you ready to order?”
If he hadn’t helped her transform herself into the cantina waitress himself, he might not have recognized her. Long, black hair extensions gave her a thick, wavy mane, and dramatic makeup and a low-cut peasant blouse erased almost all resemblance to the ICE agent who spent most of her time in conservative business suits. Inside the purse she wore bandolier style over her neck and shoulders, her Smith & Wesson M&P40 lay nestled in a built-in holster. He’d bought the purse the day before from a gun shop in Serpentine.
He hadn’t liked her suggestion that she get a job in Los Soldados, fearing she’d put herself too obviously in the line of fire. She had chosen this particular undercover setup, and after reading through her copious notes, kept in a password-protected web archive Elena had set up to protect her notes from exactly the kind of destruction that had happened to her house earlier that week, Wyatt couldn’t really argue.
Los Jaguares were known for their womanizing. Who better than a sexy woman to get the goods on them? So far, members of Los Jaguares who’d come through the cantina hadn’t looked any higher than her cleavage. He supposed there was something to the idea of hiding in plain sight.
He was doing a bit of that himself, playing tourist from somewhere up North. The Western shirt he’d bought at one of the shops in Serpentine that catered to tourists was too ornate and obvious to ever pass as authentic Texas gear. His jeans were too new and too tight, and he wore his most expensive pair of running shoes instead of boots.
He’d even gelled up his hair, at his brother Morgan’s suggestion, and borrowed his father’s horn-rimmed reading glasses, though he spent most of his time looking over the tops of the rims because the view through the lenses was a blur.
“I’ll have a Buffalo Burger and Texas fries,” he ordered, mimicking his brother Morgan’s neutral accent and hoping his Texas twang wasn’t bleeding through. Lowering his voice, he added, “Then where are they keeping her?”
“My shift ends at one. Stick around and I’ll pretend I’m taking a tourist home for a little Texas hospitality.” She winked at him and went to turn his order in.
He waited patiently, enduring the badly spiced abomination Avalina’s Cantina called a Buffalo Burger and, more annoying, at least three attempts by customers to grope Elena as she took their orders.
She came back near the end of her shift, bending close enough that he could see right down her shirt. Wicked woman wasn’t wearing a bra, he realized, heat flushing through his body. He looked up and saw laughter in her eyes. “Tip me big, fella, and you might get lucky.” She flashed him a flirtatious smile.
He added a twenty to the bill and caught her hand as she started toward the back of the bar. “You get off any time soon, gorgeous?”
She pretended to consider her answer. “Five minutes. You have something in mind?”
He rose and whispered in her ear. “I’m seeing a whole new side of you, Vargas.”
She laughed softly. “My side isn’t what you were looking at a minute ago.” She patted his cheek. “Stick around till my shift is over and I’ll show you around town, gringo.”
He waited around outside the cantina until she emerged, stuffing something into the pocket of her skirt. She feigned surprise at finding him waiting. “You waited, hermoso!” she exclaimed, loud enough to be heard by passersby. “You have a car? Maybe something big and powerful like you?”
She was laying it on thick, he thought, his concern for her tempering his amusement a bit. He showed her to his father’s Mercedes coupe, which he’d talked the old man into letting him borrow, and opened the passenger door for her.
Once he was safely behind the closed car door, he asked, “Where is Calderón keeping Brittany?”
“There’s apparently some sort of enclave on the Mexican side of the border, about three miles from the packing plant. The people at the cantina say he must have found himself a young concubina, because lately he’s been sending lackeys into town to buy tampons, soft drinks and chocolate bars.”
“So how do we get in there and get my sister?”
“From what I heard just today, the place is always under guard.” As she spoke, Wyatt saw her gaze drift toward the side mirror of her door. He’d been checking the rearview mirror himself, in case they were being followed. So far,