Page 4 of Mace

I saw him reaching into his pocket and decided in a flash that he was going for a weapon. My only hope was to get to my gun before he drew down on me or pulled out a knife. I slid my hand around and released my gun from the holster a split second before he did.

“Freeze, or I’ll riddle you with holes.” I’ve always wanted to say that.

To his credit the big man froze. “I’m not leaving without my woman.”

For the first time the woman he was harassing spoke up for herself. “I’m not your woman,cabrón.”

The look on his face turned to stone cold fury when her hand came up to rest on my arm as she peered around me to look at him.

He swore in Spanish under his breath and then made a very stupid decision by continuing to reach for his gun. “You can’t leave with this stranger.”

I squeezed off a shot, catching him in the thigh. He fell to the ground and started trying to attend to his wound.

Without taking my eyes off him, I pointed out to her. “Your father and the others would have heard that. It won’t take them long to find us. I can get you out of this situation, but you’ll have to trust me. Or you can stay.”

The man yelled at her. “You know your papa won’t let him just walk outta here. He’s seen our camp. We can’t risk him talking.”

I told him, “Shut your mouth or I’m gonna shoot you in the guts. Trust me, you don’t want that.”

She quickly said, “I want out and I’ll take my chances with you.”

“Alright. Let’s get moving,”

I walked out, took the gun off Alejandro and handed it to Alicia, making sure the safety was on, “Don’t use it unless you have to.”

She looked at the gun and at me, then stuffed it into her pocket without a word.

“Okay, we’d best get going.” I took her by the hand, and we ran until I found a good spot along the river that looked deep. “Can you swim?” I asked.

Her eyes went wide, “Yes, but not well.”

“The river isn’t too deep, but the current is strong. Relax and let it carry you.” We jumped in and let the current carry us away at a rate much faster than we could have walked. Nine was smart and ran alongside the riverbank. I noticed that Alicia was struggling to keep her head above water. I grabbed her, turned her around and gave her a lifeguard rescue, only letting go when I was fairly certain it was safe, and then swam over to the bank and pulled us both out of the water. I wasn’t as bulky as her friend, but I worked out and am way stronger than I looked.

We took a minute to catch our breath on the grass and then I got to my feet and pulled her up as well. “We need to keep moving. The river becomes a stream about a fourth of a mile from here. We’ll need to walk in the water to keep them from tracking us, the ground by the banks is damp so our footsteps would be visible.”

The expression of gratitude on her pretty face was hard to see. “I’ll do anything, walk all day without a break if I have to. I just want to get away from my father and Alejandro.”

“Do you know why they’re here?”

“Not really. They don’t tell me anything.” Her cagey response didn’t seem quite honest.

We started running again, only not quite so fast. We soon found the shallow spot and got back into the water. We didn’t chat much because we were just trying to make good time, finally we got close to the cabin, and I headed towards the riverbank.

“Do you think we’re far enough away?” she asked nervously. “I can’t go back there. I’d rather die first.”

“With the few miles the river tossed us when we first jumped in, and the few more we ran, I’d say that finding us would be a challenge for a good tracker. No one in your father’s group seems like they’d be good at tracking,” I told her earnestly. Though I knew that they’d find us eventually. The cabin wouldn’t be safe for us to hide out for long.

Chapter 3

Alicia

This man who liked to play hero seemed nice enough. At first, I thought he was Mexican like me, but his long braid suggested that his Native heritage was from here, rather than south of the border. There’s no denying he was handsome, but I tried to keep my distance because he was a biker—if the leather vest he was wearing was anything to go by. I was trying my best to get away from a bunch of outlaws and certainly not interested in starting up any kind of friendship with a bunch of outlaw bikers.

He had a fancy security system on his cabin that seemed out of place with the rustic building. I was happy because it added an extra layer of protection between us and my father’s cartel thugs.

That pet wolf of his trailed us all the way back to his place. He walked right into the cabin behind us and trotted off to another room like he owned the place. It was strange to see wild animals acting like domesticated ones but again I button it up because I was a guest here and it wasn’t my place to judge.

I tried to make polite small talk as I stood dripping all over his rug. “You have a lovely place, here mister.”

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