Page 10 of Off the Rails
“Here and there. On the street, mostly.”
“In San Diego?”
“Yes.”
He sounded like the surfers who flocked to La Fonda and Rosarito Beach. His speech was slow and melodic and distinctly American. She enjoyed listening to him almost as much as looking at him. “You cut your hair.”
He smoothed a hand over his close-cropped head. “I needed a change.”
This Ian Foster was a far cry from the scruffy narco she’d encountered at the Hotel del Oro. He wasn’t the fresh-faced border patrol officer she’d met four years ago, either. He’d grown harder, worldlier, more rugged. More handsome. She studied his clothes with interest. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to reveal strong forearms. His legs were long and lean in casual trousers.
“How’s your injury?” she asked.
“Better,” he said, shifting in his seat. “Have you heard from Armando?”
“No.”
He glanced at her, his expression inscrutable.
“You think he’s alive?” she asked.
“You tell me.”
“How would I know?”
“You helped him get away.”
“Only because he saved my life.”
“When?”
“On the day of the shootout. After Chuy found me on the phone with you, he dragged me into his office. He said he was going to kill me, but Armando wouldn’t let him. He stepped between us.”
His brow furrowed. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“Would it have made a difference?”
He shrugged, swerving around a pothole in the road. Then he said, “There’s a veterinarian missing from the La Canada Pet Clinic. A woman.”
Maria was startled by this news. She’d helped Armando walk to the clinic. She’d left him outside the backdoor, semiconscious. Now a woman was missing, and Maria felt responsible. She’d been in the country illegally. She was a fugitive from justice. Maybe Ian would turn her over to the U.S. authorities. Or worse, the Mexican authorities. “Will you arrest me?”
“I can’t arrest anyone,” he said, his mouth thin. “I’m not with the DEA anymore. I was asked to submit my resignation.”
“What does that mean?”
“I had to quit.”
“Why?”
He stared straight ahead, not answering.
“Because of me?”
“You, and Sonia Barreras. She died in surgery.”
Chuy’s girlfriend. Maria felt a pang of sadness, though they hadn’t been friends. “That’s not fair. You didn’t shoot her.”
“I broke cover and instigated the shootout, against direct orders.”
