An uncoiling rope landed near them, with the last ten feet unrolling on down the slope. Buddy spoke above them from the road, “In case you want to use it to help you up. We have a litter we can lower down if you need it.”
Bobby said, “The rope will do. We’re coming up.” He smiled at Hunter, “With a little help from my lady friend here.”
Raymond assisted them from the top, and before they used the rope to help their ascent, Hunter quickly examined the crumpled pickup one last time. When she checked the destroyed front tire, the hair on her neck prickled. The exposed inside rim showed the clear mark of a bullet’s impact. She checked closer, lowering her head to look in the dark shadows left by the shredded rubber. A bright piece of metal showed on one side where it stuck in the inside of the rubber tire. “A rifle,” Hunter said to herself. Turning it in her fingers, she felt sure it was a .30 caliber round, and she guessed one of the larger ones, a 308, or 30-06.
Raymond called down to her, “You ok?”
“Yeah, just giving things a final look.”
“You might want to come on up here and take a look.”
“Coming.” She went to the rope and scampered to the top, helping
“You came up that like Spider Man.” Brandi said.
“She’s not even breathing hard.” Buddy said.
Raymond said, “You train like her, you can do the same.”
Hunter said, “Quit talking about me like I’m not here. Let’s get these boys to the hospital and get them checked out.”
Brandi said, “Come on, Buddy. I’ve got the engine running.”
She fist-bumped Hunter. “Guys, they’ll talk all day.”
Buddy said, “We do not, and we’re not stubborn, either.” As he slipped in the passenger’s seat, Hunter heard him say, “Brandi, did I ever tell you about the time…” the door closed and the ambulance drove away into the evening.
Raymond said, “I talked to Deputy Diaz, he said if we’ll come to the Starlight Terrace, up on the second floor, he’ll be waiting with some news. And a few snacks.”
“After we look around here some more. That someone took our prisoners, and Adan has me pissed.”
“Me, too.”
They looked at the tracks for several minutes, and both took images of the tracks with the phone cameras. “Let’s get going, what do you think?”
I’ll drive,” Hunter said.
“Ándale.”
Hunter drove fast, but her mind wasn’t on the road, it was on Adan and the four narcotics mules and their drugs. They were going to be in big trouble if they didn’t find the escapees. Raymond called Presidio and Alpine to tell them so they could start the search, and he and Hunter would return and assist. Hunter sped even faster, and Raymond cinched his seatbelt tighter as she raced down the dirt road, with gravel rattling under the wheel wells and body like hailstones as the dust roiled from the back, going upward like a tornado’s funnel.
Hunter wondered if Adan and the smugglers were already back in Mexico, and if the boy was okay. She was worried.
Chapter 8
Ellis drove with care, not wanting to attract any local law or the Highway Patrol Troopers by speeding, and he wondered about the Border Patrol Agents pursuing them. Those two irked him. The older one with the Zapata moustache, looking strong and tough as iron. And the other one, the woman. She was a beautiful pest, like an imbedded tick you can’t get out from your skin. Raymond, and Hunter, that’s it. He’d heard she was supposed to be a good shot, and had been in a shootout, but Ellis didn’t know the particulars. It didn’t matter because he was better than good with weapons, so he didn’t see a problem if it came down to it.
RL said, “Where are we gonna put these mules and this kid?” He licked his lips, “All that fentanyl back there is making me nervous, too. We get caught with that, we’re in for life.”
“We’re good. It’s not much farther, and I’ll take us through a locked ranch gate to a place that has a railroad car on it. We’ll put them in there and then make some plans.”
RL wasn’t sure, because he was thinking of people in that boxcar, in the heat of summer, with no ventilation or water. “We’ll move them soon, though, right?”
“Hell yeah, we don’t want that stuff, or them, around any longer than we have to.”
“Good.”
“Don’t worry.” Ellis slowed and pulled up to a ranch gate that had a small chain around the post and the gate edge, and a Masterlock padlock holding the ends together. “Here’s the key.” He gave it to RL.