Page 2 of Wrong Turn

“I wish you didn’t have such an eyesore of a car, though,” Lei complained. “We could take out a billboard advertising what tourists we are. Seriously, we could always tell in Hawaii, whenever we saw one of these, that someone was ‘off the boat.’”

Lei was proud to bealocal Hawaii girl: half Japanese, one-quarter Hawaiian, and one-quarter Portuguese. The mix of races had given her unique looks: curly brown hair, big, tilted eyes, freckled olive skin, and a lean runner’s build.

“Hey. I’m not ashamed of who I am,” Kelly said. “Got big hair and big boobs, too.” She bounced, illustrating her words. “I’ve never understood your need to blend in.”

“No act,”Lei said. “A saying we have in Hawaii. Means don’t get above yourself. Standing out isn’t a good thing. It can be dangerous, too, in a place like this.” Lei gestured to the barren landscape. Lei already knew too much about the many ways people could prey on each other. “Fortunately, we’re on a pretty major road.”

“But how are we going to get any action except by getting attention?” Kelly set the resort brochure back in the side pocket of the car’s door. “I’m looking for some fun. That’s why we’ve got separate rooms—I plan on some chandelier swinging and wall banging, and not by myself, either.”

Lei chuckled. “Thank God we have separate rooms, then.” She smiled at her friend, but that quiver tightened her belly again. She, too, hoped to meet someone nice and have fun—but she was way too messed up to just bring someone back to the room for sex. On the other hand, she didn’t want to be tied up in knots about it anymore, either. She was determined to get past the hang-ups that Charlie Kwon, her mother’s drug-dealing boyfriend, had given her through his abuse. “You fall down, girl, you get back up,” Aunty Rosario always said.

They reached a crossroads. Lei slowed to a stop under a blinking red light that dangled between a couple of poles. “Can you check the GPS? I think we keep going straight here, but we should see the ocean by now.”

“Sure.” Kelly set down the bottle of tanning lotion she’d been applying to her shoulders and picked up her phone. “Shoot. We lost signal when we crossed the border, but I brought a map. Pull over so I can look at it.”

Lei eased the Mustang onto the soft, sandy shoulder as Kelly unfolded the map. She stayed alert, watching the other cars and trucks approach and move on. Most of the traffic treated the red light as a mere suggestion. A pickup full of young men wolf-whistled and called out compliments in Spanish, along with crude hand gestures.

“Hurry up, Kelly!” Lei slid down out of sight in her seat, getting more nervous by the minute at their vulnerable position.

“It’s another thirty miles, and we need to make a right here.” Kelly folded the map at last. “Good thing we stopped.”

Lei pressed the gas pedal and hit the signal for a left turn back onto the asphalt—but when she accelerated, the rear-wheel drive of the sports car lost traction in the sand. She increased the gas, but the tires just spun, spraying sand behind the vehicle. Lei turned the wheel back and forth, seeking purchase with the front tires, but instead they seemed to be working themselves deeper.

“Shinola!” Kelly exclaimed, not one for swearing. A large, battered Ford truck pulled up in front of them with a winch on the rear bumper. “Hey. Maybe they’re stopping to help us.”

Chapter Three

Two Hispanic menwith lots of tattoos got out of the Ford. Lei stopped the useless spinning of the tires and sat, hands clenched on the wheel, teeth gritted, as Kelly smiled and waved. They ignored scowling Lei and smiled at Kelly.

“Hola!” Kelly chirped. “Habla inglés?”

“Un poco.” The first man reached them. “We help you.” Long hair touched his shoulders, and a silver chain the width of a finger dangled across a chest he was clearly proud of as he flexed for them in a thin white undershirt. He leaned an arm on the frame of the windshield and gazed down at Kelly admiringly. “What’s your name,chica?”

The other man approached Lei’s side. Short, with a shaved, shiny head, thick neck, and the broad shoulders of a wrestler, he reminded Lei of a Hispanic Vin Diesel. Probably someone’s nice dad or uncle, here to give aid, she hoped—but the expression in the man’s dark eyes was speculative rather than friendly as they ran over her, the car, and Kelly.

Lei glanced around for anyone else noticing what was going on. Traffic continued to whiz by without slowing.

“We pull you out,no problemo,” Silver Chain told Kelly. “Me Joao. This Fernando.” He gestured to the bald man.

“Gracias, Joao!Me llamoKelly. And this is Lei.” Kelly’s limited Spanish failed as she gestured.

“Hola.” Lei inclined her head stiffly, inhaling a strong waft of unwashed armpit from Joao’s direction.

The bald man named Fernando returned to the truck and fiddled with the winch on the back, unspooling a length of cable connected to a heavy steel hook. Lei craned her neck to see what he was doing as he flattened out in the sand and reached under the front bumper with the hook. She heard a clunking sound as he got the hook secured.

Fernando stood up and dusted sand off his hands. His eyes gleamed, and he smiled for the first time. She felt his gaze on her like a touch, and the back of her neck prickled with alarm.

“No,” Lei said loudly. “Unhook that winch right now. We don’t want your help. Noayuda!” Lei had brought the Glock she’d bought and was learning to use for when she began her job as a police officer. She had a knife too, but both were sensibly locked in a case in the glove box.

“We do want help,” Kelly argued. “It’ll take them two seconds to pull us out, Lei!”

Joao continued to grin, and Fernando winked at Lei without responding to her words. He got back into the truck and turned it on with a roar.

“Put it in neutral,” he yelled out the window to Lei. She did, surprised at his easy English.

“I ride with youchicas.” Joao jumped with unnerving speed into the back seat, not bothering with the door. “Where we go?”

“We’regoing to Cabo.” Kelly scrunched her brows. “But no need for you to ride with us. Go back to your truck, please.”

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