Samantha placed the baseball hat on her head and looked at herself in the dirty mirror.
Diego’s question about who she could call for help had upset her. Just a reminder of how disconnected from her old life she was. And in her new life, she didn’t really have any close connections. The people at Evergreen Catering were nice, but she had been deliberate in keeping the relationships distant. Even Elise didn’t know anything of her past.
The door swung open and she jumped. It was just a mother and little girl using the toilet. She waited for her heart to slow down.
From the bathroom stall, she could hear the mother patiently answering all her daughter’s questions. Samantha had only a vague memory of her own mother. Her father had done his best to fill in the blanks, share photographs and memories with her. But none of that replaced hugs and a patient voice explaining the world to you.
Still waiting for the mom and little girl to finish, she stepped into a bathroom stall and slipped Diego’s sweater off. Feeling the rough texture of the wool on her palm reminded her of Diego. She brought the sweater up to her face and breathed in. It still smelled like him, a little. She put on the T-shirt and hoodie they’d purchased at the drugstore. She heard the outside door open and ease shut. The mom and child must have left.
She stepped out into the evening light. Diego pushed himself off the swing set he’d been leaning against.
“Hello there, stranger.” His eyes were bright and his smile warmed her clean through.
She touched the side of her head. “So do I look like a whole new person?”
“You look less like you.” He tugged on a strand of her hair. “Why don’t you let me braid it? Your long flowing hair makes you easier to spot.”
“You know how to braid hair?”
“I had two sisters and a mom who had to work two jobs,” he said.
She took off her baseball hat, wandered over to the swings and sat down. He ran his palm over her hair. “It’s a little tangled. I’ll comb through it with my fingers. If you’re all right with that?”
“Sure,” she whispered.
She felt only a gentle tug as he finger-combed her hair, then braided it. His fingers brushed the back of her neck. Her heart fluttered at his touch, but she shook off the feelings of attraction. She trusted Diego, but she still didn’t trust where attraction might lead.
Earlier she’d thought that Diego might kiss her. Even that scared her. He probably only felt a strong connection to her because of the desperation of their situation.
“There.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Turn around. Let me see.”
She pushed herself out of the swing and turned to face him.
He nodded his approval. “You don’t look anything like yourself.”
“I suppose that was the goal.” She felt a tightening in her throat as she asked the next question. “What do we do now?”
He took in a breath. “We go back to my old neighborhood. There are people there who can help us.”
“Okay, let’s do that, then,” she said.
His lips formed a tight, hard line. “We’ll have to go through a neighborhood that could be dangerous.”
Though she could guess at what his work was about, and why it put him at risk, she wished she knew more. “I know you can’t explain why to me.”
“Just know that it’s connected with the gangs there and the drug dealing. And what I have been doing can make a difference in a good way.” His voice filled with passion.
“Okay, if that is what we have to do.” Even as she spoke, she could feel the fear rising up.
“Good. Then there is a bus we can catch a couple of streets from here,” he said.
They walked across the park as the evening sky turned from gray to charcoal. When they got to the bus stop, one other person, an older African-American woman, was waiting.
She scooted over on the bench so Samantha could sit.
“Last bus of the day,” the woman said with a heavy sigh.
Samantha nodded. Diego continued to pace and watch the street.
“This is a beautiful time of night.” The older woman tilted her head toward the sky. “God does some of His best work at this hour.”
Somewhere in the distance, Samantha detected the noises of a basketball game, the bouncing of the ball on concrete and the sound of young men taking verbal jabs at each other. The air was chilled but not cold.
Diego stopped pacing and stared at the older woman and then nodded as he gazed at the setting sun. “Yes, He does.”
“You might be right about that.” A joy came over Samantha that she didn’t understand. She didn’t know this woman’s story. Maybe she was headed home after a long day of work at a less-than-wonderful job, but she had taken a moment to see God in the middle of all of it. She wished she could do that.
The bus came to a stop and they got on. There were no seats available for them to sit together. He directed Samantha to sit with a forty-something woman in a shabby coat. He found a place farther back.
She felt exposed and vulnerable without Diego by her side. She studied the people around her. A teenager with tattoos on his neck gave her a hard stare that sent chills through her.
Why was her response so fearful? She bent her head and stared at the floor. There was no reason to think he knew who she was. It was good that she and Diego weren’t sitting together. They were less likely to be identified.
The bus rolled for several blocks and came to a stop. Four people rose and made their way to the front. Samantha felt a squeeze on her arm just above the elbow. Diego pressed close to her.
“We need to go.”
She hurried toward the front of the bus. This couldn’t be the stop he wanted.
He leaned close to her. “When we got on, one of the men made a phone call when he saw us. I only picked up a few words, but the way he kept looking at me... We can’t take a chance.”
When they exited the bus, she saw several men standing by the stop. Thankfully, they didn’t pay any attention to her or Diego. She glanced up into the bus windows where she spotted the teenager from before glaring at her.
Diego led her through the city streets to a bar. The bar was filled with people and loud music. The smells and the noise assaulted her senses. He stopped to whisper something into the ear of one of the other patrons before leading her to a back room that was quiet.
“Wait here,” he said.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to try to get us a car or at least a phone. Be careful. This is enemy territory. And I don’t know who I can trust and who knows what.” It was the first time she’d heard fear in his voice.
Panic settled around her like a heavy Seattle rain. “Diego?”
“You don’t need to see any of this. I’ll be back for you.”
“And if you’re not?”
“Haven’t I kept my word so far?”
She had a feeling there were factors he couldn’t control in this situation. “Yes, yes, you have.” She would trust him.
“Just stay here until I get back.”
He closed the door. The booming music seemed to make the walls pulsate. She was in some sort of storage/break room that consisted of two chairs and shelves filled with cleaning supplies and plastic cups. She laced her fingers together and a trickle of sweat snaked down her back.
Someone slammed hard against the outside wall. She jumped out of the chair as the tension formed a hard rock in her stomach. She eased back down on the chair.
He said to wait.
She’d counted the beats of music to over a hundred when the door burst open.
Diego’s face was flushed. “I got us a car. Let’s go. It’s a few blocks up this street.”
He grabbed her hand and led her to a back parking lot. Just as they were about to leave the parking lot, a voice called to them from the darkness.
“Hey, dog.” A large Hispanic man stepped out into the light. His eyes raked over Samantha in a way that made her uncomfortable. “This is your new chica, no? Ella es caliente.” His voice held a tone of menace as he loomed toward them.
Before her eyes, she saw Diego become a different person. His posture and his voice changed. He said something in Spanish. The inflection of his voice suggested that what he said was salacious. Only the comfort of his palm resting on the middle of her back told her that he was acting a part. The touch was meant to reassure her while he continued his lewd conversation.
The two men shook hands and patted each other on the back. The last thing the stranger said was in Spanish, but it sounded like a warning. The big man took a step back and disappeared, engulfed in the darkness.
“I didn’t want you to see that.” In the dark, his face was very close to hers.
She tilted her head. “I understand that you have to become someone else to do the work you do.”
He lingered there, his cheek touching hers. “It’s somebody I don’t like.”
“You do it to make a difference, to make the world a better, safer place, right?” she whispered. He stood so close to her she could feel his body heat.
“I’m glad you understand.” His lips found hers and brushed lightly over them, causing a warm radiance all over her skin. She leaned closer, placing her palm on his chest, feeling his heart pound, wishing the moment could last longer.
He pulled away. His head went up, but in the dark she couldn’t see his eyes.
He stepped toward the sidewalk. “I got this car from a low-level drug dealer who owed me a favor. I don’t think he has high enough connections to do me any harm.” Diego was all business as though the kiss had not taken place.
She wondered if the guy in the parking lot would get the word out that he’d seen them. As they stepped out into the lit street, her fingers brushed over Diego’s arm and he responded by dropping his head and smiling coyly. Enough for her to know the kiss meant something to him, too.
“The car is just a little way up this street.” They stepped into an alley. Though there were noises in the distance—music, people shouting, cars roaring to life—the alley was quiet.
A car squealed to a stop, blocking their exit from the alley. Another one appeared on the other end. The cars idled with their lights on.
“This way.” Diego pointed up the fire escape.
As they climbed, a dark figure got out of each car and raced toward them. One of them grabbed Diego’s foot, pulling him back down to the ground. The men started throwing punches. Samantha grabbed a potted plant from the stoop she was on. Diego delivered a hard left hook to one of the men, sending him to the ground. He whirled around and threw a punch at the second attacker just as he was about to jump on Diego.
Samantha waited until Diego separated from the second man before dropping the plant. Her missile hit its target. The attacker crumpled to the ground. The first man pulled himself to his feet as Diego climbed toward Samantha. They sprinted across the rooftop.
She glanced over her shoulder. One of the men had made it to the roof. Diego stopped at the edge of the roof at another fire escape. “One more block over.” He climbed down first. “The other one might be waiting for us.”
She made it three rungs down the fire escape when a hand grabbed her wrist from above. She saw a man’s face, all teeth and forehead. The man pulled her up toward him. His face loomed larger until she could see the pockmarks on his cheeks and smell his sour breath. Diego held on to her legs, pulling her downward. She turned her head and sank her teeth into the assailant’s hand. He yowled and let go of her wrists. Samantha tumbled down to the landing. Diego grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She whirled around, clutching his chest.
The attacker was halfway down the ladder. They clambered to the edge of the landing. She climbed down first, jumping free of the ladder midway. Diego was right behind her. On the ground, Diego took the lead, racing through the apartment building’s parking lot.
He ran one way and then the other. She followed him, pushing down the rising panic. Was the car not where it was supposed to be?
The first attacker had just rounded the corner of the building, and the second one had nearly climbed down the last section of ladders.
Diego stopped and waved her over. He ran toward a car, dived in, started it up and gunned the engine. Both men were closing in on her as she grabbed the passenger’s-side door handle. She landed in the seat and slammed the door as the car sped up.
He hit the blinker and turned out onto the dark street. “I think we’ll take the long way back to my old neighborhood just to make sure we’re not followed.”
“Where did those men come from?”
“They were low-level thugs that somebody dug up last minute. They didn’t even have guns.” He let out a heavy breath. “Word is out on the street about me.”
He turned out onto the freeway. The lights of the city shone like glitter on a Christmas tree. As the minutes ticked by, her muscles relaxed and she took in a breath.
Diego turned off onto an exit. “I cut all ties with this neighborhood when I went undercover. I didn’t want anyone I cared about to end up hurt because of me.” He drove past dark storefronts until he came to a park by a lakefront. “You hungry?” He pointed toward an all-night food truck.
“Starving,” she said.
He pulled the car over and got out. Samantha watched through the windshield, wondering how much longer this game of cat and mouse would go on.