Chapter Two
Lourdes jolted awakeas she slammed against a car door.Pain shot through her right arm and sliced across her chest as the seat belt dug into her shoulder.“What the hell?”She flung out her hands to catch herself on the dashboard.Dizziness swamped her.Nausea swam in her belly.She blinked fast to clear the haze over her eyes.
Beyond the windows, dirt plumes billowed from the spinning tires.The vehicle rumbled and shook like an angry beast across the uneven ground.
“Pothole.Sorry.”Enrique eased back onto the road.
She jumped, startled, at the man beside her.“Enrique?”Her head ached as though someone had poured sludge into her skull.Fractured memories filled her mind.
Enrique bursting in.
Kissing her.
Drugging her.
Darkness.
He’s kidnapped me.She swallowed past the lump in her dry, scratchy throat.The dusty old highway stretched to eternity across gorgeous craggy hills and river valleys with a smattering of potholes gutting the path.The digital clock on the dash flicked to 9:22.She craned her neck toward the windshield to check the position of the sun—which was to the right of the vehicle—so her captor was driving north.
“Are we going to Hermosillo?What did you give me?Are you crazy?”she rattled off the questions, venom dripping from her voice.
“You’re safe.”
“That’s not an answer.You drugged me, Enrique!”
“I had to.”He kept his gaze on the road and his hands choking the steering wheel.His knuckles paled under the strain, the rich bronze fading to a muted ashen hue.
“Oh, youhadto.Right,” she mocked while rubbing her sore neck.A slight bump marred her skin.She groaned and clasped her middle as he veered around another pothole.“I feel sick.What was in that syringe?”
“Midazolam.It’s a sedative.Check the bag behind my seat.There’s water.”
She turned and sighed in relief.Her suitcase was in the back.Then she grabbed the brown-paper bag and rummaged past the plastic-wrapped sandwiches, baggies of chips, and a roll of toilet paper for the bottles.Where did he think they were going—on a picnic?And the paper?Dios mío.He probably expected her to squat behind a bush somewhere to do her business.She clutched a crackly bottle, ripped off the cap, and gulped the tepid water so fast her throat closed and eyes burned.Coughing, she forced the liquid down and wiped the sleeve of her shirt across her mouth.After a much smaller mouthful, she screwed the cap back on and dropped the bottle in the cup holder.
“You’ve been asleep for about five hours.We passed the Durango/Chihuahua state line right before you woke up.”He snatched the bag from her lap and stashed it back where she found it.“The grogginess and nausea will pass soon.Just relax.”
“Did you give the same to Yago?”
He gritted his teeth.The muscle in his jaw ticked.“Why are you concerned about the damn guard?Was he something more to you?”
She laughed, the sharp sound slicing up her throat.“If you’re asking if we were lovers, we weren’t—not that it’s any of your business.I just don’t want anyone dying or getting hurt on my account.Now, because of you, Yago’s death will be on my hands.”
