El Paso Way (19 page)

“Valdar may be a hard, evil man, but he is very superstitious. You said you escaped him before?”

“
Sí
,” Enrique said.

“Not many, if any, ever have. Believe it or not, he is afraid of your medicine. Something he learned from the Apache. He is afraid that if you've done it once, then you will do it again, and that he must take the woman away before you can get to her.”

“Which means,” Enrique said, looking back down the dark tunnel of the shaft, “trapping us in here and holding us up would be a good plan for him.”

They immediately turned and ran, the lantern nearly flickering out with ever step and stride. Then they heard the explosion; the ground shook and a cloud of dust came rapidly toward them. They fell to the ground and covered their faces. Enrique lay over his sister to protect her. After several minutes, when the dust had settled more around them, they uncovered their faces, trying not to choke on the dust that remained. It was still too thick to see more than four feet beyond the lantern.

“What do we do now?” Pang said.

“We dig ourselves out,” Enrique said.

“What if he's waiting on the other side to ambush us?” Pang said.

“He will not wait,” Amelia said. “He will be taking your fiancée to Mexico as fast as he can.”

“Then we have no time to waste,” Enrique said, crawling up the pile, grabbing a rock at the top, and tossing it down. Pang helped him dig. They pulled rocks away until their fingers and knuckles were bloody and they had enough of a hole to crawl through. Pang held the lantern, and Enrique went first, on his stomach, then Amelia; then Pang passed the lantern through and crawled through himself. The hole was tight, and the sharp rocks cut into them as they crawled. Pang tumbled down to the other side, and like a pack of coyotes they ran free into the night.

Blood for Justice

They looked around cautiously, still fearing ambush, but taking note of Amelia's notion of what Valdar might be doing. So far she had been right. The only problem they could see now was that, once again, their horses were gone.

“He stole them once, why not again?” Enrique said.

“We still have a chance,” Amelia said.

“What are you saying?” Enrique said.

“The trip into Mexico is not one he will take without many men, horses, and supplies. He has not had time to prepare for that. It is likely that Baliador will gather all his men and gear and meet him at the Socorro ford.”

Enrique thought for a moment. “Can you tell us how to get there?”

“No, but I will show you.”

Amelia started to lead them, but he grabbed her arms. “No. It is too dangerous. I have lost you once. I cannot bear to do it again.”

She glared at him and jerked her arms away. “I did not endure all these years to only hear of Valdar's death. If you are to kill him, I will be there to spit in his dying eyes.”

Enrique was caught by her words and could not hold her back. She turned and led them down the dry bed, walking and stumbling for several hours in the darkness. The new day started to break, and a purple haze formed over the desert around them.

“How much longer?” Pang said.

They all stopped, and Amelia raised her head and pointed. “Just over that rise. We must approach it carefully.”

Enrique looked at Pang, and Pang looked back at him. Enrique knew that the Chinaman was feeling the same way. This likely was it. The showdown that they all had anticipated since the beginning of their journey. They knew, too, that if Valdar wasn't there, then he had made his way into Mexico and it would be a long and difficult journey to stay after him. Regardless, they would do it. It didn't matter to what land, how long, or how far the Demon Warrior went, they would follow. They would find him and kill him. His blood would be the payment for all he had done to so many, and there was no time limit on collecting it.

* * *

The sky was bright now and the morning haze was dissipating, but the birds let everyone around them know that it was a new day, that another day of survival had begun.

The trio found a spot on the final bend of the streambed where they could lie and peer over into the Rio Grande. Enrique scanned the terrain, but he saw nothing. He was afraid they were too late.

“Are you sure this is where he crosses?”

“
Sí
,” Amelia said.

Enrique studied the far side of the riverbank looking for telltale signs of tracks where several horses might have crossed. But he saw nothing.

“How many men will he take with him?” Enrique asked Amelia.

“Usually about ten. They are men who work for Juarez. All Mexicans and good with guns. They know Mexico and Mexico knows them.”

“If that many men have crossed into Mexico, they didn't do it here.”

“They have not crossed yet.” Amelia stared across the river, her eyes cold and almost lifeless. “I can smell him.”

Enrique looked across the river, then back at his sister. He grabbed her arm. “Amelia, what are you saying?”

“He is over there . . . by those cottonwoods.”

Enrique looked across the river at the tall, twin cottonwoods that stood majestically over the southwest bank. The roots of one bared themselves on the bank of the river. The other was almost hidden behind it. But he saw nothing else but the trees, and smelled nothing either. “Are you sure, Amelia?”

“Pang's fiancée is tied to a rope between the two trees. Valdar, he is sleeping, waiting for his men to arrive. I should know. I went on that journey once, but ended up coming back with him.”

Enrique looked at Pang and pulled his knife from its sheath. “Well then, how about we interrupt his
siesta
?”

Enrique raised his head and peered toward El Paso, and saw no other riders. Once satisfied, he crawled down the bank and the others followed. They waded into the water and moved very slowly to make little noise. The water was no more than knee deep, but it weighed heavy against Enrique's feet. It felt like one of those dreams he'd had as a child, where he was hunting and saw a prize elk, but his arms would not move to lift his bow, or his bow seemed too heavy to lift, and the game just stood there taunting his inability to make the kill. It was not so much the memory of the dream that consumed Enrique now, but the anticipation of what lay beneath the cottonwoods. The thought began to boil inside him—the memory of all that had happened to his parents and to Amelia, and all the nightmares and time alone before he went to the mission. It stirred an anger that made him gnash his teeth and form his free hand into a fist. He gripped his knife until his hand turned white and his fingers throbbed. Now he sensed Valdar's presence, too, and he believed his sister. Valdar was there, and his time had come.

* * *

Pang waded through the water close behind Amelia. They all made slow, short strides. There was a point where the water came almost to their waists, between the sandbars of the ford, but they kept moving, the power of the reckoning fueling them forward. Pang thought about how quickly his life had changed, and looking at Enrique in front of him, he knew, too, that if not for him, and Sheriff Dutton, he would likely not have gotten this far. It was destiny, and it would not fail him. The thought of it made him feel larger than life itself and stronger than he'd ever felt. Not even the water that surrounded his legs could restrain him from claiming his revenge and bringing justice to his family.

Halfway across the river Enrique stopped, as if he'd turned to stone. His head turned slowly, and then Pang heard them, too. Horses clopped and snorted. He turned and saw them approaching the bank of the river behind them. At least a dozen riders, all Mexican, wearing wide sombreros. When the riders saw them, they fanned out along the bank, and then four riders rode into the river, two on each side of the trio. The horses' feet splashed wildly. They stopped a good thirty yards away and peered directly at the the three of them thigh deep in the muddy Rio Grande.

Pang looked up at the center rider, whom he immediately identified. It was Baliador, and he smiled at them, then put his fingers in his teeth and whistled.

Valdar appeared from behind the southwest bank. He looked down on them and studied the situation from every angle. At first he did not smile, but seemed very concerned as his head moved about, but at last came the devilish grin that they'd all come to know so well.

At least they knew now that Amelia was right. But the harsh reality of the sudden predicament did not take long to set in.

“Ah,
mis amigos
!” Valdar yelled. “How far you have come. I take it I have something you want?” He lifted up Sai Min by her arm. Her face was badly soiled, her hair in disarray, and her eyes bulged as she called out Pang's name. She now wore a dirty white cotton dress.

Pang knew there was nothing he could do. He clenched his fists and looked all around him, trying to make a plan.

Valdar laughed and pointed a chin at Baliador, who rode down the bank and into the water. He grabbed a rope from his saddle, twirled a loop, and tossed it around Amelia. A quick pull and a spurring of his horse took her under the water, and Enrique dove in after her. Baliador pulled quickly, but Enrique found the rope and brought his knife up to cut it. The rope snapped and curled like a snake across the top of the water. Enrique rose with Amelia in his arms, both of them coughing out water and breathing hard.

Angry, Baliador jumped from his horse into the water and high-stepped toward them. Pang jumped into his path, took a deep breath, and remembered a teaching from his father, from a lake back in China. He could almost hear the voice of his father and his teaching.

“No matter where you are, my son,” Hingon said, “your body can find balance. Focus all the power to the part of your body that is free.”

Pang took another deep breath, raised his hands above his head, and put them together, as if his arms were a roof over him. Baliador stopped and snarled and pulled a revolver from his holster. Pang dove into the water, and he could hear the muffled gunshots and bullets whiz by him, but he found Baliador's legs, wrapped his arms around them, and with all his strength pulled him under. The renegade was strong, but because he had fallen backward, most of his energy was being used trying to recover and get back to his feet. Pang took advantage of the moment, let go of his legs, and put all his body weight on top of Baliador. He grabbed his neck with both hands and pushed down. The renegade's arms swung up and beat frantically on the Chinaman's sides and back. Pang held on, holding his breath under the water but hoping that Baliador couldn't hold on, that he would give in and suck water into his lungs.

* * *

It seemed that the desert fell silent around them. Not a bird chirped. There was not even a breeze to make a leaf flutter or to echo off the eroded shoreline. They all watched in this silence, to see who would rise from the water in triumph. Enrique's stomach turned when he saw that the first to rise was Baliador, his eyes wide, but suddenly he bobbed back down, lifeless, his body floating and turning in the current. Then Pang rose, all the way to his feet and gasping for air. He breathed hard, water running from his hair and onto his face and dripping from his chin and arms. He glared all around with his eyes wide, and then he arched his arms to his sides, clenched his fists, looked up in the sky, and yelled. It was not a typical cry of triumph, but definitely one of victory. A release of all the torment he had left, as an offering to his father's spirit.

It did not take long for Valdar and his men to respond. Guns rose on each of the mounted horsemen, and as they aimed, Enrique dove for the water, pulling Amelia in with him. He could hear the dull piercing of bullets hitting the water all around him. He held his breath, feeling his sister's hands grab hold of his waist, then her arms wrap around him as they tumbled underneath the shallow river.

Before long he could not take any more and needed air. He rose to face the wrath of Valdar and his men. Now it was all a stand of faith.

As Enrique rose from the water, he felt Amelia's hands release him. The gunfire suddenly stopped, and he gasped for air as his head surfaced. He made way to his feet, looking all around him as he stood, dripping wet. All the men on horseback had lowered their rifles. Valdar came closer to the river and was looking on with anticipation.

Enrique found Pang lying in the water, somewhat bent over and grimacing.

“You okay?”

“My leg is hit, but I am okay.”

Enrique looked around him, wondering why the mounted men had stopped. He looked to his side, and to his horror found the body of Amelia floating facedown.

“No!”

He dove for her, turned her, and found her limp and lifeless. Then he saw the bloodstain grow over her chest where a bullet had penetrated. After all this, she had led them to Valdar only to meet her death. How could it be? He wanted to hold her, but just as he thought he had no more hatred for Valdar, it rose within him to a level that made him feel as towering as the cottonwoods that stood high above them all.

He let go of Amelia and looked at Valdar. He breathed in and out, clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth, and yelled from the bottom of his wet lungs. “NO!”

He lifted his legs high from the water and marched toward the shore. Valdar glared at him, back-stepped, and fell down. He jumped back up, drew his pistol, and aimed it at Enrique. Bullets flew all around him, but Enrique remained steadfast toward his enemy. Valdar emptied the gun and after two dead clicks growled and tossed it into the water. He turned to run up the bank, but a sudden rumble stopped them all. Valdar turned and looked opposite him, but Enrique wouldn't stop his pursuit. The rumble increased, and there were gunshots all around. Enrique expected a bullet to penetrate his back and knock him into the water, but then he saw the Mexican riders crossing the river and none of them shooting. The rumbling continued to grow, and two of the riders were shot off their horses.

Puzzled, Enrique turned. Several riders appeared all around him, charging into the water, shooting rifles and handguns. They were mostly blue-coated soldiers, some in civilian clothing, dusters, cotton shirts. Nearly a hundred of them.

After all of the Mexican riders had been shot or had given in, several soldiers rode up to the southwest side, and in a matter of seconds they had surrounded the entire area.

Valdar stared in defeat. He pulled a knife and started after Enrique, but before he made a second step, he arched his back and grimaced. He stared, ghostly, for a moment, then fell forward, a hatchet stuck in his back. On the bank above him stood a lone figure, and once Enrique realized who it was, his mind and body locked in astonishment.

Sereno walked down the bank toward Valdar. The Demon Warrior squirmed and tried to crawl, but he stopped when Sereno turned in front of him. Valdar turned to his side and looked up at the young Tohono O'odham, who spat in his eye. Valdar snarled and reached for him, calling out a loud blood-curdling cry.