by Carl Weber
“That Best Buy has Nevada’s name written all over it. Your grandmother takes him there all the time. Where exactly in Waco is it?” I was happy to hear we finally got some useful information.
“That’s the thing, Pop. It wasn’t used in Waco.”
“Damn. Where was it last used?” I asked. If this boy said New York, I was going to lose my mind right there in the car.
Junior hesitated. “In El Paso.”
“Shit!” I closed my eyes and exhaled my frustration. Of all the places for Nevada to have run off to, El Paso was probably the most dangerous for a Duncan.
“What’s wrong? What did he say?” Vegas pressed for answers again.
“What do you want me to do, Pop?” Junior asked.
“I want you, Sasha, and Paris on a fuckin’ plane within the hour. And bring enough fire power to wage a fucking war if we have to!”
“You got it, Pop,” Junior said. “I’ll see you in a few.”
I hung up, looking up in the sky. “Why do you keep doing this to me?”
“Pop, what the hell is going on?” Vegas was beyond frustrated at this point, which I could understand.
“Your son is definitely in Texas.” My phone chimed, and the information that Junior sent about the van came through. “This is the car they’re in.”
Vegas took my phone from me. “Okay, good. But what’s this about waging war? And why are Junior, Paris, and Sasha coming?”
“Because your son is in El Paso, which makes this entire situation a little more difficult.”
Nevada
43
Although I was only sixteen, I had been to more countries and islands than most people, thanks to my mother. But I had never been anywhere as hot as El Paso, Texas. The walk from the car to the entrance of Best Buy was a short one, but I felt like I was going to suffocate by the time I made it to the door. While Kia and Bob went to look for a laptop that we’d decided we needed, I went over to the cell phone section and picked up two burner phones and a couple of pre-paid phone cards. After waiting near the registers for a few minutes, I decided to go and see what the holdup was.
“Why would you even want this cheap thing?” Bob was asking as I walked up. “Get the MacBook. It’s a better laptop. And we can FaceTime each other on it.”
Jesus, did this guy ever quit?
“Bob, we don’t need anything expensive right now. This right here is fine.” She picked up the simple Chromebook she was standing in front of.
“You guys almost ready?” I asked.
“Yeah, let me just grab this right quick.” She reached for one of the Chromebook boxes.
Bob sighed. “Sweetheart, just let me—”
“Bob, please. We’re getting this laptop, and that’s that,” Kia snapped at him, then walked off. “You can get me something more expensive when we get home.”
He blinked for a few seconds then turned to me, glaring. “Is this everything?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, realizing he was referring to the phones and cards in my hand. “I can get it, though.”
“I don’t need you to get anything. I promised Kia I would take care of things, and I meant it,” he said, pushing his glasses on his nose as he waited for me to give him the items.
After paying for everything, we entered the sweltering heat and went back to the van. Bob, who’d been fairly quiet since losing the laptop argument in the store, asked softly, “Where to next?”
“We can find a motel, I guess.” Kia shrugged, then added, “I’m sorry I was short with you. You’ve been nothing but kind the entire trip. I guess the heat is getting to me.”
Bob lit up like a kid at Christmas. “It’s okay, Kia. You never have to apologize. Let’s find you a nice upscale hotel so you can cool off.”
Instead of a cheap motel off the interstate, Bob decided we’d stay at the Marriott in downtown El Paso. Staying in a large chain hotel wasn’t something I thought we should be doing. Large hotels had national databases, and they could be hacked. As Bob parked the van, I voiced my concern.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I said, leaning forward.
“You got something against the Marriott?” Bob turned around to look at me.
“No, I just think we should stay somewhere a little more low-key, like the places we’ve been staying,” I suggested. “More off the grid.”
“Listen, Kia is a classy woman. We stayed at the other cheap motel because it was late and we were traveling. She needs to be somewhere a little more comfortable, like what she’s used to, and I’m gonna give her that.” Bob smiled as he grabbed Kia’s hand and kissed it.
I looked at both of them and said, “Look, I’ve been gone long enough to know that my family is looking for me. If we stay here, Bob, I’m telling you, I got a feeling about this, and not a good one.”
Kia sighed. “Listen, we’ll just stay here for one night. Then we’ll go find another ratchet room somewhere else. Tonight, I just want to be someplace where I can take a long, hot bath, eat a good meal, and get a good night’s sleep.”
“And that’s exactly what you’re gonna do while we stay here, baby,” Bob said, opening the door.
I grabbed the Best Buy bags, along with my backpack, and followed her inside to wait while Bob checked in.
“I’m telling you I don’t have a good feeling about this, Kia,” I mumbled.
“It’s one night, Nevada. Besides, we need wifi to use the laptop to look stuff up.” Her fingers ran along my arms as she spoke. She pulled them back when Bob approached.
“Okay, all checked in,” Bob announced. He held up two hotel key cards. “Here’s the key to your room, Nevada. You’re on the fourteenth floor. Kia, we’re on the fifteenth floor, in the suite.”
“Great,” she said. “Nevada, you can come to the suite so we can get to work.”
From the disappointed look on Bob’s face, I could see that this wasn’t what he had in mind. I was sure he’d had some kind of sexual escapade planned for the two of them, but Kia had one goal and one goal only—to find her sister—and that couldn’t be done without me. I gave Bob a smile.
* * *
“Okay, where do we start?” I asked thirty minutes later after I’d set up the laptop.
“How about we start with Asian foot spas in the area,” Kia suggested.
I typed the words into the search engine, but nothing popped up. “Nope, nothing.”
“Try massage parlors,” she said, looking over my shoulder.
“Just chain places like Massage Envy and Red Door. Nothing that we’re looking for.” I sighed.
“Hmmmmm, brothels maybe?”
I tried searching for brothels, and still nothing. I leaned back in my chair, trying to come up with more ideas.
Bob, who was sitting in the living room of the suite, indulging in snacks from the mini bar, called over to us. “Y’all are doing this all wrong.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, slightly offended. I didn’t know who he thought I was, but I had no doubt my ability to hack into highly secured systems far surpassed his.
“You’re looking for the wrong things.” He walked over to the desk where Kia and I sat. “We’re in Texas. You need to be looking for a damn dude ranch.”
“A dude ranch?” Kia and I said at the same time. Our eyes met, and we both stifled a laugh. “That doesn’t make much sense.”
“Sure it does. Every state has its own code word. Type in dude ranch and El Paso,” Bob prompted.
Deciding to humor him, I typed the words in, hit search, then read aloud the first name that came up. “The Horseshoe Ranch.”
“She’s probably there,” Bob said with certainty.
“Bob, this makes no sense. This place is advertising a rodeo experience. Horseback riding, cattle drives, and stuff like that. It’s not the place we’re looking for,” Kia tried to explain to him.
“That’s what they want you to think they’re offering. Trust me. They have way more to offer than that. Click that menu
over there.” He pointed.
I clicked the menu, and there was a drop down.
He clapped. “See, right there.”
“It says members only.” I frowned.
“Click it,” he insisted.
“It wants a membership number and passcode,” Kia said.
Bob reached into his back pocket, taking out his Velcro wallet. It made a loud ripping sound as he opened it and took out a shiny black card that he handed to me. “Here. Type these numbers in.”
“You’re a member of a dude ranch?”
“Along with other establishments. My black card status allows me around the country.”
I paused before taking the card from him. This wasn’t gonna work, I thought as I typed the numbers into the laptop and hit enter. My mouth gaped open as wide as my eyes as the screen changed to display a woman, naked except for the cowboy hat, boots, and gun holster that she wore. She had the biggest breasts I’d ever seen, and the caption above her read: Welcome to the Horsehoe Ranch, where just like Texas, everything is bigger.
“What the fuck?” Kia whispered the exact words that I was thinking. “Bobby, is this how you found the Hellfire Club?”
“Yeah, it’s not like they put a big sign outside that says brothel,” he admitted, pushing his glasses on his nose as his eyes remained on the woman on the computer screen.
“Okay, so now what?” I asked.
“Click on her,” he told me. I did, and another woman appeared on the screen. “Keep clicking.”
I continued clicking through the images of naked women. There were plenty to choose from: all races, all sizes, all beautiful. After a few more clicks, Myesha’s naked picture appeared on the screen.
“Oh my God, it’s her!” Kia screamed.
“I told you.” Bob beamed with pride.
“I can’t believe it. We actually found her,” Kia said.
I looked at her and saw tears in her eyes. “We did it.”
“Now click and ask for a date.” Bob nudged my shoulder.
I clicked on the photo, but a message came up saying no dates were available.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It can mean one of two things: either she’s booked up, or she’s not there anymore,” Bob answered.
“What do you mean, she’s not there?” Kia panicked. “How do we find out?”
“We can always go and see,” Bob suggested.
I turned around, and Kia’s eyes met mine. “What do you wanna do?”
“Let’s go,” she said.
LC
44
“You do realize this is his town. The minute we walk in there, someone is gonna call KD or his son, Tyler,” Vegas stated, making his thoughts very clear. It wasn’t as if my thoughts were any different. It’s just I that had a little more information than my son.
“We don’t really have a choice.” I sighed, staring at the American flag and Texas state flag waving in the wind above the tan brick building. The sign in front proudly proclaimed: El Paso County Sheriff’s Office: We serve with pride
“Come on. Let’s get this over with. We only have an hour before the others arrive,” I said, leading the way.
We stepped inside, and as expected, all eyes were on us. I’m sure it wasn’t every day two well-dressed black men entered that place with confidence. It took a moment before anyone came over to the counter to assist us.
“What can we do for you boys?” a heavyset officer asked. The toothpick in his mouth moved as he talked.
“I’d like to speak with the sheriff,” I said, ignoring the fact that he’d addressed us as “boys.”
“And just who are you?” He peered at us. “We don’t hold no prisoners here. They’re down the highway at the jail if you’re looking for someone who’s been arrested.”
“Look, ain’t nobody—”
I put my hand on Vegas’s arm to stop him from speaking. “We aren’t looking for anyone who’s been arrested. We’re here to meet with the sheriff.” I mentally began counting backward from ten.
“What’s your name?” Another uniformed officer, this one tall and skinny, walked up and asked.
“Are you Duncan?” A voice came from behind them. The other two men backed off, indicating that this was their boss and the man I’d come to see, Sheriff Roscoe Porter.
“Yes,” I answered. “I take it Sheriff Kline from Arkansas called you?”
“He did.” Sheriff Porter nodded. “You boys come on back.”
He buzzed us through a door near the counter and escorted us back into his office. Vegas and I sat in two small chairs in front of his desk, which he sat behind.
“Thank you for seeing us, Sheriff,” I said.
“Kline said you’d come a long way and I should hear you out.” He folded his hands in front of him. “What’s this all about?”
“We’re looking for this young man and this young lady. We have reason to believe they’re here in your city with an older man.” Vegas showed him the picture of Nevada and Kia.
“Sounds like you need to file a missing person’s report. Billy coulda helped you do that out front,” Roscoe said.
“We don’t want to file a missing person’s report. We need you to use all of your resources and help us find them and the van they’re in,” I told him. “And neither KD Shrugs or Tyler can know anything about it.”
The room went silent for a few seconds, and Roscoe looked at me as if I’d just proposed making a nuclear strike. His face screwed up in confused amusement. “Let me get this straight. You want me to utilize all my manpower and means to help you find two young people and a vehicle, and also make sure KD and Tyler Shrugs don’t know what I’m doing? In El Paso, Texas?”
I nodded.
“What else do you need? You looking for Cinderella, or maybe a couple of dwarves and Snow White? What other fairytales you want me to bring to life? ’Cause keeping anything from those two in this part of Texas is damn near impossible. Besides, why would I want to help you do this, other than a colleague from Arkansas asked me to hear you out?” He raised an eyebrow.
I stared at him without saying anything, while Vegas stood and placed a bag on the desk, then sat back down.
“What the hell is this?” Roscoe asked, staring at the black leather bag in front of him.
“Open it and find out. I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with what’s inside,” I said.
Roscoe pulled the bag near him and clicked it open. I watched as his eyes become wide and he gasped ever so slightly, then closed it quickly.
“Mr. Duncan, are you boys trying to bribe an officer of the law?” He glared across the table at us.
I leaned forward slightly and said, “Sheriff, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”
Nevada
44
The Horseshoe Ranch definitely lived up to its name on the outside. The huge ranch sat at the end of a long road visible from the highway, and the driveway in front of the massive house was in the shape of a horseshoe. Unfortunately, I never got to see the inside, because there was a big sign in front that said: 21 YEARS OR OLDER, NO EXCEPTIONS. It wasn’t worth trying to sneak me in, because if we drew too much attention, we’d never get what we were looking for. So, Bob dropped me and Kia off at the Marriott, and he went back to the Horseshoe Ranch on his own.
“You think this is going to work?” I asked Kia. Bob had just left, and we were sitting in the hotel restaurant.
Kia sighed, stabbing her salad weakly. “All we can do is wait and hope Bob comes through.”
I nodded my head in agreement. “Kind of crazy, huh? We’re actually in Texas tracking down your sister.”
“Yeah,” she said warmly. “And I don’t know how to thank you enough for everything you’ve done.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“I can, and I will. I don’t have much, but if you think of something, it’s yours.” Kia’s voice purred, and something about the way she looked at me made my heart start racing.
“Bob’s not going to be back for a while,” she said.
I swallowed hard. I was pretty sure I knew what she meant, and a week ago, I would have jumped at the chance. But somehow, that wasn’t important—or what I really wanted anymore.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m good. I didn’t do this for that.” I sat up straight, picking up my milkshake and making a loud slurping sound with the straw.
“You sure?” Kia looked a little disenchanted by my response.
I nodded. “Yeah, but I do have a question.”
“Uh, sure. Ask away,” she said distantly.
“On our way here from Waco, Bob tried to kiss you and you pushed him away.”
“Yeah, so? What about it?” She seemed to have an attitude all of a sudden. I guess I’d hurt her feelings.
“Why’d you push him away?”
“Because I never kiss clients.” She sounded annoyed. Was she mad at me, or at the question?
“But that doesn’t make much sense. I mean, you do a lot of other things with him, don’t you?”
She cut her eyes at me, but I wanted to get to the bottom of it, so I pressed on.
“What’s wrong with kissing?”
“Nothing,” she snapped. “Kissing is emotional. It’s romantic. It’s what I fantasize about, Nevada.”
“And having sex isn’t?” I was totally confused.
“No, not for me.” She was on the verge of tears, but I had no idea why—until she dropped some harsh reality on me. “I’ve been raped so many times and had so many vile men inside me that there is no emotion left in sex.”
I was starting to understand. “Maybe that’s because you’ve only had sex, not love. You’ve been forced to give your body to people in a transaction. Maybe it just needs to happen naturally and not be traded. You need someone to give you unconditional love.”
“You never cease to amaze me, you know that?” she said, finally cracking a smile. “Yes, maybe one day a man will romance me and make me feel special, but for now, this is my situation, and kissing is one small thing I have control over. I’m not giving a kiss to anyone who pays me. If I kiss a man or a woman, it’s because I genuinely care for them.”
