Page 8 of Wrong Turn

“A ninja. A warrior. Maybe a monk of some kind. I don’t know. He’s a man of mystery. And he’s got mad skills.”

Lei fiddled with the holsters. “So Cruz came with you to Mexico? Like—a boyfriend?”

“Ha. Cruz is nobody’s boyfriend. No, we met down here and I hired him to train me. We began doing private security jobs together.” Harry shot up, strode to the refrigerator, grabbed the beaker of margaritas. “More?”

“Just water now. I should keep a clear head.” Lei frowned. “You never answered me when I asked—who are you? Why are you doing this?”

“I’m a private investigator and a security operative—a bit of both.” Harry shrugged. “Our most recent job was kind of like getting your friend back, actually. Cruz and I removed a kidnapped kid from a cartel that was holding her. Kona and I were on post-operation R & R when you showed up, but I guess it’s time to go back to work.”

Lei’s nape prickled. She refilled her cup with water, her eyes narrowing. “This is too coincidental. What are the chances that the first place I come to, I happen upon a trained merc? You might be part of the gang—maybe you’re going to lure me into going back with you to those guys.”

Harry tipped her head and laughed; she had a robust belly laugh, and she was beautiful with her face alight. “You’ve already had too much to drink, I see. Let’s go next door and get some food; the Delgados can vouch for me, and that will make you feel better.”

Back in the present moment, Lei tightened her hold on Harry’s narrow waist as the quad hit a protruding rock. They levitated, bouncing back down in a flurry of sand. Lei glanced behind her. Kona was hunkered down in a makeshift metal carrier strapped onto the back of the quad. The big dog’s ears were flat, his eyes slitted. He lay low, his claws dug into the basket, tension in every line of his rough-coated body.

Lei peered around Harry to the terrain ahead. The last waning of sunset left orange streaks in the sky behind them. The moon rose ahead, glowing over the mountains above the abandoned mine.

Harry had changed into a desert camouflage outfit. She smelled like gun oil and sweat. She couldn’t be more different than Kelly. Lei shut her eyes tight at the thought of her fun-loving, naive, sheltered friend, and what those men were likely doing to her. Every minute she’d taken with the Delgados, the friendly couple that ran the taco stand, eating a big plate of enchiladas, was time she’d wasted coming to Kelly’s aid—but it had seemed important to verify that Harry had been coming to Mexico to spend the winter for several years, but only recently had taken up crime-fighting. “She was a bookkeeper before,” Senor Delgado said. “We love her like a daughter.” He gave Harry a side hug that almost buried her in his bulk. They hadn’t had a phone, either—Harry had told the truth about that.

“A bookkeeper?” Lei had said, with raised eyebrows, as they went to fetch the ATV.

“For the mob,” Harry said.

Lei didn’t ask any more questions—a world of possibility lay in those three short words.

Harry aimed the ATV down a dune and finally merged onto the road leading into a mining ghost town. The quad sped up, and Lei tucked her face tight into Harry’s shoulder, watching the moonlit desert speed by now that they were on a relatively hard surface. The outline of the sword was an uncomfortable ridge between them.

Harry was so far out that she made Lei feel normal. Lei smiled a little at the thought. She usually felt so different from other women—not just because of being damaged goods, but because something in her wanted to right the balance of things, and she never was able to let that go.

That part of her was excited by this wild ride on an ATV through the back roads of Mexico, armed to the teeth; but the sane part of her was sensibly terrified of what they’d find when they located Kelly, and of what they were up against. She was even a little bit nervous of this tough woman who lived at a taco stand with her dog. “I only winter in Mexico,” Harry had said. “I go where the work is in my RV.”

They slowed, the quad’s engine rattling roughly at lower RPMs. Lei peered around Harry; foothills loomed directly ahead, rendered in shades of gray, but Lei couldn’t see any signs of civilization or life. No lights showed anywhere.

“Surprise is our only advantage.” Harry pulled the ATV off the road and deep into the shadow of a boulder. Moonlight gleamed off Harry’s bright teeth. “We will lose that if we roll up into the town on this noisy thing.”

“We don’t only have surprise. We also have a helluva lot of firepower.” Lei patted one of her Glocks. The cargo pockets of her pants were filled with spare clips, and a shotgun made a hard lump against her back under the backpack. Kona hopped out of his carrier. He whimpered with excitement from Harry’s side.

“They may not have been armed when they took you, but I guarantee they are now. I hope you feel up to a run.”

“Running is one of the things I do best.” Lei was rested, hydrated, and her stomach was full of excellent food. She felt ready to take on an army.

They jogged down the moonlit ribbon of road, Kona a bulky dark shadow beside them. Lei strained her ears for any sounds of danger, but heard nothing but a faraway coyote howl, the soft desert wind in the brush, and the cry of a night bird.

She settled into a ground-eating lope, the weight of weapons unfamiliar but welcome. Fifteen or twenty minutes went by as she breathed easily. The woman beside her never slowed, nor did her respiration speed up. Remembering the firmness of Harry’s waist, the solidity of her shoulder, Harrywasstronger. Apparently, all Harry did down in Mexico was train all day, and it showed. The only thing better than going in with Harry would be if Harry’s trainer, the mysterious Cruz with his combat skills, would somehow read their minds and join the party.

A series of abandoned buildings loomed ahead, hunched black shapes in a landscape rendered in shades of gray.

“The mining town,” Harry whispered. “We should take cover in case they have anyone watching.”

They trotted into the shadow of a derelict store, its broken sign worn beyond readability even in daylight.

“I don’t see anyone. No cars, nothing,” Lei said. Urgency to reach her friend beat in her veins. “Let’s just find them.”

She moved past Harry back out into the open, pulling one of the Glocks and holding it in low ready position as she jogged down the middle of the road between the buildings, scanning from side to side for any sight of human habitation or danger.

Kona’s sharp bark was the only warning she had.

Chapter Seven

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