Marked in Mexico (16 page)

As he reached the square, he stopped and watched citizens milling around. The town looked peaceful and he hoped his presence wouldn’t disrupt the balance. He didn’t spot any police officers or the men who had been chasing them, and the van was nowhere in sight, which was a good sign.

Jack eased around the corner and headed toward the clinic. He was surprised he wasn’t generating a lot of attention. He supposed that alone, with his dark hair and complexion and his common khaki trousers, he didn’t stand out near as much as he did with the model-tall, blonde Megan and the fair-skinned, blue-eyed Jessica.

He slipped into the clinic and approached the receptionist. She informed him, in broken English, to move to the end of the line and wait for the doctor. Looking at the large group gathered in the waiting room, Jack feared if he waited his turn he’d be there for hours. He ignored her command and slid a wad of pesos across her desk, knowing he had far exceeded what was needed to purchase the medicine, but hoping the amount would produce the desired results.

“Chloroquine for malaria and aspirin for pain.”

The woman hesitated for only a moment then took the money. She surveyed the room to see if anyone had noticed. Plenty of people were looking in their direction, but the transaction had been shielded by Jack’s body. She tucked the money into the pocket of her skirt and disappeared into the back of the clinic. After several moments she returned and handed Jack two small brown envelopes with the contents and instructions scribbled in pencil across the front and shooed him toward the door.

Jack slipped the contents into his shirt pocket, thanked the woman and hustled out of the building. He glanced around and saw no sign of danger, so walked into the closest shop for supplies. There was no artificial light or any other electricity in the small shack, so he doubted there was a phone in the building either.

He was a little surprised to see bottled water for sale, but pleased. He dusted off one of the three bottles sitting on the shelf and placed it on the counter and moved down the scarred wooden surface to check out the tamales the stout woman had just pulled out of a steaming pot. The smell made Jack’s mouth water. He bought two, removed the cornhusk, and shoved the tamale into his mouth in one bite like a Twinkie. After he did the same with the second, he asked the woman to wrap up as many of the tamales as he thought he could fit in his pants’ pockets.

As he waited for her to wrap the food, he noticed an old faded map of the area being held down on the counter by a cracked piece of glass.

“¿Donde?”
It wasn’t much of a question, but it was the best he could do. The woman seemed to understand and she pointed to a spot on the map. There were no villages noted in that area, so he figured this one was probably too small to show up, but at least he was able to confirm their location.

To Jack, it appeared they were butted up against the
Usumacinta
River. Faded blue bodies of water dotted the map. As he stared at the maze of rivers and lakes, the oppressive humidity and the presence of malaria in the region made perfect sense. According to the map, they had to be close to Highway 203, which could take them north to Highway 186, and then west to Villahermosa. They could keep working their way north and east, but that would mean crossing the
Usumacinta
River and he wasn’t convinced that was still the best plan, but he would check out the possibility when he got back to Jessica and Megan.

Jack continued to study the map while watching the street. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed an officer emerging from the police station. He’d wanted to ask the woman more questions, like the name of her village and where, besides the police station, he might find a telephone, but his time had just run out.

He paid her, stowed the purchases in his pockets and loitered just inside the door, hoping the officer would go back into the station or move off in the opposite direction so he could slip from the store. Where the officer stood, it would be impossible for him to exit the small shop through its front door without being noticed.

The officer strode to the edge of the sidewalk and lit a cigarette. The man studied the square as he leisurely puffed and blew out smoke. People moved past the officer quickly, keeping their eyes focused on the ground. Jack suspected this village was ruled with an iron fist by the way the villagers interacted with law enforcement and after witnessing the cordial relationship between the police and criminals.

Jack glanced back at the woman behind the counter. Her eyes darted from him to the officer and back. She fidgeted and he could tell he was making her nervous. When she realized Jack was watching her, she slipped into the back of the shop. Jack quickly followed her out the back door and grabbed her shoulder before she could turn the corner. He placed his finger to his lips and pulled another bill out of his pocket. She eyed him suspiciously, but finally grabbed the bill and disappeared inside.

He hoped she wouldn’t go and tell the officer, but suspected she would, probably fearing the law more than the quiet American who had already left her shop and paid her well for her silence. Glancing around, Jack saw no one, so walked off in the opposite direction, leaving the shop behind and moving away from the village square.

Several streets away from the town center he spotted a public water pump. He stopped and pumped the handle until water shot out of the spout. Gathering water in his cupped hands, Jack splashed his face, scrubbing at the grime in the process, then threw several scoops over his head and drank his fill. He wanted to save all the store-bought water for Jessica and Megan.

As he rubbed his face dry with the tail of his shirt, he heard someone approaching. Jack could tell by the sound of the footsteps that it was an adult trying to be quiet. He pretended he didn’t hear the nearing footsteps and continued to rub his face.

Just as a hand reached out to him, Jack spun around, grabbed the outstretched arm, twisted it behind the man’s back and had him face down in the dirt before a sound could be uttered. With only a brief glimpse, Jack instantly recognized him as one of the kidnappers who had taken them from the ruins.

Jack placed his knee in the man’s back and pressed hard to the ground, making it difficult for the guy to breathe much less yell for help. The man struggled but was helpless in the prone position. With one hand, Jack found a spot on his neck and applied enough pressure to make their former kidnapper black out. He stared at the stilled form for a minute. Anger raged through him when he thought of Ashley and the temptation to extract revenge was overwhelming
¾
the instinct to finish the job was almost more than he could refuse. Jack battled to push back the dark thoughts filling his head and fought to think rationally.

His breathing was ragged and fury clouded his mind. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jack saw the pleading look in Ashley’s eyes and he could hear her screams and the hoarse laughter of the men assaulting her, though he knew the sounds were not real. He could easily kill the unresponsive body beneath him, but it would only make matters worse. The guy deserved to suffer and die for his part in Ashley’s death, but that wouldn’t bring her back, he could only protect Megan and Jessica and he needed to get back to them quickly.

Jack had seen too much death in his thirty-four years of life
¾
some was the natural result of living, but most had come at his own hand or at the hands of others. He would do it again if he had to, but he wished somehow they could find a way out of this mess without him having to kill anyone, though he doubted it would be possible.

He regained normal breathing and cleared his mind of distractions, focusing on the task at hand. Jack patted the man’s pockets, but felt no wallet or weapon. He considered flipping him over and doing a more thorough search, certain he must be carrying a weapon, but he had already lingered in the village for too long. Jack glanced around, jumped to his feet and ran. No one had seen what had happened, but the man wouldn’t be out for long and the others were probably close by.

With pockets bulging, Jack darted off into the jungle. He didn’t slow until he reached Jessica and Megan. He was relieved to see Megan was awake and looking almost back to normal and Jessica was alert and holding the gun at the ready for anyone other than Jack.

Jessica placed the gun on the ground and leapt to her feet. She raced to Jack, threw her arms around him, and held him so tight she worried she was suffocating him.

 
He glanced over at Megan and lifted his brows in question. Megan shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. Stroking Jessica’s hair until he felt the tension drain from her body, he tried to ease her back, but she clung to him.

“Hey, you’re smashing my tamales,” he said in a calm tone with a crooked grin on his lips.

She stepped back and she and Megan burst into laughter. Jessica sniffled and wiped a tear away from her eye. She didn’t know why she had reacted so strongly. She was so glad Jack was safe and Jessica had felt an incredible burden of responsibility for Megan’s health and safety lift when she saw him. But now, she was so embarrassed she couldn’t look up.

“So, is that what men call them now days?” Megan joked, her voice small and weak.

Jack stared at her and it took a moment to understand what she was saying, and then the women’s laughter made sense. He stepped away from Jessica and pulled the bundle out of his pocket.

“No. I mean I really have tamales. I bought us some fresh pork tamales.” He thrust the packet toward Jessica, trying to hold back the embarrassment.

Thanks to Megan, the awkwardness vanished, replaced with light humor. Jessica took the bundle from Jack’s hand and went to Megan. She unwrapped one tamale and handed it to her and then unwrapped one for herself.

“Want one?” she asked Jack.

“No thanks. I had two in the shop as the clerk pulled them from the pot, so I could carry more back for you two and still keep my hands free. Pretty tasty, huh?”

Megan and Jessica devoured the tamales and drank from the new water bottle. Jessica felt human again and she could see a little more color creep back into Megan’s complexion. She didn’t look nearly as tired.

Jack shook four chloroquine tablets out of one of the envelopes and handed them to Megan. “Here, take these now. There’s eight more. Take four all at once tomorrow and four the next day. After that, I guarantee you’ll feel much better. I also got you some aspirin for the aches.”

Megan accepted the pills and stowed the envelopes for later. She hated that she’d placed Jack in the position of returning to the village, but the previous night had scared her. For a few hours, Megan thought she might die. On top of fearing death, she had mistaken Jessica for her stepmother and said terrible things to her new friend, but at least she had finally shared her secret with someone who believed her and didn’t judge her.

“Okay, back to you,” Jack said as he turned to face Jessica. “Is something wrong or did you just miss me an awful lot?”

“Oh, that. I was hoping you had already forgotten. I guess I was just relieved to see you. I was so scared you would get caught and we would be on our own, and I had just convinced myself I could actually shoot someone if I had to, but I really didn’t want to.”

“I know. I could have killed one of our friends back there in the village, but I didn’t. He and his buddies had no qualms about brutalizing and murdering Ashley and Gilbert and they wouldn’t hesitate to off any of us, but that still doesn’t make it any easier. I just hope there’s another way out. I’d rather not kill another person if I can help it.”

Under any other circumstance the words, “kill
another
person,” at the end of a sentence would have terrified her, but the way Jack said it only made her heart ache. He had killed before, but it clearly hadn’t been easy and he obviously hadn’t gotten over it.

Jessica took his hands in hers and turned them over. They were large and rough. He’d carried no weapon, so he obviously could have killed the man with his bare hands. Whenever he touched her, he was so gentle she just couldn’t believe it was possible. Though he had done nothing but try to protect Megan and her, there was clearly much more to Jack than he had shared and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the rest of his story, but felt the need to truly understand his pain.

Jack smiled at Jessica and pulled his hands away. He could read all the questions in her eyes, but didn’t have the time to explain.

“Megan, are you strong enough to travel?”

“I don’t know. Let me try to stand up.”

Jack and Jessica each took an arm and helped Megan to her feet. Her knees nearly gave out when her friends loosened their grip, but after a few steps she felt strong enough to walk on her own.

“I’m so tired and weak, but I think I can walk for a while.”

“Good. We need to see if we can get across the river. It would be the most direct line to Highway 186. We’re kind of trapped here and thanks to my trip back to the village, they know we’re not too far away.”

They loaded up the blanket and water bottles and headed toward the river. They weren’t very far away, but by the time they reached the water’s edge, Jessica could see Megan was already exhausted. She helped ease Megan down on a log and they both watched in silence as Jack tested the current.