Chapter 5 - THE DESERT ROAD
Damon did not look at Ruby.
He could not.
If he looked at the child while Mateo Delgato threatened her, there was a chance rage would replace judgment.
And judgment was the only thing keeping them alive.
“Everybody down,” Damon said quietly.
The pump house was barely larger than a two-car garage. Thick stone walls. One rusted steel door. Two narrow windows that had once ventilated machinery.
Outside, at least three shooters had clear sight lines.
Marcus crawled toward the rear wall.
“No back exit.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Drain channel.”
Marcus looked at him.
“What?”
“Under the old pump base.”
Damon turned sharply.
“You know that too?”
“I surveyed the property when we upgraded irrigation seven years ago.”
He pointed at a concrete platform.
“There should be a maintenance trench underneath. Maybe wide enough.”
“For adults?”
“Barely.”
“For Ruby?”
“Yes.”
That was enough.
Damon looked at Selena.
“Take her.”
She shook her head.
“I'm not leaving you.”
“This isn't a request.”
“Mr. Reyes—”
“Damon.”
She stared.
“If you're trusting me with your daughter, call me Damon.”
Something moved in her face.
Fear.
Confusion.
Maybe gratitude.
Then Mateo's voice came through the speaker again.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Damon ignored it.
“Marcus, open the trench.”
Marcus and Gabriel shoved the rusted pump assembly aside.
Concrete screamed across concrete.
Underneath was a rectangular metal panel.
Marcus pried it up.
Darkness.
Dust.
A narrow channel.
Gabriel looked inside.
“It leads east under the access road.”
“How far?”
“Two hundred yards. Maybe more.”
Selena stared into it.
“No.”
Damon looked at her.
“Yes.”
“What about you?”
“I'll follow.”
“You're lying.”
For a second neither spoke.
Selena's fear hardened into anger.
“I have spent four years being lied to by men who said they were protecting me.”
That hit him.
Damon lowered his voice.
“I'll follow if I can.”
“No.”
“Selena.”
“No.”
Ruby looked between them.
“Mommy?”
Selena closed her eyes.
Damon touched her shoulder.
“You sent your daughter to me because you believed I could keep her alive.”
She opened her eyes.
“Let me prove you right.”
The first shot hit the door.
Metal rang.
Ruby screamed.
Selena finally moved.
She climbed into the trench.
Ruby followed with the rabbit.
Damon crouched beside the opening.
“Ruby.”
She looked up.
“You remember the conference room?”
She nodded.
“Same rules. Keep moving.”
“Are you coming?”
“Yes.”
A lie.
Maybe.
He hated how easily the word came.
Ruby held up her pink suitcase.
It would not fit.
Her face crumpled.
“My things.”
Damon took it.
“I'll bring it.”
“You promise?”
He looked at the tiny suitcase.
Then at the child.
“I promise.”
She disappeared into the tunnel.
Marcus covered the opening.
Another shot hit the wall.
Mateo's voice sharpened.
“Ten seconds.”
Damon turned toward Gabriel.
“You're going with them.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“My son.”
“Your son needs you alive.”
“My son needs someone to find him.”
“We will.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“After what I did?”
Damon's eyes hardened.
“This is not forgiveness.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
“I know.”
“You betrayed me.”
“Yes.”
“If Noah survives, you answer for that later.”
Gabriel looked toward Lucia, who remained bound against the wall.
“And her?”
Damon glanced at Lucia.
“She comes with me.”
Lucia smiled.
“Mateo won't trade.”
“He might not.”
Damon crouched beside her.
“But I think you're about to tell me something he values more than family.”
Her smile vanished.
Damon held up the flash drive.
“You said this contains names.”
She looked away.
“Some of those names must belong to people Mateo can't afford exposed.”
No answer.
“One?”
Silence.
Damon studied her.
Then he understood.
Not politician.
Not judge.
Something closer.
“His father.”
Lucia's eyes flickered.
There.
Damon knew.
“Mateo's father is alive?”
Gabriel looked startled.
Everyone believed Arturo Delgato died eight years earlier.
Lucia spoke through clenched teeth.
“You know nothing.”
Damon almost smiled.
“Then why did that scare you?”
Marcus was at the trench.
“Time.”
Damon pointed toward Gabriel.
“Go.”
Gabriel hesitated.
Then climbed down.
Marcus followed last.
Damon remained with Lucia.
She stared at him.
“You're staying?”
“For a minute.”
“You'll die.”
“So will you.”
Her face tightened.
Damon dragged her toward the wall farthest from the entrance.
Another shot hit metal.
Mateo's voice thundered.
“Time's up.”
Damon pulled the pink suitcase against his chest.
Lucia looked at it.
“You're going to die for a toddler's clothes?”
“No.”
Damon looked toward the tiny rabbit ear sticking through the zipper.
“I'm keeping a promise.”
The door exploded inward.
Damon fired once toward the opening, not aiming to kill, only to force the first men back.
Then he grabbed Lucia and dropped into the trench.
The channel was miserable.
Dark.
Barely wide enough to crawl.
Lucia cursed behind him.
“You're insane.”
“I've been told.”
They moved.
Above them, boots thundered into the pump house.
Damon heard someone shout.
“They're gone!”
Mateo's voice followed.
“Find the tunnel!”
Damon crawled faster.
Ahead, he could hear Ruby crying softly.
Selena whispering.
Gabriel telling her where to turn.
Then a metallic scrape sounded behind Damon.
The panel had opened.
“They're in!”
Marcus shouted from ahead.
“Move!”
They crawled through darkness.
A bullet struck the concrete wall behind Damon's leg and ricocheted.
Lucia ducked.
“You want me alive now, don't you?”
“Enough to use you.”
“How romantic.”
Damon almost laughed.
Then the tunnel ended.
Gabriel pushed open a grate.
Hot desert air rushed in.
One by one they emerged behind a line of dry brush beyond the access road.
Marcus pointed.
“Vehicle.”
A maintenance truck sat beside a utility shed.
Gabriel ran to it.
Locked.
Marcus smashed the window.
“Keys?”
“Under the visor if old Carlos still works here.”
The key fell into Gabriel's lap.
He stared.
“God bless Carlos.”
They piled inside.
Selena held Ruby in the rear seat.
Damon climbed behind the wheel.
Lucia was forced onto the floor with Marcus beside her.
Gabriel looked at Damon.
“You're driving?”
“You want to?”
“No.”
“Then stop talking.”
The engine roared.
They hit the dirt road hard.
Behind them, Delgato vehicles poured from the property.
Damon drove east.
Dust swallowed everything.
Ruby screamed every time the truck bounced.
Selena held her.
Damon checked the mirror.
Three SUVs.
Then four.
Marcus leaned forward.
“Where?”
“Falcon Field.”
“That takes us toward them.”
“Exactly.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You're still going after Noah?”
Damon met his eyes in the mirror.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Damon looked ahead.
“Because Mateo thinks I only protect what belongs to me.”
Selena heard that.
Her expression softened for one second.
“He's wrong.”
Damon said nothing more.
They reached pavement.
Damon accelerated.
The first Delgato SUV appeared behind them.
Marcus looked back.
“They're closing.”
Lucia laughed from the floor.
“You don't understand my brother. He'll burn the entire city before he lets you use that drive.”
Damon glanced at her.
“Then perhaps he should've kept better records.”
They turned south.
The road narrowed between industrial lots.
Gabriel leaned forward.
“We need to ditch this truck before the airfield.”
“Where?”
“Old freight yard. Two miles.”
Damon turned sharply.
A shot cracked the rear window.
Selena ducked over Ruby.
Marcus returned fire through broken glass.
The Delgato SUV swerved.
Damon drove faster.
The freight yard appeared.
Rows of old containers.
Abandoned trailers.
They entered through a damaged gate.
Damon killed the headlights.
“Out.”
Everyone moved.
Marcus led Selena and Ruby behind containers.
Gabriel followed.
Damon dragged Lucia.
The Delgato vehicles thundered past the entrance.
For a few seconds, silence returned.
Damon looked toward Gabriel.
“How far to Hangar 18?”
“Less than three miles.”
“On foot?”
“Twenty-five minutes.”
“Too long.”
Marcus glanced around.
“We steal another car.”
Damon nodded.
Then Ruby spoke.
“Mommy.”
Selena looked down.
“What?”
Ruby pointed toward one of the dark trailers.
“The lady.”
Everyone turned.
A figure stood between two containers.
Small.
Female.
Not Lucia.
The woman stepped into weak moonlight.
Selena gasped.
“Mrs. Alvarez?”
The elderly housekeeper raised trembling hands.
Her blouse was stained with blood.
Damon moved toward her.
“What happened?”
“They took the staff.”
“Who?”
“The Delgatos.”
Her voice shook.
“They separated us.”
“Where?”
She looked toward Gabriel.
Then at Damon.
“They weren't looking for the drive.”
Damon frowned.
“What?”
Mrs. Alvarez swallowed.
“They already knew where it was.”
Gabriel went still.
Damon felt the truth approaching.
“What were they looking for?”
The older woman stared at Ruby.
“The child.”
Selena backed away.
“No.”
Mrs. Alvarez began crying.
“They kept asking about Ruby's father.”
Damon's face hardened.
“Javier?”
“No.”
Silence.
Selena looked confused.
Mrs. Alvarez covered her mouth.
“I am so sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Selena whispered.
The older woman shook her head.
“Javier wasn't Ruby's biological father.”
Selena stared at her.
“What are you talking about?”
Mrs. Alvarez looked toward Lucia.
Lucia closed her eyes.
As if she already knew.
Damon followed the exchange.
“Whose daughter is she?”
Nobody answered.
Damon's voice sharpened.
“Whose?”
Mrs. Alvarez looked directly at him.
Then she said the one name nobody expected.
“Rafael Delgato.”
May you like
Selena stopped breathing.
And somewhere beyond the freight yard, a teenage boy screamed.
