Miguel, right on time. Thanks for coming on such short notice,” Max responded, seemingly focused on traffic and not on his passenger, who was already tearing into his burrito like a shark might take to a sea bass.
A couple of minutes later, they were headed southeast on Highway 37 to Coborca and Santa Ana. Then, they would head north on the 2 through Magdalena and Cananea before heading back south again on the small long roads that led to his ranch in the mountains. It would take them about eight hours to get there and that much time to get back. He figured about two hours to drop off the extra ATV that was taking up space in his RP garage and pack up the trailer. If the police, military, and occasional drug gang checkpoints did not stop them too many times, they should make it back tomorrow, long before Bill and Lisa’s party.
Max accelerated the Jeep and trailer up to the speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour. The wind bellowed at him from everywhere, with only the windshield, and side door windows abating the onrush of air already heated by the morning sun.
“Maria is not too mad at me for taking you away for a couple of days, is she?” Max yelled at him in Spanish, trying to be heard over the air screaming through the Jeep’s cockpit.
“No, Señor Max. You never wrong in her head. She just worried bout our little boy.” Miguel yelled back in English.
“When is the big date?” Max switched back to English because it was still easier and because Miguel wanted Max to always practice with him.
“She say maybe fif-weeks now. She get big as house.” Miguel was holding his two hands about three feet apart to demonstrate, in case Max didn’t understand the analogy.
Acknowledging the humor, Max smiled back. His face then sagged. “When we get back, you tell her to stay inside the special room we built until the baby is born, okay?”
Miguel’s face turned dark. “What happening, Señor Max?”
“I just want to be cautious, but I am a little worried. I won’t lie to you. Just promise me you will try to keep her there, especially during the day?”
“Okay, Señor Max. Gracias for always take care my family.”
The jeep and trailer, and its two passengers headed down the highway, already baking in the mid-morning sun, along a path it had taken many times before.
10.
El Gordo
3 :33 P.M.
Northern, Mexico
Luis “El Gordo” Hernandez Ochoa was the third biggest drug lord in Mexico. Rising to become the ruler of a two billion peso per year illegal enterprise taught him many things: use the talent God gave you, initiative creates opportunity, reward loyalty, and perform immediate cruelty to create respect and fear. He was as ruthless as his reputation. Nothing scared him and he feared no one, except of course, God. Raised in a devout Catholic family, he learned what it meant to fear God, and to watch out for signs. Like most Catholic Mexicans, his Madre taught him first about signs. “There are signs everywhere, Luis, you just have to watch for them,” she taught him every day she was alive. However, it wasn’t until her death that he came to believe in signs.
Five years ago, a competing gang seeking reprisals for his killing the leader’s whole family blew up his Madre along with much of his villa. On that morning, he had awoken from a bad dream, where he remembered feeling sadness and loss. When his sweet Madre was later blown to pieces, he learned never to ignore a sign, especially one in a dream.
Now, just moments ago, while sleeping through a hangover from alcohol and coca, El Gordo woke from the worst dream of his life. His dead Madre was standing in the middle of a road that he knew well . While he watched, she threw the red hair ribbons she wore all the time into the air. Each ribbon fluttered upward, ascending with the wind, waving back at him. Then, the first and second ribbon combined and became a larger
A couple of minutes later, they were headed southeast on Highway 37 to Coborca and Santa Ana. Then, they would head north on the 2 through Magdalena and Cananea before heading back south again on the small long roads that led to his ranch in the mountains. It would take them about eight hours to get there and that much time to get back. He figured about two hours to drop off the extra ATV that was taking up space in his RP garage and pack up the trailer. If the police, military, and occasional drug gang checkpoints did not stop them too many times, they should make it back tomorrow, long before Bill and Lisa’s party.
Max accelerated the Jeep and trailer up to the speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour. The wind bellowed at him from everywhere, with only the windshield, and side door windows abating the onrush of air already heated by the morning sun.
“Maria is not too mad at me for taking you away for a couple of days, is she?” Max yelled at him in Spanish, trying to be heard over the air screaming through the Jeep’s cockpit.
“No, Señor Max. You never wrong in her head. She just worried bout our little boy.” Miguel yelled back in English.
“When is the big date?” Max switched back to English because it was still easier and because Miguel wanted Max to always practice with him.
“She say maybe fif-weeks now. She get big as house.” Miguel was holding his two hands about three feet apart to demonstrate, in case Max didn’t understand the analogy.
Acknowledging the humor, Max smiled back. His face then sagged. “When we get back, you tell her to stay inside the special room we built until the baby is born, okay?”
Miguel’s face turned dark. “What happening, Señor Max?”
“I just want to be cautious, but I am a little worried. I won’t lie to you. Just promise me you will try to keep her there, especially during the day?”
“Okay, Señor Max. Gracias for always take care my family.”
The jeep and trailer, and its two passengers headed down the highway, already baking in the mid-morning sun, along a path it had taken many times before.
10.
El Gordo
3 :33 P.M.
Northern, Mexico
Luis “El Gordo” Hernandez Ochoa was the third biggest drug lord in Mexico. Rising to become the ruler of a two billion peso per year illegal enterprise taught him many things: use the talent God gave you, initiative creates opportunity, reward loyalty, and perform immediate cruelty to create respect and fear. He was as ruthless as his reputation. Nothing scared him and he feared no one, except of course, God. Raised in a devout Catholic family, he learned what it meant to fear God, and to watch out for signs. Like most Catholic Mexicans, his Madre taught him first about signs. “There are signs everywhere, Luis, you just have to watch for them,” she taught him every day she was alive. However, it wasn’t until her death that he came to believe in signs.
Five years ago, a competing gang seeking reprisals for his killing the leader’s whole family blew up his Madre along with much of his villa. On that morning, he had awoken from a bad dream, where he remembered feeling sadness and loss. When his sweet Madre was later blown to pieces, he learned never to ignore a sign, especially one in a dream.
Now, just moments ago, while sleeping through a hangover from alcohol and coca, El Gordo woke from the worst dream of his life. His dead Madre was standing in the middle of a road that he knew well . While he watched, she threw the red hair ribbons she wore all the time into the air. Each ribbon fluttered upward, ascending with the wind, waving back at him. Then, the first and second ribbon combined and became a larger
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