Seventeen Downtown / 5:30 P.M. Calhoun was lying on a bed in one of the hotel rooms they kept around the city. This one had a view of the bullring and a technical college from the window in front oft of him. When he'd woken up he could hear the students outside on...

Sixteen Downtown / 3:20 P.M. Selena's "Tú Solo Tú" was on the juke box.We're all finished off in the war of life – some just take more killing than others, Calhoun thought, looking at his beer. He thought of running to a theater and hiding from himself. He saw...

Fifteen Caliente Racetrack / 2:30 P.M. The Winners' Circle at Caliente race track is as far away from God and Decency as you can get. There were bars downtown that were more frightening, but the Winners' Circle was the soft, wet pulp of greed, the hub of every...

Fourteen Amigo Motel / 1:30 P.M. Calhoun hung onto the telephone. He'd placedsome bets with his bookie the day before and had forgotten to check in until now. He turned the TV on with the remote control: MTV cut to throbbing pulchritude around a pool, butts and...

Thirteen Palmdale / 12:30 P.M. Calhoun drove the jeep up to the last gate. Castro slid out of the jeep. They'd crossed the border at the Hittleman's cattle ranch. Hittleman got five hundred dollars a week to keep his mouth shut. Castro walked across the metal...

Twelve Sonoran Desert / 11:20 A.M. They turned onto Mex. 2, a two-lane asphalt road that ran east toward Mexicali with more potholes than the road to hell. There were six people in the jeep, not counting Calhoun and Castro. The Guatemalan couple Calhoun had...