Chapter Fifty-One
Nathan
Bree had no reason to trust me. Not anymore. I had dragged her into a nightmare and made mistake after mistake. As I held her, I fumed at myself. How could I have been so stupid?
We had crossed the border into Mexico with only the few things we carried. Now we were trapped in the cartel’s backyard with nothing.
During the car chase, my instincts had screamed for me to get Bree to safety. She was the only thing that mattered. Not that I was blaming her for our disastrous detour, but my concern for her had propelled us across the no-man’s-land and into Ciudad Juarez without a plan.
I took a few long, deep breaths, inhaling the warm scent of Bree’s soft hair. She was still my top priority, and the only thing I could think to do was get her back across the border.
I glanced around the intersection where we stood. There weren’t any tourists around; everyone was off having dinner or checking into hotels. Still, it wasn’t safe for us to try to go back the way we came. If the gunmen weren’t tracking us then the police were definitely keeping an eye on the area.
“Let’s go to the border crossing,” I said.
Bree slipped out of my arms and gave me a wide-eyed look. “What? We don’t have any identification. Not even drivers’ licenses. They’ll turn us away for sure.”
“We still have to try,” I said.
She narrowed her eyes. “Why? Isn’t this where you were planning on heading? Isn’t this the direction you’ve been thinking about the whole time?”
I nodded, admitting that much. “But I never intended for it to go like this. We have to get you back across the border where you’ll be safe.”
Bree ground her teeth. “You mean, get me out of your way. You just want to shove me back into the United States so you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”
“Now you don’t want to go back?” I asked.
She dug her feet into the ground and refused to let me pull her toward the border crossing. “Not without you. We’re in this together, remember?”
I shook my head. “We don’t need to be in jail together.”
Bree crossed her arms. “Why don’t we just find a place to wait out tonight? Tomorrow, when there are more tourists crossing, maybe we can get back. Together.”
I dragged her out of the intersection and back toward the border crossing with me. “I’m not taking you there in a big crowd. The cartel will be looking for us, but not here. Not tonight. It’s the best chance we have.”
“How? We don’t have any identification!” Bree said.
“They’ll be able to tell we’re Americans. Maybe we can make up some story about being car-jacked and walking the wrong way,” I said. “At least part of that is true.”
Bree looked nervous. “Maybe we can just walk across again.”
I nodded, not wanting to tell her what a freak occurrence that had been. Why had no one noticed us walking over the border into Mexico? The police had been focused on the car chase and gunmen. Maybe the police helicopter had distracted the border security long enough for us to hide out in the abandoned bus.
We were just some couple wandering around on foot. Not a real threat to be investigated. I held that hopeful belief and marched us up the street to the border crossing.
It would take insane luck, but maybe I could distract border security long enough for Bree to make it across.
“If you get the chance to go, just go,” I told her.
“What?” She wrenched her arm free from me. “No.”
“Yes. You’re the only one who can get back to our car. Get our old burner phone and wait for me to call. I’ll need your help that way.”
Bree shook her head but it was too late to argue. Two border security guards had already spotted us walking up the sidewalk and waved us over.
“We’ve made a huge mistake,” I called out.
One man took off his hat and scrubbed his forehead. “What kind of mistake?”
The other guard couldn’t take his eyes off Bree. “You look like you’re doing all right to me,” he said.
She smiled at him. “You’re never going to believe me,” she said.
The guard gave her a lecherous smile. “Try me.”
“We were walking my friend’s dog and it got loose. You know, there was some big shoot-out across the border, right? The dog went nuts and ran away,” Bree said.
I picked up the thread of her lie. “We followed it but got all turned around. And now we’re here.”
The first guard crossed his arms. “You chased a runaway dog over the border?”
Bree fluffed her hair. “A total accident. Are we in a lot of trouble?”
The second guard laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
I cleared my throat and tamped down the desire to punch the lascivious guard in the mouth. “We don’t have our wallets or any ID.”
“What?” The first guard narrowed his eyes, not believing any of our story.
Bree batted her eyelashes. “Like I said, we were just walking my friend’s dog. It’s a big yellow lab. Have you seen it?”
“No, but you and I can drive around and look for it,” the second guard told Bree.
I stepped in between them. “Thanks, but we just want to get back.”
“With no identification? That’s not how this works,” the first guard said.
“Would this help it work?” I tugged a few bills from my pocket.
“Thought you didn’t have your wallets or anything,” the guard said.
The border security guards exchanged a quick look. They were open to bribes, but I had to make it worth their while.
“All I have is a few hundred bucks. Bonus for a job I worked with her friend,” I said.
“Not enough,” the first guard said.
“But we could maybe work something out,” the second guard said. He rubbed Bree’s shoulder.
Bree pulled me back before I could get in the guard’s face. “What if we showed you how we got across? Wouldn’t that help? Then you could just let us go from there.”
The first guard glanced away from us to an approaching car. It was crowded with college-aged kids. He frowned.
“Why not just call your friend?” the second guard asked. “You can wait here with us while they drive your IDs over.”
“The best we can do is throw you in jail. One call to your lawyer should be enough to get your IDs sent over by morning.” The first guard had no more patience.
Bree turned and gave me a terrified look. The guards had made helpful suggestions, except we no longer had IDs. According to the United States, we were both dead. There were no documents for the newly created Cramers.
“I have a phone in my office you can use,” the second guard told Bree. He gave her another sickening smile.
I curled my fingers into a fist. Bree noticed and pushed me back. “No, thanks. We’ll figure it out. Sorry to bother you.”
“No. I think you should wait here,” the first guard said. His lips had formed a thin, serious line. “We can’t let you go disappearing into Mexico without any ID.”
I fisted my other hand. If anything, my attacking the border security would cause a big enough distraction for Bree to get across. And it would be extremely satisfying to punch that grin off the second guard’s face.
Bree sensed my suicidal plan and held up both hands to stop me. Over her shoulder, I saw four college kids spill out of their loaded car.
“What now?” the second guard muttered. He turned to eye the young men.
They held up their hands in mock surrender. “We just wanted to declare the tequila we bought. It’s unopened, we swear!” one kid called out.
“Get back in your car.” The first guard marched toward them.
“Great. Now we have to search their whole goddamn car,” the second guard said.
The college kids called out more promises of innocence and generally caused a big disturbance at the quiet border crossing.
As soon as border security was distracted, I grabbed Bree’s hand and dragged her back the way we had come.
“Shouldn’t we try to cross?” she asked.
“They’re expecting that. We’ll be caught. See? They have walkie-talkies.” I pulled her away from the brightly lit crossing. “Let’s just get out of here before they detain us for real.”
We turned down a side street and started to run. Bree let me hold her hand too tightly until we stopped. She didn’t pull free until we found a crowded parking lot outside a gaudy tourist cantina. In-between a massive pick-up truck and an old station wagon, Bree flashed me a furious look.
“What are you thinking? I can’t even tell anymore,” she said. “Just admit it. Now that we’re in Mexico, you have no intention of going back until you’ve faced the cartel.”
I scrubbed the back of my neck. Bree was right. It would be foolish of me to waste time returning to the United States when all the clues had led me to Mexico. I was willing to do anything to find out the truth.
“I’m sorry,” was all I could say.
Bree sucked in a long breath. “You better tell me your whole plan. Right now.”
My mind raced. We’d skipped a lot of the steps that I had carefully thought out, and it was too late to turn back.