CHAPTER 27

CAL TURNED ONTO THE QUIET TWO-LANE ROAD and drove toward Juarez. A rocky hillside served as a barrier on the right side of the road, while a perilous ravine invited a treacherous end on the other. He glimpsed at his rearview mirror several times. Nothing. After a minute of driving, he exhaled and broke the silence.

“Kelly, I think that guy near the door when we went into Hernandez’s house was the same guy who tried to kill us yesterday,” Cal said.

Kelly stared blankly at him without saying a word.

“Are you OK, Kelly?”

She broke her gaze before releasing whatever emotions she had repressed.

“Am I OK? Am I OK?! We were just inside the home of a ruthless monster who has more money than he knows what to do with but has decided to kidnap a little boy. He apparently has already tried to kill us! We are in one of the most dangerous cities in the world! And we don’t know if anyone is actually watching out for us right now! So, no! I’m not OK, Cal. I’m terrified for my life, for your life, for that poor kid’s life—and I just want out of here!”

She folded her arms and sank into her seat.

Before Cal could think of a soothing word to console her, he became distracted by the truck approaching him from behind at a rapid speed.

“What the …”

Before Cal could issue a warning to Kelly, they both lurched forward as the truck hit them from behind.

Bam!

Kelly screamed. Cal began to lose control of the car as the jolt from behind forced him to start weaving across the road. He glanced in his mirror to see a large black truck bearing down on their car again.

“Do something, Cal!”

But his options ran short. Slam the car into the hillside and try to out run the thug? Pull the emergency brake and attempt to do a 180 on a two-lane with no margin for error? Slam on the brakes? None of his choices had safe outcomes.

“Cal! Do something!

“There’s nothing I can do!”

The truck quickly pulled up next to Cal in the outer lane and forced his car off the side of the road, pinning the passenger side door against the hillside. The truck rested close enough to the car that Cal was unable to open his door. They sat there helpless.

“What are we gonna do?” Kelly asked. She frantically tried to roll down her window, but there wasn’t room for her to squeeze through the opening between the car and the hill.

“I don’t know, Kelly. Pray?”

Just then, a bulky man stepped in front of their car. He was carrying a sledgehammer.

“Oh, my God, Cal, we’re gonna die! He’s gonna beat us to death!”

Kelly’s hyperventilation almost led to her passing out. Her eyes grew wild and a horrifying shock set in across her face.

Smash!

The hammer came crashing down onto the windshield as the glass splintered in a thousand directions from the point of impact.

Kelly kept screaming, only stopping to take a deep breath and scream some more.

Cal rummaged through the glove compartment and under the seats for a gun. It was an FBI vehicle, which should have a weapon somewhere. No luck.

Smash!

This time the hammer ripped through the windshield and pulled some of the glass away with it. Two more hits and it’s going to be all over.

Cal couldn’t make out the face of his attacker but he was big. He briefly considered they might have a chance since it would be two against one. But he could see the man’s girth and realized speed would be their only weapon, though they couldn’t get out to use it.

Smash!

The hammer pulled away almost a third of the windshield as more of the shattered glass sprinkled across the ground. Cal never thought it would end like this. Bludgeoned to death at the hands of a cartel henchman. This is why he didn’t do drugs. Not only were they bad for you but they also meant you crossed paths with people like the one beating down his windshield.

Kelly was still screaming when the fourth blow to the windshield all but annihilated it. She curled up into a fetal position, covering her head with her arms. Cal thought his final act of bravery might be to give Kelly a chance to escape. He thrust himself in front of her as the man ripped the remaining block of windshield off the car.

No saving little Jake. No reuniting a boy with his parents. No leaving Mexico alive. It was all but over.