The Collected

CHAPTER 33

Tampico, Mexico

Liz arrived in Tampico planning to find another taxi like she’d done in Monterrey. Instead, before exiting the building, she spotted a booth advertising tours and local hotels, and learned that yes, she could hire a personal English-speaking guide, and yes, one who could start as soon as she wanted.

“In an hour would be perfect,” she said, paying the fee.

Right on time, a young man named Oscar met her at the booth. He was all smiles and service as he guided her out to his car, rattling off a list of places his standard tourist route would take her.

“Actually, I’m looking for something a little more specialized,” she said when he finished.

“Specialized?”

Her first instructions were for him to wait in the car outside the terminal while she went back in for a few minutes. “Circle around if you have to, but don’t be gone long. As soon as I come back out, we’ll leave.”

Confused and a bit wary, Oscar had reluctantly agreed. He drove her from the parking lot back to the terminal.

Inside, she checked first on the status of the next flight from Monterrey, and learned that it would be landing in a matter of minutes. This being a small airport meant the time between touchdown and exiting the aircraft would be short, so she found a spot from where she could see the corridor that all arriving passengers would be funneled through.

As the people from the Monterrey flight began trickling out, her stomach started tying itself in knots, as she worried again that Jake and his friends had gone someplace other than Tampico. Then she spotted Daeng, and a moment later, Jake and Orlando.

Liz headed outside and spent a couple nervous minutes waiting for Oscar to return. The second he pulled to the curb, she jumped into the back.

“Wait,” she said as he started to pull back into traffic.

He glanced back at her. “We can’t wait here.”

“We won’t be long. Just hold on, okay?”

“What are we waiting for?”

She didn’t answer his question until the other three stepped outside.