Page 74 of Off the Rails
She accepted the money but didn’t rise.
“Please,” he added, scanning the crowd again. She strode across the station and returned with a large, folded map. He spread it out on his lap. He couldn’t find El Limbo, but he knew the general area. “If she did stay on the train, how far could she get?”
Maria traced the edge of the coast with her fingertip. “She could be in Los Mochis by now, or Ciudad Obregón,” she said, touching both spots. Then she moved up a little. “The tracks fork just after Hermosillo, in Benjamín Hill. It’s one of the last stops. Most of the passengers go north to Nogales, the closest border city. Some travel east to Tijuana.”
“So Benjamín Hill is a good place to look for her?”
“Yes.”
He turned around to check the fare boards above the ticket window. There were several departures to Hermosillo tonight. He could sleep on the bus and arrive tomorrow morning. The freight train wasn’t that fast. He had an excellent chance of catching up with it.
She followed his gaze. “You never quit, do you?”
“Nope.”
“You’re not well.”
“I’m well enough to sit on a bus for twelve hours.”
“Does your boss know about your fever?”
Ian shifted in his seat, ignoring her question.
“You are keeping secrets from me.”
“Villarreal is alive. He was spotted in TJ.”
Her eyes brightened. “Really?”
His heart went cold as he studied her hopeful expression. This reaction wasn’t a surprise, but it felt like a betrayal. Cynically, he wondered who she’d root for in a showdown between them. Who would she cry for? He engaged in a dark fantasy of killing Villarreal with his bare hands and kissing her afterward, leaving bloody fingerprints on her skin.
Ian had fought Villarreal before. Over Maria, ironically enough, at the Hotel del Oro. They’d exchanged some brutal punches before Chuy Peña came out to break up the fight. Although Ian was bigger than Villarreal, he hadn’t come away the victor.
“Do you know what I’ll do when I find him?” Ian asked her.
She flinched at the question, as if his ugly thoughts were written on his face. “You won’t kill him unless he attacks you first. It’s not in your nature to hurt people.”
He laughed without humor. “Maybe you don’t remember our scuffle at the hotel.”
“He won.”
“He won’t win again.”
