He had no intention of missing the rendezvous with the others in Logroño. Let the silent sister become someone else’s headache.
Sister Graciela stood there waiting for Ricardo to lead the way. He turned and began to climb. As they started up the steep mountain path, Graciela slipped on some loose pebbles and Ricardo instinctively reached out to help her. She jerked away from his hand and righted herself. Fine, he thought angrily. Break your neck.
They kept moving upward, heading toward the majestic peak high above. The trail started to get steeper and narrower and the chilled air became thinner. They were heading east, passing through a forest of pine trees. Ahead of them lay a village that was a haven for skiiers and mountain climbers. There would be hot food and warmth and rest there, Ricardo knew. It was tempting. Too dangerous, he decided. It would be a perfect place for Acoca to set a trap.
He turned to Sister Graciela. “We’ll skirt the village. Can you go on a little farther before we rest?”
She looked at him and, as her answer, turned and began to walk.
The unnecessary rudeness offended him, and he thought: Thank heavens at Logroño I will be rid of her. Why in the name of God do I have mixed feelings about that?
They skirted the village, walking along the edge of the forest, and soon they were on the path again, climbing upward. It was getting more difficult to breathe, and the path grew steeper. As they rounded a bend, they came upon an empty eagle’s nest. They skirted another mountain village, quiet and peaceful in the afternoon sun, and rested outside it, stopping at a mountain stream where they drank the icy water.
By dusk they had reached a rugged area that was famous for its caves. After that the trail would start downward.
From now on, Ricardo thought, it will be easy. The worst is over.
He heard a faint buzzing sound overhead. He looked up, searching for the source of it. An army plane appeared suddenly over the top of the mountain, flying toward them.
“Down!” Ricardo shouted. “Down!”
Graciela kept walking. The plane circled and began to swoop lower.
“Get down!” Ricardo yelled again.
He jumped on her and pushed her down to the ground, his body on top of hers. What happened next took him completely by surprise. Without any warning, Graciela began yelling hysterically, fighting him. She was kicking him in the groin, clawing at his face, trying to rip at his eyes. But the most astonishing thing was what she was saying. She was screaming out a string of obscenities that sent Ricardo into shock, a verbal torrent of filth that assailed him. He could not believe that these words were coming from that beautiful, innocent mouth.
He tried to grab her hands to protect himself from her raking nails. She was like a wildcat under him.
“Stop it!” he shouted. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’s an army scout plane. They may have seen us. We’ve got to get out of here.”
He held her down until her frantic struggling finally ceased. Strange, strangled sounds were coming from her, and he realized that she was sobbing. Ricardo, with all his experience with women, was completely baffled. He was straddled atop a hysterical nun who had the vocabulary of a truck driver, and he had no notion of what to do next.
He made his voice as calm and as reasonable as possible. “Sister, we have to find a place to hide quickly. The plane may have reported us and in a few hours there could be soldiers swarming all over the place. If you ever want to reach the convent, you’ll get up and come with me.”
He waited a moment, then carefully raised himself off her and sat alongside her until the sobs subsided. Finally Graciela sat up. Her face was smudged from the dirt, her hair was mussed, her eyes were red from crying, and yet her beauty made Ricardo ache.
He said quietly, “I’m sorry I frightened you. I don’t seem to know how to behave around you. I promise to try to be more careful in the future.”