Lexi drove the truck toward the flames. Claire could see them. Why were they going toward Vallecitos Canyon? It made no sense.
But then, what did make sense tonight?
In the backseat of the truck, Claire huddled against Indio, who sat in the middle between her and Ben. Although the windows were shut, the scent of smoke coated every breath. The engine whined as the truck bounced over uneven terrain, at times nearly vertical in its climb.
“Well, we know God is good. He surely is.” Indio patted her leg and then went back to petting the cat on her lap.
They hit a bump, and the two firemen up front with Lexi swayed to the left. What were their names? Eddie, the older one. And Chad. Or Zak? Whichever. The third one rode in the bed with the dog.
Except for Indio’s occasional mantra about God’s goodness, silence filled the cab.
What did one talk about on the road to death?
God, I’m sorry. I don’t want to die tonight. I want Lexi to grow old and be happy. I want Indio and Ben to live to be at least a hundred. I want to find my safe harbor. Again. For the first time? I want to know if it’s with Max. I do. I really do. I’ll talk to him. I’ll try.
Claire shook uncontrollably. The brief respite at the hacienda had ended abruptly. The firemen reasoned a large tree had fallen some-where, near enough to send the rumble through the house. Indio had dropped a tray full of teacups, hence the crash of breaking glass.
They rushed to the truck with lanterns and water bottles. The car wouldn’t make it, Ben and Lexi said.
Which meant the photos wouldn’t make it. Which meant BJ mementos wouldn’t make it.
“Hallelujah.”
Claire tried to close her eyes, to shut out the mountainous horizon lit up bright as noonday, but she couldn’t. She felt irresistibly drawn in, that loathsome, typical response to freakish scenes.
She said, “Why are we going this way?”
Indio patted her leg again.
Eddie, next to the front passenger door, looked back at her. His face was in shadows. She felt his eyes on her, though, and waited to hear his voice, the only source of calm she’d found in recent hours.
“Claire, it’s the way to the gold mine. To safety.”
She nearly laughed again at his convoluted reasoning. First seat-belts and now safety in a treacherous old mine. Its walls had col-lapsed on Ben’s great-great-grandfather and killed him. It had not been worked since. His body was never recovered.
When Claire’s children were small, Ben had taken them to the boarded-up entrance. He knew the kids would eventually find it on their own and thought it best just to show it to them and instill in them a horrendous fear. He vowed if they ventured inside, they’d die—either from being buried alive or by his own hand. Evidently it didn’t matter. They’d gone off and found another way into the mine.
Ben leaned forward. “Lexi, you have to go north here.”
“Nope. Trust me.”
“I know my own land!” His voice was a low roar. “Even if I don’t know this so-called back entrance!”
Now Indio patted his arm. “Save the bear routine for later, dear.”
“Papa, Danny and I found this when we were ten. If you tell him I showed it to you, I swear, you’re toast.”
Chad-slash-Zak bumped his shoulder against hers. “That was a good one.”
Claire could see Lexi’s profile by the light of the dashboard. She was smiling.
Smiling?
Evidently the road to death was paved with improbability. Ben sat in the backseat while Lexi drove and mouthed off to him and made bad jokes. Three strangers promised them safety in the most dangerous spot on the property. Indio named them after biblical heroes and breathed praises and made tea.
And Claire . . . Claire thought about moving to Greece.
They all climbed down out of the truck. Claire tumbled from it, legs too wobbly to hold herself upright. One of the strangers caught her around the waist.
“Claire.” It was Eddie. “Take my arm.”
“I’m . . .” She was what? Fine? Yeah, right. She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow.
Lexi gathered the cat in one arm and held a lantern aloft in the other. She led the way with Chad-slash-Zak. Indio and Ben followed, Samson beside them, the other Chad-slash-Zak next. Claire and Eddie brought up the rear.
The firemen loomed large in their big coats and helmets and air tanks strapped onto their backs. They carried lanterns. Lights from their helmets also illumined the winding path that led through a grove of trees. The ground before them rose, and at long last the view of fire was blocked.
But the ash fell, and the sound continued, the eerie drone of some dreadful monster eating the earth behind them, steadily catch-ing up.