by David Nees
“Stay alert, don’t let your mind wander or you will fall and be lost.” Tlayolotl’s stern voice broke through his reverie.
Looking ahead, Dan could see Chihuahua City coming into view. He had stopped wondering how this was all happening and just accepted the sensory inputs as real. Later, he promised himself, he would apply come critical analysis to try to explain how the impossible was happening.
The bird navigated without hesitation to a warehouse area on the east side of the city. It alighted on a wall across the dirt street from a walled compound. The compound and the warehouse inside of it were enveloped in a darkness that was almost impenetrable. Looking hard, Dan could make out figures walking in the compound.
Tlayolotl pointed towards one figure, more shrouded than the others. “That is the leader who brought this darkness to Chihuahua.”
“What is the darkness?”
“Evil. Evil intent, evil purposes, evil minds and plans.”
“Is it something in the warehouse?”
“Many evil men are in the building. They are headed for your country. They must be stopped.”
“So that is my mission? I’m to stop a group of men who are going to sneak into the US?”
“Sí. The cartel is doing this. It has been interrupted by your assassination but it will proceed unless you stop it. The man in the desert is one of the cartel, but he will help you.”
“How? If he is part of them, he will not help.”
“We will talk more later. Mark where this is, mark the leader, watch out for him. This is where you must strike.”
“Does the man in the desert know about this?”
“Sí.” Tlayolotl spoke something to Raven in a language Dan didn’t understand. The bird took off and gained altitude. “We will go back now, but you have another task. Hector Ortega has replaced the man you killed. Hector must also be killed or what you intended will not happen. He will just take command and all will be as it was.”
“I can’t keep eliminating Sinaloa leaders. I have to end my mission down here and return.”
“It will be done when this darkness is eliminated and Hector is killed.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I told you, I am a Watcher. There are other Watchers. They have told me. We will talk when we return to the canyon.”
Tlayolotl didn’t speak again as Raven steadily drove them through the sky with his powerful wings. The bird beat its wings in powerful thrusts, working harder as the evening had killed the heat thermals. The bird flew on relentlessly without hesitation. Dan marveled at the bird’s strength and endurance. Finally Raven swooped down into the canyon and into the hut.
The next thing Dan knew he was back in his body and “waking” up. But I haven’t really been asleep. Now the questions and confusion began to crowd his mind. It had been eight hours since he had eaten the peyote.
Tlayolotl turned to him and told him to lie down and let his mind rest; to sleep if possible. Dan crawled back to his pallet and lay back. His mind was spinning. Slowly he relaxed, and sleep finally came.
Chapter 26
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T he next morning, Dan awoke. He felt light, relaxed, and hungry. Tlayolotl had some corn cakes cooking over the fire. He handed Dan a cup of some hot liquid. Dan sipped the liquid and then went out to the pool to splash water on his face. He came back in and sat down.
“How do you feel?” Tlayolotl asked.
“I feel fine, very relaxed. I don’t have a hangover if that is what you’re asking.”
“Peyote does not give you hangover. It cleanses and changes your mind.”
“Yes, well I do have questions about yesterday.”
“Not foolish ones. No time for those.”
“Well just tell me what happened. I know what I felt, but was that all hallucinating? Was I always here in the hut, imagining all that going on?”
“What did you feel…see?”
Dan sat for a moment to collect his thoughts. “Sitting on the bird,” he nodded towards Raven. Either I was smaller or the bird was larger. I felt being on the bird as well as saw it. I saw being in the air. I could feel the bird working its wings, how powerful they were. It gave me a better understanding of how birds fly. I saw the man dying in the desert. Then I saw Chihuahua City and the warehouse compound all shrouded in dark.”
“That was not hallucination.”
“But…how?”
“Spirit journey. You don’t understand that you have spirit and body. Your body stayed here, your spirit went with me and Raven.”
“How is that possible?”
Tlayolotl didn’t answer. He just stared back at Dan.
“Okay, that was a foolish question. But this is so foreign to me and my world.”
“You must grow your understanding of the world…of reality.” Tlayolotl turned back to the corn cakes and pulled them from the pan. “Your understanding is too limited. You can’t have victory without understanding.”
“I’m fighting against the enemies of my country, against terrorists and criminals. So in a sense I’m fighting against evil. I understand that.” Dan looked over at Tlayolotl. “Isn’t that what this is all about? You just have another explanation for what I’m doing.”
Tlayolotl just shook his head. “You see too small. I show you the battle is much larger.” He handed Dan a rolled up corn cake with some meat in a sauce inside. “You are slow to learn.” With a sigh, Tlayolotl said, “I will start again. I know you are the one, but you make it hard for yourself.” He pointed at Dan and said in a fierce voice, “Listen and turn off the chatter in your mind. Turn off the squirrel chatter.
He continued, “You are the tip of the spear. You are the warrior who is to strike the heart of the enemy. The enemy is the darkness of evil that is working to cover the world. Humans carry out the evil plans but they are driven by the darkness, the spirit forces of evil. That is what you must understand. You are the sharp point of the spirit forces of good. If you don’t recognize that you cut yourself off from the spirit help and you will not prevail.
“I am a Watcher,” he continued. “I see the spirit battle. I am not alone. There are Watchers all over the world. If you learn and accept, they can help you and guide you because they see where you cannot see. With their help, your strikes will be more effective, more deadly.
“That is what I have done. Take you on the spirit trip so you can understand and see. Your task here is not finished. That is how Watchers help.”
“Who are these ‘Watchers’?”
“Ones who have a special sight as I told you before. Watchers can see the spirit forces at war. We can help those who fight the dark aim their blows more effectively. We are guides.”
“So, I’m to take out the men waiting in the warehouse. Who are they?”
Tlayolotl looked steadily at Dan as he spoke, his deeply etched face displaying his intensity. “You would call them terrorists. I heard her use that word.”
“Jane?”
Tlayolotl nodded.
Dan continued, “And then you want me to take out the second in command to Mendoza, this Hector Ortega.” Tlayolotl’s eyes never moved from Dan. “Then my task will be done?”
Tlayolotl nodded again.
“Where do I find this Ortega?”
“You will find him in Mexico City. He will be at Mendoza’s mansion. He is taking over all that was Mendoza’s, including the wife.”
“And you know—?”
“A Watcher, in Mexico City. There is an old woman there. She is very old and very wise. She is a Watcher like me. She will find you and help you.”
“How?”
Tlayolotl ignored his question. “She knows about Ortega. She will tell you what you need to know. Listen to her. She is powerful and can see much. She can see the future in a way I cannot.”
“Will she predict how my mission will end?”
Tlayolotl shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. She will tell you what she wants.
It may not be what you want, but if you are wise, you will to listen to her.”
“How will I find her?”
Tlayolotl shook his head. “She will find you.”
It didn’t look to Dan like he was going to get any more about the old woman out of Tlayolotl.
“And you think this drug guy, the guy in the desert is going to help me?”
“You will save his life. He will help because he will owe you his life.”
“I don’t know. There’s very little honor among criminals.”
Tlayolotl leaned forward and his countenance grew dark. His eyes burned bright—red and black. “He will help.” The words now came out slow and deep, like far off thunder. “I have the power to take his life from him and cause his soul to wander without peace if he refuses.”
Dan felt a shiver go through him. Tlayolotl was a dangerous man, not fully tame or civilized.
“I will give you water and food for the desert. You must set out tonight. You need to reach him tomorrow.” Before Dan could ask, Tlayolotl added. “Raven and Coyote will help you find him.”
Chapter 27
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T hat afternoon, Dan loaded his backpack with gifts from Tlayolotl: two five liter skins of water, a salve for burned skin, a jar with an herb drink to give the man energy, and some dried food. His ankle felt completely healed thanks to Tlayolotl’s poultice. Before leaving the hut, Tlayolotl had Dan strip to the waist. The shaman lit a fire in the central pit. He took some sprigs of a bush and dipped them in water and brushed them over Dan’s head and torso, chanting something incomprehensible to Dan. Next he stuck the sprigs into the fire. They were wet so didn’t ignite, but they started smoking, filling the hut with an aromatic odor Dan remembered from the day before. Tlayolotl wafted the smoke over Dan, brushing it onto him with the large feather he used before, all the while chanting over him.
Finally he stopped. “You are cleansed. Now get dressed. You must go quickly.”
Outside the hut Dan put on his backpack. The coyote and raven had followed them out of the hut and waited to one side. Tlayolotl stood facing him. His eyes burned into Dan’s. His dark, deeply etched face, burned by so much desert sun, showed no emotion, only an intense, almost fierce interest in him.
“You will accept what I have shown you? You will use it and carry out your tasks?”
Dan nodded. “I don’t fully understand but I accept. I can’t deny what I experienced.”
“That is good. You will prevail if you are careful and smart. I have done my job. Raven and Coyote will now help you start your mission.” He grabbed Dan by the shoulders. His grip was sharp. His strong fingers dug into Dan’s flesh. “Do not get misled. There are many ways to go wrong. Remember, you are the warrior. Remember your mission.”
With that he let Dan go.
“Thank you for saving my life—twice.”
“You will repay me with these tasks. Now go.”
With that the shaman turned away and shuffled back into his hut. Dan stood for a moment looking after him but there was nothing left to do or say. Would he ever see this strange man again? I doubt it, he told himself. He turned away and started walking down the ravine towards where he had fallen into it three days ago. Coyote trotted ahead of him and the raven flew past.
They were an odd group, hiking the desert in the late afternoon, the white man, a coyote and a raven flying ahead and waiting. When night came Dan relied on the coyote and guessed the animal was relying on the raven. His rational mind kept trying to interject and tell him how crazy this all appeared to be but he kept it repressed. It would do no good. He had seen too much and now his life was in the hands of these two animals. He hiked on.
Deep into the night Dan sat down to rest. The raven squawked at him but finally perched on a rock and settled down. He poured some water into the coyote’s mouth and set out a cup for the raven. Lying back, Dan closed his eyes and tried to sleep but the events of the past three days kept crowding into his thoughts. Still his body rested, even if his mind wouldn’t settle down.
Before the sky lightened in the east with another dawn, the coyote was pushing at Dan with his muzzle and the raven began to squawk. Dan awoke. He stretched and then got some water for himself and the two animals. He set out some of the dried meat that the coyote and raven hungrily devoured. Hoisting the backpack he looked to the raven, and they set out again, heading south.
Rodrigo sat under the rock overhang. He had stopped that night. He could go no further. His breath came in rough gasps through his parched and dusty throat. There was no moisture to help him swallow. There was nothing to swallow. His saliva had dried up. Only half aware, he watched the sun break over the east horizon. He had no strength to go on. There was nothing to do. He dimly remembered realizing during the previous night that he had walked in circles. For how long he didn’t know, but that knowledge took all the fight out of him. He parked himself under the limited shelter of the rock. He was done.
I will die here. The thought became a reality in his mind. Being a member of the cartel, Rodrigo had no illusions about living a long life. He had joined to get out of the poverty he had been mired in. His parents had been killed by a rival gang that had attacked his home looking to kill Rodrigo. Now all he had in life was his sister, Miranda, and her daughter. He lived to protect her and, hopefully, to allow his niece to grow up to a better life. Her name was Solana, sunshine.
Without him, Rodrigo knew that Carlos, the torturer, would take Miranda and Solana. He had eyes for Miranda and only kept his distance because of Rodrigo. Now there would be no stopping him and he would ruin her, Rodrigo thought bitterly. He would even take and ruin Solana. Rodrigo had heard stories of Carlos going after young girls. It was not unheard of for girls as young as twelve or thirteen to be given to older men; “married” but in reality it was sexual servitude and they wound up as sex slaves servicing the gang members. Solana was getting close to the age where this could happen. Her future would be lost. Rodrigo would have wept, but he had no tears. He was too dried up and dying.
He went over his life and the steps that led him to this desert to die. Nowhere could he see how it could have been different. It was as if his decisions meant little in the face of larger events taking place around him. Life seemed to have its own force and imposed it on poor people like Rodrigo. He closed his eyes hoping sleep would come and take away his bitterness. He had no strength for anger. Maybe he could sleep and the end would come without him choking on his dried throat.
Chapter 28
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M id-day a shadow fell over Rodrigo. He opened his eyes to peer up. There was a figure, a man standing before him. Next to the man was a coyote. Rodrigo reached out his hand in supplication, but he couldn’t speak. The man sat down next to him and took what looked like a water skin from his back pack. He poured some over Rodrigo’s face and head. Rodrigo ran his hands through the water and held them to his face. The man then put his arm behind Rodrigo’s head and tipped some water into his mouth.
Rodrigo started to choke. He saw the man pull back. He took a rag from his pocket and wet it with the water and gave it to Rodrigo. He wiped his face and sucked on the rag, letting small amounts of the moisture trickle into his mouth and throat. The man repeated the process three times for Rodrigo. Finally he sat more upright and looked at the man.
“Quién es usted?” Who are you? Rodrigo asked.
“I am the man you were chasing,” came the reply.
“Está aquí?” Why are you here? Rodrigo asked. “Are you going to kill me?”
“I’m here to save your life. Can you drink now?”
Rodrigo nodded and the man gave him the water skin. “Only a little so you don’t get sick. You can have more later.”
Rodrigo took a big swallow and began to cough.
“Small sips. Don’t waste the water.”
After a few minutes the man took the flask back. Rodrigo didn’t protest
. He adjusted himself to sit more upright. He looked at the man. He was burned darker than most gringos, from the desert sun, Rodrigo guessed. But why would he come to save me? There was no obvious answer and the question could wait. Rodrigo knew he had been at death’s door and now that door was closed. He was going to live. For how long he didn’t know, but it was enough for now.
The stranger took a jar of salve from his backpack and spread some on Rodrigo’s face and mouth. Rodrigo started to turn away but the man said no.
“This is for the burning on your face and lips. They will heal quickly.” He handed Rodrigo the jar. “Spread it yourself. When you’re done, I have something else for you to drink. It will help you recover quickly.”
Rodrigo looked at him suspiciously. The stranger spoke fluent Spanish, not like any gringos he had encountered before. He handed Rodrigo the jar containing the herb drink.
“Drink this. It will give you strength. We do not have much time. We have to move quickly to get out of the desert. Do you speak English?”
“A little. Where are we going?”
“Chihuahua City.”
Rodrigo looked up at the man. “Are you loco? There are people there who will kill you.”
The man just stared back at Rodrigo with an implacable expression on his face. He had the cold eyes of a killer.
“It is necessary.”
“Do you want me to guide you out of the desert? Is that why you have come to save me?”
“You will help me in what I have to do.”
“How did you find me? How did you know I was here?” Rodrigo now was thinking about the salve and the herb drink he sipped. It seemed as though the man came prepared.
“I saw you in the desert. Yesterday. And Raven and Coyote led me to you.”
Rodrigo saw then, for the first time, the raven perched on a rock to one side. The bird was staring at him intently. It had one black and one red eye. Play along. This makes no sense but the gringo is here and with him he might yet live to get out of the desert and back to his sister and niece.
