Chapter 17

Ana Maria stood it as long as she could.

The family didn’t ostracize her, not quite, but their treatment made it clear they resented her attending the norteño university. The younger daughter who had helped to support Ana Maria’s studies was dead, and her family had a vague feeling that somehow it was Ana Maria’s fault. They reacted by withdrawing. The warm family feeling she’d always known was no longer there. Everyone in the family grieved, but Ana Maria’s grief took place in an atmosphere of family disapproval.

She quietly let herself out of the house the following morning and started her car, sitting for a moment and letting the engine idle. She had no idea of where to go or what to do and knew of no one who could help her. She only knew she couldn’t remain at home while her family treated her with such coolness. Such were her feelings when she decided to call Ray. He’d been sympathetic and had offered to help if he could, after worry had proved more than she could cope with. She needed some of that sympathy now.

He answered her phone call and provided directions to his house. Ana Maria crossed the border at the Zaragoza Bridge, then drove north toward El Paso’s west side.

She parked her car in front of his house, and through habit, carefully locked the doors. Ray met her when she rang the doorbell and offered a hug, which she gratefully accepted. She needed human contact and sympathy; he freely provided what her family had denied.

Ray had made coffee a few minutes earlier. and he offered her the choice of that or tea. She accepted the coffee and a Danish. She wasn’t feeling hungry, but found eating the pastry comforting. He brought another after she virtually inhaled the first pastry, so perhaps she had been hungrier than she’d thought.

Sated, Ana Maria shared her distress. “Ray, I don’t know what to do. I feel like a stranger at home!”

Ray had still been mad at T when he woke up, but the anger had quickly faded. He’d spent a few minutes just marveling that he could easily pick up items now and move them around, and he’d tried forming the ‘bubble’. He played with expanding and finally collapsing it, only to do it all over again. Ana Maria’s call had given him something else to concentrate on. He had spent the time between her phone call and her arrival thinking about her problems. Now, he realized it felt good just having her in the house.

Ana Maria’s cell phone rang moments later and she paused to check the screen. After a glance, she decided she had nothing she wanted to say to her father. Perhaps later, after they both had time for the grief to fade, they would be able to discuss the rift that had come between them, but not now. She turned the phone off.

Ray waited until she’d finished to respond. “You’re here now and I’ll offer you whatever help I have. I can’t help you grieve, but you’ll know you’re not alone and that may help you get through this. Life rests on three main relationships, I think. There’s family, friends, and work, school in our case, and I think people can readily deal with problems in any one of these areas. Your family is a problem right now, but you still have friends and you can succeed in school. Support, from what you accomplish in school and from your friends, will help you realize that losing your sister and feeling uncomfortable at home will pass.

“You can still concentrate on school because your goals haven’t changed. You have friends, including me, who will help you while your family situation sorts itself out.” He smiled encouragingly, and she smiled back. It was the first positive response since she arrived. “Would you like to stay here for a while? Maybe go out for dinner or something? Watch television or maybe just go for a drive?”

“I think I’d rather just stay here for now,” she said. “I drove through the barrio after I crossed the bridge, and it’s depressing. All those empty boarded-up buildings, and the graffiti is all over everything. It seems like every street has a gang, and then there are the big ones like the Fatherless and the Locos. I even saw a new one, BCN, which stands for something nuevo, I think. And there are the Tangos, too, so I don’t feel like going out just now.”

Ana Maria, like so many others along the border, sometimes dropped a Spanish word into her English or used an English word when speaking Spanish; the combination was referred to locally as ‘Spanglish’.

“Yeah,” Ray said. “There are no jobs, and because of that there’s no future for those kids. There are ads everywhere for new cars and nice houses, there’s bling all over the TV, but all the kids in the barrio have to look forward to is drugs and gangs, and maybe involvement with the cartels in Juarez. Many of them, too many, won’t survive long; you don’t see many old gangers around.

“I read an article that said that the cartels in Mexico are hiring these young guys, the gangers from this side of the river, to be their part-time hit men. They walk across the bridge, meet someone on the other side long enough to pick up weapons, then do the hit and drop the guns before they cross back. Someone will be waiting to pick up the guns and hide them until the cartel needs them for the next hit. For the gangers, it’s back to the bridge and walk across. Here’s my driver’s license, officer, nothing to declare, have a nice day, and as soon as they’re back in the barrio with their homies they’re safe. There’s no trail on the other side for cops to find and the people on this side have no visible connection to the victims. It’s brilliant, really; the cartels don’t risk anything but money, and as long as our people buy their drugs they’re never going to be short of that!

“Sorry for the rant. You just make yourself at home. There are books and the TV, and I’ve got a few movies if you want to watch something else. I’ll fix lunch in a little while.”

“Ray, are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t want to be a bother, really. I just needed a place to think, without everyone looking at me like I’d betrayed them.”

“I’m sure. Friends are people you call on when you need them, and we’re friends.” Ray did not mention the possibility that, after today, they might become more than friends. Ana Maria, after all, did have those very nice legs! She wouldn’t be grieving forever.

He could wait.

Shezzie had not forgotten last night’s activities when we got up. She was still cold, but at least she was speaking to me. “I need you to take my Subaru to the tire shop. There’s one not far from here, on Montana. I had a blowout coming in and I need something reliable. Could you take the Subaru and also have them look at the other tires? I’ll take your truck, and when my Subaru is done you can use it to look for Henderson.”

I said I could do that. Maybe it would help put yesterday behind us. It was cheap at the price, just taking her car to the shop. Henderson could wait, although I was antsy. “What are you doing today?” I asked.

“I’m going to Juarez. My Spanish is rusty, but I’ve been around Spanish speakers since we got to El Paso, New Mexico too. The language is coming back, and I can understand it even if I can’t speak it fluently. Maybe I can pick up something around the police station. If I do, I’ll pass it on to you and Ray. We agreed we’d help him, before that ... episode last night.”

“Are you sure you’ll be safe over there?”

“I’ll be watching their emotions and if something goes wrong, I’ve got the bubble which should be more than enough. I’m not as skilled as you are at controlling stuff, lifting and so on, but I can do that and maybe if I got scared I could do more. I’ll be all right, and if I need you I’ll call.”

So she headed for my truck, and I went off to find her Subaru. I detoured through the lobby long enough to pick up some of the ‘continental breakfast’—I’ve had breakfast in Germany and France, and trust me, what the hotel offered isn’t the same—and then found her car. The gas tank turned out to be nearly empty, of course, so I stopped to gas up before heading to the tire shop. I parked, went in, and ended up in the waiting room until a salesman was available. I glanced at some of the ad magazines that all such offices collect, but found nothing interesting.

I was still thinking about that object in my neck. I needed to have it taken out before what happened to Surfer happened to me. I thought about it while I waited, but couldn’t think of anything new I could try. Finally a youngish guy, very enthusiastic, came over.

“The Subaru had a flat, a blowout according to she said. I need the tire replaced. Can you check the others, too? She’s not very mechanical, and I don’t want her stranded on some west Texas highway.”

“Sure, be glad to. Have a seat and help yourself to the coffee.”

He was back in about five minutes. “How long have you had the car, sir?”

“Not long, a few months. Why?”

“We can replace your tire, but I checked the others. They’re all in need of replacement. There’s quite a bit of wear and some evidence of sun damage. With an all-wheel drive, it’s usually best to replace all the tires at the same time.”

“It is? And how long is this going to take?”

“We can have you out of here by noon, sir. We’re a bit busy this morning, but I’ll get someone on it as soon as possible.”

“I really need to replace all of them?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t recommend you keep driving on those, sir. You’ve already had one failure, and you said it was a car used by a lady who’s ‘not mechanical’?”

I muttered a dirty word and went with him to select the new tires, four of them plus the spare. He was enthusiastic, and now he was happily smiling. Cheeky bastard! “Can someone run me out to the airport?”

“Oh, certainly. It’s not far, so we can certainly do that.”

I left the car in their hands and went off to see what I could rent. I would swing by later to pick up the Subaru after Shezzie got back. Or maybe Ray would help. I decided to try that. <Ray?>

<Morning, T. How are you feeling?>

<I feel fine. I tried to tell you, even if you didn’t believe me; alcohol doesn’t make me drunk, and I’m pretty sure it’s a side effect of the Talent. Anyway, I wasn’t drunk and right now I’m stuck without wheels. Shezzie’s got my truck and she’s off to Juarez to see if she can pick anything up around the police station. Her car is in the tire shop and I don’t want to waste half a day twiddling my thumbs until they finish. Are you doing anything important?>

<Actually, I am. Ana Maria’s with me. She’s having problems dealing with the death of her sister and there are family issues too. She’s with me while she works her way through it.>

<OK, no problem, I’ll just rent a car. I’m not far from the airport and the tire place will give me a ride. Sorry about surprising you last night, Ray; I knew I could keep you safe, even if the bubble didn’t work, and I wasn’t going to let you get hurt.>

<It’s OK, T. Look, I’ve got to drop out. Ana Maria’s looking at me funny.>

<Later, then.> We dropped the connection. He’d said it was OK, but it wasn’t, not yet; well, Shezzie and I would get through it eventually. Hopefully.

The tire company dropped me at the airport and I rented a car. I wanted something inconspicuous and it was that, but it was also underpowered. I know the American manufacturers have to push for fuel economy, but must so many of their products be such utter dogs on the freeway?

I headed to the Holiday Inn, but couldn’t detect any sign of Henderson when I got there. I asked the desk clerk if he was in his room, but he wouldn’t tell me. I told him to go ahead and ring the room; I would just use one of my assumed names if Henderson answered, but he didn’t. “Did he leave a message, by chance?”

Of course not, but hey; the desk guy didn’t know that.

He said Henderson had left no messages.

“We were going to meet later,” I offered. “We have business to discuss.” I smiled at the clerk. Yes indeed, we had unfinished business, Henderson and me.

“He left no messages, sir, but he did mention he was going to Fort Bliss.”

“Oh. I didn’t expect him to leave this early. Maybe I can catch him there.”

We smiled at each other and I left. I wasn’t sure if going to an Army post was a good idea. I had good documents, but would they stand up to a real search? What if they took my fingerprints? What if they discovered I was a deserter? I didn’t know what gate security might do, and it wasn’t worth the risk to find out. Still, I would sense Henderson if he passed nearby. I would recognize him at least as soon as he could recognize me. I doubt he had changed much, but I had changed a lot since leaving the School. It was worth a try.

I drove out the Interstate and thought about finding a place to intercept Henderson. He would have taken the interstate as the shortest way to Fort Bliss, either I-10 or the Patriot Freeway, so there was a chance he might take the same route back to his hotel. I picked up a magazine at a bookstore and looked in the ads for a place I could wait.

There was a restaurant near Airport Road and Montana Avenue, not far off the route I expected Henderson to take. I could have a cup of coffee and read the magazine while I waited. There was no certainty he would come this way, but I had nothing better to do. Other exits from Fort Bliss lead to housing areas, and such routes usually have a lot of congestion. The city surrounds the post now, meaning Henderson would almost certainly enter and depart from the east side, and when he did I would be waiting.

The Franklin mountain chain dominates the El Paso skyline, running south to north. The Rio Grande flows along the west side and around the south foothills, through the pass that gives the city its name. Across the river is Juarez, Mexico.

El Paso has grown rapidly, driven by the increased trade with Mexico, but natural and political obstacles have defined the city’s shape. Growth is constrained by the mountains and the international border, causing the city limits to extend north up the west side of the mountains to the New Mexico border, northeast along the eastern flank until it reaches the military ranges, then farther east and south while following the river. Eventually, the city will reach another natural boundary, the Hueco Mountains off to the east. Unless, that is, the local branch of the Tigua Indians manages to convince the federal government that they own everything, including the ‘sacred river water’! Which, despite it being sacred, they’re prepared to sell you!

The tribe wasn’t federally recognized until fairly recently, but the tribal council convinced the government that they deserved recognition. Texas objected, and as a part of the deal to gain recognition, the Tiguas promised to not open a casino in El Paso. They were duly recognized and surprise! They opened a casino in El Paso’s south side. A lawsuit followed, of course, and while it wandered slowly through the courts the Tiguas raked in the cash. Some of which they used to buy blocks of apartments near the casino, for tribal members. Which soon brought up the question of how much Tigua ancestry the apartment applicant could prove. Was a sixteenth good enough? How about a thirty-second? For the math-challenged, that’s five generations or about a century since a full-blooded Tigua ancestor became part of the applicant’s blood line.