‘So let’s pay us a visit to the land of milk and honey,’ said Mrs Glass. ‘We’ll sell our booty to the old goat who runs the place and take ourselves a nice long vacation.’
‘Now that,’ said Strabo, ‘is a plan.’
‘We’ll have to ditch the truck at the first opportunity, though, and boost a car,’ said Mrs Glass, folding the map. ‘Even with this paint job we could be recognised. It’s been a coupla days since we killed those soldiers and word might have got around.’
‘If only I hadn’t let that greaser escape,’ said Strabo and he spat on to the ground.
‘What’s done is done,’ said Mrs Glass. ‘Now, let’s saddle up and get out of here. I can tell you I will not be sorry to say goodbye to this place.’ She opened the passenger-side door and nodded to Precious and James to get in.
‘I am not sitting with you,’ said Precious. ‘I refuse, and you can’t make me. I will scream and yell and fight you every inch of the way.’
‘I’m too tired for this,’ said Mrs Glass. ‘Get in, or I’ll –’
‘Or you’ll what?’ Precious cut her off, hands on hips, head tilted to one side. ‘You can’t shoot me, I’m all you’ve got.’
Mrs Glass sighed. ‘Put her in the back and tie her to the bench,’ she said to Strabo, who grabbed a rope and hauled Precious round to the rear of the truck. ‘You’ll have to sit up there with her, see she doesn’t get any ideas.’
‘Is that a good idea?’ said James and Mrs Glass looked at him from under the brim of her hat.
‘You got a better one?’ she said.
‘Maybe I should sit with her.’
‘You?’
‘Give me another chance,’ said James. ‘Strabo will be noticed. They will be looking for men. Who will look at a couple of kids?’
‘You’ve got a point,’ said Mrs Glass, and then she put a hand on James’s shoulder and gripped it hard, staring into his face with her ice-blue eyes. ‘You’ve got another reason for wanting to be up there in the back with her, though, haven’t you?’
James tried to look as innocent as possible. He shrugged. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I’ve been watching you, Corona. You can’t hide anything from me. I know what you’re up to.’
James put on a big foolish grin. ‘I’m not up to anything, señora,’ he said.
‘Sure you are,’ said Mrs Glass. ‘You’re not just a thief, are you, Corona?’
‘Well, I –’
‘You’re a lover too, aren’t you, kid?’
James blushed.
Mrs Glass laughed.
‘You’ve taken a shine to that gal, haven’t you? Don’t think I haven’t seen the two of you together. Can’t say as I blame you. She’s a pretty little thing. Now, I don’t want to break your heart, blue eyes, but I don’t think a girl like that would look twice at a Mexicano like you if things were different. If she was back home in that fancy house of hers, with all her pretty dresses and her servants.’
‘She’s OK,’ said James. ‘But she has a sharp tongue on her.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ said Mrs Glass, handing him a water canteen. ‘OK. You ride in back with the girl. But don’t let her sweet-talk you into doing nothing stupid.’
‘You can trust me.’
‘Can I? I trusted you to watch the guards.’
‘It won’t happen again.’
‘Damned right it won’t.’ She walked off. ‘I like you, Corona,’ she called back over her shoulder, ‘but it won’t stop me from killing you.’
16
Now or Never
The truck trundled slowly out of the oilfield, past the deserted guardhouse at the entrance, along the pitted dirt track and on to the road. James sat in the back opposite Precious, who was tied to the bench, but looking strangely happy. She grinned at him.
‘You’re looking at me like I have a plan,’ said James.
‘It’s going to be all right,’ said Precious. ‘We’re going to get away and we’re going to help Daddy.’
‘Are you sure you want to?’ said James. ‘After what he’s done.’
‘Oh, but don’t you see?’ said Precious.
‘See what?’
‘See why he didn’t sell those plans? Why he wouldn’t do a deal?’
‘He got too greedy,’ said James.
‘No,’ said Precious, as if she were talking to a stupid child. ‘He was never going to sell them all along. It’s obvious. He stole them off that naval officer just so that he could give them back to the American government.’
‘Maybe,’ said James, who didn’t want to argue with the girl. If it helped her to believe this story then he wasn’t going to interfere.
‘Daddy would never betray his country,’ said Precious. ‘He never would.’
‘No…’ said James. He couldn’t blame her for thinking this way. It must have been painful hearing that the father she had worshipped as a hero had proved to be as weak and as human as anyone else. ‘I’m sorry,’ he added.
‘Sorry for what?’
‘I didn’t know… about you and your father and everything. I didn’t know your mother had left home.’
‘That was another lie,’ said Precious harshly. ‘She travels to America a lot. That’s all. She has family there. She likes the shops. It’s too hot for her in Mexico…’
James nodded and turned away. People were very complicated sometimes.
‘You may not have a plan,’ said Precious after a while, ‘but I do.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘Yes. We get off this truck. We flag down a car and we go get help.’
James looked at her. Her eyes were shining, her face open and excited.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘It’s as good a plan as any. The only thing is – if it goes wrong and they catch us at it, they’ll probably kill me.’
‘Are you scared?’
‘No,’ James lied. ‘Are you?’
‘Not any more.’
‘Good,’ said James, taking Strabo’s hunting knife from his belt. ‘Here’s what we do…’
There were no other vehicles on the road. Occasionally they passed people on foot: peasants and farmers, once a family with a donkey. If they did escape it might be some time before they found anyone to help them. But for now James just wanted to concentrate on getting off the truck. Once he’d sawn through Precious’s ropes, they carefully got up, leaning on the back of the cab for support.
They studied the way ahead, waiting for their opportunity.
It took a while, but eventually they came to a wooded area where large trees overhung the road.
‘Get ready,’ James said to Precious, bracing himself. ‘Don’t make a sound. You go first. I’ll help you.’
Precious gave a quick, tense nod of her head.
The first few trees were no good. Their branches were too flimsy or too far away. Then the truck was going too fast. Finally, they came to a sharp bend. The truck slowed to a crawl and James spotted exactly what he was looking for: the perfect tree.
‘There,’ he said and Precious understood.
He waited until the last moment before hoisting Precious into the air. She grabbed hold of a good thick branch, then quickly pulled herself up and lay flat along it, so that she wouldn’t be seen in the truck’s rear-view mirrors. James looked back. In a moment she had disappeared from view.
Now it was his turn. It was going to be difficult. The trees were thinning out and the truck was picking up speed. He would have to hurry. He couldn’t spot the ideal tree, though.
Hell. He couldn’t waste any more time. He was going to have to risk it. He tightened the strap of the canteen across his chest and climbed higher on to the side of the truck, balancing unsteadily. A branch was heading straight for him. But the truck was going much faster, now. He heard it shift gear. Strabo gunned the accelerator.
It was now or never.
James threw himself into the air and the branch thudded into his chest like a giant’s club. Somehow he hung on, and, with
out even knowing what he was doing, swung his legs up and wrapped himself around the branch. He was dizzy and sick, his head swimming, black spots weaving before his eyes. He couldn’t breathe. He was dimly aware of the truck rolling on, kicking up dust as it went. He waited until it had passed out of sight around another bend, then slipped into unconsciousness and dropped to the ground.
He was awakened by the feel of water on his face and looked up to see Precious kneeling over him.
‘Don’t waste the water,’ he croaked.
‘Is that all the thanks I get?’ she said.
‘Sorry,’ said James, sitting up. He took a drink. The canteen was nearly empty. ‘Thank you.’
‘Are you hurt?’
‘I don’t think so. At least nothing’s broken.’ James struggled to stand. ‘We need to get off the road,’ he said, wincing. His chest was burning and he felt very short of breath. Precious helped him. She put an arm round him and they hobbled to the verge.
James looked around. The countryside on the other side of the road fell away into open scrubland. If they went that way they could be easily spotted. On this side the ground rose through the trees and up a steep rocky slope.
‘We need to get as far away from here as we can,’ he said, although it hurt him to talk. ‘It’s only a matter of time before they find we’ve gone. They’ll be bound to come back and look for us. We’ll have to climb up there.’
‘Will you be able to?’
‘Yes,’ James snapped. ‘Don’t worry about me. Let’s go.’
The going was quite easy at first. Under the trees it was cool and shady and the ground was soft. But, as they climbed higher, the trees thinned and gave way to rocks and cactus. Soon they were out in the open, baking in the midday sun. The rocks were hard and sharp and there was no obvious path. They moved from one hiding place to another, trying to keep to the shadows. James checked all the while to make sure they couldn’t be seen from the road below. It was slow work, hot and painful. James felt awful and was sure that at any moment he would be sick. He prayed that he hadn’t damaged anything inside.
‘How far do we have to go?’ Precious whined.
‘As far as we can,’ grunted James. ‘The more distance we put between us and the road the less chance they have of finding us.’
‘I don’t think they’ll come back,’ said Precious. ‘They’re in too much of a hurry to get to Palenque. This is a waste of time.’
‘Save your breath,’ said James and then he suddenly grabbed her and pulled her down behind a rock.
‘What are you doing?’ Precious gasped and James clamped a hand across her mouth.
‘Listen,’ he hissed.
From down below they heard the sound of the truck, chugging along the road. It passed on by. A minute later it returned and they heard it stop.
‘Don’t move,’ James whispered, letting Precious go. She stayed in the shadow of the rock, trembling with fear.
‘If I had a gun I would go down there and I would kill them,’ she murmured.
James felt the Mexican officer’s pistol still tucked into the waistband at the back of his trousers, under his shirt. He thought it best not to tell her about it. If they tried to take on Mrs Glass and Strabo in a gun battle, he knew all too well who would lose. He had seen enough dead bodies in the last few days to show him just how deadly the gang were.
‘We can’t take them on by ourselves,’ said James.
‘I will see them hanged for what they did to Garcia,’ said Precious.
‘I still can’t believe he’s dead,’ said James.
‘That poor man,’ said Precious. ‘He was kind to me and JJ. He didn’t have to be. He saved JJ’s life in the flood. He tried to take him away to safety, and he paid for it with his own life. Well, I am going to make them pay for that.’
‘I don’t like them any more than you do,’ whispered James. ‘But there’s nothing we can do now. We just have to try and stay alive. So, keep still and keep quiet.’
They waited like that for nearly an hour before they heard the truck start up again and move off. James felt very tired and for a moment he let his head drop down to his chest and he nodded off.
It was Precious who woke him up.
‘What do we do now?’ she said. ‘Have they gone?’
‘I think so,’ said James.
‘Do we go back down?’
‘Too dangerous.’
‘Are you proposing we spend the night here?’ said Precious.
‘No. We need to find shelter and water. What’s left in the canteen won’t last long.’
‘All right, don’t rub it in. I was only trying to help. Would you rather I’d left you lying there in the road?’
‘No. Obviously,’ said James. ‘I didn’t mean anything by it. Do you have to be so spiky all the time?’
‘I’m hot and I’m tired and I’m hungry,’ said Precious sadly.
‘Me too,’ said James. ‘We’ll wait here until it cools down a bit then look for somewhere to shelter for the night.’
So they sat there and waited as the sun slowly dropped behind the Sierra Madre and their side of the hill was cloaked with purple shade. They watched the line of shadow creep down the hillside and march out across the flat green lowlands to the distant silver ribbon of the sea.
The air cooled rapidly and James was feeling stiff all over.
‘Come on,’ he said, ‘let’s move on.’
It was torture having to get up and walk again, but somehow he managed it and Precious trailed behind him, grumbling quietly to herself. They followed a little gulley upward and presently heard running water. They headed for the sound and eventually crested a ridge to find a large crater in the rocks. It was carpeted with greenery and there was a thin silver waterfall tumbling into a pool.
Precious laughed and they hurried down the slope, threw themselves on their bellies, and drank in great mouthfuls of cold water.
‘We’ll make camp here,’ said James, rolling on to his back and looking up at the darkening sky. ‘It’s perfect.’
‘James?’ said Precious.
‘What?’
‘I can’t stop thinking about JJ. Worrying about him. Do you really think he’s all right?’
‘I’m sure he is,’ said James, although he was as worried as the girl. ‘He’ll be sitting up in his nice comfy hospital bed eating ice cream.’
Precious laughed. ‘JJ loves ice cream. Strawberry and chocolate.’
‘In the morning,’ said James, ‘we’ll flag down a car and hitch a ride into Vera Cruz. You’ll be together again and we can try to get in contact with your father on the radio. We have to try and warn him about Mrs Glass.’
‘Yes…’ said Precious and she fell silent, hardly daring to hope that James’s words might come true.
Before it got too dark, they collected ferns and leaves and moss and made a bed of sorts. They were both exhausted, sleeping would not be difficult tonight, but James sat and watched over Precious until he was sure she was asleep, then lay down and closed his eyes. He was too tired to think about tomorrow and in no time at all he was dead to the world.
But Precious had been faking. When she heard James’s breathing become slow and deep she opened her eyes and looked at him.
A thin sheen of moonlight lay across his skin. She pushed back the untidy lock of hair that always fell into his face and wished him goodnight.
Precious awoke to the smell of wood smoke. She was chilled to the bone, but James was already up and had made a fire.
His hair was wet and plastered to his forehead. He had been for a swim in the rock pool and was wearing just his underpants. The rest of his clothes were hanging out to dry on branches. There were livid blue and brown bruises on his ribs.
‘Did you sleep all right?’ he asked.
‘Yes, thank you,’ said Precious and her stomach gave a long, noisy growl. They both laughed.
‘I am so hungry,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I shall be able to walk a single step to
day.’
‘We have to get back down to the road,’ said James.
Precious groaned. Her hunger was making her miserable. She looked at the jagged hem of her dress. At her dirty hands. She remembered that she had promised not to cry again and instead she clenched her fists and punched the earth.
‘Oh, I hate this,’ she said fiercely. ‘I need a proper meal and a hot bath and a change of clothes.’
‘Well,’ said James, ‘I can’t offer a hot bath, but there’s a perfectly serviceable cold shower just over there. You can wash your dress in the pool.’
Precious jumped up, cheerful again.
‘You mustn’t look.’
‘I won’t,’ said James, walking off to fetch his clothes. ‘I’ll go and see if I can’t find something to eat.’
Precious went down to the pool, stripped off her dress and dived in. The water was icy and clear as crystal, and, for a moment, she forgot everything except the feel of it on her skin and the sound of it in her ears.
She came up grinning from ear to ear and swam over to the waterfall. The water pounded down on her head and neck and shoulders. It was the best massage she had ever had. She untangled some of the knots from her hair and let the water wash away all her frustration.
James, meanwhile, was following an animal track up the other side of the crater and into the rocks. In his hand was the pistol. He wasn’t sure if he’d find any edible wildlife, but he wanted to be ready if he did.
A small brown bird flew up from the undergrowth and rattled off into the sky, and, apart from the insects, that was the only living thing he saw for the next few minutes.
He spotted a stand of the big cactuses known as prickly pears. They would not bear fruit until later in the year, but he remembered seeing some cooked on a roadside stall in Tampico and sold as nopalitos. He cut off a couple of smaller flat pad-like growths, being careful not to spike himself, and sat down on a rock in the sun to scrape away the big spines and the nasty little furry ones with Strabo’s knife. It felt good to warm his body. His damp clothes were sticking to him and they made him uncomfortable and chilly.
As he was sitting there, lost in his work, he realised that he wasn’t alone. Another creature had come out to warm up in the morning sun. It was a huge, ugly lizard. An iguana. Looking like a prehistoric beast. Being cold-blooded it had no way of warming its blood up by itself, so it was letting the sun bake its loose, wrinkly skin.
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