Hunter asked, “You’ve never tasted milk?”

“Goat’s milk, yes, but not the milk of a cow.”

Hunter thought, How hard has this child’s life been? She said, “You need to enjoy more of these things while you stay here.”

“But I cannot stay. I will bring more trouble to Mingo, and I would not do that to someone so kind.”

Mingo said, “Kind? I don’t think I’ve ever been called kind before.”

Anda said, “You are kind. But I know these people who are after me. They are coming, will come, and they are terrible men. They will hurt you if I am here.”

Anda was working herself up, and Hunter tried to calm her by saying, “Anda, for now, you are safe. You can’t leave before you tell me all that has happened. I’ll protect you, but I need to know who is coming and what they did, so I can prepare for them.”

“So we can prepare for them,” Mingo said. “But first, drink your coffee and tell me what you want for breakfast.” He got up and went into the kitchen, “Anda?”

“Whatever you wish to cook will be fine.” Anda said.

“Have you eaten pancakes?”

“No, but I have heard of them.”

Mingo twirled a spatula and said, “Pancakes it is.”

***

After they ate, Anda told Hunter what had happened, how they captured Bobby and her, then tortured Bobby. How he died saving her, how she escaped and came to Outlaw Road and Mingo Cruz. In a soft voice she even told Hunter, “I am with child.” Mingo heard it the night before, so he stayed in the kitchen and cleaned. Hunter asked Anda how far along she was and Anda answered, then told of how the morning sickness started right after she fled her home on the Barranca Quebrada. She cried some when telling how Bobby hung form the hooks, but quieted and continued as Hunter asked questions, coming back often to the matter of Anda’s pregnancy. When Anda finished talking Mingo returned and sat in the chair.

Mingo said, “I know the Barbosas, and they’re tough. I’ve heard of Godoy, and he’s a killer. He’s also wealthy, so he can buy a lot of help and information. That’s probably the worst thing. It’ll allow him to find her faster.”

“That is why I must leave,” Anda said.

Hunter said, “I’ve got a car and some money. I could get her out of town and to another place.”

Mingo said, “That could make some breathing room, but for how long, I don’t know. Godoy would put out the reward everywhere if he needed to. She saw him kill Bobby. He can’t have her alive, and he won’t care how much it costs.”

Anda said, “I will go into the mountains. They won’t follow me there.”

“Yes, they will. Godoy will hire trackers, good ones, to hunt you down.”

Hunter said, “Sounds to me like driving her out of here is still the best idea.”

Mingo crossed an ankle over one knee and slouched lower in the chair, “Well, we could turn the tables, hunt them down.”

Hunter looked at the young man for a long moment. “You mean kill them.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I have a hard time with that.”

“I don’t.”

Anda shook her head, “I can’t have you kill for me.”

Mingo was calm, “They get a chance, they’ll kill you.”

Hunter looked from Anda to Mingo.

“We need to be ready, in case they show,” Hunter said.

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Outlaw Road (A Hunter Kincaid Novel) - Page 97