by Ruff, K. S.
I lowered my voice as I leaned toward Kadyn. “About last night…”
“I know,” he replied. “You’re in love with Rafael.” His disappointment was tangible.
I turned toward the window so he wouldn’t see the tears glistening in my eyes. I still felt insanely guilty about the kiss. I had excused myself from the party and crawled into bed shortly afterwards. I loved Kadyn. He was my best friend, but that kiss made it clear his feelings for me ran deeper than that… more along the lines of what I felt for Rafael. I was worried this discrepancy would destroy our friendship.
I tore my eyes from the window when the van came to an unexpected stop. We were on the highway, on the outskirts of Reynosa. Isabel began speaking in Spanish to some men dressed in khakis. There were six altogether, and every single one of them was carrying a semi-automatic weapon. My blood ran cold.
Roger was sitting in the third row. He leaned over my seat to see what was going on. Kadyn reached over and squeezed my hand.
Isabel handed one of the men her driver’s license. He said something that caused the other men to snicker. He and Isabel promptly began arguing.
“They claim we were speeding,” Cenia whispered from the front seat.
“Are they police officers?” I asked.
“No,” Cenia replied. She pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her wallet and handed it to her mom.
Isabel’s jaw clenched as she paid the man. He returned her driver’s license and waved us forward with his gun. The rest of the men backed away from the van.
We didn’t breathe another word until they faded from sight.
“Who were they?” Roger finally asked.
“Who knows?” Isabel replied. “They weren’t police or Federales. They didn’t have any badges, and they refused to show me their IDs.”
“They threatened to take the van if we didn’t pay the ‘fine,’” Cenia explained. She put finger quotes around the word “fine.”
“They were looking for a bribe,” Kadyn clarified. “Sounds like the cartel.”
“Or the sicarios,” Isabel interjected.
“The sicarios?” I asked. Goose bumps pricked at my spine.
“The sicarios are the enforcers. They used to work for the Gulf Cartel. They did all their dirty work until they decided they could just as easily traffic the drugs. All these bloody battles are between the cartel and the sicarios,” Isabel explained.
“The sicarios worked as contract killers until they decided to form their own drug cartel. They’re battling over territory,” Cenia added. “The sicarios are ruthless. The Gulf Cartel bribe politicians, they build schools, and try to improve the communities where they operate so they can build loyalty among the local townspeople. The sicarios don’t care about public relations. They just kill anyone who doesn’t cooperate.”
“The sicarios are the ones targeting the buses. They demand the men on the bus join their cartel and the women serve as prostitutes. They shoot anyone who doesn’t comply,” Isabel remarked. “We are lucky those men back there were only looking for a bribe.”
“That explains the mass graves they found in San Fernando,” Kadyn gritted.
I was trying really hard not to throw up. I knew we were helping the Mexican government fight the war on drugs. A seemingly endless supply of drugs were being smuggled over our border, but I didn’t know the situation had grown so violent. “Why aren’t the news stations covering this?”
“Anyone who leaks information on Twitter or to the media is killed,” Isabel replied. “People won’t even speak the name of the cartel the sicarios have formed. They fear they will be overheard, targeted, and killed. There should be no discussion of this while we are in public.”
I sank into my seat, thoroughly regretting the decision to cross over into Mexico.
“We tried to warn you,” Kadyn said with a sigh.
“If you had informed me that thousands of people were being slaughtered, my feet would have rooted to that sidewalk in front of Isabel’s house,” I rebutted bitterly.
Cenia turned around to look at me. Her eyes were filled with remorse. “I’m sorry, Kri. I shouldn’t have dragged you along.”
The conversation stalled when she turned back around. Everyone seemed to be wallowing in his own thoughts until we neared San Fernando.
“What kind of trees are those?” Kadyn asked. The trees appeared to be some sort of cross between a weeping willow and a fern. I had noticed a few of them earlier, but they grew much thicker here.
“Those are mesquite,” Isabel responded. “We’re nearing San Fernando. Would you boys mind picking up some supplies for the rehearsal dinner while Cenia gets her hair done? The hair salon is right across the street from the photographer, and the market is within walking distance of there.”
“I don’t know,” Roger replied. “I think we should stick together.”
Isabel sighed. “You’re right. We can go to the market together, while we’re waiting for the photographer to develop the pictures.”
“I don’t want you to see me with my makeup and hair styled,” Cenia pleaded. Her eyes locked on Roger.
“I’ll make sure he closes his eyes,” Kadyn replied.
“I’d like to see you try,” Roger challenged.
“You won’t see me do anything,” Kadyn noted with a chuckle. The tension eased for the first time in hours.
San Fernando was tucked inside a valley, beneath a heavily treed mountainside. I peered at the yellow, blue, and red houses that were stacked on top of one another. The city was much larger than I expected. The roads were well maintained, but it was clear most of the citizens were struggling with poverty. If the cartel was building schools, it was easy to see why these people would support them.
Isabel found a parking space on a busy street in one of the nicer parts of town. Roger and Kadyn stood outside the hair salon, visiting, while Cenia had her hair and makeup styled. I popped my head outside when she was done. “Okay. Cenia’s done. Roger needs to close his eyes so she can cross the street,” I announced.
“It’s about time,” Roger groused.
Kadyn slung his arm over Roger’s shoulders as he covered his eyes. “You had better put a fire under her.”
Isabel and I gathered Cenia’s wedding dress and accessories from the van before we crossed the street. I waved to Kadyn when Cenia stepped inside the photographer’s studio.
I watched the two men cross the street and settle onto a bench outside the studio before I joined Cenia in the dressing room. Isabel was engaged in a rather lengthy discussion with the photographer.
“I think you should step into the dress rather than pulling it over your head. You don’t want to get makeup on the dress or mess up your hair,” I warned Cenia.
She tugged her undergarments into place before stepping into the dress. “Do you think Roger’s ever going to forgive me for this?” she asked.
I secured the zipper before diving under the dress to straighten the tulle. “I’m sure you’ll find some way to make this up to him,” I teased.
“Oh, Cenia,” Isabel cried.
I poked my head out from under Cenia’s dress. Isabel had joined us in the dressing room. I tugged the last of the tulle into place and slipped quietly from the room. With everything they’d risked to get here, they deserved to savor this moment.
Cenia was wearing her veil when she stepped out of the dressing room. Isabel was holding the train so it wouldn’t drag on the floor. The two women glowed… one with excitement… one with adoration… and both with love. I was not at all surprised when the photographer began snapping pictures of them.
I hadn’t seen Cenia wear the veil before. Her wedding suddenly felt very real. “You look beautiful,” I whispered as Isabel and I arranged her dress for the photographer.
“Thanks,” she said with a shy smile.
Isabel and I spent the next forty minutes positioning Cenia’s dress and veil while the photographer snapped off hundreds of pictures. Isabel translated for
me, so I could comply with the photographer’s demands. I was stressed out and ravenous by the time it was over, but Cenia remained unflustered. She washed the makeup off and tugged her hair out of the upsweep before we stepped outside to join the men.
Isabel steered us toward a small restaurant, where we ate lamb and pork empanadas. We walked to the market after lunch. Cenia and her mother purchased a number of vases, glass bowls, and candles for the rehearsal dinner. Roger, Kadyn, and I purchased churros from a street vendor on our way back to the studio.
We sat outside on the bench, eating our churros, while Cenia and her mother retrieved the bridal portrait from the photographer. I nearly dropped my churro when Isabel walked out of the studio with a framed portrait that was two-thirds the size of Cenia. The portrait was wrapped in brown paper so there was no telling which pose the photographer had decided on. Still, I’d seen what my friend looked like with her makeup flawlessly applied, hair perfectly coiffed, and the wedding dress strategically placed. She made a stunning bride.
I think we all breathed a small sigh of relief when we pulled out of San Fernando. Cenia opened a bag of candy once we turned onto the highway. “This is Tamarindo,” she explained, handing us each a piece. “This candy is very popular in Mexico.”
I popped the amber colored hard candy into my mouth. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Kadyn and Roger seemed equally perplexed by the little hard candy that managed to be sweet, sour, and spicy all at the same time.
“What’s that?” Roger asked. He was pointing at a black plume of smoke that appeared up ahead.
“I don’t know. Maybe a car accident,” Isabel opined.
“That’s the third car to flash their lights at us. Are you supposed to be driving with the headlights on?” Cenia asked her mom.
“No,” Isabel replied. “Maybe they’re warning us about the accident.”
“Those cars are driving awfully fast,” I noted anxiously. “Can you turn the radio on and see what’s going on?”
The van slowed as Isabel began fiddling with the radio. The plume of smoke loomed closer.
“Was that service station shot up when we drove by this morning?” Kadyn inquired tensely.
I glanced at the service station, which was sitting on my side of the road. The storefront was riddled with bullets. Two vehicles sat abandoned next to the pumps. Little black holes marred the doors, fenders, and trunks. The windows were blown out; the tires flattened. “Something’s wrong,” I breathed. Fear crept through me like an incestuous snake.
“That gas station didn’t look like that earlier,” Cenia confirmed weakly. “Mom, I think you should turn around.” A steady stream of cars were speeding down the highway in the opposite direction with their headlights flashing wildly.
“How am I supposed to turn around?” Isabel exclaimed testily. She pulled onto the side of the road. A red Cadillac Escalade with silver and red rims blew past us. They were barreling toward the plume of smoke.
“Did you see that?” I gasped. “That Escalade had California plates.”
“They weren’t Mexican,” Isabel observed. “They were gringos.”
“Extremely wealthy gringos,” Roger clarified.
Kadyn was peering out the rear window. “Those buses turned into that service station. There aren’t any vehicles behind you, Isabel. Why don’t you back down the highway so we can find out what’s going on?”
I didn’t want to be anywhere near a bus when they were being targeted by the sicarios. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth while Isabel backed up.
“Do you see all of those cars backed into the woods?” Roger asked. “Why don’t we park in the tree line so we’re a little less conspicuous from the road? Back in so we can pull out quickly if we need to.”
Isabel backed into the trees on the far side of the service station. I winced when a log snapped under the back tires.
“You guys stay here,” Kadyn ordered before he and Roger jumped out of the van. They walked toward the people who were filing off the buses.
“Does Roger speak Spanish?” I asked Cenia.
“A little. Not as much as Kadyn,” she replied.
Isabel glanced at her in surprise.
“Kadyn grew up in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood,” I explained. “His best friend was Mexican. Kadyn claims he spent more time at his house than he did with his own family.”
The sickening hum of engines churning at a high rate of speed and a series of loud pops cleaved the air. We stared wide-eyed as a number of trucks and SUVs drove south, toward San Fernando, on both sides of the highway. Men wearing camo, khaki, and black hung out of the passenger windows, shooting at each other with machine guns. The image felt so surreal. For a split second, I thought someone was filming a live action movie right in front of us.
We watched, horrified, as Kadyn and Roger ducked behind the buses. Everyone was diving behind the buses. I gripped the door. I prayed they wouldn’t be shot, that the van wouldn’t be hit, and the gas tanks wouldn’t explode.
Cenia and I scrambled out of the van as soon as the vehicles passed. We sprinted toward Kadyn and Roger. Isabel followed.
“Get back! Get back in the van!” Roger screamed as he and Kadyn ran toward us. Each of us flinched when loud explosions sounded in the distance.
I skidded across the rocks when I tried to stop. Cenia, Isabel, and I ran back to the van. Kadyn and Roger caught up with us. Everyone was breathing hard.
“It’s the cartels,” Roger huffed as he opened the door. Cenia didn’t climb in. She collapsed against him.
Kadyn’s hands moved roughly over my arms, waist, and back before he shoved me inside the van. “Were you hit? Was the van hit?” He stepped back to examine the van.
Gravel pelted the gas tanks, buses, and storefront when a shiny black pickup truck spun into the parking lot and slammed on the brakes. A man wearing a bullet proof vest stepped out of the truck. He was holding a black machine gun. Additional weapons were strapped around his chest, hips, and thigh. The man was dressed entirely in black... like Maxim… like the mafia… like the SVR.
My heart stalled.
Kadyn grabbed my arm. “Get out. Get out of the van. Now!” He pulled me upright when my knees buckled. We crouched behind the back of the van with Cenia, Roger, and Isabel.
“Do you have your cell phones?” Roger asked. People were running toward the cinder block wall behind the service station. They were shoving children over the top and scaling the wall after them. I had no clue who the man in black was, but it was clear he instilled terror in everyone who caught sight of him.
Cenia grabbed our purses.
Kadyn placed a pocket knife in the palm of my hand before folding his fingers over mine. “You three stay together. Run into the woods as far as you can. Don’t stop. No matter what. Promise me you won’t stop for anyone.”
“Wh… what about you?” I demanded frantically.
“We’ll hold them off as long as we can.” Kadyn’s lips bruised mine in a passionate kiss. This time, I didn’t resist. I kissed him with everything I had. He shoved me toward the woods. “Run!”
I stumbled forward blindly. I couldn’t see through my tears. “The dress!” I cried, turning back around.
Cenia grabbed my arm. “Leave it!” Tears streamed down her face.
“Run!” Isabel screamed.
We ran as fast as we could; weaving around the trees, ducking under branches, and hurdling fallen logs. The branches from the mesquite trees whipped against my arms, face, and chest. I didn’t flinch, not until I heard the gunfire. The sound ricocheted through the trees.
I stopped and turned around dazedly. I took a step forward… toward the gunfire… toward Roger, Kadyn, and the van.
“Keep running,” Cenia cried. She held fast to my arm once Isabel turned me around.
The heavens burst open as we began to weep.
* * * * *
Cenia collapsed next to me in the mud. “How bad is it?”
I wiped th
e mud from my knee so I could see the damage underneath. “I’ll be fine.” My hands, knees, and feet were bleeding. I had lost track of how many rocks and logs I’d tripped over. We’d been running in sandals for over thirty minutes. My new azure dress was streaked with mud and clinging to me in the most annoying places. Cenia and Isabel didn’t look any better.
“Are you getting a signal?” I asked Isabel. She was staring at her phone.
“One bar,” she replied. She tried placing a call.
“Thank God her cell phone works in Mexico,” Cenia muttered as she flicked mud from her toes.
“Do you think it’s safe to head back?” I asked. We hadn’t run into anyone in the woods, which was truly surprising given the number of people who had been fleeing the service station.
Isabel began speaking rapidly in Spanish. Her cell phone was pressed against her ear.
“She’s talking to one of my cousins,” Cenia explained. She grew quiet as she listened in on the conversation. “He lives nearby.”
I peered up at the clouds through the strange looking leaves. “It stopped raining,” I noted numbly.
“It has?” Cenia asked. She sounded surprised. She stood and pulled me to my feet.
Isabel glanced at us. She was still talking on the phone.
My mind kept circling back to the service station. I choked back another round of tears. “Do you think they’re okay?”
Cenia turned toward the direction we had come. “They should have caught up with us by now.”
I ran my hand over our latest notch. Cenia had begun notching the trees once she learned Kadyn had given me a knife. I just hoped we’d marked enough trees to find our way back.
Isabel disconnected her call. “Your cousin, Dante, is going to make sure it’s safe to return to the service station. He’ll call us when he gets there. We should stay here until he does.”
We sat back down on the log. “Mamá…” Cenia whispered brokenly. The rest of the sentence was lost in her tears.
“Shhh,” Isabel soothed. She wrapped Cenia in her arms. “Roger and Kadyn will be fine.”
I reached for Cenia’s hand. “I think we should pray for them.”
Cenia nodded. She and her mother crossed themselves before Isabel began. “Heavenly Father, please watch over Kadyn and Roger. Keep them safe from the cartel and the sicario. Watch over those who were injured, those who ran, and those who were left behind. Help us find a way to put an end to this greed, these drugs, and these senseless killings. Guide us. Watch over us, and help us find our way home. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” She and Cenia made the sign of the cross when Isabel ended the prayer.