The sirens were getting louder now, and Daniel found it hard to think clearly. Even so, the word salvation stood out like the first star on a summer’s night.
“Why would you help us? What’s in it for you?”
The man smiled slightly. “While some believe that only the wealthy and powerful deserve to be saved, there are others who disagree. Vigorously so.”
“But why my Estrella?”
“This is neither the time nor the place. You wish to rescue your daughter, and we wish to assist. Either you accept that or not.”
The sirens were almost upon them, echoing down the alley.
The man reached into his pocket and produced something small, white, and rectangular—a business card. “Take this,” he said, holding it out. “It has the name and address of a clinic.”
Another goose chase. Another dead end. Why doesn’t anyone understand?
“A clinic won’t help! We’ve been to hospitals, specialists, they can’t do anything!”
“This clinic is different,” he said. When Daniel failed to take the card, the man dropped it and headed for the alley’s exit. Before he left he added, “If you truly wish to save your child, bring her there.”
Daniel hesitated and then stooped to pick it up. Printed on the card was a Taos, New Mexico, street address, along with a name: The Salvation Clinic.
Stupidity, absolute stupidity. There is no “salvation.” Not in Arizona. Not in Mexico City. Not in Taos, New Mexico. Not anywhere in the world. Haven’t I learned that yet?
Still, he slipped the card into his shirt pocket. Daniel went to the mouth of the alley. He wanted to ask what made this clinic different, but the man was already gone, swallowed up by the mob. In the direction he had gone, police lights appeared, flashing off the walls.
With no time to spare, Daniel turned and ran the opposite way, emerging from the far end of the alley onto a more peaceful street, thankful to be out of sight and, hopefully, out of danger.
On the vacuum train home, the stream already carried news of the brawl, and there was footage of it by the time the train crossed into Arizona. The riot had flared briefly before being shut down by riot police and their blanketing sleep gas. The film premiere was ruined; Kai Ripsen, savagely attacked and receiving medical treatment, was unavailable for comment.
It made Daniel think about the security cameras the Asian man had mentioned. The area had been well lit for the premiere.
Will the police be waiting at my doorstep?
Instead, he found the babysitter. Since his wife, Rosa, had left, it had become increasingly difficult to find people willing to care for a child with a mystery illness. Many feared it was contagious. April was the neighbor’s child, sixteen, and kindhearted enough to play with Estrella even when she wasn’t being paid.
She looked up expectantly as Daniel came in, but as soon as she saw him, her face fell. “No luck?”
It hurt Daniel’s heart to see the disappointment. It reminded him of the last time he saw that look on Rosa’s face, the night when she’d decided she couldn’t go on helplessly watching Estrella waste away.
“Not this time,” Daniel said.
Just as before. Just as always.
He didn’t tell April about the altercation with Kai Ripsen or mention the possibility of the police showing up. If they analyzed the security footage and were able to trace him along the street back to Methuselah, they’d find his name and address on file in a nice little package. If they needed to compare his image with the central database, it might buy a little time.
Instead, he paid her, adding a generous tip for all the help she’d been over the past two years. “Thank you for treating Estrella the way you have. It’s meant so much to her.”
And to me.
“No problem, Mr. de Montes. Do you need me again later this week?”
“No, we’re going on a trip and might not be back for a while. Leaving tonight.”
“Oh? Another lead?”
He nodded. “Vancouver. This might be the one.”
She wished him good luck and slipped out of the apartment. Daniel rushed to his bedroom to pack a bag. The closet still held those things Rosa had abandoned when she’d left. Until tonight, he’d held out hope she might come back someday—but now, if she did, there would be nobody left to forgive her.
He remembered that night, her lying facedown on the bed, softly sobbing. Daniel had sat next to her, running his hand along her back. They hadn’t had a real marriage for a while—their ordeal had been far too great—but he still cared deeply for her.
“We’ll find a way through this,” he had said. “We always have. And there’s still hope.”
Rosa’s cries turned into a sharp, muffled scream. “I can’t do this anymore,” she shouted into the covers.
“No, honey,” he said, rubbing her neck, “everything’s going to be fine. Even if all else fails, Methuselah will—”
“Methuselah,” she said contemptuously, pushing away from the covers. Away from him. “They’ll never give Methuselah to an ordinary girl. They don’t care about us!”
Rosa got off the bed and went to their closet, dragging out her floral print suitcase. “You’re a fool, Daniel, and I can’t stand it anymore, searching for an answer that doesn’t exist.”
But it does exist. There must be an answer.
With his own small bag packed, Daniel went to Estrella’s bedroom and peered in on her. She lay asleep in bed, angelic face upturned to the ceiling, her breathing distressingly shallow. He hated to disturb her from even this labored rest, but there was no time to lose.
“Estrella,” he said, shaking her awake.
“Mom?” she asked groggily.
“No, honey, it’s Dad. I need you to get up and get dressed. Quickly. We’re going to make you better.”
Her eyes fluttered open and she coughed herself fully awake. “Where are we going this time?”
“New Mexico.”
According to a sign, Taos was thirty miles away. Almost no cars were on the highway leading into town. Daniel checked the rearview mirror and was surprised at his own appearance: his eyes bloodshot, the skin around them dark purple. He hadn’t slept for far too long.
Estrella thankfully didn’t have that problem. She slept, slumped against the side door in the backseat, a denim jacket serving as a blanket that left her head peeking out the top. She didn’t look ten. The illness had kept her small and thin, her cheeks hollow. Her breathing continued to appear shallow, even more so than it had been at home. Maybe after getting into town, he’d pull over at a recharge station to see if she needed anything.
Then he noticed something in the rearview mirror: a car trailing him in the distance, black and sleek with a slender light bar along the roof.
Regional police.
Daniel’s stomach clenched.
They didn’t have their lights on and followed in the distance. He had to keep calm and not attract attention. He accelerated slightly, but not so much that it would look suspicious.
I hope.
WELCOME TO TAOS! a sign on the side of the road announced in bold white font. On the outskirts of town, only a few buildings lined the road, most of them fast food or convenience stores geared toward travelers. Business was light this morning, though there were a few customers here and there, waiting in drive thru lanes or stretching their legs. Happy families on vacation, perhaps. His own had been among them, once upon a time.
One of the buildings was a recharge station, but he couldn’t stop now. If the police decided to pull in as well, it would be over. The car behind him was still there, taking the main drag into town. Hopefully it was just a coincidence. According to his car’s internal navigation system, the clinic was close. Just a few lights down and to the right.
From the backseat, Daniel heard a noise. Estrella coughing.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Estrella coughed again. Checking the mirror, he saw her face drawn tight as if she’d just eaten a lemon, her cheeks dark red. More coughs escaped puckered lips, her tiny body shaking with each one.
“Estrella?”