Haunted

CHAPTER 54

EVEN THOUGH IT HAD ONLY BEEN A FEW DAYS, I’D forgotten what a bone-jarring ride it was to the airstrip. The sun is up, the heat heavy. Max has the air conditioner on in the car, but with so many bodies packed together, the humidity makes everything feel damp and dirty.

No one has spoken in the last hour. Culebra and Adelita awoke from their naps, Adelita sliding away from him quickly, embarrassed that she fell asleep on his shoulder. It will be a long time before she trusts a man enough to want to touch him. Even accidentally.

Max drives with purpose. His expression is both serious and eager.

I understand. I have that quiver in my gut that comes with knowing we’re about to wrap this up.

“Ten minutes,” he announces after what seems an eternity.

I rest my head on the back of the seat. Ten minutes. A good thing and a bad thing because when we’re finished here, it means going home to face Stephen.

Or going home to find him gone.

I’m not sure which is worse.

Or which I prefer.

I haven’t thought of him in how long?

I’m an idiot.

Max’s voice pulls me back. He’s looking at his watch. “Anna, we have about thirty minutes before my guys arrive. I don’t want to wait to question Luis. I may need your special talents if he suddenly grows a pair and decides he’s not ratting on Pablo.”

“You expect me to object?”

He laughs. “Hardly. I expect you to exercise restraint.”

“You don’t let me have any fun.”

He clucks his tongue. “From what I saw you do to Ramon, you’ve had plenty of fun.”

“You saw that?”

He drops his voice. “Adelita wouldn’t go until she was sure you’d kept your promise.”

“But I heard you leave.”

“Well, we came back. Adelita insisted.”

I think of our conversation. She knew what I’d done to Ramon. She watched. “Was she upset?” I ask quietly.

“No. And we didn’t stay to see it all.”

I glance back to Adelita. She’s looking out the window, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn she’d been listening. She must feel my eyes on her because she turns her head toward me.

“Did you say something, Anna?” she asks.

My expression says no. I turn back to the front.

Max picks up the conversation. “Culebra, you take Luis into the hangar as soon as we get there. I’ll speak with the pilot. It shouldn’t take us too long to get the information we need. By that time, the task force should arrive. Then you, Adelita and Luis will be on your way to the border at Tijuana.”

The hangar is in sight now. This time the doors are pulled closed. “Where’s the plane?” I ask Max.

“Inside the hangar, I imagine,” he replies with a touch of sarcasm. “Where else would it be?”

“I thought the plane was supposed to be ready to take off. I don’t see the pilot, either.”

Max pulls the Explorer to a stop and peers around. “Where is the pilot,” he repeats as if to himself.

That quiver in my gut clenches like a closed fist. “Max, something is wrong.”

The words still hang in the air when the hangar doors swing open and the pilot steps out. He motions to us to drive forward. He’s smiling.

“See,” Max says, putting the Explorer in gear. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

His optimism is short-lived. Three black Humvees roar out of the hangar, spitting gunfire in our direction. Bullets slam into the ground around us. Adelita, Culebra and Luis cower down.

Max slams the Explorer to a stop. He starts to put it in reverse, to turn around, but before he can, we are surrounded. Men spill out of the vehicles like circus clowns from a Volkswagen, guns trained on the Explorer. The passenger door of one of the vehicles opens and a man jumps to the ground. We hear Luis shout a greeting from the back.

“Pablo. Hermano. Thank god you are here.”