The Ninth Day Read online

  The clouds scudded across the sky, and the moonlight bathed the area. Emma dodged a small cactus with only inches to spare. The light stayed constant. Another bug hit her face, and the crunching noise of her footfalls continued. Small potholes and divots covered the ground. If the guards reverted to horseback they would be required to go slowly on the flats in order to avoid having the animal step directly into a hole. Emma doubted any rider would simply race an animal over the terrain. The odds of the horse landing in a depression and snapping a leg were too high. Emma stumbled, regained her footing, and barreled to the next hill, powering into the rise. This one remained at a steady climb the entire way up, and she was at the peak and over with much less exertion. Still, she heard nothing more behind her. My God, could it be this easy? she thought.

  She ran for forty-five minutes, scrambling over each hill and running flat out over the fields. After another twenty minutes she saw the occasional light from a farmhouse. In the distance in front of her the village’s clustered buildings were pinpoints, growing larger. It was nestled in a slight valley, and Emma was on the rise above it, and able to see the boundary lines where the houses began in earnest. Now other noises mingled with the sounds she was making. Out of the darkness came the sharp report of a gunshot.

  Emma’s heart skipped and she felt her nerves jangle to the fore. She snapped to attention and raised her speed a notch. Her arms pumped faster and her breathing labored for a minute. Once again it evened out as her body settled into this new, faster pace. She strained to hear above the noise she made as she ran, doing her best to pick up all ambient sound that might indicate pursuit. There came another shot. This time it was clear. It came not from behind her, Emma was sure, but from the direction of the town in front of her. She slowed for the first time in an hour. Several more shots rang out, followed by the boom of an explosion. Emma saw a flash of fire. The village was under attack.

  She heard a mixture of voices and screaming from the area in front of her, the sound carrying on the wind, but still faint in the distance. She kept running forward, but now she wasn’t sure what to do. Her original plan had been to find the nearest bar, ask to use the phone, and call Banner, the one man she knew could mobilize a crew to assist her. She hadn’t counted on running into hell.

  Another explosion ripped through the night, and to Emma it felt as though the earth shivered with the impact. This time she saw the fire leap up into the air along with flying clods of dirt and what looked like cement from a building. She could see forms fleeing, their shadows lit by the flames. The rattling report of a semiautomatic gun firing round after round cracked through the air. Sweat from her armpits ran in rivulets down her arms, not so much from the exertion, but from the fear.

  She hit an asphalt road and turned onto it, notching her stride up a bit now that she knew she was unlikely to trip on a small hole. The gunshots continued, both in front of her and to her right. She veered left, and back off the asphalt, hoping that direction held more security for her.

  Another road appeared, this one running perpendicular to the first, and she stepped onto it. More gunshots, but this time it sounded like the shooter was to her right. She kept on the road, and again picked up her pace, taking advantage of the even terrain. She hoped to be on the other side of town before whoever was shooting decided to expand their horizons and turn her way.

  What worried her the most was the complete lack of vehicles on the streets. It was as if the townspeople were already dead. The gunshots continued in earnest, with so many reports that it was clear there were several shooters. The screams were increasing as well. Emma could hear the guttural voices of men, whether the shooters or some other people, she couldn’t tell. Two more explosions rocked the town, the second spewing bits of boards into the air. Now Emma could see a few people running, darting out from between the houses and racing down the road.

  An armored vehicle turned a corner and entered the main street. Its hood was a wedge shape that enabled it to push objects in front of it, and in the back an open bed contained several men dressed in military fatigues and holding weapons. One man bit off and tossed something small in the direction of a nearby house. It landed on the front lawn and rolled toward the stoop.

  The men yelled a warning, and the armored car accelerated away.

  Seconds later, the grenade exploded, splintering the porch and shattering the house’s front window. More screams filled the air. Emma cut further left, but now the explosions and gunshots were coming from all sides. She cut behind a tree and leaned against it, her breath heaving. She tamped down the panic she felt at the chaos all around her. She couldn’t go forward into the town, or sideways around it without risking getting hit by a stray bullet. Backtracking was even less of an option. If La Valle caught her again, she had no doubt he’d torture her, kill her, and give her body to the armadillos to be eaten. She leaned against the trunk and shivered.

  The sound of a car, coming fast, made her look around the tree. A black Range Rover barreled toward her, driving across the dirt. The body of the car bumped along in a crazy, jerky pattern. Emma looked down and saw that the front right tire was dangerously low. The car made a slight turn and she saw that the rear tire was low as well. The Rover hit a pothole, and a silver hubcap detached from the side and careened away, rolling on its edge. The car kept coming. Emma ducked back behind the tree and pressed herself tightly against it, trying to make herself as small as possible. The Rover drew even with the tree, and came to a stop. It idled there a moment. Emma watched the passenger window roll downward. Luisa Perez’s frightened face came into view.

  “Get in the car, now! They’re coming!” she said.

  Emma sprinted to the Rover and yanked the door open. As she clambered inside, Perez hit the gas and they moved out. Emma grabbed at the door to swing it closed while the car once again began its crazy, jouncing pattern. “La Valle’s men alerted the town that you’d escaped. They want you recaptured when you arrive. Of course that was before the trouble started,” Perez said.

  “What’s going on down there?” Emma said. Perez yanked the wheel to the right and Emma bumped against her door. She reached up and pulled her seat belt down, snapping it into place.

  “That’s the Mexican army. They’re wiping out the town.”

  Emma did her best to contain her shock. “The army? Aren’t they the good guys?”

  Perez shook her head. “Not necessarily. They think the town is controlled by La Valle. They intend to kill everyone in it to prove that the army is bigger than the cartel.”

  “Does La Valle control the town? Is everyone under his thumb?”

  “Yes, of course, but that doesn’t give the army the right to kill them all. There are blameless women and children living there.” Perez spoke without removing her eyes from the area in front of the car. Emma heard the scrape of a cactus’s needles as they raked the Rover’s side.

  “I need your cell phone. I have to make a call. Right now. I know the people in charge of a security company in the States. If I call them, they’ll come to my aid, no questions asked.” Emma held her hand out to Perez.

  Perez shook her head. “I don’t have a cell phone. I escaped out of the back of my house into the garage. I keep the car keys in a box in the garage, but my cell phone I keep in my purse, which was in the front of the house. The army was busy breaking down the front door, so there was no time to get the phone.” Emma leaned back against the seat, and for a short moment she thought she wouldn’t be able to control her despair at the knowledge that Perez had no phone.

  “Then stop and let me out. I’ll take my chances with the army.”

  Perez snorted. “Are you loco? They’ll shoot you first and not even bother to stop and ask your name.”

  “Where are you going?”

  Perez shot her a glance. “To La Valle’s, of course.”

  Emma groaned. She’d run over an hour through the desert night, only to hitch a ride back to where she began.

  “Why La Val
le’s?” she asked.

  “If we can make it to the compound, his people might be able to hold them off,” Perez said. Emma gaped at her. The idea of holding out at the compound while the Mexican army surrounded it was too ludicrous for words.

  “How many soldiers are sacking that town?” Emma said.

  Perez yanked the car to the right so violently that Emma smacked the side of her head against the passenger-side window. Perez straightened the wheel once again.

  “I don’t know. I saw at least forty.”

  “What makes you think that La Valle can hold them off?”

  “He has over thirty security personnel, an entire arsenal of weapons stored in a shed near the ranch stables, and the guts to face down anyone who steps in his path. That’s what makes me think this way.”

  “Let me out. I mean it. I’m not going back to La Valle’s,” Emma said.

  “Fine. Go.”

  Perez slammed on the brakes. Emma jerked forward, then slid back. She threw open the door and jumped onto the grass, slamming the panel behind her. Perez gunned the vehicle, forcing Emma to leap out of the way as it went forward. She turned to see the armored truck with the battering-ram hood heading straight for her but still a fair distance away. The headlights bounced up and down as the vehicle navigated the terrain. Emma raised her hands in surrender.

  Bullets struck the dirt all around her. She dove onto the ground. When the noise stopped, she lurched upward and raised her arms again. The truck curved to a stop. More bullets hit the dirt.

  She spun and ran on the diagonal. The thunking sounds of ordnance hitting all around her lent wings to her feet, as did the roar of the truck’s engine as it started again. She sprinted one hundred meters, then switched left. Perez’s Rover was to her right, and Emma watched it circle back toward her. It stopped fifty feet away, kicking up dirt all around. Emma skirted behind it and grabbed at the passenger door. She yanked it open and dove back in. Perez hit the gas.

  “Next time you listen to me!” Perez yelled at her. Emma didn’t bother to answer, but checked the side-view mirror. The armored vehicle kept coming at them. While it was clear that it was going half the speed of Perez’s Rover, it was also clear that once it caught up, the game was over. Five soldiers stood in the truck’s bed, grasping the vehicle’s sides as it came toward them. Emma cut a glance at the fuel gauge on the Rover. Perez had a fourth of a tank left.

  “Can we outrun them?” Emma asked.

  Perez, too, glanced at the gauge. “If my gas holds up and theirs fails.”

  A shot echoed in the night. Emma flinched, but nothing hit the car. Another quick glance in the side-view mirror revealed that the soldier on the left had fired. He took aim once again.

  “They’re targeting us. Do you have a gun?”

  Perez nodded. “There’s one in the glove compartment.” Emma snapped open the compartment to find a weapon nestled on top of a stack of warranty books. “There should be a fresh magazine. Under the manuals. And a box of bullets.” Emma found both, but the magazine had only two bullets in it. She put the box of ammunition on her lap, picked up a bullet, and started to fill the rest of the magazine. It held seventeen rounds. She snapped the magazine into the gun and lowered her window. Perez swerved toward the asphalt street.

  “I’ve had enough of this terrain. I thought it would slow them down, but now I think I should get on the road and outrun them,” she said.

  Emma turned back and braced herself against the side door, with her left shoulder pressed back against the window frame. When she stuck her head out she got her first clear view of their attackers.

  The truck looked like a converted Hummer, with a heavy steel grill guard on the front and an open bed in back. The men riding along were dressed in fatigues. They were running on adrenaline, making whooping noises each time the car slammed into a hole and bounced back up.

  Emma raised the gun, holding it with two hands and doing her best to keep it steady despite the rocking car. She heard one of the men yell. A man on the side raised his rifle. She squeezed off three shots. The gun recoiled with each one, but she could have sworn she hit the truck. The men inside dropped below the side walls, and the one with the rifle positioned himself in a corner next to the cab. He put the barrel of his gun on the rail, pointing in their direction.

  “Perez, swerve left, now!” Emma said. Perez responded with a vicious yank on the steering wheel. At the same moment, the Rover hit a large boulder. The car’s entire right side rose into the air, riding on two wheels. They stayed that way, perched on the left tires, for a few seconds, before the car slammed back down. Perez drove it straight onto the asphalt road and gunned it.

  The Rover engine gave a louder roar as it accelerated. Emma watched as they pulled away from the Hummer. It responded with more speed, closing the gap they had just made.

  “Faster. They’re gaining,” Emma said. She felt the car surge forward again.

  “My foot’s to the floor,” Perez said.

  A huge explosion rocked the air, followed by a large fireball that was released over the edge of town. The Hummer visibly slowed. A second explosion ripped through the night, even louder than the last. Black smoke cut with red fire belched into the sky. The Hummer curved to a halt, with its side facing Emma. The last thing she saw before it faded from view was the taillights as it turned and raced back toward the town.

  Chapter 14

  Perez laid off the gas pedal, but kept the speedometer at eighty. Emma returned to sit in the seat, and pulled the seat belt back into place. She closed the window. Neither of them spoke. Perez leaned into the windshield, and from the strained look on her face, Emma guessed that she was having a hard time seeing the road.

  The darkness was complete. Emma was struck by how dark it actually was, and for a moment she wondered just how she had managed to run all that way without breaking an ankle. She tamped down the anxiety she felt rising at the thought of returning to La Valle’s. It was clear she couldn’t go back.

  “If I head east or west from here, how long before I hit a town?” Emma said.

  Perez seemed to contemplate the question. “Close to twenty-five miles east, and farther to the west.” Not great distances, but still another four hours of running through the night. Emma didn’t relish the idea, yet she’d do it if it was her only shot.

  “And if I skirt around La Valle’s and keep going straight on the other side?”

  “Ten miles, no more,” Perez said.

  So that was the best option. “Let me out two miles before the ranch. I’m not going back there,” Emma said.

  Perez nodded. “I know. I figured as much.”

  “Come with me,” Emma said on an impulse. “I’ll call my friends and you’ll be safe.”

  Perez kept her eyes on the road. The silence stretched out. “I can’t take the risk. La Valle learns that I helped you, I die.”

  “How cowed are you by this man? I’ll do my best to get you out of here. You can go to Mexico City, anywhere. Going back to your house is not really an option, anyway. Perhaps you can enter the States as a refugee.”

  Perez snorted. “Not likely. I’ll be sent back here immediately. Once I am, La Valle kills me. Slowly.”

  Something flashed in the headlights’ beam.

  “Did you see that?” Perez said.

  “I did. Are your high beams on?”

  Perez flicked a switch and the resulting light pierced farther ahead. There came another flicker, then nothing. Emma felt her scalp prickle, as if someone or something was watching her.

  “Slow it down. I have a bad feeling.”

  Perez took the car down to forty, then twenty, miles per hour. Emma kept her eyes focused in front of the car. The feeling of being watched increased. A terrible thought came to mind.

  “Perez, do you think the army has surrounded the compound already? Maybe they’re waiting for a signal to attack?” Perez brought the car to a complete stop, turned off the headlights, and cut the engine. She lowered her
window, and Emma did the same on her side. They sat there, listening.

  The only sounds were the scratching of insects and the occasional whistle of the breeze as it swooped past the car. From somewhere in front of them, still a distance away, Emma heard the scraping of metal on metal, and the beep of a walkie-talkie, quickly silenced.

  “They’re out there, waiting,” Perez whispered.

  “Is there another road parallel to this one? Can we skirt around them in much the same way as I wanted to run around?”

  Perez nodded. “The main road to the compound is monitored by cameras starting at about two miles out. If we can circle around them here, maybe we can find a gap. That ranch is so large, they can’t possibly ring it completely. There have to be some unguarded sections.”

  “The most likely spot for a gap is from the front. Especially if they know about the cameras. I would think they’ll stay to the sides and back.”

  “I hate to turn this engine back on. They must have heard us coming.”

  “I doubt they’ll leave their position to come for us, though. They’ll stay in place and wait for us to drive right up to them.” Emma checked the gun again. “Let’s go around to the main road. We’ll head for the front entrance.”

  Perez shot her a look. “We? I thought you were leaving.”

  Emma shook her head. “Not anymore. Oz is in there. If I can, I’ll try to warn him. If not, I’ll do my best to help him escape. From all of them.”

  Perez got a sad look on her face. “There is no escape. We’ll be lucky to get out of this alive.”

  “Today is not my day to die,” Emma said. She jerked her chin at the ignition. “Let’s go. There’s no gain in waiting.”

  Perez inhaled, turned the key in the ignition, flipped the lights back on, and moved out, dropping off the road and driving parallel to the direction of where they thought the compound’s fence lay. Emma kept a watch on the surrounding countryside, but the night was so dark that she doubted she’d see anything until it was upon them. She leaned a little out the window, peering around the side of the car and casting regular glances at the side view mirror to see if anyone was following them. The darkness was unbroken behind them as well. Her eyes watered with the intensity of her stare, and she blinked to keep them moist. Two bugs went splat against the windshield, leaving behind a yellow, pus-like smear. They kept moving. After fifteen minutes, Perez began to angle right, cutting back toward the compound.