He followed her down to the parking lot, and straight to the car Jefferson had provided for. It was exactly where he had told her to look for it, so it wasn’t hard to find the black-and-silver Chrysler three hundred. She used the remote to open the trunk, and Noah put his luggage inside it. They got into the car, and Sarah punched up the Hampton Inn Juárez on the GPS in her phone, then began following its instructions as she drove through El Paso.
There was a line at the border, so it was almost an hour before they actually made it into Mexico. Noah was half surprised that they hadn’t been stopped and searched, like several other cars he had seen. Most of those had been newer sedans, as well, and he thought for a moment that Jefferson had made a bad choice. It wasn’t until they were passing those cars, and he got a look at the drivers that he understood.
Racial profiling was not only a problem in the United States, he decided, because the Mexican customs inspectors only seemed to be searching black and Hispanic drivers. He and Sarah, both being white with blonde hair, were waived on through.
They didn’t talk a lot as Sarah drove, but it took her most of an hour to get to the hotel, anyway. She pulled up in front, and let Noah go inside to get his room, while she waited.
A moment later, she was wishing she had her gun. There were probably a dozen Mexican men standing not five feet away from her car, staring at her and making what she was sure were rather sexist comments in Spanish. She was starting to get a little nervous when Noah suddenly reappeared. He motioned for her to open the trunk, and she reached down to push the button, then started to get out of the car.
“Kathy, honey,” Noah said with a Midwestern accent. “You don’t need to get out, sweetie. Thanks for the ride, but you get on home, now. Tell your daddy I’ll see him in a few days, okay?”
Sarah rolled her eyes, but smiled back at him. “Okay, Mr. Baker,” she said. “You know how to reach us if you need a ride back.” She started the car as he closed the trunk, and left rubber on the parking lot as she peeled out to hurry back to the Texas side of the border.
Noah, as John Baker, had taken a suite on the top floor, and two young bellhops ran to try to carry his bags for him, but he waved them away. He got into the elevator and rode it to the top floor, which was only accessible with his key card. When it opened, he turned to the right as the desk clerk had instructed him, and found his room only two doors down.
The suite was every bit as luxurious as any he had seen, and boasted not only a sitting room and bedroom, but also a huge whirlpool hot tub, as well as a jacuzzi in the bathroom. Noah shook his head, glad that he was spending Uncle Sam’s money, and not any of his own.
He didn’t bother to unpack, preferring to live out of his suitcases while he was there. He peeled off a couple of the sticker microphones and put one in the sitting room and one in the bedroom.
“Okay, let’s test these. Neil, if you can hear me, give me a call.” His cell phone rang less than thirty seconds later. “Okay, they’re working alright, then?”
“I can hear you better through my monitor than I can through this phone,” Neil said. “I wouldn’t give you gadgets that don’t work, boss. Trust me.”
“I do trust you, Neil, I just don’t always trust technology. You wouldn’t believe the things that failed us in the field when I was in the Army.”
“Oh, yes I would,” Neil said. “Everything the Army got was built by the lowest bidder. The nice thing about our outfit is that they don’t have a budget. When I ordered the top-of-the-line, that’s what I got.”
“Okay, I guess that makes sense. Good job, I’ll talk you later.” He hung up without another word.
He checked the time and found that it was only eleven, and decided to wait until early afternoon before going down to Eduardo’s. That left about three hours to kill, and since he wasn’t hungry, he decided to take a nap. He set an alarm on his phone, stripped off his shirt and shoes, stretched out on the bed, and was asleep in seconds.
The alarm went off, and he rolled up to a sitting position. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, stretched once, then went to the bathroom to freshen up. When he came out, he dug in his suitcase for his deodorant, used it lavishly, then slipped his shirt and shoes back on. He took three hundred dollars in cash from his stash in the suitcase, make sure he had his wallet, passport and room key, then left the room and went downstairs to find a taxi.
“Si, Se?or?” The driver asked as he climbed into the backseat.
“I want to go to Eduardo’s Tavern, do you know where that is?”
The driver looked confused. “Eduardo?”
“Eduardo’s Tavern,” Noah said. “49936 Avenida de la Fuentes.”
The drivers face lit up with a big smile. “Ah, si,” he said, “Eduardo, si, Eduardo!” The little man turned to face forward, shoved the car into gear and roared out of the parking lot onto the street.