In a Broken Dream (The Broken Series Book 4) (30 page)

Isabel
and I gathered Cenia’s wedding dress and accessories from the van before we
crossed the street. I waved to Kadyn when Cenia stepped inside the photographer’s
studio.

I
watched the two men cross the street and settle onto a bench outside the studio
before I joined Cenia in the dressing room. Isabel was engaged in a rather
lengthy discussion with the photographer.

“I
think you should step into the dress rather than pulling it over your head. You
don’t want to get makeup on the dress or mess up your hair,” I warned Cenia.

She
tugged her undergarments into place before stepping into the dress. “Do you
think Roger’s ever going to forgive me for this?” she asked.

I
secured the zipper before diving under the dress to straighten the tulle. “I’m
sure you’ll find some way to make this up to him,” I teased.

“
Oh,
Cenia,”
Isabel cried.

I
poked my head out from under Cenia’s dress. Isabel had joined us in the
dressing room. I tugged the last of the tulle into place and slipped quietly from
the room. With everything they’d risked to get here, they deserved to savor this
moment.

Cenia
was wearing her veil when she stepped out of the dressing room. Isabel was
holding the train so it wouldn’t drag on the floor. The two women glowed… one
with excitement… one with adoration… and both with love. I was not at all
surprised when the photographer began snapping pictures of them.

I
hadn’t seen Cenia wear the veil before. Her wedding suddenly felt very real.
“You look beautiful,” I whispered as Isabel and I arranged her dress for the
photographer.

“Thanks,”
she said with a shy smile.

Isabel
and I spent the next forty minutes positioning Cenia’s dress and veil while the
photographer snapped off hundreds of pictures. Isabel translated for me, so I
could comply with the photographer’s demands. I was stressed out and ravenous
by the time it was over, but Cenia remained unflustered. She washed the makeup
off and tugged her hair out of the upsweep before we stepped outside to join
the men.

Isabel
steered us toward a small restaurant, where we ate lamb and pork empanadas. We
walked to the market after lunch. Cenia and her mother purchased a number of
vases, glass bowls, and candles for the rehearsal dinner. Roger, Kadyn, and I
purchased churros from a street vendor on our way back to the studio.

We
sat outside on the bench, eating our churros, while Cenia and her mother
retrieved the bridal portrait from the photographer. I nearly dropped my churro
when Isabel walked out of the studio with a framed portrait that was two-thirds
the size of Cenia. The portrait was wrapped in brown paper so there was no
telling which pose the photographer had decided on. Still, I’d seen what my
friend looked like with her makeup flawlessly applied, hair perfectly coiffed,
and the wedding dress strategically placed. She made a stunning bride.

I
think we all breathed a small sigh of relief when we pulled out of San
Fernando. Cenia opened a bag of candy once we turned onto the highway. “This is
Tamarindo
,” she explained, handing us each a piece. “This candy is very
popular in Mexico.”

I
popped the amber colored hard candy into my mouth. I wasn’t sure what to make
of it. Kadyn and Roger seemed equally perplexed by the little hard candy that managed
to be sweet, sour, and spicy all at the same time.

“What’s
that?” Roger asked. He was pointing at a black plume of smoke that appeared up
ahead.

“I
don’t know. Maybe a car accident,” Isabel opined.

“That’s
the third car to flash their lights at us. Are you supposed to be driving with
the headlights on?” Cenia asked her mom.

“No,”
Isabel replied. “Maybe they’re warning us about the accident.”

“Those
cars are driving awfully fast,” I noted anxiously. “Can you turn the radio on
and see what’s going on?”

The
van slowed as Isabel began fiddling with the radio. The plume of smoke loomed
closer.

“Was
that service station shot up when we drove by this morning?” Kadyn inquired tensely.

I
glanced at the service station, which was sitting on my side of the road. The
storefront was riddled with bullets. Two vehicles sat abandoned next to the
pumps. Little black holes marred the doors, fenders, and trunks. The windows
were blown out; the tires flattened. “Something’s wrong,” I breathed. Fear crept
through me like an incestuous snake.

“That
gas station didn’t look like that earlier,” Cenia confirmed weakly. “Mom, I
think you should turn around.” A steady stream of cars were speeding down the
highway in the opposite direction with their headlights flashing wildly.

“How
am I supposed to turn around?” Isabel exclaimed testily. She pulled onto the
side of the road. A red Cadillac Escalade with silver and red rims blew past us.
They were barreling toward the plume of smoke.

“Did
you see that?” I gasped. “That Escalade had California plates.”

“They
weren’t Mexican,” Isabel observed. “They were
gringos
.”

“Extremely
wealthy
gringos
,” Roger clarified.

Kadyn
was peering out the rear window. “Those buses turned into that service station.
There aren’t any vehicles behind you, Isabel. Why don’t you back down the
highway so we can find out what’s going on?”

I
didn’t want to be anywhere near a bus when they were being targeted by the
sicarios
.
I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth while Isabel backed up.

“Do
you see all of those cars backed into the woods?” Roger asked. “Why don’t we park
in the tree line so we’re a little less conspicuous from the road? Back in so we
can pull out quickly if we need to.”

Isabel
backed into the trees on the far side of the service station. I winced when a
log snapped under the back tires.

“You
guys stay here,” Kadyn ordered before he and Roger jumped out of the van. They
walked toward the people who were filing off the buses.

“Does
Roger speak Spanish?” I asked Cenia.

“A
little. Not as much as Kadyn,” she replied.

Isabel
glanced at her in surprise.

“Kadyn
grew up in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood,” I explained. “His best friend
was Mexican. Kadyn claims he spent more time at his house than he did with his
own family.”

The
sickening hum of engines churning at a high rate of speed and a series of loud
pops cleaved the air. We stared wide-eyed as a number of trucks and SUVs drove
south, toward San Fernando, on both sides of the highway. Men wearing camo,
khaki, and black hung out of the passenger windows, shooting at each other with
machine guns. The image felt so surreal. For a split second, I thought someone was
filming a live action movie right in front of us.

We
watched, horrified, as Kadyn and Roger ducked behind the buses. Everyone was diving
behind the buses. I gripped the door. I prayed they wouldn’t be shot, that the
van wouldn’t be hit, and the gas tanks wouldn’t explode.

Cenia
and I scrambled out of the van as soon as the vehicles passed. We sprinted
toward Kadyn and Roger. Isabel followed.

“Get
back! Get back in the van!” Roger screamed as he and Kadyn ran toward us. Each
of us flinched when loud explosions sounded in the distance.

I
skidded across the rocks when I tried to stop. Cenia, Isabel, and I ran back to
the van. Kadyn and Roger caught up with us. Everyone was breathing hard.

“It’s
the cartels,” Roger huffed as he opened the door. Cenia didn’t climb in. She collapsed
against him.

Kadyn’s
hands moved roughly over my arms, waist, and back before he shoved me inside
the van. “Were you hit? Was the van hit?” He stepped back to examine the van.

Gravel
pelted the gas tanks, buses, and storefront when a shiny black pickup truck spun
into the parking lot and slammed on the brakes. A man wearing a bullet proof
vest stepped out of the truck. He was holding a black machine gun. Additional
weapons were strapped around his chest, hips, and thigh. The man was dressed
entirely in black... like Maxim… like the mafia… like the SVR.

My
heart stalled.

Kadyn
grabbed my arm. “Get out. Get out of the van. Now!” He pulled me upright when
my knees buckled. We crouched behind the back of the van with Cenia, Roger, and
Isabel.

“Do
you have your cell phones?” Roger asked. People were running toward the cinder
block wall behind the service station. They were shoving children over the top
and scaling the wall after them. I had no clue who the man in black was, but it
was clear he instilled terror in everyone who caught sight of him.

Cenia
grabbed our purses.

Kadyn
placed a pocket knife in the palm of my hand before folding his fingers over
mine. “You three stay together. Run into the woods as far as you can. Don’t
stop. No matter what. Promise me you won’t stop for anyone.”

“Wh…
what about you?” I demanded frantically.

“We’ll
hold them off as long as we can.” Kadyn’s lips bruised mine in a passionate
kiss. This time, I didn’t resist. I kissed him with everything I had. He shoved
me toward the woods. “Run!”

I
stumbled forward blindly. I couldn’t see through my tears. “The dress!” I
cried, turning back around.

Cenia
grabbed my arm. “Leave it!” Tears streamed down her face.

“Run!”
Isabel screamed.

We
ran as fast as we could; weaving around the trees, ducking under branches, and hurdling
fallen logs. The branches from the mesquite trees whipped against my arms,
face, and chest. I didn’t flinch, not until I heard the gunfire. The sound ricocheted
through the trees.

I
stopped and turned around dazedly. I took a step forward… toward the gunfire…
toward Roger, Kadyn, and the van.

“Keep
running,” Cenia cried. She held fast to my arm once Isabel turned me around.

The
heavens burst open as we began to weep.

*
* * * *

Cenia
collapsed next to me in the mud. “How bad is it?”

I
wiped the mud from my knee so I could see the damage underneath. “I’ll be
fine.” My hands, knees, and feet were bleeding. I had lost track of how many
rocks and logs I’d tripped over. We’d been running in sandals for over thirty
minutes. My new azure dress was streaked with mud and clinging to me in the
most annoying places. Cenia and Isabel didn’t look any better.

“Are
you getting a signal?” I asked Isabel. She was staring at her phone.

“One
bar,” she replied. She tried placing a call.

“Thank
God her cell phone works in Mexico,” Cenia muttered as she flicked mud from her
toes.

“Do
you think it’s safe to head back?” I asked. We hadn’t run into anyone in the
woods, which was truly surprising given the number of people who had been
fleeing the service station.

Isabel
began speaking rapidly in Spanish. Her cell phone was pressed against her ear.

“She’s
talking to one of my cousins,” Cenia explained. She grew quiet as she listened
in on the conversation. “He lives nearby.”

I
peered up at the clouds through the strange looking leaves. “It stopped raining,”
I noted numbly.

“It
has?” Cenia asked. She sounded surprised. She stood and pulled me to my feet.

Isabel
glanced at us. She was still talking on the phone.

My
mind kept circling back to the service station. I choked back another round of
tears. “Do you think they’re okay?”

Cenia
turned toward the direction we had come. “They should have caught up with us by
now.”

I
ran my hand over our latest notch. Cenia had begun notching the trees once she
learned Kadyn had given me a knife. I just hoped we’d marked enough trees to
find our way back.

Isabel
disconnected her call. “Your cousin, Dante, is going to make sure it’s safe to
return to the service station. He’ll call us when he gets there. We should stay
here until he does.”

We
sat back down on the log. “
Mamá
…” Cenia whispered brokenly. The rest of
the sentence was lost in her tears.

“
Shhh
,”
Isabel soothed. She wrapped Cenia in her arms. “Roger and Kadyn will be fine.”

I
reached for Cenia’s hand. “I think we should pray for them.”

Cenia
nodded. She and her mother crossed themselves before Isabel began. “Heavenly
Father, please watch over Kadyn and Roger. Keep them safe from the cartel and
the
sicario
. Watch over those who were injured, those who ran, and those
who were left behind. Help us find a way to put an end to this greed, these
drugs, and these senseless killings. Guide us. Watch over us, and help us find
our way home. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost.” She and Cenia made the sign of the cross when Isabel ended the prayer.

We
huddled around Cenia when she began crying again. All three of us jumped when
Isabel’s phone rang a few minutes later.