A dark, neatly dressed man was staring down at him thoughtfully, slapping a hypodermic needle against the palm of his hand. Also gazing down at him, her dark eyes anxious, was the girl Dolores.
"It's all right, Toddy." She gave him a tremulous smile. Toddy stared at her, unwinking, remembrance returning; then, swung his eyes toward the man with the needle.
"You a doctor?"
"Yes, Seсor."
"What's going on here? What happened?"
"I have given you an injection of nicotinic acid. To strengthen the heart. Lie still for another half hour, and keep in place the ice pack. You will be all right."
"I asked you what happened?"
The doctor smiled faintly, shrugged, and spoke rapidly in Spanish to Dolores. Toddy's eyes drooped shut for a moment, and when he reopened them he was alone with Dolores.
"Well?" he said. "Well…?"
"You should not talk, Toddy." She sat down on a chair at the bedside, and laid a hand on his forehead. "There is little I can explain, and-"
Toddy rolled his head from beneath her hand. "That guy tried to kill me?"
"To knock you unconscious. You were to be disposed of later… at night."
"Why?"
"I cannot tell you. There is much I do not understand."
"You know, all right. Why did Alvarado want me killed?"
"Alvarado did not want you killed."
"No? Then why-"
"If he had," said the girl, "you would be dead."
Toddy frowned, then grunted as a stab of pain shot through his head. "Yeah," he said. "But…"
"Try not to think for a few minutes. Rest, and I will make you some coffee, and then, if you feel able, we can leave."
"Leave?"
"Rest," said Dolores firmly.
Toddy rested, more willingly than he pretended to. It was almost reluctantly that, some fifteen or twenty minutes later, he sat up to accept the coffee Dolores prepared. She gave him a lighted cigarette, and he puffed and drank alternately. His head still throbbed with pain, but he felt alert again.
"So," he said, setting down the cup, "Alvarado doesn't want me dead?"
"Obviously not."
"He knew this was going to happen?"
"I think-I think he must have."
"What did he stand to gain by it?"
"I cannot say. I mean, I don't know."
"No?"
"No!" snapped the girl; but her voice immediately became soft again. "Believe me, Toddy, I don't know. But you will soon find out. Alvarado himself will tell you."
"Alvarado will!" Toddy started. "What do you mean?"
"That is why I am here, to take you to him. He is in San Diego."
Toddy fumbled for and found his cigarettes. He lighted one, staring at Dolores over the flame of the match. He didn't know whether to laugh or bop her. How stupid, he wondered, did they think he was?
"What's Alvarado doing in San Diego?"
"Again, I do not know."
"But after this pasting I got, I'm still supposed to see him?"
"So I told you."
"What if I refuse to go with you? What happens, then?"
"What happens?" The girl shrugged, tiredly. "Nothing happens. You are free to go your own way. You may leave here now, if you feel able."
Toddy shook his head, incredulously. "You say that like you mean it."
"I do. You will not be harmed… Of course," she added, "your situation will not be exactly pleasant. You have little money. You are a fugitive. You are in a foreign country…"
"But I'm alive."
"There is no use," said Dolores, "in arguing. I was not ordered to persuade you, only to ask you."
She stood up, walked to the battered dresser, and picked up a flowered scarf. Draping it over her black hair, she knotted it under her chin and took a step toward the areaway.
"Good-bye, Toddy Kent."
"Now, wait a minute…"
"Yes?"
"I didn't say I wouldn't go," said Toddy. "I just-Oh, hell!" He wobbled a little as he lurched to his feet, and she moved swiftly to him. He caught her by the shoulders, his hands sinking into the soft flesh with unconscious firmness.
"Look-" He hesitated. "Give me the lowdown. What had I better do?"
"I am here to take you to Alvarado."
"But should I-?"
"Suppose I said no; that you should remain in Mexico."
"Are you telling me that?"
"Suppose I did so advise you," Dolores continued, looking at him steadily, "and you decided to do the opposite- and repeated my advice to Alvarado?"
"Why would I do that?"
"You have no reason to trust me. In fact, you have made it very plain that you do not trust me. Why shouldn't you tell Alvarado? Particularly, if it appeared that by doing so you would help yourself?"
Toddy reddened uncomfortably and released his grip. The girl stepped away from him.
"I guess," he said, "I can't blame you for thinking that."
"No."
"But you're wrong. If I'd wanted to get you in trouble, I could have told Alvarado about-well…"
"-my warning to you last night? Perhaps you did, after you left the house."
Toddy gave up. She was dead right about one thing. He didn't trust her, even though something had impelled him to for a minute. Perhaps she didn't know what Alvarado wanted. Or perhaps she did. He'd never take her word for it, regardless of the situation. Whatever she advised him to do, he'd be inclined to do the opposite.
"Where's my coat?" he said shortly. "Let's get out of here."
"You are going with me?"
"I don't know. Maybe a drink will help me to make up my mind."
…They went out the same way Toddy had come in, squeezing past the crowded racks of trinkets and curios. The little man who had slugged Toddy was nowhere in view. The fat woman was still seated near the doorway on her camp stool. "Nice bo'l of perfume for lady?" she beamed. "Nice wallet for gen'leman?" Toddy started to scowl, but something about her expression of bland good-natured innocence made his lips tug upward. He gave her a cynical wink, and followed Dolores out the door.
It seemed like days had passed since he had arrived in Tijuana that morning, but the clock in the bar indicated the hour as five minutes of two. Seated in a rear booth, Toddy drank a double tequila sunrise and ordered another. He took a sip of it and looked across the table at the girl.
"Well," he said. "I've made up my mind."
"I see."
"I'm not going with you. I'll lay low here for a few days. Then I'll beat it back across the border and-" Toddy broke off abruptly, and again raised his glass. Over its rim, he saw the faint gleam of amusement in Dolores' eyes.
"On second thought," she said, "you will head south into Mexico. That is right?"