Chapter Eleven
Leanna’s skin prickled when she spotted Axe in the alley talking on his phone. Why had he told her he was taking a shower? She let the curtain go, hoping he hadn’t spotted her and placed her ear against the connecting door between the rooms.
He’d turned on the shower as a decoy, ergo he had to be up to no good.
She quickly changed out of her bright-yellow sundress into a white blouse and a pair of khaki pants. She wasn’t in Mexico to play games in a sex motel, and if Axe was outside contacting his henchmen, she would have to make a move without him.
She laced up a pair of sneakers, tied her hair back with a bandana, and put on a large, floppy straw hat to protect her from the sun.
A quick peek out the window showed Axe flagging down a straight-haired man driving a squarish, old American sedan laden with dents.
Leanna grabbed her cell phone and dashed down the stairs to the private door leading to the parking area. A covered walkway led to a gate. She ducked behind a hedge and watched the beat-up sedan enter Axe’s parking spot.
Axe popped the trunk and removed a large box. He opened it and nodded, then paid the man a wad of cash.
The man walked off, and Axe disappeared into the doorway leading to his room. Leanna snuck back into the parking area and peered into the car. She could either hide in the back and go along for the ride, or…
She was in luck. The man left the keys hanging in the ignition. Leanna slid into the driver’s seat and started the car. Axe would hear, but too bad. Even a badass like him couldn’t stop an Oldsmobile.
Sure enough, as she backed out of the parking slot, the door to the passageway swung open, and Axe ran toward her.
“Hey, stop. Where are you going?” He lunged at the car and grabbed the handle.
The door flung open, but Leanna switched to drive and stepped on the accelerator.
“Stop,” Axe called, running and trying to jump in.
Leanna made a hard left turn onto the street, throwing him off. With the passenger door flapping, she bounced down the potholed street. Axe ran after her, calling, but he was no match for an internal combustion engine.
After several blocks, she pulled to the curb, shut the door, and programmed Ana’s address into the navigation app on her phone.
Who needed Axe when she spoke Spanish and had relatives in Monterrey? The neighborhood wasn’t too seedy and looked similar to barrios in California. Now that she had a car, she could do her own investigating.
After ten minutes of following the onscreen directions, Leanna stopped the car in a neat, well-manicured subdivision full of cookie-cutter homes. Each house had a patch of lawn, a satellite dish, and a small driveway leading up to the front door.
A scattering of rolled-up ad flyers lay on Ana’s doorstep, and there was no car on the driveway. A double food and water bowl for a pet sat next to the doormat, and flyers and pamphlets spilled from the mailbox.
Leanna knocked on the door and rang the bell. “Ana? Ed? Anyone home?”
She went through the mail, and her heart clenched. A business envelope with a see-thru window was addressed to Carmelita Leanna Bandera.
Her daughter lived!
Carmelita Leanna Bandera was her full, adopted name. Leanna held the envelope, touching her cheek, and closed her eyes, trying to calm the anxiety jumping in her heart. She put the rest of the mail back and slipped the envelope into her purse.
Why had she been lied to all these years?
What danger was Carmelita in?
Leanna pounded on the door a good two minutes, but no one answered. Sweat dampened her forehead, and the soggy, muggy heat made her blood run thick, pulsing behind her ears. Where had everyone gone?
She flipped up the doormats, looking for a spare key, and patted behind the potted plants. Someone kept them watered, so someone had to be around.
“Meow.” A large cat slinked by, rubbing against her pant legs. It was a gray, striped cat with green eyes.
It stopped in front of the empty food dish and glanced at Leanna. “Meow. Meow.”
“I bet you’re hungry.” Leanna bent down and petted it. “If I can find the keys, I can get your food.”
