“What are you doing?”
“Do you think we’re leaving you?” Max says. “You can’t be that stupid.”
“Stop!” he screams. “You have no authority here. This is kidnapping.”
Adelita moves again. Fast as quicksilver, she’s darted to Luis and with strength I wouldn’t have expected from such a small girl, she’s backhanded him across the face so hard, he stumbles backward. “¿Usted habla del secuestro? ¿Cómo atrévase le?”
Max and Culebra watch, grim smiles touching their mouths. She’s asking how he dares to talk of kidnapping.
I smile, too, before taking Adelita’s hand to pull her back once again. “Easy, girl. He has a long walk ahead of him. Plenty of time for him to ponder the irony. The kidnapper kidnapped.”
Adelita spits in his direction but does back up with me.
Luis coughs and works his jaw, a trickle of blood glistening at the right corner of his mouth. He glares at Adelita but has the good sense to keep quiet.
Max motions Culebra to join us, leaving Ramon and Luis a few feet away at the well. He lowers his voice so they can’t hear. “We’re going to have to make good time. It’s a four-hour hike back to Ramon’s little hideaway. Once we get there, we’ll contact the pilot and make arrangements to get Ramon and Luis into custody. I’ll have our guys waiting at the San Diego/Tijuana border to make the arrest.”
“You’re not taking them at Reynosa?” I ask.
Max shakes his head. “Can’t trust that Luis’ men won’t be waiting for us there. Better to put some distance between us and the cartel.”
I glance toward Ramon, leaning heavily against the well for support. “Will he make it?”
Culebra follows up with an even better question. “Do we need him?”
Max considers the question, then directs another at me. “What about Maria and Gabriella? Do you think they’ll be a problem if we show up without Ramon?”
“Not for long,” I answer shortly. “It’s odd that Maria hasn’t gotten in touch with Ramon. She must have figured a way to get out by now.”
“Which means, maybe she didn’t want to get in touch with him.” Culebra glances at Ramon. “Maybe she and Gabriella are ready to be free.”
Max shrugs. “Seems the majority opinion is that we leave Ramon. Now we have to decide if we leave him alive or dead.”
Adelita has been listening. She steps forward. “Muerto,” she whispers with a grim smile. “Yo lo haré.”
She wants Ramon dead and she’s volunteering to do it.
I echo her sentiment. “Dead. Or he’s likely to let Luis’ troops know who to look for when they get back.”
Max nods his agreement. Culebra’s lips curl. “It is decided.” He looks at Adelita. “But I will be the one to carry out the execution. He murdered my family.” He turns to Max. “You take Luis and Adelita.” Then he narrows his eyes at me. “Anna, will you stay?”
Adelita’s eyes burn into me. Scenes of the hell she’s endured seem to shine through. It takes me a nanosecond to reply. “Hell, yes.”
CHAPTER 48
IT TAKES LONGER TO CONVINCE ADELITA TO LEAVE Culebra and me with Ramon and to go on with Max and Luis. She argues that she has a reason to want Ramon dead, too, and should be allowed to witness his execution. Her voice is low and urgent.
She appeals to me rather than Max or Culebra and I know why. She saw me with the driver in the truck. She knows my taste for vengeance is strong.
But as much as I understand her feelings, as much as I sympathize with her, she has seen enough death in her short life. Her nightmares will be riddled with blood and terror as it is. She has had no control over what happened to her up to this moment. Time alters perspective. If she participates in killing Ramon, consciously or unconsciously, she may come to feel responsible for his death. She has been abused, but she’s not a killer—yet.
That’s a burden she doesn’t need.
That’s a burden best shouldered by me.
That’s a burden I’ve already accepted.
Max lets me talk with her and after a time, when Adelita reluctantly accepts that she should go, I nod to him.
He approaches, dipping a hand into his backpack. “I almost forgot. I brought something for you.”
He pulls a clean, white T-shirt out of the bag and hands it to me. “Figured you were ready for a change of clothes.”
I glance down at my blouse, frayed around the arms where I tore off the sleeves, covered with blood, so dirty it’s hard to imagine it’s original pristine whiteness. Wonder if Gabriella wants it back?
I take the T-shirt, smile a thank-you and slip the tee over my head, working the blouse off and letting it slip to the ground. Then I work my arms into the sleeves and tug it into place.
I feel better already.
Max motions to Adelita, then crooks a finger at me. “You’ll follow?”
“We’ll be right behind you.”
Max leads Adelita into the brush, staying close in case she takes a notion to change her mind. Luis, tethered by a short length of rope, walks ahead. He has been quiet during the exchange. Perhaps afraid if he says anything, he will meet the same fate as Ramon.
Ramon, for his part, is quiet as well. It’s as if he’s no longer in the present, but gazes unfocused at a scene only he can see. Culebra and I wait until we can no longer hear Max and Adelita. Then we approach.
Culebra prods Ramon with the barrel of his rifle. “I heard you,” he says.
Ramon raises his head, his eyes clear. “You heard what?”
“I know the part you played in the death of my family. I know you tried to kill me.”
Ramon looks away. “It was a long time ago.”
“You did it to take my place with Santiago.”
A shrug. “You would have done the same.”
“And now?” Culebra asks. “What do you gain from my death now?”
Ramon is leaning heavily against the well, trying to take the weight off his injured ankle. I don’t let him, leveraging my own body against his so he stumbles onto both feet again. He winces and whistles with the pain. “Puta,” he hisses.
“Answer Culebra’s question.”
“I needed someone to serve up as Rójan’s killer. Someone Santiago would believe still held a grudge.”
“Why would Santiago believe Culebra killed Rójan?” I ask. “He’s been gone fifteen years.”
“We killed his family. Blood vengeance runs deep.” Ramon sniffs. “Killing Rójan wounded Santiago where it hurt the most. He lost money. And Santiago would believe me because I said it. Especially when I confirm his suspicion that Tomás had worked with Julio to set up that gun deal. Twice he has cost Pablo Santiago money. Your friend Culebra would be dead so he could not dispute it. I would have killed him as a show of loyalty and been back in Pablo’s good graces.” His voice drops. “I would have avenged my son.”
“And assuaged your guilt?” I think back to what Gabriella told me. “Your own daughter holds you responsible for Antonio’s death. Did you know that?”
“She is a girl. She does not understand how it is with men. They have to be strong. To stand up for themselves. Antonio was weak.”
Something in his tone sends an icy finger up my spine. “Was any of the story you told us about your son true?”
Ramon blinks over at me. “What difference does it make?”
Culebra catches the meaning of my question. “Did Rójan do any of the things you accused him of?” He speaks slowly, coldly, deliberately.
Ramon’s eyes shoot fire. “He pissed on my son. Pissed on him. It was an outrage and Antonio should have killed him for that. He wouldn’t. So I did.”
Culebra and I look at each other, understanding dawning with brutal clarity. Ramon made up a story designed to suck us in. And it did.
Culebra opens his thoughts, his mind a black void of despair. Do we need to know anything else?
Do you think he knows where Santiago is hiding?
Culebra shakes his head. I think Luis is the only one who knows. Ramon has not had Pablo Santiago’s trust since he killed Rójan. I doubt Pablo was so quick to accept Ramon’s version of what happened. But when Ramon cooked up the story that I killed the boy to get even with Santiago for killing my family, and the finance minister was demanding blood for blood, I became the perfect scapegoat. He sweetened the pot by reminding Pablo of the gun sting. I told you, money is more important than blood to Santiago. He didn’t really care who to sacrifice now, as long as the finance minister was satisfied and the money exchange houses were back open.