Hunt at the Well of Eternity by Gabriel Hunt, James Reasoner

behind her head. Gabriel thought she looked good in a white, off-the-shoulder blouse and a long skirt. Their appearance was different enough from the night before that he hoped they would escape notice if Esparza did have men watching the highway.
    The pickup’s bed was filled with supplies that Pancho’s wife had brought back from the market this morning. A tied-down tarp covered the boxes and bags. Pancho had also insisted that they take a lever-action Winchester and a double-barreled shotgun that belonged to him, and his wife had packed ammunition for the weapons, too.
    “I don’t know what sort of trouble is chasing you, and I don’t want to know,” the old man had said. “But if it catches up to you, you might need those guns.”
    Gabriel couldn’t argue with that.
    They had left before sunrise. To all appearances, they were a young couple, a farmer and his wife, who had come to Mexico City and were now on their way home. If that masquerade was successful, they would be well out of the city before Esparza ever found out that they were gone. With any luck, he might not find out at all.
    Gabriel didn’t think they would be that lucky. Even if they slipped through the cordon that Esparza was bound to have thrown around the city, the man knew more about what was going on than they did. He had to figure that they would head for Chiapas to pick up the trail of General Fargo. He had gone to a lot of trouble to try to stop Gabriel from interfering with his plans, what ever they were, and he wouldn’t stop now.
    But maybe they could gain a few days’ advantage. Gabriel hoped to, anyway.
    Cierra told him where to turn and which roads to take. He knew Mexico fairly well, but she was the native here, not him, so he trusted her directions.
    “It’s eight hundred kilometers to the old plantation,” she told him as they left Mexico City behind. “Not so far that it can’t be driven in a day, but not all the roads will be as good as this one.”
    “I don’t want to push this old pickup too hard, either,” Gabriel said. “I know what Pancho told us about how well it runs, but we can’t afford to break down.”
    “It was good to see him and his family again.” Cierra leaned back against the seat’s tattered upholstery and sighed. “I swear, if Vladimir bothers them, I’ll come back and…and claw his eyes out myself.”
    Gabriel laughed. “I believe it. But you shouldn’t have to do that. It was just one night. It’s pretty unlikely that Esparza will ever connect us with them.”
    They had hidden the jeep in the shed the night before and pulled the pickup around back to pack the supplies in it this morning. No one in the neighborhood should have been able to get a good look at Gabriel or Cierra, and the chances of Esparza’s men even looking for them there were slim.
    Pancho and his wife had insisted on giving up their bed for Cierra. Gabriel had slept on a sofa. The house was full of children, but they had all been asleep when the two visitors arrived the night before. That hadn’t been the case this morning, when Gabriel had awakened to find four solemn-faced youngsters under the age of five standing beside the sofa and staring at him. He had grinned at them, and that sent them scampering off in search of their madres.
    The chance to get some rest had helped, and so had the hearty breakfast washed down by several cups of strong black coffee. When they were ready to go, Cierra had hugged Pancho and Pancho’s wife and each of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
    “Why don’t you let me come with you?” Pancho had asked. “I know I’m an old man, but I know those jungles down there as well as anyone.”
    “I’m sorry, Pancho,” Cierra had told him. “I couldn’t take you away from your family. They need you more than we do.”
    “I would tell you to be careful…but even as a little girl, you were reckless. Always daring to do more and more, even when it put you in danger.”
    That brought