Día de los Muertos: Chapter 17

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...

Día de los Muertos: Chapter 16

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...

Día de los Muertos: Chapter 15

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...

Día de los Muertos: Chapter 14

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...

Día de los Muertos: Chapter 13

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...

Día de los Muertos: Chapter 12

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...