Obsession (18 page)

His head began to nod. Then the proud papa stopped and gave her a puzzled look.

“She’s been given the gift of a lifetime. As one of the Mothers of the Twenty-Four, she will ensure the right people will serve the Chosen One when he comes of age.”

“
No comprendo
.”

“End Days are coming, my little brown friend. Soon the Apocalypse will be upon us. The seas will churn blood, the earth will split, and nuclear fires will roar through all the cities.”

“Evangelista.” He shook his head, turned his back to her, and began to walk in the direction where Sister Anne had gone.

“Don’t dismiss me, you ignorant savage.” She grabbed his shoulder and swung him around to face her. “I’m giving you time to repent, to save yourself and your daughter. Leave us now, go back to your village. Allow your daughter to fulfill her sacred destiny.”

He stared up at her and spat in her face.

Fury boiled in her chest, and her vision tunneled to see only the man’s back as he headed toward the Crèche.

“Don’t you
dare
walk away from me when I’m speaking to
you
.”

He flipped her the bird over his shoulder and kept walking.

She ran after him, yanked at his thick black hair, and threw him down to the stone floor. Foot on his chest, she pinned the struggling heathen to the ground, gripped the handle of the Disciplinarian, raised it on high, and brought it down.

Chapter Thirteen

Angie arose before dawn and pulled on thermal underwear, two pairs of thermal socks, a one piece insulated suit, work boots, and heavy gloves. Rivulets of sweat ran down her back, and her thermal underwear was giving her a wedgie.
Ugh
. She tried to adjust her clothing, then gave up. Even though the weather forecast had been for a sunny, dry, and pleasant twenty-degrees Celsius or sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, she knew once she started driving the ATV, the wind would cool her down. Right now, time was of the essence. She
had
to get out of the compound.

Most of the household would be asleep at this hour, and the sentries would be taking a coffee break in the guardhouse soon. Much like the ancient kings, isolation and lack of bold enemies had lulled the cartel watchdogs into predictable routines and complacency. Ninety days, three months of observations, note taking and clock-watching was about to pay off. Ever since she’d arrived in early December, her repeated requests to rescue Jake
now
had been put off by Isabel and Alejandro. She’d suppressed her shrieking maternal instincts, gone along with the program, and waited.

Rather than curl up in a ball in her room, she’d trained every single day, never missing a five mile run, a shooting session, or an opportunity to practice her climbing skills. Despite her approach-avoidance reaction to the drug lord and his vile business, she’d forced herself to work alongside Alejandro so she could learn everything they knew, memorizing each piece of intelligence as it came in.

She slipped into the kitchen, set down the duffle bag packed with her rifle, handgun and ammo, and filled a thermos with coffee. The Multipurpose Utility Vehicle, or MUV, already packed with a repair and first aid kit, cases of water, protein bars, extra fuel, and every piece of long trip survival gear she could filch without drawing attention, awaited in a dark corner of Isabel’s mammoth garage. She’d memorized the owner’s manual and picked what few brains Tio had about maintenance and spare parts needed for the expedition. She’d asked for driving lessons and over time, she’d been allowed to take the machine out without her hulking buddy. She’d explored every square mile of Isabel’s compound, ranging further with each trip, pushing her boundaries and practicing driving through streams and the roughest terrain she could find, but always returning before sundown. Three months of practice driving, three months of planning, three months of waiting were at last over.

Her biggest fear was that someone would attempt to stop her from leaving. If she could get an hour’s head start, she was certain she could evade Tio and Pepe.

Alejandro was another matter.

Alejandro.

Dammit. Why did her heart race when she thought of him? She should be immune to the man and his charms. She needed him to save her son, that was all. Nothing more. Besides which, they’d been working side-by-side for three months and not once had he ever made one move on her. A damn good thing, because she’d either have to take flight, fight, or sleep with him, and she was afraid she knew already which part of her brain—and body—would win.

This morning, her focus had to be on her son and getting him away from her lunatic father. Victory would be even sweeter if she could save her poor mother at the same time. Perhaps once Miriam saw Angie and realized help was there, she’d at last stand up to, and escape from, her abusive husband.

Maglite in her mouth, she let herself into the cavernous space and felt her way to the darkened corner where her chariot awaited. Getting it outside without making a lot of noise was key. She tossed the backpack onto the passenger seat of the two by two, strapped down one of the tarps she’d ordered for the expedition, and approached the smallest of the garage doors. She pressed the opener, held her breath, and strained to hear footsteps. She waited five minutes, then began steering and pushing the vehicle out the door.

Freaking thing didn’t seem that heavy before, she thought. If it weren’t for the fact that it sounded like a giant lawnmower and would wake the dead, she’d jump in and drive like a bat out of hell. Instead, she continued with the slow roll across the floor, its rubber tires squeaking like enormous mice. At last, she cleared the door and made it to the blessed downward slope of the concrete driveway. Just as it appeared the vehicle would escape from her clutches, she leaped in and veered it away from a pile of jagged rocks. According to Tio, the tires were the most aggressive ones in the industry, but if they hit something the wrong way, even they could be flattened. That was all she needed. She’d be finished before she even started. The wind whipped her ponytail into her eyes, reminding her to put on her helmet. Now or never. She turned the key in the ignition, and the MUV roared to life. She clutched the steering wheel with one hand, shifted into all wheel drive, punched the latitude and longitude of her father’s compound into the GPS, and floored it.

****

Angie admired the rosy fingers of dawn as they turned the sky red. What was that saying? Red sky at morning, sailors’ delight, red sky at night, sailors take warning? Or was it the other way around? Good thing she wasn’t on a ship.

Butt numb from the hour-long ride across rocky terrain, she needed to get off, take a pee, and stretch her legs. Up ahead, a dry arroyo cut into rock walls offered a temporary hiding place. She found a gentle path down to the riverbed and stopped the machine under an overhang. Angie unclipped the protective netting, climbed out and looked for a private spot. Designed for a man on a hunting trip, the camouflage one-piece suit afforded great protection against the wind, but sucked when it came to bathroom breaks for a woman. Boots off, she hopped on one foot then another and finally got down to her thermal underwear. Mercifully, that was in two pieces, not one. She squatted, used a tissue to blot herself, and debated her next steps.

Tio had told her the MUV had a top speed of forty miles per hour, but the darkness and terrain had slowed her down. The GPS told her she’d traveled only twenty miles, not nearly as far as she wanted to be. Now that it was light, she was ready to put the pedal to the metal. She pulled up her pants and looked at the one-piece suit. Here in the valley, the sun was already warming the air and clouds barely moved across the sky. Did she really need that thing? She crammed the suit under the tarp. If she got cold, she could always stop and put it on again. Boots on, time to roll. She dug a protein bar out of the backpack and slugged down some hot coffee. Beneath the tarp, a waterproof one-piece suit awaited Jake. Without his height or weight, she’d been forced to guess and ordered a size larger just in case. Eyes closed, she imagined holding him in her arms again, her tears of joy falling on his face. His smile and coos would be her reward.

Was he talking? Or had Miriam learned how to communicate with Jake with sign language? His vocabulary had been limited to “Mama,” “Dada,” and “Doggy.” If he was speaking now, was it in English or Spanish? She sighed, tossed the remains of the coffee onto the parched ground, wiped the dust off her visor, and turned the key. She had sixty-six miles to go before she ran into the side of the mountain where her father’s fortress perched. Time to eat some more dirt.

****

Isabel stood in the middle of the kitchen and shrieked at the top of her lungs. “What the hell do you mean, she’s gone?”

Nerves tight as a piano string, Alejandro bounced on the balls of his feet and repeated, “The MUV is missing and so is Angie.”

The boss lady whirled on Tio. “How’d she get past the guards?”

The big man shrugged. “No one heard anything, no one saw anything.”

“So she’s a ghost? Is that what you’re telling me? She can walk through walls, disappear without a trace?” Isabel put her fists on her hips. “I want a complete investigation.
Now
. What if she’s an undercover
federale
? I should have never taken that bitch in.”

Alejandro restrained an audible groan. His handler had been driving him nuts, asking about Angie, and her real intentions. Was she working for the cartel? Now Isabel was questioning the poor woman’s loyalty. This was ridiculous—and dangerous. He had to stop this freight train. He cleared his throat. “
Professora
, could I say something, please?”

She glared at him. “Well?”

“She’s been begging us to rescue her son ever since she arrived. I explained to her that we had to hold off until the weather got better, that it was unpredictable until March.”

Her red nails drummed on the granite counter. “And?”

“Guess she got tired of waiting. The MUV is gone, along with an
entire
cargo bed full of long trip supplies and equipment. Plus, weapons and ammo. Plus, baby clothes.”

Isabel’s eyes widened. “
Madre Dios.
She’s going after him alone.”

Tio shook his big bald head. “That is one crazy
chica
.”

“Not crazy,” Alejandro said. “Desperate.”

Isabel covered her face with her hands and took a deep shuddering breath.

Was the Latina badass actually crying?
Alejandro waited.

The boss lady dropped her hands. Her cheeks shone with tears, and her voice was thick. “Organize the men, go after her. She’ll get herself killed.”

Tio turned to leave the kitchen but Alejandro touched his shoulder. “Wait.” The big man stopped. “If we send in the army, she’ll rabbit, or get herself hurt. I know her better than anyone else.” He would probably live to regret his next words. “Let me go after her. Alone.”

Tio guffawed. “
Hombre
, you better watch out. That redhead is nothin’ but trouble. Trust me.”

Alejandro stared at his big buddy. “What are you saying?”

“I think she’s playing for the other team, man.” He rolled his eyes. “I put my best moves on her. Bitch acted like I had a snake in my pants.”

Isabel snorted. “A woman doesn’t want to screw you, so you assume she’s a lesbian?”

Tio pouted. “Most ladies can’t get enough of me.”

“
Madre Dios
, you
are
an idiot.” Isabel turned back to Alejandro. “Do whatever you have to, take whatever you need, just go find her. If she gets hurt or worse, Sarah will never forgive me.”

Once again, Alejandro wondered what Sarah had on Isabel. She said it was a damning DVD, but was there something more? Enough about Isabel. He had to prepare for his tracking expedition across a rugged, unforgiving terrain. He hoped he caught up to Angie before someone or something else did.

****

Gray, anvil shaped clouds swept across the sky, and the wind, formerly non-existent, whipped the sand into a frenzy. Clouds of red dust surrounded Angie’s MUV, forcing her to reduce her speed to a crawl. The GPS, coated in a layer of grime, told her she’d travelled only ten miles. Unbelievable. She had waited three long months for the weather to be perfect. February was much warmer than January, and the forecast was for sunny skies for the entire week. Where was the sun? And was that thunder?

A crack of lightning ripped across the sky, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. That was close—too close. Aside from the occasional pine tree, the vehicle was the tallest thing on the surface of the canyon. Open to the elements, she’d be soaked in minutes when the sky opened up. She had to find shelter. Now.

The dust ebbed. A structure appeared, then disappeared. She shook her head and wiped her visor. The windscreen was covered with crap. She stopped the MUV, got out and peered ahead. A small cottage nestled in the distance in a field far below her. After wiping the windshield, Angie hopped back into the driver’s seat and headed toward the house. If she could reach it before the rain started, she’d be fine.

Lightning crackled around her and struck a nearby pine. Flames shot up from the tree.

She swore and pressed the vehicle onward. The wind howled and rain began pelting her, soaking through her thermal underwear.

Angie shivered and prayed the person who owned the home would let her in. Would it be too much to ask for a fire to warm her up?

Rain pelted the sun-hardened ground. Where once had been parched terrain, water now rippled across it, carrying along gravel, mud and debris. She struggled to keep control of the vehicle, but the cargo behind her slipped and slid, fighting her every twist and turn. She might as well have been driving on black ice in Baltimore. The rain became a wall, obscuring her vision and bombarding her with cold hard pellets. Was that hail? In Mexico? The weather gods mocked her. If she could keep control of the MUV a little longer, she was positive she’d make it to the cabin. Just then the sky lit up again and her world went black.