Sounds of Silence (17 page)

After another dash he wound up at the back of the building, then crept along the concrete wall until he came to a window covered with tar paper. The sound of a silky male voice carried clearly through the window. “I am so happy you have decided to make things easier for yourself and your son. Naturally one little Mexican brat can mean nothing to you, compared to your own flesh and blood.”

Isabel’s voice made Eli straighten abruptly. “I didn’t say I wanted to make you happy,
Señor
. I just said we were going to talk.”

Mercedes knew that Isabel would not leave her with a tarantula on purpose. She could not have stayed one minute more in that room where there might be a whole nest of them. In fact, by now she had run a pretty good distance to get away from it.

Then there’d been that scary man, who almost looked like a spider himself, with his big black mustache and stringy black hair. She looked over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t following her.

What had he been doing, walking down the road with such a big gun? He’d been headed toward the building with the spiders. Had he somehow found out she was there? Good thing she’d left.

Guiltily, she thought of Isabel, who had told her in no uncertain terms to stay where she was.
I said I wouldn’t disobey again, Jesus
.

Mercedes slowed her steps. Maybe she should go back.

No, I’m not going back to that spider!

Isabel always told Danilo,
Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right
.

Isabel wasn’t her mother, not really.

But Mercedes wished she was. If she obeyed, maybe God would give her a mother like Isabel.

What about the man with the gun?

Isabel said if you did what the Lord said, He would take care of you.

Tears leaked out of her eyelids.
But I don’t want to, God
.

She stopped walking.

Chapter Sixteen

T
aser gun drawn, Eli moved silently along the side of the building. Medieros would have at least two guards posted outside, maybe more. If he was going to do this alone, he knew he had to make as little noise as possible while taking them out.
God, please, please help
.

At the corner of the building, he paused, leading with the gun, and stepped out. Sure enough, a guard sat with his back to Eli on the porch rail—a single guard, smoking a cigarette, his rifle negligently pointed at the ground. Eli simply walked up behind him, pushed the gun against his back and zapped him. The man jerked and fell noiselessly backward onto the dirt. Eli quickly tied and gagged him.

One down.

He waited, kneeling in the shadow under the porch rail.
Patience
. He couldn’t get in a big hurry and risk alerting Medieros. A minute went by. Three, then five. Surely there was another guard. Medieros wouldn’t be stupid enough to gamble on such flimsy defense.

Suddenly the door opened, and he could hear raised voices again. He got a glimpse of Isabel, seated in a chair in the middle of the room. It looked like an office, and its florescent light emphasized the pallor of her cheeks. She must be terrified.

Then a dark, smoothly handsome young man—presumably Medieros—stuck his head outside. “Ortiz!” he yelled. “Has Delgado come back yet?” He waited a second, and when there was no answer, repeated, “Ortiz!”

Eli could only assume that the unfortunate Ortiz was the man he had just rendered unconscious, at present lying peacefully under the porch.

“Your army seems to have deserted you,” observed Isabel.

“Ortiz is an idiot,” snarled Medieros over his shoulder, “but I have plenty of others to replace him.” But Eli noticed the insecure pucker between Medieros’s thick brows.

Eli wondered who the missing Delgado was, and where he’d gone. He tensed, expecting another guard to round the building at any moment. Medieros remained in the open doorway. Eli could have easily taken him out with his pistol, but there was Isabel right behind him.

He would have to wait. Maybe Owen would reappear soon.

Isabel watched the leader’s shoulders tighten as he stood in the doorway looking like a cobra poised to strike. He was not as confident as he would like to appear, which made him infinitely more dangerous.

If Delgado came back without Mercedes, this man would kill her. Or even worse, take out his anger on Danilo. Equally unbearable was the thought that he might have found Mercedes in the factory.

“Señor,”
she said loudly, “Delgado won’t find Mercedes, but I have a compromise to offer. I will tell you where she is hidden if you will first take me to Danilo. I want to see with my own eyes that he’s okay.”

He whirled to face her. “I have a better solution. I will just kill you right now, and then the boy.”

Isabel had never confronted such unadulterated evil in a human being. She briefly closed her eyes to steady herself. “Then you’ll be right back where you started. Besides,” she shrugged, “I have nothing to lose. My husband is dead. If you kill me I go to be with him in heaven.”

The man spat on the floor. “That for heaven.” He folded his arms and leaned on the door frame, a mocking smile curling his mouth. “You lie anyway. I’ve seen you with
la migra
, the big clown who thinks it is romantic to look at childish drawings on the walls of a cave.”

Isabel felt every square inch of her body flush in outrage. “You followed us to Seminole Canyon?”

“I am a very thorough man,
señora
. Which is why you and I are going to take a little walk down the road. You have ten minutes to show me where you have hidden the
niña
, before I blow your son’s head off.
Comprende?
”

Mercedes was very sorry, but the tarantula won.

She had continued trotting uphill along the road, keeping a nervous eye out for more creepy crawlies, until over the rise she saw the top of a wire fence. Now she had a decision to make.

She dropped to her stomach in the weeds beside the road. She was hot, itchy and thirsty, but she wanted Isabel with a yearning above anything she’d ever experienced.

Isabel was inside that fence, she knew it with desperate certainty.

And so was Pablo. She’d never told Isabel or Eli his name because of her bone-deep terror, and look what had happened. The only way she could make up for it was to find Isabel and help her get Danilo away from Pablo.

Creeping forward on her stomach until the fence appeared again, she slowly raised her upper body. Her heart bumped when she saw Isabel’s car parked a little way inside the gate. Mercedes knew she couldn’t go walking in the front way.

I’m a big girl. I’ll have to find another way in
. Crawling to the right along the fenceline, she eventually reached the back of the camp. Pulling herself along on her elbows, she slid downhill toward the fence and saw that someone else had already entered here. The wire had been sliced upward from the bottom as if by giant scissors, then cleverly rearranged and camouflaged with weeds in order to hide the cut.

She spent a moment wondering who had done this, then decided it didn’t matter. God had left her a way in, and she was going to take it.
Gracias, Jesus
, she thought as she wriggled through the opening.

She scraped the back of her arm on the ragged wire and stopped just long enough to cry a bit, then wiped her eyes and crawled a few more yards along the inside of the fence. She was very tired, her elbows and knees cut and hurting from the rough grass and rocky ground. Maybe nobody would see her if she lay down just for a moment. She lay with her head turned toward the cabins to her left. Between the buildings she could see several men dressed like
Señor
Spider, the man who had passed her on the road earlier. They seemed to be practicing shooting, aiming their guns at a line of painted metal shapes stationed in an open field.

If the guards were busy, she could move toward the buildings without anyone seeing her. Chances were, too, the noise of the guns would cover any sound she made. Now or never. Before she had time to think about it, she got to her feet, ducked her head, and ran.

She found herself at the back of a small building, and backed against it, pausing for breath. She had no idea where Isabel would be, but she was determined to keep looking until she found her. But first she had to rest. Mercedes squatted there, absently picking rocks out of the cuts on her knees.

The wall of the little building behind her seemed to be very thin, little more than a wooden shell. It almost felt as if it quaked against her back. Imagining an army of tarantulas marching inside, setting up a rhythmic bounce, a thrill of pure terror sizzled in her stomach. Then she realized the bumping behind her was too heavy for any spider. Somebody, a
person
, was inside, banging against the wall.

She peeked around the corner of the building and almost wet her pants. An armed guard, even larger and hairier than the man from the road, stood with his back to her, fishing in his pants pocket for something. She watched as he brought out a skinny brown bottle, uncapped it, and took a long drink from it.

Mercedes ducked back behind the shed, heart pounding. She made herself sit still, though her knees screamed with pain.
Help me be quiet
, she prayed.
Get him away from here
.

She had no idea how long she waited there, frozen with fear. Finally, just when her feet had gone completely numb, she felt the bumping against her back begin again.

Curiosity suddenly outweighed fear. Mercedes risked another look around the corner and watched as her prayer was answered in front of her eyes. The big guard finished off his bottle and threw it on the ground, where it smashed into a thousand brown pieces. Then he looked to the right and left, shouldered his gun and slouched off toward the practice area. He never looked in Mercedes’s direction.

When she could no longer see his retreating figure, Mercedes eased to a standing position. The rush of blood returning to her feet caused her knees to buckle with pain. She leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. At last, when she was able to walk, she decided it was time to see what had been shaking this building.

When she opened the flimsy door and slipped inside, she saw Danilo crouched on the dirt floor, against the wall right where she’d been sitting. They’d been virtually back-to-back, and she’d almost been too scared to figure it out.

Mercedes dropped to her knees in front of Danilo, who looked up at her, wide-eyed with shock. His mouth, hands and feet had been secured with gray tape. She had to get him loose.

First she picked with her fingernails at the tape over his face. She almost stopped when tears seeped from his eyes and his nose began to run, but quickly realized there was no other way. With a deep breath, she yanked until the tape came off.

“Mercedes, that hurt,” Danilo sobbed. She couldn’t tell what else he said because he was blubbering so hard. Putting her finger to her lips to quiet him, she concentrated on his remaining bonds.

Because of the way the tape was wound around his wrists and ankles, she knew her fingers weren’t strong enough to free him. She had to have something sharp. A quick survey of the shed revealed that everything useful had been removed.

Then she remembered the broken bottle right outside the door.

In a matter of moments she was sawing away at the tape on Danilo’s wrists. The process was hampered when he began to wiggle and cry again. She put the chunk of glass down, shushed him with a hand across his mouth, and went back to work.

To her relief, he obeyed, shuddering at intervals as she worked to free him without slicing him open. At last the tape around his ankles gave.

Mercedes grabbed Danilo’s hand and helped him to his feet. His knees buckled, so she put her arm around his waist as they left the little building.

Dios, please keep us safe.

Eli was by nature a patient man. But when Medieros’s hands lingered on Isabel’s ankles as he freed her, Eli could not contain his rage.

Gun drawn, he stepped into the doorway just as Medieros grabbed Isabel under the arm and yanked her to her feet. Isabel’s gasp alerted her captor, who jabbed a small, wicked pistol firmly in the center of her back.

“Ah,
la migra
has decided to join the party.” Medieros faced Eli with Isabel clamped in front of him. “
Señora
Valenzuela, you have been a very bad girl.”

“Eli, no!” she cried out.

“Medieros, I advise you not to so much as bruise her arm.” Eli steadied his own gun, training it over Isabel’s shoulder.

Medieros sighed. “I regret that I have injured the lady’s feelings, but what is a man to do when you arrogant
americanos
trespass on Mexican government property?”

“No one is trespassing but you, Medieros.” Eli shifted, his gun sliding a little in a sweaty palm. Where was Owen? “Mexican police are right outside, ready to indict you for murder and drug trafficking. Your little
party
, as you call it, is over.”

“I think you do not understand who you threaten,
Señor
Carmichael.” Medieros’s arm tightened around Isabel. “My cousin trusts me, and there is no reason I should believe your bluff.” He slid his pistol up Isabel’s back until it was pointed under her ear. Eli watched her swallow and close her eyes. “Drop your gun,
señor
.”

Eli could hear Isabel’s shallow breaths. He shouldn’t have revealed his presence to Medieros. He should have waited for Artemio’s police force, or at least Owen’s signal. Medieros was like a cornered dog, and Isabel was going to get hurt.

His only hope was to keep the man talking until backup arrived. “I think it better be the other way around,” Eli said as calmly as possible. “You injure an innocent American woman or a U.S. federal agent, and you’re looking at life behind bars.”

Medieros shook his head. “We do things different here in old Mexico, Carmichael. Family ties are very strong, and my cousin will not let anything touch me. He has his own reputation to think of.” He stroked the gun barrel up and down Isabel’s neck like a caress. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Isabel opened her eyes and looked straight at Eli. “He said he’d kill Danilo if I brought you with me.” She looked like she was about to pass out. “I don’t know where he is, he was going to take me—” Her voice shredded.

“Owen’s looking for him,” Eli assured her.

“Would you like to continue this conversation in private?” snarled Medieros sarcastically. “You will please shut up,
Señora
Valenzuela, or I will blow a hole in your pretty head.”

Eli tensed, ready to spring, but a shout and a barrage of gunfire erupted outside. Eli had no idea if Artemio had arrived, or if Medieros’s men had become aware of enemies on the grounds, but with Medieros momentarily distracted, Eli had a split second to react. Sign language came instinctively as he caught Isabel’s gaze.

Drop
.

Snatching her arm from Medieros’s loosened grip, Isabel fell to her knees. She heard Eli lunging toward them, and, terrified of getting in his way, she crawled toward the desk. Gunfire still exploded outside, and confusion raged inside the office.

Isabel lunged under the desk. She could hear the two men grappling with sickening crunches of bone on flesh, thuds against the floor and walls, and furniture splintering. Her prayers rose, as frantic and incoherent as the noise around her.

Oh, God, Almighty God, I’m no heroine, but I’ll do whatever You want me to do. I know You’re big enough to help us
.

Peace flooded Isabel, and she suddenly understood how the Psalmist had been able to write poetry while being pursued by a mortal enemy. She had trusted God for little things for her entire life. Now it was time to trust Him in something big.

She jumped when one of the men landed on top of the desk above her head. The chair behind her crashed. She turned and grabbed one of its broken legs. “Thank you, Lord, please help me,” she whispered, and crawled out of her hiding place.