Page 67 of Run with Me

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to John, as we rode in the backseat.

“This isn’t your fault.”

“No, I’m sorry for putting you in this situation in the first place. I’m sorry I couldn’t choose differently.”

I chose the safety of our daughter instead of him, and I wasn’t sure if he would ever forgive me for that. But I couldn’t tell him now. That would only put my baby in more danger. Ben could never know aboutHope.

When the car stopped a few feet away from the canyon, I felt chills replace the sweat on mybody.

“Get out.” Ben motioned with his gun. For the next few moments, he just stood there as Mateo removed ropes, an axe, and a red container that appeared to be filled with gas. That explained where the fumes had comefrom.

“Ben, just let us go,” I pleaded. It was useless, I knew that, but I had totry.

“Tell me where the money is, Anna.”

“Anna, what is he talking about?” John finally asked. Anyone would have questioned me, from the way Ben kept insisting that I’d stolen the money. Which I had, but I would keep that secret locked inside me. No one else would ever touch that money, unless it was for the right reason. Enough damage had beendone.

“I don’t know.” I would repeat those words until they believed me. I would repeat them until I believed them myself.

“Vamos!” Ben pushed me closer to the canyon, where he began to set up what looked like a small pit for afire.

His brother tied the rope around a higher branch on a nearby tree and then measured it to the length that took the rope to over the canyon. He then proceeded to tie the other end around John’s wrists.

“Mateo, what are you doing?” I felt my heart beat hard in my chest. “Stop that! You can’t kill him. For God’s sake, he’s a priest!”

“It’s not me who’s going to kill him. You will.” He motioned for Mateo to move John toward the canyon’s edge. Mateo pushed the gun into John’s chest until he leaned backward over the ledge. The rope tied around John’s wrists tensed and became his lifeline.

“This is how it’s going to work, chiquita. The less you talk, the more wood you add to that fire.” He pointed to the small heap of sticks and twigs he’d set up right underneath the tensedrope.

“Ben, you can’t do this,” I said, as Mateo added gas to the pile and lit the pit. The flames shot up with a temporary burst from the fuel, but then lowered and I breathed out in relief. Mateo set the red container aside and pushed me down to the ground, where he’d placed a bucket full of wood from the trunk of the car. The pieces were thick and dry. Once they caught fire, it would be difficult to put themout.

“You stole fucking fifty million dollars. If you don’t talk, the rope will burn through, and John will fall down the canyon. If you talk too late, there won’t be enough time to untie him. But you want to know what the good news is? At least when the vultures pick the flesh off his bones, he’ll be dead already. All I’ll need to do is find a nice special spot for my new skeleton when I retrieve it. How about right out in front of the Bistro? What do you think, Padre?”

My gaze connected with John’s. I couldn’t let him die. My palms were sweating, and I could hear my heartbeat drumming in my ears. Were these the last few moments of our time together? I hadn’t even told him about Hope. He couldn’t die without knowing; but I couldn’t expose my daughter to this monster with a gun in hishand.

“Come on, add more wood to the fire.” Ben pointed the gun to the back of my head, pressing the barrel there.

Sobbing, I crouched beside the small pit and threw a twig into the growing flames.

“Ben, you can still make things right,” John said. He didn’t seem to be afraid. He seemed at peace with what was tocome.

Ben of course ignoredhim.

“More,” he ordered. He did so over and over again until the fire came dangerously close to catching therope.

“What the hell is that?” Mateo pointed out into the distance. When both men turned south, I used the time to scatter the flame with a stick, and it lowered. I then looked up at what had captured their attention.

Mateo ran to the car and removed a pair of binoculars.

“It’s a horse with a dead man,” he said after a moment.

Xavier.

It had to be him. Either that, or this horse in the middle of the desert making its way toward us would be a huge coincidence.

Hope for tomorrow.

The horse approached, and with the fire nice and low, I felt hope grow in my chest. Over the horse’s back was a draped body. Its arms hung on one side and the legs on the other. The man was dressed in a colorful poncho and black jeans. Xavier had similar pants, but he definitely didn’t have a poncho. Still, I kept that spark of hope in my chest well lit because if there was anything that I did know, it was that I couldn’t lose Hope. I couldn’t loseher.

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