“Lots of twists and turns,” Blue Skull said. “Farmlands on both sides, cattle, and skimpy fences. Some places have no fences at all. There are places where the river makes hairpin turns. Means you ladies will have to hike.”
“I can’t swim,” Maria moaned.
“You pay extra, you can ride on the back of a coyote,” Blue Skull said.
“I thought you were getting us fake IDs,” Patricia said. “I don’t have hiking boots.”
“Look, ladies, all we promised was getting you to the border, not over it,” Scabby said. “The big coyotes will need a lot more money than what we’re asking. We’re reasonable. They’re not.”
“Why can’t you guys take us across?” Maria asked. “We’d rather deal with reasonable guys.”
“Are you nuts?” Ivan made a cutting gesture across his own throat. “The cartels rule the borderlands. Guys like us will get killed if we horn in on their business. We bring you to them. They take you over.”
“I don’t like this,” Maria said. “I’d rather claim asylum. I don’t have that much money.”
“I’m not sure I want to go with the coyotes either,” Patricia said. “Maybe it’s better to join a caravan.”
“I’m not going across the border,” Leanna said. “I paid you guys to help me find Carmelita, and then I go to a port of entry.”
“For what? Asylum?” Maria sat up straighter. “I heard we have to borrow a kid.”
“You have a kid.” Patricia pointed at Leanna. “Carmelita, right? How old is she?”
“Thirteen. She might have crossed already,” Leanna said. “These bozos, I mean, nice gentlemen were supposed to help me find her.”
“You let your daughter come up here alone?” Maria clapped a hand over her mouth. “But that’s dangerous. She could be—Ouch.”
She yelped because Patricia elbowed her. “Haven’t you been paying attention? Leanna lost her daughter, and she came along to find her.”
“Oh… sorry.” Maria lowered her face. “I thought you were going to claim asylum.”
“Thegringasays she’s an American citizen. Hey, maybe you can claim we’re your kids.” Patricia made a cute face with large eyes and a baby pout.
“That’s a great idea,” Blue Skull Ivan agreed. “Except we’re not going to a port of entry. The lines are too long, and they hired more guards to check everyone’s ID.”
“The ladies can do what they want,” Scabby said, as Reuben parked the van in front of the Moneygram store.
Reuben turned around and smiled at Patricia. “I’ll go with you if you say I’m your baby brother.”
“You? How far can you walk?” Patricia blinked with disbelief. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, I like you. You’re nice to me,” Reuben said.
While they bantered, Leanna asked Reuben for her phone, and he gave it to her, not paying attention to anyone but Patricia. Juan was busily texting, so Leanna took the opportunity to check her messages. The only texts were from her mother who was worried she hadn’t called. She texted her mother that she was okay and quickly dashed a text message to Axe, forwarding the location of the Moneygram store. Maybe he hadn’t answered Patricia’s messages because he didn’t recognize her phone. The others in the van were still talking, so Leanna went to FacePlant to check the account Carmelita was using. She was dying to see if her daughter had made it to the United States.
Leanna gasped, and her heart leaped when she swiped to the first picture.
The girl was taking a selfie with a border patrol agent—on the American side. That meant she’d made it. But how? Did she have a fake ID? Or had she been able to claim asylum? Leanna swiped to the next picture, and her brow crinkled. Carmelita was pretending to climb a fence and the people next to her were laughing. In another picture, she was posing like she was running from the border patrol agent. It was so fake.
A video clip was even more amazing. Carmelita and the twin brothers who helped were interviewed by a news team. Leanna read the notes on the post, and her brains turned into molten lava. Thependejoshad lied to her, and maybe so had Axe.
The owner of the account, screenname litaloca, was a blogger. She’d marched with the migrant caravan so she could interview them and write a research report. She wasn’t thirteen years old—no wonder she looked older, and the tattoo on her hand was a stick-on. She even bragged about changing it every day to look like a gang member.
This trip had been an entire waste of time. Why hadn’t she done more research? She didn’t think Ana would lie about something so serious, but maybe she needed ten thousand dollars. How could she be so cruel to get Leanna’s hopes up?
Leanna closed her eyes, holding back the fumes while the others argued on how to cross the border.
“I say we drive,” Patricia insisted. “Reuben can’t walk or swim.”
