TWENTY-EIGHT
The Noose Tightens
I woke with a start, disturbing Valencia with my sudden jerk. "What?" she gasped as she tumbled away from me to seize her weapon from the nightstand.
"Nothing," I sighed as I relaxed.
After glancing around the room again, she put the weapon down and fell back into the bed beside me. Rolling away from her, I reached for the phone charging on my side of the bed, struggling to not fall into the hole we'd made in the mattress last night. 7:02. Not as late as I was afraid. I placed the phone back on the table. I'd planned to fuck--no, not fuck--make love to Valencia last night and then set the alarm on the phone after we finished, but I'd been so wiped out after my face melting orgasm, I'd forgotten, and had gone almost immediately to sleep. With a groan I rolled to the edge of the bed.
"I'll be back," I mumbled as I sat a moment before rising to my feet and walking to the bathroom.
I showered quickly, and when I returned to the room to dress, Valencia was sprawled in the middle of the bed, already back to sleep. I groaned silently at the sight, my cock hard as I dressed. I thought about kissing her goodbye, but decided not to. Firstly, I didn't want to wake her, and secondly, if she made any kind of movement to have me join her in the bed... well... it'd be hours before I got the damn car to the shop. Forcing my attention away from those thoughts, I hung the
Do Not Disturb
sign on the knob before shutting the door as silently as possible.
I arrived at the shop we'd selected last night... mainly because it was close to the hotel and opened at seven. I rolled to a stop in the oil-soaked gravel parking lot only minutes past seven-thirty, two men visible inside the garage busily working on cars. As I approached, the older of the two mechanics stopped what he was doing and stepped away from the car.
"Good morning," I said as I approached.
"Good morning," the man replied.
"I have an issue," I began, launching straight into what I wanted. "My car is overheating when I drive above sixty. I don't know what the problem is, but I need it repaired, today if possible."
"I can take a look at it, but today is a problem. There are several cars ahead of you."
I nodded. "I completely understand, and if you can't, you can't," I said as I pulled out a large wad of pesos, "but I need it fixed as soon as possible and I'm paying with cash. If you can't do it, I'll take is somewhere else, but I'll make it worth someone's time."
The silence hung between us a moment as the man's eyes flicked from the roll of pesos, to my eyes, and then back to my pesos. He finally smiled. "I think we can probably work you in, but rush jobs cost more."
"As they should," I agreed.
"We'll take it in next. We should know something within the hour."
"That'll be fine. Do you think it'll be ready by noon?"
"Depends on what I find."
"Assume it's either the radiator or the water pump."
"Then, yes, that should be no problem."
I smiled at the man. "Great! Also, the transmission isn't working right. Can you take a look at that too?"
"Yes..." the man said slowly, "but transmission work takes much longer than replacing a radiator. I won't be able to get it back to you today."
"I understand, but take a look at it and see if there's anything you can do to help it."
"What's it doing?"
"It slips when I try to accelerate or climb a hill."
The man grimaced. "If it's not low on fluid, that's bad."
"It's not low. I checked it, and the fluid is a dark brownish color."
He grimaced again. "I'll check it, but it sounds like it needs a new transmission. How many kilometers?"
"Almost 550,000."
The man grinned as he chuckled. "Yeah... there's probably no repairing that without a rebuild, but I'll look at it."
"That's all I need to hear. One last thing. I need a ride back to the hotel I stayed at last night. Can you help me out with that? Do you have a car I can rent until mine is repaired?"
"No, but I'll have Pedro run you over there." He turned to the garage. "Pedro! Come give this gentleman a ride back to his hotel!"
"Okay! I need just a minute!"
I peeled off a one-hundred-peso bill and handed it to the man. "For the ride. Can someone come get me when the car's ready?"
The man smiled as he took the bill. "Of course."
"Thanks for the ride, Pedro," I said fifteen minutes later as the Toyota Hilux rolled to a stop in front of the hotel.
"My pleasure, sir," the man said as I stepped out of the vehicle and shut the door.
A moment later, I paused in front of the room door as I pulled my phone. The hall was totally deserted, and I could speak with reasonable privacy in air conditioned comfort. I pulled out the cell, along with the scrap of paper that had a number written on it, and dialed.
"Anders? Where are you?"
"I forget... but not at the border."
"What happened?"
"Car trouble. I'm having it fixed right now. I hope to be on the road again by noon. That should put us arriving in Brownsville between ten and eleven tonight. What's the news on extraction?"
"It's a no go."
"What? Why not?"
"The office thinks it's a setup. Basically, they don't believe Agent Cantor."
"God
dammit,
" I muttered softly. "If we get killed, they're going to get fuck-all from this."