The Hummer took us southeast, away from San Diego and toward Mexico’s Baja desert. To avoid a checkup by border patrol, we drove under a tunnel that started a mile or so out from the great wall that separated Mexico and the U.S. My heartbeat accelerated as we drove into the darkness through the bumpy road. I’d never liked closed spaces, and this was no exception.

Whatever Corbin was saying to Marco in the back, they were laughing raucously. Corbin had a knack for acting like an asshole and fitting right in with these guys. Sometimes, I got this feeling that I was the one who was having the wool pulled over my eyes, not Marco. Whenever I asked him what they were talking about, Marco or Corbin simply would say “man talk, honeybuns,” and then crack up like a couple of middle-schoolers who had just made a ‘cooties’ joke.

While the boys were in the back, I was sitting captain next to Marco’s girl Louisa. She wore a tight little tube top dress, her voluptuous breasts nearly pouring out the top of them. I couldn’t tell if those were a gift from God or a gift from Marco and a really good plastic surgeon. My instinct said it was probably the latter. I took it upon myself to get all of the information I could from her.

“I like your dress,” I smiled and touched Louisa’s arm.

“Thanks, Marco got it for me,” she said, her eyes lighting up.

“How long have you and Marco been…you know. Hanging out.”

“You mean working together? A couple of months,” she averted her eyes away from mine and brushed her pretty blonde hair behind her ear.

I leaned in closer to her and whispered, not wanting the armed guard in the seat in front to be able to hear me.

“Do you enjoy working for him?”

“He’s really not so bad. He has strange tastes, that’s for sure, but who doesn’t?”

Strange tastes. I want so badly to ask her to elaborate, but I opted to do my job and play the role conservatively, without prying too much. Seemed like a good idea given I could tell the guy in the front seat was eavesdropping on our conversation.

“Yeah, Corbin’s into some weird stuff too,” I agreed with her.

She smiled faintly, almost fakely, and I mirrored her. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the rubik’s cube sticking out of my handbag.

Uh oh. That should have been a little deeper in my bag.

“Oh, that? It’s nothing.”

She continued, plowing through my hesitation. “I’ve seen those before. It’s a fun cube. You mind if I play with it?”

She just called a Rubik’s cube a fun cube. That’s a first. “Well, I guess.”

I glanced around the vehicle to see if anyone was watching me. All the men were engaged in their own conversations. I handed her the cube.

“Just make sure you give it back.”

* * *

We drove further into Mexico, into the heart of the Reyes operation. I stared out the window into the blackness. Northern Mexico had some of the most evil and vicious gangs in the entire world. Lately, the murder rates in some areas had been enough to elevate them to ‘warzone’ status. Such a sad state of affairs.

As I gazed out at the Mexican countryside, I found myself fantasizing about the electricity that flowed through my body the last time I was in Mexico.

I felt an element of pure honesty that first night between Corbin and I. Even if I wasn’t telling him my real name, I just felt he got me. When he looked in my eyes and smiled at me, it was like he knew me inside and out. We were just two messed up souls united in our craziness, our faults.

It was funny that riding in the car as Corbin’s mistress in ridiculous short shorts and a top that I hadn’t worn for years, I felt more at ease with myself than I had in a long time. I looked back at Corbin. He and Marco were both staring at me. Corbin blew me an exaggerated kiss, and he and Marco laughed.

A smile slowly spread across my face. I couldn’t believe I was thinking this, but Corbin’s assholery was actually starting to grow on me. In the heat of the most critical mission of my life, I didn’t even feel alarmed. I felt at ease. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

The vehicle came to a halt in front of a gate. The armed guard in the passenger’s seat opened his window and said some words in Spanish to another man with a gun, and the gate opened.

“We have arrived,” Marco announced, leaning his head forward into the captain’s chairs. He looked inquisitively at Louisa, who had made quick progress on the rubik’s cube. She made a few more turns on it and locked it into place.

“Done!” She said, and turned to me like a grade school student who had just finished their homework early, extending her arm out with the toy.

Marco didn’t smile. “What is this?” he asked, snatching it from her hand.

“It’s a rubik’s cube,” I said. “It’s a puzzle. You try to get all of the sides to be the same—”

“I know what a goddamn rubik’s cube is,” Marco cut me off. “Why do you have this?”

“Roadtrip game,” I said.

Marco looked back at Corbin. “Smart fucking girl you’ve got here. Playing games like this.”

“She wasn’t the one who solved it though,” Corbin pointed out. “Looks like Louisa’s smarter.”

Louisa looked down sheepishly. Inside, I couldn’t believe they were arguing over whose girl was dumber like it was some kind of accomplishment. Outside, I wore my plastic smile.

“I guess you’re right. I think I’ll hang onto this cube. I’ve never solved one of these, and I’d very much like to try. Thanks.”

Marco gave the cube a couple of spins before he tucked it into his pocket. His lips curled up in a sinister expression that I couldn’t quite call a smile. He stroked the sides of his mustache with his right finger and thumb. My heart pounded like a steel drum. Corbin shot me a ‘you had one job’ look from the back.

I wanted to tell him, that yes, I had one job—to get that rubik’s cube close to Marco and Luis Reyes. Mission accomplished.

“Welcome to the Reyes mansion. Consider yourselves lucky. Not many people get to see it and…” he trailed off for a moment.

And what? I wanted to say. And live? Marco trailed off and sort of looked out the window.

“…And it’s very big.”

“That’s what she said,” I uttered, and as soon as I said it, I covered my mouth. That was entirely an Eva joke, not something Alexa would say. Marco narrowed his eyes at me and luckily, chuckled.

“That girl of yours, she’s got some lip. I find it amusing.”

The guard opened the door and Louisa stepped out, long legs first.

“She does have nice lips on her. I like a little sass, though. Sass and ass, the two best qualities a woman can have.” Corbin looked at me as we got ready to step onto the ground and head into the infamous Reyes mansion.

“What are you waiting for, Alexa?” Corbin said. “Ladies first.”