Page 101 of Chris

“Are you sure?” she demanded.

“That’s what they said before they took off.”

Valeria stared out into the distance, watching the men disappear down the darkening dirt road. Jorge and Samuel stared in the same direction; their fight forgotten for the moment.

Was it him?

Was it Chris?

God.

She hoped so.

She needed it to be so.

Maria’s arms tightened around her mother’s neck. “Mamá?”

She couldn’t speak or smile for her child.

Valeria looked to Abril who was far calmer, and ready. Although, for what, she didn’t have a clue. “What do we do now?”

“We get a bag ready for you and her.”

“A bag—”

Abril nodded. “Quickly, before they get back or Jorge notices something is up. Wouldn’t want to ruin his part of the plan when mine went off without a hitch, no?”

What was happening?

Valeria didn’t dare ask.

Right now, it was just better to do what she was told.

Valeria came back out of the house, although she had to make Maria stay tucked away in her bedroom with the little pink book bag hidden under her bed, as the men appeared on the darkened road. They walked in a line, with one moving slower than the rest in front.

Her heart ached.

“Is that him?” Jorge asked. “Is it?”

Samuel grunted under his breath the closer the men came. “It looks like it.”

Abril, who had now taken a seat on the wicker chairs on the porch, stood and gave Valeria a quick nod. “You good?”

“Yeah, Abril.”

“Good. Keep up, okay?”

What?

Valeria didn’t get the chance to ask, her attention going back to the men as their boots crunched against the gravel road. One guard picked up his pace, jogging past the slower man heading the group to dart in Jorge and Samuel’s direction. Overhead, the blackened sky twinkled with stars, but for whatever reason, it seemed foreboding to Valeria.

Night always held secrets.

Didn’t it?

“Chris says they’re coming, boss,” the man told Jorge. “Here—the Garcías got a hold of him and then let him go to send us a message. They will storm the ranch.”

Valeria went cold all over.