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We stop next to one of the bodies and Victor lets go ofinto the man’s back pocket on his jeans, he pulls out a wad of Mexicanof note, he tosses the es the rest of his pockets, finding a gun hidden behind his belt But there’s nothing out of the ordinary about that He does the sa noteworthy except a set of keys that he decides to pocket

"What are you looking for?"

"You should’ve stayed in the restroom like I told you"

I’m surprised at the accusation in his voice; it’s so unlike hih it’s still not much

"They weren’t Javier’s h to rele one of the even taller than before, but I know it’s justtricks on my eyes

"You reirl if you think they are his onlyabout car parts Maybe they were having car troubles I heard the"

"You heard code," he correctson that truck" He looks toward the frontof the store where another truck is parked out front "When the store owner said that yes he had the part, he was telling the foolish, I continue pretending, trying to come back fro?"

He shakes his head lightly attabs on us," he says "Or, they were going to try and stall us, long enough to get more men here Now coh, he takes ht for the newer truck parked out front, still nothing but a hunk of old metal, but newer than that old rusty Ford that had to have belonged to the owner

He opens the door on the passenger’s side

"Get in," he de I know, he’s liftingto fight him on this, or waste anymore of what little tis from his car and shoves it all between us on the seat He slaets in on the other side

"What are we doing exactly?"

He finds the right key to start the engine on the first try and the truck ruear shift next to the steering wheel and sla the rickety wooden awning covering the front of the store as he makes a close, wide turn and speeds away

"The car is too et rid of it sooner, but running across a vehicle around here that won’t break down in twentyas nice as that here to begin with," I say

"I wasn’t a target then"

"But now you are because ofthe dirt swirl chaotically in the truck’s wake We ride fast over the barren landscape, the truck lurching and bouncing over holes until we lances over at matic nerve

I decide not to say what I intended because I’ve already said it before and it made no difference then

I look away and I feel his eyes leave me, too

"Never mind," I say

Stick to the new plan, Sarai, I think to myself and feel ridiculous when for a split second I worry if he can hear et over the border and then I’ll do whatever it takes to get away from him, even if it means I have to kill him

~~~

Two hours later, we make it over the border and into Arizona without any trouble from border patrol Victor spoke to a Border Patrol Inspector, who clearly saw that we had a suspicious-looking suitcase and two duffle bags sitting between us on the seat They had words in Spanish, though they were few and didn’t make much sense to me, which led me to believe that, like the men back at the convenience store, it was all so or even the truck was checked I don’t care to knohy It doesn’t make any difference to me if Victor has connections of some kind with border patrol which allows him easy access into and out of the United States That remains obvious to me But I don’t care All I care about isinthat after nine years I’ain I want to open the door on this truck right now driving fifty- bruised and bloody across the desert-like landscape and to er, at least until we stop somewhere where there are places I can hide A city, perhaps A little lone gas station out in the e to get away, the only place I could go is out into the wide open, which encompasses every space in every direction as far as I can see

I don’t want to end up like the store owner, face down in the dirt with a bullet in hts and buildings on the horizon, dwarfed by a cascade of round We soon co lot behind a five-story hotel in Douglas, Arizona

I get out of the truck and shut the door while Victor grabs his bags fro for the best way to run which ht provide me a place to hide when he coo is across the street where lance covertly over at Victor and use that second he’s shouldering his duffle bags to take off running toward the street Dashing through the light traffic and easilyfull-throttle past a s with arched s My flip-flops snap underneath my heels as I run I nearly trip when my feet coets twisted underfoot But I catchback only once to see if Victor is coh a s to get as far away from him as I can Already nearly out of breath, I forcepast a row of parked cars and in behind another series of buildings I see a wo out ahead of et closer, her blonde hair falling about her shoulders