Page 55 of Hidden Falls

Lei and Harry both snorted, then glanced at each other. Harry’s eyes sparkled with humor for the first time in days. She reached over the table and gave Lei a quick hug. “Cruz is right. I’m sorry I’m being difficult. I wouldn’t put up with me if I were you.”

Lei smiled. “What are friends for?”

Lei had learned that by having good friends—Pono, Marcella and Sophie—who’d stuck by her when she was in worse shape and more badly behaved than Harry. It felt good to be on the giving end of that lesson this time.

* * *

Lei and Harry were packed and out of the hotel room in five minutes. “I prepaid for the room in cash,” Harry told Lei. “Cruz texted me to meet his car around the corner from the hotel.”

“Got it.”

Cruz had settled the breakfast bill; when the women emerged from the stairwell, he was seated in a corner of the lobby with a Spanish newspaper, looking like a relaxed businessman on vacation.

Lei knew better. He was casing the room, checking for tails.

They ignored him and, carrying their duffel bags, exited onto the street.

Sunlight and heat hit Lei like a blow; she fumbled for her sunglasses as Harry put on the sun hat she’d worn earlier and her own shades. “Let’s do a little window shopping—make sure we’re not being followed.”

Her friend was stressed.“Harry needs to feel a sense of control,”Lei’s psychologist friend Dr. Wilson said in her mind.“Let her take the lead in the little things; you don’t need to get defensive because you understand what’s going on, and you have compassion.”

Thank God for Dr. Wilson. Over the years she’d been such a healing force that Lei had come to internalize her voice, an angel on her shoulder.

As Harry browsed a clothing display in the window beside the hotel, Lei drifted towards a stand selling hats. A little mirror at the top of the stand provided a place to try on the toppers, and a way to check behind her. She held up various hats, checking her reflection and also what lay behind and around her in the background—no hostiles. Other tourists, a few businesspeople.

Lei settled on a modern straw cowboy hat with a leather cord, putting it on immediately after purchase.

She struck a pose for Harry. “How do I look?”

“Like a prettygringaon vacation.” Harry grinned. “Hats are great because you can be distinctive in a crowd—and then, not.”

“Also sun protection, which is why I got this one.”

The two fell in step and drifted around the corner of the hotel building.

An indigo shimmer Tesla SUV with blackout tinting rolled silently up to them and stopped. The window lowered; Cruz smiled at them from the driver’s seat. “What are you waiting for, ladies?”

“I wondered what your ride would be,” Harry said, and took the front passenger position.

Lei got into the back behind Harry. The smell of leather and new car surrounded her, along with the cool swirl of air conditioning. Cruz adjusted his mirror to meet her eyes. “Cute hat.”

Lei shrugged. “Keeps the sun off.”

The vehicle moved out so smoothly and silently that it was like traveling in a bubble of luxurious calm. She settled back into the soft leather and turned her head to take in the city passing by, its colors rendered monochromatic by the tinting.

“I’ve got some help with moving you to our secure location,” Cruz said. “There’s another vehicle following us to make sure we don’t pick up any surveillance. See if you can pick it out.”

Harry immediately lowered her rearview mirror and adjusted the side view one.

Lei, with no such help, took off the cowboy hat, lowered herself in the seat, and turned to peek out the back window.

The flow of traffic in this part of the city was orderly, not like the chaos they’d seen near the airport. Most of the vehicles were similar to ones Lei was used to seeing in the USA, but there were also a number of older rust buckets and tiny economy cars that weren’t standard on USA roads. Also prevalent were motorbikes, scooters, pedestrians, and electric bikes equipped with baskets on the front.

Progress was slow.

“I think it’s the old green army Jeep,” Harry said.

“Nope.” Cruz’s mouth curved in a smile. “Lei?”

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