I turned back. He was holding up the T-shirt and trying to wrap gauze around his waist at the same time. “I thought you had a genius IQ.”

His head whipped up, all traces of humor gone. “Where did you hear that?”

“Just, I—I don’t know, it was in your file, I think.”

He turned from me as if disgusted. “Of course, the file.”

Wow, he really hated that thing. “Uncuff me and I’ll help.”

“That’s okay, I got it.”

“Reyes, don’t be ridiculous.” When he headed for the sink, I lifted my leg and braced my booted foot against it, blocking his path.

He stopped and looked down at it for a long moment. Then he was in front of me, one hand wound in my hair, the other pulling me into him. But he took it no further. He just watched, studied, then said, “Do you know how dangerous that is?”

A loud pounding sounded at the door, and I jumped about three feet into the air. “Pendejo, we gotta fly. They’re already watching the house. This is going to be tricky enough as it is, without you suffering from exhaustion and dehydration from too much strenuous exercise, if you know what I mean.”

As if it took every ounce of strength he had, Reyes dropped his arms and stepped back, his jaw flexing in frustration. “One minute,” he said as he bent down and pulled on the socks and boots Bianca had supplied.

He stood and inserted a key into the handcuffs, the fingers of one hand lacing into mine as he unlocked the restraint with the other. Then we started down the hall, the current that arced through us becoming stronger with each breath, each heartbeat. Amador checked the backyard before waving us forward while he ran to the side of the house.

“Uncle Reyes, are you leaving?”

Reyes turned. Ashlee was peeking out her bedroom window through the storm screen.

“Just for a little while, smidgen,” he said, walking up to her. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I can’t sleep. I want you to stay.” She placed her small hand on the screen. He did the same, and my head fought to wrap itself around how fiercely animalistic Reyes could be one minute, then how amazingly tender the next.

She puckered her lips and pressed them to the screen. He leaned forward and offered her an adoring peck on the nose, and all I could think about was the fact that I never have a camera when I need one. Freaking Kodak moments sucked when you didn’t actually have a Kodak.

“When we’re married,” Ashlee said, resting her forehead against the mesh, “we can kiss without a screen between us, huh?”

He laughed softly. “We sure can. Now go to sleep before your mom sees you.”

“Okay.” She yawned, her tiny mouth forming a perfect O, then disappeared.

“Dude, did you just make out with my daughter?”

Reyes turned to Amador with a grin. “We’re in love.”

“Okay, but you can’t have her until she’s eighteen.” He put a duffel bag on the ground. “No, I know you. Make that twenty-one.”

Bianca rushed out and handed her husband another bag. “For the road,” she said as she rushed over to Reyes and hugged him gingerly, kissing his cheek as they parted. “Be careful, handsome man.”

“For you, anything.”

“Twenty-five,” Amador said when Reyes wriggled his brows at him.

Amador, Reyes, and I raced through the backyard, scaled a fence, and darted through a neighbor’s yard to the next street, where an old Chevy two-door truck sat waiting. All the while, I seemed to be the only one amazed at Reyes’s recovery, and I was the only other person present who could tote a supernatural badge if I wanted to. Amador didn’t seem the slightest bit surprised.

He threw the bags into the bed and tossed Reyes the keys. “Two minutes,” he said, tapping his watch. “Don’t be late this time.” He strode up to Reyes and embraced him hard. “Vaya con Dios.” Go with God. What an ironical thing to say.

“Let’s hope so. I’m probably going to need His help,” Reyes said.

Amador glanced at his watch again. “One minute thirty.”

Reyes grinned. “I would run if I were you.”

And Amador took off the way we had come.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Reyes climbed into the truck, and I saw the grimace he tried to hide. He certainly wasn’t 100 percent, but he was getting there fast. “A diversion,” he said when I got in.

About one minute later, cop sirens began wailing through the quiet neighborhood as two muscle cars raced down a side street.

“That’s our cue,” Reyes said. He started the truck and drove to the freeway with nary a cop in sight.

“Who was driving the other car?”

He smiled. “Amador’s cousin who owes him about a million dollars. Don’t worry, they’ll get away. Amador has a plan.”

“You guys are big on plans. How long has it been since you’ve driven?” I asked him, realizing he’d been in jail a long time.

“Worried?” he asked.

Was it even possible for him to just answer a question? “You’re more evasive than a Navy SEAL.”

We drove to a shoddy hotel in the southern war zone and walked into the office hand in hand. Actually, Reyes wasn’t about to let me go in alone. He didn’t trust me. It was giving me a complex. Or it would’ve if I’d cared.

“This place is a health violation,” I said. “You want to stay here?”