The Key To Micah's Heart (Hell Yeah!) (25 page)

Tears carved a path through the dirt on Sofia’s cheeks. “My son.”

Noah walked to her slowly, time seemed to be at a standstill. “Mom?”

Sofia opened her arms and he went to her. “I love you Noah.”

Mateo stood close with a satisfied look on his young face.

Kyle’s walkie-talkie crackled. Jacob’s voice came faintly over the radio. “What’s going on in there? Did you find her?”

“I hate to breakup this family reunion,” Kyle said. “But we need to get out of here.” He thumbed the button on his radio. “We have the package. Get to your vehicle and meet us at the rendezvous spot.”

They ran up the steps, Sofia, Lupe and the other women in the middle for protection. “How about the ones responsible?” Sofia cried. “They don’t stay at the club overnight, but I can identify them.”

“Santiago has connections on this side of the border. We’ll give them whatever they need and we live to fight another day. Fall back!” Kyle shouted when Jet and his crew saw them.

Noah and Mateo each kept a hand on Sofia, as if they were afraid she’d disappear. “You all go to Isaac’s van, we’ll linger back and take the heat.” Kyle radioed Isaac to wait on the corner until Noah, Mateo and the women appeared.

“Is there room?” Sofia worried. “I know you did not expect so many.”

“The van will hold fifteen. Don’t worry.” Noah assured her. “Cover us.” He told Mateo. 

Out front Isaac and company made their way to the van just in time to get to the corner to pick up Noah and the rest, then they peeled out before the police could arrive.

In the back, everyone loaded up and Jet pulled out, blasting into the street. “Shit.” He cursed when a police car came screaming by. The car jammed on its brakes, swung back around and started pursuing them. Jet managed to lose his tail and jammed the van to a stop. “Everybody out!”

Kyle pulled the curtain back. “What are you doing? Drive.”

“I can’t lose them all,” Jet told him. “Everybody needs to get out and scatter so we don’t all get caught.”

“Especially you, Kyle,” Saxon added. “We can’t have the Governor of Texas getting arrested in Mexico. It’d be an international disaster.”

Kyle gave Jet a stern look. Saxon was right; they were probably going to get caught. “Everybody out!” They filed out of the van quickly.

“I’m staying,” Micah told them as he handed over his weapons. Saxon gave him a disapproving look. “I don’t care. I’m not leaving Jet alone.”

“I’ll stay too,” Santiago added. “I have friends here. I can arrange to get us all out if it comes to it. I won’t be able to help you though, Kyle. The Mexican government would never let you go if they caught you. You’re too big a fish. You have to go and you have to go now.”

The sound of sirens was getting closer.

“Across that field,” Micah said with a point. “The rendezvous point is a mile and half. Ditch the weapons when you get close and don’t look back. We’ll be fine. Go!”

They did as he ordered, racing across the open field and out of sight.

Jet floored the pedal. “Thanks for coming along for the ride, boys.”

“Oh hell,” Micah said with a grin. “I haven’t been to jail in almost forty-eight hours. I’m about due.”

Jet pulled the van slowly around a corner and switched the lights off. They hid there for an hour before venturing back out onto the streets. This time Jet kept his speed reasonable.

“You have got to be shitting me,” Micah quipped when they pulled up to the apartment Santiago had arranged for them. “Are we actually going to get away with this?”

You can go home again…

“I’m very nervous,” Sofia admitted as she sat between Noah and Mateo on Kyle’s plane.

“Nothing to be nervous about,” Noah assured her. He held her small hand in his, taking a glance at her face every few seconds. “I look like you,” he whispered.

“Poor child,” she patted his arm. “I’m a citizen, but what are we going to do about getting Mateo some papers?”

Kyle had made arrangements for Lupe and the other girls to be picked up and taken to a safe house until they could be returned to their families. As he’d assured Sofia, he did not intend to drop this ball. The Governor would use his considerable influence to see that the noose tightened around the neck of the men responsible.

“Destry is working on that now. Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen to them.” Noah looked over at Mateo and saw that he was sound asleep. “How old is he?”

“Seventeen,” she answered, but never took her eyes from Noah’s face. “I can’t believe I’m sitting next to my son. You’ve grown into such a wonderful man.”

“Thank-you. We have a lot of catching up to do.” A thrill of anticipation shot through Noah. “I can’t wait for you to meet the rest of the family.”

A troubled look came to Sofia’s face. “I’m not sure.” She placed a fragile pale hand to her throat. “Are you sure you want me to?”

“Absolutely.” Noah didn’t hesitate a moment in his answer.

She didn’t seem to hear him. “We could take it slowly. I could get a place in San Antonio. That’s how many miles? An hour drive? We could visit.”

Noah bent toward his mother. “We’ve been separated long enough. I want you with me. Tebow is big. We have plenty of room for both you and Mateo. Two of my brothers came with me and the rest of the family is waiting patiently for us to get home. I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. There’s a lot of questions I want to ask and I’m sure you have some too. But there’s nothing more important than that we begin to be a family–today.”

Sofia leaned over and kissed Noah on the cheek. Tears were flowing down her face. “I am so happy. I never thought this day would come.”

“Well, it’s here,” Noah assured her. “And I can promise you the tomorrows will only get better.”

Left behind…

Jet, Micah and Santiago decided to lay low instead of trying to hook-up with Kyle and the others to get out of Mexico. They planned on spending the day in the shabby motel room Santiago had reserved for them and then slip out once the sun had gone down.

For a few hours the men slept, exhausted and weakened from the fierce adrenaline rush of battle.

Micah woke Jet around noon. “Have you seen my phone?”

Jet opened his eyes. “Do I look like I’ve been spending my time babysitting it?”

Micah grumbled, then went back and searched for his phone some more, jumping when the door opened. “Shit! You scared me. I didn’t even know you’d left.”

“We had to eat.” Santiago set a bag of food on the table. “Lose something?”

“My phone. I can’t get in touch with Madison. I need to text her and tell her I’ll be home tonight or tomorrow.”

Santiago handed him a coffee. “Did you check your bag? I thought I saw you put it in your bag in the van.”

“I looked.” Micah thought a minute. “Well, shit. I bet I put it in Kyle’s. They look almost exactly alike. Hell.”

“It’s just as well, you didn’t call. We’re not leaving anytime soon.” 

“Why?” Micah asked Santiago, a frown on his face.

Jet joined them in the living room. “What’s going on?”

“We should have left last night with Kyle.” Santiago said evenly, his expression not betraying what he was feeling. 

Jet took the greasy bag of food. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“I’m afraid it’s not good. Not good at all. The cartels are on high alert, which means the government is on high alert. My sources tell me they have pictures of the van and footage of the raid. There’s a very hefty price on our heads, my friends. Getting out of the country right now is going to be almost impossible.” Santiago laid out the situation. “I’ve got contacts and we’ll get out of Juarez, but trying to leave the country right now would be suicide.” 

“How much time?” Micah wanted to know.

“A week. Maybe longer. Maybe shorter.”

“A week? For fuck sakes. This was supposed to be a quick job. In and out. I’ve got a hot little honey waiting for me back at my place and I’d like to get back to her and my comfortable bed as soon as possible.”

“Believe me, my friend. I’d love nothing more than for that to be the case.” Santiago tried to reason with Micah. “But this is Mexico, more specifically this is Juarez. Things don’t work the same down here as they do where you’re from. You came down here and attacked a cartel, which you might as well say is like attacking the government. I’m afraid I have further bad news.”

Jet pushed the last piece of a burrito into his mouth. “It gets worse?”

“Yes, it does.” Santiago handed Jet a cold drink. “We need to leave this place and we need to get out of here fast. I tell you, they’re on our trail. This whole area is already too hot to handle. We need to move and we’ll probably need to keep moving.”

“Shit,” was all Micah could think to say.

They packed up and left quickly. Santiago drove them out of town under a tarp in the back of an old truck he’d borrowed from a friend. Once they’d left the city, their location became obvious. This was the Chihuahuan Desert, with all of the nuances the name implied. Hot. Dry. Desolate. Covered with cactus and every kind of creepy crawly creature imaginable.

“I fuckin’ hate this,” Jet grumbled. “I much prefer the sea.”

They spent one night at a tiny shack on the outskirts of a remote village neither Micah nor Jet had ever been to. During the day, Santiago would leave them while he’d go out and scope out what their next step would be. Micah and Jet slept when they could, before Santiago came back and told them they had to move again.

“I’m going to be black and blue when this is over with,” Micah complained as he and Jet were bounced and bumped around in the hot, grimy truck bed.

“Man-up, Wolfe,” Jet mumbled. “It could be worse.”

“How in God’s name could it get any worse?”

Jet smiled. “You could be here with Saxon.”

Micah laughed. “You’re right. With no computer access, he’d be chewing on the bumper by now.”

When Santiago stopped at a gas station to fill-up, Jet peeked his head out from under the tarp and saw an antiquated payphone. Santiago had said it was too dangerous to make calls out of Mexico with a cell phone, so they were essentially cut off from everyone. “I wonder if that damn thing works.” He dug in his pocket for a few pesos.

“Where are you going?” Micah asked when Jet crawled from the back of the truck.

“Where do you think? I’m going to go call Sami and let her know where I am. Stay here. You can use the phone when I’m done.”

Santiago hadn’t bothered to try to stop Jet, but he looked on nervously while pumping gas as Jet talked on the phone. The man stuck out like a sore thumb in this place and Santiago was scared he’d attract policio attention.

Micah waited for as long as he could before he joined Jet at the phone booth. “I need the phone.”

Jet told Sami he loved her and hung up. “I told her to get in touch with Madison as soon as possible.”

Micah ignored him, he needed to talk to Madison himself. He dialed her number as Jet stood beside him, nervously watching the cars that drove by, any one of them could open fire on them at any second.

Madison’s phone rang and rang, finally going to voicemail. “Madison, it’s me. I didn’t tell you the truth about what I came to Mexico for. Things went bad.” Santiago saw a police car approaching from the distance and honked the horn. “I can’t get home yet.”

Jet spotted the car also and grabbed Micah. “We have to get out of here. Now!” He pulled Micah away from the phone.

“I’ll be back as soon as poss–” Micah trailed off and broke into a sprint for the truck. They waited behind the cover of the truck, only sliding inside the backend when the car was out of sight. Santiago pulled away slowly as Micah and Jet held their breath, wondering what else might go wrong.

Homecoming…

Madison stepped out of Micah’s spacious shower. Without him, all of this luxury meant nothing. Thunderpunch stood by patiently waiting for Madison to dry off and get dressed. “I know, I miss him too,” she spoke to the calico, then followed the cat into the kitchen to put some food into his bowl.

Once that was done, she went to the fridge and poured herself a glass of sweet tea from a pitcher she’d made for Micah’s return. She hadn’t heard from him yet, but she was hopeful today would be day he came home to her.

Her cell was resting on the kitchen counter and a glance at it told Madison she’d missed a call. There appeared to be a voice mail also. She snatched it up and thumbed the screen open to listen to the voice mail. She gasped when Micah’s voice came over the other end of the line. The reception was bad, she strained to hear. He sounded like he was outside, there was noise of traffic and a lot of static. The message was short and scary and when Madison heard Jet’s words come over the line, her heart tightened and the glass of sweet tea slipped from her hand, crashing to the floor.

What was going on?

What had Micah kept from her?

Why wasn’t he coming home?

Madison felt like an icepick had been driven through her heart and a chill ran up her spine. When the fog of her fear finally lifted a bit, she desperately tried to call his cell phone. Nothing. It just rang and rang and rang. Madison tried it again and again it went to voicemail. All Madison could do was leave a panicked message. “Micah where are you? Are you okay? Please. Call me back.”