Page 109 of Fighting With Light
I release her, stepping back. “We need to get going.”
She grabs her phone and a little belt bag, tucking a few things into it. I shut down my computer and shove it under my clothes in my suitcase.
Sliding my baseball hat low over my head, Aelia grabs her own and we leave the seedy motel. “How was the shower?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “Old and surprisingly clean.”
I nod, leading the way towards the doors. We’re on the third floor, closer to the stairs, as I requested. I’m selective about where I stay, but because I couldn’trent out a place or buy one, we had to make this work. And if we need to disappear, that should be pretty easy to do from here.
“On our way in, I saw a couple of trucks for sale. Let’s hope they are decent enough for us. We need something that can handle the terrain as we leave the valley.”
I push the side door open for her, and we keep our heads down, heading in the direction of the truck I saw for sale. I can sense Aelia getting more and more agitated and reach for her hand again.
“Babe, deep breaths. People can sense those things.”
She nods, doing what I said.
We walk a few more blocks where I saw a truck with an extended cab and large tires big enough for off-roading. I realize we could go to a car dealership and just buy one with everything I need on it. But in the interest of staying under the radar, I felt like that would be a smidge too obvious, seeing as I have only cash. This is a large city, but you never know who’s watching.
I find the truck on the side of the street with a for sale sign on it. My assumption is it’s parked in front of the house of the owner. Let’s hope I can negotiate well enough in Spanish. I can get along in Spanish, but I’m fluent in French, unlike my brother Kai, who is fluent in the former.Where’s Kai when you need him?
Aelia releases my hand, but I hold fast. “I’ll just stay right here,” she says, pointing to the garden gate to the yard.
I chuckle. “No, princess, you’re not because if there are people here watching, standing on the street waiting to be seen is making it far too easy for them.”
“Fine,” she grumbles.
Pushing the gate open, I pull Aelia through and step up to the front door. I knock a few times and a man answers the door. “Hola, estoy interesado en tu caminoeta.”Hello, I’m interested in your truck.
“Yo hablo ingles señor,” he says.
“Oh great thanks, man, I was wondering what you wanted for the truck.”
“I want eight million pesos for it,” he says.
I glance back at the truck. “Can I take a look first?”
He nods and disappears back into the house. He unlocks it, and I check out the inside. It’s a little tattered, but I don’t care. I just need a decent working engine and solid suspension. We pop the hood, and I check out the engine. It all looks good.
“Babe, turn the truck on.” She takes the keys from the man and starts it up. I observe it, looking for radiator drips or oil leaks. It sounds good. Getting on the ground, I slide under the truck and check out the additional suspension that he added.
“Okay, turn it off,” I tell Aelia. She flips it off and takes the keys out.
“I’ll take it. How is three thousand US dollars and forget you even had the truck and leave the plates on it for a week?” I ask.
The man looks between Aelia and I. “Deal.”
He grabs the title from the glove compartment, signs it over to John Banks, and hands it to me with the keys. I give him the stack of cash and shake his hand before going back inside.
“Let’s go get my brothers.”
Aelia nods and reaches for my hand, and it grounds me. I’m nervous about seeing my brothers. In the past, I’ve always gone home to them because that’s where things are happening. I hope this trip will be worth it because I know Kai didn’t want to leave Cordelia and Theo. Emerson likely thinks this is all stupid, but it makes sense. I hope they see that, and I hope that we all survive long enough to get home to finish putting the case together. If we can prove the connection of the US government to the formidable Costa mob, then the authorities will have no choice but to investigate. It will strip my father of his pride, and that’s so much worse than killing him.
Knowing that he will rot in jail for the rest of his days feels significantly more satisfying than burying him. Kai and Emerson have expressed the same sentiments. But most of all, I think it will give my mother some level of justice for suffering over eighteen years at his hands. Seeing him behind bars will help soothe the sting.
“How do you know where we’re going?” Aelia asks.
I make a right. “I researched the routes we need to take.”
