The Collected

CHAPTER 30

Liz was sure that at some point she would be discovered. If her brother had just stuck to the city, it probably would have been easier for her to stay hidden. But instead, he, Orlando, and Daeng had driven out into the countryside, stopping at some sort of industrial building before heading farther out on the highway, and turning off the road and driving into the wilderness.

Liz had motioned for her driver to follow them, but he refused.

“No hay camino ahi. Yo no voy alla abajo,” he said.

She got the gist of what he meant, so she had him continue down the highway for a quarter mile then pull off to the side.

He’d been shooting her suspicious looks in his rearview mirror since not long after they’d left the airport. In an effort to placate him, she’d handed him a thousand pesos-about seventy-five dollars. It helped for a while, but now the look was back.

Liz tried to ignore it while she kept her attention focused on the place where her brother had left the road. When the other car finally showed up again, it turned back toward the city.

“Okay, go, go. Um, vamonos,” Liz said.

Once more she and her driver took up pursuit.

It wasn’t long before Jake turned off the road again, this time driving behind several cinderblock buildings. Liz had her driver turn down the road between the buildings and a gas station, and drive slowly past the road Jake had turned on.

She spotted her brother’s car parked along the back of the buildings.

“Stop,” she told her cabbie. She glanced back at the Pemex station. “?Necesitas gas? I’ll pay.” She mimed giving him money.

“Si. Gracias.”

He drove back to the gas station and pulled up to the pumps. While he filled the tank, she climbed out of the car and walked to the back of the lot so she could see behind the other buildings. The rental car was still parked at the side of the road, but unlike before, Jake and his friends were standing outside.

She wished she could hear what they were talking about, or, at the very least, knew the reasons for all these stops. They had to have something to do with Nate, but what?

After a few minutes, her brother, Orlando, and Daeng turned back to their car and climbed in. Liz ran back to the taxi. While the pump hose was no longer sticking into the gas tank, her driver was nowhere to be seen. She whipped around, looking everywhere for him, but she had no idea where he was.

She was going to lose her brother. She’d made it this far, but now she was going to lose him and that would be that.

Dammit!

Somewhere off to her right, a door swung open. She looked over and saw her driver exiting the toilet.

“Hurry,” she said, waving at him. “Hurry, please. ?Vamonos!”

He began walking more quickly.

She pointed back at the highway. “Come on, come on. They’re going.” She climbed into the cab.

It was a full five minutes before they caught sight of Jake’s rental again.

It’s okay, she told herself, trying to relax. It’s all right.

Deep in the city, Jake parked his car, then he and his friends got out and started walking away. Liz decided to chance that they wouldn’t turn right back around and drive off, so she gave her driver another five hundred pesos, got out of the cab, and let him go, sure the man was happy to be rid of her.

Following on foot was nearly as tricky as it had been in the car, but she used her smarts and erred on the side of caution whenever necessary. Twice she lost them, but each time she caught sight of them again within a few blocks. They became very interested in an abandoned building, moving in and out several times alone or in pairs, sometimes bringing bags from stores back with them. Finally all three left so she followed again.

Several minutes later, they entered another building, this one not empty. As much as she wanted to follow inside, she didn’t, and instead waited in front of a small grocery shop just down the street. They were there for nearly twenty minutes. When they came back out, Daeng split off on his own, while Jake and Orlando headed in her direction.

Liz stepped quickly into the store, moving down one of the aisles to avoid being seen from the doorway. Pretending to browse, she kept flicking her gaze toward the entrance. It wasn’t long before she saw Jake and Orlando walk into view and then right back out again as they kept going.

Liz counted to ten, then headed out to the sidewalk. She was just in time to see her brother and his girlfriend turn down the next street. Judging by the direction they were going, she was almost positive they were headed back to the abandoned building.

Playing the hunch, she took a different route, running part of the way, and was able to get into the same hiding place she’d previously used half a minute before Jake and Orlando came into view.

They moved the loose board away from the window and entered. The street fell silent.

Liz figured Daeng would show up shortly, and she was right. What she hadn’t expected was that he’d bring a police officer with him.

Daeng was acting strangely, too, like he was in a hurry. When he reached the window, instead of moving the board to the side, he banged on it. When he hit it a second time, it slid out of the way. Orlando was standing just on the other side, something dark on part of her face and in her hair. Like Daeng, she seemed panicky. Soon she moved out of the way so the other two could enter, and the wood fell back into place.

What the hell is going on?

Liz hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do. Finally, she decided she had to take the chance, and moved quietly over to the board-covered window. She put her ear against the wood, heard distant footsteps, then nothing. Again, she hesitated. She could go back to where she’d been hiding and guess at what was going on, or actually find out.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she eased the board back just enough so she could peek inside.

At first she could see nothing, then her eyes adjusted to the lower light. Beyond the window was a large, gritty space littered with garbage. There was no one present.

You’re doing this for Nate, she told herself. She took a deep breath and slipped inside the building.

As soon as she had the board back in place, she paused and listened. She had been hoping to hear something that would tell her which way they’d gone, but it was quiet. Thankfully, there was dust on the floor that recorded footprints leading back and to the left.

The prints stopped at a shut door. She put her ear against it, and heard faint, muffled voices on the other side, but could make nothing out.

She circled off to the right but came to an impassible wall. She went back in the other direction, passing the closed door, and continuing on until she came to an extension of the same wall from the other side. Frustrated, she started back for the point where she’d begun, but then noticed a bundle of cloth at the base of the wall that surrounded the room. The material seemed to be stuck into the wall.

She knelt down and tugged at it. The cloth was so weatherworn that it tore off in her hands. More gently this time, she worked at the bundle until it came all the way out, revealing a hole on her side of the wall.

She looked through it. There was no corresponding hole on the other side, so she turned her head, hoping to hear what was going on.

“…manhunt.” Jake’s voice, distant but understandable. “What happened to the man you apprehended in Reynosa?”

Someone else spoke up, an accented voice that she guessed belonged to the cop. “We didn’t catch anyone. The manhunt failed.”

“Try again.”

“I’m telling you, we didn’t catch anyone.”

There was a loud bang. Liz jerked her head back, her ear ringing.

What in God’s name was that?

She lowered her head again, but her ear was temporarily useless, so she turned and tried the other one.

Her brother again. “But there was a man?”

“Yes.”

It was quiet for a moment. “Is this him?”

“Yes.”

Nate? Are they talking about Nate? They must be.

“Where did you fly him to?” her brother asked.

“Outside…outside Tampico.”

She continued to listen until the man stopped responding, then made her way quickly out of the building and all the way back to where her brother had parked his car.

Her mind was running a mile a minute. Not only had her worst fears been realized-no, not worst, but damn close-she’d also heard how ruthless her brother could be, the bang she’d heard undoubtedly a gunshot. She knew she should be horrified, but she didn’t feel that way.

She felt a sense of…satisfaction.

She focused her thoughts back on Nate. What could she do? How could she help him get free? Could she do anything at all?

Though deep down she feared the answer was no, she wasn’t willing to give up yet.

Her brother’s next, logical stop would have to be Tampico, wouldn’t it? Though Nate wasn’t there anymore, maybe there’d be something that would point to where he’d been taken.

She spotted a cab turning onto the street a block away. She stepped out into the middle of the road and waved her hand.

“Aeropuerto,” she said as she climbed in. “Rapido.”

When she arrived at the airport, she was able to get onto a flight that was leaving forty minutes later. The next flight out wasn’t for another two hours. She sat in her seat, her eyes glued to the door, expecting Jake and the others to come through it at any moment, but the doors closed without them boarding. She was going to beat them there.

For a moment, she felt relieved. But it didn’t last long.

What if they’re not going to Tampico at all?