him, trying to imprint her on every cell of his body.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her breath hitching, but he shook his head and took hers in both hands, smiling bravely.

“I do understand,” he assured her. “Paula must come first. It’s just- I can’t stand the thought of you going to jail. Or being tortured.”

She breathed deeply in an effort to get her emotions under control. “I’ll, uh, see you in a bit, yes?”

“Yes,” he agreed and kissed her softly. “In a bit.”

And then he was gone, the door closing behind him almost soundlessly.

“Ah, God,” she mumbled, wiping her tears away, and went down the hall to fetch Paula.

 

Mother, daughter and grandmother sat around the table and looked at each other. As the silence stretched out, Paula frowned and observed her mother worriedly.

“Why are you crying, Mama?”

Raquel laughed hopelessly and wiped again at the tears that wouldn’t stop flowing. “Because I have to ask you something really hard.”

The girl waited, her gaze shifting from her mother to her grandmother and back.

Damn, this was difficult. Raquel had no idea where to begin. How did one ask a child to give up seeing her father ever again, so that her mother could live happily ever after with the most wanted man in Spain? She did her best not to look like her whole world depended on her daughter’s answer; it wasn’t fair to put so much pressure on a child, but she knew Paula could sense the undercurrent of distress running through her.

“Paula,” she began, “how would you feel about all of us going to live with Sergio?”

 

The girl tilted her head. “Are you going to marry him?”

“Erm, not right now, but maybe someday,” she fumbled; it wasn’t quite the reaction she had expected, and forged on. “The thing is, though, he doesn’t live in Spain, and if we go and live with him, we can’t go back to Madrid for a long, long time. Maybe never.”

Christ, she was really making a mess of this, and poor Paula looked more confused by the minute.

“Why not?”

Raquel rubbed her forehead, hoping for inspiration, but before she could answer Marivi chimed in.

“Because the Police would arrest your mother, Paula dear.”

“Mama!”

“Well it’s true!” Marivi exclaimed and turned to the girl. “Sweetie, you remember that big robbery your mother worked on last year? The one at the Mint?”

Paula nodded.

“Sergio was the one who took the money, see, but then he and your Mama fell in love and she helped him to get away, so if they find out that she knows where he is, they’ll arrest her.”

Raquel gave her mother an exasperated look. “I don’t think that’s helping, Mama,” she grumbled, but Marivi was unrepentant.

“She needs to know all the facts if she is to make the right decision,” she shot back, and addressed Paula once more. “If we go back to Madrid you’ll have to go and live with your father permanently, because Mama will be in jail. But if we go live with Sergio, we can all be together every day-”

“Mama, please.”

Paula’s eyes were growing bigger by the second. “Is that true?” she asked. “Did Sergio steal the money?”

“Uh… Yes.” Raquel could see no point in lying. Everybody knew that anyway, so Paula would have found out sooner or later. “But technically he didn’t steal it,” she added hastily. “He just printed his own. It didn’t belong to anybody. It’s wrong to take something that belongs to someone else.”

The last thing she needed right now was to wade into a moral quagmire. Besides, it was about time she got to the crux of the matter. “The reason it is important for you to know that we couldn’t go back to Madrid if we went to live with Sergio,” she said, “is that it would mean that you can’t ever see your father again, or call him, or have any contact with him.”

 

And there it was, finally. Paula was silent for a very long time, and Raquel glanced at Marivi worriedly. The older woman opened her mouth but Raquel shook her head emphatically, and she closed it again.

When Paula did eventually speak, it was to ask, “Will Sergio shout at us?”

Raquel frowned, caught off-guard. “What? Of course not,” she responded with certainty. “He doesn’t shout; he likes to talk about things calmly. Why do you ask?” A horrible thought came to her and she straightened up. “Paula, honey… Did Sergio raise his voice at you?”

But the girl quickly shook her head. “No. Not Sergio, Mama.”

“Then who…” Raquel’s voice trailed off as she realised what had happened. That son of a bitch. She would fucking shoot the piece of shit if she ever saw him again. “It was your father, wasn’t it?” she asked, her voice tight with anger, and Paula nodded mutely. “When?”

“When I stayed with him and Aunt Martha that one weekend. He got really mad at me for breaking a plate.”

“Oh, Paula. Come here.” Raquel pulled her daughter onto her lap and held her close. “I’m sorry, baby. He shouldn’t have done that.” She looked over her daughter’s head at Marivi, who listened with a horrified expression. “I’ll make sure he never does it again,” she vowed, knowing that she would willingly commit murder to protect her daughter. She still had that plan of burning the body before dumping it that she never got to use. With a little fine-tuning…

 

She heard the door open and close and realised that it was probably Sergio returning, and she still did not have an answer for him. “Honey?” she prodded. “Have you decided what you would like to do? Live with Sergio or continue to see your father?”

Paula sat up straight on her mother’s lap and looked her in the eye, and nodded.

“Yes, I’ve decided.”

 

tbc

Chapter 8: Home

He is most blessed who loves the most, the freest who is most enslaved by love.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

 

Late night

Cusco

Time stopped. Raquel was acutely aware that Sergio had appeared in the doorway and the three adults waited with bated breath for Paula to continue. She held all their fates in her hands and none of them dared blink or move. Oh, God, please…

“I want us to go live with Sergio,” Paula declared with certainty, beaming at her mother, and Raquel could not stifle her sob of relief. She crushed her daughter to her and glanced at Sergio, who looked like he was about to burst into tears.

“Oh. Okay. Okay.” Raquel was struggling to process everything. Subconsciously she had already begun to prepare herself for a different answer, and now she didn’t quite know what to do with all her emotions. She kissed the top of Paula’s head, again and again, overflowing with gratitude. “That’s good. That’s really good.”

She stuck out a hand blindly in Sergio’s direction, needing to touch him, and he moved forward to take it. Raquel pulled him closer until she could wrap an arm around his waist and draw him into a huddle with her and Paula, and pressed her face into his chest. She couldn’t stop the tears any longer and sobbed quietly into his shirt, emotionally drained.

“Oh, I’m joining in,” Marivi exclaimed and rounded the table to join their group-hug.

 

And that is how Sergio found himself, for the first time in his adult life, the focal point of a family hug. He stood there, stunned, his arms filled with the three Murillo women, not quite knowing what to feel or do. All he could do was laugh, overcome. He had a family. And now, the most important job he would ever have was about to start – to keep them safe.

“Let’s go home, eh?” he said tenderly, and three teary faces smiled up at him in unison.

It took a while to disentangle himself, but once he did he stepped a few feet apart and pulled out his phone. He selected the number he wanted and waited for the call to connect, and his eyes found Raquel’s as he spoke quietly and succinctly.

“This is the Professor. Plan Houdini is in action.”

 

Plan Houdini

According to all available records, Raquel Murillo and her mother and daughter boarded the early-morning flight from Cusco to Lima the next day, and later that afternoon flew back to Madrid. They had changed their flight online late the previous night and the tracking of their mobile phone signals showed their progress to the airport early the next morning, and then onto the two flights. This persuaded the authorities to hold back and to arrest Raquel once she arrived in Spain. Colonel Prieto and a couple of minions waited for the plane to land, congratulating themselves on their good fortune that an alert Spanish tourist had recognised Murillo and the Professor, and reported it. And if that wasn’t enough, the former Inspector was foolish enough to come back to Madrid and to walk right into their waiting arms. This time, Prieto vowed, he would do whatever it took to make her talk, legal or not. She would give him Sergio Marquina’s location, and he would finally be victorious.

 

As soon as the plane touched down, it was escorted to a secluded corner of the airport and no-one was allowed near it. Prieto and two heavily armed Special Forces soldiers boarded and strode to the seats where the three women should be. But to the Colonel’s consternation, they were not there. There were three women, yes, and one bore a passing resemblance to Raquel Murillo, but it was not her. A frantic search of the plane ensued, but there was no sign of them. They had simply vanished into thin air, somewhere between Cusco airport and Madrid. Every single person on that plane was interrogated, but no-one could shed any light on it. They were gone.

 

Two days later

Pacific Ocean

The fishing trawler steadily made its way towards South Asia. It would take at least ten days to get there, but they were not in any particular hurry. There were no deadlines, no responsibilities, no appointments to be kept. Raquel and Sergio stood at the rail, watching the sun set, and she leant back into his chest as he put his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. That momentous night, when they had agreed to run away together, he had gathered the women’s passports and mobile phones and disappeared for an hour. When he had come back, it was in an old cattle truck, and had ushered them and their meagre belongings into it. “If there’s anything you really want from the house in Madrid,” he’d told them, “I’ll send someone for it.” They’d made a list of the things that had sentimental value, that they couldn’t do without, and Raquel had listened as Sergio read it out over the phone to God-knows-who. Everything else they would simply replace; it’s not as if money was a problem. The truck had taken them to a small fishing port south of Lima, where they’d boarded the trailer and set sail for their new home just as Sergio’s ringers used the three passports to board the plane, the women’s mobiles in their pockets. In the aftermath, a lot would be said about the lax security at Peruvian airports; no-one had noticed that the three passengers that boarded the plane didn’t look all that much like the photos on their passports.

 

They had been lucky so far; the weather was good and the swells were gentle. They swayed easily with the movement of the boat, and Raquel smiled as she suddenly remembered something. “You lied to me,” she said as she weaved her fingers through his, and he lifted his head in alarm.

“What?”

“Or rather, the Professor lied to the Inspector, I should say,” she clarified, tongue-in-cheek, and felt him relax behind her.

“Oh. Did he?”

“Mmhmm.” She turned round and rested her elbows on the railing, her eyes twinkling mischievously. “He told her that he hated the ocean, and the beach, and the fish. But here we are, and you are clearly quite at home on this boat, in the middle of said ocean. And you chose an island to hide on. It was a lie, wasn’t it?”

Sergio stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled. “It was an attempt at misdirection; once we escaped I didn’t want you to start looking for me in the exact place I had chosen to hide. But yes, I actually like the beach and the ocean. I have since I was a child – I used to watch endless documentaries on the ocean when I was in hospital.”

The setting sun caught her eyes and set her skin alight, and he thought that she had never looked more beautiful, more alluring. She was calling to the most base part of him, like those sirens in the folk tales of old. He licked his lips as he gazed at her, drank her in, still barely able to believe his luck, and she stepped forward and slid her hands up his chest and wound her arms around his neck. Her breasts brushed against him and she narrowed the distance between their lips to little more than a whisker, a playful pout on hers.

“Well, then I think the Professor owes the Inspector an apology.”

His blood rushed south in an instant and he reached out to run strands of her silky hair through his fingers. “Oh yes? And, uh,” he had to stop and clear his throat before he could continue, “how would the Inspector prefer to be apologised to?”

She smiled, delighted that he was playing along, and trailed a finger inside the open neck of his shirt. “I think she would very much prefer you to come to her cabin in a few minutes’ time, where she will be waiting naked, and to take her hard from behind.”

Holy shit. He squeezed his eyes shut, impossibly turned on, and when he opened them again she was already halfway across the deck.

 

By the time he entered their cabin she was in the process of stripping off her panties and he swallowed, his eyes devouring her naked form. She looked pointedly at his tented trousers and he hurriedly followed her example, getting rid of his clothes in record time. When he straightened up again, Raquel had positioned herself over the narrow bunk, her back towards him. She gave him a sultry look over her shoulder and spread her legs invitingly, and the last shred of his self-control snapped. He stepped over and pressed himself against her, before delving a hand between her legs to check if she was ready. She braced her hands against the bulkhead and grinded against him, lifting onto her toes to bury his cock in the cleft of her buttocks. He cupped her breasts and sucked hard at her shoulder, neither of them caring that he was marking her.

“Hurry,” she said, and he bent his knees so that he could slide into her, and they both shuddered at the sensation. He grabbed her hips and took her hard, her wish forever his command, and still she urged him on. At least they didn’t have to worry about being quiet; the throbbing of the boat’s diesel engines drowned out most of the noise, and when he bent her over a bit more and used his foot to spread her legs even wider so that he slid in to the hilt with the next thrust, she gasped audibly in response.

“Ah! Yes, Sergio, yes. Right there,” she encouraged, and he pounded into her until they were both slick with sweat. She came first, her knees buckling with the force of it, and he held her up as he rode out her convulsions, before thrusting into her haphazardly until his own release came.

They collapsed onto the narrow bunk, his cock still buried inside her, and she clamped her legs together to keep him there for as long as possible. But as they sank into blissful slumber, spooned together, he eventually softened and slipped out of her.

 

He woke an hour later, sticky with their mingled sweat and the scent of sex still in the air, and to his surprise felt himself stirring once again. He had never been a particularly sexually driven man, but with Raquel everything was different. His desire for her regularly caught him by surprise; some days she only needed to exist, to be there, for him to want her. He lay still for a while, gently running his hand through her hair, and contemplated what to do. It didn’t bother him that she usually took the lead in their sexual encounters; he was always aware, somewhere in the back of his mind, that she had been abused, and he never wanted her to feel uncomfortable with him. He would never, ever force or cajole her into anything she didn’t really want to do. But he also wanted her to know that he desired her just as much as she did him, so perhaps it would be okay for him to initiate their intimacy once in a while.

 

He raised himself on an elbow and kissed her shoulder, and she stirred in her sleep. The mark he had left on her stood out in contrast against her skin, and he laved it with his tongue.

“Mmm,” she mumbled, slowly coming awake, and turned over so that she could look at him.

“Hey,” she said and trailed her fingers down his cheek, and he leant over and kissed her, overcome with love.

“Hey,” he echoed, before nipping lightly at her lip. “Raquel, do you want to, maybe, again…?”

It wasn’t the most articulate of questions, but she seemed to understand and he felt her hand close around him, checking whether he was up for it once more.

“Wow,” she said, impressed by his stamina, and nodded with a sweet smile. “Tell me what you want,” she invited, her fingers trailing over the shell of his ear, and he let his eyes wander all over her face in response.

“I want to look at you,” he confessed, and her smile widened.

“I like it when you do that,” she told him as she pulled him on top of her and he settled between her legs. “I want to look at you too.”

 

She let him set the pace this time and they rocked together slowly and gently, intent on making it last. They watched each other the whole time, and he had never felt more content, more connected to someone in his life.

Raquel sighed happily, her fingers toying with the hair in his neck. “Hey, Sergio?” she murmured.

“Hmm?”

“When we get to Palawan, the first few nights – I might have to sleep with Paula; make sure she’s settled. It’s a big change for her.”

He’d never even though about that, but it made sense. “Of course. Whatever she needs,” he agreed.

“I’ll miss you, though,” she declared, craning forward to kiss him.

When they separated, he hooked her hair behind her ear. “She’s a wonderful girl, Raquel,” he said earnestly, “and you are an amazing mother. I would never do anything that would jeopardise your relationship with her. I promise you.”

“Oh, darling,” she said, moved. “I know.” Her hands caressed his cheeks, her fingers tangling in his beard as she drew him down for another, deeper kiss.

 

When they had settled back into their rhythm, she thought of something else. “How did you know to organise an evacuation from Peru for us? We could have gone anywhere on our first trip outside Spain.”

“I had an evacuation plan in place for you and your family on each continent,” he explained, tracing his thumb over her lips.

“Really? Every continent?”

He nodded and she absorbed that, feeling wanted and adored and special, and rolled her hips in that way he liked in gratitude. “Thank you.”

 

They were quiet for a while, enjoying each other, before she smiled into his eyes and asked, “Tell me about our home.”

Our home. God, he liked the sound of that. “It’s situated on a secluded beach. It’s a big house, but you can’t see that from afar. You would pass right by it and not even know it was there.”

“When did you buy it?” she asked curiously.

“About five years ago. It was built by a shipping magnate, but his business got into trouble. Andres and I made him an offer, and he took it.”

“How many bedrooms?”

“Four in the main house, and three more in separate units at the back.” His enthusiasm grew as he elaborated. “All the bedrooms look out over the beach, and the screens can be rolled all the way open, so that the breeze can move through. You lie in bed and hear the waves all night.”

She sighed. “It sounds idyllic. I can’t wait to see it.”

“It’s somewhat sparsely furnished at the moment, though,” he admitted. When she raised a curious eyebrow in response he shrugged self-consciously. “I, er, I’ve been told that I look like I’m dressed by my Aunt Gertrude, so I thought it best to leave the interior decorating to you.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Your Aunt Gertrude? That’s a bit harsh,” she said loyally, “you look just fine to me. How about we do it together?”

Together. He began to speed up, and her eyes locked onto his once more, and then there was no more talking, just the very serious business of pleasuring each other.

 

Ten days later

Palawan

They finally reached their destination after changing vessels twice, the last one a schooner with a shallow enough draft to deposit them on a wooden jetty to which a traditional boat was tied. Raquel glanced at it and then looked to Sergio, who nodded. It’s ours. She seemed delighted by that, and he couldn’t help but look forward to taking her out in it.

“This way,” he said, and led them along the beach. The three women looked around curiously, fascinated by the beautiful surroundings. They rounded an outcrop of rocks and before them a sweeping bay lay bathed in sunlight, the azure water sparkling invitingly. A stretch of white sand led to an outcrop of palms and there, nestled low between the trees, they glimpsed their new home for the first time. Sergio led them up the path and onto the porch, and then turned around to look at his three girls. Marivi exclaimed in wonder as she saw the open-space living area, the flowing white curtains, and the cool tiled interior. Raquel could not say anything; she was struck dumb. It was gorgeous. Their own piece of paradise.

“Will it do?” he asked anxiously, and Paula squealed in excitement. She grabbed Marivi’s hand and dragged her inside, eager to look at the rest of the house. Sergio turned to Raquel, and she laughed in wonder.

“Will it do?” she echoed incredulously. “It’s wonderful, Sergio. Absolutely perfect.”

He let out a breath, relieved, and gazed at her adoringly. He could not believe that she was finally here, standing on the porch with him, whilst the waves sang softly in the background. “That’s good,” he murmured and took a step towards her. “Welcome home, Raquel.”

Her gaze locked onto his, her eyes impossibly tender and happy, and then she moved quickly, stepping up to him and throwing her arms around his neck, and he lifted her into the air as she kissed him soundly.

 

At long last, they were here together. They were home.

 

Fin

Notes:

Thank you for reading.