I shot out of the pew, but Ben was already halfway down the aisle, and I didn’t have a chance to get away.
“Nah, nah, nah, chiquita. Now that we’re all here, it’s time to settle a debt. They didn’t believe me, but I knew you’d come back. I knew you couldn’t leave all that cash behind.”
As Ben strolled toward us with the barrel of his gun aimed our way, John stepped in front of me.
“Where’s the money, Anna?” Ben asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied.
“Why did you say she died out in the desert?” John asked, still half shocked. What I wanted to know, was, if I’d presumably died, then where was my body?
“We found Mr. Garcia in his truck. He had a heart attack.” He smirked, and I knew that was a lie as well.”
Ben killed him. My chest tightened. If it weren’t for the old man, I would have never made it out of Pace. I hoped he got a chance to use his shot gun on them, but even if he did, his plan failed.
“When we searched the truck, there was a compartment with your son’s plush toy and a lot of blood. No one could have survived that.” Why was Ben so happy about it?
I knew that I’d had a lot of cuts and bruises. At one point I’d gotten a gash on my forearm that had bled a lot. Then one on my thigh and another one on my calf. That’s what happened when you traveled in a rusted old car with leftover metal scraps.
I didn’t remember most of that trip, but I knew that I’d slept a lot. I was pretty sure Mr. Garcia was the one who had arranged for the bus driver to take me out of state. I couldn’t believe he was gone.
“Police said the body was mangled beyond recognition. They brought Mr. Monkey to me. The toy was covered in blood. That’s why I thought it had to be you.”
“Who did you kill to put in that casket?” I asked.
“Chiquita, we thought it was you. It made sense since that toy was there.” He mocked. “I guess it’s a wonder what the police will say when they’re motivated.”
Ben paid them off. He did so on purpose, to hurt John. My heart ached for John as I imagined what he must have felt when he heard the news of my death.
“You’re a bastard, that’s what you are,” I said to Ben. “You come to Pace and act all high and mighty, terrorizing everyone in town. You have no idea what a monster you are. John may not say it to you, but I will. You will go straight to hell, where your worst nightmares, whatever those may be, will be played over and over again and you will suffer the pain and torture you brought to others.”
Ben laughed. “Yeah, I’m really afraid now. I act high and mighty because that’s what I am. Don’t ever fucking forget that, and as far as hell, I’m looking forward to ruling it. Where is the money, Anna? Where’s my fifty million dollars?”
Ben pushed me forward and I fell to my knees. I heard John shuffle behind me as he tried to get to me, but Ben put the gun to his head to stop him.
“Levántate! You better start talking, or Padre John here is not going to fulfill his calling.”
As I slowly pushed off the floor, I caught sight of Xavier lying underneath one of the benches. He put his finger to his lips, as if shushing me, and moved his head to the side. I thought he mouthed Don’t tell, but I wasn’t sure. At this moment, denial was probably one of the best options anyway because the moment I told Ben about the money, he’d pull the trigger.
I brushed my knees off and stood up.
“Come on.” Ben pressed the gun between my shoulder blades. “I think it’s time you found out how I get those skeletons on my wall nice and clean.”
John put his arm around me and I looked behind us. “I can’t believe you’re threatening a priest.”
“Like I said before, I already know I’m going to hell.” Ben shrugged.
“Come on, let’s not infuriate him any further.” John pulled me to him with reassurance.
I hoped that Xavier would hurry with whatever plan he was making up underneath that bench. Right about now would work. But we left the church, and Xavier never came out. It would be so easy to lose hope now, but Xavier wouldn’t give up on us. He wouldn’t break his promise – would he?
Ben took us across the street to one of his cars. As soon as I got in, the smell of fuel overwhelmed me. I could barely breathe, and so I twisted the knob and rolled down the window. Before Ben turned the ignition, my gaze caught a section of a familiar postcard in between papers scattered over the car’s dashboard.
How did he get that? I thought.
We took a road out of town. I made the sign of the cross as we passed my parents’ chapel. Ben had no idea how close we’d come to the money, and I couldn’t help but gloat on the inside. That money was cursed anyway. The stolen cash was damned, and I prayed that if it remained hidden, it would eventually stop terrorizing us. A mile or so past the chapel, Mateo took a sudden turn right and headed straight for the canyon. I connected my gaze with John’s. Fear filled his eyes, but it wasn’t his own. It was fear for my life.
Live for today.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to John, as we rode in the back seat.
“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 about Hope.
When the car stopped a few feet away from the canyon, I felt chills replace the sweat on my body.
“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 come from.
“Ben, just let us go,” I pleaded. It was useless, I knew that, but I had to try.
“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 been done.
“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 a fire.
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 tensed rope.
“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 them out.
“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 his hand.
“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 to come.
Ben of course ignored him.
“More,” he ordered. He did so over and over again until the fire came dangerously close to catching the rope.
“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 lose her.
As the horse came closer, everyone’s attention was drawn to the lifeless body it was carrying. I wished I could see who it was. My blood coursed through my veins, overworking my heart. Maybe this was exactly the distraction we needed to get away from Ben and Mateo?
A shot sounded, and I saw Ben fall to his knees and roll over to the side. He dropped the gun from his grip. It landed closer to the edge of the cliff, where John was leaning over.
“Bastardo!” he screamed, holding onto his thigh where blood oozed between his fingers. At the scream, the horse reared up and struck out with its forelegs, catching Mateo in the chest and sending him flying straight at me – except he landed by the fuel canister, tipping it over. The fuel spilled and ignited the fire. Flames consumed the rope in an instant. Mateo caught on fire as well and began rolling in the dirt, while Ben dragged his leg, making his way toward the gun that had flown out of his hand earlier.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion, though it was actually just a few seconds. I watched the three men fight for their lives: Mateo rolling on the ground, Ben nearing the gun, and John desperately trying to pull himself up the rope. He was leaning so far back that the task was nearly impossible from that angle. The man jumped off the horse, threw the concealing hat to the side, and flung the poncho off his back as if he were staring in a movie.
Xavier!
When he ran to me, I didn’t understand why at first, but then noticed that the rope keeping John alive was almost burnt through. Xavier grabbed the end just as it snapped, and John fell back, pulling Xavier with him. As John’s weight dragged Xavier closer to the canyon’s edge, it also tripped Ben. Xavier dug his heels into the ground until he finally managed to stop the momentum of the drag. With the bullet through his thigh and the rope around his feet, Ben lost his balance and fell backwards over the ledge. Xavier caught his arm before he fell to his death. Lying flat on the ground, Xavier was holding the two men: Ben with his left hand and John with his right. Though I could no longer see him, I heard him screaming, “Pull up!” as he hung over the edge.
I crawled on my hands and knees toward Xavier to help him with the rope, but I couldn’t do much.
“I can’t hold both of them,” Xavier said, through gritted teeth.
“You let me go and my family will hunt you for the rest of your life,” Ben warned.
“You can’t let John die,” I urged.
“I don’t think this is even a choice,” Xavier said, underneath his breath.
Mateo managed to put out the fire and crawled toward the stray gun. The gun was on Xavier’s other side, and Mateo had a better chance at reaching the weapon than I did.
“I’m sorry,” Xavier said to Ben, and let go of his hand. A scream followed by an obnoxious laugh echoed as Ben fell to his death. Holding onto the rope where John was hanging, Xavier rolled over toward the gun, snatched it up, and pointed it at Mateo, who stopped within two feet of us. Another second and our fate would have been sealed.
Holy shit!
“Wait, you can’t kill him!” I screamed. “One man has already died today. It’s enough.”
“He needs to die. He’ll come after us if he doesn’t. Come here,” Xavier ordered me. “Hold on to this gun. If he as much as moves, you shoot – do you understand me, Anna?”
I nodded, but I didn’t think he believed me.
“You shoot if he moves.” He then lowered his voice. “You’ve got Hope to think about.”
“Okay. If he moves, I’ll shoot.” I took the gun out of Xavier’s hand and aimed it at Mateo, who squirmed in pain. His legs were scorched, and he could barely stand on the right one. His pants were burnt through, and the skin on his thighs was seared. Pain brought out a redder shade on his face as he fought through it. As I pointed the gun at Mateo, Xavier pulled on the rope and dragged John up the cliff.
“Are you okay?” I called out.
“Yes, I’m fine, but Ben…” He looked back over the edge of the canyon where the rope John hung onto carved into the soil. I followed his gaze to the limp body at the bottom. Blood pooled from underneath Ben’s corpse. I shut my eyes and said a quick prayer, but it didn’t take long for that vengeful part inside me to wonder whether anyone would ever hang his skeleton on a wall.
“I had no choice.” Xavier came to my side and gently removed the gun from my grasp.
“Just like you’ve given me no choice,” Mateo threatened. “You know what this means?”
Whatever passed between the two men, it wasn’t good, and so Xavier adjusted his aim.
“Wait – you can’t kill an unarmed man.” John stopped Xavier from pulling the trigger. “That’s murder.”
“Oh, yeah? Watch me.” Xavier once again aimed the gun at Mateo.
“Xavier, John’s right,” I whispered.
“You understand that if we let him live, he will hunt us for the rest of his life?”
“Can you keep us safe?” I asked. “All of us.”
I didn’t mention Hope, but I was sure he knew what I meant.
“Anna, you’d be giving up your life.”
“It’s not a life worth living if you have a soul on your conscience. I don’t want you to have that.”
“It’s a little late for that,” he said, and I felt his pain. I felt it each time I thought about Mikey. I wondered whether Xavier would ever stop blaming himself for his son’s death. “But yes, I can keep us safe.”
He then turned to Mateo. “There’s only one way you get to live today, Mateo. Father John didn’t know we were coming. He didn’t know anything about this, and you won’t touch him. This is between me and you.”
Mateo shook his head. “You know it’s about way more than that.”
“Don’t blame your money problems on us,” Xavier warned.
That money was cursed. Anyone who touched it would be cursed too, and at this moment it was better that it stayed where I’d left it. Mateo agreed that his life would be spared in exchange for John’s. He gave an oath on his honor, which I didn’t even know people like him had, and we drove off in the car, leaving Mateo out by the canyon. It would take him over an hour to walk back to town, which would give us just enough time to drive John back, say our goodbyes, and leave.
*
I stood over Mikey’s grave for what seemed like hours. I crouched down and hid my face in my hands as my heart broke apart all over again. At least Ben would never hurt my little angel again. I lowered the bunch of wild sunflowers I’d picked on the way back and stood up. John took me in his arms.
“Come with me,” I begged.
“I can’t, beautiful. My place is here now. I need to stay with Mikey. My purpose has changed now, Anna. Ben is gone. Since they don’t have their money, the brothers will leave town as well. I’m pretty sure you’ve convinced them that you don’t know anything about it.”
John only confirmed to me that keeping the hidden money a secret was the right decision.
“I don’t know if I can do this without you. I’m not sure how to go on.”
“There’s nothing here left for you, and it looks like you’ve done pretty well this far.” He nodded to Xavier. “He’s a good friend. And he’s exactly what you need, Anna. You need a man, not a priest. You need someone who will take care of you, both emotionally and physically. If anyone deserves a fresh start, it’s you. Pace will be a good town again one day, I promise, but even then, I’m afraid for what will happen because of Ben’s death. I’m afraid Mateo will be after you to avenge his brother.”
“I will keep her safe,” Xavier replied. When I turned to him I felt a new energy draw me to this man. I’d always been drawn to him, but couldn’t understand why. I trusted him with my life. It was in his arms where I felt the safest. It was he who believed in me and supported me.
“Anna, run with me, and I will love you until my heart has no more strength. I will never give up Hope.”
I gasped. Though my daughter’s name just passed between us, John wasn’t aware of it. Telling him now about Hope would only hurt him. It would confuse John and the religious journey he had set upon. This wasn’t the right time to tell him. He was vulnerable, and I didn’t want to confuse him or his beliefs. I would carry this enormous secret with me until the time was right. John had almost died today because of me, and I would never do anything to hurt him again – and that included his spiritual beliefs. While I realized that it was a sin not to tell him, I was willing to carry the burden of this sin for him.
“Will you move Mikey’s grave to the chapel for me?” I asked.
“Yes. Of course I will.”
I threw my arms around his neck. “Thank you for everything. Thank you for loving me and for your constant care.”
“I haven’t done anything, Anna, but I will continue praying.” He swept his thumb over my cheek to wipe the tear away. “This isn’t a goodbye. It’s a ‘see you later’.”
“Okay, I think I can do that,” I breathed. “I’ll see you later.”
I let go of my first love and turned around. I didn’t look back again.