“Duly noted.” Liliana left Grace House, confident in Jackie. If anyone could change Elena’s outlook toward Samuel it would be her.
Twenty minutes after parking her car near the courthouse, Liliana rushed toward the police station, late to meet Cody. She collided with Sean as he was leaving the building.
“So sor—ree. Didn’t—s—see—you.”
“I should have been watching where I was going.” Liliana held the door for the young man from the cafe. “I was hoping I didn’t miss your morning food run.”
“I—I—can bring—you back—some—thing.”
She gave him a big smile. “That’s so sweet. I wish I didn’t have to leave right away. I’ll have to satisfy myself with a cup of coffee from the pot Robertson probably made. I know you’re responsible for fixing all the coffee at the cafe. It’s great. Maybe you could give Robertson some lessons.”
Sean’s thin, flushed face split into a huge grin. “Any—any— time.” Then he hurried across the street, his gait better, but he was still favoring his good leg. Time was healing his bike injury from a couple of weeks ago, but not the way the guy looked at himself. She tried to make him feel special—to stick up for him when people made fun of his stuttering.
“I think he’s got a crush on you,” Officer Robertson said from behind the counter. “By the way I didn’t make the coffee this morning. Chief Winters did. So beware of what you say about it.”
“Thanks for warning me. His may be a step above yours.” Liliana breezed past the police officer, listening to his laughter as she headed for her desk and a waiting Cody.
“Looks like you revived your plant.” Cody closed a folder he’d been perusing. “What made you get a second plant?”
“I didn’t. Juan gave it to me the other day. Of course, this one needs more water than the cactus and I haven’t done very well there. Not sure why Juan bothered. It was looking wilted when I left yesterday. I was going to water it today. Someone else did.” She glimpsed Juan coming out of the kitchen area. “And I think I know who. He’s got a green thumb. I don’t.”
Cody looked toward Juan. “Why do you have a plant if you forget to even water it?”
“Good question and I don’t have an answer. I guess I keep thinking I’ll get better. Plants look nice.”
“When they’re living.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, living is good.”
“Ready to go? We’re using horses again. They’re quieter and can go a lot of places an SUV might not be able to.”
“Sounds good to me. Am I using Al’s again?”
“Yes, the horses are in my trailer. We’ll start from Salazar’s ranch. Follow the trail from there.”
“You think there’s something out there besides desert and rocks?”
“Don’t you? What were those two motorcyclists doing at Salazar’s ranch? Who ransacked his house? Think of what has been happening across the border. The drug war, the trafficking in humans and guns.”
“I was hoping what’s happening in other parts of the state somehow had bypassed us. I know. A fool’s dream.”
“What if someone has the illegal activities in this area locked down? You yourself said people have gone missing.”
“That’s always been the case. This can be a transit area.”
“Maybe.” Cody rose and swept his arm toward the back door. “We might get some answers today.”
“Or more questions.”
“Did ya hear Manny’s car got keyed last night?” Aaron sat behind Kyle in history class. “Rafael Rodriguez’s, too.” He tossed his head toward the student he mentioned. “Couldn’t happen to more deserving guys.”
“Someone was talking about it in first hour.” Kyle angled around toward Aaron. “Did ya do it after you dropped me off?”
Aaron held up his hands, palms out. “I ain’t saying I did. But I ain’t saying I didn’t. Thanks for helping me study last night. I might be able to pass the test this time. I ain’t taking this class a third time. I’ll drop out before that. Boring subject. Why take history? I don’t care what a bunch of dead people have done.”
“Beats me. I don’t know how you can sit through this a second time.”
“By zoning out. But I’ve got you helping me now.” Aaron settled back in the chair as the teacher began class.
Kyle tapped his pencil against his desk. Was Rafael related to the detective who had come to the house last night? Same coloring. But then, they all had dark hair and eyes. A vision of Serena flashed into his thoughts—beautiful brown eyes that gleamed when she looked at him. Made him feel important to her.
When the teacher started passing out the tests, Aaron leaned forward and whispered, “Put your paper toward the right edge just in case I’ve forgotten something from our cramming last night.”
“The test has started. No talking.” The teacher pointedly looked at Aaron before he turned to Kyle. “Face forward.”
Kyle did, but when he got his test paper, he slid it to the right.
Walking toward the cliffs, his horse trailing him, Cody searched the ground. “Nothing. The tracks have disappeared.”
“They come to within about three feet and then are gone.” Liliana pointed to the area. “It looks like something swept this place. If so, where did the two motorcycles go?”
“This is the back side of the box canyon where the cattle were.” He made a full circle then peered up the tall, jagged cliff. “Unless they disappeared into thin air, about the only place is up.” He pointed in the direction. “That appears to be an opening.”
“Yeah. About fifty feet off the ground in the middle of the cliff. Not what I would call accessible unless the motorcycles grew wings.”
“Have you ever gone rock climbing?”
“A couple of times in my youth.”
“Lady, you’re in your youth.”
“You only have ten years on me. You aren’t an old man—yet.”
“This body felt like it this morning when I dragged myself sore and bruised out of bed.”
“You need to quit picking fights.”
“I’ll remember that the next time an assailant comes at me with a knife.” He walked to his horse and tethered it then took his climbing gear from the saddlebags. Liliana did likewise with her mare.
While Cody was getting his equipment ready, Liliana inspected the stone face. Why would someone hoist two motorcycles up to the opening fifty feet above? There was a separation in the rocks, but no matter how much she pushed or pulled, she couldn’t budge anything.
She thought of the tale about Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and murmured, “Open sesame.”
“What did you say?” Cody appeared at her side.
“Thinking about a story from my childhood. There’s a gap in the rock here. I can fit my fingers into it.” She stepped back and threw her head back to study the hole in the cliff. “That isn’t very big.”
“It could open up.”
“Or not.” She wasn’t big on closed-in spaces.
Cody examined the wall before him, following the gap until he couldn’t then picking it up about ten feet to the north. “If this is a door, and I say that loosely, then I don’t know how to open it. It could be water has leaked into a crack and over time has eroded it this way. But to be on the safe side, let’s hide our horses behind that outcropping of rocks over there.”
She laughed. “So you’re buying into the Ali Baba story?”
“Nope, but I don’t see why we should leave our horses out in the open for someone to come along and see, especially since the motorcycles disappeared around here.”
After they secured the animals, Cody handed Liliana a harness. He went first, finding places to put wedges into the rock facade for protection. As Liliana followed behind him, she removed the devices. Halfway up, she raked her arm against the stone facing, pain shooting up it. Thankful the cave was only fifty feet off the ground, Liliana heaved herself up onto the shelf in front of the hole in the cliff. Panting, she rubbed her
hand over the throbbing scrape on her arm. She’d live, but she remembered why she hadn’t done rock climbing in a while. She didn’t like not feeling more in control of the situation. She didn’t like dangling from the side of a cliff with only a rope supporting her. As she’d grown up, so much of her life had been out of her control.
On the narrow ledge of the cave, Liliana peered into the darkness. “I can’t see lifting motorcycles up here and dragging them into this. The ground isn’t disturbed either.”
Cody shone his flashlight into the small opening. “Agreed. It was hard to tell from the ground. Since we’re up here, let’s do some exploring.”
She wanted to refuse, seeing the narrow entrance more clearly with the flashlight, but she bit back a no. “You first.” If he could make it through, then she could. He didn’t seem to be concerned by the walls tapering to a much slimmer width.
The first few yards Cody stooped over to make his way into the cave, but soon he got down on all fours and crawled forward. Heart thudding, Liliana followed suit. The roughness of the stone floor pierced her even with the jeans she wore. As the passage narrowed, sweat trickled down her face and body.
“This better be worth it,” she muttered, loud enough that Cody heard and glanced back.
“Okay?”
“I don’t like cramped spaces.” And it had nothing to do with controlling a situation.
“Now you tell me. You can go back and wait at the mouth of the cave.”
“And let you have all the fun? No. I’m in. It’s about time I got over this fear. It’s irrational.” And yet as she said that, she pictured herself hunkered down in her closet as a child, hiding because her papa was on one of his rampages. The sound of the slaps still shivered down her although she was perspiring buckets.
Cody stopped a couple of feet in front of her. “The space between the ceiling and floor shrinks here.” He lay flat on the stones and shined his flashlight down the tunnel. “It looks like it opens back up maybe ten yards up ahead.”
Oh, good, only thirty feet of terror. But as she shimmied through the passage, she kept her gaze centered on Cody. She was all right when she did that. Her heartbeat sped up, thundering in her ears but she was moving forward. She wouldn’t think about the return trip.
When it opened back up to a bearable space, Liliana breathed deeply in the hot air, a musky smell to it. The tunnel continued to become wider and taller until Cody scrambled to his feet and low walked.
In the distance she heard—voices.
Cody paused then twisted back toward her, retracing his steps and whispering, “Turn off your light. Stay right behind me. I’m cupping my hand over my flashlight to dim it just enough to feel my way.”
Another fifteen yards Cody clicked off his flashlight, but there was a faint glow up ahead that gave off enough illumination so Liliana could pick her way carefully along the passage. She only scraped herself once against the rocky surface that jutted out. She clasped her upper arm and felt the tear in her shirt. Before this was over with it, was going to look like she’d had a wrestling match with the cliff and lost.
When Cody came to a halt a few minutes later, he leaned back toward her and put his mouth next to her ear to whisper, “I’m edging closer to the ledge. It sounds like some men are below us. Stay back.”
She kept track of his shadow in the dimness. He went flat on the stone floor and wiggled closer to the ledge, barely visible to her from her vantage point. Her heart still beat a rhythm faster than normal, and she worked to even its pulsating to a calmer rate. She glanced behind her and shouldn’t have. Although the men down below them had lighting, it didn’t penetrate the black recesses of the cave, especially back the way she had come. She quickly swiveled forward and spied Cody closing the short distance between them. Her heartbeat continued its rapid pace.
“They’re moving crates of guns. I think from what I could hear they’re shutting down the operation for a while.” His chuckle barely filled the quiet. “Something about a nosy Texas Ranger.”
“How many men?”
“I count six—one being the man who attacked me.”
“The giant.”
“Yeah, all six feet, ten inches. I’m staying to monitor their activity. You need to get help ASAP. Leave and go as far as necessary to get cell reception.”
“So how are the men getting into here? It’s not the way we came.”
“Don’t know for sure, but two motorcycles are down there. Hurry, but be careful. Don’t know how many are involved. While you’re gone, I’m going to do some looking around up here. There may be a way down without rappelling over the ledge.”
Eager to get out into wide open spaces, she turned around and headed back the way she’d come, not using her flashlight until she’d gone fifteen yards and gone around a bend in the tunnel.
Although she had more light, the sense of being totally alone inundated her as if the rocks had come crashing down on her. The dizzying speed of her pulse made her lightheaded. She stopped, closed her eyes, and tried to imagine herself in a crowd of people, bodies pressed against her. That she could handle.
It’s not that far. I’ve been this way before. I know what’s there.
Then she hit the low part of the tunnel and had to belly crawl as sharp pieces stabbed her palms and down her body as she dragged over it.
Lord, I’m asking for Your help. Cody’s depending on me. Again she shut her eyes and thought about riding with Cody across the pasture—fresh air all around, the sun warming her. She inched forward. Slowly.
Just when she thought she couldn’t pull herself another foot, the passageway began to widen. Not far ahead, the bright sunlight slanted into the mouth of the cave, beckoning her. She hurried her pace until she was able to stoop, then almost straighten to her full height.
Close to the ledge where Cody had his rope on the floor of the cavern, she reached for it and froze.
Kyle came out of Durango High School at the end of the day with Aaron and a couple of other guys and scanned the cars, hoping to see his dad’s SUV. He didn’t. Instead, his gaze fell on Al Garcia’s red truck—big and obvious. When his dad let him out this morning, he mentioned Mr. Garcia might pick him up if he couldn’t get away from work. The fact his dad wasn’t here didn’t surprise him one bit. Typical.
“My ride’s here. See you guys tomorrow.” Kyle descended the stairs, glimpsing his father’s friend climbing from the pickup and waving with his cowboy hat.
Aaron dogged his steps. “Who is that? Your dad?”
“No way. Someone my dad knows. Dad must have gotten caught up in something.”
“Maybe he’s found the murderer.” Aaron and his friends kept pace with Kyle. “Why they bother, I don’t understand. They’re probably not even Americans. I heard one was a coyote, responsible for bringing more of them into our country.”
“It’s his job no matter who has been murdered.” Kyle bit the inside of his cheek right after he said that.
“Well, he doesn’t have to do a good job. At least not in this case. If more of them killed each other, it’s one less problem we’ll have.” Aaron glanced at his companions. “Right?”
The two other teenage boys nodded.
When Aaron slowed then came to a halt on the sidewalk a few yards from the red truck, Kyle looked over his shoulder at him. All three guys pivoted and presented their backs to Kyle as they formed a huddle and conversed.
While Kyle climbed into the front passenger seat, the trio walked away with Aaron peering over his shoulder for a long moment. The reptilian-eyed look he gave Kyle made him shiver.
“Friends?” Al Garcia started his truck.
“I’ve just met them,” came out, then caused Kyle to wonder why he didn’t say yes they were.
“They didn’t look too happy.”
Kyle shrugged. “It’s been a long day. Why isn’t Dad here?”
“I didn’t hear from him. He told me if I didn’t to come pick you up.”
“What do you m
ean? He didn’t call you? Why not?”
“Probably in an area where there isn’t cell reception. No big deal.”
Yes, it was. After what happened last night, he didn’t like the idea that his father was out of cell range. Someone tried to kill him. What if the attacker found him? What if his dad was lying dead somewhere? Kyle gripped the door handle.
The retired ranger glanced at him. “He knows how to take care of himself.”
“Yeah, sure.” But the picture of a knife at his dad’s neck, slicing into him, wouldn’t quit his mind. It haunted him the whole way to Garcia’s house. He even pulled out his cell and called his dad. After the fourth ring, it went to voice mail, and he disconnected. His fingers clutching the handle tightened even more.
At the sound of men talking below the cave opening, Liliana crawled forward, straining to hear what they said. Had they found the horses? Were they waiting for her and Cody to come back out? She peeked over the edge, saw a black pickup, and counted three men slipping through a small opening by the gap in the rocks—a gap that had widened enough for men with crates to go inside.
She retrieved her cell to see if she could get reception. No bars. Would the men come back out? Could she make it down and to her horse to ride for help? Ten minutes later, grabbing a fistful of rope anchored around a boulder inside the cave opening, she began lowering it over the side, but laughter and talking paralyzed her. Then suddenly she yanked up what rope she had over the ledge and ducked back.
“That’s the last of the guns. Let’s go get a beer,” one of the men said in Spanish as the grating noise of the stone door reverberated through the stillness.
The one getting into the driver’s seat replied, “Tengo que llamar al jefe.”
Call the chief? Chief Winters? No, it’s got to be the boss.
Liliana waited five minutes after the truck disappeared from her view before tossing the rope over the side of the cliff and hooking herself up to rappel down to the ground. No doubt Cody saw the men come into the cavern below him and probably figured out that she would have to stay put until they left. She looked toward the west and the sun starting to make its descent toward the horizon.
Shattered Silence: Men of the Texas Rangers Series #2 Page 16