Текст книги "Haunted"

Автор книги: Jeanne Stein

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

CHAPTER 30

AFTER A MOMENT, I PUSH ADELITA GENTLY AWAY. “We need to get out of here. I’m sure they’ll spot the fire in the village. We can’t be here when they come to see what happened.”

She steps back. “Where are we to go?”

I take her hand and lead her back to and across the road, going as quickly as I can. I feel the broken bone begin to knit, but the process would be much less painful if I could just stop and let the magic of vampiric healing work unfettered. Instead, the constant tug and pull of keeping up a brisk pace makes me wince with every step.

Adelita sees it. She stops abruptly. “You are hurt.”

“Never mind. It’s nothing. We can’t stop now. My friends are not far. We need to get to them as quickly as possible.”

She frowns but I turn away and keep going deeper into the brush. Already I hear the rumble of a motor approaching from the direction of the village. Adelita can’t hear it, but I can. If I were by myself, I’d wait and see who they sent out. See if the fire coaxed Santiago from his hiding place. But I can’t risk Adelita’s safety. If anyone spotted her, she’d most likely be blamed for the accident. My hope is that I can get her back to her home or at least have Max send her to a safe house while we finish what we came to do.

Adelita and I continue toward the spot where the three men hunkered down to await nightfall. It’s hot, dirty work, pushing through bushes that catch and scrape at our skin and arms. There are clouds of pesky no-see-ums that rise from under trampling feet and swarm around our heads and into our eyes. I guess we traveled farther in the truck than I realized. Finally, we’re at a point where I think I can reach Culebra telepathically, and I draw Adelita to a stop.

“We’ll rest here a minute,” I tell Adelita. Seems more plausible then telling her we’re stopping so I can contact my shape-shifter friend via a mind meld.

Adelita’s look of sympathy says she figures I want to stop because my ribs hurt, and she doesn’t argue. She does hear the engine from the approaching vehicle now and takes cover. She makes herself as small as possible by folding her body against the thickest clump of bushes she can find. There is fear shadowing her eyes again. I mimic her action and place a finger to my lips.

The sound of a truck engine draws closer to the scene of the “accident.” I put off trying to communicate with Culebra so I can listen to the flurry of activity—doors opening, footsteps running, excited yelling. I understand some of the conversation. First there is confusion as to how the driver, a new guy, could have left the road and hit the rocks. Then anger that he must have been drunk or high. Finally, a furious round of arguing as to who would be the unlucky one to break the news to El Jefe. He won’t be happy that he lost a truck or that the driver cost El Jefethe income he would have gotten from the girls when they were put to work back in town.

That last bit brings a bitter smile to my lips. Obviously El Jefedidn’t know that the new guy had his own plan for the girls. Rape and murder. He’s probably better off dead. So is Toadie if he is the unlucky one who got him the job. I remember how they glad-handed each other in the village.

I catch Adelita watching me with a curious expression on her face. She can’t hear what I hear. She must be wondering why I’ve grown so still, head tilted in the direction of the road. She doesn’t ask questions, though, only waits for me to indicate that it’s safe to continue our trek. Under normal circumstances seeing me become vampire should have sent her racing in the opposite direction. Instead, here she is, quietly waiting to follow my lead. Her faith in me is extraordinary.

After ten minutes or so, the men return to their truck and head back to the village. The smoke rising from the burned vehicle thins out, and I wonder if I should go back and see how completely it burned. Hopefully, there is too little left to make it obvious two bodies and not three were in the back. If we were in a city, a forensic team would scope it out in a heartbeat. Since I doubt Horatio Caine and his crew are vacationing anywhere near this dump, we may just get away with it.

Time to see if I can reach Culebra.

I open the conduit. Culebra? Are you awake?

The answer comes back immediately. Yes. Where are you? Did you find Santiago?

I’m close. I don’t know about Santiago. There is someone hiding in that village. But he never came out. I have a girl with me who may be able to help. I’m hoping Max has a picture in that bag of tricks he brought.

A girl?

I give him a brief recap, including what I found when I followed the truck and how Adelita and I took care of the problem.

There is silence for a moment. Then, he says, I saw the smoke.

I thought you’d be asleep.

He makes a sound like the huffing of a breath. We should be. But something has got Ramon in a state. He’s watching Max and me like we’re going to bolt. His nervousness is putting us all on edge.

He didn’t get a phone call, did he?I’m thinking of Maria. Gabriella would have awakened eventually to find her mother bound and gagged and me gone. If Gabriella did indeed have a cell phone like I suspected, Maria would have lost no time in contacting Ramon and telling him I was on their trail.

I don’t think so. But who can tell? With these new phones, she might have sent him a text and I’d never know. In any case, are you coming in?

I glance over at Adelita. She’s watching me intently again, as if Imight be planning to bolt. I smile at her and stretch, as if working kinks out of my legs. She gives me a tiny smile back.

What does Ramon plan to do when it gets dark?I ask then.

He hasn’t said. I think he and I should get as close to the village as we can, scope it out. Leave Max behind as backup in case we get into trouble. Can you tell me where Santiago may be hiding?

I explain the layout of the village, tell him where I saw the girls taken.

Were there many guards?Culebra asks.

No. And that’s surprising. I only saw one armed man. He had an AK-47. If Santiago was there, you’d think he’d have an army to protect him.

We can’t be sure he doesn’t. Well, what do you want to do?

I glance again at Adelita. She is leaning against one of the bushes, her head has fallen to her chest. I think the poor kid is asleep. I check my watch.

There’s only three more hours of daylight. I’ll wait for you and Ramon to leave camp. Let Max know that I’m here. Have you warned him about Ramon?

Didn’t have a chance. I told you Ramon is watching us. That’s another reason I want Max to stay behind when we go to the village tonight. If Ramon and I get separated, I don’t want Max to become a target. I feel better knowing you will be with him.

Let me know when you’ve left for the village.

Culebra closes the link between us abruptly, as if someone may have called to him. I scoot myself over to where Adelita is sleeping and work my way into the brush beside her. She looks so small and fragile, so defenseless. Another surge of bitter rage against the men who abused her turns my blood hot. When I gather her to my chest, she gives one jerky start. I touch her hair gently and draw her head down to rest on my shoulder and she settles against me. Her breathing again becomes deep and regular. I wonder how long it’s been since she felt safe enough to fall asleep?

CHAPTER 31

ADELITA STIRS AND JOLTS AWAKE, DRAGGING ME back to consciousness with her. She pushes away from me with a sharp cry. She flails her fists and screams out for me to let her go.

I tighten my arms around her. “Shhh, baby,” I whisper. “It’s all right. You’re safe.”

It takes a minute, but slowly, Adelita’s mind clears as she looks up at me and realizes who is holding her. Her body relaxes, her fists drop. She sobs against my shoulder. I let her cry, get it out of her system, while my senses strain to catch any movement from the direction of camp to indicate they heard Adelita’s scream. My gut twists with pain for the girl. Just as vampire blood ignites with thoughts of revenge toward those who are responsible.

I take a quick glance at my watch. It’s after midnight. Hopefully Culebra and Ramon have already left for the village. Before I can try to contact Culebra, the sound of footfalls moving slowly and carefully through the brush toward us reaches my ears.

I hold a finger to my lips and Adelita’s eyes grow big. She swallows back her sobs, a hand pressed to her mouth. I push her gently away and stand up.

I catch his scent before I see him. Relief washes over me. I smile at Adelita. “It’s okay. It’s my friend.”

Max doesn’t have the advantage of super hearing and smell so I head out to meet him before he bursts commando style into our clearing and scares Adelita to death. I meet him about twenty yards out and seeing me pop up unexpectedly right in his path gives Max the start I was afraid he’d give Adelita.

He drops his gun hand and exhales sharply. “Jesus, Anna. Where did you come from?” Then he stops and looks at me. Reallylooks at me.

“You’ve got blood all over you.”

I raise a hand to my face self-consciously. I’d forgotten.

Max holsters his gun, pulls a handkerchief from his pocket. “Here. At least wipe your face off.”

I take the handkerchief, spit on it and scrub at my face. The cloth comes away stained. When I try to return it to Max, he pushes it back at me. “Keep it. Do I want to know whose blood it is?”

“I’ll tell you later. Have Culebra and Ramon left for the village?”

“About an hour ago. I expect them back anytime. Were you coming to give us a report?”

“Already gave it to Culebra.”

He shoots me a puzzled frown. “How long have you been here?”

“Since this afternoon.”

“Then why—?”

“Come on. I have someone I want you to meet.”

Max has a perplexed look on his face, but he follows me. When I get back to the place I left Adelita, my heart leaps with alarm. She’s not where I left her.

Max is looking around. “Meet who? There’s no one here.”

I peer into the bushes, catch her scent, the scent of blood, and follow it to her hiding place. “It’s all right. Max is a friend.”

I had no idea how the sight of an unfamiliar man would affect Adelita. She’s trembling, unable to stand or talk, eyes fixed on Max. Her skin is torn where she forced herself into thick brush, rough bark and sharp branches gouging at her.

I squat so she and I are at eye level. “He will not hurt you. He is here to help get you to safety.”

I hold out my hands to her. At first, I think she will refuse to come out, the nightmare of her captivity turning any man not known to her into a new enemy.

But she turns her gaze away from Max and focuses on me. She takes my hand and lets me tear away at the brush holding her until I’ve managed to make a hole big enough for her to free herself without tearing more skin. I pull her gently to her feet with me.

We walk back to Max.

His eyes widen when he sees the girl, bruised, torn, bleeding, dressed in the remnants of that old blanket. He also sees the fear in her eyes. He makes no move to come closer.

“This is Adelita, Max. She escaped from the village. She is very brave.” I touch Adelita’s arm. “This is my friend Max. He will help get you to safety.”

Max begins to speak softly to Adelita in Spanish. She nods and after a moment, replies to something he asked her. She still has not let go of my hand. They talk for several minutes and then Max says to me, “Let’s go back to camp. I have food and water. She looks like she could use something to eat.”

Max walks ahead and beside me, Adelita matches my stride without hesitation. She does not take her eyes off Max, though, nor does she let go of my hand. It’s no surprise that she doesn’t react to the coldness of my skin. I doubt she notices. Shock and fear have turned her own hand to ice.

It’s a short walk to the small clearing where the men spent the night. Calling it a “camp” is overstating it. No tents. No campfire. The only indication that anyone was here is Max’s duffel shoved under a twisted mesquite. He retrieves it and unzips one of the pockets, pulling a couple of protein bars out of it. He hands them to Adelita.

For the first time since Max joined us, she lets go of my hand. She rips at the paper and wolfs down the first bite so quickly, she starts to choke. I’m at her side in an instant, taking the bars from her hand, breaking off small bits that she eats slowly once she has caught her breath.

Max pulls a bottle of water from the bag next. He hands it to me and I open it and when Adelita has finished the first bar, offer her a drink.

“My god,” Max whispers to me while we watch her eat. “Did Santiago do this to her?”

I tell him the same thing I told Culebra—that I didn’t know. And that Adelita never heard a name except El Jefe. I also tell him about the other girls, the two dead, the four delivered to this El Jefelike takeout. What happened when I found the driver and the truck.

“Must be Santiago and his crew,” Max says when I finish. “Sounds twisted enough.”

Adelita has finished the bars and is sipping at the water. A little color has returned to her cheeks, but her eyes remain wary, watchful. Max hunkers down and when I do, too, Adelita follows our lead.

“When do you expect Culebra and Ramon to return?” I ask.

“They plan to stay on lookout until dawn—or until they know for sure if Santiago is in the village.”

“Then what?”

“Then we go in after him.”

“Did Culebra tell you—?”

“That Ramon doesn’t trust me? Yes. It’s not a big surprise, though. The story of my coming along out of friendship for Culebra was a little thin. He may think I’m here solely to bust him.”

“There’s more, too. Maria wasn’t going to let me follow last night. Did Culebra tell you that, too?”

He looks surprised. “No. Didn’t have much time alone without Ramon. Did she try to stop you?”

“With a big shotgun.”

He looks at me, eyebrows raised. “Is she still breathing?”

“Of course she is. I just incapacitated her. Gabriella would have freed her as soon as the girl woke up. I didn’t like some of the things Maria was saying. I get the feeling Ramon has a bigger agenda than he’s letting on.”

Before Max can respond, I catch a sound approaching through the brush, rapid footsteps coming toward us.

I hold up a hand for Max to be quiet.

More than two sets of footsteps.

I jump up, startling Adelita into jumping up, too.

Max is on his feet, gun drawn. “What is it?”

I grab Adelita’s hand, force it into Max’s. “Get her out of here. I’ll hold them off.”

“Them? You’re sure it’s not Culebra and Ramon?”

“Not unless they’ve grown a dozen more pairs of legs.”

Adelita pulls free of Max, stumbles to my side. I look over her head to Max. “Get her out of here. Get to the Jeep, take her across the border. If they catch her again, they’ll kill her.”

Max doesn’t hesitate even for a moment. He scoops Adelita into his arms. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Do you still have your cell?”

“Turned it off. I don’t think I have much battery life left.”

“I should get back to the river in six hours.” He looks at his watch. “Turn it on at eight a.m. I can trace you.”

Adelita is staring at me with the blank-eyed look of a wounded animal. She looks like a child in Max’s arms. I stroke her hair. “You will be safe. You can’t stay here. The men from the village are coming.”

She closes her eyes for an instant, then releases a long slow breath as if the fight has left her. Max tightens his arms around her. He nods just once to me and in the next moment, the two are gone.

CHAPTER 32

MAX MOVES ALMOST AS SILENTLY AS I DO through the brush. In a minute, all I hear are the approaching footsteps of what I guess to be a dozen men. I grab Max’s duffel and head back toward the rocks and the burned-out truck.

I do nothing to hide my tracks. I want whoever is coming to find an easy trail to follow. One set of footprints. I want them to come after me.

It takes me far less time to reach the rocks than it will for those following. Gives me time to find a vantage point to use as lookout. While I wait, I open Max’s bag of tricks.

I was wrong. He doesn’t have a smallarsenal inside, he has a big arsenal inside. Grenades, flares, a couple of handguns, a small case with a disassembled rifle and a sniper’s scope.

Boy Scout, indeed. Prepared to earn a murder badge.

In the side pouches are several more of those protein bars and the last two bottles of water.

I chug half of one, splash water onto the handkerchief and try again to scrub at my face. I can’t imagine how I appeared to Adelita—my face and clothes so soaked in blood.

Maybe the fact that it was one of her tormentor’s blood made it less horrific.

From what I gather from the sounds, the men have reached the place where Ramon, Culebra and Max stayed the night. I listen intently but the men don’t appear to be talking. They must be a well-trained gang of thugs, not wanting to give away their location. I imagine them searching the ground, finding the discarded wrappers and the empty water bottles. Now comes the tricky part.

Will they see where Max and I found Adelita hiding in the thicket, or will my more obvious tracks draw them away?

In a moment, I have my answer. They start in my direction.

Good.

A glance at my watch.

All I have to do now is keep them occupied for eight hours.

I wait until they reach the side of the road. I want to see who is leading the hunting party. They gather and stop in the cover of brush, whispering and pointing toward the rocks, the beams of a half dozen LED flashlights crisscrossing in front of them.

Then they step into the road.

It’s no surprise when I recognize the man in front, or when I hear his familiar voice call out.

“Come on out, Max,” Ramon says. “We have Culebra. It will go easier on both of you if you come out now.”

He doesn’t mention me. Either he hasn’t yet been in contact with Maria or he doesn’t want to let Max know that I’ve followed.

I consider my options. I could pick them off one by one with the rifle in Max’s bag.

No. Better to lead them on a merry chase away from the village, give Max more time to get away.

One thing I can do, though. Finish the job I started this morning.

I grab one of the grenades. Pull the pin. Toss it onto the burned-out bed of the truck.

The flash of the grenade flying through the air is caught by the searching flashlights. The men dive back into the brush.

The grenade explodes, flinging bits of wood from the truck’s side panels and charred bodies in a wide arc and reigniting the fuel that was left in the gas tank.

Now not even Horatio Caine could piece together what’s left.

A cry goes up from the group. Excited exclamations in Spanish. Evidently a piece of wood from the truck flew straight into one of the men. He staggers out into the road, flanked on either side by two buddies trying to drag him back into the brush. He’s fighting them. There’s a long, slender splinter no wider than an arrow projecting from his chest in front and out his back. The two trying to get him out of the road give up quickly and leave him to take cover again. The wounded man makes it no more than three or four steps before he collapses.

I don’t know how he keeps going but he raises himself onto his knees, grasps the wooden spear with two hands and pulls.

His scream hangs in the air longer than it takes the blood to drain from his body.

I watch the man die, feeling nothing, my mind a blank slate. No. That isn’t entirely true. I do have a thought.

One down . . .

CHAPTER 33

THERE’S MORE MURMURING GOING ON BEHIND the cover of brush at the side of the road. The gist seems to be an argument between the men who want to continue after Max (or who they thinkis Max) and the ones who think they should go back for reinforcements.

Ramon is clear what he wants to do. I hear him arguing that it’s only one man for god’s sake. But the counterargument is pretty compelling.

It’s one of their own lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the road.

I don’t wait to see who’s going to win. I grab the duffel and start running away from the rocks and in a direction away from the village. If Ramon wins the argument, I want to leave a trail for him to follow. Tracks and when the ground gets rocky, small branches scattered along the way. I want it to look like a man running for his life.

After about fifteen minutes, I stop to listen.

I don’t hear anything.

Shit.

They aren’t following. My plan to get them going in the wrong direction so I could double back to the village isn’t working. I guess the fear that Max had more grenades in that duffel convinced them they needed to amp up the firepower, too.

Damn it. At least it gives Max and Adelita more time to get away.

I backtrack along my own trail, this time not crossing back into the brush, but continuing along the road, careful to keep out of sight. It doesn’t take long to overtake Ramon and his gang. Ramon is once more in the lead but he walks like a man rigid with anger that he couldn’t convince the others to follow him after Max.

They’re moving along the road, on the opposite side from me. To a man, they keep swiveling their heads and flashlights back the way they’ve come, on alert for an ambush from behind.

I pick up speed. I can easily beat them to the village. If I’m lucky, I can reach out to Culebra, find out where they’re holding him, cut him loose before Ramon makes it back. One vampire can outrun an army of men.

And I do. I reach the outskirts of the village in minutes. It’s very quiet, though something is different from the first time I approached the village. A lookout is posted near the well. He’s in the shadows, but the glowing tip of a cigarette gives him away. I make my way around him soundlessly to the shack where I saw Adelita and the girls.

There’s a guard here now, too. Squatting down with his back against the wall of the shack, rifle resting on his lap. I send out a mental probe.

Culebra?

I’m here.

He doesn’t sound hurt or scared. He sounds pissed. What happened?

Fucking Ramon. Coldcocked me as soon as we got to the village.

How’d he do that? I thought you were suspicious of him?

Not suspicious enough, obviously. Or on my guard the way I should have been. Where are you?

About fifty feet from the shack, in some bushes.

Is Max with you? He didn’t get Max, too, did he?

No.I give him a Reader’s Digestversion of what happened. About how I sent him away with Adelita so she would be safe. He’s going to come back, but it will be eight hours at least.

I let a minute go by before asking. I know there are more girls. Are they with you?

No.The anger is back, radiating through his thoughts. They moved them to another shack. He’s with them.

Santiago?

Not the Santiago we’re after. His bastard brother, Luis.

Who the hell is Luis?

A decoy.Culebra’s mind radiates dark anger. A trap set by Ramon.

Why? What happened to protecting his family?

He is protecting his family. Santiago made him a deal he couldn’t refuse. Me in exchange for the life of his wife and daughter.

Santiago wants you? After all this time? You must have really pissed him off.

When Culebra doesn’t answer right away, I get the feeling there’s something more he’s hiding about his past. Something he wants to keep hidden. There’ll be time to find out what it is later.

So, shape-shift. Get yourself out of there. The men heading back for the village will leave again to go after Max. I’ve laid a false trail. When Max gets back, we’ll go in after the girls. I’m not leaving them. I saw what they did to Adelita.

Culebra remains shut down. Whether he’s considering what I said or coming up with his own plan isn’t coming through. Finally he says, I’m staying put. At least for the time being. I might pick up something from Luis or the guards that gives us an idea where his brother is. We’ve got nothing but time until Max gets back anyway. May as well see if I can learn something useful.

What if Ramon comes back and decides to kill you?

Culebra’s dry chuckle resonates in his head, transmits itself to me.

Then I shape-shift and bite his ass.

* * *

NOTHING FOR ME TO DO NOW BUT WAIT. I TRUDGE back to the same spot I occupied this morning—well, yesterday morning actually—and crawl back inside my little burrow. In thirty minutes I hear Ramon and his troops come into the village. The men disperse, Ramon barking a sharp order that they have fifteen minutes to get supplies and get their asses back to the well. I watch to see if he’s going to the shack where Culebra is being held, but he goes instead to where Culebra said Luis Santiago and the girls were hiding.

The guard snaps to attention when Ramon approaches. Ramon ignores him and pushes open the door to stalk inside. His anger is apparent and the guard doesn’t challenge or question him—in fact he doesn’t even greet him, just ducks out of Ramon’s way.

I can’t hear what’s being said behind the door Ramon slammed on his way inside. Gives me a chance to decide what I’m doing next.

Culebra?

Yes.

When the men start out again, I’m going to follow them for a while. Make sure they pick the trail I laid and not Max’s. He’s gotten a pretty good head start but hopefully they’re not adding a bloodhound to their posse.

Culebra’s rasping chuckle comes through once again. Haven’t seen any bloodhounds around.

Ramon appears just then and heads for Culebra’s shack.

Uh-oh,I say. Ramon is on the way.

I feel it as Culebra’s thoughts turn dark and dangerous. Stay tuned in,he says. I’ll try to find out what he has planned.

Ramon heads for the shack, his gait as stiff and angry as it was before. He greets this guard with as much arrogance as he did the other, too.

“Mueve el culo,”he barks. Move your ass.

The guard jumps to his feet, stands at attention. But he needn’t have bothered. Ramon whips past him without a backward glance.

In a moment, Culebra has opened a mental conduit that allows me to hear what is going on. Ramon must have struck Culebra because a wave of pain colors his thoughts bloodred. Ramon and he are talking in Spanish, but Culebra’s interpretation comes through to me in English. It’s a trick of this telepathy thing. No language barriers.

I don’t know where Max would go. Or why he left.

You are lying.

Another gasp from Culebra. And another. Ramon keeps hitting him until I feel Culebra’s thoughts grow dim. I’m just about to jump up and pull him out of there when Culebra sends me a message.

Don’t. Make sure they follow the false trail. Ramon won’t kill me. He has orders to bring me to his brother alive.

The beating goes on.

Let me stop this, Culebra. I can kill all these motherfuckers and we’ll leave with the girls.

No.Culebra’s answer is quick and heated. We need to find Santiago or I’ll never be safe. Go. Please.

Vampire stirs, feeling Culebra’s pain, not understanding why I don’t unleash her to save our friend.

But the human Anna understands.

I fight my way out of my bramble hiding place and take off down the trail to the rocks. Culebra’s pain follows me but I know he’s right. It’s the only way. I’ll lay the false trail farther and farther from the village. By the time Ramon and his thugs realize they’re chasing a ghost, I will have Culebra and the girls to safety.