Below is an excerpt from the second book in the series,A Matter of Trust.
The truck bucked as it hit a particularly deep pothole.
Paco yelped, and Mauricio smiled again.
Credit: Christos Kalohoridis/NBC
It was a bad pothole, but nothing like the pits on either side of it.
Be careful, Mauricio, his father warned.
Condor will be furious if you wreck his truck.
No hay problema, Mauricio called back, his smile fading.
Because he wasnt supposed to have it in the first place.
He certainly wasnt supposed to be giving anyone a free pass out of Mexico.
If the boss caught him, Mauricio was going to get that kick in the stomach, and worse.
But he would take it.
This was his shot, and he was taking it.
Condor would hurt him when he brought back the truck.
But hed eventually cool down.
And even if he made Mauricio work for nothing for the next two years, itd be worth it.
This was his family, and he would do whatever it took to protect them.
Of course, once in the States, his mother would have to find a new church.
It was a shame Mauricio would never be inside it long enough to memorize the ceiling pattern.
Because once this was over, hed be done with religion.
familiar stack of rocks flashed past.
Were here, he announced.
Were in the United States.
The words were barely out of his mouth when everything went straight to hell.
But it wouldnt be God who got them out of this.
The cops probably thought they knew this area.
But Mauricio knew it better.
It cost a few tense minutes, and probably what was left of the pickups suspension.
But in the end the situation played out exactly as Mauricio had planned.
Get ready, he called to the others as they approached the sloping turn hed been aiming for.
Im going to stop just past that curve and let you out.
Ill lead them away and come back for you after I lose them.
But what if you?
I said,do you understand?
Yes, his father said stiffly.
I will, Mauricio promised.
He rocked around the curve, his wheels barely holding the road, and slammed on the brakes.
Unfortunately for them, it was the last bit of ground they would gain.
The road was twisty and rough, and Mauricio was going to hit it as hard as he could.
There was a reason rational people didnt take certain chances.
But it was his family.
And he did take the risk.
It seemed to take hours for the truck to bounce and clatter its way down the rocky slope.
And then, suddenly, it was over.
The world hed known was inaccessible.
But the next world was fast approaching.
Mauricio Chavez was about to die.
He tugged once more at the wheel.
He pushed the door.
And with nothing else to do, he began to pray.O God.
I havent been good.
But I only wanted to help my family
He snarled to himself.
This was not the time to be lying to God.
Time to change tactics.If youll get me out of this, I swear to you Ill change my life.
Ill quit Condor and the coyote business.
IllIll go to seminary and become a priest.
The smell of gas was getting stronger.
And as far as he could tell, he no longer had a body.
His first horrified thought was that he was already dead.
A heart attack, maybe, before the truck could ignite and burn him to death.
Was that Gods answer to his prayer?
To give him a more painless death than Mauricios recklessness deserved?
But this wasnt heaven.
It certainly and thankfully wasnt hell.
Besides, if he was dead, where was his body?
He was still in the truck, and there was no body trapped behind the wheel.
Everything hed heard about out-of-body experiences said that the actual body was still left there.
Where had it gone?
For that matter, with no body and no eyes, how was he even seeing any of this?
And then he noticed something he hadnt spotted before.
The cloud of smokewashim.
There was a warning crackle from the front of the truck.
Shaking away his fear and confusion, Mauricio lunged toward the broken window.
