“I have a flight to catch.”

“Where to?”

“The United States.”

“Why?”

“My mother lives there with my brother and sister. They’re waiting for me.”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“Of what?”

“Over there people walk into schools and buildings with weapons and kill everyone. They’re not even guerrilla or paramilitary. Just regular people. What are you going to do when you’re out shopping and some gringo points a machine gun at your forehead?”

“I don’t think it’s any worse than here. Just different.”

“Do you have a father?”

“Yes. In Bogotá.”

“What does he think about you going north?”

“He always knew I would. I’m American.”

“You’re lying.”

“I was born there. My mother sent me here when I was a baby.”

“Oh, you’re one of those. Sent back like some DHL package.”

“You’re jealous I have a way out of here. Everyone is.”

He gargled the last drops of his soda, kicking the empty can onto a patch of grass. Talia went to pick it up and drop it in the trash with her own can.

“Who’s the guy you robbed?”

“Some pervert.”

“Did he do something to you?”

“He tried.”

“What were you doing in Barichara?”

“Seeing some of my country before I leave it.” She was tired of his questions. “What about you? Are you in school?”

“Not for years. I do odd jobs. Deliveries when people ask. I used to work for a mechanic, but I got bored and stopped going.”

“Who do you live with?”

“My girlfriend’s family. I was outside their house when you found me.”

“Lucky me.”

“Don’t start flirting with me. I told you I’ve got a girlfriend. You’re a kid, and I’m not a pervert like that other guy.”

“Who’s flirting? I’m just saying I’m glad you got me out of that place.”

He climbed onto his motorcycle, sliding his hips forward to make room for her. She eased onto the seat behind him, slid her hands around his waist, clasping them at his navel. “Don’t get attached, niña. Just a little longer on this road and you’re on your own.”

TEN

When the police told Mauro his daughter had brutally assaulted a man, that she could have blinded him for life, he was sure she did it in self-defense. She never caused problems at home or school. She had the manners he never had. He was wrong. It wasn’t self-defense, but still he believed she had her reasons and they must have been right and good.

In his meetings for addicts there was a lot of talk of being overtaken by the devil. They said he sent lesser demons to corrupt mankind in innocuous ways until a person found themselves trapped in a citadel of misdeeds. Some addicts in the room said they’d felt possessed when using, and one guy said that at his lowest, when he was selling himself for drugs, he found himself face-to-face with el diablo in the form of a client who laughed as the man knelt before him and said, Look what I made you do.