Free JET V - Legacy by Russell Blake

crossing into Mexico, and then, with any luck at all, driving to the first airport and catching a flight to Mexico City, from where they could get to Uruguay so Jet could finally reunite with Hannah and put the entire ordeal of the last weeks behind her.
    It was already dark, the sky clear as only the high desert night can be, the twinkling tapestry of stars breathtaking and immediate. They filled the SUV with gas and drove down the frontage road that paralleled the freeway until they came to a two-story strip motel that looked no worse than anything else they’d passed.
    “This’ll do. How are you feeling? Up for some dinner?” Matt asked, eyeing the dreary stucco façade and anonymous styling as they pulled into a parking slot near the office.
    “Sure. I’ll tell you what, being cooped up in this rattlebox is already getting old. Let’s get a couple of rooms and then see if there’s a downtown where we can stretch our legs a little while we find a restaurant,” she said.
    “Sounds like a plan. I’ll go book the digs. Be back in a second.”
    Jet watched as Matt strode to the office, which she could see through its picture window was filled with glossy brochures and factory-manufactured art exuding plastic cheer. She closed her eyes. Only another day or two and she’d be back with her daughter Hannah, finally able to begin her new life. But one completely different than the one she’d envisioned a week ago, when Alan had been alive and everything had seemed possible. How quickly things could change, she mused – in the blink of an eye she’d lost him. And then Matt, whom she’d believed dead, had suddenly reappeared…
    She’d spent much of the last forty-eight hours thinking about that abrupt reversal in her fortunes. There had always been a powerful attraction between herself and Matt, but she’d presumed him dead in Thailand; and then Alan had entered her life and everything had gotten complicated.
    A few minutes later Matt swung the glass office door open and stepped outside. She studied his face as he approached – strong jaw, definitely handsome, but shopworn in an interesting way – the face of a man who had lived, who had spent time outdoors, and who had seen joy as well as horror. But most of all, right now, a man who looked tired, with several days’ growth of stubble and a preoccupied air, the sort of daze usually seen on passengers disembarking from transatlantic flights. They could definitely use a little rest. Neither had slept much the night before, and their driving day had begun at dawn.
    “ Voilà . You have the honeymoon suite. Hot tub in the bedroom, pink champagne on ice…” He opened the door and handed her a room key. “Ground floor. Number eighteen. I’m in twenty-two.”
    “Champagne? More like one of those vibrating bed things that costs a quarter, by the looks of this place,” Jet said.
    “Don’t knock those. I once went through five dollars before I figured out it wasn’t a slot machine. My teeth are still loose from the experience.”
    She smiled and peered past him at the motel. “How long do you need before we go for dinner?”
    “Maybe half an hour? I really want to take a shower,” Matt said, moving to the rear of the truck and opening the cargo door. “That work for you?”
    “You bet,” Jet said, and hopped out of the passenger seat to join him. She grabbed her overnight bag and shouldered it. “Which way?”
    “Down at the far end, looks like.”
    “Did you get any dining recommendations?”
    “There’s an area downtown that has a bunch of southwestern places. That seems to be the draw here.”
    “Southwestern?”
    “Expensive Mexican.”
    “Ah. Enchiladas with attitude.”
    “Exactly. Twenty-dollar mango margaritas with almost no tequila in them.”
    “Sounds heavenly…”
    They found their rooms, and Jet collapsed onto the bed before forcing herself back upright and into the bathroom. After a long hot shower she felt more human, and she took