Frantic and not knowing quite what to do, Johnny grabbed what he thought was water from a nearby table and poured it gently on Natalie’s face. Natalie quickly sat up, rubbing her eyes vigorously.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a complete moron?" Natalie asked.

"You owe me a vodka, pal," someone behind Johnny said. Johnny turned around to face an extremely large bar patron.

"W-why?" Johnny ventured, totally confused.

"It was my drink you just poured on this lady," the man said.

"Uh-h sure, not a problem," Johnny said, as he dug into his pockets and pulled out a five.

"Here, it’s on me," he said.

"Actually, it’s on her, but don’t mind if I do. Thank you, sir," the man said.

Proud of the way he thought he had defused a potentially serious situation, Johnny heard laughter.

"Natalie, take it easy, you have quite a cut on your forehead," Johnny said, as he saw that her forehead had become ensanguine. He took out a handkerchief from his trouser pocket and patted it on her head. Natalie took the handkerchief from him and applied it to her cut as she stood up with Johnny’s help.

"Sorry, I just didn’t know what else to do," he whispered.

"I know," Natalie said, barely controlling her laughter as she realized she had crashed into a life-size cutout of Joe Camel and evidently had cut her head on the edge. Her forehead was bleeding profusely due to a major paper cut! Here she was an armed government agent, done in by Joe Camel. "I will never live this down," she thought.

"I think we should head for Dallas. Our friend is gone for now and we can deal with him later," Natalie said.

"Dallas? Oh, Adelita," Johnny said, momentarily forgetting what their original quest was.

"Let's just hope we can still get a fix on her," she said.

Natalie had rounded up a Band-Aid, ran a comb though her hair, and repaired her make-up that was melted, Johnny assumed, by the vodka. She looked like herself again Johnny thought, as they walked back to the van. In fact, she looked great.

"I’ll drive," he said.

Natalie decided not to challenge and started to tune in the receiver as she listened with headphones and changed the directional ever so slightly.

Johnny turned onto Interstate 45 with Natalie intent on listening. They drove in silence for 20 minutes, Natalie not lifting her eyes off the grid in front of her.

"Got her," Natalie said loudly, startling Johnny. "But she’s not moving."

Natalie turned to look at Johnny and saw his lips move, but heard nothing. She removed her earphones.

"What?" she asked.

"I said it should be possible to get a fix on her location. If she is in or was in a vehicle, it would eventually stop at some point," he repeated.

"Well, it is possible they've stopped, but it could be a problem with the transponder. Her signal is very weak," Natalie said.

"Put your ears on Natalie. I’ll keep driving and you let me know if the signal gets stronger or weaker. I’d like to at least pinpoint her location," Johnny said.

Johnny reduced his speed to 40 miles per hour. He wanted to drive slowly to give them half a chance at honing in on Adelita. He hated slow people on the road, and he gathered he had just become one judging by the mouthed words and interesting hand signals he saw.

"So what, I’m on a mission," Johnny rationalized to himself, satisfied he was slow for a good cause.

His next thought came in the form of yet another reprise of the Mac syndrome. He started humming "King of the road." Still humming, Johnny glanced at a turnoff on the right, puzzled that it didn’t appear to be an exit.

Deep in thought, he was startled when Natalie said, "It’s getting stronger." Johnny kept driving, not wanting to go any slower and instigate road rage. Luckily, traffic was very light.

"Go back," Natalie said. "The signal is starting to get weaker."

"Providence," Johnny thought, as he remembered the turnoff he had seen before. He started to look for an exit to get him back. He wanted to see where this road went. The fact that the signal started to become weaker after he passed it was a good sign. The vehicle carrying Adelita may have used it.

He found an exit and hoped he would be able to get back on the interstate below the turn.

"I think I know where they may have gone," Johnny said. He found a U turn and used it despite the sign that admonished "NO U TURN."

After about five minutes he looked at Natalie, who nodded in the affirmative.

"We’re on the right track, the signal is stronger," Natalie said.

Johnny looked for another U turn to get to the turnoff.

"Ring around the Rosy," Johnny hummed. "Nursery rhymes, that's a first," Johnny mumbled to himself.

He found the U turn and turned around, heading the way he had started. A few feet further he saw the turnoff, which he took a little too quickly, jostling everything including Natalie.

Suddenly, Johnny found himself on a dirt road. "Where did the road go?" Johnny asked.

Natalie’s attention was on the grid. "Stop, she’s here!" she said. Johnny applied the breaks.

Natalie looked into an amorphous sea of blue as Texas Blue Bonnets waved in the breeze as far as the eye could see. "Where in the hell are we? We should be right on top of her," she said

As if there had been a silent signal, both Natalie and Johnny got out of the car. Natalie picked up the remote hand-held receiver. Both took opposite sides of the field and started to walk slowly, crouching slightly and searching for a large infamous turtle. They hoped it had escaped the most dangerous predator on Earth, man.

After walking for quite some time, Natalie bent down and picked something up from the ground. It was the homing device, still signaling but not attached to Adelita. Her heart sank.

Natalie looked for Johnny, who was nowhere in sight. She called, but there was no answer. She began to retrace her steps and soon she could see the van in the distance. She called again. This time Johnny answered.

"Here.  Find anything?" he asked.

"Yes, unfortunately," she said, her voice dripping in disappointment.

“Uh, yeah, sorry,” said a relieved Johnny.