Fat Louise (6 page)

Chapter 5
 

“Going somewhere?”
 

Jane dropped the shirt she was stuffing into her backpack.
 

Cade was standing in the bedroom doorway, putting on his T-shirt. Jane turned bright red. Teresa must have brought him upstairs using the back steps and had left him in her bed when she returned downstairs.
 

“I’m leaving, heading back to the States. I was visiting Carina, but now my vacation’s over.” Jane picked the shirt back up, shoving it inside the backpack then zipping it closed. She didn’t look at him as she sat down to pull on the tennis shoes Carina had given her.
 

Ignoring Cade, she set an envelope down on the kitchen counter with her goodbye note and some money to cover the cost of the clothes she had been given.
 

“Where are you really going, Jane? Your family will be happy to hear you’re heading home, but I don’t believe that’s where you’re going, is it?”
 

She stopped mid-stride, turning to face him. She started to reply yet was cut off.
 

“Don’t lie. You’re a lousy liar. I’m not in the mood to listen to you make up another one.”
 

“You should be in a good mood after just getting laid,” Jane snapped.
 

Cade grinned at her. “It cost me a hundred bucks, and I’m going to get my money back from your father for a business expense.”
 

Jane’s eyes widened when he mentioned her father as if he knew him.
 

“My father?”
 

Cade nodded his head, coming farther into the room. “He hired me to find you and your sister. He wants you both back in the States.”
 

Jane felt her eyes fill with tears. “Daddy sent you?”
 

“Yeah, Daddy sent me. Christ, how have you managed not to get yourself killed yet?”
 

Jane’s shoulders straightened. “There’s no need to be sarcastic.” Her eyes narrowed on him. “How do I know my father sent you to help?”
 

“You don’t. You’ll just have to trust me, won’t you?”
 

Jane could tell from his expression he really didn’t care if she believed him or not.
 

“How did you find me?”
 

“The cell phone you have hidden in your backpack puts out a nice, clear signal for me to follow.”
 

“How did you know it was in my backpack...?” Jane’s voice trailed off as she guessed he had been snooping after Teresa left.
 

“Let’s go. I want to get out of here.”
 

Jane nodded, sliding the strap of her backpack onto her shoulder.
 

“We’re going to Peñuela?”
 

“
I’m
going to Peñuela. I’m dropping you off at an airstrip. A buddy of mine will fly you back to an airport where your father can pick you up.”
 

Jane shook her head. “I’m going with you to find Bailey.”
 

“Nope.” Cade took her arm, leading her to the door.
 

She jerked away. “I’m not going home without her.”
 

“You don’t have a fucking choice. I’m not taking you to Peñuela. It’ll be easier for me to get Bailey out without having to try to keep up with you. Use your common sense!”
 

Jane hated to admit he was right. “How do I know I can trust you to save my sister?”
 

“Again, you don’t.” He shrugged. “But there’s no other choice. You’re lucky I was here last
night, or Luis would have taken you to Javier. Believe me, you don’t want to meet Javier.”
 

“I don’t?”
 

“No, you don’t. Now, can we fucking go?”
 

“Yes,” Jane gave in, wanting to go home. If her father had hired Cade, he would find her sister and get her out safer than she could. Jane knew her limitations, and she had definitely passed those last night.
 

Cade followed her down the steps, motioning for her to go towards the small parking lot where there were several vehicles. Jane tried to guess which one was his yet lost when he opened the door to an old, grey Chevy. Jane climbed inside, wincing when he slammed the door shut.
 

Cade sat down behind the wheel after shutting his own door. He drove out of the lot, heading away from the bar.
 

“I thought yours was the SUV.” Cade threw her a surprised look, as though he couldn’t understand what she was talking about. Jane blushed slightly. “I tried to guess which vehicle was yours. I guessed wrong.”
 

“This isn’t my truck. I bought it from Jorge. I wouldn’t drive an expensive SUV like that.”
 

“Why not?” she asked curiously.
 

“Because it would get stolen at the first roadblock. This piece of shit, no one will want. I had to give Jorge a thousand for it.”
 

“Another business expense?”
 

“That’s right.”
 

“This is going to cost my father a lot of money, isn’t it?”
 

“He can afford it,” he said without sympathy.
 

“Yes, he can, but sleeping with Teresa doesn’t count as a business expense,” Jane snapped
back, becoming tired of his unfriendly attitude. People were usually nice to her. Actually, the only people who didn’t like her were her stepmother, her sister, Teresa, and The Last Riders. But everyone else liked her. She was a nice person and went out of her way to make people freaking like her. She shouldn’t take it personally. Maybe he was an asshole who didn’t like anyone.
 

“Yes, it does. It was hard work to satisfy her. Teresa would have turned you over to the Silvas if she became angry enough. She was mad as hell when she saw me kissing you.”
 

“Why did you kiss me?” Jane asked, making sure not to look at him when she asked.
 

“Jorge was about five steps behind me. If he had seen you come out of his office, he would have shot you and thrown your dead body out his back door.”
 

“He wouldn’t have shot me!”
 

Cade gave her a grim look that had her believing him.
 

“He would have?”
 

“Yes. Jorge might come off as a bumbling idiot, but he takes his own safety seriously. He wouldn’t have let you jeopardize his safety for any reason. That’s how he’s kept alive all these years.”
 

Jane stared out the window, watching the people in the streets as they passed. They walked on the sidewalk like they would in any city, although they dealt with the fear of getting killed daily.
 

Cade drove through the city. Gradually, it thinned out until they were driving on a smaller two-lane road. Jane began to get nervous when he drove onto a small, dirt road.
 

“This is the way to the airport?”
 

“We’re going to an airstrip. There’s a difference.”
 

“There is?”
 

“Yes. Fuck!” Cade gradually began to slow the truck down.
 

“What’s wrong?” Jane asked.
 

Cade nodded his head toward the road in front of them. “There’s a roadblock.”
 

Jane’s breath hitched. She had been stopped while on the buses a couple of times, each one terrifying her.
 

“Stay quiet and do everything they tell you.”
 

Jane nodded as he stopped the truck.
 

“Get out.” A soldier dressed in fatigues pointed a gun at Cade. Cade held his hands in the air and carefully reached down to open his truck door. The soldier kept his gun pointed on Cade as they climbed out of the truck. Jane’s own hands rose into the air when she saw another soldier standing by the truck-bed with a gun trained on her.
 

“There is a toll for traveling on this road. Give me your money,” Jane heard the soldier demand from Cade.
 

She turned to watch as Cade pulled the cash from his pocket, handing it to the soldier who shoved it into his own pocket.
 

“Is that all you have?”
 

“Yes.” Cade’s voice was low and non-confrontational. Jane was kind of surprised, thinking he would have fought harder to keep his money.
 

“Search the truck.” The soldier motioned her to go stand beside Cade as he opened the truck door.
 

Jane stood beside Cade as the soldier found her backpack, pulling it out of the truck to toss it to the ground in front of the soldier who had taken Cade’s cash. He bent down, tossing her clothes in the dirt as he shifted through her things. He stared up at her in surprise when he pulled
out the gun before shoving it into the waistband of his pants. Standing up, he kicked the backpack towards her, and she bent to pick it up.
 

“Get out of here.”
 

After Jane and Cade both got back inside the truck, Cade made a turn and went back the direction they had come from.
 

“We’re not going to the landing strip?”
 

“Change of plan. I don’t have the money to pay the pilot, and he doesn’t do credit. I’ll find a place for us to stay in Peñuela and get some more cash. Looks like you’ll be flying back with your sister after all.”
 

Jane was both relieved and frustrated. She had wanted this ordeal to be over, but she was relieved not to be going back without Bailey. She hadn’t liked feeling like she had failed her father.
 

Sometime later, Jane announced, “I’m hungry.”
 

“How am I supposed to pay for food?” Cade replied.
 

Jane took her shoe off and pulled out some folded money, showing it to him.
 

Cade’s eyes glinted with anger. “It would have been good to know you had that money before I missed the plane.”
 

“It’s not a lot, but it should be enough to buy me something to eat,” Jane snapped back angrily.
 

Cade’s lips tightened as he slowed the truck down to turn into a store.
 

“Stay here.”
 

Jane regretted telling him she was hungry, but dammit, she was. He was the rudest man she had ever met. Even The Last Riders weren’t rude to her. They were rude to the rest of her friends
yet ignored her like everyone else did.
 

She glumly took the hotdog and soda from Cade when he returned. “Thank you.” Jane hoped he didn’t hear her sniffle.
 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he said, backing the truck up. “I thought you would be happy to go with me to find Bailey. I even fed you, and you look like I shot your fucking dog.”
 

“You don’t have to be so freaking rude,” Jane said, taking a bite of the hotdog.
 

Cade turned back to face the road, but for a second, she thought she saw a brief softening in his expression. Then he blew it with his next comment.
 

“Just eat the fucking hotdog.”
 

Asshole.
 

Chapter 6
 

Jane stood at the hotel window, staring out. They had been there for two days, sharing the same room. He had slept on the small couch, while she had taken the bed. It had been miserable.
 

Cade had left her behind to scout the address she had found to see if Bailey could possibly be there. Jane prayed she was. If not, she hoped it would at least lead to where she was being kept. Jane wished it could be as simple for Cade to find Bailey as it had been her; however, Bailey’s phone hadn’t worked since she had entered Mexico. Jane’s own phone was now useless until she could purchase a charger, and since Cade had taken all her money, that wasn’t going to be anytime soon.
 

Several men walking down the street caught her attention. Something about one of them seemed familiar. Jane’s breath caught in her throat as she practically pressed her face to the glass. It was Raul! He was with three other men who were talking as they paused outside a bar. Jane was tempted to leave the hotel and run across the street to demand to see her sister, but she didn’t. Sex Piston or Killyama would, even Crazy Bitch would. T.A. would without thinking about it, yet Jane merely stared stupidly out the window, wishing Cade would come back.
 

Ultimately deciding to be more proactive, Jane braced herself and picked up the truck keys from the nightstand. Then she practically ran outside, afraid the men would leave before she could get inside the truck. Trying to appear inconspicuous, she slowed her pace to the truck, opened it, and climbed behind the steering wheel to wait.
 

Raul was the first to leave, and Jane prayed he didn’t look her way. Thankfully, he turned in the opposite direction. Jane waited until he turned the corner before starting the truck. Slowly pulling out, she drove at a snail’s pace down the road, turning the corner where she saw him get
into a black SUV. Jane pulled over and parked the truck.
 

The SUV pulled out, and Jane waited until it was almost out of sight before pulling out again. She bit her lip as she followed, already regretting the decision to follow Raul. Cade would be furious with her.
 

She turned at a bend in the road and gave a frightened squeak when she saw the roadblock. She wanted to turn around, but there was another dark SUV coming up behind her, pinning her between the two vehicles.
 

Jane watched helplessly as Raul remained in his vehicle and talked to the soldiers. One broke away and walked toward the truck she was sitting inside.
 

“Get out.”