The Governor's wife

by Mark Gimenez

  He held a chair out for her. She sat, and the chef named Charles served soup.

  "Tortilla soup," Charles said. "The entree tonight is grilled sea bass flown in fresh from California served with a Greek salad and snow peas. For dessert we have cheesecake with a strawberry sauce or chocolate souffle. Ma'am, would you like a glass of wine?"

  "I have an extensive wine cellar," Enrique said. "Do you have a favorite?"

  She shrugged.

  "Surprise us, Charles."

  "Yes, sir."

  Charles left, and Lindsay tasted the soup.

  "It's delicious."

  "Yes, Charles is an excellent chef."

  "He's not afraid to work for you?"

  "Oh, no. You see, Senora Bonner, I am beloved by my people. I can walk the streets of Nuevo Laredo without fear. I employ the people and pay them well. I do not sell drugs to my people. I fund churches and schools. I love my country and my people. And they love me."

  "Congressman Delgado said you give away a billion dollars a year."

  "Yes, that is true. I tithe twenty percent. Of course, it is not as if I'm paying taxes."

  He had amused himself.

  "Are your children joining us?"

  "No. Charles prepared hamburgers for them. They enjoy the American food."

  "They seem like nice kids."

  "I like them."

  "Do they know what you do for a living?"

  "Julio does, not Carmelita. She is a bit young, I think."

  "Do you think she'd be proud of you?"

  "I hope so. I have tried to be a good father to my children, Senora Bonner. It has been difficult since my wife's death. And now my son… I apologize for my men endangering your daughter that day. That should not have happened. So, how long have you worked in the colonia? "

  "Five months."

  He smiled. "I have admired you since you came to Laredo in March, the census count, I believe, with Congressman Delgado. I saw you on television. And in the colonia that day after you saved my son, but I did not know it was you. Five months you have been just across the river from me. And I never knew."

  He stared at her from across the table, almost as if…

  Bode Bonner smelled his wife's scent. It was there, in the small guesthouse, where she had lived the last five months. Where she had gone to escape her life with him. Because of him. She was another casualty of his ambition.

  He would trade his life for hers, even up.

  After dinner, they had wine on the balcony.

  "The lights of Laredo are beautiful," Lindsay said. "I've grown to love the border."

  "Yes, the borderlands, it becomes a part of you. I was born here, and I will die here. This is my home. My country. Mexico. Once, such a magnificent country. I often stand here and try to imagine what it must have been like when Mexico extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Think what Mexico would be today. What America would be today."

  "I would love to see Nuevo Laredo. I've heard it's a beautiful city."

  "It is indeed. I would love to show you my city. Perhaps that will happen one day."

  After you kill my husband, she thought but did not say.

  Instead, she said, "Perhaps."

  She wanted to give him hope. She dropped her eyes, then looked up at him, as if she couldn't resist. Men loved that little look. Why?

  "You're not what I expected."

  He looked deep into her eyes, then broke away and gestured at the lights of Laredo.

  "On that side of the river, you see life one way, looking south. On this side of the river, we see an entirely different life, looking north. We see the same land, the same river, the same sky, the same history-but we see it very differently. That is the borderlands."

  Jesse found the governor sitting on his wife's bed.

  "Governor-it is time."

  He did not stand.

  "Was she happy here?"

  "I think so."

  He did not respond.

  "Governor, may I ask you a question?"

  He nodded.

  "Why did you let her go? Why did you not come to the border and beg her to come back to you?"

  " Beg her? "

  "Yes. Beg."

  "I'm not that kind of man."

  "Not that kind of man? What, have you had so many women love you that you no longer respect love? To have such a woman as your wife love you, you should respect that. You should have fought for her love."

  "I'm here now."

  "You hurt her, with the young woman."

  "I know."

  "Okay. I just thought you should know."

  The governor exhaled heavily.

  "Doc, when this is over and we get her back-and we will get her back-if she wants to stay here with you, I won't stand in the way. Hell, I don't deserve her, anyway."

  "Then why did you come for her?"

  Now he stood.

  "Because she doesn't deserve this."

  Lindsay had viewed Enrique's art collection and was back in her room by midnight. She checked the news, but there was nothing of her abduction. She lay back on the bed in the black dress. Enrique had said they would spend the day together tomorrow. Get to know each other. Breakfast, perhaps even a helicopter tour of Nuevo Laredo and the border. As if this were a vacation for the governor's wife. As if Enrique de la Garza and Lindsay Bonner might have a relationship once the minor matter of killing her husband the governor was behind him.

  But that would not happen. Not in this life.

  Because her husband was not far from where she now lay. She could feel him. And she knew that by the time the sun rose over the Rio Grande, either Bode Bonner or Enrique de la Garza would be dead.

  FORTY-TWO

  The water was warm.

  It was after midnight, and they were naked. They were not the only naked men crossing the river that night-the moonlight illuminated the river and the human beings holding their possessions aloft as they waded across-but they were the only naked men heading south into Mexico.

  "Governor," Jesse said, "I am willing to die to save her. Are you?"

  "She's my wife."

  "I did not ask if she were your wife. I asked if you are willing to die for her."

  "Yes. I'm willing to die to save her."

  "Good."

  "Why's that good?"

  "Because we are going to."

  "Save her or die trying?"

  "Both."

  "I can live with that."

  The doctor chuckled. "I like you, Governor."

  "Oh, that's swell. Now I can die a happy man."

  "Happy or sad, it is of no consequence. You will die, and I will die with you. But she will live."

  "You love her that much?"

  "I do."

  "Does she love you?"

  "I hope."

  "I should probably be mad about that."

  "Be mad later, after we save her."

  "You just said we're gonna die."

  "Oh. Yes, that is true."

  They had waited until midnight and then driven to town and to the river. Directly across the water, only one hundred fifty feet away, a large white structure rose tall above the river.

  "That is El Diablo's headquarters and home," the doctor said.

  "So everyone knows where to find him?"

  "Oh, sure."

  "Why doesn't the Mexican government take him down?"

  "Because he is beloved in Nuevo Laredo, as you are in Texas."

  "I'm just a politician."

  "You give the people what they want, as he does."

  They crossed downriver of the white compound. They arrived at the other side of the river, and Bode tossed the duffel onto the bank. They climbed out of the Rio Grande and stepped onto Mexican soil. They dried off then got dressed. Bode opened the "tan in a can" and smeared the cream on his face.

  "A large Anglo might attract attention on this side of the river," the doctor had said.

  Bode pulled a knit cap over his blond hai
r then put on a hunting coat with big pockets. He loaded the spare ammo in his pockets, stuck one six-shooter in his waistband and handed the other to the doctor, and secured the Derringer to his right wrist with a rubber band. He slung the dangerous game rifle over his shoulder.

  "Probably won't get a second glance in Nuevo Laredo."

  The doctor held the gun as if it were a contagious disease.

  "And do you know how to use these weapons, Governor?"

  "I do."

  The doctor stared at the pistol in his hands. "I have treated many gunshot victims, but I have never before shot a gun."

  "Well, Doc, you're fixin' to make some victims tonight."

  They sat quietly for a moment. Bode knew that his forty-seven-year career called life had come down to this one big play: saving his wife.

  "Harvard Med School did not prepare me for this," the doctor said.

  "Nothing prepares a man to die."

  They stood and climbed the embankment, fighting their way through thick juniper and brush. They broke through to a four-lane east-west roadway, then quickly ducked back into the brush as cars sped past.

  " Bulevar Luis Donaldo Colosio," the doctor said. "It leads directly to El Diablo's compound."

  "Let's go."

  "No. There is too much traffic on this road. Federales and cartel patrols. We must take the side streets."

  He looked both ways.

  "Now!"

  Governor Bode Bonner and Dr. Jesse Rincon jumped from the brush and ran across the four lanes and into Ciudad de Nuevo Laredo, determined to save the woman they both loved. Or to die trying.

  And one of them would.

  FORTY-THREE

  " Calle Nicolas Bravo," the doctor said. "This street runs parallel to the boulevard. It will take us to El Diablo's compound. Maybe, a dozen blocks west of where we stand. And the traffic is one-way toward us, so we will see cars approaching. But we must be careful. When it is dark, Nuevo Laredo is a very dangerous place. Here, you are either predator or prey."

  "I'm armed and dangerous, Doc."

  " Mi amigo, this is Nuevo Laredo."

  They walked down the cramped street past ramshackle residences so close to the street you could spit through the windows. Corrugated tin sheets and wood pallets fashioned fences that corralled chickens and goats. Old American cars were parked halfway onto the narrow sidewalk.

  "I always wondered what happened to all the Oldsmobiles," Bode said.

  "Governor, what if she is not in the compound? What if we cannot find her?"

  "She'll be there. He wants me to find her."

  Bode stopped and retrieved the handheld GPS unit from his coat pocket.

  "And I can track her on this."

  Bode activated the GPS and got a signal. Good girl.

  "How?"

  "Her cell phone. I can track it."

  "But he would have taken her phone."

  "She hid it where he wouldn't find it."

  "Where?"

  "You're a doctor, figure it out."

  "Oh. How do you know she would do that?"

  "Because I've been married to her for twenty-two years. She's smart, and she's tough."

  He turned the GPS off and put it back in his pocket.

  "Let's go get her, Doc."

  They continued west on Calle Nicolas Bravo and crossed 20 Noviembre San Antonio. Bode glanced down the side street and saw several groups of tough-looking men gathered outside cheap cantinas.

  "Do not look at them," the doctor said.

  They walked fast down the south side of the street and crossed another intersection. Bode looked up at the road sign: Jose de Escandon. When he looked back down, a man jumped from the shadows and tackled the doctor like a linebacker flattening a quarterback. He apparently hadn't seen Bode behind the doctor. Bode pulled his six-shooter and put the big barrel in the man's face. His eyes were suddenly wide. Bode spoke through clenched teeth.

  "Get off my friend!"

  He got off.

  "Now git!"

  He got.

  The doctor stood and said, "So I am your friend?"

  "Depends."

  "On what?"

  "If we get her out alive."

  They hurried on. The streets were lit with neon signs for Corona and Tecate and Pesos-Dolares and all-night Farmacias. Late-night partiers stumbled down the sidewalks until they fell over or were beaten and robbed. Hookers plied their trade for a few pesos. Austin's Sixth Street could be a bit wild at times, but the biggest danger was getting puked on.

  Nuevo Laredo was the goddamn Wild West.

  Headlights appeared in front of them, and the doctor abruptly grabbed Bode's coat and yanked him off the sidewalk.

  "Governor, this way!" he said in a hushed voice.

  He pulled Bode down behind a small adobe wall with a sign for Mision Pentecostal. They remained hidden until a military-style truck with armed soldiers in the back drove past.

  " Federales," the doctor said.

  They stood and headed west again, faster now. They crossed Pedro J. Mendez and Santos Degollado streets. Each intersection seemed busier than the previous one.

  "We are getting closer to the city center," the doctor said.

  The structures were low, and the tall white compound loomed over the buildings like a castle on a hilltop, so they had no trouble maintaining their bearing. They went through the Jesus Carranza and Leandro Valle intersections and past small auto repair shops with cars jacked up on blocks in the side yards and more cantinas and more… headlights coming toward them. They ducked behind a small Tacos y Taquitos stand and waited for the vehicle to pass. It was another truck with armed men in the back.

  " Federales? " Bode asked.

  "Cartel soldados," the doctor said. "Looking for a fight with the federales."

  The Wild West.

  They jogged down the street. They had entered a bar district: El Paso del Norte, La Cascada, Aguilar Ladies Bar, and other such establishments lined both sides of the street.

  "We are close now," the doctor said.

  They came to the intersection at Avenida Melchor Ocampo.

  "We go north here. The next intersection is Vincente Guerrero, a very busy street. This street is not so busy."

  They hurried up the west sidewalk, which was shielded by cars parked along the street and shade trees. They were in a better part of town. Bode felt a sense of relief come over him-until he was slammed up against a building and a knife was jammed against his throat. A large Mexican man with whiskey breath put his weight into Bode.

  "?Tu dinero o tu vida! "

  "Our money or our lives," the doctor said.

  "I'm the governor. I don't carry cash."

  The doctor dug in his pocket and produced a handful of coins. The man took the money then threw the coins on the sidewalk.

  "?Mas dinero! "

  The doctor shook his head.

  " No mas dinero. "

  The man pulled the knife back as if to stab Bode, but his body suddenly clenched and his eyes bulged and he groaned. A hand-a white hand-emerged from the darkness behind the man and clamped over his mouth. The man dropped his knife and slowly crumpled to the ground. A shaggy figure leaned over the man a moment then stood and faced Bode.

  "What the hell are you doing here, Governor?"

  " Eddie? "

  He stared at Eddie Jones' face in disbelief.

  "What the hell are you doing here?"

  "Saving your life."

  "Thanks, but why are you in Nuevo Laredo?"

  "'Cause you're paying me a million bucks to kill El Diablo."

  "I am?"

  "Jim Bob is. Campaign expense."

  "Can you do it? Kill him?"

  "Yeah, I can kill him. That's not the problem. Getting back across the river alive, that's the problem. So, Governor, what brings you to Nuevo Laredo?"

  "He took my wife."

  "From the colonia," the doctor said. "This morning."

  Eddie nodded. "Using her as b
ait. It's working. So what, you and the doc here figure on walking into that compound, killing the baddest drug lord in all of Mexico, rescuing the little lady, and then hightailing it back across the river before daybreak?"

  Bode shrugged. "As a matter of fact, that is the plan."

  "Well, Governor, as plans go, it sucks." He glanced around. "Come on, let's find a place to make a new plan."

  Bode pointed at the man lying on the ground.

  "Is he dead?"

  Eddie kicked the body.

  "Oh, yeah, he's dead."

  "Maybe we should move him. A dead body on the sidewalk might attract attention."

  "In Nuevo Laredo?"

  Enrique de la Garza did not sleep well alone. So he often worked late at night, after he put Carmelita to bed and read her a story in the ingles so she too could attend Harvard. He was in his office now, nowhere close to sleep, not with the governor's wife just one floor below in bed.

  "You bring any weapons?" Eddie asked.

  They had found a secluded alley around the corner between Farmacias where the doctor said Americans cross the river to buy cheaper prescriptions. Bode now pulled his dangerous game rifle off his shoulder and showed it to Eddie.

  "Jesus, Governor, you'll wake up all of Nuevo Laredo with this thing."

  "One of those three-seventy-five caliber slugs, guaranteed to ruin El Diablo's day."

  "True, but we need to be a little stealthy."

  "I'm a good shot."

  "No doubt, Governor, but this ain't the turkey shoot back in Comfort. What else you bring?"