‘This girl,’ Lopez said. ‘Her name’s Ruby Lily, or so she says. She’s seen the soldiers out here before, says she knows where they hide out.’
Ethan followed her to where the young girl sat alongside a fidgety teenage boy who stared at Ethan with wide eyes, as though he were afraid of his own shadow. Ethan sat down on an old rug that had been spread on the desert floor, amazed once again at how Lopez was so easily able to win people into her confidence. He figured it was something to do with her diminutive frame and her exotic looks — attributes which on occasion had seen bail runners hand themselves over without a struggle when Lopez had flashed them an easy-going smile and promised a lenient report upon their return to jail.
‘Ruby,’ Lopez said to the young girl. ‘Tell my partner here, Ethan, what you told me.’
The girl looked at Ethan and began to speak, glancing occasionally at the bats flickering past in the night sky above them, their wings visible as they flashed over the flames of the fire. ‘I’ve only seen them now and again,’ she said shyly, ‘most times out in Otero County, west of Carlsbad.’
‘You sure we’re seeing the same people,’ Ethan asked. ‘The same ones who were attacking Lopez and me tonight?’
‘Yeah,’ Ruby said, ‘no doubt about it. They’re the only people I’ve ever heard talking so funny. Y’know, like real old people.’
‘Where can we find them, Ruby?’ he asked. ‘This is very important; we need to find them.’
Ruby smiled in the firelight as the logs crackled and spat, the sparks reflected in her dark eyes.
‘They don’t wanna be found, that much I know for sure,’ she said. ‘They always turn away from us if we see them and disappear as fast as they can. We figured they’re scared of us.’
Ethan saw Lopez smile at the little girl’s audacity, and for a brief moment Ethan felt his breath catch in his throat as he saw Lopez’s face glowing golden in the firelight, her smile bright and her eyes sparkling. He thought again of how easily people trusted her, and of how with such a small act she could capture his attention so completely. The fact that she could also break the law with almost casual abandon struck him forcibly a moment later, and he wondered if he really knew her at all, or whether somehow she was deceiving him too. He blinked his gaze away and focused on Ruby Lily.
‘Anything you can tell us might help save a life, Ruby. Somebody has been abducted and we believe the person who has taken them may kill them soon. We’re running out of time and these people you see in the desert might be able to help us.’
Ruby Lily looked at him for a long moment, and then at Lopez, before speaking.
‘I like you both,’ she said. ‘I can tell about people by their aura. You both shine brightly, and you obviously care for each other a great deal even if you don’t trust each other right now.’
Lopez’s eyes widened. ‘What?’
‘You work together,’ Ruby Lily said clairvoyantly, ‘yet you live different lives and hide things from each other. You both have a sadness about you that you can’t leave behind.’
Ethan glanced at Lopez, and saw her look away from him sharply. Ruby Lily glanced at her companions as though she had revealed unto them great knowledge, and then looked again at Ethan. ‘You gotta pen?’
Lopez pulled out a small notebook and pen and handed them to Ethan. Ruby Lily spoke softly.
‘We always see them near ghost towns, abandoned mining outposts and such like out in the desert. They headed south from here, so most likely the place they’ll be headed is Brice. Find a place called Oro Grande, and follow the old railroad bed until you reach the town. There’s not much there, just some buildings, a graveyard and a few mines. If you don’t find them there, at the end of the railroad bed there’s another ghost town called Zora that just has a few old mines.’
‘You think that they hole up in these sort of places?’ Lopez asked her.
Ruby Lily shrugged.
‘Seems that way. Maybe they store stuff there, or shelter in the caves. Indians used to mine places like Brice hundreds of years ago for turquoise, gold, copper, iron. The school house basement still remains, the Nannie Baird mine office, a powder magazine, railroad loading ramps and old cisterns.’ Ruby smiled. ‘Some people say you can still hear the sounds of the old town on the wind when you walk through.’
Ethan frowned.
‘Why would they run so far south, so far away from their supply line in Santa Fe?’ he wondered out loud. ‘Seems like a hell of a risk with their health problems.’
Ruby Lily answered for Lopez.
‘We reckon they’re headed for Lechuguilla.’
Ethan felt a tingle down his spine.
‘Lechuguilla? Where’s that?’ he asked.
‘Carlsbad Caverns someplace,’ Ruby said. ‘Everyone’s heard of it but nobody’s allowed anywhere near the caves because they’re protected by the state as an environmental treasure, in pristine condition. Nobody knows where the entrance to Lechuguilla is.’
Ethan thought hard for a long moment, and Lopez frowned at him.
‘What’s up?’
‘Lee Carson,’ Ethan said. ‘Before he died he said “Saffron, let you kill her”. I didn’t know what he meant, but now it makes sense — he was trying to say Lechuguilla. He must have seen Saffron out here and knew they had some idea of where the soldiers were hiding out.’
A voice spoke from behind Ethan, Saffron’s tones somber and weary.
‘He told me they went there from time to time,’ she said. ‘When things got rough, to lie low until everything quietened down. Nobody goes into Lechuguilla, but they had access to a place called Misery Hole. The caves run for miles beneath the ground, and not every entrance is located close to Carlsbad. Some are way out in the desert.’
‘You think that they can get deep enough to hide out there?’ Ethan asked her.
‘It’s not just that,’ Saffron said. ‘If what you’re saying about these men is true, then they may have another motive. I’ve heard about Lechuguilla Cave, some of the scientific studies done there in the past. Rare, chemolithotrophic bacteria are believed to occur in the cave. They feed on the sulfur, iron, and manganese minerals and studies indicate that some microbes may have medicinal qualities that are beneficial to humans.’
Lopez looked at Ethan.
‘Maybe they think they can cure themselves by going there? That’s why they’re running so far south.’
A sudden urgency raced through Ethan.
‘We have to get there before they do, or they’ll disappear. They’ve had decades to map those caves.’
‘You have no choice now,’ Saffron agreed, gesturing out into the night. ‘They know you’re following them. They’ll keep moving through the night, and they won’t leave a trail. Only way to catch them up will be to beat them down there and cut them off.’
Ethan got up, searching his pockets for his cell phone.
‘We’re going to need back-up,’ he said, looking at Lopez. ‘These guys will start shooting the moment they spot us. See what else you can find out from Ruby here.’
Ethan stepped away from the firelight, jogging up the nearby hillside for a clear signal before dialing Doug Jarvis’s number. The line picked up on the second tone.
‘Jesus, Ethan, where are you?’
‘We’re out in the desert, west-northwest of Artesia. We need a ride.’
‘That could prove a problem,’ Doug replied. ‘DIA has suspended all support operations for you out there until USAMRIID has confirmed its findings in Santa Fe.’
‘They’re working with Jeb Oppenheimer at SkinGen,’ Ethan said quickly. ‘Oppenheimer’s got somebody at USAMRIID in his pocket and he’s trying to hold us up or get rid of us altogether.’