by Linda Warren
The first man snickered. “That won’t be a problem.”
“You don’t want to do this,” Jonas said.
“Why?” The man laughed again. “Because you’re Brewster’s henchman don’t mean nothing here. You’re in Mexico now, gringo.”
So he knew Brewster and he knew who Jonas was—but Jonas was positive he’d never met the man before.
“Nothing to say, farm boy?”
“Let us pass,” Jonas said, his eyes never leaving the man.
The man motioned to his partner. Before Abby realized what was happening, the shorter man made a grab for her, but Jonas’s fist came out and knocked him to the ground.
“Bastardo gringo, mata lo,” the man muttered, holding his jaw. Then he quickly got to his feet. He wielded the knife in his hand, an evil look on his face.
“Ah, gringo,” the big man said. “Now you’ve made Pepe mad. He’s mean when mad.”
Jonas watched the two men as they slowly advanced on him. “You want money? Name your price. We’ll make a deal.”
“No deal,” the first man said. “Your money’s in Texas and the woman is here. Now it’s time for you to die.” As he said the words, they both jumped on Jonas and wrestled him to the dirt. The big man came up with his arm locked around Jonas’s neck, the knife to his throat.
Abby was petrified. Before she could do anything, Pepe grabbed her. He held her around the waist, her arms pinned to her side. He smelled of sweat, whiskey and stale tobacco. Her stomach churned.
“Ah, gringo, are you ready to die?” the big man snarled.
“Do what you want with me, but let the woman go,” Jonas said.
“What we want with a man? My compatriots pay much to be with a woman like her.”
A gasp left Abby’s throat. She couldn’t give in to fear. She had to help Jonas or the man was going to slit his throat. The mere thought gave her courage. There had to be a way out of this. She needed something…a weapon of some kind. She caught sight of a broken tree branch on the ground, but there was no way she could get to it, unless… Yes, she could use her hand.
She looked at Jonas, hoping he’d keep his eyes on her. He did. He winked, and she knew he was fixing to do something. Before the thought left her mind, Jonas drove his heel into the man’s chin. The Mexican groaned but didn’t let go.
At the same time Abby brought her hand to the arm around her waist, dug her nails in and scratched as hard as she could. The man let out a curse and loosened his grip. Everything happened quickly after that. Abby fell to the ground, gripping the branch with both hands. With all her strength, she slammed it against the man’s head. He collapsed to the dirt, moaning and holding his head.
Jonas shoved his elbow into his captor’s stomach and twisted away. The man came after him, and they wrestled to the ground. Abby hoisted the branch again, poised to strike. But there was no way to be sure she wouldn’t hit Jonas. So she held her breath and waited to see who would come out on top, but she was well acquainted with those muscles in Jonas’s arms and legs and she knew there was no way the Mexican could win this fight. She was right. Soon he rolled the man over, straddling him, the knife to the man’s throat.
“Okay, amigo, now we’re gonna do this a different way,” Jonas growled.
Blood suffused the man’s brown face. “Ah, gringo, we meant you no harm. It was just fun.”
“Yeah, right,” Jonas snapped. “Who’s paying you?”
“No—”
The knife touched the man’s skin, and Abby saw a trickle of blood.
“Please, please, don’t kill me,” the man cried.
“Then, tell me the truth, and I’ll let you go.”
“No se.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Jonas’s hold tightened.
“Por favor. Por favor. No me matas.”
“Start talking, and I won’t kill you.”
“Victor Rios gave me dinero to keep you away from Delores Alvarez. No se who pay him. That’s the truth, gringo.”
Jonas knew Victor Rios. He’d been fired by Brewster for stealing, and after that he’d been into all sorts of shady deals…in Texas and Mexico.
“Why do you want the woman?” Jonas asked, not sure what to believe.
“She make me big dinero, and Rios didn’t care. He only paid me to keep you away from Delores.”
“You bastard.” Jonas wanted to smash his fist into the man’s face, but he didn’t.
“It’s true, gringo. I swear.”
“Since you seem to know Delores Alvarez, where is she?”
“Rios will kill me.”
Jonas brought the knife to his jugular again. “Where is Delores Alvarez?”
“Por favor, gringo,” the man begged.
“You can die now or later,” Jonas told him. “Your choice.”
The man took several gulps of air. “She runs a cantina…on the edge of town.”
“Does she know we’re looking for her?”
“Sì, but I told her and everyone that if they talked, I’d slit their throats.”
Jonas wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth, but there wasn’t much he could do. At least now he knew someone was paying Rios, and he’d take it from there.
“Abby,” he called, “get into the truck and start it.”
Abby dropped the branch, noticing the other man was still grunting in pain. She climbed into the truck and turned the key. The engine backfired a couple of times but kept running.
Jonas swung his leg over the man. “Adios, amigo,” he said and ran for the truck. Along the way he threw the knife into the bushes.
As soon as Jonas was in the passenger seat, Abby pressed the gas pedal and they roared away. The truck bounced on the dirt road like a rubber ball, but Abby didn’t stop until she saw Nuevo Hope.
She pulled over to the side. Her insides began to quiver, and she had to take several deep breaths to still her nerves.
Jonas watched her for a moment. “You okay?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m getting angrier and angrier by the minute. Who paid Rios? Who would do this to us? This is not a game. What those men wanted to do with me…” She shuddered, unable to finish the sentence.
“It’s over,” he assured her. “And now…”
“Now what?” she asked.
“I was going to say we get the hell out of here, but I want to find Delores Alvarez and see if that bastard was lying or not. Are you game?”
“Oh, Jonas.” She reached out and smoothed his hair from his forehead. “I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”
He caught her hand. This time he didn’t push her away. She noticed his knuckles were bruised. “You’re hurt,” she said miserably, and moved along the seat to kiss his hand.
“I just skinned them rolling on the ground with that slime.”
He grinned as she kissed his knuckles again. “They’re much better now.”
“Oh, Jonas, I could’ve got you killed.”
“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
She leaned back against the seat. “You were right. I have a head like cement. When I started this, all I could think of was absolving my father.” She paused and stroked his hand. “Now I know that it doesn’t matter what people think of him. It only matters how I feel about him in my heart.”
“You finally realized that?”
“Yes, when that man was holding that knife to your throat, I knew this was senseless. I shouldn’t have put you or myself in that position. My father wouldn’t want that.”
“Can you really let it go?”
She blinked back a tear. “If you help me, I can.”
Eyeing her determined face, he said, “Why don’t we find out if Delores is where the man said she is…just to justify all we’ve been through. And to see whether Brewster’s daughter really exists.”
Her eyes brightened. “Yes, let’s do that.”
Ten minutes later, they found the cantina right on the edge of town, just like the man had said.
>
“This must be it,” Jonas said as they entered.
A youth, not more than twelve years old was sweeping the concrete floor. Tables were scattered throughout and there was a bar at one end.
“Tu conoce a Delores Alvarez?” Jonas asked the boy.
“Sì,” the boy nodded. He stopped sweeping and glanced toward the ceiling. “Esta dormida.”
Abby recognized that the boy had said Delores was upstairs sleeping. Her heart began to race. He’d answered without even thinking. Obviously he was so young he hadn’t gotten the message that he wasn’t supposed to talk. They’d found Delores. Now Abby could hardly wait to hear what the woman had to say.
“Por favor desperta la.” Jonas asked the boy to wake up Delores.
The boy shook his head. “No, no puedo.” Evidently he’d been given orders to let her sleep.
Jonas pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “Es muy importante,” Jonas said.
The boy snatched the twenty and ran toward a small staircase in the back.
“Do you think she’ll come down, or try to get away?” Abby asked.
Jonas walked over to the only window and looked out. “There’s no way out from upstairs, so she’ll have to come down, and we’ll be waiting.”
Mexican curses erupted from upstairs. Suddenly the youth came running back, picked up the broom and began sweeping again. Jonas was about to ask him a question, when a woman appeared at the top of the stairs. All she had on was a black slip. Her black hair was tangled and matted around her face. Her heavy makeup had caked and run during sleep. Her face was tired and old.
Delores stumbled down the stairs. “What the hell do you want?”
“Delores Alvarez?” Jonas enquired.
“Sì,” she said, and spat something at the boy. The discolored lace on the slip barely covered her large breasts, and she made no move to cover herself.
The boy brought her a bottle of whiskey, and she sat at a table and took a swig from the bottle. She wiped her mouth and said, “Go back to Texas, gringo. I have nothing to say to you.”
She spoke good English, and Abby was glad. At least they could talk. Abby walked forward. “Please, it’s very important.”
Delores took another swallow of whiskey. “I know why you’re here. Brewster says I had his daughter.” She laughed, spitting whiskey on the table. “If that was true, do you think I’d be in this place turning twenty-dollar tricks?”
“You didn’t have an affair with Mr. Brewster?” Abby asked.
“No, Brewster never bothered the Mexican girls that worked for him.”
Abby wanted to ask if she was sure, but knew the question was unnecessary. Delores had nothing to gain by lying.
“Why did you leave Brewster’s employment?” Abby had to have some answers.
“I was pregnant, and Brewster didn’t want pregnant girls working in the house.”
“So you were pregnant?”
“Sì, señorita.” She smiled slyly and shouted something in Mexican. Five girls appeared at the top of the stairs, all scantily clad. “These are my daughters,” Delores added. “Do any of them look like Brewster?”
They all had dark hair and eyes and brown skin, and Abby had to admit that she didn’t see any trace of Mr. Brewster in them.
Delores shouted something again, and the girls disappeared. “I didn’t have Brewster’s daughter, señorita. He lied to you.”
“Why would he lie? Please, tell me the truth.”
Delores swallowed more whiskey and watched Abby with cunning eyes. Jonas recognized that look. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He laid a hundred on the table.
“Is the truth worth that much?”
“Ah, gringo, you’re very generous.” Delores smiled at Jonas, and Abby didn’t like the way she was sizing him up, as if she was wondering what he was like in bed.
Delores tried to take the money, but Jonas held it up. “The truth first.”
Delores grabbed the whiskey bottle again. After several swallows, she said, “Before I left I found Brewster in bed with that woman who worked in his office. His wife had left him, and he didn’t want anyone to know about the affair. He said he’d cut my tongue out if I told. He wanted his wife and son to come back to Brewster Farms.”
“What woman?” Abby asked.
“A prissy thing who thought she was better than the Mexican girls.”
“What was her name?”
Delores shrugged. “Don’t remember her name. It’s been too long.”
Abby laid her palms on the table and leaned in close to Delores’s worn face. “How would you like to make ten times that amount?” She gestured to the hundred in Delores’s hand.
Delores’s eyes widened. “Sì, señorita.”
“You come to Texas and tell this story to Mr. Brewster, and I’ll give you a thousand dollars.”
Delores frowned.
“You have a Green Card to go into Texas, don’t you?”
“Sì, I’ve worked in Texas.”
“All you have to do is tell Mr. Brewster your story, and I will handle it from there.”
“I don’t want trouble. Someone paid Rios to keep you from me. That means trouble.”
“When I get back to Texas, I’ll find out who paid Rios, everything will be out in the open and you’ll be a thousand dollars richer.” Abby glanced around the seedy room. “That beats twenty dollars a night here, doesn’t it?”
“Sì.”
“All I want is the truth from Mr. Brewster, and I can get it with your help. Please, Delores.”
Delores eyes darkened as she thought it over. “How do I know you’ll pay me?”
Abby reached into her pockets and drew out a handful of twenties. She laid five in front of Delores. “You come to Texas, and I’ll give you the rest.”
“Sì, I’ll come.” Delores made up her mind.
Abby let out a long breath and straightened. “Nine o’clock tomorrow morning at the Brewster mansion.”
“Sì, señorita, I be there.”
Jonas stepped closer. “And if you don’t show, Delores, I’ll come looking for you.”
Delores’s smile broadened. “I might like that, gringo.”
“No, you won’t,” Jonas assured her. “You just be there.”
With that, Abby and Jonas walked out of the bar. The town was coming alive. Vendors and patrons were spilling everywhere. Jonas and Abby didn’t speak. There was too much noise and activity. Through the turmoil in her head, Abby thought of the old lady who’d sold her the jacket, then realized she didn’t have it. She stopped in her tracks and faced Jonas.
“I dropped my jacket when those men accosted us.”
“We can’t go back,” he said practically. “We have to get out of here.”
“I know.” She sighed. “But I loved that jacket.”
“Maybe we’ll see the lady again and buy another one.”
They didn’t. The old woman was nowhere in sight.
Soon they spotted the international bridge, and Abby forgot about the jacket. She was eager to set foot on Texas soil. They paid the toll and went through Customs without a problem. Within minutes they were at Jonas’s truck. Abby breathed deeply and looked around. The flat landscape was basically the same—mesquite, cactus, fields of crops, and several fruit and vegetable stands. But this was home, and she felt safe. Still, she couldn’t shake an eerie feeling of foreboding.
Jonas paid the man in the booth and they got into the truck. They sat for a few moments in silence.
“Jonas, I don’t understand any of this.”
He glanced at her. “I don’t, either, but Brewster is up to something. I knew that from the start. He took an interest in you too quickly, seeking you out to write his memoirs almost as if he was taunting you.” He paused. “And why did he want you to hear Delores’s story? He knew what she was going to say. What does this have to do with your father?”
“Nothing. Maybe he’s just playing a game like you said, getting a kick out o
f seeing me run through hoops to get the truth, which he had no intention of giving me. I wish I had realized that a couple of days ago.”
Jonas started the engine. “This isn’t over, Abby. Brewster may think he’s won, but he’s in for a surprise.”
“What do you mean?”
“If he’s toying with you out of spite, I’m walking away…something I probably should have done years ago.”
“Do you mean that?” She couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice.
“Of course, I mean it,” Jonas replied. “I’ve put up with a lot from Brewster, but I’m not putting up with his hurting you for no reason.”
Abby wanted to snuggle against him, but she knew the time wasn’t right. Still, they were making progress, and soon she’d be able to tell him how she felt. She consoled herself with that thought as they drove toward her house.
Jonas parked at the curb and switched off the engine. “I don’t know about you, but I need a shower and some clean clothes.”
She smiled. “That’s my number one priority.” Her face sobered. “Do you think Delores will show tomorrow?”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
“I suppose,” she mumbled, knowing there was nothing she could do now but wait. Her eyes caught his. “Thank you, Jonas.”
That special grin lifted his lips. “Why don’t you come over here and say that?”
He didn’t have to ask her twice. She moved to his side, her eyes never leaving his. “Thank—”
He smothered the words against her lips, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, giving herself up to his kiss. She ran her hands through his sun-bleached hair and realized he didn’t have his hat on. He’d lost it, too. The thought was only momentary, as urgent desires swamped her. His lips moved over hers with an expertise that left her aching for more.
His mouth trailed to her neck and warmth suffused her entire body. All she wanted was Jonas. “My mother’s at work. We could take that shower together,” she whispered without shame.
“Abby,” he groaned, kissing her nose, her cheek.
“Don’t say no,” she begged.
“I’m not, but I…” He stopped, and she brought her eyes to his. “Isn’t that your mother’s car?” He was staring toward the garage, and Abby could see the back of a car.
“Yes, it is,” she admitted with a groan. She sagged against him. “She probably took off from work because she’s worried about me. I’m sorry, I’ve got to go, but we’ll finished this another place, another time.”
