Fatal Divide

by Jamie Jeffries

  “Many of our young men are cartel, or on their way to being cartel.” She went on to tell them much of the same information Wanda had revealed. Alex took mental notes. This was going into an op-ed piece on her blog, just as soon as she could verify it.

  If it was true the border fence had so disrupted the O’odham way of life that the only thing left for the young men was cartel, it was a tragedy that needed exposure. She’d never heard it, and she lived right next door to the O’odham, in a manner of speaking.

  She thought about telling Sophia about the woman who said Jimmy helped people. Before she could speak, Sophia asked a question that brought her worries back to the forefront. “What are they doing? What will I do if Jimmy is killed?”

  Alex considered it a fair question. What would she do if Dylan were killed? Go on with her life, she supposed. She and Dylan hadn’t made any long-term commitments. It would be a tragedy for his brothers, who would probably remain in the system, unadoptable because of their age and ethnic heritage.

  She would eventually get over it, find someone in Phoenix maybe, and move on. Or would she? If her dad was any indication, she may have inherited a tendency to be a one-man woman. How would it be to have loved and lost, and for that to be the end of love for her, at nineteen?

  All three women fell silent, lost in their own thoughts, until Diego started to fuss.

  “He’s hungry,” said Sophia. “Give him to me.” Alex watched as the girl nursed her baby.

  She’s no older than I am, but she knows how to be a mother. Could I learn to be a mother that easily? At least there wouldn’t be any dirty diapers, not until I had my own.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  Dylan drove southeast, following a two-lane road that was named Indian Route 19. Jimmy directed him out of town and into the rough country south of town, heading toward the border. Dylan was astounded this road existed, and more so when, less than ten minutes out of Sells, they passed through a populated area big enough to qualify as a large village. Within half an hour, they emerged from the badlands to a vast desert vista that was similar to his park, but featureless, except for the distant peaks of the Baboquivaris.

  Every time Dylan asked Jimmy where they were going, or how much further, he would answer, “You’ll see.”

  Dylan quit asking, frustrated with the lack of cooperation. He had to assume Jimmy would tell him if he should take one of the turns that became further and further apart as they approached the border.

  Despite the fact that the border was only thirty-some-odd miles south of Sells, the slightly eastward trend of the road they followed and the condition of the road meant they were no more than halfway there by the time they’d been traveling forty-five minutes or so.

  Suddenly, Jimmy said, “Turn here.”

  Dylan could see a major road coming up on their left, but Jimmy indicated a right turn, toward the west. Surprisingly, this road, though unpaved, had a network of even smaller tracks leaving it from both sides. A couple were deeply rutted, as if someone had turned onto them during the wet season.

  “Where do those go?”

  “Airstrips,” Jimmy said, his terse answer giving away more than just the bare information. Airstrips in this remote area meant drug deliveries. Dylan noted the locations for discussion with Border Patrol later. He was soon hopelessly lost, though, as Jimmy directed him to take this turn, then that.

  Dylan thought they were traveling west when they came to a compound with two houses and a number of outbuildings. Late-model SUVs, several of them, were parked haphazardly in the dusty clearing in front of them.

  “We’re here,” Jimmy said.

  “Where’s here?” Dylan asked, as he stopped the truck and peered warily at the houses.

  “You’ll see,” was the maddening answer. Jimmy got out of the pickup, his hands held up in the air and spread wide. Dylan gave one thought to his service weapon, concealed in a secure case under his seat, but thought better of it when he noticed rifle barrels protruding from every window facing them. He’d have to trust Jimmy’s lead.

  He got out of his side, holding his hands in the same position as Jimmy’s. The door to the larger house opened, and a small man came out, rifle at the ready. It looked like a semi-automatic to Dylan, but was probably modified to automatic. He tensed.

  “We’re unarmed, esse,” Jimmy called.

  As if on cue, several more men, either O’odham or Mexican, Dylan couldn’t tell, stepped out of the house and came to them. Dylan submitted to a pat-down, as Jimmy was doing the same.

  The first man to come out of the house addressed Jimmy in a language Dylan assumed was O’odham, since it sounded nothing like Spanish. Jimmy answered with a few short phrases, then switched to English.

  “This man,” he said, pointing with his chin toward Dylan, “seeks a woman. Not like that,” he added, with a hint of humor as several of the others laughed. “An old woman. His grandmother. She came asking awkward questions, looking for me. Do you know where we can find her?”

  The straightforward question startled Dylan. Wouldn’t it be better to go at it sideways, rather than confront these armed men? To his relief, the small man answered in an even tone, apparently unoffended. “If we do?”

  “Then we would like to take her with us. There was a man with her, too; her husband. We would like to take him, too.”

  “Why should we tell you? What if they are valuable to us?”

  Jimmy snorted. “They are valuable only to draw me here. I’m here. Do you have them?”

  “You owe us, Jimmy. We lost three men.”

  “I didn’t tell you to raid that shipment. It was my mistake even mentioning it; it’s on you if you go up against Los Reyes.”

  “They have said they can forgive us that mistake if we deliver you to them.”

  “That’s a lie, and you know it. They’ll take me, kill me, and then come after you to teach you a lesson. My being here is a danger to you, and others are searching for the woman. Let us have her, and we’ll forget all about this.”

  “Who is that?” the man asked, indicating Dylan by pointing his weapon at him.

  “No one. He is the woman’s grandson.”

  “He knows where we are now,” the other man objected.

  “Do you know where we are, ‘mano?” Jimmy asked him, barely suppressing a smile.

  “I don’t have a clue,” Dylan answered. “We took so many turns that if you’re not with me when we leave, I’ll be driving around in circles until I’m out of gas.”

  Jimmy, unbelievably, winked at him.

  “Give us the woman. Or, you’ll have to kill us. I left word where we were going.”

  Dylan was convinced that was a stone-cold bluff. His life dependent on Jimmy’s poker skills, he held his breath.

  “What happens when Los Reyes catches you? They’ll torture you. You’ll tell them about this place.”

  “They won’t capture me. My friend here is going to get me away, far away, where they’ll never find me. Your little operation is safe,” Jimmy said.

  Dylan’s blood ran cold at the contempt in Jimmy’s tone. Surely that would get them killed, even without the previous bluff.

  Juan, Davi, I’m sorry. Dylan closed his eyes and waited for the bullets.

  “You are very lucky, my brother,” said the leader. “I am reluctant to kill a relative, even an enemy. Swear to me that this is over.”

  “It’s over, I swear.”

  “Wait here. We’ll bring the woman and her husband.”

  Dylan couldn’t believe it. Everything he knew about the cartels suggested that it would never be this easy. Jimmy knew something he hadn’t shared; that was the only explanation. This wasn’t the time or place to ask, but he’d get to the bottom of it before he was done.

  Before he could think more on it, he was distracted by the sight of a dirty and bedraggled Wanda, struggling as she was dragged out of the house by two of the Gilas.

  “Let me go! I want my husband!” A string of the unfami
liar language followed. Whatever she said caused one of the men holding her to draw back a fist, but the other’s laughter stopped the swing. Jimmy laughed too.

  “Better let her go! I know this woman, and she will make good on her threat. Unless you want her to kill you slowly, let her go.” He laughed again.

  The idea of the short, round mayor killing a man slowly, especially one who already had her at a disadvantage was kind of funny. Dylan didn’t dare laugh. He didn’t want her to kill him slowly, or quickly for that matter.

  Dylan’s attention was drawn to the door, where two more men struggled to drag an unconscious man out. The dead weight was almost too much for them, but they managed to get him near the truck before they dropped him. Wanda cried out.

  Jimmy strode forward, his fists clenched, but Dylan went straight to Hector to feel for a pulse. There, weak but steady. “Jimmy, help me get him into the truck.”

  Together they lifted Hector’s bulk and stuffed him into the back seat of the extended cab. Jimmy followed quickly, leaving Dylan to scramble for the driver’s side.

  He half-expected gunfire as he tore out of the compound, hoping he was taking the right track among the snarl that ended at the compound. “Turn right at the next road,” Jimmy said, as calm as ever.

  THIRTY-NINE

  “Dylan, you shouldn’t have come,” Wanda scolded from the back seat. She had utterly failed in her missions to keep Dylan out of danger while she located Jimmy. Dylan had at least found Jimmy, but what sort of retaliation were they all in for?

  “There was no choice,” he answered. That wasn’t good enough. She had enough wits about her to read between the lines. Jimmy knew where she was all the time. That meant he must have been okay with those men holding her and Hector captive.

  She turned to Hector, whose head still lolled unnaturally to one side. He’d been unconscious for over twenty-four hours. Something was terribly wrong with him. On top of that, she hadn’t been able to get any water down his throat. He needed medical care immediately.

  “Can you go any faster? Hector needs a hospital.”

  “I can’t go any faster on these little roads without risking a wreck,” Dylan answered. “We’ll go faster when we get to the pavement.” He risked taking one hand off the wheel to fumble at his waist for his cell phone.

  “See if you can get a signal and get a medevac chopper out here,” he said, handing the phone to Jimmy. Jimmy took it, but didn’t even glance at the screen.

  “No way, ‘mano. There’s no cell service out here. We can stop at a house if you want. Some of them have telephones.”

  Dylan considered it. “No, if they don’t it’s just a waste of time. We’ll make a run for Sells. With any luck, tribal police will stop us for speeding and we can have them radio.”

  “Please hurry,” Wanda said. “I don’t think he has much time.”

  As they drove, Wanda filled them in on the conditions of her captivity. Jimmy had a lot to answer for, but until she could speak to Dylan alone, she wouldn’t risk irritating him.

  At last, they reached the paved road. Dylan turned left without direction from Jimmy and sped up. The road was rough. Wanda worried about Hector’s head injury, bouncing violently in the seat, but felt that time was more important than comfort.

  Dylan began to talk to Jimmy and, for the first time, Wanda understood why it was necessary that Dylan come.

  “Call Sophia and tell her to pack your stuff. As soon as we drop Wanda and Hector at the hospital, I’ll take you over there, and then we’ll make a run for Tucson and get you on that plane.”

  “Why can’t he drive himself to Tucson?” Wanda objected.

  “No wheels,” said Jimmy. “What about Sophia and the baby?” He directed his question to Dylan.

  “Dude, let’s get you away safe first. Go up there, get settled, and then send for them.”

  “Los Reyes will come after them, to punish me,” Jimmy said. “I don’t want to leave her behind where they can make her talk.”

  Wanda wondered at his flat delivery. If she were afraid of something like that, she’d be panicked.

  “We’ll keep them safe. It’s just a few days,” Dylan replied.

  “Jimmy, I didn’t know you had a family,” Wanda said, the question hanging in the air between them.

  “I don’t. I mean, I do, but it’s complicated.” Jimmy seemed uncomfortable. Wanda waited, assuming he’d tell the rest of the story in his own time. Dylan was stealing glances at him, clearly impatient to hear it now.

  “It’s Anna Redhawk’s granddaughter,” he said, after a few minutes. “She claims I’m her baby’s father; I don’t know why. I haven’t been with her. But Los Reyes won’t care about the truth. They’ll hurt her. She won’t be able to keep the secret. I have to take her with me.”

  Dylan spoke up, “But, you said...”

  “I know what I said. There was no time to explain. So now, I’ve claimed her; I haven’t denied the baby. She may as well be my wife. If she wants to leave when the danger’s past, that’s okay. For now, she’s a liability, and my responsibility.”

  They were soon back in Sells, no tribal police in sight until they were a block from the hospital, moving well over the speed limit. The siren on the unit blipped, but Dylan kept going, pulling up at the emergency room entrance with the cop in hot pursuit.

  FORTY

  Dylan ran into the hospital and reappeared a moment later, leading a couple of brawny men with a gurney. He told Wanda to hold onto Hector so he wouldn’t fall out, and then opened the door cautiously. The men with him caught Hector and eased him onto the gurney. Wanda followed. Dylan kissed her cheek.

  “Will you be okay? I need to get things going for Jimmy. Call me if you guys leave the hospital.”

  “I will. Dylan? Where do you suppose my car is?”

  “Beats me. I didn’t see it at that compound, but then I wasn’t thinking about it. We’ll figure it out later.”

  “Okay. I’ll call you.”

  After squaring his speeding because of the emergency with the cop, Dylan got back into the driver’s seat and asked Jimmy to guide him back to the house. He wasn’t sure which direction it was from the hospital. Then, he had an important question.

  “How’d you know she’d be there?”

  “I didn’t. It was just a hunch. If she wasn’t there, there were a couple of other places she could have been. We got lucky, finding her at the first place.”

  Dylan accepted that, for now. He had more questions, but he sensed Jimmy would be more likely to answer them if he showed him some good faith. “What have you decided about Sophia and the baby? Trust us to take care of her until you send for her?”

  “I don’t know, man. How can you protect her?”

  “We didn’t tell your ‘friends’ who I was, or what I do. I can pick her up on the way back from Tucson and take her to Dodge. I think Alex and her dad would be willing to keep her at their place. No one would have any reason to look for her there. She’d have to stay in the house, but it’s getting colder anyway.” Colder wasn’t exactly the word he would have used, given the difference in temperature further north at this time of year, but relatively speaking, it was cold. At least at night.

  “I don’t know. I guess we could ask them.”

  “Sure, we can ask them.”

  When they got to the house, Jimmy took Sophia into the bedroom to talk to her, leaving the baby sleeping in Anna’s arms. Dylan took Alex outside.

  “You told him what?” she asked.

  “I didn’t think you’d mind, since she’s in real danger if we leave her here.”

  “Yeah, but what... oh, never mind. I don’t think Dad will mind, given the circumstances. But how long are we talking about? We’ll have to leave her unsupervised while I’m at school. That isn’t optimum, Dylan.”

  Dylan thought about it. “You’re right. I didn’t think about that. I could get someone to sit with her, probably, but the more people who know her whereabouts, the more dange
r she’s in.”

  “We’re going to have to figure it out. Dad won’t like leaving her alone in the house, for her safety, as much as for our security.”

  She seemed, not mad at him, but more exasperated that he’d spoken without asking her. He didn’t blame her. If he had room at his mom’s trailer, he’d take her there, but it was safer, as well as more convenient, at Alex’s.

  That put Sophia once removed from him, unless the cartels knew a lot more about Alex and him than he was comfortable with. If that was the case, the only safety lay in sending Sophia to Jimmy as soon as possible. That was the plan, anyway.

  They went back in the house. Sophia had a strange look on her face, and she was blushing, if he wasn’t mistaken. What had Jimmy done, propose to her? He supposed they’d find out soon enough.

  Jimmy spoke first. “We’re all set, ‘mano. You explained to your woman?”

  Alex started to bristle, but Dylan fixed it before she could explode. “I’ve explained to Alex, and she has agreed. Sophie’s on board?”

  “Yep. Let’s go.” Jimmy lifted a backpack that was stuffed as tight as Sophia could get it. He kissed Sophie on the cheek, causing her blush to deepen, put his hand on the sleeping baby’s head, and walked out the door. After kissing Alex on the lips, Dylan followed, her admonition to be careful sending him on his way.

  A few minutes later, Dylan was heading east on the highway. “Okay, we’ve got a while. Talk to me. What’s the deal?”

  “What deal?”

  “How’d you get mixed up in all this, brother? And what comes next?”

  “I don’t know, ‘mano. Get up to Alaska, get that job. Figure it out from there.” He seemed dejected.

  “Are you going to miss the life?”

  Jimmy’s bark of a laugh was humorless. “No. I’ll miss being able to do what I did with the money. But I couldn’t do that if I was dead anyway. It’s time for a new life.”

  Dylan was silent for a minute, giving Jimmy a chance to tell him more. When he didn’t, Dylan asked, “What did you do with the money?”