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"It’s a little scary, isn’t it?"
I exhaled, relad to leave the border towns "Yeah Anything could happen out here"
Though I didn’t say so, anything could happen e reached Laredo as well Adjoining Nuevo Laredo via International Bridge, the town is a shithole, and I wished Chance hadn’t let Min join hi cartels turning the place into a charnel house Thanks to their private war over the I-35 route, which exploded at the intersection of Paseo Colón and Avenida Reforma, the murder rates there rivaled those in DC
It took the intervention of the Mexican arht, but I doubted this was coe American I knew of it only because an overly inforh, along with a warning to get my ass out of town And this here his
On the Road Again
For once, it wasn’t merely my nose for trouble
After Chance pulled off to the side of the road to investigate the reason for the dashboard light cos I wandered around while he tried to figure out how to open the hood As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but trees and hway Hard to believe ere only an hour out of the city For about a ue and then uess You didn’t check the fluids before we left?"
His head jerked up, his outraged look priceless Chance did not see to such things He paid people to see to such things, but he would’ve had a hard ti himself understood at a service station, so I popped the hoodthere was a problem, but damned if I knehat it was
The radiator looked intact, and it was beyondelse If ere just loater, I could walk to one of the roadside spigots, but if the truck needed replacement parts, ere in a world of trouble I didn’t bother checking my cell; the mountains fucked with reception out here and ould I call anyway? We’d be lucky if a truck driver picked us up within a couple hours
"Don’t turn off the engine," I told him "Let it cool off while it idles I’ll walk back a ways and get some water You stay with the Suburban and check the back to see if you have any spare coolant"
"You want me to make you a sandwich too?"
"Turkey on rye," I said over my shoulder "Lettuce and tomato, no onion"
I found an eone too far past the last water stop Highly ill advised to drink frohway taps, but for a vehicle in trouble, they were a godsend Chance startled ave hireat," he said "I’d forgotten that too"
What could I say? I just kept walking I sweated, the sun beating down on my head as I reflected how blue the sky is so far froine’s water reservoir Let’s just say Chance didn’t think I was so great when I cracked the engine block
To his credit, he didn’t rant, just pulled his backpack out of the truck I had the good sense not to say anything since I’d teased hi the vehicle It seeainst the Suburban in silence, tired and thirsty, waiting for a ride, as we’d done for the last two hours
Finally, someone stopped for us, but his cab was crowded and I rode for several hours on Chance’s lap If he’dnu The trucker took us as far as San Luis Potosí, where we arranged for the rental company to reclaim the Suburban I didn’t want to bitch, but asted an astonishing amount of time, and ere only around halfway to Monterrey
So a few hours on the road, a few hours beside the road, and another few hours on Chance’s lap It ell into the afternoon by the tiot a Toyota with precious few a pained as he slid his credit card across the counter Mostly, I hoped the vehicle was reliable
Before departing, we ate at the Holiday Inn there, a nice Brazilian-style place where they laid side dishes in a buffet and then brought to the table skewered cuts of meat for us to choose from I had the beer-braised chicken and a nice cucumber salad While he enjoyed a cup of excellent coffee and I pondered having some flan, I heard a familiar voice
"Chance, is that you?"
There it was again--his luck If we hadn’t broken doe’d never have stopped here What earthly reason could Tanya have to be in San Luis? Yet here she was He waved her over, s She was one of his acquaintances, and I’d never liked her, rich and useless to say the least Of course, I ht have liked her better if she didn’t seize every possible opportunity to re with him