Russell Blake - Jet

She entered the stifling emporium and browsed its sorry offerings, and within five minutes had made her selections, including an ancient cardboard suitcase that had probably been there since Columbus landed.

Once in the hotel, she changed into her new outfit — a shapeless, loose-fitting black skirt with a frayed hem, a creme-colored native blouse that looked like it hailed from the disco era, and a dark blue scarf for her head. The ensemble was completed with a pair of sandals that someone had probably died wearing. She peered at herself in the mirror, and a Venezuelan peasant woman looked back at her — only one whose face was still far too memorable. Her features were distinctive in the sense that she looked either Asian or Slavic — high cheekbones, slightly almond-shaped eyes, perfect symmetry. But that could easily pass for native — there was a decent amount of Indian blood in the population, which also had similar attributes.

She went into the bathroom and balled up some toilet paper and stuffed it between her cheeks and her bottom molars, then returned to consider her reflection. It was still missing something. Stooping down, she scraped up some dark brown filth from a corner of the room and then rubbed it beneath each eye. Much better. Now she looked at least ten years older, ridden hard by a harsh life. More in keeping with the likely passenger profile on a rural bus to nowhere.

Jet packed her clothes into the suitcase, along with her shoes, and snapped the latches closed. It wasn’t a perfect disguise, but anyone looking for her based on a description or her old passport photo wouldn’t give her a second glance.

On her way out of the hotel, she dropped the key on the counter, not waiting for the clerk to come out of the back and witness her remarkable transformation. She didn’t think that anyone would be questioning the unfriendly matron, but better to play it safe than take an unnecessary risk.

As she approached the bus stop, she slowed, scanning the few vehicles and taking in the people waiting nearby.

The hair on the back of her neck prickled. Something was off.

There .

Fifty yards up on the opposite side of the street, a Caucasian man leaned against the wall of a neighboring building, reading a paper, occasionally glancing at the waiting passengers when he flipped the pages.

He hadn’t seen her. Or if he had, he hadn’t registered her as anything besides what she appeared to be — a late thirties peasant woman down on her luck.

She turned and moved back down the street then ducked into a tiny market, where she bought a bottle of water and considered her options.

Thank God she’d decided to play dress up. She would have stuck out from a mile away if she hadn’t.

But her basic problem remained. How to get off the peninsula?

The small airport wasn’t a solution. It would also be watched if the bus stop was.

She resumed her walk, passing the little secondhand store, then backtracked and asked the proprietor if he knew anyone that could give her a ride to Carupano — a relatively large town on the Caribbean side that would have more buses to Caracas — the only international gateway she knew of. He rolled his eyes, considering the request.

“You can catch the bus. It leaves in a few minutes. Takes you there on the way to Caracas,” he offered.

“No. I’ve had bad experiences with rural buses. It’s worth it to me to pay a little more and have someone drive me.”

“It’s going to cost more than just a little more.”

“Well, I’m obviously not rich, but where there’s a will…”

He studied her. “I may know someone.”

“Could you call them?”

“What do you think is a fair price?”

“I don’t really know. How far is it?” she asked.

“Maybe eighty or ninety miles by road. Mostly bad roads.”

“What do you think is the right price?”

He laughed. “For you or for the driver?”

After another few minutes of banter, they agreed that twelve dollars seemed fair.

“My name’s Cesar. I’ll close up the shop.”

She nodded, her suspicion confirmed. “What’s your car like, Cesar?”

“It’s made it so far. Like me. A lot of miles, but still runs okay.”

He swung a rusting gate closed across the stall and slid a padlock through the latch, then motioned for her to follow him. Two blocks later, they arrived at a small house with a tin roof and chickens swarming the yard. A skinny brown mongrel dog growled from one side of the shaded front porch, but didn’t bother to move.

“Don’t let him scare you. He’s too lazy to bother to attack if it means getting up or coming into the sun,” Cesar said, then pointed at a sagging gray Isuzu Trooper that was more rust than metal.

She eyed it skeptically. “Are you sure that will make it?”

“It would make it to Alaska for the right kind of money.”

He walked to the side of the SUV and pulled free a filthy rag that served as a gas cap, then lifted a dented jerry can.

“Just need to fill it up, and then we can go.”

Jet began to get a sinking feeling, but simply nodded. Anyone watching for her wouldn’t be looking for a native woman in the world’s losing-est truck. She walked slowly around the vehicle, noting the nearly bald tires and the wire that appeared to be holding on one of the fenders.

“ Jefe ! Come on. You want to go for a ride?”

The dog sluggishly raised its head, and then its ears perked up. Cesar slapped his leg in invitation, and the animal stood and stretched, then sidled over to where his master was finishing pouring gas into the tank, watching with measured curiosity. Cesar returned the can to the side of the house and then opened the rear cargo door. The dog hopped up with remarkable dexterity and plopped down in the back.

“Hop in. We’ll be there in no time,” Cesar said.

She tossed her bags onto the rear bench seat, watching the dog for any sign of aggression before climbing into the passenger seat. The door sounded like it was going to fall off its hinges when she slammed it shut. Jefe began panting his anticipation, and the vehicle immediately smelled like dog breath.

Cesar slid behind the wheel and dug a key out of his pocket. Squinting at the dashboard as though puzzled by the layout, he fiddled with the ignition. At first nothing happened, and the temperature inside the cab quickly climbed twenty degrees. Finally, a series of clicks issued from under the hood, followed by a wheezing groan and a series of coughs, and then something caught, and the engine puttered to life.

“See? It’s a like a Mercedes! I told you.”

“Very impressive,” she agreed.

He jammed the shifter into drive and goosed the gas, and the ancient truck lurched reluctantly forward.

“Sorry. No air-conditioning. Broke about ten years ago. But once we’re moving, the air from the windows will cool us.”

“I just hope we keep moving.”

They pulled onto the narrow street, and he eased the truck up the gentle incline to where rural Highway 9 connected to the main street. On the outskirts of town, they passed an old converted school bus heading into Guiria. It looked marginally more trustworthy than the Isuzu.

“That’s the Caracas bus,” Cesar said, gesturing with his head.

“Nice.”

The road meandered across the peninsula and back again, and they motored along at an average of twenty miles per hour. Jet didn’t know whether to be more annoyed or relieved that the driver was being cautious. She decided to be optimistic and closed her eyes, allowing the feeble cross-ventilation to provide scant relief from the mounting heat.

Four hours later, they rolled into Carupano and Jet had Cesar drop her off a block from the bus station. She walked over and checked the schedule and saw that there was a bus headed to Caracas that evening, and another in the morning. The prospect of traveling three hundred miles at night on dubious roads didn’t appeal to her, so she decided to get a room and do some clothes shopping — the peasant garb had been fine, but it had served its purpose, and she needed essentials that a town the size of Carupano was likely to have.