A Cinnabar Sky

by Billy Kring

  RL raised his eyebrows in a question.

  “I’ll shoot out a tire and send them over the side. The Agents will see it and stop to help. They will have to climb down to the wreck, and that’ll let us access the vehicle and the drugs, plus free our guys, including Ben and Anselmo.”

  “I saw that kid, Adan, there, too.”

  “We’ll take him.”

  “And do what with him?”

  “When we have him away from the Agents, we’ll figure it out. Either way, he’s going with us.”

  RL nodded, and followed Ellis off the hill to their four-wheel-drive Suburban, where Ellis drove and RL readied the rifle. Ellis drove fast, but not so fast as to raise too much dust. He didn’t want the Border Patrol Agents to see it and become suspicious.

  RL asked, “How are you gonna play it?”

  I need to get in front of them so I can shoot one of the front wheels dead center. If I shoot them from the side, it makes a hole like an arrow and the tire goes down slow. Shoot ‘em from the front and the bullet goes through the rubber and hits the rim, exploding like shrapnel, and the tire disintegrates into pieces, especially with the hollow points. That tire will jerk the vehicle off the road and down the slide like it was pulled with a winch truck.”

  “Gonna be fun to watch.”

  “Yes, it is.” Ellis drove faster and angled across several dirt roads to reach where he wanted. He took the rifle, two leather sandbags that made for accurate shooting, and a blanket to get into prone position and not put himself on thorns and stickers. They set up at the last bend in the road, where narrowed from two lanes to one right after the steep slope. RL set up the spotting scope and watched the road. He sighted the pickup truck’s trail of dust and knew it was only a few minutes before things happened. They would be less than thirty yards from their quarry when Ellis took his shot and sent the pickup over the side.

  **

  Santino sat in the passenger side of the pickup, humming a tune.

  Bobby said, “What is that, ‘Man, I Feel Like a Woman’?” He drove the truck on the narrow, one-lane road, the wheels close to the outer edge.

  “No way, Brah. That’s Johnny Rodriguez, singing one of his oldies. Great stuff.”

  “Which one?”

  “You didn’t recognize it?”

  “Nope.”

  “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico.”

  “That’s not what you were humming.”

  “What do you think it is?”

  “I told you, that Shania Twain song.”

  Santino snorted, “You’re tone deaf.”

  Bobby took his eyes off the road for a moment and glanced at Santino, thinking of a smart comeback.

  A shudder went through the pickup and bits of rubber flew into the air. The pickup jerked hard to the right and Bobby yelled, “Hold on!”

  They went nose-first, down the sixty-degree slope, and the pickup slid with locked wheels for a bit, then hit a boulder and bounced several feet into the air, coming down sideways and flipping over and over. The passenger door tore away on a jagged ridge of rock and flew through the air like an oversized Frisbee.

  Bobby locked his hands on the wheel and every time the vehicle crashed, he grunted, “Haah!” from the impact. Santino wore his seatbelt, and looked like a rag doll being shaken by a pit bull.

  It seemed forever, but they hit level ground in less than thirty seconds. Both men hung upside down, limp and unconscious. Smoke came from under the hood. The pickup body looked like it had been through an F-5 tornado.

  Ellis smiled, and RL said, “Nice shootin’.”

  Ellis pointed, “Here comes the money train. Let’s get in position so when they go down the slope, we can do it fast and get out of here.”

  Hunter saw the pickup ahead of them swerve and go off the side, “God-o-mighty!” She accelerated to the spot where the wheel rim cut a rough gouge in the caliche as it went over and down, plowing a groove, until it hit the ledge of hard, gray stone and made the first bounce into the air.

  Dust drifted over the path down the slope, and Hunter and Raymond got out and looked down at the wrecked vehicle. “Hey!” Raymond said, “Can you hear us?”

  There was only smoke drifting from under the hood in twig-like, white tendrils.

  Raymond went to their vehicle and got the small medicine kit from under the passenger’s seat. “Let’s go.”

  They went down careful but fast, and reached the crumpled pickup in a minute. The pickup had landed upside down, and Raymond went to the passenger side while Hunter went to the driver side. She said, “This door’s jammed, but the glass is all knocked out so I can reach him.”

  “How is he?”

  “He’s out, and bleeding from lots of cuts. It’s like someone cut off a chicken’s head and let blood spurt everywhere. Yours?”

  Out, with a broken arm, compound fracture, and lots of cuts and blood. He’s got an ocotillo stalk protruding from his side. I don’t know how deep it is.”

  Hunter called on her phone and reached Buddy and told him what they had and their location. Buddy said he’d get their EMS and tell the deputy, then start that way. “What else do you need?” He asked.

  “Some rope and a litter to get them up to the road.”

  “Okay. We’re coming, and fast.”

  Hunter returned to the two men and gave what aid she could, including drawing the ocotillo stalk from Santino’s side, which only penetrated an inch, but left an ugly shallow wound.

  Above them, and unseen from below, Ellis and RL walked to the Border Patrol vehicle and found the driver’s door unlocked. Ellis smiled. He unlocked the other doors as RL went to the rear and opened the hatch. RL said, “Traíganse las mochílas. Tenémos que ir,” “Bring your backpacks. We have to go.”

  He pointed at Ben and Anselmo and jerked a thumb to motion them out of the rear as well.

  The smugglers hustled from the vehicle, four of them slinging their arms through the backpack straps, and the two other men assisting. Adan remained seated, his eyes very large.

  RL said, “You, too.”

  “I will wait here.”

  “Get your butt out of there.”

  Adan did, but moved slowly, hoping Hunter and Raymond would return.

  RL pushed him to join the others and pointed down the road to where they had the vehicle hidden. Ellis joined him, and Ellis walked close beside the boy, as if daring him to run.

  They reached the Suburban and ushered the people in the rear. Ellis slid into the driver’s seat while RL hopped in the passenger side. Ellis started the engine, easing from the hiding place and starting down the road. He said, “I thought about finishing off those two Border Patrol Agents, but figured it might bring too much heat.”

  RL felt a small shock go through him. “Glad you didn’t.”

  Ellis looked at him, studying his face. RL said, “I want to see that Kincaid woman naked and have some fun first, before we kill her.”

  Ellis said, “She’s hot, I’ll give you that. Probably like riding a half-broke horse. You’ll have to hang on tight and dig in with your spurs.” He grinned.

  Adan heard their talk, and felt goose bumps on his arms. He had to get away and warn his friends, warn Hunter. Some way, somehow, he had to escape. Touching the rear latch, he wondered if he could open it and jump out to escape. He glanced at the men in the front seat.

  Ellis caught Adan’s look in the rearview mirror. “You’ll live longer if you don’t.” They both knew what he meant. Adan looked at the road behind them and saw only dust.

  At the wreck, Bobby Sotomayor sat outside the vehicle, awake and coherent. Santino Robles said he was groggy, but also aware of his surroundings. Raymond worked to stop the bleeding on both of them, especially on their heads and faces.

  Hunter worked on preparing a makeshift cast for the broken forearm. She said to Raymond, “Both bones are fractured.”

  “That’s lucky.”

  Bobby moaned, “Lucky?”

  Raymond said,
“Compared to being dead, yeah, lucky.”

  “When you put it that way,” Bobby said.

  Raymond asked Hunter, “How are you coming with that splint?”

  “Almost there.” She held it up for them to see. She found a small cluster of soap yuccas, with the tall shafts still intact and not desiccated. They were dry, and still had strength to them with each stalk half an inch or a little less in diameter. She cut their length to fit the forearm, then put them around the break and wrapped all of it in adhesive tape from the roll in the small medicine kit.

  “That should hold until we get you to a hospital. As it swells, these will give enough to not be uncomfortable.”

  Raymond told Santino, “You look like you’ve been dusted with flour.”

  “That one place, the pickup rolled into a large caliche mound, with my open door hitting right into it. Thought I was in a blizzard for a second or two.” Santino still hurt, but his sense of humor was there. Tough men, Raymond thought.

  Raymond said to Hunter, “I’m going up and wait for Buddy.”

  “Bueno.” She finished with the makeshift cast, gave it one last wrap of tape, and sat back on her heels. She looked at the two dusty men, “How are you two doing? What about inside, are you having any internal pain? You boys bounced around in that truck like two mice in a tornado.”

  Bobby said, “We didn’t notice, we just enjoyed the view.”

  Santino said, “Yeah, The sky, the ground, the sky, the ground…”

  Hunter laughed, “You guys.”

  A shout from above made them look up at Raymond. He said, “The Cavalry has arrived. And, we don’t have any prisoners in the vehicle.”

  “What?”

  “They’re not here, and neither are their backpacks with the drugs.”

  “Adan?”

  “He’s gone, too. There was another vehicle here, and they all got in it, then drove away. I back-tracked it and found where it hid, not far from here.”

  “We weren’t down here that long.”

  “What I thought. Somehow it was all rigged, this accident and everything.”

  Buddy and Brandi peered over the edge at Hunter. Buddy said, “We’re coming. Don’t go anywhere.”

  Bobby looked at Hunter, “Did he just say that?”

  “Buddy likes to kid around.”

  “All the time. You know how I keep that bowl of individually wrapped peppermint discs on my desk, in case someone wants one?” Hunter nodded. “He came to my office yesterday and while I was in the back, he superglued all of them together. You couldn’t tell by looking, but when I pulled one, the whole bowlful lifted out.”

  She tried to hide her grin, “I know, you can’t stay mad at him.”

  An uncoiling rope landed near them, with the last ten feet unrolling on down the slope. Buddy spoke above them from the road, “In case you want to use it to help you up. We have a litter we can lower down if you need it.”

  Bobby said, “The rope will do. We’re coming up.” He smiled at Hunter, “With a little help from my lady friend here.”

  Raymond assisted them from the top, and before they used the rope to help their ascent, Hunter quickly examined the crumpled pickup one last time. When she checked the destroyed front tire, the hair on her neck prickled. The exposed inside rim showed the clear mark of a bullet’s impact. She checked closer, lowering her head to look in the dark shadows left by the shredded rubber. A bright piece of metal showed on one side where it stuck in the inside of the rubber tire. “A rifle,” Hunter said to herself. Turning it in her fingers, she felt sure it was a .30 caliber round, and she guessed one of the larger ones, a 308, or 30-06.

  Raymond called down to her, “You ok?”

  “Yeah, just giving things a final look.”

  “You might want to come on up here and take a look.”

  “Coming.” She went to the rope and scampered to the top, helping

  “You came up that like Spider Man.” Brandi said.

  “She’s not even breathing hard.” Buddy said.

  Raymond said, “You train like her, you can do the same.”

  Hunter said, “Quit talking about me like I’m not here. Let’s get these boys to the hospital and get them checked out.”

  Brandi said, “Come on, Buddy. I’ve got the engine running.”

  She fist-bumped Hunter. “Guys, they’ll talk all day.”

  Buddy said, “We do not, and we’re not stubborn, either.” As he slipped in the passenger’s seat, Hunter heard him say, “Brandi, did I ever tell you about the time…” the door closed and the ambulance drove away into the evening.

  Raymond said, “I talked to Deputy Diaz, he said if we’ll come to the Starlight Terrace, up on the second floor, he’ll be waiting with some news. And a few snacks.”

  “After we look around here some more. That someone took our prisoners, and Adan has me pissed.”

  “Me, too.”

  They looked at the tracks for several minutes, and both took images of the tracks with the phone cameras. “Let’s get going, what do you think?”

  I’ll drive,” Hunter said.

  “Ándale.”

  Hunter drove fast, but her mind wasn’t on the road, it was on Adan and the four narcotics mules and their drugs. They were going to be in big trouble if they didn’t find the escapees. Raymond called Presidio and Alpine to tell them so they could start the search, and he and Hunter would return and assist. Hunter sped even faster, and Raymond cinched his seatbelt tighter as she raced down the dirt road, with gravel rattling under the wheel wells and body like hailstones as the dust roiled from the back, going upward like a tornado’s funnel.

  Hunter wondered if Adan and the smugglers were already back in Mexico, and if the boy was okay. She was worried.

  Chapter 8

  Ellis drove with care, not wanting to attract any local law or the Highway Patrol Troopers by speeding, and he wondered about the Border Patrol Agents pursuing them. Those two irked him. The older one with the Zapata moustache, looking strong and tough as iron. And the other one, the woman. She was a beautiful pest, like an imbedded tick you can’t get out from your skin. Raymond, and Hunter, that’s it. He’d heard she was supposed to be a good shot, and had been in a shootout, but Ellis didn’t know the particulars. It didn’t matter because he was better than good with weapons, so he didn’t see a problem if it came down to it.

  RL said, “Where are we gonna put these mules and this kid?” He licked his lips, “All that fentanyl back there is making me nervous, too. We get caught with that, we’re in for life.”

  “We’re good. It’s not much farther, and I’ll take us through a locked ranch gate to a place that has a railroad car on it. We’ll put them in there and then make some plans.”

  RL wasn’t sure, because he was thinking of people in that boxcar, in the heat of summer, with no ventilation or water. “We’ll move them soon, though, right?”

  “Hell yeah, we don’t want that stuff, or them, around any longer than we have to.”

  “Good.”

  “Don’t worry.” Ellis slowed and pulled up to a ranch gate that had a small chain around the post and the gate edge, and a Masterlock padlock holding the ends together. “Here’s the key.” He gave it to RL.

  RL opened the gate and swung it open on squealing hinges. Ellis drove through and RL closed and re-locked the gate. He hopped in the passenger side and Ellis drove a rough road that took a weaving path among small hills and across shallow washes, until they reached the boxcar. It sat silent and rusting near a caliche hill.

  The railroad car sat on a short stretch of railroad tracks that extended twenty feet beyond the boxcar on either end. Other rusted pieces of iron and railroad equipment lay scattered around. Off to the side was a small, ten-by-twelve shack that looked uninhabited.

  Ellis parked among the trash closest to the boxcar and said, “Here we are.” He hopped out, as did RL.

  Ellis opened the sliding door with some difficulty. The badly rusted rolle
rs squealed as they moved with the door’s motion. When it was open, Ellis said, “There, now it can air out a bit.” He motioned to the rear of the vehicle, “Let’s get those wets out of the back.”

  RL lifted the rear door hatch and the aliens crawled out, with Adan the last. He stumbled and hit the ground, but one of the other helped him to his feet. Ben and Anselmo helped RL herd the backpackers and Adan.

  Ellis pointed to the four backpacks of drugs, saying to Ben and Anselmo, “Put those in the brush over there. Hide it.” They carried the back packs by the straps, lugging them with one in each hand. Ellis motioned the others to the boxcar’s open door. The four men and one boy shuffled to the boxcar and climbed inside. Ellis slid the door closed and locked it.

  Adan asked through the door, “Can we have some water?”

  “Gonna go get some water for you right now.” He motioned to RL and they got in their vehicle, along with the other two men. He drove away while the white, hot sun blazed down on everything.

  RL said, “Where are we going for water?”

  “Don’t be stupid. They’ll be fine until we’re ready for them to transport the drugs.”

  RL started to say something, but he saw Ellis touch the butt of his Glock, not looking at RL. Ellis said, “Everything’s copacetic.”

  RL stared straight ahead as Ellis drove, but he thought about the terrible way those five people were going to die.

  **

  Adan felt for the back wall of the boxcar in the darkness as the four men huddled together near the door. Needle-like beams of sunlight pierced the gloom in three places, giving only enough light to make out vague shapes, or where the walls were. One of the men called to Adan to come join them, but he said no, that it was too hot, crowded together like that.

  Beads of sweat rolled down Adan’s temples and down his neck to soak the collar of his shirt. The other men were also sweating, and Adan could smell them all the way across the boxcar.

  He found the far corner and sat down, and as he did, his hand landed on an iron railroad spike someone had tossed in there. He pulled it close and hid it behind his leg.

  An hour passed. The stifling heat rose in the boxcar like in an oven over glowing coals. Several of the men yelled for help, and continued yelling for a long time, until they tired and sat, exhausted on the wooden plank floor. One of them rolled on his side and vomited. The sour smell reached Adan and he almost threw up himself, but kept it down.