Art said “You’ll have to give me a few lessons sometime. I sent what you gave me up the line. Just heard back from Ashton and Lincoln that they funneled the info to Mexico. Word is they’re bringing in one of the military’s Special Forces units.”
“Fuerzas Especiales?” Hunter said.
“Uh-huh.”
“That ought to be interesting.”
“If you’re lucky enough to be on a high point near the river when they do it, you might get a hell of a show. They’re bringing in gunships, complete with rockets.”
“They aren’t going to take prisoners?”
“They’re hitting it hard and fast. If somebody survives, they will be taken prisoner.”
“Holy cow.”
“Yeah, holy cow is right.”
“Who all knows about this?”
“Of the people around the Big Bend? You. And don’t you dare tell anyone I mentioned it to you. They’ll bury me in Antarctica if that gets out.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Good. Now I’m going to eat this hospital food they just brought me. Take care.”
“You’re still in the hospital?”
“An infection in the wound they can’t seem to clear up. I’ll be all right, it’ll take a day or so of IV antibiotics is all.”
“Let me know when you get out.”
“I will. Now leave me alone, I’m going rogue here and eating the jello first.”
Hunter spent the rest of the day working in the yard, then ate leftover enchiladas and watched television before going upstairs to bed, and to finish Craig Johnson’s book.
The next morning, she did laundry because it was her day off, and was enjoying an extra cup of coffee when her phone rang and David’s voice came through the phone high pitched and panicky. She calmed him down and got the story out of the teenager. Carlos hadn’t listened to her warning, and he went to look for the drones. David said he and Lonny were talking to Carlos on the phone when he said he found the drones, then a few seconds later he screamed that they caught him. Then his phone went silent. “Please come help find him, please.” David said.
“You need to call the police.”
“We’re at the place, Lonny and I. It’s just over the hill from us, and there’s a lot of activity there. We saw Carlos once. Two men drug him into a smaller building away from the huge warehouse-looking thing.”
“So you and Lonny went with him?”
There was silence, before David said, “Y-yes. We wanted to help.”
Hunter was angry, but scared for the boys, too. She knew the special-forces soldiers could hit the place any time. She didn’t have time to waste. “I’m coming. You two leave there right now, I mean it. I’ll call when I’m in Ojinaga.”
“We’re not leaving Carlos. No Ma’am. He’s our friend.”
Shit. “Okay, keep your heads down. Can you do that until I get there?”
“Yes.”
“I’m on my way.”
Hunter burned up the road between Marfa and Presidio, then crossed the International Bridge to Ojinaga and called David, who sent her the GPS coordinates for their location. She typed one more message to him: Stay Down.
Traffic was slight in Ojinaga, and she made it out of town in no time and remained on the highway for a few miles, then followed the GPS coordinates and took a left, turning away from the highway to travel on a rapidly deteriorating caliche road that soon turned to a rough, rutted path through the desert that led to Barranca Azul.