Kingdom of God Read online

  “Where are you going?” Michael asked.

  “I’m not wasting anymore time here like a sitting duck.” Michael placed his hand on the back of his chair and took one step in Sool’s direction.

  “Let him go,” Jen said. Michael stopped and looked across the table. She focused on the road outside with a bereft expression on her face. “He would never cross the border with us anyway.”

  Sool proceeded into the kitchen. Some static came in on Dow’s radio.

  “Unknown. Northeast corner. Red sweatshirt. And a child.”

  “Roger,” Dowd replied. He nodded at Michael and Jen. “You wanna look?”

  The two investigators peered north up Federal Highway 1. A bus drove by, revealing a woman standing on the curb a few meters before the intersection. A young girl was at the woman’s side, clutching her hand. The young woman wore red hooded sweatshirt, denim jeans and scuffed sneakers. The hood was up. A scarf concealed her face. The young girl at the woman’s side sported a stained white sleeveless t-shirt and blue skirt that came down to her knees. The woman looked up and down the six-lane thoroughfare. Dozens of cars passed in both directions. The wind kicked up the child’s long black hair.

  “I don’t know. Agent Chau, can you-”

  The woman stepped off of the curb and ran toward the restaurant. The girl clung to the woman’s side with her arm outstretched. Michael and Jen rose out of the chairs. The two figures crossed the first three lanes of traffic on before stopping on the median. Three more vehicles sped by. A horn blared as they passed. The woman and the young girl jumped off the median, across the next three lanes and made it safely to the other side of the highway.

  Jen exhaled a sigh of relief. The woman and child approached the front of La Vita Bella. Dowd stepped out of the front door with his rifle slung behind his back. The bell over the front door rang. The sergeant raised his hands and stopped the two from entering the restaurant.

  The young woman threw off the hood and scarf. Her face was pale and freckled. Her short crop of red hair was parted to the left. She lifted her arms, and the sergeant completed a pat down. He crouched down in front of the young girl. She stepped back, tucked her arms into her chest and started to cry. Dowd proceeded with the pat down. When he finished, the woman picked up the young girl and carried her inside La Vita Bella. Jen rushed to the front door.

  “Wendy-” The young woman announced that the girl had not eaten in days and that she needed some food. Jen agreed and guided the two toward the cashier. Wendy put the young girl down in front of the counter. She had stopped crying.

  The young female employee stepped out of the kitchen and up to the cash register.

  “Dos rebanadas de pizza por favor,” Wendy said.

  “¿Te gustaría una beb-?”

  “L’agua.”

  “Se puede tomar un tiempo. El horno tiene que recalentar.”

  “Apúrate por favor,” Jen interjected. “Tenemos prisa.”

  “Haremos nuestro mejor,” the employee said. Michael approached the counter.

  “What’s going on?”

  “It’s gonna take a second,” Sool said. He leered at Wendy with his arms still folded. “Why were you late?”

  She did not acknowledge him. Her eyes were fixed on the countertop. Jen placed a hand on the young woman’s shoulder.

  “Why don’t we take a seat over here, Wendy? We can talk a little bit while we’re waiting.” Jen led her and the child over the corner booth. They sat in the shade provided by the window frame. Jen and Michael took the seats across from them.

  “Is this Maribel?” Jen gestured to the child with a smile. Wendy nodded. Jen leaned in toward the young girl. “Hola, Maribel. Me llamo Jen.”

  Maribel did not respond. She possessed the same mournful look as Wendy. The cashier came over and placed two clear plastic cups filled with ice water in front of the two girls.

  “If it’s okay, Wendy, I just wanted to ask you-”

  “Where are Los Hermanos?” Sool interrupted. Jen shot a glance in his direction. Her eyes returned to Wendy.

  “Um...I was thinking we can go back earlier. How are you feeling right now? How did you end up working at Reino de Dios? Do you know where the kids are right now? Do you know where Ray or Theo are? Or...”

  Wendy looked out of the window to her right. Tears started to form in her eyes.

  “Can we get Maribel out of here?”

  “Sure.” Jen turned around and looked at Starr. The private was still standing by the counter. She slung her rifle around her back and walked over to the corner booth. She crouched down and outstretched one hand toward Maribel.

  “Hola. It’s okay, come here.” Maribel scanned the solider for a moment. She took the private’s hand and jumped down from her chair. She looked back at Wendy as Starr led her across the dining room and away from the booth.

  Wendy swallowed and drew a long breath through her nose. She wiped her eyes and turned to face Jen and Michael.

  More static came over Dow’s radio.

  “Three unknowns. Males. Ten yards out.”

  I grew up in Irvine. It was horrible. Everyone says you’re so lucky to grow up in Orange County but they’re wrong. It’s just flat there. Nothing but square blocks and flat roads. It’s like growing up in a strip mall. I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. All my friends loved it. It’s so close to Disneyland. Why would you ever want to leave? I wanted to live with my grandma but my dad said no. He wanted us to stay together like a family. I don’t remember him saying that when he and mom got divorced. Then he tried to guilt me with my brother. He said we should stay together because he wasn’t around anymore. I couldn’t believe him.

  A psychiatrist said that’s why I acted out. Like I was a computer. You punch in numbers and you get a result. No. I drank and did cody because it was awesome. You don’t need a master’s degree to figure that out. It was the only way to have fun in a place like Irvine. I kind of came down after getting arrested. It was like a wakeup call. I had to grow up. I did get to spend some time with Grandma. She moved in with us. She took me to church. That was like a new high. Everyone was really nice and they really care about you. It was nothing like school. Nobody cares in school.

  I learned about these service trips to T.J. I could learn so much more there than I ever could in school. I got out of Orange County and actually got to do something with my life. It was like I was actually accomplishing something. All anyone would do is just pray things would be fixed. Like ‘God, make this person not sick so I can feel better. Help the victims of this natural disaster so I can feel better. Get me this job or into this school so I can feel better.’ This world is broken and you can’t just pray that it gets fixed. You have to get your hands dirty. This is how you fix it. That’s what Pastor David always said. He said don’t pray for God’s blessing. Find out where God is, follow Him there, and He’ll bless you. All the girls back at school thought I was just there to do drugs but it wasn’t like that. The work kept me clean. It was like drugs were the sickness and work was the cure.

  I went like three or four times in the summer back then. I started working there full time after high school. I didn’t go to college. What a waste of time. All other kids that would volunteer just wanted to get into college. That’s the only reason they were there. Something to put on an application. That’s the only good it did. They didn’t care about the kids. They didn’t care about the community. They would just show up for a week and then leave. We would swap numbers and friend each other on Facebook but we never talked again. I wasn’t gonna be like that. I wanted to do it because I wanted to do it. I wanted to fix this world and make a difference. I saw these kids get into foster families. I saw them graduate primary school. And I feel like when I die and God asks ‘what do you have to show for your time on Earth,’ I would point to that. I would say look at my work at Reino.

  Ray and Theo were the same way. They came back. They were there every summer. Sometimes on their spring break. East
er weekend. That’s how committed they were. And Ray would come on weekends while he was in school. He didn’t need to. He already got into a good school but he still came back.

  He. He’s gone. He’s dead. You don’t have to go look for him. I don’t know where anyone else is. The kids. Theo. David. I’m praying that they’re safe. I’m praying so hard that God is with them right now but I don’t know. I can’t just sit here and hope that they’re okay. Everything in my body is telling me that they aren’t.

  I don’t know about M.J. and El. I know they aren’t saints. Nobody comes to Reino like they did, just wandering off the street with nothing. But they aren’t bad people. They did the work. They built these kids up. I remember this one time I was practicing for worship. Playing “Tu amor me inundó” on piano and I couldn’t keep time. All the notes just mushed together. M.J. helped. El was there too but it was just M.J. who helped. He played the tambourine and drum. It really helped me in more ways than one. He had only one hand but he was still playing. He gave his one hand to worship the Lord. It was incredible. It really was.

  He did do one bad thing. It was more of an accident really. He saw that I would go down the hill to this Internet café. That’s where I checked my email and Facebook and stuff. And he thought he’d get me something so I wouldn’t have to walk all that way. This was around Christmas. He got me a Ruckus scooter. He was real happy about it. He seemed so excited to give it to me. But I. I couldn’t take it. I just started to sob. It looked exactly like the one my brother died on. I mean he didn’t know that. How could he. But it still hurt. I couldn’t face him for the longest time after that. It wasn’t until he was in the common area. The kids were at school so we were just hanging out. And he was just lying on his back tossing a ball up and down until it went over the wall. I asked him if I should go get it. Just to be nice you know. It was the first time we talked in like a month. He said it was fine.

  Then I just flat out asked him what he and El were doing down here. He said they were looking for their father. I didn’t believe him. It sounded like something he made up. But then he told me his real name was Matt. I think that was to convince me he was telling the truth. But I don’t know.

  We spent a lot of time together. He wasn’t like my boyfriend or anything. I’m not protecting him. Pastor David kept hinting that Ray and me should get together. We were really good friends. And here was M.J. This mysterious blond-haired, blue-eyed guy I was spending all this time with. But I wasn’t going to get into that. I would see all my friends have boyfriends. Some of them got engaged. I wasn’t going to be forced into a relationship. I wasn’t going to be forced into anything. I wasn’t going to choose between these two guys like they were my only options. We were close, that was-

  A loud bang ignited the ringing in Michael’s hearing aid. He turned toward the street. An enormous crack appeared in the window next to him. A group of six men lined the median and sidewalk on the opposite side of the road. One of the men reared back and hurled a rock at the restaurant. It slammed against the window, creating another large fracture.

  Wendy, Jen and Michael jumped out of the booth. The detective shoved Jen and Wendy away from the window and toward the counter.

  Another stone flew toward the restaurant. The window shattered. A white mist erupted from the broken glass and filled the empty window pane.

  The electric sign above the cashier exploded. A shower of sparks hit Sool. Vapor poured down from the sign. Jen and Wendy covered their heads and mouths. Michael pushed them around the counter and into the kitchen.

  The detective twisted around and saw Dowd crouched behind another booth. He screamed into the radio on his vest while the ringing persisted in Michael’s ear. Dowd raised his rifle and took aim through the window frame. He fired two rounds. Rocks continued to pelt the restaurant.

  A stone hit Michael in the head. His glasses flew off his face. He stumbled and fell backwards through the swinging door and onto a non-slip mat on the floor. He held his head. He felt blood seep through his fingers. The faint sound of rifle fire and pelted rocks emanated from the other room. He rolled onto his side. An employee was crouched underneath the metal countertop. She covered both her ears with her head tucked between her knees.

  His vision blurred, Michael squinted through the still-swaying door. He saw the silhouette of a man brandishing a large stick just outside the window pane. The man jumped over the wall and into the dining area. The door swung shut.

  Michael reached down, pulled his sidearm off his belt and trained it at the door. He fired four rounds. Four holes punctured the door just beneath the push plate. The ringing in his ears intensified. Michael slammed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth through the pain.

  He drew a deep breath and reopened his eyes. The door swung inward.

  Dowd fell backward throw the door and onto Michael’s leg. The sergeant’s temple was bleeding. Two large tears appeared in his body armor. He writhed on top of detective’s lower leg.

  A hand gripped the back of Michael’s shirt collar. He turned his head and saw Blaylock dragging him across the kitchen floor. Michael found his feet and stumbled toward the open garage door that poured out onto Avenida Altivez. A black SUV sat outside with its engine roaring.

  Doubled over, the detective ran toward the vehicle and leapt through the open rear door. He fell onto the floor, slammed his eyes shut and covered his still-ringing ears. The door slammed shut behind him. Michael’s shoulder smacked against the rear seatback as the vehicle sped away. He kept his eyes shut with his hands pressed against his ears.

  * * *

  The vehicle slowed thirty minutes later. Michael’s hearing aid was missing. The ringing in his left ear persisted. He reopened his eyes and rose to his knees. Two guardsmen occupied the front seats. The vehicle passed an ivy-covered chain-linked fence surrounding a patchy soccer field and stucco-sided buildings with hand-painted signs. A small green sign displayed the letters “USA – S. Ysidro” with an arrow pointed north. The vehicle proceeded in the opposite direction.

  The three occupants bounced over a rutted road. An arid knoll loomed over a large patch of pinyon pines. A sharp pain shot through Michael’s leg and lower back. He grabbed the seatback and pulled himself onto the bench. He looked out the windshield. An unpainted wooden structure resembling a small garage lay ahead of them.

  A large blood stain smeared across the rear seat. Michael lifted his hand. A layer of blood coated his palm. He dipped the middle finger of his left hand into his left ear. It too was soaked in blood. He plunged his fingers back into his left ear to abate the bleeding.

  The vehicle halted next to another black SUV parked outside the wooden structure. Jen was standing inside the building’s only door. Two window frames flanked both sides of the doorway. The special agent rushed to the vehicle’s side, opened the passenger door and motioned the detective inside. Michael crawled out of the vehicle and limped toward the entrance. The door was a piece of strand wood attached by two brass hinges. A silver bathroom fixture served as the handle. Jen opened the door and ushered the detective inside. The two guardsmen in the car followed.

  Michael stepped onto a concrete floor. The walls consisted of strand board. Every beam was exposed. The joists appeared misaligned overhead. A single wall with a wide opening bisected the building. A crudely cut-out archway linked the two sides of the structure. Splinters and chips protruded from the arch. The interior was nearly empty. A pile of clothes and a half-filled garbage bag lay in the corner.

  To the detective’s right, Wendy and Maribel sat on the floor underneath one of the building’s few windows. Private Starr wrapped gauze over some scratches on Wendy’s arm. A first aid kit was at her side. She looked up at Michael. The private stood up and ran to his side. She unfurled some more gauze and placed it against the back of his head.

  “It’s fine, it’s fine,” Michael said. He could barely make out the sound of his own voice. In the other room, the remainder of the guardsmen lined the walls wit
h their rifles at low ready. One of the soldiers peered out of the room’s only window. His left hand tightened around the Kelly grip. His right index finger hovered over the trigger. Jen and Sool were standing beside the wall opposite the window. Mercury vapor coated their shoulders. Jen looked down at her phone. A worried expression hung on her face.

  “Where are we?” Michael asked. Jen looked up and replied, but he could not hear a single word.

  “Keep your voice down,” he finally gathered.

  “Where are we?”

  “Presa Rodriguez.”

  “Where?”

  “Presa Rodriguez. It’s south of...”

  Her eyes drifted to the window. Another tall black SUV came screeching off the paved road and onto the rutted path next to the building. It skidded to a stop next to the other vehicles. The rear windows were shattered. Dents littered its right side. Three doors opened, and Blaylock, Peters, Garcia and Bronco all jumped out. Michael hurried to open the door.

  The three guardsmen and Bronco poured into the unfinished structure. Blaylock stormed through the archway. Sweat poured down his face. He spun around, his eyes darting in all directions. His gaze finally landed on Starr. He directed her to the vehicle outside.

  “Go treat Dowd.” The private picked up the first aid kit and sprinted out the entrance. Michael shut the door behind her and locked it with a four-inch long, centimeter-thick bolt.

  Michael took a few cautious steps toward the sergeant. Blaylock began skulking around the room. He dug his hands into the collar of his body armor and yanked it away from his chest. He turned toward Michael.

  “Where the hell are we? Why aren’t we across the border?” Jen approached the sergeant.

  “We couldn’t bring that much heat to the border,” she confided. “She told us to come here.”

  “Who did?”

  “Our witness.”

  “Oh now she’s in charge? Is she in charge? I got a guy dying in the back seat. Where’s the nearest hospital?”