Dance of the Bones

The lid opened. Fresh air and more blinding light flooded their prison. The first face Gabe saw belonged to his father. “Son,” he said, reaching for Gabe. “Come on.”


“No,” Gabe said. His voice was starting to work now. “Get Tim first. He’s worse off than I am.”

Several willing hands reached into the box and lifted Tim out. A moment later a single pair of strong arms—-his father’s—-grabbed hold of Gabe and lifted him out, too. The next thing he knew, Leo Ortiz was holding his son against his chest, cradling him as though he were a newborn.

“I thought we’d lost you,” his father sobbed. “I thought you were gone forever. We thought both of you were.”

Gabe had never seen his father cry. “I’m all right, Dad,” he said, wiping away his father’s tears. “I’m all right.”

Just then he caught a glimpse of Tim on a stretcher with a bottle of some kind of fluid attached to his arm. For just a moment, the knowing spirit that had been with him in those long--ago hospital rooms returned to him. In a flash of joy, he realized long before anyone else that Tim José was not going to die.

Someone in the background—-Dan Pardee, Gabe thought—-passed him a bottle of water. He took a tiny sip. It tasted wonderful, better than any water had ever tasted before, but his mouth and throat were so parched that at first one sip was all he could manage.

“I’m okay,” he told his father again. “And Tim will be okay, too.”

Leo took a ragged breath. “Come on, Dan,” he said. “Since you and Hulk are the ones who found them, how about if you give us a ride to the hospital?”

Outside with -people milling around and still in his father’s arms, Gabe was surprised to discover that it was dark—-that the flash of light that had seemed so blinding had come from the fluorescent overhead shop lights in the garage. In the fresh air, Gabe could smell himself. The rank odor was almost overpowering. He was ashamed when his father placed him in the back of Dan’s Explorer and crawled in after him.

A woman’s face appeared in the window next to Leo. She pounded on the glass and held up a badge. She wasn’t someone Gabe recognized, but since her badge said FBI, that wasn’t too surprising.

“We need to speak to him,” she demanded.

“After,” Leo Ortiz said firmly through the still closed window. With that, Dan hit the gas pedal, and they sped away.

They arrived at the hospital entrance less than two minutes later. Gabe more than half expected that Lani would come out to meet them. When she didn’t, he decided she was probably busy taking care of Tim.

Leo helped Gabe out of the SUV and was leading him toward the door when Lucy Rojas came running through the door and stopped directly in front of them. “Is it true what they said,” she demanded, “that the boys were in Henry’s garage and locked in his truck?”

“It’s true,” Leo said, trying to brush past her, but she didn’t budge.

“Where is he?” Lucy’s face was filled with anguish, and Gabe realized that the woman knew nothing about what her husband had been doing.

“I saw your Toyota parked out by the airport,” Leo said. “Henry probably saw what was happening and used it to run off somewhere.”

Dan Pardee nodded. “That’s what I heard, too. They’re planning on organizing another search—-for him this time.”

“But I don’t understand,” Lucy objected. “What’s this all about?”

Gabe was still holding the bottle of water. He swallowed another drink and spoke almost normally for the first time. “It’s about diamonds,” he said, “diamonds in a peanut butter jar.”





CHAPTER 25