Page 54 of In a Perfect World
“I’m...I’m on Rancher Hills,” I insisted.“I can...can be here.”
“But why are you dirty, tired-looking, and carrying a bag that I bet has only the most important of things for you?”the second agent asked, sounding like a complete jackass.
“It doesn’t matter what...what I have,” I argued.“I’m on Rancher Hills.I’m on RNA land.”
“Says who?”the first agent sneered, and a new level of fear crawled up my spine.“As far as I can see, you were crossing the river.Just ask Hector here.”
“Yeah, it was unfortunate that we caught you red-handed,querida,”Hector chuckled darkly, and him calling me darling did not sound flattering.
This was my worst fears come true.I’d been mentally resigned to getting shot and possibly losing my life doing this, but I hadn’t ever imagined that I’d be captured like this.It never occurred to me that any of the border patrol agents would behave so unscrupulously, and I probably deserved this for being so arrogantly stupid.For some reason, because the world hated the RNA, I’d been under the impression that other countries had been held to a higher standard, but I was wrong.
People sucked, no matter which country they lived in.
“You can’t do this,” I said, trying to sound a lot more confident than I felt.“You’re the ones trespassing, and it’ll be kidnapping if you take me anywhere.”
They both laughed, and their laughter sounded genuine.They really found this funny, and I could only imagine how many times they’d done this before.They didn’t appear nervous or worried that they might get caught, so how many times had these two men abused their power?
“Again, says who?”the first agent chuckled.“It’s your word against ours, and who’s going to believe you?”
“Maybe her last name is Cortez,” Hector laughed, and he laughed because they both knew that it wasn’t.None of Benicio Cortez’s family would be engaged in something like this.
“Too bad,” the other guy remarked.“That would make for one hell of a headline.”
“We need to go, Benito,” Hector said.“We can’t be on this side for too long.”
Once upon a time, it’d been the other way around, and it’d been US border patrol agents who had made sure that illegal immigrants hadn’t crossed over into this country, but once the roles had been reversed, there’d been no more need for them since no one had been interested in coming here anymore.So, now the RNA had a monthly patrol that ‘checked in’ on the border, but nothing more.Mexico and Canada were now in charge of securing the borders, and they were doing a well-enough job that the RNA didn’t concern itself with illegal crossings that much anymore.No...they were more worried with the region borders than anything else.
“Come on, little trespasser,” Benito said.“You’re coming with us.”
“No, I’m not!”I yelled.“You can’t do this!”
I would have fallen from the force of Benito’s backhanded slap if he hadn’t had such a tight grip on my arm, and the pain that radiated down my neck told me that my face was going to be bruised in the morning.The blood coating the inside of my cheek also confirmed it.
“One more word from you, and getting arrested for trespassing will be the least of your worries,” Benito sneered, and I could feel bile threatening to rise up my throat.
“Don’t be upset,querida,”Hector smirked.“I’m sure you’ll be perfectly okay in one of our fine Mexican prisons.”
I wanted to beg.I wanted to plead with them to do the right thing, but I knew that it’d fall on deaf ears.There were good cops and bad cops, and these two were clearly a part of the latter.They were enjoying this, and so there was no point in trying to reason with them.
“Does your family have money,querida?”Benito asked.“How much would they pay to get you back?”
Once upon a time, my answer would have been to tell them that my family would pay whatever they needed to get me back unharmed, but now I didn’t know the answer to that question.Right now, I didn’t know anything other than that I was screwed.
I was screwed, and it was nobody’s fault but my own.
