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nice?”
    I shrugged, staring out the window while secret butterflies danced in my chest.
    “That can’t be it. What did you guys talk about? Tell me something about him.”
    “He grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was going to go into the NHL for hockey. Then he decided to join the army instead.”
    “And …?”
    “Nothing else,” I told her, not wanting to divulge the personal stuff. “We talked about this and that.”
    “And did you mention your family?”
    “Of course I didn’t. I talked about the airlines. That’s always a safe topic. People always want to know about crazy passengers, or the time you were hit by lightning or the scariest landings.”
    “And did he want to know?”
    “Probably not but I told him anyway.”
    She laughed and her eyes darted to the rearview mirror. She frowned. “And do you trust him?”
    “Do I trust him?” I repeated. “What does that mean? I barely know him.”
    “I know.” Her eyes were still focused on something behind us. I looked to the side mirrors but couldn’t see anything unusual except for cars.
    “What do you keep looking at?”
    “I don’t want to alarm you,” she said in a way that I was immediately alarmed. “But I think there is someone following us.”
    Now, I managed to twist in my seat and get a good look behind us. It was hard because the back window was so dusty. “What is it? What car?”
    “There’s a white truck two cars behind us. It’s been two cars behind us before we even got on the highway.”
    Now I could see it, the top of the truck poking up above the traffic but it was too far away for me to get an idea of who was driving it.
    “Do you think that’s Derrin?” I asked, feeling this incredible sense of dread creep up on me.
    “I don’t know.”
    “What are we going to do?”
    “Take the next exit,” she said determinedly. “If someone is following us, we don’t want to lead them straight to your apartment.”
    Jesus. So much for thinking all my paranoia was put past me.
    Luz put her signal on for the next exit, one that led to an outdoor market permanently set-up in a parking lot. We both held our breath as the car turned off and soon after the truck followed.
    Shit. Shit. Shit.
    We exchanged a nervous glance.
    “It’s going to be fine,” she told me, though she didn’t look like she believed it. For once I found myself wishing I had a gun. I’d always told myself the minute I had one was the minute I was closer to become my brother, but considering everything, it made a lot of sense. Maybe Derrin knew something about them and could help me out. He was a Canadian but he had been in the army, so he at least knew how to handle one.
    Luz kept driving past the market stalls and finally pulled into a parking spot right beside a bunch of other people. Safety in numbers and all that.
    We waited, still as ice and with baited breath as the truck slowly crept past us. There was some older man driving – Mexican – with a thick mustache but no real discernable features. He didn’t even look our way and kept driving until he parked further down.
    I let out the largest puff of air and nearly laughed from relief. “Luz, you are crazy.”
    “You thought he was following us too!”
    “Only because you told me. Besides he was following us but not in the way you thought.” I shook my head and sank further into the seat, my heart beat slowing. “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
    “Agreed,” Luz said. She started the car and we drove back onto the highway. We never saw the white truck again.

CHAPTER SIX
    Derek
    Her name was Carmen. She had been the love of my life.
    When I first came to Mexico, all those years ago, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I had grown disillusioned with the American government, destroyed by the war. My leg still hurt from the explosion in Afghanistan and I hurt somewhere deep inside. It was so needless, so senseless. I had lost too much, we all had, over something that was