KILLER DATE (SCANDALS) (22 page)

I was a little uncomfortable with putting my hands on her ass, but I was even more
uncomfortable with getting blown up or shot.  I cupped her ass cheeks and pushed as hard as I could. 

“Fuck
, dude…I know I’m a little overweight…push harder, damn it!”  She obviously didn’t share Jenny’s pre-school vocabulary when it came to curse words. 

I pushed and she
wiggled her hips back and forth and whipped up and down like an inchworm.  Progress was being measured by the fraction of an inch.

“Help me,” I yelled at the young man who immediately knelt down.  But his hands hovered over her body as if he was afraid to touch her.  Instead, he grabbed the edge of one of the boards and tried breaking it off.

Our combined efforts worked as a small piece of wood gave way. I shoved and she crawled until, at last, she popped through to the outside. 

I dove on my belly
through the hole and called back over my shoulder, “Hurry!”

The young man was right behind me, and Nick crawled out behind him.
  “Anybody got a lighter?” he asked.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of my prized possessions.  I wasn’t a smoker…never had been, but
the lighter was special.  I sighed.  Well, today was a good time to test to see how lucky it really was.  I kissed it goodbye and handed it to Nick.

“
You guys head for the river.”  He looked at the sky and didn’t have to point out the obvious.  Already, the first rays of the sun were piercing the darkness, pushing away the night.  None of us had checked the time, but it had to be within minutes of sunrise.  “And run like hell,” he added…unnecessarily.

Jenny was already heading toward the hole in the fence.  She had taken Angie’s hand and was pulling her along.  Angie slid to a stop and looked back at the young man.

“Are you coming?” she asked him.

He hesitated, clearly torn.  “I can’t.  They’ll come after me.”

“You told me you wanted to leave this life behind.”

“I don’t know…”

“Come with us.  This is your chance to start over.”

He
looked over his shoulder at the compound as he considered her offer.  Finally, with a deep, cleansing breath, he nodded, then hurried after her.

Okay, so now we had an extra passenger…and an additional person to keep safe. 
Great.  I ran with them, trusting Nick to catch up.

We popped through the hole in the fence without any difficulty.  I had just stepped through when there was a whoosh and
a boom behind us that literally shook the ground.

“Move,” Nick’s gruff voice was just behind me as we started running for the cover of the river.

Off to our right, I heard the rattle of the gates opening, followed by the roar of several vehicles.  They were moving like bats out of hell, trying to cut us off before we reached the riverbed.

“We’re not going to make it,” I shouted.

“The caves,” Nick called back. 

We grabbed the girls and abruptly changed directions, running back toward the compound.
  We could hear the engines rev behind us as they spotted us.

Once we reached the back fence, we were relatively safe, at least from the Humvees and trucks running us down because the fence was too close to the m
ountain to allow vehicles past the corner.

Of course, that wouldn’t stop them from chasing us on foot
or shooting us in the back.  Where the hell were Ricardo’s men?

I tried to picture Ricardo’s map.  He had marked the opening at a spot that wasn’t too far from the corner of the fence
, several feet beyond the small shed that had been leveled to a pile of rotted kindling that was rapidly being gobbled up by a roaring fire.  As we ran along the fence line, the left sides of our faces burned from the reflected heat.

We had run farther than I expected, and still there was no sign of the cave.  Had
it been walled up?  Had there been a rock slide that buried the opening?  The drone had indicated there was a cool spot, hopefully a cave.  But where was it?  I glanced over at Nick who was frowning.  I suspected he was having the same doubts.  Every step took us closer to the center of the compound, which was the last place we wanted to be if Ricardo came through with his promised strike.

There were b
ushes with thorns on our right, the fence on our left and rocks and cactus under our feet. Several small boulders blocked our path and slowed us down as we climbed over them.  Angie, who was in front of me, was wearing flip flops, and she was having a difficult time.  The soles slipped on the rocks and got caught in the cracks.  Several times, she stumbled, and I had to grab her to keep her from taking a fall.  But she was a trouper and pushed on without complaining.

In front of her I saw that Jenny, too, was keeping a close eye on her sister as if she might disappear.  Jenny noticed me helping Angie and flashed me a smile. 

We had wiped most of our camouflage paint off, so now we just looked dirty…which we were.

Suddenly, a series of automatic weapon fire was heard emanating from behind us.  Bullets zipped past, shredding the underbrush and chipping the rocks around us.  We ducked and ran faster.

“Where’s that fucking cave?” Nick yelled behind me.

I was about to say something derogatory about Ricardo’s memory when we rounded an outcropping of rock and there it was…an opening about the size of a Volkswagen created out of a natural crevice.  Another spattering of gunfire peppered the rock, and we didn’t hesitate to duck into the cave.

We had to bend over for the first dozen or so feet, then the ceiling
rose high enough for us to stand.  The rocks were layered on top of each other in a loose enough formation to allow streaks of light from the brightening sky.  It allowed us to see that we were in a large open space and that there were three dark tunnels going off in different directions in front of us.

“Which way?
” I asked.

Nick shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Ricardo made it sound like it would be obvious.”

Behind us in the mouth of the cave, we heard the sound of boots stumbling over the rocks and shouts of “
Alto!  Alto!
” echoed through the cave.

I knew we had to choose…and soon.  I pointed to the one on the right.  “That looks like it’s heading in the right direction toward the ranch
…or it could circle back to the river.”

“It can’t be the one to the left,” Nick agreed.  “That’s heading south.
”

The footsteps at the mouth of the cave were louder.

“Let’s go with the middle one,” Jenny suggested, and since we didn’t have a better idea, we nodded.  But before we could move toward it, there was a screaming sound like a giant shell at a fireworks show, followed quickly by a blast that felt like an earthquake.  A second shriek and an explosion, then a third.  But the last one was much closer, hitting just outside the cave’s entrance.

The pressure funneled through the narrow tunnel and literally knocked us off our feet.  Smoke and dust billowed into the room and there was the sound of rocks tumbling around us.  Jenny reached out from her prone position on the floor and took my hand.  I crawled over and covered her body with
mine.  There was so much debris in the air that I couldn’t see anyone else, and I didn’t have time to worry about them.  Right now, all that mattered was that I protect Jenny.

Pebbles showered onto my back
and I flinched, waiting for a big one to fall down and crush us.  This was not the way I thought I’d die.  Jealous ex-boyfriend catching me in bed with his girlfriend…motorcycle crash while racing around the desert…old age and passing peacefully in my sleep…all possibilities I would have thought were more likely than getting buried in a cave.

The entrance to the cave was now obliterated, but we could still hear the scream and feel the boom of several more
Stinger missiles finding their targets.  I prayed that they wouldn’t drift off target toward the mountain.  A direct hit would bring it all down on us.

For several long minutes that truly seemed like an hour, the barrage continued and we lay there in total darkness, waiting for it to end. 

The quiet came swiftly, pounding in our ears as we waited, wondering what would happen next.  When there was no more shooting and the ceiling didn’t collapse, I moved off of Jenny.

“Are you okay?” I asked her. 

“A few bruises and cuts, but I think I’m good.”  She sat up and looked around, but couldn’t see anything in the gloom.  The rockslide had completely covered the light sources, so we were in total darkness.  “Angie?” she called. When there was no answer, Jenny’s voice raised in desperation.  “Angie?  Where are you?”  She started crawling around, feeling her way and searching for her sister.

“Jen, I’m over here,” Angie called out and coughed from the cloud of dust.  “I’m fine. 
How about you?”

“I’m okay,” Jenny answered.

I reached up for my goggles, then remembered I had left them in the little shed. Nick was going to be pissed. “Who has night vision eyes?” I asked.

“I
do,” Jenny said.  She handed them to me, and I put them on.  The young Mexican whose name I still didn’t know was sitting next to Angie.  He had apparently covered her like I had Jenny.   I sensed there was more to that story than we knew.  I looked around until I found Nick who was lying at the mouth of the tunnel we had come through only minutes early.  Beyond him was a jumble of rocks.  Our exit had been completely blocked.

But more importantly, Nick wasn’t moving.  I stumbled to my feet and went to him.  I knelt down and shook him gently.  When he didn’t respond, I pressed my fingers against
his neck, checking for a pulse.

Nick sat up so abruptly that I fell backward.  “What the fuck?” he asked very loudly. 

“Ricardo showed up,” I explained.

“What?” Nick shouted.

I raised my voice.  “Ricardo’s men blew up the compound…and the entrance to our cave.”

Nick looked behind him at the collapsed tunnel.  “Shit.”  He drew the word out so it sounded like two long syllables.  He opened his mouth wide and put his fingers in his ears.  “I think I was too close to the blast.”

The dust and smoke were slowly being drawn out one of the tunnels which meant we weren’t completely trapped in the cave.  We moved closer together so we could regroup and discuss our plans.  Now that the threat of the men following us into the cave was over, we had a few minutes to rest and check everyone out for injuries. But first, I passed out the last two granola bars which we broke into pieces and shared.  There was only two bottles of water left.  I saved one and the other, although pretty warm, helped wash the dirt out of our mouths. 

“Jenny, Angie and I are okay…no broken bones anyway.  How about you Nick?”

Nick was still groggy from being knocked unconscious.  “Did you ask if I have my phone?”

“No, I asked if you had any broken bones.”  I repeated it in a much louder voice.

Nick stretched his arms and legs, then groaned as he touched his side.  “Maybe a couple cracked ribs, but other than that, I’m in one piece.”

We turned ou
r attention to our mysterious new member.  “So, what’s your story?” I asked him.  “Don’t get me wrong…we appreciated your help, but why didn’t you let them shoot us?”

He shook his head emphatically.  “I would never let them hurt Angela…or her family.”

That confirmed my earlier suspicion that they were somehow involved.  “Why did they keep her alive?  What did they want?”

“They were going to tr
y to trade her for Gomez Valdez,”

I looked at Nick.  “Who’s Gomez Valdez?”

“Gomez Valdez is Sergio’s brother.  He was arrested on drug trafficking charges back in 2012.  He’s got another seven years.”

“So, what’s in it for you?”  I turned back to the young man.

He looked at Angie, and even with night vision goggles, I could see the love-struck expression on his face.  “I…uh…thought Angela was very beautiful.  I volunteered to guard her, and when I got to know her better, I found that she was sweet and funny.”

Jeez…what was it with the Caldwell women?  Did they emit some sort of pheromone that made all men fall in love with them?

“Orlando took good care of me,” Angie confirmed.  “He kept the other men away from me and made sure I had plenty of food.”  She gave him an appreciative look and patted his hand.

I recognized the same friend-zone attitude Jenny had toward me…and it sucked.

“Your name is Orlando?”  I rolled my eyes.  “By any chance, did your mother like country music and spend some time in Florida about twenty years ago?  Maybe around the time my father was touring there?”

“No,” Orlando answered, confused by my question.  “My mother has never left Mexico.  Ever since my father got arrested, she…”

“Wait,” Nick interrupted.  “What’s your last name?”

Orlando hesitated.  Finally, he answered, “Veracruz.”

“Holy shit!  You’re Gomez’s son?” Nick exclaimed.