Page 43 of Hidden Falls

And end it did, at last—when the lights, traffic and freeways of Mexico City had given way to suburbs, and then farms—and a drop in elevation.

Cruz angled off the main road and onto a narrow, private one bordered by an ornate white fence that gleamed in the moonlight. “He keeps horses,” Cruz said over his shoulder, the words whipped away.

A cattle guard rattled beneath their tires, and then he turned into a grove of cypress trees, bent away from the direction of the prevailing wind, as shadowy beneath their branches as the inside of a cavern.

He switched off the headlight. The engine ticked in a night filled with the sound of wind in the trees.

Lei released her grip on Cruz’s leathers. Her body felt stiff, locked up. She extended her legs but couldn’t touch the ground until she leaned to the side in the direction that the bike was resting. Then she lost her balance, her leg still caught on the seat.

Cruz steadied her by grabbing her arm. “Easy,” he said.

Lei slid all the way off the seat and hopped, then found her balance. Cruz anchored the bike with the kickstand. She heard him locking it up, using a tiny light on his watch. Visibility was still too bad to make out much.

She took off the helmet and shook out her hair, imagining it was as frazzled as a string mop around her head. Her lips felt glued to her teeth, her eyes dry from the air racing across her face for so long.

“We walk from here,” he said. “We’re about half a mile from Ramirez’s estate. I have a place in mind where we can get a look inside. We’re doing this to get confirmation that Malia’s really there.”

“Do you have the right equipment?”

“You know I do.” A dry chuckle. “Everything is the best.”

Her face went hot; she was glad of the night’s concealment. “I meant for surveillance.”

“I know what you meant.” Cruz’s whisky voice sounded like he was holding back a laugh. He flicked on a red penlight, enough to see the carrier saddlebags on the bike. He took out a small, loaded backpack that looked heavy and slipped it onto his back. He handed her a second one; it clinked slightly as she slid into the straps. “We’ll use this light now and then when we need to. Red doesn’t show up as much.”

“Got it.”

They moved deeper into the cypress grove, eventually coming out from under the trees. The fence appeared, gleaming in fitful moonlight broken by scudding clouds. Cruz climbed over the wooden rails first.

Lei’s mind buzzed with questions and her pulse pounded but talking wasn’t a good idea. She followed the CIA man, jumping from the last rung of the fence into the pasture and hurrying after his silhouette as it moved like a cloud shadow over the land.

21

Malia

Three days since I was taken. I kept track by making a dot on the inside of the makeup bag I’d asked for—and been given, as every request I’d made had been granted.

Except to go home.

And for a phone to call my family.

I could have made hashmarks in the journal the men gave me or dated each page. I could’ve written down what I ate, how much I slept. It seemed important to leave some kind of record—but I had zero confidence that it was private, and they could take it any time.

The secret dots were my own.

But I was trying to cooperate; wait for the right time to make a move.

I still didn’t know who the real players were; I’d only seen the two men who took me as we landed, and then we got on a helicopter. We flew for a long time; I could tell we were in a foreign country because I didn’t recognize anything, and the signs I saw before we took off were in Spanish.

As the chopper dropped gently down, I was able to see the whole layout of an enormous house with acres of fancy stuff around it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed.

A barn, stables, a pasture with horses in it, a huge garage with fancy cars parked in front, a golf course, and a swimming pool all surrounded an enormous house made of white stone with red clay roofs. The mansion was built in the shape of a rectangle, with a garden and a fountain in the open middle part.

Also impressive was a long stone wall topped with sharp-looking iron stakes surrounding the whole thing. The only other sign of humanity anywhere in the area was a cell tower on a close-by ridge; the place probably sucked a lot of Internet juice.

Whoever had nabbed me had serious bucks; but why had I been grabbed?

The guards had simply ignored my questions until I stopped asking them.

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