A Texas Child

by Linda Warren

  Bonita laughed, a sound that seemed to chill the night. “I’m not stupid, Mr. Coyote. You have one chance to live so be grateful for that.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He wasn’t looking this gift horse in the mouth or any other place.

  Bonita spoke in Spanish to the maid. “Follow her.”

  Levi couldn’t help but ask, “Will you be okay?” It wasn’t Levi’s concern, but if Marco found out Bonita had released them, she’d die a horrible death.

  “All hell will break loose once they discover you’re gone, but you see, I have been in bed being treated like I’m mentally ill.” She laughed the crazy laugh again. “So I know nothing of what is going on. Go. Go. I have to return to my bed to hear the shocking news.”

  They followed the maid through the darkness. All seemed to be quiet around the warehouses. Two lights were on in the house, but otherwise there was no activity. Either Marco was waiting for daylight to deal with them or more pressing matters had come up.

  Levi kept a close eye on everything. They made it to the concrete wall and crouched behind some bushes.

  The maid spoke quickly in Spanish.

  “What is she saying?” Levi asked.

  “We have to wait until Bonita makes it back to her room,” Myra translated. She kissed Daniel’s face, which lay on her shoulder. “I can’t believe our good luck. We’re going to get out of here because of Bonita’s pride.”

  “Just keep thinking those thoughts,” Levi told her, and noticed the baby just had a T-shirt and jeans on, no shoes. “Is he okay?” he whispered. “He doesn’t have many clothes on.”

  “It’s September, it’s warm. I’m worried about no food or bottle. When he wakes up, he’s going to want a bottle.”

  They waited, side by side, by the wall. The moment seemed surreal. Out of place. Out of time. But the woman beside him felt more real than she ever had before. She was so natural with the baby, cuddling him and kissing his cheek to reassure him in some way. How could she not want children? Maybe that had changed. What difference did it make to him now?

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I’ll be much better once we’re outside the gate,” she replied.

  The maid pulled a phone out of her skirt pocket and said something in Spanish.

  “It’s time to go,” Myra translated again. “She’ll undo the latch on the gate and then we’re on our own.”

  “Got it.” Slowly they inched toward the double wrought-iron gate. The red light on the security camera went out and the maid undid the latch and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

  Daniel stirred in Myra’s arms and she had to stop to change his position. Suddenly, a spotlight blasted on and caught them in its rays. In a split second guards with assault weapons stood around the perimeter. Marco stepped out of the darkness.

  “Did you really think you could escape, Mr. Coyote? As soon as the security alarm is tampered with, a backup system alerts us, the way it did earlier in the night. You have many tricks, Mr. Coyote, but now you’re a dead man.”

  Damn! He knew some systems had backups and it was his bad luck that the Mortez family had thought of everything. But why not? They had valuable inventory to protect. He wondered if Bonita knew of the backup alarm. If she did, she didn’t care. Maybe she was hoping the Mexican henchmen would fire before asking questions. Levi had to bluff his way out of this somehow.

  “Don’t think so, Marco.” He whispered to Myra, “While I have him distracted, slip out the gate with the baby and run.”

  “No. I’m not leaving you here.”

  “Damn it, Myra. Do what I’m telling you. You have to save yourself and the baby.” He knew she wasn’t going to make this easy for him and his mind whirled with a way to get them all out of here alive.

  “I’m staying,” Myra snapped. “Marco won’t hurt his son.”

  “Myra—”

  “Mr. Coyote, it’s over.” Marco motioned to the man on his left. “Take my son from that bitch.”

  Somewhere in the desperate region of his mind, a plan surfaced. He pulled the small phone from his pocket and held it up. “Nobody move. This is a detonator. I planted bombs near the warehouses and in the house. If I push this button, everything will blow up and nothing will be left but dust and chunks of concrete.”

  Myra gasped behind him.

  The man stopped in his tracks and Levi felt Marco’s eyes pinned on him like a panther about to attack. “You lie, Mr. Coyote.”

  “Try me.”

  “Do not take me for a fool.”

  “I would be the fool if I did that. I know the warehouses are full of assault weapons just like the basement. I push this button and your inventory goes up in smoke. How will you explain that to the drug lords waiting?” He held the phone higher. “What’s it going to be, Marco?”

  It took a moment for him to answer and Levi kept scanning the areas on both sides of him. He didn’t want anyone blindsiding him. It would be over in seconds then. A warm wind bathed his heated face and the muscles in his arm tightened, but he held his position with more confidence than he was feeling.

  Come on, Marco.

  “Give me my son and you are free to go.”

  He swallowed back an angry retort. “No deal.”

  “I’m giving you a chance to walk out of here alive.”

  “Now you see, Marco, you have that wrong. When I push this button, the house behind you is going to come down on you just like the ton of concrete that it is. I’m giving you the chance to live. Once again, what’s it going to be?”

  He was bluffing out both sides of his mouth and he was starting to believe himself. He prayed some of that bravado spilled over into Marco’s thinking.

  “Go, Mr. Coyote, but I will hunt you down. You will not leave Matamoras, and if you manage to do that, I will find you in Texas. I will make you pay for what you did here today. And, Myra, you will not escape, either. Watch your back. I’ll be coming in the dead of night, or in the early-morning light or maybe in the bright sunshine of the day. But I’ll be coming, Myra. Watch your back. This isn’t over.”

  Levi waved the phone. “This detonator works from a hundred yards in case you’re thinking of following. If I see one of your henchmen, I will still push the button. Just beware of that, Marco.”

  “Go, Mr. Coyote, but my son will be returned to me and soon.”

  “Slip out the gate,” he said to Myra. He took several steps backward until the steel of the gate touched his back. “Adiós, Marco.” With that he quickly followed Myra.

  He caught up with her and took the baby. “Run. I’m right behind you.” Through the darkness they ran. Mesquite bushes scratched their arms but they kept going. When they were quite a distance from the house, they sank to the ground to catch their breath.

  “Did you really plant bombs?” she asked between gulps.

  “It was just a bluff. Thank God we had the phone.” The baby slept peacefully in his arms as if he was in his crib, safe and sound.

  “Your mind is diabolical and I love it. I was trembling so bad I had trouble standing.”

  “You’re one stubborn woman. Why didn’t you go when I told you to? You said you’d follow orders.”

  “Let’s don’t argue, Levi.”

  “Yeah. We have more important things to worry about.” Levi glanced toward the house and the spotlight was still on. A truck roared out of the gate, coming after them. “We have to go.”

  They made it to the truck, but the keys were in his backpack. “I could jump-start it, but it would take too long. We have to hide, and quick.”

  The darkness provided a shield as they walked through people’s yards toward the town. It was very early and everyone was still asleep, so they hid in a cluster of bushes. Once the place came alive they could disappear into the crowd. Then again, Ma
rco could find them easily enough because the Mexicans would be willing to answer questions for pesos.

  They sat on the ground, gasping for air. A dog sniffed them but soon trotted off. Daniel was still sleeping. Myra brushed the baby’s hair with her fingers. “When he wakes up, he’ll be hungry and we have nothing to give him.”

  Her voice was soft as he’d ever heard it and he wanted to reassure her that everything would be okay, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know what was going to happen in the next minute.

  “We’ll think of something,” was all he could say. He pulled the phone out of his pocket. “Let’s see if it works here.” The cell lit up. “Hell, yeah. Time to do your magic, counselor. It’s too dangerous for Turner to fly into a residential area, so I hope you remember Steve’s or Tom’s number. They’re the only ones who can get us across the border.” He handed her the phone.

  “You bet I do.” She poked in a number. She tried Tom first and Levi listened to the conversation. “Shut up and listen,” she said, and told Tom their situation. “We don’t have Daniel’s passport or we could walk across. Call Clarence and Steve and get everyone involved, even the Mexican police. We don’t have much time. They’re right behind us. This has to be done ASAP or they’ll kill us....Okay. I’ll wait for the call.” She handed Levi the phone. “He’s handling it, but it will take time.”

  Shouts echoed in the distance. He handed Myra the baby. “Stay here while I check it out.” He crept from the bushes and glanced down the street and saw two trucks coming their way. The men had flashlights and were shining them in the bushes and around the houses to check for them. He squatted. “We have to go. They’re getting close.”

  He gathered the baby out of her arms and noticed she was trembling. “It’s okay. We’ll make it.”

  “How? They’ll cut us off before we reach the border and the U.S. officials can’t get here in this short amount of time.”

  “Come on.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand and the smooth softness spun delightful memories across his mind. “You can’t give up on me now. You trusted me to find the baby and you have to trust me to get us out of here. Can you do that?”

  “Levi...”

  “Can you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  He couldn’t see her eyes clearly, but he didn’t have to. She trusted him again and that was all he needed to hear. Earlier, he was unsure of how this was going to go down. Now he knew. He would protect her with his last breath.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “WE HAVE TO go.” Levi stood, holding Daniel against him. Myra rose on shaky legs. Did she trust Levi? Yes, with her life. Trusting him with her heart was something else entirely—but his question wasn’t about forever. It was about now and she had just put all her tomorrows in his hands.

  “Encontrarlos” echoed from the street. “Find them” was the order.

  Crouching low, she followed Levi through a dark, cluttered neighborhood of small houses. A dog barked and shouts followed them as they crept farther away. She had no clue about their direction, but she was sure Levi did. They came to a business section of the town and rested against a concrete wall.

  “The border crossing is not far,” he said. “If our luck holds, we’ll make it there before Marco’s men.”

  Daniel stirred in Levi’s arms. “Uh-oh. He’s waking up.”

  Myra looked around at all the closed buildings. “We have to find a place that’s open so we can get him a bottle and milk. He’s going to start to cry and he’s pretty loud.”

  “I believe there’s a grocery store around the corner. Let’s hope it’s open all night.” Levi stood and she quickly trailed after him through the streets and down an alley into a parking lot. In the distance was a store with lights. It was open.

  “I don’t even remember seeing the store when we came in,” she told him. “You have an uncanny memory.”

  “It’s gotten me out of a lot of jams.”

  They sat against the building and Levi shoved a hand into a pocket of his jeans and pulled out money. “That’s all I have. You know more of what to get than I do, so I’ll stay with Daniel.”

  “Do you know how to handle a baby?”

  Even in the darkness she could see one eyebrow raised. “I have two friends with kids, and yes, I can handle a baby.”

  “How old are the kids?”

  “Ethan’s son, you remember Ethan?” Ethan had worked for the Austin Police Department back then, and still did.

  She nodded.

  “His son is three months and I’ve changed his diaper and carried him around many times. And my other friend Carson, his wife died in childbirth and I was there to help him with the baby when Carson was barely holding it together. Why are you doubting my abilities with kids?”

  “I don’t know. It just seems at odds with your tough-guy persona.”

  “I’m not always tough.”

  She knew that. At times he could be the most tender, the most gentle man alive.

  Daniel rubbed his face against Levi’s shirt. “You better go before he’s wide awake.”

  “I’ll need your bandanna.” She slipped it from his head, untied the knot, placed it over her hair and tied it under her chin. “A little disguise.”

  “Very little.”

  The bandanna had a soapy, sweaty scent but she didn’t find it offensive. It was Levi.

  “I can see you the whole time. In case you run into trouble, I’ll be watching.”

  “Okay.” She had no idea what Levi would do if Marco’s men found her in the grocery store, but she’d never underestimate Levi.

  “If I have to move,” he was saying, “I’ll still be watching you. I’ll whistle so you can always find me.”

  “You’ll whistle?”

  “Yes.” He whistled.

  She laughed.

  “You find that funny?”

  “A little. I just never heard you whistle.”

  He sighed. “Go, Myra. We’re wasting time.”

  She knew she was. Maybe she just wanted this moment with Levi holding Daniel to stay in her mind forever—that picture of him with a child safe and sound and the outside world completely oblivious to their existence.

  Walking across the roadway, she made sure to stay out of the streetlight. Not seeing Marco’s trucks anywhere, she darted into the store. She got what she needed and exited just as quickly.

  When she reached the spot where she’d left Levi, he wasn’t there. She looked around and then she heard it. A whistle. She suppressed a laugh. She felt like howling with laughter and it was a welcome sensation. Following the sound to the next building, she found Levi sitting with Daniel behind some garbage cans.

  She sank down beside him. “I have to remember the whistling trick.”

  “Can you whistle?”

  “Sure. Just put your lips together and blow, but I could never do it as sensually as Lauren Bacall.”

  “Who?”

  “Never mind.” This was not the moment to talk about old movies.

  “I had to relocate. The trucks came by,” Levi explained. He sat with his back against a wood fence, his knees drawn up, and Daniel sat in his lap, wide-awake. And not crying.

  “I hope you found something for him. I’m running out of tricks.” Daniel stood up and flailed his hands at Levi with grunting, bubbly sounds.

  Myra took bottled water out of the bag and poured it into a baby bottle. She then opened a can of baby formula and, using the scoop inside, added some to the water. Replacing the nipple, she shook it and rubbed it with her hands to warm it a little.

  Daniel saw what she was doing and begin to bounce up and down on Levi’s stomach and his baby sounds grew louder.

  “He’s hungry,” Levi commented.

  Daniel held out his hand f
or the bottle and grunted loudly.

  “Hold on, buddy, it’s coming.” Levi’s voice was soothing, comforting, and she could see why Daniel was so calm with him. Daniel trusted him, too.

  Once she had the bottle ready she took the baby into her arms. He sucked greedily, holding on to it with chubby hands. The milk wasn’t warm like it usually was, but Daniel wasn’t complaining.

  “You’re very natural with him,” Levi said.

  “I’ve had a lot of practice with Jessie’s boys. Of course, she nursed them at first, but later I got to feed them with a bottle.”

  “If you had a baby, would you breast-feed?”

  Her muscles tensed and there was an awkward pause. “Since I’m not having children, I haven’t thought about it.”

  “I’ve never understood why you don’t want children.”

  She shifted uneasily. “I’d rather not talk about this.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it doesn’t have anything to do with the present. We’re running for our lives. Let’s concentrate on that.”

  “I was just curious.”

  She knew he was thinking about the miscarriage and what could have been. But no one had invented a time machine where they could go back and erase god-awful mistakes. Maybe there was a reason for that. People needed to remember the bad and the good so they could learn and grow and become whole. She was still waiting for the metamorphosis.

  Levi patted his shirt pocket. “The cell is vibrating.”

  He handed it to her. “It’s Tom.”

  She maneuvered a pacified Daniel into Levi’s arms. “Myra, we’re on our way in a police helicopter. Steve is with me. We’re about an hour away.”

  “They’re searching for us and we’re hiding behind trash cans. You need to get here fast.”

  “I’m doing the best I can. Just hang tight. It would be a good idea if you tried to get as close as you could to the border crossing. Just stay safe. I’ll call you when we land. The Mexican police are dragging their feet on this, so it might be touch and go, but we’re pulling out all the stops.”

  “Daniel Stevens was kidnapped on Texas soil. Call the governor’s office. Call whoever you have to so we won’t be shot down like animals as we try to cross the border. Believe me, Marco Mortez will do that in plain sight. The Mexican police have to get involved. That’s the bottom line.”