Page 89 of Agent Zero
Two stamps, a rill of liquid Spanish and braying male laughter, and Reese took the passports back.He gave agracias, wished thembuenas tardes,then they were through.Hawkers clustered the car, but he kept going, creeping forward until they broke free of the press.
Reese let out a long breath.“See?Easy.Keep breathing.”
“I’m fine.”Panic retreated.“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry, it’s all good.If you aren’t at least a little nervous, they think you’re hiding something.”His free hand on the wheel, and he was even driving differently now.The traffic wasn’t gonzo, but other cars swooped a little too close for comfort as he navigated a tangle of streets that looked just the same as the ones on the other side of the border.It was hard to believe they were in a completely different country.Alimonadastand crouched in a bubble of ranchero music while Reese waited to join a roundabout’s swirl, harsh sunlight glittering off paint and windows as the woman at the stand fanned herself and mouthed along to the song.
Reese was silent until they cleared the edge of the city and a long ribbon of dusty highway stretched into the distance.Cacti clustered to either side, and the bilingual signs were in different colors.“We’ll make Santa Ana in an hour.I know a place, you can have your first real tequila there.That should settle your nerves some.”
“I’m sorry.”She could’ve given the whole thing away.
“Don’t be.I’m not going anywhere, Holl.Sooner or later you’ll get used to me.”
“I already am,” she said, and that shy, sweet smile of his appeared.The knot in her stomach eased; Holly settled on the seat and watched a different country roll by.
* * *
Two weeks later
From the balcony she could see the cathedral of glowing biscuit-colored stone, floodlit against the night.From here you could believe it wasn’t Sinaloa, where people vanished so easily.Every time Reese left the expensive hotel alone she was on tenterhooks until his return, and tonight was no different.
The weather was beautiful, though he told her in summer it would be too humid to breathe.By then they would be somewhere else.For right now, though, this quiet place was home, its courtyard full of frangipani and a murmuring fountain.There was a pool in the basement, and the food was incredible.Apparently one of Reese’s identities was a gringo businessman who knew his way around, and tonight he was “making contacts”.
So when the sound came from the balcony, curtains fluttering white in slow, highly scented wind, Holly leapt from of the chair, her water glass almost hitting the floor before her hand arrived to catch it.She was still getting used to the new reflexes.
Under the heavenly aroma from the courtyard came another thread of familiar scent, and Holly actually sagged with relief.
“It’s just me,” Trinity said, peering between the flowing, sinuous curtains.A shadow among shadows, vines growing up the building thick and juicy.She’d probably climbed them—there was a reek of sap and crushed green.“Nice place.”
“Temporary.”Holly straightened.“But yeah.I’m glad you’re okay.How did you?—”
“Don’t worry, nobody else could.I wouldn’t blow your hide.”The other woman fearfully gaunt, and had dyed her hair to a washed-out chestnut.Her gaze was still flat and dark as ever.Jeans and a gray tank top, muscle moving smoothly on her tanned arms, she took a cautious step inside.“I did have to wait until he left.”
“Why?”
Trinity shrugged.
Oh, for God’s sake.“So why are you here?”
“I...”A long pause.“I wanted to...check on you.To see if you were hap—I mean, safe.”
“I’m okay.”Holly set the glass down on the mosaic-tiled small table next to her chair.“I was just sitting here thinking about a book I left behind.”It was a great one, too.I can buy another copy, though.
“I also wanted to apologize.”
“For?”
“He almost liquidated you.”Trinity made a restless little movement.She really was awfully thin, almost as thin as Holly had been.“And after that, well.If I had calculated better?—”
She means Bronson.Holly quelled a shudder.“It’s fine.Reese says Cal’s looking for you.”
“To tie me off, no doubt.”
You guys and your euphemisms.It helped them cope, she supposed.If you could sayliquidateinstead ofmurder,targetinstead ofhuman being, you were halfway to believing it wasn’t such a big deal.“No.Just to talk.Cal says?—”
“It doesn’t matter.”Trinity took another half step into the room, a feral cat testing the ground, alert and disdainful.“Tell Six that the program is shelved for now.They still have the data, though, and they will eventually find out how to take emotional noise from the agents.When that happens, the orders for all of us won’t becapture.They’ll bekill.”
Reese already thought about that.“I know.Look, we’re safer if we stick together.You could stay with us.Another agent will help?—”
