Free Classified by Debra Webb

they didn’t leave a paper trail by using credit cards when she interrupted the thought with, “I always carry plastic under a couple of aliases in case I need them.”
    Who was this chick? “I’m not asking you to name your client,” he said as the truck bounced out onto the main road, “but are you a contractor, P.I. or what?”
    “What difference does it make?”
    “Maybe none.” He braced against his door as she floored the accelerator and sent the old pickup charging forward. “I’m more curious than anything.”
    “Well.” She exhaled a big breath. “This mission isn’t for my employer. It’s for a…friend. Technically I’m on vacation.”
    Sounded familiar. “That’s funny, so am I.”
    She sent him a lingering, sideways glance. Too bad there wasn’t enough light to get some idea what she was thinking. He didn’t have to wonder long.
    “That is funny.”
    Ah, suspicion. Just what he needed to sustain her cooperation. “What’s the plan?” Letting her think she had the lead might alleviate the tension along with some of her suspicions.
    Another of those long looks arrowed his way. “You’re asking me?” She focused on the road a second or two, then asked, “Did you have something in mind?”
    “I’m at the same hotel as you, by the way,” he offered, sidestepping her question. In reality, there was only one strategy—find this Alayna and get some answers—but he supposed there were a number of ways one could go about that step.
    “Good. We can get our stuff and get out of Pozos before Fernandez sends his pals this way.”
    That was assuming those pals hadn’t cleared out their stuff at the hotel. Levi doubted they’d had the opportunity but there could be others working for Fernandez.
    With Casey focused on driving, Levi used the opportunity to study her. Not that he could make out the finer details in the dark, but he focused on those he already knew better than he should.
    Not good, Levi. She was the competition on this mission. Their alliance might be in place for only as long as it took to attain the information on Keaton. There was no way just yet to guess how things would go down from there. If he was lucky, he would have some measure of her ultimate intent before then.
    His primary mission, other than to gain the information, was to protect Victoria’s identity. Whatever else happened, he had to keep her secret safe.
     
     
    T HE VILLAGE OF P OZOS WAS tucked in for the night as Casey parked the truck on the street near the entrance of their hotel. The lack of street lamps to chase away the shadows would serve them well. The fewer who witnessed their movements the better.
    “The less time we spend here,” he recommended as she opened the driver’s side door, “the less likely we are to run into trouble.”
    “Absolutely.”
    She was out of the truck and headed for the entrance by the time his feet hit the cobblestone street. As usual, he followed her path. That was apparently going to be the MO for this team. He watched her softly curved hips sway and decided following wasn’t such a hardship.
    The lobby was as silent as this ghost town had been just a few years back. The main entry doors as well as the windows were open, allowing the night breeze to play with the drapes and the wind chimes. The otherwise quiet rattled Levi’s nerves. Or maybe it was the idea that they’d come back here knowing time was their enemy.
    It was four hours minimum to Acapulco. A lot could happen in four hours, like Fernandez sending a warning to this Alayna they needed to find. Somehow Levi believed him when he said he was afraid of her. Maybe Fernandez would take off, as he’d said, allowing him a head start before Alayna learned of his treachery.
    “Meet you at the truck in five minutes,” Casey whispered when they reached the second-floor landing.
    Levi was on this floor, too, but on the opposite end of the building. He’d checked into the mystery woman who’d been asking questions