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Jesse took a sip and said, “Let’s catch these bitches and get on into town. I want to sit in a tub, put some ice on my head, a puta in my lap, and a gallon of cold water down my throat. It’s been one son-of-a-bitchin’ day.”
Johnny looked up the mountain, “It won’t be long. We’re gaining.”
***
Anda looked down the mountain, past where Maria and Alicia sat on the ground. The Barbosas were a half mile behind, but coming fast. She looked at the women. She could leave them, that would be easy enough. It felt like she was crawling, held back by their meager pace and constant stops to sit and rest. Maria glared at her.
Maria said, “Well, little thief, what do you think now? Are we fast enough for you, making it hard for you to get away from us?”
“The Barbosas are close, gaining.”
“I don’t see them,” Maria sneered, “I think you just try to scare us.”
“Stand up. Look over the rocks and you can see them.” Maria and Alicia got to their feet and saw the men.
Alicia turned to Anda with big eyes. “What do we do? They will catch us!” Maria looked at Anda, but said nothing.
Anda turned to the great mountainside reaching above them. She took her time, looking at possible paths and animal trails that showed as thin pale lines in the earth. Some older paths Anda could only see out of the corner of her eyes.
The Old Ones, she thought, and she knew that here in these mountains, that meant the Apaches when they ran ferocious and free. Her great-grandfather’s tales of when he was a scout for the Mexican Army, chasing the great chief Victorio through this same vastness told her all she needed to know for the moment.
She chose her path. “I’m going to climb higher, then stop them. Two miles from here is water, a spring.”
Alicia started up after her, but Maria said, “Follow you? All you do is climb, climb, climb. How can you stop them? And how do you know where there is water, you are not from here.”
Anda started up the mountain and Alicia looked at Maria, then followed. Maria cursed, “Indian witch!” But she followed.
Anda led them on a winding path through a jumble of tall boulders, some so close together you could touch them on both sides at the same time. The women came out on a two-acre flattened area of bedrock that butted against a cliff-face.
“Now you’ve done it!” Maria said. “Led us to a dead end in the middle of the mountains. The brothers will love to find us here!” She spat.
Anda ignored her and walked to where the edge of the flattened area and the cliff met beside open air. A foot-wide trail led off the flattened area and along the sheer cliff, with a five hundred foot drop straight down to where the mountain sloped outward again. Anda stepped on the trail and inched her way sideways, face toward the rock, strongly aware that the thick cocaine she wore pushed her body away from the cliff face. Fifty feet out, the trail widened to two feet, and Anda turned to walk normally.
“Girl, wait!” Alicia and Maria attempted to follow.
Anda said, “Keep your face to the rock, and slide your feet along the trail - don’t lift them to step. Make sure your toes are always touching the cliff.” She waited, watching behind them to see if the brothers were coming.
The women made it and Alicia bent over to throw up, but nothing came out. Anda led off, going slowly, even on the wider path. Ten minutes later, Anda turned into a narrow crack in the cliff face that went up at a fifty-degree angle. She heard the brothers yelling at them, but paid them no mind. Amid the talus on the floor were a number of deer and other animal tracks. Anda stepped carefully into it, braced a hand against each side, and started up, placing her feet before moving her weight over them. The women followed, and their nervous panting was loud in the close space.
The crack stayed the same width all the way to the top, but the upper portion was more heavily littered with talus and rock. Anda made it through without slipping, but Alicia screamed and almost fell several times, causing Maria to nervously curse her, since she was last in line and would be knocked into space with Alicia if they fell and slid out of the steep crevice. At the top, Anda helped Alicia out and was reaching for Maria when she saw Jesse step into the bottom of the crevice.
“Stop right there, you bitches! If you keep running, we are going to cut your eyes out! Stop!” He stood at the bottom, trying to figure out his next step, and Johnny stuck his head around the edge to watch the women.
Maria scrambled out and looked around. They were in a high valley with tall, yellow grass in the bottom and scattered pine trees higher up. Boulders and smaller rocks were scattered over the area as if tossed by a careless giant.
Anda stood at the head of the crevice, looking down at the brothers. She waited until they were both in, then picked up a rock the size of a cantaloupe and tossed it underhanded into the crevice. The rock bounced and slid among the talus, starting a small slide of debris and dust that gathered speed down the chute.
Jesse yelled and turned back, pushing Johnny out of the crevice. They barely made it before the roar of stones and gravel shot out of the crevice and arced into the air to fall in silence for a full minute before striking the mountain’s shoulder. “Ohh, I’m goin’ to kill her!” Jesse roared. He stood shaking on the narrow trail beside the crevice and adjusted the turban that had slipped over one eye. His heart pounded so hard he could feel it thudding his ribs.
Johnny leaned as hard as he could against the cliff. His face was pale, his eyes tightly closed, and he panted shallow and fast, like an out of breath dog. “Don’t you…ever shove me again when we’re in a place like that!”
Jesse leaned his head sideways to look up the crevice. No one was there. He stepped out. Nothing happened. He entered the crevice and was taking a step when a fist-sized rock came zinging down and ricocheted off the wall by his hand. Jesse hurried out of the crevice.
He heard Anda say, “You try to come up, I will send you to the bottom of the mountain with a pile of rocks on your head. You can come up after dark, not before. I will be here until then. If you feel lucky, you can try, but the next time I toss a rock, it will be when you are too far in to escape. I will not talk to you again. Stay there until nightfall.”
Anda piled up a foot-high cairn of stones all around the lip of the crevice, then stood. The two women looked at her. Anda said, “When they come up they might pull the rocks in on them. They won’t fall off the mountain, but it might scare them a little.”
“What do we do now?” Alicia asked.
