Deguello (A Hunter Kincaid Novel)

Hunter held the roll and tore the tape with her fingers. She put it on his neck and left a gap over his Adam’s apple so any swelling would have room to expand. She said, “No cars. There’s a tractor in the barn I can try to use.”

Ike nodded as he flexed his hands. “Not that far to town, then we can get something else.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” She noticed Ike’s voice getting rougher, harder to understand. “Can you sit up, maybe stand?”

“I can try.” He sat up with Hunter’s help. He coughed again, emitting a half-cup of clotting blood on the ground. “I’m still a little woozy.” She steadied him with her hand. He said, “Did you hear them say anything about where they’ll be, where they’re going? Are they coming back for the plane?”

“I’m going to take care of the plane in a bit. I think I heard one of them mention a safe house near Goodfellow, and that they’d stay there first.” She was so glad Ike was alive, that on impulse she gently hugged his neck.

“What was that for?”

“Glad that you’re still around.”

“That makes two of us.”

Ike tried to stand and Hunter had to catch him before he went down. “Not yet. Rest here while I check on things.”

He nodded, and Hunter went to the dead men, retrieving everything in their pockets, plus the pistols and extra magazines. She pulled out the money from the wallets, and two credit cards before throwing them into the brush. Both carried the .40 Glock, which made her think these guys might have been law enforcement, since many organizations favored the .40. She found the pilot’s pistol, but it had been emptied at her, and there were no extra magazines. She slipped the pistols in the back of her belt, one on either side, then walked in the barn to check out the old green and yellow John Deere tractor.

A heavy layer of dust covered it, but the wheels weren’t flat and the key was in the ignition. She climbed into the seat, not that familiar with tractors since she didn’t grow up on a farm. Hunter had seen many of them working, and had a good idea of how they worked, but she never drove them. She checked the dials, saw it was full, and thought that maybe this would work. Always, hard on her mind, Hunter worried about Ramona and the kids, especially Anita and Kelly. Thinking about it made her jaws tighten.

Starting the tractor turned out to be easy, and she backed it from the barn, cutting the wheels to get beside Ike. He looked up at her and gave a thumbs-up sign, but she spotted the wet area where he recently threw up. Leaving it to idle, she hopped down and said, “Stay here until I come back.”

She went to the airplane and took the stairs two at a time. Inside the cockpit she picked up a fire extinguisher and used the hard bottom to destroy all the instruments. By the time she finished, her anger had abated and the interior of the DC-3 was a total wreck. She sprayed the extinguisher’s contents on it all for good measure before hurrying down the steps and walking to the idling tractor. She said to Ike, “You ready?”

He grasped a rubber knob on the large rear tire and pulled himself up. Ike wobbled, but said, “Let’s do this.” Hunter climbed up into the seat, and extended her hand to help. Ike grasped her wrist and she pulled as he pushed with his legs and climbed.

Hunter held tight to him, straining at times to keep them both from falling off the tractor.

Ike threw up again before they made it fifty yards, and Hunter stopped, but Ike motioned her forward, “Don’t stop.”

The old John Deere drove easily, but it wasn’t a smooth ride on the rough, uneven pasture road and the big knobby rear tires. Ike tried to hold on, but it took all of Hunter’s strength as well to keep him on the tractor. When they stopped at the gate, Hunter climbed down to open the gate, then got in the seat and drove through before climbing down again to close it. When she seated herself again, Ike said, “Sorry I’m no help. This road’s about to beat me to death.”

“How’s your neck?”

“Throbbing like a giant toothache, and I’ve got a headache to match.”

“We can’t stop.”

“I know. When we get into town, I’ll need some Tylenol, a lot of it.” Blood leaked from the bottom edge of the duct tape where the larger wound in back was located, but Hunter didn’t stare. Ike couldn’t see it, and she didn’t want him to worry.

She realized her jaws were clenched, and had been for a while. Consciously forcing them to relax still didn’t ease the worry she felt that time was fast running out for the children, and that she was going to fail them again. That thought pierced her heart like a splinter of ice.

Ike said, “I’m locked in here,” he sat beside the only seat on the tractor, “So let’s get going.” He glanced at Hunter and said in a voice that grated like Ike’s throat was filled with dirt and gravel, “And stop worrying about me. I’ll tell you if I need to stop.”

Hunter started the tractor forward, easing it up on the pavement where the conditions were less rough. Ike sighed as she sped up and drove on the road, “Better. At least it doesn’t feel like I’ve got broken glass in my neck.”

“You dummy, you had a bullet in your neck, lots worse.”

Ike squinted one eye and looked at her, “I’m a fast healer, so watch it.” His words slurred slightly. Hunter worried that he might have had a stroke from the injury.

“You’re not that fast. I’m taking you back to the hospital when we get into town.”

“What do I tell them this time?”

“Hunting accident. They’ll believe it since you’ve been there so much they know you by your first name. It’ll be like a school reunion, you getting back with the doctors and nurses.” One corner of Ike’s mouth drooped slightly as he attempted a smile.

She drove the tractor into San Angelo and went straight to Shannon Hospital, parking it in the ER area. Ike had trouble getting down, so Hunter helped him, and draped his arm over her shoulders as they walked to the entrance. Inside, one of the nurses recognized Ike and brought a wheelchair. She helped sit him in it while he protested. As the nurse took control and wheeled him into the Emergency area, Hunter said, “I’ll check back.”