KILLER DATE (SCANDALS) (20 page)

“Wow…this is creepy,” Jenny said.
  “I feel like I’m being choked.”

“If it
’s not tight, it won’t pick up your voice, and no one will hear you.  Cinch it up.”

“Need help Jenny?
” I asked.

“
You wanting to strangle me?”  She smiled.

“
Maybe later.”  I gave her a teasing wink.  How could any woman manage to look sexy in black face and a skull cap?  Amazingly, it brought out her best features, her eyes and her perfect bone structure.  I hated to think what I looked like.  Hopefully, not too dorky.  Winning Jenny’s heart was enough of a challenge without being dressed up as some sort of night creature.  But she didn’t seem to be repelled.  Rather, there was a glimmer of something that looked a little like interest.  Was that how a woman looked at a man who was just a friend? 

The problem was that
I honestly didn’t know how a woman and a man could be friends.  I had had no close female friends in my life.  And I had never been in love, so I had no clue what that looked like either.  The truth was that I had never cared enough about any woman for it to matter what she thought.  Not until Jenny walked into my life with her independent attitude and her vulnerable eyes.  She was a total contradiction in every way, and it fascinated me.

I desperately hoped we’d be able to rescue her sister and all make it out alive.  But I didn’t want it to end there.  I’d wait until this was over, but then I was going to have to do something to make Jenny realize I could be serious and settle down with just one woman.

Jeez…was that really me, Reno Marks, thinking he might want to settle down with one woman?  After a moment of shock, I relaxed.  Yes, I think it was something worth checking out.

“
You kids done?”  Nick interrupted my musings as he reminded us, “Remember…only what’s essential.”  One more time he reached into the box and took out two cable cutters.  “We’ll take these with us.  They’ll cut up to a quarter-inch fence wire.”  He handed me a pair and he pushed the other one into his back pocket. “Okay…we can see at night, communicate with each other, cut wires…and oh yeah I’ve got a pistol with a silencer and 15 shots and a couple extra clips.  Let’s hope we can get in there and out without using it because they have a helluva lot more firepower than we do.  Any questions so far?”

Jenny and I shook our heads, so Nick turned to Dallas.
He took two more things out of the box.

“
Here’s a pair of night vision binoculars for you to keep an eye on things.  If you hear or see anything we need to know about, here’s a radio set to our frequency.”  He handed Dallas a small walkie-talkie-type radio.  He pointed to one button.  “Just push that and speak.  We’ll be able to hear you.  Leave this button on, and you’ll be able to hear us.  If it all goes south, get the fuck out of here and let someone know what’s going on.  Got it?”

Dallas took the radio and nodded. 
“Got it.”

We stood and
picked up our backpacks.  I stuck my cable cutters in an outer pocket and swung the straps over my shoulders.  John had packed several sandwiches, granola bars, bottles of water and some apples in mine and Dallas’ packs, and I assumed Nick probably had something similar in his. Only Jenny had nothing to carry. It was enough to get us through the night.

“
Okay…here’s our plan,” Nick said, anxious to get moving.  “We’ll follow the river bed to the compound.  It branches to the left, so we’ll have to cross the last fifty feet in the open which means we have to time it perfectly with the guards’ movements.   Most of the men should be going to bed around midnight, so we’ll hold up at the bend in the river where’s there’s plenty of cover until then.  Once we get through the fence, we’ll decide whether to go through the front door or break through the back.  Angela will probably be asleep, and we don’t want to startle her.  The last thing we need is for her to scream.  Then we’ll leave the same way we came in and try to make our way back to here…before sunrise.”

“Should be plenty of time,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound as nervous as I was feeling.

“Should be,” Nick agreed.  “Turn on your throat mic and earpiece and let’s check them out.”  We clicked them on and did a round of
testing, testing
until he was satisfied that everything was working properly. “I’ll go first, then Jenny and Reno, you bring up the rear.”

“Roger that.”
Jeez, now even I was picking up the lingo.

“
If we’re not here by noon, head to the ranch,” Nick ordered Dallas.  “If we have to escape through the caves, we’ll meet you there.”

“Good luck guys,” Dallas said as he pulled the back of the Land Rover shut.

As I followed Nick and Jenny into the darkening night, I hoped it didn’t come down to luck.  Mine had been a little hit and miss lately.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

We made our way over the small hill and down the other side until we found the dry river
bed.  The low underbrush of mesquite, prickly pear and yucca was replaced by taller trees that lined the river.  I, for one, felt a lot safer with the cover.  Unless someone was within a few feet of us, it would be impossible for them to pick us out of the darkness.  Unless, of course, they had night vision glasses, too.

And then
, there was the sound of our boots clattering over the rocks to give us away.  Okay, to be more honest about it, Nick and Jenny were making their way over the difficult footing with ease.  It was me who was having trouble finding a place to step that didn’t involve a rock rolling under my foot or slipping out from under me.

Even here, miles away from civilization, aluminum cans, plastic water bottles, paper cups and other
non-biodegradable garbage littered the riverbed, probably left behind by hunters, hikers or even illegals making their trek up from Mexico.  The trash added a new level of complexity to our path because the sound of plastic cracking or aluminum crushing under foot would echo throughout the stillness.

It was almost eerily quiet.  There were no owls or crickets or frogs or whatever the hell other kind of creatures usually hung out and made noise after dark.  Where was all the wildlife that was supposed to flourish around here?  Were we being that intrusive or was someone…some human…out there watching us
?  I could feel eyes watching me, following my every step.  I flipped on my night-vision goggles and searched the riverbank, but all I could see was Nick and Jenny ahead of me.  She was like a mountain goat…sure-footed, steady and pulling away.

I felt a drizzle of sweat run down my back.  I had never spent much time outdoors, other than the f
ew nights I had been on the streets in Vegas.  But even then, I’d found some deserted building or the underground that wasn’t exactly out in the open.  The only wild things I had been around were drunken tourists and sedated tigers.  When Christopher had described what kinds of assignments Scandals usually worked, he’d never mentioned anything about midnight hikes through snake and drug-lord infested wilderness in the job description. What the fuck…I’ll bet he didn’t do this shit. 

Stop bitching…I’m doing this for Jenny…right? 
Suddenly, the toe of my book caught in an exposed root and I stumbled.  My arms flew out, trying to break my fall and to protect my face and my contraband Russian goggles as I hit the ground hard.  “Shit…ouch…”

“What?”
I jumped as Nick’s voice came through my ear piece.

“I tripped.”

Nick sighed so loudly, I heard it without my ear piece.  “Hold up,” he whispered.  “Nancy slipped and fell.” 

I pushed myself up and started to stand when I hear
d the distinctive sound of a rattle just to my right.  “Nick…”  My first instinct was to jump to my feet and run, but I remembered hearing somewhere that snakes respond to fast movements.  Since I knew I couldn’t out run a snake strike, I stayed still and tried not to breathe.  Without moving my head, I shifted my gaze and the night-vision goggles put me face-to-face with the coldest, most evil eyes I had ever seen.  A black, forked tongue zipped in and out, trying to sense my location. 

“
Are you going to get up?” Nick asked impatiently.

“No,” I whispered.

“What now?” 

“Snake,” I managed to say.

I waited for what seemed like an hour, hoping the snake would lose interest and slither away.  Unfortunately, he seemed to be waiting for me to make the first move.

I flinched
as something pelted the left side of my face.  All sort of horrible possibilities flashed through my mind…maybe I’d fallen into a whole nest of snakes.  I shifted my eyes and saw that they were rocks that had been kicked up by Nick’s boots.  “Shit, Nick!”

“You want help or not?” 
He took a long stick, hooked it under the snake and flung it deep into the trees.  “Ready now?”  He shook his head.  “Let’s get going.”

“That’s your snake charmer? 
A rotten stick?”

“Is
the snake gone?” he asked rhetorically.

I couldn’t argue with
that logic, although I had expected a little more finesse.

“You okay Reno?”

Jenny’s voice above me was comforting.  She had come back for me.  I wanted to be tough and macho, but my legs were still shaking, so I accepted the hand she held out and let her help me up.

“So much for illusions,” I said as I flipped the goggles up.  “Now you know that I’m the last person who can protect you…especially if there’s a snake involved.”

“I don’t blame you a bit for being concerned.  If I had been that close to a rattlesnake, I would probably have peed my pants,” she told me.

“I might have.  I’ll check later,” I joked…at least I hoped it was a joke.

Her teeth flashed white in the darkness, and I knew she was smiling.  I felt her hand grip the front of my shirt, and she stretched up and surprised me with a kiss, full on my lips.

“What was that for…a consolation?”  I had to know.  The last thing I wanted from her was a sympathy kiss.

Her smile disappeared, but I could see her eyes looking at me steadily. “That’s the first time I’ve seen you be human.”

“What?”  That completely baffled me.  “I’m always human.”

“No, you’re always on stage.  I never know when you’re
real
Reno or when you’re
performer
Reno.  So far, it’s been mostly the latter.”

“Kids, we need to be moving,” Nick reminded us.

I had no idea how to respond to Jenny, so I fell back on humor.  “Is my makeup smeared?”

Instead of being disgusted, she laughed, a soft genuine chuckle.  She reached up and smoothed out a spot on my cheek and one on my chin.  “There…I can barely see you now.”

I was still confused, but felt much better as we set out again.  I had no idea how long we walked or where we were.  The river twisted and turned so much, it was difficult to keep a sense of direction.  Nick, of course, didn’t seem to have any trouble.  Jenny and I had to hustle to keep up with his brisk pace.  I was about to ask if we could stop and rest when the sound of underbrush crackling and breaking caused us all to come to an immediate halt.

Dirt and small rocks
tumbled down the river bed sides and pelted us.  We were in a part of the river that had been carved deeply into the rocks so that the banks were about eight feet above us.  I searched the rocks for any sign of the cartel.  If they caught us down here, we were sitting ducks.  My goggles didn’t pick up on anything but the sounds grew louder.  Now we could hear grunts and growls, following by the rattle of teeth against teeth.  “What the fuck is that?” I whispered.

“F
eral hogs,” Nick answered immediately. 

“That sounded like an African lion!”
Jenny had stepped back and grabbed my arm.  I could feel her shaking.

“
Shit, they’re right above us…and something’s spooked them.” Nick explained shortly.  I could tell this was not a complication he’d expected.  “Quick, press up against the side,” he told us, and we backed up against the steep bank so that anyone above wouldn’t be able to see us if they looked over the edge.

More small rocks
tumbled down on us. I could feel liquid drops hitting my face, but I really didn’t want to know what that was all about.  I just kept my mouth tightly closed.

“Don’t worry…w
e’ll be okay if they don’t fall in or...”  Nick whispered.

“
Or what?” I asked.

“Or we’re fucked.  If the fall doesn’t kill them, then they’ll kill us,” he explained.  “They
get really mean when they’re hurt.”

“Great…pissed-
off pigs…really?”

“We
need to stay perfectly still…someone’s hunting them,” Nick said. “Hear that?”

“What?”
Jenny whispered.

“
It’s the hunters…they’re chasing them toward the edge to trap them.”  He pointed upward. 

We looked up and saw headlights threading their way through the trees.

“Is there any good news? I asked.

“
They’ll probably try to shoot them up top because no one wants to haul a four hundred pound dead weight out of this arroyo.”

“Do they eat them?”

“Sure, it’s fresh pork for their tamales.”

Suddenly, a
utomatic rifle fire from several guns ripped through the air, and we ducked reflexively even though the shots were well above us.  The hogs squealed and snorted, and, yes, roared like I imagined a wounded lion would sound.  There were shouts in Spanish. 

We froze, not daring to move as the voices came closer.  A couple kill shots quieted the hogs that had been wounded but not immediately killed.  There was more conversation and the sound of knives splitting flesh.  Soon, globs of bloody guts and intestines rained over the side of the banks.  We pressed tighter to the rocks to avoid the wet mess
that splashed down around us.

We were pinned there for almost an hour while they finished cleaning the hogs and loading them into their vehicles.  We
barely breathed until we heard the sounds of their engines start up and drive away.  As the silence of the night returned, we relaxed and walked far enough to get away from the slimy mess before we found flat rocks and sat down.

“That was crazy,” Jenny breathed.

“Just an average night’s entertainment in the compound.  Stuck way out here, there’s probably not many ways to have fun,” Nick pointed out.

That brought an unwelcome thought about why they had brought Angie there.  I knew it was very likely that she had been raped and abused, but I hadn’t dared voice my concerns to Jenny.  I glanced over at her, and from the stricken look
in her eyes, I knew the probability had already occurred to her.  Possibly it was already too late to save her.

“
I think we should keep moving,” I suggested, more committed than ever.  Every minute wasted was another minute she could be being tortured.  Jenny gave me a grateful smile, and this time it was my turn to pull her to her feet.

We
fell back into our line with me at the back.  Every now and then, I glanced back when I heard a noise, imagining a wounded hog running up behind me.  But we covered the rest of our river path without incident until we reached the point where it made a sharp turn east.  In front of us, the wide-open band of land stretched to the fence.

Nick melted back against the trunk of a tree and sat down on a rock.  We followed his lead. 
Even though we had been hiking for hours and it had been over twenty hours since we had slept, we were too wired to be tired. The sounds of music drifted through the night, reaching our ears in waves.  There was a lot of shouting and a couple random gun shots.  I looked at Nick in alarm.

He shrugged.  “Just celebrating the pig slaughter,” he explained. 
“When they shut off the music, we’ll wait an hour for the tequila to kick in before we make our move. Humans sleep their deepest about an hour after they first fall asleep, and it lasts for about an hour or so. Hopefully, the tequila will work for us to make it deeper and longer. Dallas, are you still with us?”

In our ear pieces, we heard a sleepy, “Everything’s quiet here.  No sign of Ricardo.”

“Hang in there,” Nick told him.  To us he said, “Turn off your mics for now just in case they’re monitoring the frequency.  You can talk, but keep it low.”

We switched the mics off, but kept the rest of our gear on even though the night was a little too hot for long sleeves, gloves and skull caps. 
I took off my backpack and handed out the sandwiches and bottled water John had packed for us.  We opened the baggies as quietly as possible, then tried not to gobble the food down too quickly. 

“How long will the music go on?”  Jenny asked
softly between bites of her sandwich.

“How long will the
tequila last?” I answered.

We
ate in silence as the music continued to play, interrupted occasionally by an announcer and what I guessed to be commercials.  “They must have a Mexican radio station on,” I commented.

“Probably
from Acuña, Coahuila.  It’s just across the border,” Nick explained.

“Big town?”

“Not really…about the same as Del Rio.  Say, 35,000…less every day because it’s so close to the river.  Why?”

“I just wondered.  I’ve never been
to Mexico,” I said.

“Christopher
mentioned you’re from Vegas,” Nick commented.

“Started out in Reno…where my
mom lived when I was born.”

“Yeah…that’s fucked up.  Reno
, Dallas, Killeen, Tulsa, Liberty.” Nick shook his head.  “I always thought Roger was a great guy, but it sounds like he was a real bastard.”

“Don
’t know…never met him,” I admitted.  “Everyone at his wake…except the dude that tried to kill us…they all loved him.  They had some really funny stories. Apparently, the women loved him.”