The Guadeloupe Squadeloupe

Chapter XVIII: Guad

"Hey guys," Perry says, leading the squad over to us. Janis observes Bob for a second and then moves back a few paces.

"Is it time to get back in the van?" I ask.

Perry nods, sending me an understanding look. I silently thank him as he takes the rest of the squad to our van.

Once they're all gone, I encourage Bob to stand up (it takes a few seconds) and we walk back to join the others.

I climb into the back before him and lean against the car wall, waiting. As Bob gets into the car to sit by me, he suddenly yells out a loud cry of pain.

Everyone's attention is suddenly turned to my friend, who is rubbing his forehead, where a large bruise has formed.

"Did you hit your head?" Diana asks.

"Yes," Bob groans. For the first time I notice a small black cylinder hanging in the corner of the doorway. "It has a lens," he notices, peering at the device.

"Is that a camera?" Perry asks, getting out of the passenger's seat to come look at it.

Bob nods. "Is someone monitoring us? Is it Delgato?"

I join him and Perry, studying the new problem in our lives.

After a minute Perry shrugs and goes back up to his seat. "We should ignore it," he tells us. "Don't let them know we know about it. Try not to glance at it for a while."

Bob laces his hands while I help him into the van, and Alice pulls us out onto the road.

Suddenly, I get what Perry calls an "epiphany."

"Ashton's the one that gave us this car, remember?" I say.

Whatever noise there was is gone. "You think he's watching us?" Janis asks. "He helped us, didn't he?"

"He used to work for Delgato," Alice reminds her sister. "Delgato might have gotten to him."

Diana shrinks against the wall, obviously irked by the conversation. I scoot over next to her. "Uh, we'll be fine," I tell her. "We can handle that guy."

The smile she gives me back is more sympathetic than grateful.

What happens next is unexpected. My stomach drops the same way it did when our plane plummented to the ground. Diana is putting her head on my shoulder.

Bob glances at us and grins. When Diana sees this, she sits up straighter and pulls her head away. I curse Bob in my mind with all the profanities I know.

I notice that the rest of the squad has stopped talking about Delgato.

Not knowing what else to do, I lean back and fall asleep, thinking of Diana.

...

At our next stop, we somehow end up alone in the van together while the rest of the squad gets things from a store.

"I suck," is all that she says at first.

"Don't say that," I mutter.

"All I did when we first started was keep the morale up and encourage the others. But now I can't even do that." Looking into her harsh green eyes, I know that she believes what she's saying. She doesn't think that she can do anything. It's funny how we have such differing opinions about the same person.

"Why? Why was your job to keep the rest of us up?" I find myself asking.

She bites her lip and I try not to smile seeing it. "Making what was around me happy was the only way anyone couldn't see what was sad inside me."

I can't think of anything to do but put my arm around her shoulder. "If you want, I can boost your morale to help you boost the others'."

She looks at me and I look at her. We sit her in the van analyzing each other, and I really want to kiss her the way I saw my dad my mom, but I know there's no way I can. Perry would kill me, and Diana's life is too difficult for anything like that to happen.

So instead I let her fall asleep in my arms, not waiting to join her.

. . .

"Guad!" A frantic voice whispers.

"What?" I grumble, hefting myself up.

"Shh!" The voice snaps, pushing me down.

I blink my eyes open and glance around. The van has stopped. Bob is holding me to the floor.

"What's going on?" I breathe.

Bob doesn't speak and the only sounds are footsteps coming from around the van.

I hear talking from the front. I look in between the front seats and see Perry, Janis, and Diana talking to Columbian men in uniforms.

"¿Hablas español?" One of the uniformed men asks.

"Sí. Estudio español en mi escuela," Janis says fluently.

I feel someone shift next to me. Alice, I think.

"Mis amigos quieren ingleas por favor," Janis says, telling the man that we want them to speak in English.

Bob begins to move us closer to the front seats so that we can lie on the ground and not be seen.

The uniformed man grunts. Up between the seats and look past Janis to see his head looking through our window.

"We looking for refugees," the man says in broken English. "We are the border patrol."