difficult. The border is locked down.'
'She is not in Austin.'
'Then where is she?'
'She is here.'
'Where?'
'I will tell you where, if you will spare my brother's life.'
El Diablo's jaws clenched. His patience was running out.
'Inez, my child, it is not wise to toy with me, not about the governor of Texas. He murdered my son, and I intend to kill him. Between me and the governor is a dangerous place to stand. Now tell me what you know.'
'No. Not so you can then cut off my brother's head.'
For a moment, she thought El Diablo might slap her. Inez trembled like a leaf in the wind. But he blew out a breath and calmed.
'All right, Inez. I will not cut off your brother's head if you will tell me where the governor's wife is.'
'You promise?'
'Yes. I promise.'
Inez knew she had pushed him as far as she dared.
'She is here… in the colonia. '
' Here? In Colonia Angeles? '
' Si. '
'But that is not possible. I would have known. There is only one Anglo in this colonia, the-'
His eyes got wide with the knowledge.
'The Anglo nurse. Of course. I knew that she seemed familiar. She has the red hair, like the governor's wife.'
'She is the governor's wife.'
'But they said she was Irish.'
'She pretends. Sometimes she forgets, and her voice is different.'
'Thank you, Inez. You have made me a very happy man.' He turned to the man named Hector and said, 'Shoot him.'
'Wait! You promised not to kill him!'
'No. I promised not to cut his head off.'
The man named Hector raised a gun and shot her brother in his head. The bullet blew blood and brains out the back of his head. Hector shot him again in his heart. Her ears burned with the noise and her nostrils with the stench of the gunpowder, and her brother lay on the couch, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, the teardrops still resting on his brown cheeks. Her only brother was dead. Inez Quintanilla was now alone in this harsh world.
'Now, where is the governor's wife? At the clinic?'
Inez stared at her brother's bloody face a moment longer, then she bolted out the open door and ran down the dirt road toward the clinic. She must warn the senora. She must save the senora's life as she had failed to save her brother's. She heard the men yelling behind her and the loud engines of their trucks come to life. Coming after her. She cut between houses and under clothes hanging on lines and around morning cook fires until she finally arrived at the clinic. She burst through the door only to find the clinic vacant. The doctor's truck sat outside, but neither he nor the senora were there. She must be on rounds. Her body teemed with adrenaline. She had never before felt so alive, perhaps because she was certain she would soon be dead. She ran down the dirt road and screamed, '?Senora!?Senora! '
But there was no answer.
Of every woman and child she encountered, she asked, 'Have you seen the nurse?'
One woman pointed down the road. Inez ran faster, calling out, '?Senora!?Senora! '
Finally she heard the senora's voice.
'In here.'
Inez pulled the blanket door aside and stepped into the home. The senora was kneeling on the dirt floor tending to a child.
' Senora, you must run away! You must hide!'
Inez tried to catch her breath. She felt the panic on her face.
'Why?'
'They come for you!'
'Who?'
'El Diablo! And his hombres.'
FORTY
Lindsay Bonner fought not to panic-because what she did in the next few moments would determine whether she lived or died.
Think, Lindsay, think!
A few minutes later, she had hidden her cell phone, and she stood alone, waiting for them to come for her and take her across the river and into Nuevo Laredo-and praying her husband would. She had not gone to him when he had needed her. Would he come now that she needed him?
Yes.
Bode Bonner would come for her. They no longer shared their lives, but he would give his life for hers. She knew that. And at that moment, she realized how much that meant-to know that he would always come for her. She heard the trucks stop outside and the sound of heavy boots on the ground. The blanket door was thrown aside, and a man now stood there. He held a black machete. He was tall and lean with jet-black hair and a goatee. He was the same man she had seen in the clinic that day.
El Diablo.
She knelt before him, her body trembling, and recited the Lord's Prayer.
'I am also Catholic,' he said. 'I am not going to kill you.'
She stopped praying and looked up.
'Then what do you want with me? I am just a nurse.'
He reached out and gently pulled her hat and scarf off, releasing her red hair.
'You are the governor's wife. He will come for you. And when he does, I will cut off his head with this machete. I will avenge my son's death. I will have justice.'
He held a hand out to her. She stood without taking his hand.
'Remove your clothes.'
'Is that what you want?'
'I want your husband's head on my desk. But I must ensure that you have no gun or knife or phone, and I prefer not to pat you down. Now, your clothes. Please.'
She removed her lab coat then unbuttoned her yellow dress and let it fall to the dirt floor around her pink Crocs. He waited. She unhooked her bra and let it drop. Then she pushed her panties to her ankles. She stood naked before him. His eyes took her in. He inhaled as if smelling a flower. Then he nodded.
'Yes, he will come for you.'
'How do you know?'
'Because I would come for you.'
He lifted her dress from the ground with the machete.
'Please. Get dressed.'
FORTY-ONE
