Part 1 (2/2)

”St, senor.” Sandy looked at him questioningly. ”That does mean 'Yes, sir,' doesn't it?”

The guard grinned once more. ”Si, senor.”

”Thanks.”

The indicated parking s.p.a.ce was entirely empty at this early hour. When Sandy slid the car to a stop again, under the overhanging roof of the building, another uniformed guard appeared immediately, followed by a porter.

”If you will give the porter all your luggage,” the guard said, ”he will take it inside for inspection. And ACROSS THE BORDER 7.

you will then both come with me, please. Bring your tourist permits and the application for your car permit.”

Ken and Sandy were traveling light. The porter had no difficulty with their two suitcases, a canvas duffel bag, and Sandy's camera case. As he walked off toward an open doorway the guard said politely, ”You need not bother to lock your car. It will be watched while you are inside.”

The border formalities were completed quickly and courteously. Less than ten minutes after the boys had entered the customs building their visas had been stamped and their car permit filled out, and they were waiting on one side of a long table on which their luggage had been arranged. The inspector, opposite them, rebuckled the straps of the camera case. Then he affixed seals to all the bags.

”Please do not break the seals immediately,” he said. ”You will pa.s.s two more customs stations. The first is seventeen miles south of here, the second some miles beyond that. If the seals are still in place, there will be no delay at those stations.”

”Thank you.”

”And now I will call a porter for your bags.”

”Never mind,” Sandy told him. ”We can manage.” He picked up the two valises as Ken took the duffel bag and camera case.

”I hope you will enjoy your visit to Mexico,” the guard told them. ”Just one word of warning, if I may,” he added.

”Warning?” Sandy's eyebrows lifted.

”A Mexican hot sauce-it can be quite hot, senores.”

Ken laughed. ”Thanks. We'll remember.”

”You don't scare me,” Sandy said. ”That's the first thing I intend to try.”

8 .

The inspector shrugged cheerfully. ”Well, don't say I didn't warn you.”

Ken walked through the outer door ahead of Sandy and glanced back over his shoulder to see his friend examining a rack of colorful folders.

”Maps and stuff,” Sandy called after him. ”I'll pick up a few and be right out.”

Ken nodded and continued toward the car. It was still the only vehicle parked beneath the overhanging roof. Beyond the block of shade under the roof the sun was already a white-hot glare. Ken squinted his eyes against it. He was within a few steps of the car before he saw the man standing alongside the convertible's left door.

Ken smiled automatically, a.s.suming from the man's visored cap that he was another of the customs officials. But an instant later he realized his mistake. The man's cap was not part of a uniform. It was a fis.h.i.+ng cap, worn at a rakish angle above well-fitted tan slacks and a matching sport s.h.i.+rt. The face beneath the visor was long and thin, like the man's body, and tanned to almost the shade of his clothes. The eyes were bright and watchful.

”Good morning,” Ken said, as he moved around to the back of the car to open the trunk. The man probably was a tourist like themselves, Ken decided, and wondered vaguely where his car might be. He noticed only one other car in sight, a gray coupe. But it was parked a full hundred feet away from the customs building, and the swarthy, dark-haired man behind its wheel did not seem to be awaiting attention from the inspectors. He seemed, in fact, to be asleep. The eyes beneath the low forehead were apparently closed. Ken's idly curious glance traveled back from the gray ACROSS THE BORDER 9.

coupe to the man who still stood beside the door of the red convertible.

”Morning,” the stranger said then, quietly. And when Ken had stowed his burdens inside the car, he added, ”Cigarette?”

”No, thanks. I don't smoke.” Still curious, Ken wondered if the man was planning to cross the border on foot-or if, perhaps, he was leading up to a request for a ride with Sandy and himself.

The man fished a cigarette out of his s.h.i.+rt pocket and, without removing his strangely intent gaze from Ken's face, opened the lid of a silver lighter. A bright green flame leaped into life above the metal case.

Ken's eyes widened involuntarily. ”Tricky,” he commented. ”What makes the green color-a special fuel?”

The intent gaze narrowed slightly. ”You shouldn't leave your car unlocked like this,” the man said, ignoring Ken's question.

”Why not? The guard told us it would be safe. Besides, all our luggage was with us inside the building. There was nothing here to steal.” The stranger's att.i.tude annoyed him.

”Nothing?” The quiet voice repeated a single word out of Ken's reply, giving it the rising inflection of a question.

Ken frowned. ”That's right. Nothing.”

The man blew a cloud of smoke into the still air. ”All right. I guess you're trying to play it safe.” He flicked his cigarette away. ”But you can relax now. Just give me the keys and we'll get moving.”

Ken stared at him blankly. Then he said, ”Look, there must be some mistake. You must have us mixed up with some other party. We don't need a guide.”

”We?” Suddenly the quiet voice sharpened. ”Who's 10 .

with you? Just because you're across the border, don't think that-”

”Don't think what?” Sandy had arrived unnoticed and dropped the two bags on the ground with a thump. ”What's up, Ken?”

Ken signed with relief. Now that Sandy had joined him they could leave. ”Nothing,” he a.s.sured Sandy. ”This gentleman here just had us confused with someone else.”

As he spoke, another car swung around the corner of the building from the direction of the International Bridge. It, too, was a convertible. And it, too, was red. It pulled to a stop and the driver looked expectantly around, as if seeking something. His neat dark business suit seemed out of place in the bright Mexican suns.h.i.+ne, and the pallor of his face was accentuated by dark gla.s.ses.

The horn of the gray coupe”, parked some distance away, sounded loudly, twice.

As Ken heard the signallike toots he saw the man with the green-flamed lighter swing sharply around and focus his eyes on the new arrival. When he turned back toward the boys he was smiling for the first time.

”You were right,” he said. ”I guess that's the party I was supposed to meet.” His hand gestured a brief salute in the air as he walked briskly toward the second convertible.

”Now that that slight confusion has been cleared up, let's go.” Sandy swung the two bags up into the trunk and banged the lid down decisively.

”Wait a minute.” Ken spoke quietly. ”I can tell you exactly what's going to happen. Our friend is going to offer a cigarette to the man in the convertible, then he's going to light it with a lighter that has a green flame.”

The flame glowed green for an instant.

12 .

”A green flame?” Sandy stared at him with mock concern. ”Has this foreign air affected your mind?”

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