Adriana breathed hard, as if she’d just sprinted half a mile. Footsteps approached to her right, and she sprang up to meet the next threat. It was Jackson…holding a chair.
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “What were you going to do with that?”
He sheepishly looked down at the chair and grinned. “Was going to hit him across the head with it, but looks like you took care of him.”
She nodded, still breathing heavily. “I’ve fought tougher than him before.” Her foot shot out and kicked the chair she’d tripped over. The thing tipped and slammed onto the floor. “Didn’t see that there, and I fell. Only way that idiot could ever get the better of me.”
Jackson stared at Angel’s destroyed face. “Do you always get that angry?”
She glanced back at the mechanic. His chest rose and fell slowly. He wasn’t dead, which was good. The last thing they needed was to have the cops looking into a homicide. “He licked my face. Why do creeps always do that?”
Jackson smiled and shook his head. “I don’t know.” He put the chair back on the floor and walked over to their table.
He picked up his mug, finished off the last of the beer, and then picked up his and Adriana’s bags. He returned to the bar where the old bartender still stood with his palms on the counter.
“Sorry about the mess, Pedro,” Jackson said in Spanish. He reached into his bag and thumbed through a few bills in the envelope Adriana had given him. He took out two and handed them to the bartender. “This ought to cover it,” Jackson winked.
Pedro smiled and scooped up the two hundred-dollar bills. “I’m just glad you didn’t break anything this time,” the old man said. “I’ll call the police after you leave. Tell them they got into it with some gangsters or something. The usual.”
“Gracias, amigo,” Jackson replied with a grin.
He sauntered over to Adriana and handed her the rucksack. “We should be going. Got a plane to catch.”
19
Landing in Guadalajara had been easy enough. A small plane flying from one Mexican city to another didn’t raise any alarms. Jackson went through all the protocols to make sure every regulation was obeyed. When they left Ameca, those regulations would have to be largely ignored. When any control towers asked their origin and destination, he’d explain they were delivering farm supplies to one of the local farmers. It was a ruse he’d used several times, and it had proved to work well.
Sitting on the edge of the airport near a rusty, beaten-up hangar, Jackson turned off the plane’s single turboprop engine and exited the cockpit. Adriana grabbed her bag and followed him around the side of the empty metal building. She noted two areas where the tin roof was peeled away, barely hanging on by a few determined rivets. The late afternoon sun blazed in the west, baking the tarmac under their feet. She drew in a long breath and noted the smell of pine mingled with sage in the dry air.
Parked next to the hangar, in the shade of a pine tree, a tan 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser waited silently. The worn paint and rust spots on the doors and along the lower edges showed its age. The tires seemed in decent condition, with several thousand miles of tread still left on them.
Adriana walked around the vehicle, admiring it as she ran her fingers along the surface. “Where’d you dig this up?”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do better. My guy down here said it was the best he could do. He said it runs fine and won’t give you any trouble. It’s got a full tank of gas, which is more than enough to drive the fifty or so miles out to Ameca.”
“Are you kidding? It’s perfect.” She wasn’t lying. Back in the US, enthusiasts all over the country sought these kinds of vehicles. There’d been a resurgence of restoring old vehicles over the past decade, and Land Cruisers had been one of the most popular. “I have a friend who works on these in Vegas,” she explained. “He’d love to get his hands on this one. I can’t believe it’s still in pretty good shape, other than some of the rust here and there.”
“Yeah, my guy takes care of his vehicles. He has a car lot here in the city. Loans me one every now and then when I end up in these parts. I told him you’d need an SUV, and this is what he had. Well, this and an old Ford, but he said it wasn’t running right and needed some work.”
“This thing is awesome. If we weren’t in a hurry to fly back, I’d offer to buy it from your friend straight up.”
Jackson’s smile beamed proudly. “We might be able to arrange that down the road.” He reached in his messenger bag and pulled out a map. His hands worked quickly to roll it out on the hood of the SUV.
Holding down one edge with his arm and letting Adriana pin the other side, he pointed to the city of Ameca. “Here’s where we’re going to meet. It’s a farm about two miles outside the city’s downtown area.” His finger moved over to another spot. “This is where Espinoza’s estate is. That’s about four miles as I figure it, give or take a hundred yards. When you leave there, you’ll have to really step on it, unless of course they don’t realize what you’ve done.”
“That’s the plan,” Adriana said, staring at the map. She pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times, opening up the maps application. Next, she found their current location and the one Jackson was pointing at on the map. She marked it with a waypoint and slid her phone back in a front pocket. Adriana had a remarkable memory, but having a digital backup wasn’t a bad thing.
“You know as well as I do it’s always best to plan for the worst.” She thought for a second and then spoke again. “If I’m not there by 10:30, leave without me. I don’t want you hanging around too long. If one of Espinoza’s men or some random police happen to see you, they’ll think something’s up.”
“I’ll be fine,” Jackson said. “And I’ll give you as much time as I can. I don’t think too many people wander out to that area, but you never know. There’s a barn on this property. It’s old, basically falling apart, made from brown wood with a metal roof. If you follow that road out of Espinoza’s and turn here,” he tapped the map, “you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it, even in the dark. It’s going to be a clear sky and a bright moon, so that should help.”
Adriana nodded and stuck out her hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow night,” she said. “I appreciate your help, Jackson.” Her eyes narrowed. “Your lip okay?”
He shook her hand and then let go, rubbing the cut on his mouth with his forefinger. “Yeah, it’s a little sore, but I’ll be fine in a day or two. Might have to lay low on the coffee. Hot liquid on cut, not good.” He laughed. “Keys are in the ignition. Be careful.”
“I will,” she nodded.
Jackson walked around the front of the SUV and returned to his plane while Adriana got in the vehicle, found the keys, and started the engine. Even though Jackson said the Toyota ran fine, she had her doubts until she heard the motor rev to life. Truly, she would have taken whatever car she could get her hands on. Getting a truck or an SUV was being a tad picky, but she thought it might be necessary in case a road chase turned into an off road one.
She waved to the pilot and stepped on the gas, steering the vehicle away and toward the nearest exit on the other side of the airstrip.
The drive to Ameca took a little over an hour. The slowest part of the journey was getting through the rush hour traffic in Guadalajara. People, cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles clogged sidewalks and roads all over the place. When she eventually got out of the mess, she found the country roads outside the city to be ghostlike. The long straight asphalt snaked its way through the flatlands and farms, stretching out for dozens of miles with only a few outcroppings of homes popping up every now and then. Seeing another car was just as rare. In the distance, the massive outline of the Tequila Volcano — she laughed at the name — rose dramatically from the earth, stretching to the sky like a giant natural pyramid.