“Bueno?”

 

“Hi Nomar, Leo here. I was going to just let this happen, but my girlfriend is a straight, and Ernesto sucks enough at following me around that she’s going to pick up on him and start asking me to call the police. I’m sure he’s on his own, right? Because if you still need to keep this close of an eye on me, then maybe we should just call it quits and move on.”

 

Nomar was the head of a local cartel. It was small in comparison with the great ones in Mexico, but it was growing in strength and power every year. Nomar was quiet for a long time, and then said, “He is there? Ernesto? You are sure.”

 

“Can’t miss that ’67 Chevy truck shell with the racing chaise and track tires. The paint job alone is a dead giveaway. Silver with flames.”

 

“He’s in his own truck doing this?”

 

“Yes, Nomar, he’s in his own truck and she’s going to spot him. We agreed that time off was a good thing with the calendar we have coming up, right?”

 

“Si, yes, in fact I am with my family now. I will take care of this. I don’t know why he does such things. But I will take care of it right now.”

 

“Hated to call you about it,” Leo told him.

 

“No, no, it was the right thing to do. Have a good weekend and I will see you Thursday, yes?”

 

“Yes, Thursday morning, ready for work.”

 

***

 

 

When Leo pulled into the main street a few car lengths ahead of him with another rider, who was obviously female, heading for the farmers’ market, Ernesto knew it was a sign. He was going to find something on this damn gringo today. And then he was going to put a fucking bullet in his brain.

 

Looking over at his brother Jerome, he said, “See, I told you we would find him. We are meant to find him.”

 

His younger brother spotted Leo too and felt it was more like a curse.

 

“We have checked Leo out, Ernesto,” he sighed to his brother. “We have checked him out again and again. He is not a cop, has never been a cop. Military for only four years, honorable discharge, never went back. Plenty of good training, very good experience. Twenty-nine confirmed kills with almost twice as many unconfirmed. He’s not even a gringo like you keep calling him. He has more Spaniard in him than you do.”

 

Ernesto was about to fire a scorching array of insults at his brother when the phone rang. He picked it up, ready to turn it off, but saw it was Nomar calling. “Fuck,” he hissed. He answered and said, “Benuo?”

 

“Is it good, Ernesto? Because I’m hearing it is not so good. Are you really in Lakeside right now, in your own truck no less, following Leo around and ruining his days off? Seriously? Is this what you are doing?”

 

Ernesto looked around, wondering how that fucking gringo — and fuck what Jerome had to say about his blood — could have possibly spotted him. He was three blocks away, behind a main road with passing cars and with bushes!

 

“Si,” he admitted, because to do otherwise simply wasn’t an option.

 

“Then you are coming down to Mexico now. You have obviously been working too hard, amigo. Come to my mother’s house. Spend a few days here, clear your head. That last session was very busy, I understand, but it is time to … how is it said? Decompress. Yes. Decompress. So, drive down here now.”

 

“Si, Nomar,” he sighed. “Maybe it is getting to me. I am on my way.”

 

“Good. You are a good man, and a loyal one. But this stuff with Leo, it is too much. He’s already paid his way ten times over. Just in his observations of making the landing strips was enough to pay his way.”

 

“Yes, but how can he know all of these things without help, and who is he getting this help from? Can he really know about landing strips and headlight covers, and transportation routes that won’t have DEA crawling over them, and everything else? No, he has someone giving him this information. It’s not just popping out of his skull.”

 

“Ernesto, enough! You are wearying me. He has explained all of these things, many times. He is a very good observer and makes very good decisions on what he observes. You are not to bother him again. Now, drive. I’ll see you in two hours, no more, amigo. Not a minute more.”

 

Ernesto closed the connection and saw, across the road, Leo and the redheaded puta getting back on their motorcycles. He studied her, and had a very good idea.

 

If you want to know a man’s secrets, go to the woman, because she has been busy digging them out of him and always knows more than the man thinks she does. Always.

 

Smiling, he started his truck, backed out of the stall and went the opposite direction, back to the freeway. A few days of relaxation, and maybe Wednesday, yes, Wednesday would be unnoticed.

 

Then, he would talk to his woman and know all of his secrets. All of them.

 

Leo knew too many things. The first time Nomar called Ernesto to come to his office in El Cajon and meet their new man, things were wrong.

 

After saying a small prayer to the Virgin, as was his habit before entering this room, he came into Nomar’s office to see a man in a leather vest and t-shirt with blue jeans and weathered chaps.

 

Leo looked him over, and Nomar seemed very expectant, with just the hint of a smile on his lips. Then Leo said, “You stopped at Alberto’s on your way here, ate in your truck, and then parked in back of the building by the eucalyptus tree. Your gun has been fired no less than three hours ago. You didn’t dally along the way, but you said a small prayer before coming in the room.”

 

Ernesto pulled his gun and said, “Who the fuck are you, and who do you have following me?”

 

“Put your gun away, Ernesto, now!” Nomar ordered.

 

Ernesto looked at Nomar with disbelief. “But you heard this fucking gringo! How can you not think he has people watching me?”

 

“Now!” Nomar ordered.

 

With violentfrustration, Ernesto put his gun away.

 

“Good. Now Leo will tell you how he knows these things,” Nomar said, coming out from behind his desk and looking Ernesto over.

 

“Would you like to try first?” Leo asked Nomar.

 

“I am searching, and I have no idea,” Nomar said.

 

“Focus on one of the things, the gun, and that it has been fired today. Begin by removing reasons you know aren’t true, leading you to the reason it is,” Leo suggested.

 

Ernesto didn’t like standing there being observed so closely by either of them, but especially the gringo.

 

After nearly two minutes, Nomar ended his searching and said, “No, it isn’t there for me. I know you are going to say it, and I’ll smack my head, because I did know it and it was right in front of me. But no. I cannot see it.”

 

“He’s wearing a pendant of Saint Dismas,” Leo said, and then shifted his eyes to Nomar.

 

“FUCK!” Nomar shouted with a laugh. “Fuck, how could I miss something so damn obvious! He believes that he has to keep his gun awake, so he will fire it occasionally, to wake its spirit, and enforcers with this belief often wear the pendant of Saint Dismas. Yes, I get it. You didn’t say when, but you did say less than three hours ago.”

 

Ernesto looked down at his pendant, and decided he would take that off as soon as possible.

 

“But what about the rest? Parking in back by the tree? Food at Roberto’s? You know it is Roberto’s? Not possibly someplace else? Eating in his truck on the way?” Nomar asked.

 

“He had a small limp coming in, from a small stone in his shoe. He would have taken it out by now, if he didn’t just acquire it. He was focused on getting here, though. So, he parked in the gravel area in back, the only place he could have gotten the pebble. When I parked in back, I noticed that there was only one space left, the one beside the tree,” Leo explained.

 

“Then I could never have gotten the parking space. I did see the slight limp but didn’t put the two together. Very observant. Go on, please,” Nomar said.

 

“When he walked by the window over there, we both saw him throw the bag away in the trash. Why would he have the bag if he didn’t eat on the way here?”

 

Nomar’s jaw dropped. “I recall it perfectly!” Then he laughed, and said, “This is too much!”

 

“The prayer,” Ernesto said through gritted teeth. “How do you know this?”

 

“Your timing, the speed that you were walking as you passed the window. You reached the door, but you didn’t open it right away. Since you didn’t spend the time removing the pebble, and you are obviously religious, the logical conclusion was a prayer.”

 

“And he is right. I’ve seen you do this myself, before entering rooms, so I should have been able to guess that as well,” Nomar sighed. “That is really amazing, Leo.”

 

“Not really. I was just seeing what is there and putting it together. I do it regularly. Just like Ernesto wakes the spirit of his gun, I keep the spirit of my eyes awake and watchful.”

 

Too awake, too watchful, Ernesto had thought then, and he thought it now.

 

He should not have been surprised that Leo spotted him. Leo always spotted the planes first, always saw the hooded lights of DEA trucks in the dark. He demonstrated his trick several times on other enforcers, but while amazed, they were blind to the threat he was.

 

Leo should have kept his mouth shut, because he saw too much, knew too much. Every day, the secrets of Nomar’s Cartel were being told to Leo as if every passing man was shouting them at him!

 

How could Nomar not see this? It was so obvious!