Now, she wasn't so sure.
FOUR MONTHS BEFORE
TWENTY-ONE
'General Zaragoza defeated Napoleon's forces at Puebla on May the fifth, eighteen-sixty-two,' Jesse said, 'and brought democracy back to Mexico. That is what the Mexican people celebrate on this day, Cinco de Mayo.'
They stood before the general's statue in the San Agustin Plaza in downtown Laredo. Palm trees surrounded the plaza, as if they were the general's sentries. Street vendors sold Mexican food and margaritas, beer and bottled water. Mariachis strolled the plaza singing Mexican ballads, and Mexican flags flew from every light pole and storefront. Girls clad in old-style costumes performed traditional dances. The plaza looked and sounded and smelled like old Mexico. Lindsay and Jesse had gone into town for lunch at the Cinco de Mayo festival. The local newspaper and television station had cameras capturing the crowd. Lindsay wore her scarf, hat, and sunglasses to avoid being recognized. But everyone recognized Jesse Rincon. Young girls flirted with him and asked for photos with him, and old men came to him and shook his hand. He had been interviewed on camera twice when a young man stuck a hand out to him.
'Doctor. Angel Salinas from Austin. With Texas Journal. Mayor Gutierrez said I should come to Laredo and interview you.'
Lindsay quickly averted her face. She knew Angel, and he knew her. She walked to the far side of the plaza where the girls were dancing. Where her picture would not be taken and she would not be recognized.
' Mrs. Bonner? '
She turned to the familiar voice-to Congressman Ernesto Delgado. He held a long churro like a kid holding a popsicle. His face evidenced his astonishment.
'Is that really you?'
'Yes. It's me.'
'What… what are you doing here? Dressed like that?'
'I'm Jesse's nurse.'
' No.'
'Yes. For a month now.'
'I heard he had an Anglo nurse, but they said she was Irish.'
'I am.'
She demonstrated her accent.
'I would not have known it was you.'
'No one can know. You mustn't tell a soul. Please.'
'Your secret is safe with me. But why?'
'I need to be useful.'
He gave her a knowing nod. 'Ah, yes. At my age, I understand that need. But how will this work, when the governor is the president?'
'My daddy the president!'
Bode hugged his daughter and inhaled her fresh scent; she had showered (if not shaved) that day.
'You're like, a celebrity now.'
'Hell, if I'd known shooting a few Mexicans was all it took, I'd've done it a long time ago. Jim Bob, how many followers I got on Twitter?'
Jim Bob fiddled with his phone.
'Eight million.'
'Wow,' Darcy said, 'that's more than Selena Gomez!'
'I thought she died?'
'That was the singer. This is the actress.'
'Oh.'
Becca hugged him again.
'I'm so proud of you, Daddy.'
She seemed as excited as on her sixteenth birthday when Bode had surprised her with a new Ford pickup truck. Darcy hugged him, then they sat at their regular table on the raised seating section at the front window at Kerbey's on the Drag. UT students walked past on the sidewalk just on the other side of the plate glass and waved at the governor of Texas-with all five fingers. Jim Bob sat at the adjacent table and played with his phone. Ranger Hank stood at attention behind them.
'How are the kids?' Becca said.
Becca and Darcy had come over to the Mansion and played with the Mexican children several times in the last month.
'Good. It's been fun to have kids around the Mansion again, like when you were growing up.'
'How many are still with you?'
'Six. We found the others' relatives, but we've still got five of the boys and Josefina. The cartel killed her folks.'
'What are you going to do with her?'
'I don't know.'
'Why don't we keep her?'
'She's not a stray puppy, Becca. And without your mom here…'
Their waitress, a cute gal with tattooed arms and a nose ring, arrived to take their order. Bode went for the cinnamon peach pancakes. The girls went for salads.
'She still down on the border?'
Bode nodded. 'I figured on waiting her out, that she'd get bored and come back. She hasn't.'
'You know how she is when she's on a mission.'
The waitress returned with their drinks. Becca emptied two sweeteners into her tea and stirred.
'She'll have to come back, Daddy, if you're elected president. Only problem is, if you guys are living in the White House, we won't be able to have lunch together.'
'Sure we will. I'll just fly down every week.'
'No, I mean, the Secret Service won't let you eat here, with this big window right on the street. Someone might shoot you.'
'Well, no need to worry about that now.'
Becca laughed. 'Yeah, who would want to shoot the governor of Texas?'
She dropped her teaspoon.
Ranger Hank heard the spoon hit the floor and watched the governor and his daughter duck under the table at the same time to retrieve it, but his attention was diverted by a cute coed with long legs in a short skirt off to his left; he glanced her way just in time to catch a shot of her neon pink underwear as she sat down. Damn, that's a sweet female. He turned back just as a black SUV skidded to a stop on Guadalupe Street directly in front of their window and two men jumped out and pointed high-powered automatic weapons at them. His right hand went for his gun, but he was too late. The first bullet hit him in his right eye, shattering his sunglasses and the back of his skull after boring a hole through his brain. He was dead before the next six bullets hit his body and his body hit the floor.
' Daddy! '
The plate glass window above them exploded. Bode lunged for Becca and covered her under the table as glass and bullets sprayed the restaurant. Diners in the lower section screamed and cried out and dove under their tables and booths. Waiters dropped serving trays and scrambled out of the line of fire; dishes and glasses crashed to the floor. It sounded like a war movie. But Bode knew it was real. Because Hank lay next to them, blood streaming from bullet holes in his face and chest. He was gone. But the gunfire was not. Bullets bit into the walls
