Heat 2 by Michael Mann
Author:Michael Mann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-08-09T00:00:00+00:00
48
Neil walks behind Elisa in the quiet night. Sheâs climbing, her hips swaying, hair glossy in the moonlight. The dunes have dissipated the dayâs heat. Traffic drones on I-8, distant. Mountains and canyons slice the view. The sand slides beneath Neilâs feet.
Elisa stops at the crest of the dune, hands on her hips. Her shoulders are thrown back, her chin high. Sheâs barely out of breath. Neil catches up.
âSee what I mean?â she says.
He stops at her side. Her eyes absorb the night. The Algodones Dunes flow from horizon to horizon, a sea beneath the stars. The Mexican border is two miles south. He canât see it.
Elisa can.
She points. âDark scar along the west. There. Itâs rock, arroyo seco. Dry creek. Cuts through to la lÃnea.â
âWho patrols?â Neil says. âHow frequently?â
âINS, Border Patrol. Federales?â She shrugs. âOnce a year.â
âWe plan to drive,â he says.
âOf course.â She turns. âBut you want me to show you these routes.â
âI do.â He slides his arms around her.
âThat arroyo,â she says. âA dirt road leads down a canyon. Too steep for most drivers. Cops ignore it. Contrabandistas hike in. Small loads. Dope. People.â
A breeze scuttles around their feet. The sand shirrs, a scrim, scintillating in the moonlight.
âThat would be plan Z,â Neil says. âBackup to all the backups.â
Elisa turns. âBut now you know itâs there. And why itâs plan Zeta.â She gestures, arm sweeping, at a barely visible dark track. It skirts the dunes and disappears into a ravine. âThere.â
Neil puts the binoculars to his eyes. Under the moon, he can see the snaking road, rising through the rocks.
âThatâs where contrabandistas get ambushed,â Elisa says. âWhen theyâre . . .â She snaps her fingers, searching for the word. Her English is flawless, but she wants the right emotional inflection. She switches to Spanish. âSlipshod. Careless. They think they are in the clear because theyâre across the border. But pow.â
Neil wonders if this is romantic tale-telling of smuggler tradecraft or a warning.
âWeâll be coming in the daytime, unlike most other smugglers out here.â
âAnd youâre careful. You have eyes in the back of your head.â
âOn a swivel.â
She looks at the horizon, then at him. She trusts him, he knows. Trusts his skill, his focus, his purpose. Like he trusts her knowledge of this country.
She tucks her hands in her jeans pockets. âThe three official crossings, you should use them all. The two in Mexicali, straight into Calexico. And the Winterhaven crossing, for Yuma.â
Elisa knows a hundred secretive smugglerâs paths into Mexico andâby different routesâback across the border. She knows every guard who takes bribes at checkpoints. She isnât in the crew, but she is an integral part of the team that will get the crew safely back across after the score.
âWhat?â she says.
âAdmiring you.â He turns back to the dunes. He scuffs the sand, erasing one of his footprints.
She switches back to English. âYou will not cross the dunes.â
âNo.â He exhales. âJust reminding myself how quickly things get erased. It all comes, it goes.â
âYou philosophize?â
âWeâre all footprints on a beach.
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