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passenger seat.
    The girl looked at him, her face wrinkled in confusion, and then her eyes went wide as she saw the muzzle of the Smith & Wesson.
    “If you scream or try and get out of the car,” he said, “I’m going to shoot you in the face and then drive myself. Do you understand? Nod if you understand.”
    She nodded.
    “Good. Now put it in drive and get on the freeway.”
    “Just take the car .”
    “I need a driver, not a car. If you do everything I say and you do it well, by tomorrow morning, I will be on a plane, and you can go back to your life.” With his free hand, he pulled a wad of cash from his pocket. He counted out several hundred dollar bills and threw them on the center console. “And you’ll make some money for your troubles.”
    She looked behind her. “Why do you need a driver?”
    “I’ll tell you when we move.”
    She put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb. Once they were out of the airport and winding their way to the 105, Ian lowered the weapon but left it on his lap, where she could see it.
    “Where are we going?” she asked.
    “ You don’t need to know that.” Ian opened the suitcase and glanced inside. He closed and locked it again, then put it in the backseat. He opened the note app on his phone. Of the seven names he’d had two days ago, three were grayed out. That left four people, all with Los Angeles addresses. The name at the top of the list was Wendy Alvarez.
    “What’s your name?” he asked.
    “Suzan.”
    “ If I look at your driver license, is that the name I’m going to see?”
    She hesitated. “No. It’s Katherine.”
    “Katherine, I need your help for tonight. If something should happen to you, it interferes with my schedule, and I certainly don’t want to interfere with my schedule. I have a flight scheduled for noon tomorrow, a flight where I’m the only passenger, and I intend to make that flight. So my inclination is to make sure you’re safe. Do you understand?”
    She nodded.
    “I’m going to need you to say it.”
    “I understand.”
    “Good. So the only way you are going to get hurt tonight is if you change that inclination, which I’m hoping you won’t. Take the third exit down from here.”
    Katherine took forty minutes to drive to Inglewood. Ian saw men on street corners throwing up gang signs at him, and groups of teenagers roamed the night as though they were in some post-apocalyptic capital.
    “I was here once about ten years ago,” he said. “It’s gotten worse.”
    “What has?”
    “The city. Maybe people.” He looked to her and could tell she grew uncomfortable. “ Who were you waiting for at the airport?”
    “My dad. He’s coming to visit me.”
    “He’ll be fine . By the way, I can see that you’re trying to hide your phone on the other side of your lap. Pick it up.”
    She glanced at him.
    “It’s all right . Pick it up.”
    She did.
    “Call 9-1-1.”
    “No,” she said.
    “It’s not a trick. Call 9-1-1. Tell them the make and model of your car, and give them a description of me. I’m serious. Do it.”
    “You’ll hurt me.”
    “I give you my word. I will not hurt you. Call.”
    She looked down at the phone and held her thumb over the keypad for a moment before she dialed the number. It played an error message.
    “Try your dad’s cell,” he said.
    She called her father’s cell and got a busy signal.
    “It’s not working,” she said.
    “No, it’s not. So you can put the phone away. You don’t need to hide it from me. Turn right up here.”
    She stopped at the intersection and glanced at a group of men on the corner and then at Ian.
    “I wouldn’t,” Ian said. “They’ll rob you, rape you , and leave you on the side of the street. I’m not going to do any of those things.”
    She swallowed and then turned into a residential neighborhood. The houses were worn down, and the dilapidated chain-link fences with missing sections did a poor job of protecting yellowed lawns. Some lawns were