I looked at the rest of the cabin and saw Esteban leering over Luisa in the same way that I had. I frowned, watching him carefully, waiting for him to remember where he was and that he wasn’t supposed to ogle the patron’s wife.
Eventually, the corner of Este’s mouth lifted slightly, as if he were smiling to himself. The expression in his eyes, though, was anything but happy. It was carnal, something I wasn’t used to seeing from him. I swallowed the slight sense of unease I had, telling myself that I was prepared for anything.
It wasn’t long until I spotted the ranch on the horizon. I nudged Luisa with my shoulder, and she glanced at me with hardened eyes.
I nodded at it. “There she is. Your new home for the next while.”
She nodded, silent, and looked back.
The ranch was located down a five kilometer dirt road off the desolate highway sixty-seven. The closest town — La Perla — was nothing more than a few houses and dusty shops, a hard place where the locals would lean back against their adobe houses and squint into the sun, beer in hand, wondering where the years had gone.
We flew close to the sandy road, following it as it led to the compound, the dust whirring beneath the rotors. I’d picked out the spot myself last year when we snatched the property from a narco who wasn’t following the rules. There were other fincas, properties to hide in, but I liked this one the best. It wasn’t all harsh desert either. There was a wash that had some water trickling through it during the winter, and mesquite trees lined it, providing shade. The rest of the property sat beneath the rocky crag that hid a family of coyotes at its base and a golden eagle’s nest at the top.
The chopper touched down on the landing pad, which was located between the long garage and the barn. The horses in the outer pasture ran away from the sound, their tails flying in the wind.
“Oh,” Luisa said excitedly, and when she turned to look at me, I saw the woman I fell in love with. “I didn’t know you had horses.”
“We have horses,” I told her, tempted to put my hand on her leg, but not willing to risk public rejection. “Evelyn takes care of them and she will take care of us.”
Evelyn Aguilar was the mother of one of our narcos who was captured and tortured last year, probably by the Zetas. After he was found, I made a vow to keep his mother safe and employed. Evelyn lived by herself out here, looking after the ranch and the horses, and filling in as a housekeeper and cook whenever the ranch was being used. So far, I’d only come out here once and just for a few days, but her debt to me was deep, and she had waited on me hand and foot.
Luisa seemed to remember that she despised me, so her look became hard and she turned away, as if she was too stubborn to let herself get excited. I’d known she was that stubborn but I hoped later on when I told her she could go riding that the look would come back into her eyes again.
The chopper landed in a cloud of dust and was quickly approached by Borrero and Morales, two members of my security team and the top sicarios who carried out the kidnapping of Evaristo. Aside from Diego, they were the best of the best. It’s too bad that federale had to die during the event, but I knew that hadn’t been their fault. They were far too smart for that.
Borrero, tall and lanky with a skinny moustache and a penchant for wearing red, shook my hand as I got out of the helicopter. “You got here quicker than we expected.”
“Is that bad?” I asked as I walked away from the whirling sand. I nodded at Morales who was standing with his arms folded and he nodded back. If Borrero was red, Morales was black. He’d grown up in the desert and then later spent his formative years as a chief instructor for the military training camps that took place out in places like this. His skin was dark and weather-beaten, and he always wore a black cowboy hat and leather boots. Like Diego, he had a sordid past I didn’t care to know much about and was the kind of man you wanted — needed — on your side.
“Not bad,” Borrero said, following me. “Sanchez is still unconscious though.”
“I’m sure I’ll find a way to wake him up.” I looked over my shoulder to make sure Luisa was all right. Esteban had her hand and was helping her out of the helicopter, her hair flying around her like a black cape as the rotors slowed. “Where is he?”
“In the tunnel,” Morales said as he fished a cigarette out of his front pocket. “Thought it would be a more agreeable place for him to wake up. Especially for whatever you have planned.”