“No one will shoot a baby,” Santos insisted. He checked his watch. ”Is time standing still for the whole planet, or only us?”
“Just us.” A moment later, Libby stepped out of her sandals and dropped the binoculars in his lap. “Victoria’s on the beach!”
“Wait!” Santos cried, but she was gone. He pulled himself up and leaned against the balcony with Maggie. “Victoria’s headed for the water. What’s she intend to do, swim for Mallorca?”
“Or drown,” Maggie countered. “Libby will catch her.”
Libby was wearing her short white skirt and a top that were as good as her running clothes, but she couldn’t overtake Victoria before the dark-haired girl ran into the surf. “Victoria!” she yelled, but Victoria was in deep enough water to swim and didn’t listen.
Libby was a fine swimmer with a powerful kick and sure stroke, and when she caught up to Victoria, she dove beneath the water, grabbed her around the waist from the back and pushed her up out of the water like the shark in Jaws. Victoria flailed her arms, but Libby had a firm hold on her, and she couldn’t touch her. “Calm down, or I’ll knock you out,” Libby shouted. She shifted her hold on Victoria and swam toward the shore. When they were almost there, one of the SWAT officers waded in to meet her and grabbed hold of Victoria.
Libby walked to the shore and shook off like a dog. “Did you really think you could make a break for it in the water? How far did you think you could swim? Where’s your baby?”
Victoria screamed and struggled to break free of the officer’s hold. “None of you care about him,” she sobbed through her tears.
“Of course we care,” Libby stressed, but the SWAT team spilled out over the beach and took Victoria away before Libby got through to her. She looked up at the balcony, but Santos and Maggie were already on the patio. Maggie ran toward her, while Santos gave her a glare that ought to be reserved for bulls.
“I’ve never seen you swim so fast!” Maggie called to her. “You should have tried out for the Olympic team!”
“Too late now. Santos looks really steamed. Maybe I ought to get back in the water.”
“You scared him, Libby. He may have played other women, but he’s serious about you.”
“Until the end of August,” Libby reminded her. “Hey, Santos, I knew I could catch Victoria. I wasn’t in any danger.”
When she reached him, he grabbed her and hugged her so tight she was in danger of suffocating. She patted his back to beg for a little distance. “I’m wet, that’s all. There are advantages to being tall, and I can swim faster than a little girl like Victoria any day.”
He stepped back but kept hold of her shoulders. “What if she’d had a knife?”
“That’s why I picked her up from behind, so if she’d had one, she couldn’t have used it.” She smiled, but his furious expression didn’t lift. “I wouldn’t ever jump into a bullring, if that’s your worry.”
“It isn’t, but you should have let the SWAT team handle her.”
She glanced down the beach, where a couple of the men still stood. “They wear bulletproof vests and have weapons dangling all over them. By the time one of them stripped off his helmet and clothes, she would have been gone or drowned. I kept her from getting away. I’ve worked as a lifeguard and wasn’t in any danger. Now why don’t we go up to the white house and see what Nuñez knows?”
“Change your clothes first.”
Libby glanced down and found her lacy underwear showed clearly through her wet skirt and top. “I see your point. Give me a minute. I’ll see if I packed my burka.”
Santos let her go, but he shook his head. “Do you give Rafael as much trouble?”
“More, but he loves me,” Maggie replied. “You’re not celebrities to us, just attractive men. That’s probably what makes us so different from the Spanish women who worship the ground you walk on. I hope you’ll learn to enjoy it soon.”
He sank into a patio chair. “I want this whole mess with Victoria over now. Then I’ll deal with Libby.”
Maggie rested her hand on his shoulder. “Deal is an unfortunate choice of words.”
He put his head in his hands and growled.
Libby showered to rinse the salt water from her hair and dressed in jeans and a black top. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and wound it into a bun. She layered on mascara and added a light touch of lip gloss. When she walked onto the patio, Santos looked more shocked than pleased.
“Too extreme?”
“No, you look fine. Cazares will come in a few minutes to tell us whatever news there is. At least there was no gunfire. That has to be a good sign.”
Libby stepped out on the sand, but the SWAT men were nowhere to be seen. “Do we have the all-clear to leave the house?”
“Not from Nuñez,” Santos answered. “You weren’t concerned about him when you dashed after Victoria.”