“What the fuck?” muttered Adams, feeling extremely vulnerable as he turned his back to the two men with the rifles. Is Jack hoping to take these guys by surprise? Maybe yell and have me spin around and drop them both? This ain’t fuckin’ Hollywood …

Jack did his best to casually stride over to the lean-to as though he had done it many times, although a glance back at Adams, who was watching him over the roof of the car while clenching his pistol under his shirt, made it difficult to look relaxed.

The Mexican eyed him suspiciously as he approached, but remained seated.

“Buenos dias, amigo,” said Jack.

The Mexican gave a slight grunt in response.

“Hace mucho calor hoy,” said Jack, gesturing to the sun. “Dos cervezas, por favor.”

“Si.” The Mexican stood up, opened the cooler he was sitting on, and popped the tops off of two bottles of Corona and handed them to Jack.

“Muchas gracias,” said Jack, as he paid him and then strolled back toward the car, stopping once to take a swig of beer. As he did, he noticed the two men with the rifles spoke briefly with each other and then walked back toward the trailer they had come from.

“Jesus Christ,” said Adams as they got back inside the car. “How did you know that guy was selling beer?”

“My wife says I have a gift for finding cold beer,” replied Jack, handing him a bottle, “but seeing a fat guy sitting on a cooler in the desert surrounded by dope runners … well, it doesn’t take much logic to know he wasn’t selling salted nuts.”

Adams breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Okay, let’s see if they’ll let us slowly drive away. The guys with the rifles are still staring at us.”

“Not yet. Sit for a second and enjoy the beer. As you do, take a look around. My guess is the trailer marked with the X is that one straight ahead of us with the door facing the runway … the one where the wind has made a small sand dune in the driveway. What do you think?”

Adams gulped down half his beer as his eyes scanned the different trailers. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

“It looks abandoned. In fact, half the trailers do. I think they’re clearing out. Let’s take a look inside. It will also make it look like we belong here.”

“Good point,” replied Adams apprehensively, with a quick glance back to the two men who were now putting the rifles back in the cab of the truck.

Moments later, Adams parked beside the trailer. “We don’t have a warrant, but if it’s unlocked we can say it was abandoned and go in,” he said.

Jack gave Adams a sideways glance. A warrant? You really don’t trust me …

They each got out of the car and Adams was the first to reach the door. “Shit, it’s locked,” he said, glancing nervously back.

Jack glanced around, as well. For the moment, nobody was staring at them.

“At least I don’t smell a body,” Adams noted.

Jack nodded, but didn’t know whether to feel happy or nauseous at the comment.

“Hang on, I’m going around back to see if I can see in,” said Adams.

Jack waited a moment before peeking behind the trailer. He saw Adams checking all the windows at the back of the trailer, hoping to find one that wasn’t locked. Jack grinned to himself. So he isn’t averse to breaking in …

Jack went back to the front door and took out his wallet. In it he kept a small set of lock picks. It took him less than ten seconds to unlock the door. He then opened it and said loudly, “What? Did you say come in?”

Adams scrambled around to the front of the trailer and his jaw dropped when he saw Jack holding the door open.

“I’m not sure,” said Jack. “I think I heard someone say to come in.”

Adams looked at Jack and then hurried past him into the trailer. Once they were both inside Adams turned to Jack and said, “It was locked. I know it was. There’s nobody here …”

Jack flashed him the lock picks.

Adams stared at him for a moment and said, “So this is what you mean when you say you obtain something through a delicate situation.”

“Sometimes,” admitted Jack.

“It didn’t take you long to pick,” noted Adams. “Can you do that with all locks?”

“It depends on the locks. Trailer locks are easy. Most desk drawers I can do in about five seconds. Handcuffed behind my back, I can get out of it within a minute if I have a bobby pin.”

“You could be a handy guy to have around sometimes.”

“I’m not that good. Other locks, like deadbolts, are tougher. There are many I can’t do.”

“I wouldn’t mind learning how.”

“I’ll teach you the basic concept sometime, but even when you do understand how locks work, you still have to practice regularly or you lose the ability.”

A search of the trailer did not take long. It was completely empty. They got back in the car and nobody appeared to pay any attention to them as they drove away.

It was five o’clock when they arrived back in El Paso. While on their way to Jack’s hotel, Adams received a short call from Weber.

“Looks like you’re a celebrity,” said Adams, when he hung up. “Davidson and Weber are coming over to join us and sponge some free drinks from the hotel for happy hour.”

Jack and Adams were the first to arrive at the hotel and each ordered a Corona as they stood in the hospitality room.

“I’ve been wondering about Wednesday,” said Adams.

“What about Wednesday?”

“When you meet Tio. What if he wants to meet you in Juarez?”

“Then I’ll meet him there,” said Jack firmly.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” sighed Adams.

“I’m telling you because I trust you not to tell anyone,” said Jack. “You strike me as the type of guy who does what it takes to get the job done. So do I.”

“I’m not worried about you ignoring orders. What concerns me is if I try to follow you in Juarez, I’ll be spotted. There are too many places they could take you where a gringo like me would stand out.”

“I don’t want anyone following me. It would probably get me killed. Besides, no use in both of us getting in trouble with the bosses if something goes wrong. Just be forewarned that I may intentionally lose you and the cover team on Wednesday.”

“I also don’t think you appreciate how dangerous it is over there,” said Adams. “That place we went to this afternoon … I had never even heard so much as a whisper about it. And it was huge operation right under our noses.” Adams took a swig of Corona and added, “Which to your credit, you led me to on your first day here.”

“It was luck I found the map. It was you who deciphered it.”

“Yeah, luck that you delicately obtained. Not to mention, it was you who figured out to turn at the skull. I’m going to check into it further, but right now I can tell you I’ve got some serious concerns about who is behind it.”

“Who do you suspect?”

“It has to be either the Guajardo or the Sinaloa cartel, that part is obvious, but it is the level you’re dealing with that concerns me.”

“The level?”

“Whoever your Tio is, he’s no Mickey Mouse player. For you to have a map of what we found today … this isn’t some chicken-shit low-end guy.”

“Good.”

“Yeah, good … and dangerous. This guy will have a lot of protection and will be taking all the necessary precautions. You’re going to be like an ant under a magnifying glass.”

“Hope the sun doesn’t come out.”

“Yeah, well if it does, you better be prepared. First thing in the morning I’m going to show you different escape routes out of Mexico in case you do end up over there. If something goes wrong and you do manage to make a run for it, don’t use any of the bridges.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.”

“There’s something else I’m going to do, as well … and this is putting a lot of trust in you. Tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to someone. He’s a commander of a police station in Juarez and has got the biggest set of balls of anyone I’ve ever met. The cartels would kill him immediately if they knew he was co-operating. I’ll introduce you to him. He might be the only guy in Mexico who could save your life.”