"I'll be tied up for days, maybe arrested," I said.

"We'll send lawyers, guns, and money," Adrienne said. "We'll get our girls back, Linda. You did everything you could today." She hung up, already yelling for someone to get the car ready.

I started pulling memory cards from the cameras I'd collected, transferring files to the laptop, then deleting everything before putting the cards back. Once I had the video files sending to Adrienne, I used the computer to call the police. It didn't take much acting ability to sound emotional and distraught. I then called the American Consulate in Cancun. They said they would send someone to the scene;...