Page 1 of Her Hidden Smile

Prologue

Twenty-Five Years Ago – Lima, Peru

“Get up!”

I grunted. That was my first mistake. But I couldn’t help it. Izan’s kick wrenched me out of a dream where my grandmother had made me a little plate of ceviche. It was the first time she gave me grown-up food.

“Ha! You don’t like being kicked, do you, you lazy piece of shit?” He kicked me again; this time it was in my backbone. I was careful not to make a sound. Any time I did, he just kicked me more and harder.

“You are such a slacker. You did nothing yesterday. I don’t know why Luis lets you have any food.”

I scrambled up from the piece of cardboard I’d been sleeping on. The cold bit through my thin shirt, and I shivered. I saw that the old, ratty wool coat that I’d found in the trash was over on Izan’s pallet. It stung when the wind slapped my long hair against my frozen cheeks.

I started toward Luis’ makeshift house. He was our leader, and his cardboard leaned up against the bridge wall and a tarp covered the entrance. If Luis woke up, then Izan would stop hurting me.

Fire shot down my arm as Izan slammed me into one of the concrete pillars that held up the bridge we’d been sleeping under.

“Lay off the kid,” Jorge yelled out. “We need him. He’s no use to us if he’s hobbling around.”

“I don’t know. Won’t they feel more sorry for a cripple?” Izan laughed.

“Shut up, all of you. Renzo, get over here.” Luis had flipped back the tarp and must have seen me cowering away from Izan.

I shot Izan a dirty look as I scurried over to Luis. He’d been my protector ever since we’d escaped from the orphanage. If it hadn’t been for him, I’d probably be working for the gold-toothed pimp who forced everyone to work in Miraflores. Izan was always telling me that one day he would sell me to that man, but I knew Luis wouldn’t let him.

I was shivering when I stood in front of Luis. Lima was cold in the mornings.

“Here.” Luis handed me his jacket. It was his Cristal fútbol club jacket. I couldn’t believe it. “If you do good today, you can keep it.”

“I can?” This was better than any Christmas or birthday with my grandmother. This would be the best thing I’d ever gotten in my whole life. I fingered the blue and gold material.

“Only if you do good,” Luis warned. “Today is Fiesta de Las Cruces. There are going to be a ton of tourists. We’re depending on you to lure the marks. Do you understand? We’re down to our last sols.”

“We are?”

“We only have enough for beans and bread tonight.”

My stomach growled. I was so sick of beans I was going to throw up. I wanted sweet Chançay bread like my grandmother made me, or even better, that pork roll sandwich we once stole from the bakery. That’d be good.

“Are you listening to me, Renzo?”

I wasn’t, but I nodded.

“We got to find Americanos,” Luis said. “They have the most money.”

“Yeah, they’re rich and stupid,” Izan sneered. He yanked at my jacket and glared at Luis. “You’re too soft to lead. Renzo doesn’t deserve this jacket. He’s just a baby. We should get rid of him.”

“Shut it,” Jorge barked. He came up behind Izan and slapped him upside his head. Jorge looked more like fourteen, but he was only ten. He could crush Izan like a bug, and Izan knew it. But Izan had a knife. Last month when I saw it, Izan threatened to slice me up if I told the others. I worried he would use it on Jorge one day if Jorge kept hitting him.

Luis shook his head at Izan. “Renzo isn’t a baby. He’s almost seven, and he’s smart. He’s perfect at distracting the tourists. We need him.”

Izan gave an ugly laugh. “That’s bullshit. I can lure the tourists better than he can.”

Luis and Jorge laughed in his face. “Nobody would trust you. Just thank the saints that you run fast,” Jorge scoffed.

“Enough. I have a little food left over; we need to eat. It’s going to be a long day.” Luis pulled some bread out of his pack, along with the dreaded can of beans.

“Them,” Luis pointed at the man and lady coming out of the toy store. “Just look at them, Renzo. They act like they own the world. Shitty Americanos who buy everything and don’t even think about the homeless and hungry.”