Operation Rigid Pt 28

TWENTY-SEVEN

Hunted

I sighed deeply as the layers of sleep slowly peeled away. I don't know what woke me, and for a moment I was confused because the bed didn't feel right. I slowly opened my eyes. Without moving, I stared at the ceiling a moment, trying to remember where I was. After a couple of heartbeats, it all came back to me. I glanced at the window and stretched with a silent groan. I had no idea of the time, but the sun was well up and the edges of the blackout curtains glowed brightly. I heard a knock, very faint and far away.

"Housekeeping!" a faint voice called. Valencia stirred in my arms before stretching with her own, not so silent, groan.

She settled again with a long sigh. Sometime in the night, we'd shifted position. I was on my back with Valencia tucked into the crook of my arm, laying against my side as my arm surrounded her shoulder. She yawned hugely before sighing back into my embrace. A moment later she stretched. Her invitation couldn't be clearer, and I twisted my head to bring my lips to hers.

We kissed briefly before she slowly pulled back. She held my gaze a moment before a small smile tickled her lips as she stretched for another kiss. This one was more heated, and when she pulled back, she kept her lips close. I nudged her. I was already hard with morning wood, but as our third kiss exploded with passion, and she levered herself onto my chest, I became even harder.

As our tongues engaged in an intimate dance, she gripped my marble hard rod, and guided it into her wetness. She moaned into the kiss as she settled, and then began fucking me with slow, deep thrusts. I felt the tension in her body as she pulled her lips from mine to bury her face into my shoulder, her soft grunts and moans of pleasure as she used me incredibly sexy. After a long moment, she reared, her hands braced on my chest as her face twisted in profound pleasure.

I cupped her breasts as my fingers gently teased her hard nipples. "I'm going to..." she squeaked as her head hung, her dark hair cascading over her face as her hips began thrusting harder, and then harder still, until she became rigid. "Fuck..." she moaned softly as she sat on my cock, grinding me deep, her body taut as her muscles warred against each other.

I slowly pushed her hair from her face before drawing her down to my chest. As she settled, she brought her lips to mine. I smiled at her as our lips parted. "Nice..."

She sighed. "I shouldn't have done that."

"I'm not complaining."

She sighed again. "I know... but..."

"But?" I prompted.

"Nothing." She swiped her hair from her face again. "Did you come?"

My smile spread slightly. "No." She groaned as she buried her face into my neck again. After a moment, she began rocking her hips. I couldn't stop my smile from spreading as I pressed on her ass, stilling her hips while forcing my cock deep. "It's okay," I murmured. "We can't spend all day in bed. Maybe next time."

"There can't be a next time," she murmured into my neck.

I gently tugged her lips to mine. "We'll see."

Our kiss was lazy, and she seemed to be getting sleepy again. While I'd have gladly spent the next several days doing nothing but fucking and sleeping with her, we had things we

had

to do. I heard something rumbling to a stop outside our door, followed by a knock. Housekeeping wasn't knocking on our door, but it was close.

After one more long, luxurious kiss, she tumbled off me and lay on her back a moment with her hand over her eyes. "I didn't get enough sleep last night," she mumbled.

Unable to prevent my smile, I leaned over her until my lips were hovering just above hers, one of her hard nipples caressing my chest. "Hopefully we can go to bed early tonight," I whispered as I lowered my lips to hers while slowly dragging a finger through her wetness.

She slapped my hand away, causing me to smile into the kiss. "We need to get up," she murmured as I gradually pulled back from our kiss.

"I already am."

She snickered as she shoved me away. "Get dressed."

We quickly dressed, and after brushing our teeth and combing our hair with our fingers, we slipped the extra weapon and Valencia's book between the mattress and box springs. We then divided Valencia's pesos between us, and I fished the rest of the money out of my coat and divided that as well, both of us stuffing the bills in various pockets so it wasn't visible. Finished, we stepped out as housekeeping worked on the room two doors down.

"The room is empty," I said as we passed, "but we'll be back later."

"Yes sir," the woman said as she glanced at us as if surprised to see us.

We stopped in the lobby. There was a different clerk this morning, and I noticed her quick, appraising glance. I knew both Valencia and I were bed rumpled, but there was nothing to be done. "We're in room 42," I said as I approached. "We need to step out for a little while, but we'll be back. Will you call us a taxi?"

The woman looked at us in confusion. "Room 42?" she asked as she looked at something out of sight behind the counter.

I placed a thousand peso note on the counter. "You won't find it in your records... and I want to keep it that way. We'll be gone in the morning." The woman glanced at the money. "We paid for the room last night. You'll find an American hundred-dollar bill in your drawer."

She took the bill. "Ah, yes. I remember seeing it when I made the deposit this morning. You paid for one night, correct?"

She was scamming me, but I didn't care. I placed another thousand-peso bill on the desk. "I believe it was two."

That bill disappeared as well. "Ah... Yes, now I see that it was two nights." I smiled at her. "A taxi?" she asked as she picked up the phone. I thumbed through the bills and pulled out a hundred peso note. "If you please," I said as I placed the bill on the counter.

"Right away, sir," she said as she took the bill and began dialing. Less than two minutes later, she placed the phone back in the cradle. "A car should be here in five to ten minutes."

I nodded and smiled. "You've been very helpful." As we turned away from the counter, I slapped Valencia on the ass.

"You must not want to keep that hand," she growled as we stepped outside to wait.

I snickered. "Just keeping up appearances."

She glared at me, but her eyes were full of humor. We stood in the shadow of the building until a well-used Volkswagen turned into the parking lot. Holding her hand, I stepped away from the building as I raised my other hand in signal. The VW stopped beside us and I opened the door. I thought about slapping Valencia on the ass again, but I decided once was funny, but after that, it would be little more than me being a jerk.

"Where to?" the cabby asked.

"Don't know. Is there an internet café in town?"

The man paused a moment, clearly thinking. "I think I know where one is."

I leaned back into the seat. "That's where we want to go."

The driver started the meter running and we were away. Less than ten minutes later, we pulled to a stop in front of a restaurant with an attached coffee bar. I could see people sitting at tables using computers, but they all appeared to be their personal devices. "Wait here," I said as I began sliding out. Valencia moved to follow but I put my hand on her leg. "Wait in the car. I'll be right back."

She did as I asked, and I hurried into the coffee bar. It was approaching eleven, and I could see several people queuing for lunch and coffee. I glanced around but saw no public computers. I quickly walked to the other side of the wall that divided the café into two rooms and smiled. In the back corner were four computers, two of which weren't being used.

I hurried back to the car, the diver rolling down the window as I approached. "This will do, but I need you to wait." The driver looked at me dubiously as Valencia began sliding out. "I'm not going to cheat you." I smiled at him. "What's the charge?"

"Fifty-two."

I pulled out my pesos and peeled off three hundred peso notes and handed him the bills, thought about it, and then peeled off two more and handed him those as well. "Will you wait?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. If we're not out before that runs out, come get us, but I

need

you to

wait

. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"We'll be back as quickly as we can." I turned from the car. "Get us some lunch," I said as we entered. "I'm going to go see if I can find us a car."

I was flipping through the internet as Valencia approached with a tray. She sat down beside me, the tacos al pastor smelling wonderful.

"Find anything?" she asked as she cracked open one of the mango Jarritos and took a pull from the bottle. "Damn... I was thirsty," she murmured as she took another drink.

"A couple of possibilities," I said as I pointed to one of the two windows I had open.

"That looks like a real winner," she said, her tone dry.

"I don't want to buy from a dealer because I don't want to have to deal with the paperwork, and I don't want something nice. We just need it to get us to the airport, and maybe there won't be too many questions if it's a piece of shit." She nodded as she bit into the taco. I wolfed my taco down as I searched, quickly skipping listings that didn't include a full address. After searching all the cars in the area in my price range, I had two possibilities. "Save that," I said as I pointed at the receipt. "I need to find something to write with." I returned a moment later with a pen from the counter and copied the addresses onto the back of the receipt. We quickly finished our meal and returned to the waiting cab. I handed the man the receipt with the addresses on the back. "First address on that, please."

As the driver made his way to the address, I smiled as Valencia sat beside me, clearly drowsy. I couldn't blame her. After eating, I was battling sleep myself. Soon the driver pulled to a stop at the address on the receipt. I didn't see the Cavalier sitting in the drive. The ad did say it was driven daily, but if it wasn't here, that didn't help me.

"Wait here," I told Valencia as I opened my door.

Between Valencia and me, we had about 900,000 pesos--about 55,000 dollars--most of which was in US currency. The Cavalier was the better of my two choices, as the rest of the available local cars were either so cheap they were probably non running, didn't have an address, were likely being sold by people who would insist on proper paperwork, or were from a dealer. This morning I'd decided that taking a cab all the way to Mexico City wasn't a good idea. I was afraid I'd have a hard time finding one willing to drive the three to four hours there, and even if I did, if we ran into Lara on the way, I wanted to have options and not have to depend on the taxi driver to get us away.

I rapped on the door and waited. After a moment, I rapped again. Still nothing. "Shit," I muttered as I turned away from the door and hurried back to the waiting taxi. "Not home. Next address please."

"What are we going to do if we can't get the next car?" she asked softly.

"Find another car, or get a phone and make some calls." Five minutes later, the taxi pulled to a stop in front of a slightly tatty house. At least the car was there. "Wait here," I said again as I slid out of the back seat. As I approached, an older woman stepped out of the house.

"Can I help you?"

"I'd like to look at the car you have for sale."

"My husband isn't home right now."

"That's okay. Can I take it for a test drive?"

The woman licked her lips. "I'd really rather you wait for my husband to be here."

I smiled at her. "I understand, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. If you'll let me take the car for a test drive, I'll pay full price." She still hesitated. "How about if I pay for the car now. You let me take it. If I don't bring it back, you keep the money. Fair?" She glanced between me, the car, and then back to me. "Okay. Thank you for your time," I said as I turned away.

"Wait!" she called to my back. "Wait a minute. You'll pay full price for the car now, and if you don't bring it back after your test drive, we keep the money?"

I turned back to her and nodded. "That's right."

"Okay. Let me get the key."

As she turned toward the house, I walked to the car. I could see where a sign had been stuck to the side because there was a square where the paint looked almost new. The tires were low, and the rest of the paint was completely ruined by the hot Mexican sun, but I didn't care about that. Inside the interior was well used, but not ripped to shreds.

The woman appeared with the key. I pulled my dollars out. "I'm sorry, but I don't have enough pesos. Will you take dollars?" She looked at me skeptically. I smiled. "I know this looks shady, but my car was stolen, and I'm trying to get back to Mexico City." I switched to English. "I'm American, and I'm in a bit of a bind."

"You're an American?" she asked. It was clear she hadn't understood what I'd said.

I switched back to Spanish. "Yes." I nodded at the taxi. "We're here on business and our car was stolen last night." I decided to sweeten the deal. "I'll give you a thousand pesos, above the price of the car, if you'll let me pay you in dollars. Otherwise, I'll have to have the taxi take me to a bank to exchange the money. That's worth a thousand to me to not have to do that."

She licked her lips again. "I don't know the conversion."

"You have a cell phone?" I asked. "I'd stupidly left mine in the car to charge, along with all our luggage."

She snickered as she handed me her phone. "Expensive trip for you."

"Tell me about it." I handed it back to her. "You'll need to unlock it." She did, and I quickly found what I was looking for and typed the price of the car into the conversion. I turned the phone around so she could see and handed it back to her. "35,000 pesos is a little over two thousand dollars. I'll give you twenty-one hundred, because all I have are hundred-dollar bills, plus the thousand pesos, if you'll let me take the car for a test drive."

She thought a moment more. "You'll give me the money now?"

I pulled out my dollars and counted off twenty-one bills before returning them to my pocket. I next pulled out my pesos and peeled off a bill that I added to the money in her hand. She handed me the key.

"Thank you. I won't be gone long," I said as I held my hand to tell Valencia to wait when she opened the door on the taxi. "If I decide to keep the car, the money's yours. If I don't..." I paused as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my pesos again, "you give the money back and you keep this for your trouble," I said as I placed a hundred-peso bill in her hand.

She smiled. "Okay."

I motioned for Valencia to wait again as I unlocked the car and dropped into the driver's seat. The seat was well broken down, and I now had a suspicion as to why the mileage hadn't been listed. I stuck the key in the ignition and twisted. The car spun over a moment and then clattered to life. I chuckled at the mileage, my suspicion confirmed. The '91 Nissan Tsuru--the Mexican version of a Sentra--had over 523,000 kilometers on it. I didn't know how many miles that was, but I knew it was a lot. Leaning out of the door, I revved the car hard a couple of times, looking for smoke. There was some, but not as much as I feared after I saw the odometer.

"I'll be back," I said as I shut the door.

I pulled the car into gear. It was lazy about shifting, but it engaged and I pulled away. I was surprised at how well the car drove. It didn't drive great, and I could tell the suspension was tired, but the car had obviously been maintained, and the air conditioning even worked. I drove it around the block, flooring it once as I did. There was something not entirely right with the transmission because the revs climbed faster than the car accelerated, but I didn't have a lot of options. I only needed the car to last another few hundred kilometers, long enough to get us to the Mexico City airport, then it could explode for all I cared. I rolled to a stop in front of the house and put the car in reverse. If it backed into the drive, I'd take it. It did. I shut the car off, and then restarted it. It started more easily that time and I nodded as I shut it off again.

I stepped out of the car and waved to Valencia. "Thank you. I'll take it."

She beamed. "Thank you." Her smile dimmed slightly. "Wait... isn't there a piece of paper to go with the car or something?"

I smiled at her. "No. That's okay. I don't need it. Thank you again."

"Thank you, sir."

I waited while Valencia paid the taxi driver, then as she approached, I fell into the car again. The Nissan even had unexpired plates on it as a bonus.

As the taxi pulled away Valencia walked toward me. The woman was hovering, unsure of what to do, so I smiled at her again as I started the car. "Thank you again," I said as Valencia fell into the passenger seat.

"Nice," she said.

I nodded. "Actually, it's perfect, so long as it doesn't die on us. I'd bet this was a taxi or something at one time, and nobody will give it a second look."

"It smokes."

"I know, but not bad. I'll keep an eye on the oil."

"Clothes or a phone next?"

"Phone. I feel blind and stupid without it."

She nodded. "Okay, but I need to ditch this jacket. It's hot, and I stick out." She looked at me. "You too."

"Next stop after the phone."

We made another stop before the clothes or phone. At the first bank we found, we exchanged a chunk of my dollars for pesos to make things less complicated while shopping. Flush with fresh pesos, we stopped at an Oxxo, which were on nearly every corner.

Cell phones are ubiquitous, and obtaining a prepaid SIM card couldn't have been easier. The best part of the transaction was I paid cash, and neither my name, nor Valencia's, appeared anywhere because there were no contracts or paperwork to sign. I was disappointed to learn I couldn't buy a phone there, but the clerk directed us to the nearest Telcel location, where we bought a mid-priced smart phone.

With our new cell and SIM card, I was tempted to call Mother right away, but decided we needed a change of clothes worse than I needed to talk to Mother. Using the new cell phone, we found a clothing store.

Before we went inside, we had a brief discussion over what to do. Did we try to pass as Mexican, or American tourists? We finally decided that we'd be American, but we wouldn't go full stereotypical American. Our clothing choices were basically the same I'd wear anywhere. I avoided t-shirts because I didn't like wearing collarless shirts unless I was working out, and even then, I preferred loose tank tops, or even better, no shirt at all. Selecting my clothes, I stuck to a more subdued color palette than typical for most Mexicans, but soon I was wearing my new pants and shirt. Valencia did the same, though her blouse selection was more daring than mine. We both decide that our pants of choice were jeans, and when she stepped out of the changing room, she was sexy as shit in her tight pants and V-neck blouse.

I normally wore my shirt tucked, to show off my flat stomach, but that wasn't going to work without my jacket. Valencia had to ditch her shoulder harness for the same reason, and we were both going to have to start wearing our shirts untucked, but that only added to the 'Americans on vacation' vibe. Retaining only our weapons, we dumped the rest of our clothes, including our underwear. The only clothing item that remained after our transformation were my loafers, Valencia having traded in her low dress pumps for a pair of blindingly white sneakers.

Wearing our change of pants and shirts, we stopped for essentials like toothbrushes and toothpaste, a hairbrush, disposable razors, a few makeup items, and a box of hair coloring for Valencia. We made one final stop on the way back to the hotel where I set the Nissan's tires to the proper pressure, checked the oil and transmission fluid, and filled the tank with gas. On the way back to our room, we drove past where we'd abandoned the Escalade. It was missing, so if the thing did have a tracker, that should send Voice on a merry little chase.