She shook her head. “We came through there a few minutes ago. No sign of an accident, either side of the highway.”
Poole nodded and said, “Well, thanks, ma’am. Didn’t want to get stuck out in the desert.”
Back in the truck, he said, “We’re good. Let’s go. Give me your burner, I’m gonna call the lesbos, tell them what we think.”
He called, and Rosie answered. Poole asked, “This the lesbians?”
“Who wants to know?”
“Let me talk to the woman you picked up. This is her friend, but I don’t want to say names.”
After a few seconds of silence, Rosie said, “Wait one.”
Another minute passed, then Box came on: “You okay?”
“We’re worried. If they found that phone you threw out the window, they might be on to me and Sturg.” He told her the rest of the theory and said, “We’ve turned south. We’re going to cross the border at Presidio and come up the other side to El Paso. We don’t think anyone’s going to find the money at the border, and if they’ve tracked us down I-10, this would be our best shot at getting away from them.”
“Oh my God, oh my God. The stories you hear about Mexico...”
“We’ll be able to protect ourselves,” Poole said drily. “We’ll meet you in El Paso when we’re sure the heat’s off. Check into a Holiday Inn and we’ll find you.”
—
POOLE GOT OFFthe phone and handed it back to Darling. They passed the RV on their way back out to the interstate. “Taking the phone to the Grand Canyon,” Poole said, unscrewing the top on one of the orange sodas. And, “Wonder what Mexico is like?”
“Took my old lady to Cancún a couple of times,” Darling said. “I liked it okay, but I don’t think that’s really Mexico. Cancún is to Mexico like Miami is to America. Hard to figure out.”
As they took the turn south on Highway 67, Darling said, “Isn’t this the goddamnedest country you’ve ever seen? Yellow and brown, except for those scrubby little trees. My part of the country is so green I get tired of looking at it, sometimes. But this... you gotta be a different kind of human being to live out here. Wonder if it ever burns? Looks like all that grass and shit would burn all the time.”
“Cowboy country,” Poole said.
“Haven’t seen many fuckin’ cows,” Darling said. He was looking at the paper map and then out at the highway ahead. “You can pick up the speed a little. Won’t see any cops out here, or damn few. I’d like to get to Presidio before dark.”
—
EVEN EARLIERin the day, Annie, Rosie, Kort, and Box were cruising south on I-20 in the RV. They would get there after dark. Annie and Rosie had agreed that they shouldn’t try to meet with Poole until the next day, when they had some light.
“He’s not going to trade!” Kort shouted at Annie and Rosie. “He’lltry to kill us. He’s not going to give up millions of dollars for this... this...” She waved at Box.
“He’ll trade,” Box said. “We’ve been together a long time. He’ll want to figure out something tricky, so you can’t kill him. With all your guns and everything... I’ll tell him about those... he won’t take you on.”
“Best he doesn’t,” Rosie said. “We’ll kill his cracker ass.”
Rosie and Annie told Box that she’d be sleeping on the couch in the sitting area, which was a pull-out affair, made for guests. “Seems mean, but we’re gonna put the cuffs back on,” Annie told her. “Getting this money back is a big deal for us. Big payday. You get loose and we got nothing.”
“Where am I going to run to?” Box asked. “They’re looking for me all over Texas.”
That being the case, Rosie told her, if the cops stopped them, there was a very cleverly built space between the cargo compartment and the floor of the bus where Box could hide if the cops stopped them. “It’s where we put the cocaine when we’re transporting,” she said. “It’s not real comfortable, but you can lie on your back and move around a little—we can give you a yoga mat to lie on.”
Rosie showed Box how a tack-strip on one side of the carpet pulled free. The carpet, when rolled back, revealed nothing but a wooden floor. Annie pushed a concealed button under the dash, and a piece of the floor then slid smoothly aside, revealing the space below. “Custom work from this good ol’ boy out in San Diego,” Rosie said.
Box looked at the hideout and said, “My God, that’s a lot of coke. How much can you get in there?”
“Five hundred kilos is the most we’ve ever done. Had to drive back roads everywhere, to dodge the scales,” Annie said.
“Don’t tell her all this shit,” Kort wailed. “What’re you doing? She’ll tell the cops.”
“If the cops get her, she goes to prison, or worse,” Annie said. “No percentage in telling the cops anything.”
