Oscar took a few seconds to process it. “I’m hearing that you can kill me and take the plane, or that you can pay me and take the plane.”
“Not exactly as I would have put it, but close enough.”
“How is that even a choice?”
“My point exactly.”
The kid stuck out his hand. “Deal,” he said.
They shook. “Excellent,” Jonathan said.
With the engine reassembled, they buttoned up the cowling and pumped in as much gas as the Cessna’s tanks could take.
“This is five hours of fuel,” Oscar said. “Plus a fifty-minute reserve. I wouldn’t depend on the reserve for more than a half hour though. Just to be on the safe side.”
Jonathan looked to Boxers for an assessment. Would it be enough?
The Big Guy shrugged. “It is what it is,” he said.
“How far do you need to go?” Oscar asked. As soon as the words were launched, he held up his hands, as if in surrender. “Sorry. None of my business.”
“Ultimately, it’s Buenos Aires,” Boxers lied.
Jonathan shot him a glare, hoping to sell the deception.
“There’s no way,” Oscar said.
Boxers replied, “We have a refueling stop along the way.”
“How about you shut up?” Jonathan said.
For his part, Tristan remained conspicuously silent, for which Jonathan sent up a silent prayer of thanks.
“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Oscar said. “I swear.” He opened his backpack one more time just to make sure that his windfall was still there. The pouch that used to hold his lunch was now stuffed with sixty bundles of banded hundred-dollar bills.
Jonathan thought of it as ransom money well spent.
“Now comes the hard part,” Oscar said.
Jonathan cocked his head, waited for it.
Oscar took a deep breath. “Yeah,” he said. “Thing is, I like Mexico. Okay, actually, I hate Mexico, but my girlfriend is like the Mexican Chamber of Commerce. She loves it here. I could never convince her to leave.”
Jonathan sensed where this was going, but he had to be sure. “So, how is this a problem?” he asked.
“With that kind of money you could buy any girlfriend you wanted,” Boxers offered. Ever the romantic.
“My boss-the one who owns this plane-is not a nice man. In fact, he’s the opposite of a nice man. He’s also my girlfriend’s father. When he finds out that his plane is missing, he’s going to be pissed. I mean seriously pissed.”
“Just tell him that someone stole it,” Boxers said.
“Well, that’s the thing,” Oscar said. “I’m not just the mechanic. I’m also the security guard. It’s my job to make sure that no one steals the plane.”
The words hung in the air for a few seconds, and then Jonathan and Boxers burst out laughing together. Oscar clearly was offended.
“Sorry, Oscar,” Jonathan said. “But maybe you need to think of another line of work. How did a nice American boy end up in this shit hole anyway?”
Oscar shrugged. “I already told you. A girl. I used to work at a little regional airport in the middle of nowhere- Manassas, Virginia-as a staff mechanic. Even worked on jets-Lears and Gulfstreams, mostly. Anyway, I met this Mexican girl and I fell hard. She was going to school then. When she went home, she told me that her father owned an airplane, and that he would match my salary if I came to work for him. I figured it was a no-brainer. Money goes a hell of a lot farther out here, you know?”
Boxers scowled in disbelief. “What could you possibly want to buy?”
“Well, there’s that.”
“He’s in love, Big Guy,” Jonathan said. “Give him a break.”
Oscar continued as if uninterrupted. “Throw in the fact that her father is a friggin’ gangster and you see my dilemma.”
“Three hundred grand buys a lot of choices,” Boxers pressed.
“Yeah, well, I need to live long enough to exercise them.”
Jonathan planted his fists on his hips. “You seem to have a plan,” he said.
Oscar took a huge breath this time, and he closed his eyes, as if dreading his own words. “I want you to hit me and tie me up.”
Boxers took a step forward. “Okay,” he said.
Oscar jumped and retreated as if he’d touched something hot. “No! Jesus, not you. I said hit me, not kill me.” He pointed to Jonathan. “You,” he said.
“Yeah,” Boxers teased. “He only wants a little girlie tap. Give him the best you’ve got.”
Jonathan ignored him. “So, what’s the longer plan?” he asked Oscar. “Is the story that a stranger sneaked up on you in the middle of the night, coldcocked you, and stole the plane?”
“Right. He’ll still fire me, but I figure that’s okay.” Oscar smiled. “He won’t know that I got a really good severance package.”
His smile turned to a frown. “If you don’t mind, though, I’d like to limit the amount of money I have to dedicate to medical care. I think-”
Jonathan fired a savage punch with the heel of his hand, connecting at the point in front of Oscar’s left ear where his jaw met the rest of his head.
The kid was out cold even before his knees buckled.
Tristan yelped, “Holy shit!”
Boxers grinned like a proud father.
“It’s easier if you don’t talk about it first,” Jonathan said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Maria Elizondo’s hands tore at the lock, trying to get it open so that she could escape with her life. She’d never dreamed that the security system that had been installed to keep madmen out could actually trap her inside with one.
“Oh, please,” she begged to God. “Oh, please, oh please.”
Between the sound of her own cries and the pounding of blood in her ears, she heard nothing at all. Her only reality was terror. The certainty of her death.
When the hand came down on her shoulder, then, she screamed and whirled around for her last fight.
Her attacker was shorter than she’d expected. And lighter.
And female.
“Maria, stop!” the woman insisted. Her tone and her gestures told Maria that she’d been saying those words over and over, but Maria had not been hearing them
“It’s me,” the woman said. “It’s Veronica. You’re all right. I’m not here to hurt you.”
Realization-and reason-came slowly. How was this possible? “How did you get in here?” Maria asked.
Veronica placed her hands on both of Maria’s shoulders. It was a gesture designed to calm her. “That’s not important,” she said.
“I am here to help you,” Veronica said. She wore her dark hair long, and tied with what looked like a decorative rubber band in the back.
“You are in my
