As I took the phone, I noticed that there was hardly any of the battery charge line left. "The phone battery is almost empty," I said before Tee could even speak.
"You said he's a cop?" Tee asked, ignoring my comment.
"Yes."
"Does he have your phone number?"
"Yes."
He uttered something in Spanish that I assumed was a cussword, by the sound of it. "Where are you?"
"I don't know," I said. "Somewhere in the woods."
"Can you find your way out?"
"I…I think so, yes."
"You have to lose your phone," Tee said. "Once we're done talking, chuck it as far away as possible and walk away from it, you understand?"
"Yes." I also caught myself nodding for emphasis.
"Don't use any credit or bank cards. If this guy has any brains, he will track you. Do you have cash on you?"
"Some," I said. "Maybe twenty bucks."
Tee was quiet, and I shouted a couple of hellos into the line, worried that the mobile's battery had died.
"I'm still here," he said. "Can you get cash?"
"If I use an ATM or go to a store," I said, "but you just told me not to use my card."
"Do it just once and then get as far away from wherever you used it as fast as you can, can you do that?"
"Yes." I looked at my phone, the bar showing the charge barely a thin horizontal line. "I'm about to lose the connection." The words terrified me.
"Write down this number," Tee said. "nine three nine, eight zero eight, seventy-three, forty-four. When you have a phone they can't trace, call me on that number."
In the darkness and in a hurry, I only found a pen, no paper. I quickly scribbled the numbers on my bare arm in the dark. "Can't you call the police?"
"You just said this guy is a cop."
"Yes, but…"
"I doubt he works alone. I'm not taking any chances," Tee said. "Hey?"
"Yes, I'm here."
"Make sure nothing happens to my son."
"I won't let anything happen to him," I said. I couldn't. That wet little boy with his wild hair and tired face was as important to me as he was to Tee. Even if neither of them knew it. I would give my own life before I would let anything harm him. He was a part of Rafael that reached across five hundred years to me. Holding his hand or hugging him felt right and natural, and protecting him was just an inherent extension of that.
"His favorite food is chicken nuggets," Tee said, interrupting my thoughts.
"I'll get him some," I promised.
"Let me talk to him again," he said.
"Santi." I shook the boy's shoulder lightly and handed him the phone. "Hurry, the battery is almost empty."
He held it to his ear, nodding a few uh-huh's into it. "I love you too, Papi. Papi?" His dark eyes were on me as he handed me the mobile back. "There's no more sound."
"It's dead," I said. The mobile was a two hundred dollar phone, and I found it difficult to throw it into the woods. I turned the sleek body a few more times in my hand. Wasn't it just the memory chip they could trace? I wasn't sure. And not in a position to take any chances. I hurled the phone into the night, then stretched my hand out toward Santiago.
"Can you walk a little bit further?" I asked.
He rose, nodding, but I was certain he only moved because his father had asked him to, not because he really felt like it. He struggled to lift his feet well enough not to trip over roots and branches every few minutes, and as much as my arms throbbed, I reached down and pulled him up against my chest again. Santiago didn't argue. Now that he wasn't all knocked out, it was less cumbersome to carry him. I swallowed hard as he wrapped his arms around my neck, his nose nuzzled against my shoulder.
"We'll be fine," I whispered, partially to reassure him, but also to convince myself. I was pretty sure Tee worked with me only because he had no choice; I doubted that he really trusted me. If I were in his position, I probably wouldn't either. I'd be so worried for the welfare of my son that I'd do whatever it took to protect him, even if that meant working with a suspicious stranger. I hugged Santiago's narrow back.
"We have to play hide and seek for a little bit longer. To make sure the bad guy doesn't catch up with us. But I promise you I won't let anything happen to you." Brushing a kiss against his hair, which carried the smell of earth and rain and little boy.
I fell into a monotonous rhythm that kept me placing one foot in front of the other. With my bladder now in agonizing need of a bathroom, I willed myself to move forward by chanting a mantra in my head. "Head slowly north," I hummed, "San Juan and thus civilization lie in that direction."
When I spotted the first street lights through the leaves, I wanted to run, but stumbling was probably a better description of what I was doing. It was bumpy enough that Santiago lifted his head.
"Can you walk?" I asked, hopeful.
He nodded, and I put him down. It was difficult to tell what was more lifeless, my legs or my arms. With Santiago's hand in mine, we finally emerged from the woods, making our way across someone's unfenced lawn before reaching a sidewalk. Who knew that feeling concrete under ones feet could be such a joy! Although despite this thrill, I kept scanning the area, searching for a deep blue Mustang among parked cars and for armed figures that might sprint out to grab us.
Yet nothing happened, and aside from the bluish flickering lights signaling TV-viewing in the homes lining the street, we only saw one woman walking her retriever and a few people sitting on porches, chatting as they enjoyed the cooler night air. Nobody paid us any attention and by the time we reached the intersection to an avenue named Degetau, I relaxed enough to breathe normal again. We followed the avenue toward brighter lit commercial activity, out of the all-housing area.
"Look!" I said, pointing. "There's a McDonald's. Let's get something to eat."
We both picked up the pace, entering quickly through the side entrance. While the scent of end-of-the-day grease actually managed to smell akin to gourmet aroma to me, we first took a much needed detour to the bathroom. I scrubbed what I could to make us look more like the patrons who mostly pulled up to the drive-through window in air conditioned cars and less like skittish prey having just stumbled out of the woods. After I deposited Santiago in the farthest corner from the main street window, I ordered our meal of nuggets, fries, orange juice, milk and cookies. Since we were the only two people eating inside the restaurant this late at night, I figured it was safe to talk to the young man behind the counter. If it weren't for the company polo shirt he wore, he could have passed for a pirate with the matched set of gold hoops in his ears, a mere shadow on his head where hair should be and the anchor tattooed on his lower arm that evoked images of Popeye.
"Could you tell me if this is already part of San Juan," I asked, drawing an all-encompassing circle with my finger.
He raised perfectly shaped eyebrows that had no right to be on a man's face. "No," he answered. "This is Caguas. You've got about fifteen more kilometers to go until you get to San Juan."
"Thanks," I said, mustering a smile.
He returned his attention to the register and the drink fountain.
I cleared my throat. "You wouldn't happen to know of a bank or store near here where I could use my bank card to get some cash at this time of night, would you?"
My Fast Food Pirate returned with juice, placing it on the tray in front of me. "The nearest bank is almost two miles down the road," he said. "But everything's closed."
Perhaps I looked as dejected as I felt. Or he was just afraid of having a grown woman burst into tears so close to closing time. But when he placed the fries and nuggets on the tray, he rethought his last answer.
"There's a club about two blocks that way," he said, nodding toward the western window. "They have a teller machine."
"That's great," I said, feeling a renewed glimmer of hope. "Thanks so much."
I wanted to run down the street to find this club, but first it was important to get Santiago f
ed. Fortunately, he ate his nuggets and fries almost as fast as I did. I gave him one of the cookies, crammed the other two and the milk carton into my purse.
"We've got to walk two more blocks," I said, taking him by the hand after I'd let him handle the trash deposit and tray return. A couple of times I had to slow down as I noticed that my pace required Santiago to keep up in a trot. All I knew is that I was close to getting us much needed cash and that cash meant a hotel room and a bed.
Locating the club was not difficult. It was the only place with cars packed tightly into the parking lot. My pace slowed, however, when I realized what type of club I was dealing with. The only women entering this type of establishment were the ones working here. We wiggled our way slowly inbetween the cars as my excitement over the close proximity of a cash machine waned and gave way to a profound sense of panic and embarrassment. From the looks I received from arriving male patrons and the unhealthily broad-shouldered bouncer, I wasn't the only one thinking that Santiago and I were utterly out of place here.
Only because I didn't want Tee's son to realize how out of my element I was in all of this did I keep putting one foot in front of the other until I stood directly in front of the protein-enhanced muscle package that made up the bouncer.
"I'm sure this looks really weird," I said, ignoring the distinct trembling of my knees. "A woman and a small boy, at this time of night, at this type of club." I forced the corners of my mouth up, not encouraged by the continued unflinching stare of the bouncer. "Our car broke down a few miles from here, and I was hoping you would let me in to get some cash out of the club's machine."
The man looked disapprovingly at Santiago. "I can't let you in with a child."
Santiago's grip on my hand tightened.
"My…son's scared enough already, what with us having been walking around in the dark," I replied. "I can't leave him out here. I will be more than happy to compensate you for letting us in for just a minute. All I need is to get some cash. Please."
The bouncer shook his head, but I noticed a moment's hesitation. He opened the door and yelled into the smoky darkness for someone to send out Juana. A heavily painted and scantily clad woman with over-processed blonde tresses emerged.
"What's up?" She asked, looking from the bouncer to Santiago and me.
"She needs to use the cash machine," the bouncer said, pointing toward me with his chin. "Can you watch the kid for a moment?"
Juana squatted down, her teeth shiny in the center of her cherry-red lips. "Hey cutie," she said. "You okay staying with Juana for a minute?"
I joined her at Santi's level, meeting his questioning eyes. "I will hurry right back," I promised. Digging through my purse, I got out the milk and cookies I had planned to save for breakfast. He clutched them both, his small chest heaving. Juana helped him insert the straw into the carton, and I used the distraction to slip into the cave-like club. The appropriately trashy red lighting covered the rising warmth in my cheeks nicely. It was awkward at best, looking around while trying to avoid all eye contact, especially when I could feel too many stares on me. I hustled as fast as I could around the testosterone-laden bodies, relieved when I spied the teller machine in the corner. The ten dollar fee was worth the limit of five hundred in cash. I separated out twenty dollars to give to the bouncer and stuffed the rest into my pant pocket. Having the cool night air rush into my face as I pushed the heavy door open was a relief.
Juana flashed Santiago another bright smile as she straightened up. "Well, young man," she said, "maybe in a few years you'll come back, but without your mom."
I shuddered at the thought. Juana winked at him, and I could see him open his mouth. Before he could clarify in his innocence that I wasn't really his mother, I leaped forward and brushed some crumbs and chocolate from his face.
"See," I hurried to say, "it took hardly any time at all." Glancing up at the bouncer, I added, "Any chance you could call us a taxi?"
Twenty dollars probably was not enough to include this extra favor, but no doubt the over-exercised guy wanted us out of his parking lot just as much as I wanted to get out of here. His nostrils flared as he inhaled heavily, but he pulled out a phone, making a quick call while ushering new guests inside.
"Wait by the curb on the other side of the street," he said, turning his back toward me and getting back to business. I doubt he heard the thank you I said, or cared that I thanked him at all. I was more than happy to lead Santiago rapidly away from this place.
"Were the cookies and milk good?" I asked. The boy nodded, yawning.
"Good." I smiled. "Now we'll go to a hotel and get some sleep, okay? And tomorrow we'll see if we can find a Wal-Mart or a Kmart to get a new phone."
"I've been to one in Ponce with my dad," he said, the depth of his eyes melting my heart.
"Really? Then I think we should go there." I remembered seeing the town's name on the island map, on the south side, as far away from San Juan as one could get. Assuming that Valentín probably had returned to the capital – to regroup, to see if he could track where I was somehow – heading away rather than toward the city was not a bad idea. We climbed into the backseat of the arriving cab, and the driver gave me a surprised look over his shoulder when I asked him to take us to Ponce.
"That'll be about a hundred dollars," he said, snapping the ends off his mustache with his teeth.
Ouch! The sum left me a bit stunned, but I didn't see too many options. I didn't dare return to Cayey or to my hotel; I should get away from Caguas before Valentín found out where I used the teller, and the only other place I'd been to was Utuado, which was no more conveniently located than Ponce. Since I didn't know if I would find a Wal- or Kmart in Utuado, Ponce it was.
"No problem," I answered. "Could you take us to a hotel there please?"
"Sure." The driver continued the short distance on Degetau to the Expressway. He tuned the radio to a low volume reggaeton station, the repetitive percussion reverberating in my tired head. I wrapped my arm around Santiago and not surprisingly, he was asleep against my ribs within minutes. A chill goose-bumped my skin as we passed opposite the dimly lit gas station where our frantic escape had begun. In the security of the taxi, it all seemed very unreal to me, but the presence of Tee's son by my side assured me that it was not. I tried to sort through my thoughts, but exhaustion was stronger than any thought I could finish. I closed my eyes, the music's rhythmic drumbeats melding together with the sound of Santiago's even breaths.
"Please tell me you are almost done working. The sound of your hammering is sending me into a terrible trance."
I frowned at the sound of Luz's voice and at the quiet smile it sent slipping across Rafael's face as he picked up another wooden peg and sent it deep into the fence post.
"I promised your father I would finish this today," he said, "and I intend to keep my promise." He paused to wipe his brow with his bare arm, and Luz rose to come closer. I jumped up and hurried forward, fanning Rafael some much needed air. There really was no need for Luz to be pulling out her dainty handkerchief to take care of the drops of sweat his arm missed. I had everything under control, thank you very much. I moved my hands furiously, leaned forward to cool his brow with blows of my breath. Rafael turned toward me, closing his eyes at the soothing air flow, and I smirked with satisfaction.
"You also promised me that you would take me on a picnic," Luz said, returning her handkerchief to her pocket. Rafael's bare chest quivered at the touch of Luz's fingertips, and I recoiled at the gesture. He let the wooden mallet slide to the ground, turned away from me and gently kissed her lips.
"I do intend to keep that promise as well," he said, "although I'm afraid it will probably have to wait until tomorrow."
Luz sighed in mock desperation. "Fine," she said. "I can see what your priorities are. I shall wait for you at the house then." She turned to leave, but Rafael pulled her back for another kiss.
"I will make it up to you," he murmured, watching Luz with another smile as she sau
ntered off, waving over her shoulder.
"Why can't I just walk away like that," I asked, watching Rafael as he returned to hammering the pegs into the posts. I laughed without humor. "No need to answer, it's a rhetorical question," I added, continuing to fan him cooling air. "You keep working, I'll be there. You rest, I'll be by your side." I struggled with the next words. "Even if you go with Luz," I said, "and I'm afraid you will – I promise to watch over you." Things had changed so much since we had come to Cristóbal Rincón's plantation. It wasn't just the two of us anymore, and I knew it never again would be as it had been for all these years.
"I'm incapable of leaving you," I continued, my voice so low I had to get closer to Rafael. "What else would I do? My life is with you, right here. It always has been and it always will be. There is no one I love more." Beads of sweat started to form again on his brow, and I blew out my breath softly to stop them from running into his eyes.
"We're in Ponce. At the Melia Hotel. Is this alright?"
I jerked at the strange voice, needing a minute to slip back to the cab's dark backseat from the sun-drenched field in the mountains. "Um, yes, this is fine. Thank you." I fumbled for the money in my pocket, then wrapped my arms around Santiago's limp, sleeping body and eased him out of the taxi and up against my chest.
I watched as the driver took off toward the illuminated red-and-black striped fire house that sat on the plaza across from the end of the street I stood on. I recognized it as the Parque de Bombas. It made me feel less lost in a city I didn't know as I'd seen its photo in my guidebook. The night breeze cooled my face, and Santiago's fine curls brushed against my cheek.
Of course I knew I wasn't really his mother. And all too soon his father would come and reclaim him. But for this tiny space in time, I allowed myself the illusion that this was my little boy. That all of those times never happened when I had been on my knees asking God why I had not been given the chance to have a child of my own. Santiago's arms curled around my neck, and I gently rocked him back and forth, letting the tears of all of today's bottled up emotions roll freely into his hair.
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