“Can you say ‘duck’?” I ask in a desperate attempt to prevent a wailing tantrum.
Anika studies me for a few seconds, and I try my fucking hardest to seem friendly, but I doubt my face changes much. Still, it does the trick because she suddenly cries, “Duck!”
Just then, Anika sees Neri creeping behind her with the toy and runs back to the other room.
“I saw that, lover,” Neri coos, and gives me the smile of a woman planning to reward my pathetic attempt.
“It really takes so little to impress you,” I mutter.
Neri smiles wider and then chases after Anika. The two of them play tag for a half hour before falling silent in the next room. I finally force my ass out of the chair to check on the quiet foursome.
Three of them sit in one bed. Anika rests against her mother’s chest while watching something on a tablet. Sunny’s focus is on Kai, who whispers to her in a language she doesn’t understand.
At the hotel’s small table, Neri stares at her phone and frowns. Her mouth opens as if to speak to her brother, but then her gaze finds me. Before she puts on a smile for my benefit, there’s genuine fear in her brown eyes. Her refusal to share why she’s worried reminds me why I shouldn’t get comfortable with Neri or the promises she makes.
KAI
In this hotel room—while I hold a smiling Sunny and my sister plays with Anika—I can forget the trouble waiting for us in the world. Earlier at the pool, I felt like I was on holiday again. Tomorrow, before we leave, I hope to swim more with Anika and Sunny.
Around six, we call in a huge order from a local Mexican restaurant. Milder foods for Sunny and Anika and stronger flavors for Neri, Cobain, and me. Our family dinner is delivered by a young man who tries talking up Neri at the door. At first, I assume he’s flirting.
Cobain—hiding out of sight of the man—signals for me to check the security cameras. Except for the delivery man, the hallway remains empty. In the parking lot, though, two men peer inside the windows of the Suburban.
“Is this all for you?” the man asks Neri.
I storm to the door and grab the bags from his hands. “Do you think flirting with my wife will get you a larger tip, asshole?”
“You’re not from around here, are you?” he asks, still playing his friendly game.
I hand the food to Neri before shoving the man against the wall across from our door.
“Everyone loves money so much that they forget to love life,” I hiss while staring into his startled eyes. “The thought of green blinds them to the color red.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammers, trying to break free of my grip.
“Do you have a mother?”
“Of course.”
I tighten my hand across his throat. “Will she be the one to identify your body, or will your father do the deed?”
“Are you threatening me?”
I smile grimly at his amateur tough guy routine. “You should kill us and take the bounty. Then you can buy your mom something nice. Get a car for yourself. Live a better life, just until my people from Mexico show up in this nothing town and wipe out everyone you hold dear. What use is there in living to old age, eh, Craig?”
Stepping back, I let him go. “Will you shoot me now? No, you can’t. My wife will kill you instantly. You’ll need to lie in wait out by our car.”
The Suburban’s alarm begins blaring outside, and I imagine his friends’ reaction to the sudden, loud noise. Sweating now, Craig glances in the direction of the parking lot.
“Yes, you can wait outside for us tonight. You can’t know when we'll leave. Wait in the dark, and hope we don’t circle around behind you and cut your throats.”
“You’re crazy.”
Sighing, I pretend I’m sympathetic to his plight. “I only imagine one scenario where you aren’t dead by the end of this year. Except I don’t think you'll walk away and convince your friends how dying young will only break your mothers’ hearts. No, you’ll die trying to get rich. Am I wrong?”
Craig doesn’t want to die. He’s scared in a way any normal person would be. If he were a professional, he wouldn’t have been so obvious at the door with Neri. His friends would suspect someone might be watching our car. These are amateurs looking for easy money. And I have no intention of making anything easy for them.
“Just take your fucking food,” he mutters.
“But you didn’t get paid,” I call out and shove him to the wall again. Holding his gaze, I jam cash in his hand. “If you’re lucky enough to kill us, just remember that the cartel will know your name. Craig from Tortilla Grill. They’ll have the pictures of your friends from outside and the ones we took of you here. Finding and killing your family will be easy.”
“I just want to leave.”
Releasing him, I offer a smile. “Enjoy your tip, Craig.”
The man hurries away, glancing fearfully back more than once. I return to the room where Neri waits with a gun, and Cobain watches the men outside.
“I bet the little one pissed himself when the alarm went off,” he mutters. “Think they’ll be back?”
“No, but someone at the hotel staff must have tipped them off.”
Neri’s lips form a tight line as she stares at the door. “Or the delivery person from last night or someone who heard my accent when I ordered the food. These small businesses don’t have online ordering.”
“I can order next time,” Sunny says in nearly a whisper.
We all look at her, which is a mistake. She immediately lowers her gaze, worried she said something wrong.
My hand brushes her cheek to calm her, but I know what Cobain and Neri are thinking.
“Should we leave?” my sister asks.
“My gut says no.”
Cobain nods. “If we leave, we’ll just end up in a different tiny nothing town. At least here, we have some sense of the threat. The next hotel might be more crowded, or the cops could be crooked. If the worst we have to worry about in this shithole is a few Aryan wannabe tough guys, I think we ought to stick to the plan.”
Neri holsters her weapon. “What if they mess with the cars?”
I switch to Spanish to say, “They only know about ours, not Cobain’s. Besides, they can’t bomb the SUV if they hope to bring the girls back alive. No matter what the cult says, they want Anika, or they likely won’t pay. Though the locals might attempt to damage the Suburban, Cobain is right about the skill level of the thugs in this town. They won’t know how to do more than disable the tires.”
“He’s right,” Cobain says, switching to Spanish too since Sunny and Anika don’t need to hear about bombs or killings. “Those assholes jumped a foot off the ground when the SUV’s alarm went off. These are not pros. If they hit us, they’ll try to do it outside of town as we’re leaving. They won’t want witnesses. I doubt they’ll try now that Kai scared them with talk of cartels, but if they do, that’s how they’ll try.”
Sunny might not understand Spanish, but she’s aware we’ve changed languages to shield her and Anika.
“Let’s eat before the food gets cold,” I announce in English and gesture for Sunny to join me at the table. “The curtains are closed, and the doors are locked. If these people start trouble, we’ll make quick work of them. Nothing has changed.”