Ballistic

“Get off the phone,” Court demanded. Elena just ignored him, kept calling friends and hospitals and clinics in Puerto Vallarta trying to find out about Eddie’s brother and aunts and uncles.

So far she hadn’t learned a thing from her phone calls. Only by retelling the events amongst themselves in the church van could the family get an idea about the fate of their loved ones.

“Rodrigo was killed. I have lost another son!”

“I saw tio Oscar; he was shot in the stomach. I think he is dead!”

“Tia Esperanza was right next to me; she was screaming, but she just went quiet and fell.”

“I think the Ortega family was in front of us, but they weren’t in the church. I hope that they—”

“I saw Senor Ortega lying in the street; his leg was bleeding, but he was alive.”

“Capitan Chuck is dead. Did you see?”

Court did not enter the conversation; their frantic shouted Spanish was all but indecipherable to him. And his mind was on their escape.

And then his own. He had to get them home and then get himself out of here before the cops came to question the Gamboas.

Elena dialed the number of one of the other relatives there on the podium; she did not know if the woman was alive to take the call.

“Hang it up!” shouted the American behind the wheel now. She nodded but kept listening to the ring, willing someone to answer.

Court rolled down the window next to him, reached across his body, and wrenched the phone from Elena Gamboa’s hand. He threw the device out onto the highway.

“Why did you do that?”

“They can track your calls. You are a target.”

“A target?”

“Yes. Those federal cops were gunning for everyone on the stage. There was nothing random about what just happened.”

“De la Rocha was killed. Why would someone kill him and then kill the families of the GOPES men?”

“I don’t know. The only thing I can think is there was more than one group in the crowd. One group trying to kill you; one other group trying to kill him.” Court shook his head. “This place is completely fucked up.”

Elena just put her head in her hands and cried.

“We need to swap vehicles,” Court said, more to himself than to the six others in the car.

“Why?” asked Elena. “What’s wrong with this van?”

“Operational security. We left the scene in this van; we need to switch it out for something clean.”

She looked around the interior. “It’s clean enough.”

Laura spoke out from the back. “He means something that did not come from the crime scene. Joe, where are we going to get another vehicle? We passed the last rental car office back at the airport.”

“We can get whatever car we want. I have a gun, remember?”

It was quiet in the van for several seconds, only soft sobbing from Luz Gamboa in the backseat. Finally, Laura said, “You can’t steal another vehicle.”

“Wanna bet?”

“It is against the law.”

Court laughed, more in surprise at the comment than anything else. “What, are you a cop?”

“Si.”

“Right.” Court shook his head, kept driving. Then he slowly looked back up at Laura in the rearview. “You’re serious?”

“Si.”

Elena entered the conversation while wiping her nose with a tissue. She spoke dismissively, “She’s with the tourist police in Puerto Vallarta. Not a real cop.”

Laura snapped back at her sister-in-law. “I am a real police officer. My training and responsibilities are just as—”

Elena shouted back at her sister-in-law, and the two women’s argument became heated. Court recovered slowly from his shock, realized Laura’s knowledge of roads and roadblocks and traffic patterns made sense now. He then took Eddie’s sister’s side against Elena. Like a man sprinting headlong into a minefield, he entered into a squabble between two Latin women. “The real cops killed a lot of innocent people today, and I saw how Laura shoots, so I’m glad she’s on our side.” He looked back into the rearview mirror at Eddie’s sister. “Why didn’t you tell me you were with the police?”

She shrugged. “You didn’t ask me.”

“Oh.” Just like always, he found himself having to struggle to take his eyes from her. He forced himself to stare at the road ahead.

She continued, “Anyway, when Eduardo died, I was suspended. Many say that he acted without permission, and I would need to be investigated and cleared before I could return to work.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“I know, but that’s what they said. They took my gun when they took Eddie’s weapons from his house.”

“You still have that Beretta you used in the church.”

She shook her head. “No. I gave it to the padre to hold. I cannot be caught with a weapon.”

Court sighed. Neither could he, but that didn’t stop him from packing one now. He wished she was still packing. He let it go, looked back up, and he and Laura made long eye contact in the rearview. He said, “You did good back there.”

“So did you,” she said. “Thank you.” Court’s eyes flicked back to the road ahead for just a second, then back into the rearview. Laura Gamboa continued to stare at him. She said, “Please don’t steal another car.”

For a long time the eye contact continued. Finally, Gentry looked away. “Whatever you say, officer.”

The Gamboas prayed together: Laura led the prayer, Ernesto’s voice was the loudest, Ignacio mumbled, and Luz could only sob softly along with the words. After the prayer the conversation trailed off. The six surviving Gamboas stared out the window while Court drove. He himself was worn out from the exertion and the danger, and he found himself sad about the old Navy man. Cullen was a stud, Gentry recognized. He would have enjoyed another night drinking tequila with him, hearing his stories. Hell, he would have even enjoyed the old geezer chiding him about his long hair and his vague answers.

But, Court told himself, that cranky bastard went out like a hero.

And there was something to be said for that.

They arrived back at Elena’s house shortly before three p.m. Ernesto immediately turned on the television and sat down, while Luz retired to the kitchen to begin dishing out leftovers from the previous evening. Heavy-set Ignacio grabbed a beer from the fridge and went out back to smoke, Diego disappeared into the bathroom, and Elena and Laura stormed around the house arguing with each other about what they were going to do next.

Court could not understand a word the two women said.

Gentry stood in the living room with Ernesto and the TV, watched news reports from Vallarta—a reporter did a stand-up in the local morgue amid rows of bodies lined up on the floor. Bloodstained sheets and blankets covered the fresh cadavers, and only the feet stuck out; paper toe tags were attached to the left big toe of each body with red twine.

There would be cops here at Eddie’s house soon enough. Court didn’t know what kind of police, didn’t know if they would be friends oror enemies. He hoped what remained of this family had the sense to leave town for a while, maybe hook up with some friends or family in another part of the country where the Black Suits weren’t so firmly entrenched.

But Court’s ingrained sense of self-preservation had begun kicking into high gear on the drive up the coast, and his own predicament came into sharp focus. The Gamboas weren’t out of danger by any stretch, but he had his own problems. He was in the country illegally; he’d just shot dead a shitload of people, most of whom wore badges; and any police officer he ran into would likely want to have a word with him about that.

There really wasn’t much left for Court to do now, he reasoned, but disappear. He did not want to hang