Zeb and Sara Ashland went back to the flat area and lit a fire. Not big, but large enough to be visible from the forest.
He undressed his wound and dropped some of the bloodied strips to the ground.
Made new bandages from the girl’s T-shirt and bound his thigh again.
‘That’s for them to find?’
‘Yeah. Only one of them.’
They headed back to the valley and, behind a rock near its entrance, he smudged the ground with his feet.
He placed sticks close together, the makings for a fire, and dropped the other dressing.
‘They will suspect it’s a trap.’
‘Yes, ma’am. However, they will still come. Tavez wants us badly enough that he will risk it.’
There were loose boulders on the canyon floor, which had rolled down from the hills in the distant past.
He tested a few of them.
Some of them moved.
He heaved at one and, when the girl joined in, succeeded in rolling it right into the center of the valley.
They shifted more rocks, placing them strategically throughout the passage.
‘That,’ he said, brushing his hands against his trousers, ‘will slow them down. It will split them up. The strength in numbers that they have … they will lose that.’
‘Where will we be? This will become too small for all of us.’
‘Up there,’ he pointed to the cliff face on their left.
It was almost barren. No vegetation. Clumps of stone and rubble. A few rocks that looked like they could tip over anytime. The few trees on the cliff were widely spaced out.
‘There’s nothing there to shelter us,’ she protested. ‘That side, on the right, has more cover.’
The other slope did offer more protection. It was uneven. Hollows and bushes. Several firs. There was one particular spot that Zeb liked—a large slab of stone, underneath which was a hole through which they could see the sky.
‘Tavez will expect us to be there,’ he countered. ‘There won’t be an element of surprise.’
They climbed the barren slope and made a cold camp behind the largest stone.
In a small, natural depression.
Behind them, the hill rose, pointing defiantly at the sky.
The hollow shields us from the top. It reduces our view, too, but that’s a chance I’ll take.
The downstream shooting angle was good. Visibility was still good.
He broke open a can of food and handed it to her.
They ate quickly, using the knives to spear the dried meat slices. He buried the can and waited.
M24 to his shoulder. One HK and both Glocks beside him.
Ready to take on the Mexican cartel. Reduce the odds.
Joachim Tavez surprised him.