Scratchgravel Road A Mystery

THIRTEEN



By ten o’clock that night Josie and Teresa were both sitting in T-shirts and shorts on Teresa’s bed playing gin rummy with a well-worn deck that Teresa had taken from her dad’s apartment. They had relaxed into one another’s company and were both enjoying what had started out seeming like an endless night.

Josie laid an ace of spades in the middle of their rows of cards. “What do you see yourself doing after you graduate high school?”

Teresa rested the cards in her lap and shrugged.

“You’re young. You have plenty of time,” Josie said. “Just find something other than law enforcement.”

“I want out of here. I want to live in a city, away from the desert. Somewhere nobody knows me.”

“Don’t you have something in school you love to do?” Josie asked. “A hobby?”

Teresa looked at Josie for a moment too long and she could tell Teresa was struggling with something she wanted to say. Josie laid her cards on the bed, ready to listen.

Someone knocked on the door and a woman said something in Spanish, her voice urgent but unclear.

Josie and Teresa looked at each other, confused. It was after ten o’clock and the nuns locked up the church at nine.

Josie stood from the bed and automatically looked for her gun, then remembered she hadn’t brought it.

The woman spoke again in a hoarse whisper, still banging on the door frantically. There was no peephole in the ancient door. Josie motioned Teresa to stand against the wall so she would be hidden behind the door when it opened. The girl looked terrified.

When Josie opened the door, Sister Agnes rushed inside. She wore a full-length white nightgown and her short gray hair was tousled. She stood in front of the door for a moment and took a long stilling breath. In a much calmer voice she gestured toward the door and said something in Spanish.

“No hablo Española,” Josie said, and looked to Teresa, who was fluent. Her face had gone pale. “What is she saying?”

“She says the Federales are here. They’ve come to take us out of the city.”

“Why?”

Teresa shook her head no and Josie feared she would go into shock.

“Teresa! Ask the nun why they want to take us! What have we done?”

The nun walked over to Teresa, who still stood with her back against the wall. The nun put her hands out and held both of Teresa’s hands in her own. She spoke slower and Teresa nodded, calming down some.

“She doesn’t know anything. There’s a Federales van behind the church, waiting. She wants us to go now before there’s trouble.”

“Tell her I have to talk to Sergio.”

The nun pointed to their bags on the floor and spoke rapidly.

Teresa said, “She says go now. We can’t make them wait or they’ll enter. She doesn’t want attention drawn to the church.”

Josie felt the blood rushing to her face and knew she needed to keep her calm. They had no choice. They threw their belongings into their backpacks and followed the nun across the courtyard and through the front doors of the church. They walked quickly down the center of the darkened sanctuary. The pews were barely visible from oil lamps lit on the altar. The nun slowed slightly and spoke, then stretched her hand out to Teresa. She motioned for Josie to hold Teresa’s other hand and opened a door behind the altar.

“She says it’s dark. To hang on to my hand and trust her.”

Holding hands, they were plunged into complete darkness. The hallway smelled damp and musty and the floor turned to a ramp sloping downward. They walked slowly; the only sounds were their footsteps and the nun’s reassuring whispers. Josie realized Sister Agnes had made this night trip before, and she wondered if the nun had imagined herself living a life of danger when she took her vows.

Josie ran into Teresa, who had stopped suddenly. They listened as the nun jiggled a metal key into a padlock, opened it, and then finally pushed a heavy wooden door open into the night. In front of them were three grim-faced men wearing black SWAT-style Federales uniforms. They spoke quickly to the nun, then grabbed Josie and Teresa roughly by the arms and pulled them to the back of the van where they were shoved inside and the doors were closed. In less than a minute they were moving down the road, and Josie and Teresa were sitting on the floor of a cargo van with no idea where they were going or why. Josie reached out and grabbed Teresa’s hand and the two sat in silence.

* * *

After a fifteen-minute ride, with no explanation from the officers, the vehicle slowed and Josie felt Teresa’s grip on her hand tighten. They listened as the men talked quietly in the front of the van, but Teresa couldn’t hear their conversation enough to translate. Josie thought they were headed northwest but there were no windows in the back of the van and she wasn’t able to hear other cars.

Once the van stopped the rear doors were yanked open and two officers pulled Josie and Teresa from the back. Once they were standing on the side of the road, the men slammed the back doors, said nothing more, turned, and got back in the van. Teresa began yelling as the van completed a U-turn and started back the way they had come. Josie grabbed her, wrapped her in a tight hug, and finally placed a hand over her mouth to get her to calm down.

“Stop. Teresa, you have to quit. There may be houses we can’t see.”

Teresa finally calmed somewhat and Josie tried to get her bearings. It was almost impossible. The sky was covered in clouds: the night was completely dark.

“Just stand here a minute. I need a sense for where we are.”

Teresa began to cry, and Josie found her patience wearing thin. At that point, she had no desire to comfort the girl. She was exhausted and frightened herself, with no plan how to proceed.

Teresa grabbed her shoulder and Josie turned to see far-off headlights coming slowly down the road.

“What do we do?” The girl sounded terrified.

“Hold my hand.” She pulled Teresa across the road. “We’ll stay on this side so I can see the driver.” They felt their way down a slight embankment off the side of the road, but could feel nothing to hide behind.

“Just lie flat and keep your head down. Don’t do anything until I tell you to. If I tell you to run, you get up and run straight out into the desert. You run like hell for as far as you can. Then find something to hide behind until daybreak. Just don’t run until I say so. Got it?”

Teresa murmured yes and lay flat, her hands under her face to keep the sand from her eyes.

Flat on her stomach, Josie watched as the car approached. All she could see were the headlights until the car rolled past them with the windows open. The interior light of the car was on and Josie recognized Sergio. She leaped up from her position and yelled his name. The car stopped and Josie and Teresa ran to it. Josie climbed in the front, Teresa in the rear, and Sergio sped off.

“Everyone all right? Teresa, you’re okay?” Sergio asked. His voice was taut with stress and he reached an arm out to Josie’s shoulder.

Teresa wasn’t talking and Josie turned around. She shook her head yes, and fell into a slump against the backseat.

“We’re okay. But I have no idea what just happened back there,” Josie said.

“It was paranoia, nothing more. One of my fellow officers checked on the church this afternoon. A routine stop. One of the nuns told him who you were and he went straight to our commander. I am sorry to say, your name is connected with Medrano. He was afraid the Medrano cartel would find out you were staying in the church and take revenge.” In the dim light from the dashboard, Josie saw Sergio turn toward her, his expression full of sorrow. “He ordered you out of the city.”

His words stung. It was a terrible thing to hear as someone who had spent her life trying to uphold the law. When the Medrano cartel had invaded Artemis last year, and she had killed members of the clan in a battle for territory, she had lost her ability to move freely in Mexico.

“We live our lives preparing for disaster, trying to avoid it,” he said.

Josie nodded. She understood but it didn’t ease the sting.

“It isn’t you. It’s the idea there could be trouble. We’ve made some improvements in the city since the blowup in Artemis, but we can’t afford to risk anything. Yes?”

“What do we do now?”

Sergio looked at her again and smiled. “We drive to Juarez. I’ve already arranged your crossing and there’s a rental car waiting in El Paso. It will be two in the morning before we get there. It will be a long night.”