Ramona rose, tears streaming. Suretta saw the hate in her eyes, and laughed. “Get in the vehicle. And shut up your damn daughter.”
Hunter circled the barn, coming to the pecan tree and peeking around the edge of the building to watch them.
The hole in the barn loft was still open, so she climbed the tree and slipped inside the barn, going fast to the front barn door so close to the cars.
Listening, she heard Suretta tell Ramona to make Anita shut up. Then Suretta said, “Nadine, we need to hurry out of here. Head for the house in San Angelo.”
Nadine said, “The one by Goodfellow?”
Suretta looked disgusted, “How many others you know about?”
Nadine nodded, “Okay. I’ll take Paco with me, and we’ll get ‘em inside. You going to take care of the bodies?”
“Not now. We’ll come back and do that, after the boss tells us what to do next. He may send another pilot, for all I know.”
Hunter thought, that plane won’t be flying when I get through with it.
“But either way, he’ll tell us the new plan. I know he’s desperate to get these kids sold and out of the states as soon as possible. He’s about broke and enemies are all around him.”
Nadine nodded. She started the Suburban and drove away. Suretta glanced around, but didn’t see anything. She looked down at Ike, “Should have stayed close to your boss, not that damned Border Patrol woman.” She checked the men on the ground that Hunter had killed, then walked to the second vehicle and drove away, trailing a rooster tail of dust as she left.
Chapter 15
Hunter opened the barn door and stepped into the yard, looking at Ike. She sat beside him and put her hand on his chest, feeling horrible because she had let everyone down: Ike, Anita, Kelly, Consuela, and the others who would now be sent to the middle east. She was a failure and she knew it.
Ike coughed.
Hunter’s hand moved with his cough and she felt the hairs on her neck prickle. She scooted closer to him, checking his pulse. Ike was alive. She felt thrilled and scared as she looked at his wound. It was a small hole above the collarbone, a half-inch to the left of the hollow in his throat. But blood pooled behind his head, and it seemed to be spreading.
She had to move him, to look at the back of his neck. Ike groaned, but she got him on his side and pulled his collar out of the way. Another small hole leaked blood down his back and drenched his shirt. Ike groaned again, and Hunter said, “I’m going to find some things to doctor your wound. I’ll be back.” She put him down and went inside the barn, checking everywhere for bandages, and medicines. All she found was a roll of gray duct tape. Hunter grabbed it and trotted back to Ike, whose eyes focused on her.
“Hey,” she said.
“How am I?”
“Your voice sounds like someone used a cheese grater on your vocal chords.” Ike frowned, and Hunter said, “I thought you were dead for sure, but damn, you’re tough, really tough. I’ve got some duct tape for the wound, but nothing else.”
“Tape’s fine. We used it in Afghanistan a couple times. It’s taking it off that hurts.”
“I bet.” She knelt beside him again, “Can you move your arms, your legs?”
Ike moved them, but Hunter saw it took an effort. He said, “That’s about it.”
“All you need to do right now.” She watched him look around. She said, “I let everybody down. They drove off with the kids.”
“Looks like you got a few.”
Hunter looked at the bodies of the two dead men and Paul the pilot, lying where she shot them. “I didn’t get Suretta, though. I shot and hit her pistol. It was my last bullet, too.”
“You checked the two dead ones?”
“Not yet. You’re my first priority.”
He croaked, “I did two tours in Afghanistan, eleven firefights, heavy stuff, and never got a scratch. I get with you for less than a week and I look like I went through a meat grinder.”
“Like I said, you’re tough. Mouthy, but tough.”
Ike stretched his neck, “Do we have a vehicle?”