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CHAPTER ONE
Somewhere in Mexico
It’s been nine years since I saw the last A to think Javier killed them all
"Who is he?" my only friend, Lydia, asks as she pushes herself further into view "How do you know he’s Aainstas well as I do that Javier, or that God-awful sister of his will hear us and punish us for eavesdropping Always paranoid Always assu with caution and weapons, and rightfully so Such is the way of life filled with drugs and h the sliver in the door, letting h he was born with the inability to smile
"I don’t know," I whisper softly "I can just tell"
Lydia squints her eyes as though it ht help her to hear better I can feel the heat fro the skin on ainst me We watch the man from the shadow of the tiny rooo One door OneOne bed Four dingy walls and a bookshelf with a few books in the English language which I have read more times than I can count But we aren’t locked in and have never been Javier knows that if we ever try to escape that on’t get far I don’t even knohere in Mexico I am But I know that wherever it is it wouldn’t be easy for a young woman like me to find her way back into the United States alone The second I walk out that door and make my way down that dark, dusty road alone is the second I choose suicide as , black trench coat over black clothes sits on the wooden chair in the living roo every motion within the roo tells h Lydia and I are completely hidden inside our roo roo that is going on around hi in the shadow of the opposite hall with his gun hidden at the ready The sixin wait outside on the porch The two men directly behind him with assault rifles cemented to their hands These two haven’t taken their eyes off the A them, sees more of them than they do of him And then there are the erous Mexican drug lord who sits directly in front of the A and confident and co her usual whorish dress so short that she doesn’t need to bend over for everyone in the room to see that she doesn’t wear panties She wants the American She wants anyone who she can sexually abuse, but thismore obsessive in her eyes when it comes to him And the American knows this, too
"I only agreed to meet with you," the American says in fluent Spanish, "because I was assured that you would not waste lances at Javier’s sister briefly She licks her lips He is unfazed "I do business only with you Get rid of the whore or we have nothing to discuss" His un expression never falters
Javier’s sister, Izel, looks like someone just slapped her across the face She starts to speak, but Javier hushes her with only a look and then jerks his head back slightly to demand she leave the roo of curses that follow her out the front door
Javier s of coffee to his lips After taking a sip he says, "My offer is threeon the table that separates the two of the crossed over the other "I understand that your price oto the Aenerous offer
The Aive him any
"I still don’t kno you can you understand what they’re saying so easily," Lydia whispers quietly
I want to hush her so that I can hear everything between Javier and the A people for years and you learn to understand it," I say, but I never take my eyes off of them "In time, you’ll be as fluent as I ao hoht here at fourteen But she knows as well as I did that she ht of that reality is what ultiain
"The only reason a ins, "would offer over the going rate would be to secure soravated breath and leans his back against the chair, letting his hands slide away from his knees "Either that, or you’re desperate, which leads me to believe thatto pay rin disappears frohtens his back aardly, but tries to retain soht be exactly why the Aht now
"My reasons are not i to hide his discoht," the A here is that you tell Guillerun from behind me and that if he doesn’t within three seconds he will be dead"
Javier and one of thebehind the Aoes by too quickly and I hear a near-silent shot resound and a pop! as a splatter of blood sprays the otherbeside him ‘Guillermo’ hits the floor, dead No one, not even me, seems to kno the American pulled that shot off He hasn’t evennext to the dead man freezes in his spot, his black eyes wide beneath his oily black hair Javier purses his lips and ss again, having a harder ti second that passes His men outnumber the American, but it’s obvious that Javier doesn’t want hiht now He raises a hand palm up to order the others to lower their weapons
The American pulls his hand fro for all to see His finger reun once
Lydia is digging her fingernails into my ribs I reach down carefully andher body relax now that she realizes what she’s doing Her breathing is rapid I drape my arm around her shoulder and pull her intopeople die Not yet But one day she will be Cupping one side of her head within ainst her hair to calers and says, "Clean thisbehind the Ae, not wanting to end up like his comrade Every eye in the room is on the American Not that they weren’t before, but now they are more obvious, much more observant
"You’veto make one," the Ament
"Three million American dollars," Javier says "Do you accept the offer?"
It’s obvious that the American has done more than take Javier down a few notches Hein the corner, but it’s clear that he’s been put in his place And this is not easy to do It worries ht do in retaliation when he feels he has the opportunity It worries et ?" Lydia asks, frustrated that she has a long way to go before she will be able to decipher anything said around this place
I don’t answer, but I squeeze her shoulder once to indicate that I need her to stop talking