We'd been on the road for a few days. I walked over to my horse to tie my bag on, and as I passed Miles I hit him on the shoulder. "How's my favorite cripple this morning?"

He grunted. "Fine."

"I still can't believe you came all the way out here." I shook my head. "Gene told you to rest."

"I'm fine."

I rolled my eyes. "You said that already."

He walked away, while I finished packing. I glanced over at Rachel, who was packing her own things, and she shook her head. She wasn't thrilled Miles was out here either. Miles made it sound like he'd chosen to bring Rachel along, but I had a feeling she insisted.

"Bass, can I ask you something?" Miles asked. Rachel and I glanced in their direction. "What do you expect to get out of this?"

Bass looked up. "He's my kid. I don't know."

"He may not be too happy to see you."

"And whose fault is that?" Bass asked. "You're the one who took him away from me."

I looked at Rachel. "I can't deal with this today."

"Let's get moving," she called to the guys. "We're wasting daylight."

Bass and Miles got up and grabbed their things without another word to each other. I gave Rachel an appreciative look. "Thanks."

OoOoO

I gave my horse a kick, to speed up. I slowed down next to Miles. "Hey."

"What's up?"

"I've been wondering. You've known where Connor was for years, but you never told me. Georgia was safe, Connor could've been with family."

"He is with family," Miles said.

"What? Who?" I racked my brain for any other missing family members. "Emma and my mom had an older brother, from grandpa's first marriage, right? I never met him."

Miles nodded. "It was Elizabeth's idea."

"My mom knew?"

"Emma brought Connor to Savannah, but your mom said it wasn't safe. Georgia had too many eyes on it, someone would have found out who he was. So Elizabeth got word to me, and asked me to take him to her brother's."

"Why didn't she tell me?" I asked.

"You were better off forgetting about them," he said. "You weren't going to be able to see them."

We came to the top of the hill, and I realized what he meant. "That's the border."

"Uh huh."

"That's Mexico, Miles."

"Yep."

"You took my son to Mexico?" Bass asked joining us. "Why?"

"I was just telling Ciara, he has family there. Plus, Mexico is richer than the Republic."

"Not the Federation though," I muttered.

"And we wanted him as far away from you as we could get him," he finished.

"That's some wall," Rachel noted.

"How do we get in?" I asked. The four of us looked around. Rachel pointed out a wagon, it had a sign asking for day workers. There was a crowd around it.

A man in a suit stood in the wagon, surveying the crowd. "I need strong backs to pick tomatoes."

"Grab them," Rachel told me, nodding toward the guys. "I'm getting us on that wagon."

I gathered Miles and Bass, who had wondered off. "Stop standing around like idiots, Rachel's got our ticket."

I led them back to the crowd. "They're with me," Rachel told the man, motioning us to the front.

The man sighed, but nodded. "Get on." The three of us joined Rachel in the wagon. A handful of others were also picked. We drove past the crowd, several of whom were still begging for a ride across the border. The border police opened the gates, and pushed back the rabble.

I got my first look at Mexico. It wasn't anything special, just a river and some trees. It reminded me of when I left Savannah with Garrett. That trip had changed my life. I could only hope this one would be a little less life shattering.

OoOoO

Once we'd been on the road for a while, I began to see mansions pop up. They were bigger and newer than anything I'd seen in the Federation. But still nice. "Do I need to stop the wagon before you fall out?" Bass teased.

"I have a thing for architecture," I mumbled.

"I've noticed."

"We should make our move soon," Rachel whispered.

"Not here, no cover," Miles told us.

The suited man looked over his shoulder and winked at Rachel. He patted the empty seat next to him. Rachel slid closer to Miles. "Yeah, cover or no cover, it's time to make our move."

"Hey!" Bass shouted. The man made no move to turn back around. Bass stood, despite the glare Miles was giving him. Bass grabbed the man's gun and bashed him in the head. The suited man fell from the wagon. Bass swung the gun toward the driver, who didn't waste any time jumping overboard. I vaulted into the driver's seat and took the reins. I pulled the horses to a halt.

I looked over my shoulder and addressed the other riders. "Thanks for riding with us on this lovely day, but I'm afraid this is where the tour ends. Welcome to Mexico, have fun!" They looked at me confused. "Go." As soon as they were all off, I snapped the reins. The horses started up again, and I grinned.

"Give me those, before you tip us over." Bass took the reins from my hands.

"Whatever, my ass is just happy to have a padded seat."

OoOoO

We pulled into a town with dusty streets and run down buildings. Women in short dresses, leaned in doorways. They watched us as we drove by. "This is the place," Miles said.

"You brought Connor to a glorified whorehouse?" I asked. "Typical."

"It wasn't like this when I left him here," Miles told me defensively. He led us to a door, and knocked. "Tell him we're looking for Gary and Susan Bennett," he instructed Rachel. The names sounded a little familiar, but mom had hardly talked about her older brother. I didn't even know if he lived here before the blackout or not.

When a man opened the door, just a crack, Rachel asked for them in Spanish. The man shook his head as he replied.

"Oh," I mumbled.

"What?" Bass asked.

"They're dead," I told him.

"They died eight years ago," Rachel added.

"Mi primo estuvo con ellos, ¿sabes dónde está? Se llama Connor," I asked. The man shook his head again, this time more fiercely, and then slammed the door in our faces.

"What'd you ask him?" Bass asked.

"If he knew where Connor was. I guess he's not interested in helping."

"If we don't find him, you and I are going to have some serious problems," Bass said to Miles.

"We'll find him," Miles said confidently.

"I sincerely hope so," I told him, "For your sake."

OoOoO

We all split up and scoured the town. We met a few hours later in a bar down the street from the former Bennett residence. I was the last to return. "Anything?" Bass asked, hopefully.

I shook my head. "I knocked on every door and no one knows anything. Or, if they do, they won't tell me." I sat down next to him. "I'm leaning toward the latter. I don't suppose you've had better luck?"

"Nothing," Miles said.

"Awesome. Seriously, Miles, you've really outdone yourself this time."

"It was before your father was elected, we didn't know how things would turn out. Emma and your mother talked about options, and this was the one that they decided on. I just brought him here."

"Eight years, Miles!" Someone behind me cleared his throat. I turned around, annoyed. "What?"

"Pardon the interruption, but if you don't mind my asking, what are you folks doing in town?" A young man asked. He gave us all a glance over.

"Yes, actually we do mind. Mind your own damn business," Bass said.

I took a closer look at the kid, and then looked back at Miles. He nodded once. I put my hand on Bass's arm.

"You're in our town, show some respect."

Bass stood up and hit my arm lightly. "Isn't this the whitest Mexican you've ever seen?"

"Bass," Miles said.

"What?"

"That's him."

"Connor," I said. His eyes darted toward me, then back to Miles.

"I know you. You're Miles." He looked back to Bass and me. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm your dad," Bass said.

"God, you two sound alike," I said. I leaned forward on my hands. Connor glanced back at me. I sat up quickly and stuck out my hand. "Ciara Jackson, I'm Emma's niece. I'm your cousin."

He ignored my hand. "Your lying, my dad's dead."

I dropped my hand to the table with a thumb. "I don't know what Emma told you, but he is your dad. I'm not lying. I mean, look at me, I look like Emma, don't I?" Connor nodded hesitantly. "Miles tell him it's true."

"It's true."

"Then where's my mom?" He asked.

"She died last year," I told him. "I was with her, she asked me to find you."

"I just want to talk to you," Bass said.

"Yeah, sure, let's have a heart to heart," Connor said sarcastically.

"You're right, they do sound alike," Miles told me.

"Shut up," Connor told Miles. To Bass he said, "You're going to crawl under whatever hole you came out from, or I'll burry you."

"You're going to burry me?" Bass asked skeptically.

I leaned toward Rachel. "Any chance you can bail us out of this one?"

"Sorry."

"You've got what, thirty guys here? You think you're king of the world, don't you?" Bass shook his head. "Trust me, kid, this is a dead end street."

"And how would you know what?" Connor asked.

"Because I'm Sebastian Monroe."

Connor laughed and then looked at our faces and realized he was the only one. "You're serious?"

"Uh huh," I said. Another guy approached Conner, and said something in Spanish. Connor left without looking back. I looked back at Miles. "Any idea who Nunez is?"

OoOoO

We left reluctantly, and made camp outside of town. "I want to go back," Bass said.

"You saw him, now it's time to go," Miles told him.

"This is your fault, Miles."

"Does it feel like looking in a mirror?" Rachel asked Bass, narrowing her eyes. "It doesn't matter what Miles did or didn't do. Connor was always going to turn out like this. He's just like you."

I stood up. "I honestly don't give a damn, about any of this," I said. "I've been going along for the ride, but he's family. I'm not letting him waltz out of my life because he has daddy issues."

"Sit down, Ciara," Miles told me.

"No, the three of you can argue and insult each other all night, for all I care. I'm going back for Connor."

OoOoO

I found Connor sitting outside the bar. He looked up when I approached. I couldn't tell if he was happy to see me or not. "You're still here," I said, relieved.

He shrugged. "I thought you might come back." He nodded at the chair across from him. "Want to sit down?"

I nodded and slid into the seat. I noticed he was holding a picture and reached for it, without thinking. He glanced between the picture and me before putting it in my hand. It was a photo of Emma holding him as a baby. "You probably don't remember, but I met you when you were four." He shook his head. "Yeah, I don't really remember it either." I looked at the picture again. "She wanted me to find you."

"You told me that already."

"I know. I just want you to know that Emma really loved you." I handed his picture back.

"Then why'd she dump me here?"

"Because she thought-" I stopped. "I don't know. She thought it would be safer, I guess."

"Safe from what?"

"Your dad."

He shook his head. "I'm not ready to get into that. What's your deal?"

"Well, the President of Georgia is my dad," I told him. I paused. "Was my dad. He's dead."

"So, you're telling me my dad was president of the Monroe Republic. And my cousin was president of the Georgia Federation. That pretty much makes me royalty." He smiled.

"I wasn't president. Yet," I corrected. "But yeah, you've got some big shoes to fill, kid. Miles said you're working for a cartel or whatever?"

He nodded. "You do what you have to," He told me. "You still have family up north?"

I shook my head. "My dad died in the bombings. I'm sure you heard about those, wiped Atlanta and Philadelphia completely off the map. My mom died when I was seventeen."

"How'd you get hooked up with Miles and Monroe?"

"Miles is a family friend. Some friend though, he didn't mention you until a few weeks ago. I met Bass when my dad sent me up to the Republic to marry some Militia guy." I rolled my eyes, even though it had all worked out in the end.

"Sounds like your life was just as crappy as mine."

"Wasn't that bad 'til everyone around me started dropping like flies." I shrugged. "I should probably warn you, I'm cursed."