Eligio paced at the top of the steps, under the wide portal of The Hacienda. He waited for the white van, wondering if his cousin, Cesario, had procured the necessary supplies for the next shipment. The buyer had been so pleased with their first delivery that he had increased this order threefold.
Eligio tossed the butt of his cigarette onto the porch’s tiled floor, snubbed it out with the toe of his dress shoe, and loosened his tie. Even though it was late in the evening, it was too warm in Chihuahua to wear a suit and shoulder holster, but his appearance was important to him. The Hacienda’s guests were wealthy. He would not show himself to them in workaday clothes. Until the man everyone called El Jefe returned, Eligio was in charge, and he wanted everyone to know it. 
Cesario had not yet returned to The Hacienda from his gathering mission. Eligio ran his fingers through his short black hair and thought, he’s probably in some cantina, fucking a “beautiful native girl” as he calls them. Eligio had nothing against casual sex. He preferred his women casual. Even though it had been months since he indulged his baser needs, this was work, and he wanted to avoid distraction. Eligio needed to prove himself valuable both to his uncle back home in Italy and to his new boss, El Jefe.
Eligio wandered down the wide porch steps. The full moon was so dazzlingly bright that it cast shadows on the ground. It made the woods that surrounded The Hacienda look even thicker and more ominous than they did in the daylight. He looked over his shoulder at the mansion. Every window was glowing with light, and laughter from the party inside spilled out. A refreshing breeze carried the aroma of some late-blooming honey mesquite and the sound of tires crunching on gravel. Eligio breathed a sigh of relief. The merchandise had finally arrived. 
The van looked like a piece of junk. Covered in dents and scrapes, red primer showed through the spots where the white paint had peeled away. Eligio wondered how they had made it through the desert in that tin can on wheels. The van stopped. The driver and one of his companions emerged from the front seat. 
Eligio noticed the several-day growth of beard on the men and the sweat stains on their shirts. Hmm, no air conditioning. God only knows what condition the cargo will be in. Cesario’s car did not follow. Eligio thought, I’ll have to handle this myself.
“You’re three hours late. What took you so long?” Storming up to the men, glaring at them with his dark brown eyes, Eligio spoke in English to the Mexicans. He purposely put his hands on his hips, pushing back his jacket to reveal that he was armed.
“I’m sorry, señor. It was a long drive with many stops. We got here as fast as we could,” Jesús, the driver, said.
“Well?” Eligio said with an air of superiority. “The guests are waiting. Get them out.”Jesús banged on the side of the van with his hand, and the back doors opened. A third man, similarly perspired and disheveled, emerged from the rear of the van.“Vamos! Ahora!” The man yelled.
Slowly, one by one, young women cautiously crawled out of the van. The two men and Jesus shoved the girls into a line. The girls looked sweaty and weary from the long ride. Their overall appearance did not impress Eligio. All of them wore dresses. Some of their fashions were only dated by a few years. A few of them wore tradition Mexican skirts and blouses. One girl at the end of the line, in a homemade dress and kitten heels, looked as if she had come directly out of the 1970s Sears catalogue.
“I count only eleven. We need fifteen,” Eligio growled. He shoved Jesús toward the van.Jesús stumbled, catching himself from falling. “I’m sorry, Señor Eligio. These were all the ones who were waiting.”
A shriek pierced the air, followed by a low grunt, then the sound of a loud slap.“What’s going on over there?” Eligio yelled. He strode over to the end of the line of girls. The girl in the homemade dress lay in the dirt. “Get up off the ground. What are you, a pig?”The poor girl froze.
The guard from the back of the van yelled, “Levántate!” while doubled over and holding his crotch. He prodded her hip with the toe of his boot.
“Never touch the merchandise!” Eligio shouted. He shoved the guard aside, picked the girl up by the shoulders, and set her on her feet. He turned back to the guard and pistol-whipped the man in the face. “How am I supposed to use her tonight, covered in dirt with the mark from your hand across her face? El Jefe will know how you treat his precious cargo.” 
Then, Eligio threatened all three men with his gun. “What the hell else have you done to them? They look like shit. How am I supposed to present them to my clients as tonight’s entertainment?” He pointed to the one he had picked up off the ground. “Hell, not only is she damaged, but she looks ready for Sunday school. How the hell old is she?”
The men cowered and shrugged.
“How old are you?” Eligio barked at the girl, still speaking English.The girl shuddered, staring at him as he waved his gun around, with big brown eyes. Strands of her long, black, silky hair stuck to the sweat on her face. Eligio growled and switched to Spanish. “¿Cuántos años tienes?”.“Diecisiete años,” the girl answered, jutting out her chin defiantly.“Seventeen?” Eligio’s pistol hit the side of the driver’s head hard. “El Jefe said no one under eighteen. What were you thinking?”
The three men cowered again.
Eligio holstered his pistol and turned to the girl. She’s a rare beauty, he thought. “¿Cómo te llamas?”
He didn’t know why he’d asked her name. Why should he care? She was only merchandise. But she would fetch a good price.
“Ignatia, señor.”
He spoke to her softly, in Spanish. “Ignatia, you must be eighteen to work for us and cross the border. Do you understand?”
Ignatia looked momentarily dejected, then straightened her spine and said, “I turn eighteen in six months.”
Eligio shook his head and scowled. This girl was alluring, but he wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth. She was taller than the other girls. She had long, shapely legs and hips under the cotton dress. The belt that cinched her waist helped to show off large, round breasts that, even with the buttons fastened to the collar, interested him. She was pretty, but her face looked young and innocent. Her eyes darted shyly from the ground to his eyes and back down.
“Por favor, señor,” she suddenly grabbed his sleeve and begged him, looking straight into his dark eyes. “Take me with you. I will work hard. Do as I’m told. I want to go to the Estados Unidos.”
A lascivious smile crossed Eligio’s lips. Why should my cousin have all the fun? Eligio thought. 
Ignatia’s eyes widened in panic. She dropped her hands and her gaze. “B-b-but …” she stuttered, “I understand. If you can’t help me…” She started backing away from the group. “I will go home.”
She walked backward, but he caught up to her in three long strides, grabbed her by the arms, and pulled her into him. Crushing her soft breasts against his chest. He whispered into her ear, “Have you ever been fucked?” 
She shook her head and trembled.
“Then I shall teach you.” He breathed in her scent and felt her quake again under his hands.Eligio led Ignacia back to the line of girls. He looked the girls up and down before addressing them in Spanish. “You all agreed to be here. You all want a new life in America. No? But none of you have any means of getting there. I am your means. I am your way. Your passport. But your freedom comes at a price. Who among you has money to pay me? Hm?” 
He went down the line, inspecting the girls. Some of them were brave enough to meet his glare. Most dropped their eyes to the ground. He touched each one of them. Some, he unbuttoned their blouses, adjusting their breasts to make them more appealing. He reached under each of their skirts. If their panties were bigger than a thong, he pulled them down and off and discarded them in the dirt. One girl whimpered at the violation.
 “You will not embarrass me by wearing those,” Eligio scoffed at her holding up a pair of cotton underwear.
When he once again stood in front of Ignatia, he ripped the Peter Pan collar off her dress and tore the buttons open down the front, exposing the white slip she wore underneath. He allowed his hands to brush against her breasts before he pulled them away. “You are mine now,” he whispered again into Ignatia’s ear. 
He straightened and said for all to hear. “All of you are mine, and you will do as I say. This is how you get to America. You will entertain my guests in any way they see fit. You will not refuse them. If you do, you will not live to make it across the border. My guests will be completely satisfied by morning. ¿Comprendes?”    
Eligio jerked his chin toward The Hacienda, and the three thugs led the line of girls to the front door.
When Ignatia got to the threshold, Eligio held her back. “Not her. She has no idea how to pleasure a man. You three guard the house.”
The three men followed the ten girls inside. Someone announced that the night’s entertainment had arrived, and a roar of approval erupted.
With his body, Eligio pressed Ignatia into the stucco wall of The Hacienda. “You are mine until I say you’re ready to go.” He ran his lips up and down her neck and licked the salt from her skin. “I will teach you many things, and you will learn to enjoy all of them.”
His lips crashed into hers, and he shoved his tongue into her mouth. She didn’t return his violent kiss, but he continued anyway. He unbuckled her thin belt, tore her dress the rest of the way down the front, and let it fall to the ground. Then, like he had done with the other girls, he reached under her slip and pulled her conventional panties off.
“Your clothes are ugly. You’re too pretty to wear them,” he cupped her face in one hand. “I’ll keep you naked before I allow you to be seen in ugly garments again.”
A tear escaped down Ignatia’s cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb, then licked it off with his tongue. “There’s nothing to cry about, mi bonita. You want to get to America. This is how you get there.”
He crushed her mouth again as he pressed his body, writhing, harder into her. He made enough space between them to cup one of her breasts with one hand, while his other hand worked itself between her thighs. He found and stroked her pussy, covered in soft, damp curls, until she groaned.
“Your body betrays you, mi querida,” he said against her lips. “You may not know it, but your body wants me.” Stepping back from her, he grabbed her wrist and placed her palm on his erection. “And mine wants you.”
Leaving her tattered clothes on the ground, he led her to the back of The Hacienda and pointed to a small cottage behind the large house. “That is my casita. You will stay here with me until I’ve taught you everything you need to know.”
They stopped at the casita’s door. Eligio took a large ring of keys from his pants pocket. As he searched for the correct one, Ignatia ran.
“Cazzo,” Eligio hissed in Italian.
Ignatia, still wearing her slip and kitten heels, fled down to the drive. 
The Hacienda sat in the middle of a thousand-acre private ranch in the Chihuahuan desert. Wherever his cousin, Cesario, had found this girl, she could never walk home from here. If she made it to the end of the drive, she might eventually make it into town, but that was over fifty kilometers away. The dessert or its wildlife would consume her before she reached civilization. There was always the possibility that someone driving late at night would stop to help a pretty young woman. If they did, and if they found her only in a slip, and if she talked and told them what he wanted from her, it would put their entire operation in jeopardy. 
Eligio was in charge, and he could not let that happen.
Sadly, he shook his head and took his revolver from its holster.The first shot he fired into the air. A warning shot. If she were smart and stopped, maybe he could reason with her. After all, how strong was her desire to cross the border into America?
She paused but continued running.
The second shot grazed her calf. She stumbled but kept going.
Eligio aimed again. The bullet hit her shoulder and sent her tumbling face-first onto the ground.
Eligio shook his head as he made his way to her. Would she stop fighting? If she did, could she ever be trusted? He could handcuff her to the bed, tend her wounds, and fuck her to his heart’s content, but where was the fun in that? He liked a willing partner in bed. Now, she was scared, screaming and swearing, and praying at the top of her lungs. God only knew what she might say if she made it off the propriety.
As she pushed herself to her hands and knees, Eligio’s foot came down between her shoulder blades.
“Buona notte mia bella,” he sighed before he put two bullets in the back of her skull.