My mood was one of utter shame. I hadn’t even looked Carlos in the face since. Thank God it was so dark along the roads. It was very late, and we found ourselves in an area with very few buildings. No lights were in sight, and we stumbled constantly. Luis finally felt we had gone far enough and allowed us to crawl into a thicket of trees and rest until morning.
I woke several times throughout the night, startled by either a sound or the visions of the ugly guard pressing down on me. But even in my nightmare, I wouldn’t allow myself to replay what I had done to my brother. The dawn came much too early. I hadn’t slept much. Luis didn’t exactly go into much detail about what had happened last night, and Carlos and I certainly didn’t want to talk about it either.
Luis had been successful in finding out about a way north and possibly even a way around the U.S. border. He had paid a man a hundred dollars for the name of a contact in El Galaneno. The guy said he knew of this man who would smuggle people across the border by boat. He would take paying customers to Corpus Christi, in Texas, USA. He was a relative of his, and he told Luis the guy was reliable.
El Galaneno was several days’ travel northward. Luis was now unwilling to go near any transportation center for fear that the cartel would be waiting. We were able to make it in four days by hitching rides on farm trucks heading north. For a large portion of it, we even walked.
We found the information Luis had been given to be truthful. Sure enough, a man at the address said he had a boat. He was willing to take us north of the border, but he wanted a thousand dollars from each of us for it. I wondered if he was just bluffing to see just how much money we had. That was a huge amount, and normal migrants would never be able to afford that. I thought maybe he would barter with us, but he seemed to be insistent on the price and genuinely didn’t seem to care if we just walked away.
Luis, Carlos, and I had a serious discussion outside the man’s house. Luis finally decided we would pay the money, but that we would have to come back later with only a portion of it. Luis was afraid that if the man thought we had it on us now, we might just get robbed and lose the money and the passage.
The boat’s owner was a huge man. He had scars all over him. There was a particularly nasty gash across his left cheek. He was a brute. He had obviously been in many vicious fights in his lifetime. He looked like he could just rip a man’s arms right out of their body. Tattoos covered his massive arms. His hair looked like it hadn’t been cut in years. His whole demeanor was that of someone who just took what he wanted. I don’t think he uttered a kind word in our presence. I tried not to make eye contact with him the whole time we were on the porch.
We were to return the following evening around nine p.m. We spent an anxious day wondering if we were being set up or being ripped off. We really didn’t have any other options. The following evening, we arrived just before nine. There were others there waiting as well. I guess we just assumed we would be alone, but four rather serious men were standing around waiting too. We were taken by open truck down a rough backroad for miles. There were no signs of houses along this route. Soon, you could sense that we were nearing water.
We arrived at a small shack. There was a dock out back, and the property seemed to sit right on the water’s edge. The place was a total mess. The house looked like no one had cared for it in a very long time. There were a couple mean dogs barking out in front. They challenged anyone approaching the property.
The boat was tied to a small dock behind the shack, and its engine and lights were already on when we arrived. It was a fishing vessel. The sides were lined with long, vertical racks that once held deep-sea fishing gear, but now they seemed to just hold rust. There was an open section in the rear. It was old but looked to be a functional boat. We weren’t given a tour or anything, but you could see at least a couple cabin rooms inside toward the front.
Three of the four men going with us were carrying large duffel bags that never left their grip. They made me nervous at first, but in another way, this all seemed very professional. If they were carrying illegal stuff to the U.S., they seemed more concerned about it than messing with anyone else. I guessed this trip was a legitimate thing; otherwise, why would they be here also?
Shortly after we boarded, I was shocked to see a girl with one of the crewmen. She was maybe about my age, but very rough looking. She stayed near the one crewman, and I guessed she was his girlfriend. She wasn’t much to look at, and she cursed constantly whenever she spoke. I counted the captain, the two crewmen, and the girl as all making the trip.
The four men sat right next to each other and opposite us in the rear of the boat. They had never said a word since we first saw them. The captain seemed to be attending to some issues near the shack. Finally, he came on board and ordered his crew to cast off. We motored slowly, with very few lights on, through a dense backwater area full of lagoons and stagnant pools.
Eventually we rounded a point, and the warm Gulf breezes blew away the foul diesel fumes. As we headed out into the dark waters, I sat looking back, thinking to myself that this might be the last time I would ever see my homeland.
The captain put the controls in auto mode and then fixed the wheel. He left the controls and really spoke to all of us for the first time. He said we would go out maybe ten miles and would have to wait for a call from a friend. This person, who worked within the U.S. Coast Guard, would flag our vessel as having been cleared to return to shore in the US. The captain said he could not enter US waters until he got the signal from his partner. He wasn’t certain exactly when his friend would be able to signal, so we would just have to wait once out there.
He hollered for the girl to keep watch at the wheel, then left to go down inside the cabins below. The girl seemed familiar and competent to handle the boat. She was constantly eyeing her cell phone, though, and seemed more interested in it than anything else.
In just a little while, one of the crewmen came out and asked Luis to come down below to see the captain. This was something we were unsure of, but what would we have done about it? Luis was gone maybe ten minutes, and the same guy came back and said Luis wanted to talk to Carlos. I started to go with him, but the crewman said the rooms were very small and Carlos would be right back.
“Everything is okay; not to worry, the captain just wants to know where exactly you would like to get dropped off,” he said.
I felt nervous now, as all of the attention of the other four men was just on me. It was just a few minutes later, and the guy comes back again and says they need me too. I was led down to the cabin and relieved at first to see both Luis and Carlos sitting on a small couch in the captain’s quarters. Both were sitting straight up at attention. I figured maybe they were discussing options.
As I entered the small room, the second crewman moved in behind me. I noticed his movement and turned quickly to see him now with a gun pointed right at me. My stomach dropped. I knew instantly that this was a nightmare unfolding. I was pushed onto the couch and sat next to Carlos and Luis. The captain was sitting by a small desk, grinning like a wild creature. He too held a small pistol partially hidden along his leg.
“And so, you are the famous Maria, huh?” he laughed.
My skin temperature must have dropped five degrees as a terrifying chill swept over me. “He knew!”
He pointed at my backpack, and the first crewman ripped it from my hands. He began rummaging through it and quickly found the five packages of heroin I was carrying. He dumped the rest of my things out on the floor. He had no trouble finding the stack of money I had hidden in between my underwear. The captain ordered one crewman to tie each of our hands. He wasn’t gentle. The guy lashed my wrists so tight I thought I would pass out.
“It looks like I need to make a call to a friend,” the captain laughed.
“Take them next door,” he said.
The two crewmen grabbed Carlos and Luis and shoved them out the door.
“Not her just yet, I will need proof.” snapped the captain.
I never knew how the captain learned of my identity. I could only guess that maybe a picture of me taken by an old girlfriend had been posted, offering money for my capture. The captain began dialing a number and waited for someone to answer. While he was waiting, he started stacking the dope into stacks on a little table right in front of me. He picked up one of the packages, waved it, and smiled.
“Sinaloa will pay a great amount for this and for you,” he said.
Just as he was connected, he picked up all our money and placed it into the top drawer of the little desk he was sitting at. He asked for a man named Miguel. Eventually, he was speaking to this guy and told him that he had someone who would be of great interest to him. He tapped a couple keys on his phone and held the phone out, facing my direction. I could see a grubby-looking man on the screen. My face was clearly visible on his screen. The captain panned down to the drugs stacked on the table.
The captain was offering to deliver me either to people in Corpus Christi or bring me back to El Galaneno. The man on the phone said he would have someone he trusted in Corpus Christi meet him within hours. There was no further small talk. I didn’t get the impression they were really friends. I think maybe the captain was just happy to take advantage of the guy on the other end and get some money out of him. They agreed on a place to meet, and the call ended.
I was sitting there, my hands growing numb. I was hostage, just feet from the scummiest person I think I had ever seen. His teeth were all blackened or missing, and his breath reeked of rot. His skin looked like that of a wild pig. His body odor suggested he hadn’t bathed in weeks. He leaned over to a small cabinet and drew out a liquor bottle, unscrewed the top, and took a gulp. He grinned and held it out to me.
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