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sorted through the racks of girls’ dresses.
    Stop it. She fought for control of her jumbled thoughts. Breathe. Relax. Formulate a plan. She could go back to Elena’s village. But what if the man she saw in the poppy field was behind this, and those men were after her and not Maria? But that would mean Elena had told them where to find her, and she wouldn’t do that.
    She took out her new smartphone and emailed the pastor at the small church in Valle Rojo, asking if Elena was okay and if anyone had been looking for her. Then she stared at her phone. Had only an hour passed since they’d escaped from the restaurant? It seemed like a year. They still had three hours to make the flight.
    Miguel. Maybe the driver who took her to Elena’s village would come get them and take them to the airport. She scrolled to his number. After the sixth ring, it went to voicemail, and she left Miguel a message to call her, then dropped the phone into her purse.
    At least she still had her cell . . . and the plane tickets. If they could get to the airport, they would be safe. She startled when Maria tugged on her arm.
    “Miss Bailey, I’m tired. I want to find my uncle and go home.”
    “I know, honey, but I’m afraid we can’t do that.” She rubbedher temples. They had to get to the airport, and if Miguel didn’t return her call, she had no idea what she would do. She feared going to the police. She’d heard too many stories of the Calatrava infiltrating their ranks. And many of those who weren’t part of the gang were on the take. Numbness fogged her brain so she couldn’t think.
    “Can we call Mr. Danny?”
    Bailey stared at Maria. Danny?He could get them to the States in his plane. Why hadn’t she already thought of him? Maybe because she didn’t want to ask him for anything after the way she’d dumped him.
    Seriously? Here I am, running from a drug cartel with a small child, and I don’t want to ask the only person in Mexico I trust for help?
    Her cell phone rang, and she fished it out again. The caller ID read Miguel, and she almost dropped the phone in relief. Now she wouldn’t have to call Danny. “Miguel, thank goodness you called me back. Where are you?”
    “What’s the matter, mi pequeña?”
    Tears burned her eyes. Miguel always called her his little girl. “I’m in trouble. Can you come get me and take me to the airport here in Chihuahua?”
    “Oh, mi pequeña, I am so sorry. I am at my sister’s near Monterrey.”
    Bailey’s shoulders drooped, then she turned her head as she realized someone was speaking to her. The salesclerk.
    “May I help you find something? Perhaps a pair of shorts for your daughter?”
    She frowned, then forced a smile to her lips as she spoke to Miguel. “Hang on a second.”
    She grabbed a white organdy A-line dress with embroidered roses on it. “I think we’ll see if this dress will fit. Where are the dressing rooms?”
    Maria pulled against her. “But I don’t like that.”
    The clerk crossed her arms. “Señora, I’m not sure—”
    “I’m sure she’ll like it just fine once she tries it on.”
    “Then you might want to get a smaller size. Like this.”
    Bailey groaned. She’d picked a dress two sizes too large. “Thank you. Now, the dressing room?”
    Once inside the tiny room, she sank to the bench and pressed her finger to her lips. Maria stared at her, her eyes rimmed with tears ready to spill. If Bailey looked in the mirror, she’d see the same thing. “ Un momento, niña. I need to talk on the phone. Okay?”
    Maria barely nodded, and Bailey spoke to Miguel again. “Are you still there?”
    “Sí. I’ve been thinking. My cousin Clemente lives in Chihuahua. I will call him, and he will come and take you.”
    The band around her chest loosened even as sirens wailed somewhere in the city. “Oh, Miguel. Gracias. Muchas gracias.”
    “I will call him and call you right back. But first this trouble. What is it?”
    “It’s nothing that leaving