Yours (4 page)

I met her gaze as steadily as I could.

“That’s good advice,” I said.

“Is it true?” Her lashes fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings.

My fingers were gripped tight around the glass of whiskey.

“It’s true,” I said. The plane was moving fast now, the runway speeding by outside of the window.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you kill her?” Valentina asked.

The plane bumped once, twice, and then lifted off, its wings flashing bright in the Los Angeles sunshine. I felt my stomach lurch for a moment, and then the feeling stopped. I went to take another swallow of whiskey and found the glass empty. I stared blankly at the bottom of the glass.

“Because,” I said, “She tried to kill me first.”

The quickest way to Rosarito was through San Diego. We touched down and Valentina led the way out the airplane.

A black Jeep was waiting on the tarmac. I hopped into the back seat. Valentina ignored my hand and climbed in herself. She hadn’t said much to me after I’d told her about Jen.

“Where are we going?” I asked, once it was clear we were headed the wrong direction. The driver was silent. “The highway to Mexico is back that way.”

“There are cameras all along the border,” Valentina explained.

“Yeah? So how the hell are we getting across?”

Valentina only smiled as the Jeep pulled through a gated entrance and parked.

“Oh,” I said. I looked at the murky water and shivered. There was something about the ocean that always got my nerves up. “Are you serious?”

“Easier than a passport,” Valentina said. She strutted down the pier to the end, where a white motorboat was waiting. A man in sunglasses stood at the front of the boat. The helm, or whatever the hell it’s called.

“Come on!” Valentina said, waving at me. I sighed.

“A fucking boat,” I said. “Of all things, a fucking boat.”

I clambered down onto the deck and sat down on the side of the boat Valentina was on. I looked around.

“Isn’t there a seatbelt on this thing?” I asked.

Valentina laughed. The man in sunglasses revved the motor, and I fell sideways as the boat lifted half out of the water with the force of the engine propelling us.

“Shit!” I cried, hanging onto the edge of the seat. We sped through the water, passing a dozen small sailboats and a couple of jetskiers. One of them waved, and the man in sunglasses waved back.

“You’re fine,” Valentina said. She shook her dark hair, obviously enjoying the wind streaming across her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll throw you a life jacket if you fall in.”

The boat lifted and fell in a gentle rhythm as it motored over the choppy water. I tried not to show my worry. Working for the Feds? Fine. Assassinating a guy? No problem. But Ten hadn’t said anything about having to get on a fucking boat.

“Is that the inside?” I asked, pointing at the door. “Can I go inside for this trip?”

“You don’t want to be inside the cabin,” Valentina said. “You’ll be seasick.”

“I’m already seasick,” I grumbled, holding onto the wooden railing. I shouldn’t have had another whiskey. I shouldn’t have had the first whiskey.

The boat sped out of the harbor. As we reached the open ocean, I saw something in the water.

“What’s that?” I said, pointing. It was a dark form emerging from the water. I swear to God it looked like the Loch Ness monster for a moment.

“Submarine,” Valentina said, completely unimpressed. We steered to the side as the dark shape rose up from the water, sending waves ripping through the ocean behind it.

Jesus
. A submarine. It was huge. Sheets of water ran down the sides, and as we got closer, the waves from its wake made our boat bob up and down even worse. I held my stomach and tried to think of anything except what would happen if another sub came up right underneath us.

“Fuck,” I said, staring at the sunlight glinting off the dark waves. The boat swung out to the open sea. I guessed he was taking us in an arc to avoid any Coast Guard boats, but it looked like we were heading out into fucking nowhere. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

I was still swearing by the time we reached Rosarito. I stumbled off of the boat gratefully onto the pier. Even though I knew better, it felt like the ground was moving under my feet.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Almost there,” Valentina said.

I looked around. This sure didn’t look like a billionaire’s mansion. Shacks with tin roofs and dingy stucco walls lined the beachside, and the people moving along the pier were dressed in rags, carrying buckets and nets. The smell of fish mixed with the smell of rotting seaweed.

We walked down to the edge of the road, where two men were taking fish out of their nets and another man was cleaning them. I stepped carefully around the fish guts, trying hard not to slip on the slick concrete. There was a dead dolphin washed up on the rocks near the pier, and a mangy dog was gnawing on the end of its flipper.

“This is
not
El Alfa’s place,” I said, bile rising in my throat.

Valentina, cool as a cucumber, raised a finger.

“Wait,” she said. As though on command, a limo appeared from around the corner. None of the fishermen even looked up from their nets.

We stepped into the limo and it pulled away. Behind me in the mirror, I could see the stray dog still pulling at the dolphin’s carcass.

“This place is nuts,” I said.

“It’s not bad,” Valentina said. “You wanted a job, didn’t you?”

“Sure. Of course.”

I leaned back in my seat. I was acting a part now. The part of a desperate man, eager to do any work that he could. Including whatever dirty work El Alfa had in store.

“Want another drink?” Valentina asked, pulling open the bar at the back of the limo. She poured herself another glass of red wine.

“No thanks,” I said, still thinking about the dolphin. My stomach was queasy from the long boat ride in the hot sun. I needed a shower. And a haircut.

We drove up the coastal highway. We passed broken down taquerias sitting right next to luxury high-rise condos. Both kinds of buildings were surrounded with high gates and barbed wire.

“I’ve never been to Mexico,” I said.

“It’s beautiful,” Valentina said. We passed a liquor store where a man was leaning against the wall, pissing into the gutter. “Well, it
can
be beautiful.”

“Is El Alfa’s place beautiful?”

“You tell me. We’re here,” she said, pointing. I looked ahead to where the limo was beginning to pull into the driveway through a swinging gate. Two guards stood on either side of the driveway with AK 47s at their sides. My eyes widened.

Through the gate, down the end of a driveway lined with palms and huge prehistoric succulents, was El Alfa’s estate. A white stucco mansion, it was built right into the side of the cliffs. It was all arches and terracotta tile roofs. The walls shimmered bright white in the late afternoon sunshine and ivy crept up from the terracotta pots. The huge mirrored windows reflected the waves in the ocean below.

Beautiful, sure. Surrounded by poverty and filth, but beautiful nonetheless.

As we drove up to the house, I saw four more guards walking in a patrol around the perimeter. We stopped in front of a white marble terrace with steps leading up to the front of the house.

I got out of the limo and watched as Valentina was helped out by two of the guards. She smiled at them and said something in Spanish. One of the guards gestured to me. I tried not to look like I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.

“Come on,” Valentina said. “He says El Alfa has a job for you.”

My heart beat fast. I didn’t know what I had been expecting. This was why I was here, after all. But now that it was happening, I felt like I was getting sucked into something more dangerous than I’d ever faced before.

Chapter Six

Jessica

“Stop fussing with your dress,” Mimi said. “It looks fine.”

“It’s way too short,” I said. I tugged my dress down and the top slipped, exposing way too much cleavage. I tugged it back up and the hem slipped up, exposing my butt. “Ah!”

“Don’t worry,” Mimi said. “Look at April. Her dress is way shorter than yours.”

“Yeah, but she has her boyfriend with her.” As though he’d heard us, James cupped his hand around April’s ass and squeezed. April squeaked and hit him on the shoulder.

“Come on, people,” Mimi said, snapping her fingers. “Look classy. This is a classy establishment.”

I looked up at the neon sign above the club.
Bailamos
. That’s what the place was called. In front of the door, a huge mountain of a man stood blocking the way. His black polo shirt read “Seguridad.”

“Follow my lead,” Mimi said. She strutted up to the bouncer. Her gold sequin dress fluttered at her thighs.

“Buenas noches,” she said, in an obviously American accent.

The bouncer looked over at the rest of us, sizing us up. He frowned at James, but April clung tightly to her boyfriend’s arm. Then he looked at me.

Oh, God. I never went clubbing. Never. What if he decided not to let us in because of me? I smiled nervously. The bouncer’s eyes slid down my body to my skirt. I tugged the hem down hard. Too hard.

My boobs popped right out of my bra and over the top of the tube-top dress.

April gasped. Mimi’s dazzling smile froze. I squeaked and yanked the dress back up.

“Oh my God, I’m sorry,” I said. I crossed my arms across my chest. “I’m sorry. I don’t. I can’t. I’m sorry!”

The bouncer started laughing, a booming laugh that made me turn even hotter with embarrassment. He unclipped the rope and winked at me as Mimi yanked us through the doorway.

“Wow, Jessica,” James said. “Why did you make me close my eyes in the car? If I’d known I was going to get to see the whole show anyway…”

“Shut up!” I hissed. Mimi and April were falling over each other in laughter in the inside hallway.

“Thanks for taking one for the team,” April said.

“Yeah, I am never letting you live this down,” Mimi chimed in. “The night Jessica flashed the bouncer to get us into the club!”

“What would your mother think?”

“Oh God, shut up,” I said. “Just let me get out of Mexico without flashing anyone else and I’ll be okay.”

“The night’s still young,” Mimi said, winking at me. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“How did I let you drag me into this?”

James pushed open the door to the club. Immediately the loud thrum of the music filled the air. Mimi led the way, in all her gold-sequined glory, and the rest of us followed behind.

I stopped dead in my tracks when we were inside. From the outside, I’d thought this was just going to be another seedy Tijuana nightclub. But Mimi had been right. This place was
classy.

All around the room, there were thin ropes of lights strung across the ceiling, dimly illuminating the dance floor. Lasers pulsed from the front of the room in time where the DJ was standing. Waitresses in short black cocktail dresses moved between the tables around the edges of the club.

The men were in business suits, without exception. Some of them had taken off their suit jackets, but you could tell that this wasn’t a place for blue-collar workers. And the women…

“Whew,” James said with a low whistle. “You don’t have to worry about your dress being too short.”

He was right. All of the girls on the dance floor were dressed in the skimpiest, skin-tight outfits I’d ever seen. Most of them weren’t wearing bras, their nipples completely visible through the sheer fabrics. One girl who was dancing near us was wearing something that looked like it came out of a dominatrix catalog - tiny black leather straps stretching across her hips and leather nipple tassles.

April punched James on the shoulder, and he winced.

“What?” he said defensively. “I was just looking!”

“Don’t look,” she said.

“I think I can see her vulva,” I said, not bothering to keep the horror out of my voice.

“Let’s dance,” Mimi said. She yanked me out onto the dance floor, closer to the DJ.

I didn’t know how to dance, but I didn’t have to. Everyone’s attention was drawn to Mimi as she threw her arms in the air and gyrated wildly against me. The sound of the drums pounded in the air overhead. I shifted my weight back and forth in time to the beat and looked around nervously.

Three margaritas later, and I wasn’t nearly as worried as I had been. April and James were all over each other on the dance floor, and Mimi was busy picking out the hottest guys in the club that she wanted me to hook up with.

“I’m not going to hook up with anyone!” I told her for the tenth time.

“Why not?” she yelled back over the music.

“That’s not really my thing!”

Mimi pulled me closer to her, so close that I could smell not just the tequila on her breath, but also the salt and lime that had washed it down.

“If your whole life is making other people happy, nothing is ever going to make you happy!” she said.

I nodded, not sure how she was going to tie her philosophical notions back to hooking up with the hottie from Ensenada.

“You can’t get that from other people,” she said, jabbing me in the chest with one finger.
“You
have to find your
own
happiness.”

“Deep thoughts by Mimi,” I said. “Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome!” she yelled. “Now go have fun!”

I grinned. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder and a man’s accented voice spoke so close he was almost in my ear.

“Hello there,” he said.

Chapter Seven

Vale

“Already?” I asked the guard. “I mean, sure. Yeah. Great.”

A job right away? What did El Alfa have in mind for me?

They spoke rapidly in Spanish as we climbed the terrace to the front door. Valentina turned to me, a dangerous look in her eyes.

“He wants you to help with training,” she said.

“You start tonight,” the guard said, in halting English. “You must wear a suit.”