Day 1 Evening - Cuts Both Ways

The Chavez family knew how to feed a guest. Though it wasn’t Dorian’s first time at their table, he still couldn’t help but marvel at what Marisol and her daughters had put together on just a couple hours’ notice. The broad table was covered in serving dishes, each of which contained delights that no matter how full he became could be refused. Fat poblano peppers covered in mole’ sauce sat next to brisket tacos in soft corn tortillas. Four different types of tamales waited in a steamer can. Plump enchiladas poked out from beneath a layer of Oaxaca cheese and chile verde. Heaping bowls of frijoles and rice added to the meal. All of this faced him after a starting bowl of a bracing pork stew. And to set the meal off, fresh made guacamole, cilantro, and the family’s own red salsa that was as cool and refreshing as it was spicy. “Oh,” Dorian unbuttoned his vest as a smiling twelve year old Annalisa proudly served him another cold beer, “*Gracias,* child. Marisol,” he said, “this was…magnificent.” He leaned over to give her a grateful kiss on the cheek.

The matriarch of the house accepted the gesture with a smile of genuine delight. “You’re not here nearly enough,” she said as she gave his hand an affectionate squeeze.

“Don’t Ah know it?” he replied. “Luis shocked me with how big he’d grown, but to see Annalisa and Maria…Marisol, they’re breathtaking.”

“I told you, didn’t I?” Paco smiled from his seat at Dorian’s left. He took his wife’s hand to his lips. “They have a beautiful mother to thank.”

“Ah’ll drink tah that,” Dorian said, allowing them their moment as he up ended the bottle. “Ah swear, y’all are ‘bout tah make me fat.”

“You could use a little weight,” Marisol observed. “I don’t think you’ve gained an ounce since I met you. Time to put down some roots, Dorian.”

He gave her a wry smile. “The glamorous life of a travelling dentist. Besides,” he said with a gesture toward the decorated patio, “tah have this Ah’d need tah find tha right girl …but all the good ones are taken.”

“My daughter Maria has a crush on you,” Paco chuckled with a sly grin.

“Paco!” Marisol’s eyes flashed threat as she chided her husband.

“Didn’t she just have her *quinceanera*?” Dorian asked.

“Two years ago,” his host replied.

“Well,” their guest put the issue comfortably to rest, “the last thing a beautiful young girl like Maria needs is a broken down old drunkard for a husband. Haven’t yet worked the travelin’ jones outta mah system. Which reminds me. Paco, might I take a brief stroll with your *esposa*?”

Paco fixed him with a knowing expression. “I see how it is. I invite you to my house. You sit at my table. Now you try to steal my woman.”

Adler grinned as he took to his feet. “Try” is the operative word. Ma’am?” he asked, offering a gallant hand to help Marisol from her seat.

“Oh, fine,” Paco said. “Fine! Go on! Take her! I’ll just clean up all this mess!”

“Maria!” Marisol called over her shoulder. “Start the coffee, and pull out the tres leches. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Dessert, too?” Dorian laughed as they walked. “Death bah hospitality. Ah’ll let you explain that one.”

Marisol laughed as well. “Don’t worry. The girls will make you work it off at the piano.”

“Gluttons fah punishment, then?”

“Annalisa wants to sing a song for you,” Marisol said as she walked, “and Maria’s gotten pretty decent on that guitar you brought her the last time you came through.”

“That’s nice,” Dorian smiled. The pair walked in silence a ways before he spoke again. “Some things Ah think yah should prob’ly know.”

“Dorian, you know I’m out of the trade.”

“Is anyone evah really out? Marisol, Ah know yah hear things.”

“I try not to,” she replied curtly.

“And you know Ah wouldn’t bring this tah ya unless Ah had reason,” he said. “Mah new crew…dumped a kidnapped Fed in town today.”

“What?” She stopped, her attention now laser focused. “Why?”

“Tah get rid of ‘im, Ah s’pose…”

“No no no…why,” she demanded, “did you kidnap him?”

“Ah don’t know,” Dorian shook his head. “Another new crew person..carried him aboard…in a box.”

“Oh…” She placed her hands upon her head. Marisol paced to and fro as she spoke. “Do you have any idea the kind of trouble that brings down on us, Dorian? Since the Miranda Broadwave, the *Federales* are really twitchy. A dead Fed who isn’t even supposed to be here? Once his ident is scanned, they’ll park a cruiser in orbit and won’t stop til they’ve tossed this entire planet.”

“Actually, he’s alive,” Dorian said.

“You said he was in a box.”

“Yes…alive…in the box.”

“My head hurts,” she moaned. “Why didn’t you just…take care of it?”

Adler sighed as he put his hands in his pockets. “That leads me tah tha next thing…”

“Wait. You’re telling me this gets even better?” Despite the darkness of the path, Dorian saw the widening of her eyes and the set of her jaw. He was very close to receiving both barrels of Marisol. “Go on!’ she exclaimed. “I’m just dying to hear this!”

“Our boat was tailed all the way out from Persephone.”

“YA THINK?” she snorted. “Got any idea how many times your box boy might’ve registered on dock scans? The *Federales* aren’t geniuses, but two and two sure enough makes four, even for the likes of them.” Her rising anger squelched as a shadow crossed her face. “Did you hear about the Nguyen brothers?”

“Saw’em,” Dorian said. “In their place. They rabbitted while Ah was picking out med supplies.”

“*JesuCristo*,” Marisol breathed. “There’s a bounty on them now…a high one. Feds also put prices on Joe Donovan, Katerina Russokova, and the Nuduba sisters. Dorian…tell me true, now. Were they all on your chain?” His silence made her shake her head. “*JesuCristo*.”

“Well,” Adler shrugged, “whoever is in orbit, I don’t think it’s Feds. Worst case is a bounty hunter…”

Marisol had lifted a cortex reader from the folds of her skirt. “You may be in luck,” she said. “Your name isn’t in any of the warrant releases…”

“That’s good,” he replied, “seein’ as I scattered mah business cards all over town today.”
For a moment, silence hung like a wool blanket soaked in cow piss. Dorian felt sure the real eruption was coming. Instead, Marisol’s laughter took him completely off guard.

“You’ve tied yourself up with some real geniuses!” she chortled. “So, what’s their plan? How are they dumping the *Federale*?”

“Ah think,” he tilted his head slightly, “they intend to conjure the look of a full on lost weekend…huge bar tab, gambling debt, unpaid whores an’ tha like.”

She rocked her own head to and fro, as if weighing the notion. “That could work,” Marisol answered. “He wouldn’t be the first soldier to go AWOL on a bender. Can he identify anyone?”

Dorian thought. “Possibly tha original kidnapper.” Try as he might, he couldn’t think of anyone else who the man might’ve seen with lucid eyes. Except for Jacy, who’d presented him with an entirely different vision. “No one else,” he concluded.

“Okay,” the woman nodded. “I’ve got some folk in town. We’ll keep an eye on your *Federale*and try to help firm up the cover story. Until we conjure who’s in orbit, I can’t give any assurances…but I want you off this rock with no *pistolas* drawn…dohn mah?

“Mah goal entirely.”

“Dorian,” Marisol’s expression was earnest. “*Federales* rolled up your chain. So far, they don’t have grips on you, but listen. “That bit of luck’s a double edged sword…”

“Ah know,” he lowered his head. “Ah wasn’t compromised when all else were. Makes fah suspicion…Marisol, you know me…you saw…the valley…evathing we did.”

“You’re preaching to the choir, Dorian. You listen to me now.” For a moment, the years fell away between them. Gone was the mother of three children. In her place stood the fierce captain whose campaign of blood and terror had seen her charges, including a boy who’d tried to help their wounded, successfully escape from the valley once intended for their graves. “I’ve got a cortex reader for you,” she said. “A burner. You do not use it…period. I’ll send you waves to keep you posted. Until I give you the “all clear”…look at me, Dorian…until I give you the “all clear,” you keep to the black. Keep flying. Are we clear on this?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You were right,” Marisol said as they turned to begin the walk back. “I hear things. There’s a lot in motion right now that I won’t talk about. But we will, someday. Your time will come. Now, let’s get back. My girls are dying to get you at the piano tonight.”

“Has it been tuned since the last time?” he asked.

“Nope.”

“Perfect.”