Dario stepped forward to look into the hole, while Adan craned his neck to see, but stepped no closer
. He saw the hole had scrapes along the wall from being hand-dug, and twenty feet down, almost out of the light, was an old iron ladder anchored against one side, with it partially rusted away and gone. The other part had one piece of the rail, the left side, sticking up like a ragged iron rod for a foot above the rung below it. Further below, Adan couldn’t tell if the ladder was there or not in the darkness.
Ellis said, “So Adan, you daddy is a Hart, that right?”
Adan felt a cold chill, like ice water poured down his back, and before he spoke, Dario said, “That’s right. He’s heir to that family’s fortune.”
Ellis smiled and shined the flashlight full into Adan’s face, “So you’re the next billionaire, huh?”
Adan squinted, averting his eyes, and Ellis grabbed for his arm.
Dario said, “Hey!” He jostled the tall man so that he missed the grab. Adan stepped back and saw Ellis move with scary speed to push Dario into the mine shaft. Dario fell, yelling, but the yell abruptly cut off so fast that Adan felt his heart racing in fear for his friend.
He turned and ran as Ellis gave chase.
The man yelled, “Don’t run!”
Adan raced out of the mine and into the shed, kicking the cedar stick as he went. The stick broke with a small, sharp crack and the old door closed on its own weight. The door clicked shut, and Adan was out the front shed door in a rush. RL stood nearby, urinating by a cactus. He yelled and fumbled with his zipper as Adan cut immediately to the left, then left again, racing up the hillside behind the shed. He scrambled behind junipers and rocks, all while trying to move in silence to escape Ellis and RL.
A loud bang caused Adan to start, and he glanced down at the shed where an angry, red-faced Ellis emerged in a trot, looking for him. He caught sight of Adan on the hill behind the shed and started up the incline after him. His eyes looked hard, then changed. He smiled, “Adan, you little rascal, come on down here and help us get Dario! He’s fine. I was just funning around.” RL was twenty feet behind him, and climbing the mountain on hands and feet.
Adan felt fear almost close his throat, but he remained silent. He hurried his pace and was almost to another flat area when he saw how fast Ellis gained on him. The man loped up the rise in an animal-like motion, and RL wasn’t far behind, breathing hard with his hands on his hips. Adan thought of Ellis, the man moves like one of the long-tailed lions in the mountains. Adan didn’t follow the game trail that crossed the flat, but instead cut hard left and went over a rock-and-boulder ledge of gray limestone, dropping five feet down into a brushy draw that slanted at a steep angle. He would double back on his trail, that’s what he would do. And, as soon as he could, cross the Rio Grande to Texas.
Chapter 4
Hunter drove while Raymond sat in the passenger’s seat in the Border Patrol SUV. Raymond said, “I’ve been thinking of moving down here to Lajitas, or maybe Terlingua when I retire.”
“Why?”
“Marfa’s getting too crowded.”
Hunter chuckled, “So Marfa’s like Dallas now?”
“Uh-huh. You know how the news always says, “the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex,” well, it’s like, ‘the Marfa-Alpine Metroplex’.”
Hunter snorted, “Wow, there’s about eight thousand people total with those two combined. Good lord, the traffic jams, the crowded sidewalks, the skyscrapers!”
Raymond said, “You’re young, you haven’t seen the relentless advance of civilization in Marfa that I have.”
“I’m not young.”
“You’re barely thirty.”
“I’m old in dog years.”
Raymond laughed, “Okay, you win.”
Hunter cut the wheel and put the Ford Explorer into four-wheel drive as they drove off the pavement and into the area between the golf course and the Rio Bravo, checking for any tracks coming out of the river and into the area, through the sand, rocks, short brush, and wiry tufts of desert grass.
“Hey?” Raymond said and pointed through the windshield at a boy crossing through the river at the dry mouth of Comanche Creek where it joined with the Rio Grande.
The Rio was shallow there, and he made it to the Texas bank in no time. Hunter turned and followed the creek bank as it cut through the golf course, using the bank as a blind to the boy walking in the dry creek bed. She stopped a short distance ahead and both Agents exited the Ford and quietly closed the doors, then set up to intersect the boy.
Hunter heard the rattle of river stones and knew the boy was close. They stood so he would see them. Hunter recognized Adan immediately. His young face looked tired and dirt-streaked. The wound on his cheek showed a crusted brown from the dried blood, and the bruised area immediately around it showed like a shadow under the skin.
They were ready to chase him if needed, but Adan saw them and ran to Hunter. He almost hugged the young woman, but caught himself and stopped in front of her.
Hunter said, “Hey, Adan, what’s wrong? You know you crossed illegally–”