Megan looked at Jaime and crossed herself. She could hardly breathe.
“Would you—would you have killed the policeman if that man had not attacked the woman?”
Jaime did not bother to answer.
“The woman wasn’t being attacked, Sister,” Felix explained. “Those were our people. We are not alone. We have many friends.”
Jaime’s face was grim. “We’re going to have to get rid of this car.”
They were leaving the outskirts of Valladolid. Jaime turned onto N620, the highway to Burgos, on the way to Logroño. He was careful to stay within the speed limit.
“We’ll get rid of the car as soon as we get past Burgos,” he announced.
I can’t believe this is happening to me, Megan thought. I escaped from the convent, I’m running away from the army, and I’m riding in a stolen car with terrorists who just robbed a bank. Lord, what else do You have in mind for me?
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Colonel Ramón Acoca and half a dozen members of the GOE were in the middle of a strategy meeting. They were studying a large map of the countryside.
The scarred giant said, “It’s obvious that Miró is heading north toward Basque country.”
“That could mean Burgos, Vitoria, Logroño, Pamplona, or San Sebastián.”
San Sebastián, Acoca thought. But I have to catch him before he reaches there.
He could hear the voice on the phone: You’re running out of time.
He could not afford to fail.
They were driving through the rolling hills that heralded the approach to Burgos.
Jaime was quiet behind the wheel. When he finally spoke, he said, “Felix, when we get to San Sebastian, I want to make arrangements to get Rubio away from the police.”
Felix nodded. “It will be a pleasure. It will drive them crazy.”
Megan said, “What about Sister Lucia?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say that she had been captured too?”
Jaime said wryly, “Yes, but your Sister Lucia turned out to be a criminal wanted by the police for murder.”
The news shook Megan. She remembered how Lucia had taken charge and persuaded them to hide in the hills. She liked Sister Lucia.
She said stubbornly, “As long as you’re going to rescue Rubio, you should save them both.”
What the devil kind of nun is this? Jaime wondered.
But she was right. Smuggling Rubio and Lucia out from under the nose of the police would be wonderful propaganda and would make headlines.
Amparo had sunk into a sullen silence.
Suddenly, in the distance on the road ahead of them were three army trucks filled with soldiers.
“We’d better get off this road,” Jaime decided.
At the next intersection he turned off the highway and headed east.
“Santo Dominga de la Calzada is up ahead. There’s an old deserted castle there. We can spend the night in it.”
Before long they could see its outline from the distance, high on a hill. Jaime took a side road, avoiding the town, and the castle loomed larger and larger as they approached it. A few hundred yards from it was a lake.
Jaime stopped the car. “Everybody out, please.”
When they were all out of the car, Jaime pointed the steering wheel down the hill toward the lake, jammed the accelerator down, released the hand brake, and jumped clear. They stood there watching as the car disappeared into the water.
Megan was about to ask him how they were going to get to Logroño. She stopped herself. Foolish question. He will steal another car, of course.
The group turned to examine the abandoned castle. There was a huge stone wall circling it, and it had crumbling turrets on each corner.
“In the old days,” Felix told Megan, “princes used these castles as prisons for their enemies.”
And Jaime is an enemy of the state, and if he is caught, there will be no prison for him. Only death, Megan thought. He has no fear. She remembered his words: I have faith in what I’m fighting for. I have faith in my men, and in my guns.
They walked up the stone steps that led to the front gate, which was made of iron. It had rusted away so badly that they were able to push it open and squeeze through into a courtyard paved in stone.