by Ruff, K. S.
We huddled around Cenia when she began crying again. All three of us jumped when Isabel’s phone rang a few minutes later.
Cenia translated for me. “Dante’s at the service station. There’s a few people milling around, looking for other people. No one who looks like Roger or Kadyn. He thinks it’s safe for us to head back.” We started walking, following the trees Cenia had notched, while Isabel continued talking on the phone.
Isabel frowned at her phone. “We were disconnected. The reception is very spotty here. Maybe we’ll get better service when we get closer to the highway.” She tucked the phone back inside her purse.
We quietly picked our way through the trees that would lead us back the direction we had come. I kept scouring the woods. I was hoping we’d find Kadyn and Roger, but I was afraid we might intercept someone else. We huddled inside the tree line when we finally spotted the service station.
“Do you see Dante?” Cenia asked.
“I think that’s him, over by the bus,” Isabel replied. She was digging the phone out of her purse. She glanced at the phone before attempting another call. One of the men standing near the bus lifted a cell phone to his ear. Isabel spoke briefly, then ended the call. “He’ll meet us by the van.”
My heart sank when I saw the van. The windshield was shattered… bullet holes marred the hood and the grill… and the front passenger side tire was completely flat. It appeared as if someone had been purposely trying to disable the van… or shoot them. My eyes raked over the ground as I walked around the van a second time. I breathed a small sigh of relief when I didn’t see any blood.
“Do you have the keys?” Cenia asked, staring tearfully at the van.
“I left the keys in the ignition,” Isabel replied. She felt along the steering wheel as she poked her head inside the van. “The keys are gone.”
A man, who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, approached the van. His dark hair was cropped short. His skin was a little darker than Cenia’s, and he appeared to be the same height as Roger, who was a couple inches taller than me. He was wearing blue jeans and a green and gray plaid shirt with long sleeves that were rolled up until they rested just below his elbow.
He kissed Isabel on the cheek before speaking to her in Spanish. He glanced questioningly at Cenia and me.
Isabel switched to English when she introduced us. “Dante, this is your cousin, Cenia, and her friend, Kri.”
“I haven’t seen Dante since I was a child,” Cenia explained, anticipating my question. She stepped forward and gave him a hug.
“You were the flower girl at Alicia’s wedding,” he recalled with a smile.
“And you carried the rings,” Cenia added softly.
My cheeks heated when I shook his hand. I was painfully aware of the thin layer of mud coating my rain soaked dress. “Thank you for coming, Dante.”
He smiled politely before he stepped back to examine the van. “We’re going to have to replace that tire. Do you think it will start?”
Cenia climbed into the front passenger seat. “We need to find the keys. Roger wouldn’t have taken them. He’s probably just hidden them somewhere.” She opened the glove box and checked under the mats as she began searching for the keys.
I climbed into the back. “The portrait is still here. The protective wrap is still in place so I think your picture is okay.” I examined the garment bag, carefully unzipped it, and peeked inside. “You’re dress looks fine.” Something hard brushed against my foot when I tugged the zipper back into place. I unzipped the garment bag all the way down and peered into the bottom. I didn’t want to reach inside. I was afraid I’d get mud on Cenia’s dress.
Cenia joined me in the back of the van. She carefully felt along the bottom of the bag, squeezing it from the outside. “That’s where he hid them! I knew Roger wouldn’t take the keys.” She carefully reached inside the bag. “Wait. Is this…”
“Kadyn’s cell phone,” I confirmed, thoroughly perplexed.
Cenia handed me the cell phone so she could dig the keys out of the garment bag. “Why would Kadyn leave his cell phone?” she asked. She handed the keys to Isabel before zipping the bag.
I scrolled through Kadyn’s messages while Dante made multiple attempts to start the van. I didn’t see any text messages or notes on his ColorNote app relevant to the gunfight. “His last text message was dated yesterday,” I informed Cenia, who was studying me intently. She was still clinging to the garment bag.
I stared at the phone. Think, Kri. Why would Kadyn leave his phone! My thumb hovered uncertainly over the screen. I tapped on the camera icon and switched over to his photo gallery. “Holy crap!”
“What?” Cenia exclaimed. She tossed the garment bag aside.
I handed her the cell phone.
She swallowed nervously before studying the picture. “He’s trying to tell us something,” she whispered. Her eyes met mine.
Dante poked his head between the front seats. “What’s going on?”
“Kadyn took a picture of the man and the truck that pulled up shortly before they sent us into the woods,” I explained.
Cenia held the cell phone up so Dante could see the picture. “Do you know who this is? People ran when he climbed out of his truck, like they knew who he was.”
Dante shook his head. “No, but I would have run too. Look at all those weapons.”
Isabel asked him something in Spanish.
Dante shook his head. “No one fitting Roger and Kadyn’s descriptions. I’ve already asked.”
“What’s that?” Cenia asked. Dante had pulled a small glittering object from his pocket.
His eyes bounced between Cenia, her wedding dress, and the object in his hand. “I found this lying in a pile of bullet casings.” He handed Cenia the object.
“That’s my ring!” Cenia exclaimed. “You found this lying on the ground?”
Isabel sucked in a breath. “Cenia! How could you lose your ring? Were you having trouble keeping it on your finger?”
Cenia studied the ring. “No. Roger asked for the engagement ring last week, so he could have the rings soldered before the wedding.”
I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Dante had found the ring. “Do you think Roger dropped it?” That didn’t sound like Roger, but if he’d been carrying it in his pocket...
“He was burying it, so he could come back and get it later,” Dante surmised.
“But why would he do that?” Isabel demanded.
Dante looked reluctant to explain. “If he thought he was going to be shot or forced away at gunpoint, he wouldn’t want the cartel stealing the ring. Cenia would never see it again.”
Cenia slipped the ring onto her finger as a single tear slid silently down her cheek.
I shook my head. “God, the phone… the ring… the keys. How could they even think straight with all those people and bullets flying around?”
Dante glanced at Isabel. “Look, I don’t know how much longer we should be sitting here. This van isn’t going to start. Why don’t we transfer your things over to my truck? I’ll take you back to the farmhouse so you can get cleaned up. Then we’ll start making phone calls.”
“We should leave some sort of note,” I insisted. “What if they come back here?”
Isabel pulled a pen and a piece of paper from her purse. “I’ll leave my cell phone number, since my phone is the only one working right now.” She scribbled her phone number on the slip of paper and handed it to Cenia. “Set it in the back where they left the wedding dress. Even if Roger’s cell phone doesn’t work, they’ll find someone who will let them use his phone.”
“They may not let him make an international call,” Dante interjected. “Maybe you should add my phone number.”
Isabel shook her head. “If the wrong people got a hold of that number…” She didn’t need to finish her sentence.
Cenia wrote we are safe above the phone number before placing the note on the third row seat.
We gathered
her portrait, the dress, accessories, and the items Isabel had purchased for the rehearsal dinner and set them inside Dante’s truck. He was driving a white four door Ford F-150 pickup truck. Cenia and I climbed into the back seat. Isabel sat in the front.
Dante turned to face us after starting the truck. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to drive through a war zone in order to get to the farmhouse. I don’t know how much the soldiers have cleaned up. They were pulling bodies into the back of their trucks when I drove through earlier.”
I closed my eyes against the images he provoked. “Did you stop to talk to anyone?”
“Yes,” he replied solemnly. “There were no gringos or negros among the bodies found up the road.”
I sent up a small prayer of thanksgiving.
Dante eased onto the highway. He turned in the same direction we’d been driving when we saw the plume of smoke.
Cenia reached for my hand when we saw all the cars stranded in the center of the road. The cars were riddled with bullets. Nearly every vehicle was facing south, as if trying to flee whatever atrocity had befallen them. All of their flashers were on.
I took a deep breath and blew it out. Clothes were strewn all over the highway. Dark stains marred the faded asphalt, despite the rain we’d experienced earlier. It wasn’t difficult to discern where the bodies had been.
“The soldiers turn the flashers on so people won’t drive into the cars when the sun goes down,” Dante explained. He was driving on the shoulder of the road, navigating around mounds of gravel that had been dumped there for some road construction project. We were nearing the last vehicle. A Ford Excursion, charred and still smoldering, was sitting perpendicular to the road. I suspected this was where the plume of smoke had come from.
“Why don’t they just move the vehicles to the side of the road?” Cenia asked before pinching her nose closed. The smells emanating from the charred vehicle were nauseating.
Dante grimaced as he glanced at us in the rearview mirror. “They’re too busy picking up dead bodies.”
He pulled over as I began to retch.
Chapter 9 – Walk through walls
I was sitting on the stone hearth in front of the fireplace, inside Dante’s farmhouse. Cenia was sitting on a worn wingback chair next to the window. An untouched plate of food sat next to me, mirroring the untouched plate of food next to Cenia. Neither of us could eat.
I blew tendrils of steam from the cup of tea Dante’s wife, Maria, had given me. I sipped the tea cautiously, then set it aside to cool. I was grateful for the tea, the warm fire, and the shower.
I tightened the belt on my bathrobe. Maria had insisted we take a warm shower the second we arrived. She loaned Cenia and Isabel her bathrobes and lent me one of Dante’s bathrobes so she could wash our clothes. I was painfully aware of the fact that I was completely naked underneath. I wondered how much longer it would be before our clothes were dry.
I stared at my feet. Maria had rubbed a salve into our feet, treating the cuts and scrapes before bundling us all in fluffy socks. Large bandages graced both of my knees, but I’d drawn the line at the cuts and scrapes on my arms and face. They were shallow and small and would be gone in a few days, hopefully in time for the wedding. If there was a wedding.
Tears pooled in my eyes as I watched Cenia. She was staring out the window. I doubted she could see anything more than her reflection since it was dark outside. Her father was due to arrive any minute. Rafael was on his way as well, but he had an entire ocean to climb over. He was facing thirteen hours of flight time, a short layover, and a two hour drive.
Cenia lifted her head from the back of the chair when Dante walked through the front door. “Any luck?” she asked.
He shook his head dejectedly as he set Kadyn’s cell phone on the coffee table. “No one seems to know who that man is. If they do, they’re not willing to admit it.”
Maria walked in from the kitchen. “Dante, please tell me you were careful about who you asked. You know what could happen if we discuss this with the wrong person.”
Dante pulled Maria into his arms. “I didn’t ask any strangers. I only spoke to people we know.” They walked into the kitchen, where Isabel was sitting.
I swiped my thumb across my cell phone screen and stared at it for the hundredth time, willing it to ring. I wasn’t getting any service. I had an international calling plan, but I didn’t have a SIM card for Mexico. I sifted through the pictures on my phone until I found the picture of Kadyn from the sleepover the other night. “Where are you?” I asked.
I turned the phone over in my hand while I turned the day’s events in my head. Why didn’t Kadyn and Roger run into the woods with us? Why would they stay behind? Were they trying to prevent the van from being stolen? Were they hoping to save the people on the bus? There were no bodies, no blood, when we returned to the service station. One of the buses was still there, but it had been shot up pretty badly. The bus was probably disabled, like our van.
If Kadyn and Roger had run into the woods after us, they would have noticed the notches on the trees. Kadyn was there, at the personal risk seminar, when Cenia talked about the importance of notching trees. They would have found us. So, if they didn’t run into the woods, then where did they go? They wouldn’t have left us willingly. They must have been forced from the scene. Kadyn had taken a picture of that man with the black truck and hid his cell phone in the garment bag for a reason.
Images flitted through my mind. The flashing lights, urging us to turn around when we were driving down the highway. That Cadillac Escalade with the California plates seemed terribly out of place. Why were they in such a hurry to get to that plume of smoke when everyone else was fleeing the scene? The shiny new truck the man in black was driving seemed out of place too. Drugs, I thought. Someone was making an awful lot of money on those drugs.
My cell phone fell to the floor with a loud thunk when I jumped up from the hearth. “The Russian mafia operates anywhere there’s money to be made. Arms trafficking, drug trafficking, and cyber espionage generate a lot of money in the United States,” I said, repeating Maxim’s words.
“What?” Cenia asked. She looked mildly alarmed.
“The mafia,” I said. “I need to call Maxim.”
Dante, Maria, and Isabel rushed into the room to see what the commotion was about. I looked at Dante. “Have you heard anything about the Russian mafia working with the cartels?”
He eyed me warily. “There have been rumors, nothing concrete.”
“Can I use your phone?” I asked Isabel. “It’s an international call, but I’ll reimburse you. I promise.”
Isabel pulled her cell phone off the charger in the kitchen and handed it to me. I picked my cell phone up off the floor and scrolled through my list of contacts until I found Maxim’s name. I tapped his number into Isabel’s phone and walked out onto the front porch.
“Allo,” he answered briskly.
“Maxim,” I began, then burst into tears.
“Kotyonok? What’s wrong? What number is this?”
“I borrowed someone’s phone,” I croaked. I tripped over one of the planks while pacing across the broken down porch.
“Why are you crying? What’s wrong?” he demanded gruffly.
I swallowed my remaining tears so I could recruit his help. “It’s Kadyn. I think he’s been kidnapped.”
“Kadyn? The black man who came to Ukraine?” he asked. “What? Are you with him now?” He sounded irritated.
“No! Kadyn and I are just friends. We’re supposed to be in a wedding together. We drove into Mexico with our friends, Cenia and Roger, to purchase some things for their wedding. There was a gunfight… between the cartels…”
“You’re in Mexico? Shae said you were in Texas,” he interjected.
“Shae? When did you talk to Shae? Aren’t you in Ukraine?” I asked, thoroughly confused.
“I’m in Virginia with Konstantin. I was hoping to see you while he was visiting Shae, but Shae said you were
in Texas.”
“Oh, thank God!” I cried. “Maxim, I need your help. Please. Can you come to Mexico?”
“Tell me everything,” he encouraged softly.
I sank into a wooden rocking chair and picked at the peeling paint while I explained everything that happened, every last detail, including the man in black and the expensive vehicles. Once Maxim had absorbed everything, I asked the only questions that mattered. “Does the Russian mafia operate in Mexico? Do they wield any sort of power over the drug cartels?”
Maxim laughed. “Of course they do. I told you the mafia is involved in every activity that generates money.”
“Do you know anyone who works for the mafia here?” I asked a little too optimistically.
“No, but it would not be difficult for me to establish a connection,” he replied.
“Will you come?” I asked breathlessly. “Please, Maxim. I think Kadyn and Roger have been kidnapped. I need you to help me find them.”
“I will come on one condition…”
I bolted out of the chair. “Anything! I’ll do anything. Please, Maxim, say you’ll help.”
“Anything?” he inquired teasingly.
“Anything but sex,” I back-pedaled.
“Deal,” he said. “Text me the address. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He immediately disconnected the call.
I gaped at the phone. What did I just do?
* * * * *
I studied Cenia. After hours of sobbing, she’d finally fallen asleep in her father’s arms. Dante had driven down to the service station three times over the course of the night. There hadn’t been any signs of Kadyn or Roger. The van and our note were still there.