Tanque Verde, Arizona
Early summer
After sliding a CD into the slot, Brandi Montoya turned up the sound on her stereo. She counted the beats for one bar and then began her morning routine. Keeping fit was an essential part of her new life. She never missed a day of exercise or any other part of her regimen. No question—coming to Arizona was the best thing she’d ever done. After two years, she was well established as the headline dancer at Sonora Spice, a gentlemen’s club in the border town of Tanque Verde just south of Gila Vista where her maternal grandparents lived.
Among other things, leaving East LA had gotten her away from the clutching claws of Patron Pepe Dominguez, who ran her old neighborhood with an iron hand. He’d been threatening to put her on the street when her dancing did
