Cait and Jack scrunched down in the gully. Two armed men argued with others who arrived, all silhouetted by the burning roof. She tapped the camera icon on her cell phone and held it above the rim of the wash.
“They’ll see you. Don’t take chances.” Jack tugged at her jacket.
Hands shaking, she took a minute of video. Then they slipped away down the wash, crab-walking so the tops of their heads wouldn’t be visible to anyone looking their way.
Until then, Cait had been impervious to the cold. Now freezing fingers and toes throbbed and ached.
Get a grip, she told herself. Get out alive, get out alive, became a survival mantra.
“They disabled your SUV,” she whispered. “We have to hoof it out of here. Head west to Los Lunas.”
“Ssshh.” Jack looked over his shoulder. Flames danced in his pupils. The warehouse next to the charred van continued to burn. A ruckus from somewhere in the compound grew louder, shouts and vehicles starting up. A volley of shots rang out behind them, echoing off the buildings.
“Run run run.” Cait pulled Jack along. When he had to stop, she halted.
“You go ahead. I can’t keep up.” He bent forward and retched. “I’ll find you.”
“We stay together.” Cait wanted to run until she dropped. But Jack could only do what he could do. She could travel faster by herself to get help, but no way would she leave him, injured and fragile. They would escape or die together.
“They have no idea where we went.” Jack straightened up and started walking. “We can breathe easier.”
“I think the jaguar attacked Para, judging from the screams. Maybe that’s why they’re going nuts back there.” She could still smell the animal’s musky scent in the warehouse, see its forceful eyes that seemed to bore into her soul. Too bad such a beautiful creature was dead. “They probably killed it. That was the one captured in the Rincons. Para must have paid big bucks to have it brought to him. I don’t think it escaped, with all that shooting going on.”
But Jack was alive. Euphoria bubbled through her, despite fatigue and pain. As long as he could walk, even at a slow pace, they would make it. “Someone’s going to notice all that gunfire and flames and call 911,” she said.
“They’ll give authorities some cock and bull story and say everything’s under control. But it’s going to draw attention. The last thing they want.” Jack stopped again. “I hardly remember getting out of there. Did you set that fire?”
Cait told him about the flare. “What did they do to you?”
“Fists, boots, and a gun butt. Then they threw me in with the jaguar. I guess it didn’t think I looked tasty.”
She gave Jack a gentle hug. Ever since he’d left to scout the ranch, she’d been in agony. Hearing what he’d endured lit a slow-building fury that energized her. They would survive. Somehow.
The wash they were following curved east toward the fence that Cait had crawled under. Now they left the wash and headed west through the prairie scrub, toward Los Lunas and the I-25.
“I called your boss. That was a big mistake.” Cait slowed to let Jack catch up. “He sicced Para on us.”
Jack stopped and bent forward, hands on knees. “So that’s what happened. I was so careful and quiet. Suddenly everyone’s running around searching for me. Back when Russell Connor and I were about to drop the boom on Para, Mac knew what we were up to, who we were talking to. We find Jason Gonzalez, who offers to snoop into Para, and before you know it, Jason’s parents are murdered. Spitzer’s been selling us out all along. Bastard. Connor’s blood is on his hands.”
“The guys in that truck knew where your SUV was. I barely got away.” Cait glanced back. They were far from the ranch, almost to Rio Del Oro Loop. She felt almost giddy, but they still had a long way to go.
The problem was Jack’s head injury. In the best of scenarios, an ambulance would meet them on the main road and rush him to the ER. The reality was that they had a long, cold walk ahead of them, Para’s people hunting them along the roads into Los Lunas.
“Do you have your cell?” Jack started plodding along, ever so slowly. He seemed to be fading again, dazed and weak.
Cait dug around her waist pack. “It needs charging. Battery icon’s depleted.” If only we could call our families, they’d come running. Her dad wouldn’t hesitate to rush down from Zuni to pick them up. Jack’s parents would do the same. One thing she and Jack couldn’t depend on was the might and force of the Albuquerque PD. Confiding in the wrong cop could be fatal. Almost had been fatal.
“I’d like to call Cory Marsdon. Guy who runs the gang task force,” Jack said.
“Once we get close to town, we can find a fast food place. Someone might let us use their phone. I’d rather call your dad,” Cait said.
“I don’t know. His night vision for driving isn’t good. Mom is worse. They’ll be panicked. We should just call a taxi.” Jack winced as he touched his swollen face.
“We’ll get out of this mess yet.” Cait wrestled back her negative thoughts. They reached the Rio Del Oro Loop and trudged along on the gravel shoulder. The headlights of a vehicle gleamed way in the distance.
The freezing cold bit exposed skin and worked its way inside clothing. Jack’s teeth chattered, and he jammed his hands into his jeans pockets.
Cait tugged her jacket sleeves down around her hands. She tried to tune out discomfort. Fantasized about holding and drinking from a cup of hot coffee full of cream and sugar.
The Para compound was way behind them, its lights no longer visible. She checked the time on her phone. Three a.m. She guessed they faced at least another hour of walking.
“Whoa.” Jack sat down quickly, as if his legs had given out. His head dropped and he clutched his knees. “Feeling crummy.”
Fear burbled in Cait’s chest. The last thing they needed now was for him to collapse. Her cell was out of juice, but even if she could text 911, who would be monitoring emergency communications? They had to save themselves, step by labored step.
As she hovered over him, a series of angry roars erupted from the foothills above the ranch. The vocalizations of a mythic beast announcing its presence.
”The jaguar. It lives.” Jack found a second wind. He pushed to his feet and pumped his fists. “We’re going to live, too. İAndale! İArriba!”
***
Cait and Jack limped along Rio De Oro Loop, feet and hands numb, fatigue dulling their senses into tunnel vision. They were too drained to flee if a carload of gang members swooped down upon them.
The dirt road turned to pavement near the high school, an outpost of low buildings in a sea of sand and tumbleweeds white with hoarfrost.
Farther on, a stop sign appeared at a barren crossroads. Manzano Expressway had been built to service planned tract home developments that had never materialized.
“We’ve got company.” Jack looked behind them. “Hide.”
Headlights bobbed as a vehicle flew over the dips and rises of Rio Del Oro Loop.
They threw themselves down behind a clump of creosote. Cait raised her head slightly, hand clamped on Jack’s wrist.
A dark SUV stopped at the intersection. The passenger window glided down and they heard a man’s voice. “Really think they got this far?”
Cait couldn’t make out his face, but he sounded nonchalant. Someone who kept cool under fire.
The driver’s response was lost to the motor’s snarl as the vehicle turned north onto the expressway.
As soon as the tail lights disappeared, Cait and Jack arrowed across the intersection to the other side of Rio Del Oro Loop. They continued at a jog, panic fueling their flight.
The pavement ended as the road ascended a long hill. Jack slowed to a walk, his energy flagging again. “And miles to go before we sleep,” he muttered.
“That poem always depressed me.” Cait fell in step with him. “Something dismal about it.”
“I thank You God for most this amazing day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes.”
“Jeez. Who wrote that?”
“e.e. cummings.”
“Now that’s uplifting.” Cait looped an arm through his. “I didn’t know you liked poetry. And that you remember it at a time like this.”
“I’m full of surprises.” Jack turned serious. “The passenger in that SUV. The voice is familiar. I’m sure of it.”
“Who’d it sound like?”
“Maybe it’ll come to me.”
“You’re feeling better.” Cait squeezed his hand.
“A little. But what if they return? There’s no place to hide now.”
“They won’t catch us. We won’t let that happen.” Cait walked faster. They started trotting as the road steepened and skirted a barren hillside.
Vague traffic sounds murmured ahead. Way behind them, a vehicle upshifted and picked up speed.
The sound of an approaching engine sent them running for cover. They sheltered behind a jumble of rocks as a truck blew past. As soon as it was out of sight, they continued on.
By the time they reached Highway 47, Cait was jubilant. They turned north toward Los Lunas, and her spirits sank again. The road looked endless.
They tramped along in survival mode. She was convinced frostbite was setting into fingers and toes that had lost feeling. And she was so weak and tired. She told herself that she needed to stay strong to help Jack get through this ordeal.
They passed homes set back from the road. Dogs barked from behind fences. One ran down a long driveway toward them, snarling. Cait threw gravel and the animal retreated.
A red light far ahead turned to green. Cait counted steps as she watched the street signal alternate colors. As they got closer, other lights appeared. A storefront with a neon signs.
Don’t get your hopes up. Cait expected the place was closed, but someone had left the lights on.
As they got closer, she could see the business was a Quik Stop store with gas pumps. Beer signs glowed in the windows. The interior was lit and a car was parked along the side. Cait whooped and started to run.
“Hold on.” Jack’s admonition stopped her short. “Let’s make sure no one’s lying in wait. See anyone inside?”
“No one. I’m freezing. We can’t stay out here much longer.” Cait was physically and mentally depleted, drooling at the thought of hot coffee and sugar.
“Wait.” He approached a front window of the store. Peered inside. “Just a guy behind the counter. I guess it’s safe.”
They trooped inside, greeted an older man at the cash register, and made a beeline for a coffee dispenser. As Jack filled tall cups and stirred in cream and sugar, Cait raided a pastry display, filling a bag with doughnuts and bear claws. The smell of warm dough and grease was overwhelming, and she fought the temptation to gulp down a pastry right away.
“Didn’t hear you folks drive up.” The cashier looked them over with an eagle eye. His gaze stalled at Jack’s face.
“Taxis run this time of morning? Our truck blew a tire a ways from here. We had a little accident.” Jack could tell the man wasn’t buying his story. For all he knew, the couple had been drinking and brawling.
“You’ll have to call around.” The cashier gave Cait her change. Then he moved to the far end of the counter and reached under it. Maybe for a gun. He looked eager for them to leave before they started causing trouble.
“Can you please call a cab for us? My phone died, and we need to get to Albuquerque.” Cait forced a polite smile.
The man glowered at her but gave in. Making a few calls was a small price to pay to get rid of them.
“And can you call 911? There was a big fire and a lot of shooting at the Para ranch east of Rio Del Oro Loop. Tell them they’re dealing drugs out there.”
The clerk’s eyes bugged out as he tapped on his phone.
They went back outside to avoid the man’s questions. Cait kicked at the gravel. “Who knows when a cab will show up? It’s freezing out here.”
“Hey, it could be much worse.” Jack licked chocolate frosting off his fingers and gulped coffee. “We’ve got sugar and caffeine. And we’re alive to enjoy it.” He held out the bag of pastries.
“So what do we do about Spitzer the rat?” Cait wolfed down a bear claw.
“I’ve got a plan for that.” Despite the beating he’d suffered, Jack had made a recovery. “I’m having a eureka moment. No more thinking inside the box.”