Page 36 of Nomad

Christ. Life is strange.

He had to hand it to the little mother-to-be in his arms. She hadn’t made a sound. Not a whimper. She’d done what she was told fearlessly.

He didn’t hear any more gunshots. And he didn’t hear any more instructions. He suspected they’d figured out that they might as well save their breath. Nobody was getting their hands on Bud until she was eighteen goddamn years old.

After they walked out of the river, they turned around and looked at the Rangers on the other side. They were watching, but it was clear that, as Brant had said, they weren’t going to do anything else.

When he set Bud on her feet, out of curiosity he put two fingers on her neck. Her heart was pumping like they were being chased by Godzilla. Yes. She was naturally born battle worthy and going to be a great mama to some lucky kid.

Cann pulled out his phone and got their location. Then, turning his back on the river, he made a burner phone call.

“Yeah?” Brant answered.

The relief Cann felt hearing that the phone had picked up service was indescribable. He closed his eyes for a second.

“Just like you said, Prez. They won’t follow across the river.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah. Mary and Joseph, too. Arnold’s truck is a little less than halfway across. Maybe Maria knows somebody who can get it out tonight and give it a new incarnation.”

“You’re gonna owe Arnold a ton of money.”

“Well, what’s it good for anyway? We’re three miles northeast of Ojinaga.”

“Hang on. Heading due south will run you into Highway 16. I’ll have somebody out there looking for you. If you don’t make connections before you get to Ojinaga, go to the Alsuper on Avenue Trasvina y Retes. They’ll pick you up there.”

“Okay.”

“Be careful. If you get to the Alsuper before my contact finds you, let her have bottled water and the fruit after you wash it. Nothing else unless it’s packaged in the U.S.”

“Yep. Got it.” He looked at Bud. “We’re hoofin’ it.”

“Okay.” She smiled as if he’d just said she’d won free pizza for a year.

“Brant’s sendin’ somebody out to look for us, but we’ve got to get to the highway and it’s a ways. If they don’t find us on the road, we’ll make contact in town.”

She nodded. “Why’d you carry me?”

He looked down at his feet. Those boots would never be the same and he doubted the walk was going to be fun. “Heard a shot. I knew it was unlikely they’d shoot at us. But every now and then a crazy sneaks into law enforcement or somebody makes a mistake.”

“Yeah, but why’d you carry me?”

He looked up into those amazing violet eyes and got transfixed for a minute. “Come on. We don’t have time to stand here jabberin’.”

“Jabberin’?”

“You heard me.”

“I wasn’t jabberin’. And that’s kind of insulting. You know that?”

It took them almost three hours to get to Federal 16. It would have been a forty-five minute walk on pavement, but cross country is something entirely different.

After they’d been walking for about an hour Bud said, “Remind me to thank you properly for these boots. I’d be in a world of shit makin’ this walk in those Keds.” She paused. “They were cute though.”

She pretty much kept up the small talk and prattle for the duration. It might have bothered some guys, but Cann found it strangely comforting. He also admired the fact that she was doggedly cheerful in the face of events that would cause open complaining from most women.

“There aren’t any rattlesnakes out here, right?” Cann just laughed. “But you’ve got that pistol loaded, right?”

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