“You guys almost ready?” I asked.
“Yeah, let me just grab this right quick.” She reached for one of the Chromebook boxes.
Bob sighed. “Sweetheart, just let me—”
“Bob, please. We’re getting this laptop, and that’s that,” Kia snapped at him, then walked off. “You can get me something more expensive when we get home.”
He blinked for a few seconds then turned to me, glaring. “Is this everything?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, realizing he was referring to the phones and cards in my hand. “I can get it, though.”
“I don’t need you to get anything. I promised Kia I would take care of things, and I meant it,” he said, pushing his glasses on his nose as he waited for me to give him the items.
After paying for everything, we entered the sweltering heat and went back to the van. Bob, who’d been fairly quiet since losing the laptop argument in the store, asked softly, “Where to next?”
“We can find a motel, I guess.” Kia shrugged, then added, “I’m sorry I was short with you. You’ve been nothing but kind the entire trip. I guess the heat is getting to me.”
Bob lit up like a kid at Christmas. “It’s okay, Kia. You never have to apologize. Let’s find you a nice upscale hotel so you can cool off.”
Instead of a cheap motel off the interstate, Bob decided we’d stay at the Marriott in downtown El Paso. Staying in a large chain hotel wasn’t something I thought we should be doing. Large hotels had national databases, and they could be hacked. As Bob parked the van, I voiced my concern.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I said, leaning forward.
“You got something against the Marriott?” Bob turned around to look at me.
“No, I just think we should stay somewhere a little more low-key, like the places we’ve been staying,” I suggested. “More off the grid.”
“Listen, Kia is a classy woman. We stayed at the other cheap motel because it was late and we were traveling. She needs to be somewhere a little more comfortable, like what she’s used to, and I’m gonna give her that.” Bob smiled as he grabbed Kia’s hand and kissed it.
I looked at both of them and said, “Look, I’ve been gone long enough to know that my family is looking for me. If we stay here, Bob, I’m telling you, I got a feeling about this, and not a good one.”
Kia sighed. “Listen, we’ll just stay here for one night. Then we’ll go find another ratchet room somewhere else. Tonight, I just want to be someplace where I can take a long, hot bath, eat a good meal, and get a good night’s sleep.”
“And that’s exactly what you’re gonna do while we stay here, baby,” Bob said, opening the door.
I grabbed the Best Buy bags, along with my backpack, and followed her inside to wait while Bob checked in.
“I’m telling you I don’t have a good feeling about this, Kia,” I mumbled.
“It’s one night, Nevada. Besides, we need wifi to use the laptop to look stuff up.” Her fingers ran along my arms as she spoke. She pulled them back when Bob approached.
“Okay, all checked in,” Bob announced. He held up two hotel key cards. “Here’s the key to your room, Nevada. You’re on the fourteenth floor. Kia, we’re on the fifteenth floor, in the suite.”
“Great,” she said. “Nevada, you can come to the suite so we can get to work.”
From the disappointed look on Bob’s face, I could see that this wasn’t what he had in mind. I was sure he’d had some kind of sexual escapade planned for the two of them, but Kia had one goal and one goal only—to find her sister—and that couldn’t be done without me. I gave Bob a smile.
* * *
“Okay, where do we start?” I asked thirty minutes later after I’d set up the laptop.
“How about we start with Asian foot spas in the area,” Kia suggested.
I typed the words into the search engine, but nothing popped up. “Nope, nothing.”
“Try massage parlors,” she said, looking over my shoulder.
“Just chain places like Massage Envy and Red Door. Nothing that we’re looking for.” I sighed.
“Hmmmmm, brothels maybe?”
I tried searching for brothels, and still nothing. I leaned back in my chair, trying to come up with more ideas.
Bob, who was sitting in the living room of the suite, indulging in snacks from the mini bar, called over to us. “Y’all are doing this all wrong.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, slightly offended. I didn’t know who he thought I was, but I had no doubt my ability to hack into highly secured systems far surpassed his.
“You’re looking for the wrong things.” He walked over to the desk where Kia and I sat. “We’re in Texas. You need to be looking for a damn dude ranch.”
“A dude ranch?” Kia and I said at the same time. Our eyes met, and we both stifled a laugh. “That doesn’t make much sense.”
“Sure it does. Every state has its own code word. Type in dude ranch and El Paso,” Bob prompted.
Deciding to humor him, I typed the words in, hit search, then read aloud the first name that came up. “The Horseshoe Ranch.”
“She’s probably there,” Bob said with certainty.
“Bob, this makes no sense. This place is advertising a rodeo experience. Horseback riding, cattle drives, and stuff like that. It’s not the place we’re looking for,” Kia tried to explain to him.
“That’s what they want you to think they’re offering. Trust me. They have way more to offer than that. Click that menu over there.” He pointed.
I clicked the menu, and there was a drop down.
He clapped. “See, right there.”
“It says members only.” I frowned.
“Click it,” he insisted.
“It wants a membership number and passcode,” Kia said.
Bob reached into his back pocket, taking out his Velcro wallet. It made a loud ripping sound as he opened it and took out a shiny black card that he handed to me. “Here. Type these numbers in.”
“You’re a member of a
