Chapter 108 Section Eleven

Decker made a few more purchases.An hour later, he turned off Celiros Road and onto Interstate 25, but this time, he took the northbound lane, in the opposite direction from Albuquerque. "Why are we out of town now?" Beth leaned forward uneasily. "I told you I wouldn't let you leave me in a motel in the middle of nowhere. I wouldn't stand by and watch." "That's not why we're out of town. Have you ever heard the saying, 'There's no law west of Pex'?" Beth was baffled by this nonsensical remark. "I seem to be... in an old western tale, or a legend about the Southwest."

"Well, the Pecs in this sentence means the Pex River, and that's where we're going." Twenty minutes later, he turned left onto Interstate 50 and was soon in the town of Pex.The buildings there are mostly wood-walled and pointed structures, in stark contrast to the flat-roofed houses in Santa Fe.He turned left again, past the Abbey Lake where he had squat-fished his first summer in Santa Fe, and past the Abbey.This is where the name of the lake comes from.The car drove on an increasingly steep detour, with rows of tall pine trees on the side of the road.The sun had set below the towering cliffs to the west, and the rocky landscape was in shadow.

"We're driving north into the Pex Wilderness," Decker said, "and to the right is the Pex River. In places, the river is only 20 feet wide. You won't see it all the time because there are trees and Rocks, but you can hear it for sure. When the bed narrows, the flow speeds up." "There's almost no one on the road," said Beth. "Why are we here?" "This is a fishing place. In the woods behind, you probably saw a few cabins. After Labor Day, most of the houses were empty." Decker pointed to the front. "And after a while, someone wants to sell the house."

On the right, after turning a corner, there was a sign on a pole that said: "Edna Freed Real Estate."In smaller text, "Contact Steve Decker," followed by a phone number. As the car passed in front of the sign, Decker pulled it off the road.He drove through a gap in the fir bushes, rumbled across a narrow wooden bridge over the river, and followed a dirt road to a clearing in front of a small gray cabin.The sloping roof of the wooden house is metal and has rusted.This small building was built on a dark ridge slightly higher than the clearing, surrounded by dense bushes and shrubs, facing the fork of the dirt road in the country; Leading to the faded front door.

"This is where you land when you leave home," said Beth. "I've been trying to sell this place for six months," Decker said. "The key is in a locked box by the front door." Beth got out of the car, braced herself on crutches, and shivered. "In the city I'm pretty warm, but here it sure gets cold as soon as the sun goes down." "And it's going to be pretty wet because of the river," Decker said, "so I bought thermal underwear for everyone. Better put them on before we get started." "Warm underwear? But we're not going to be out for very long, are we?"

"Maybe all night." Beth seemed taken aback. "There's a lot to do." Decker opened the Buick's trunk. "Put on these cotton gloves and help us unload the weapon. Make sure you don't get fingerprints on anything, including bullets. Do you know how to work a shotgun?" "Know." "Someday you'll have to tell me how you learned it. You've got a broken shoulder and you can't handle the recoil. Reloading with a push-pull bolt makes you uncomfortable, so I bought a double-barreled shotgun. This double barrel is wide and flat enough to mount the gun on a log and it will never roll off. You can lie behind the log and aim without raising the gun. You can fire two shots at a time. Pull the bolt to load Bullets don't take much effort either."

"What kind of log are you going to use?" asked Beth with interest, which surprised him. "I don't know. Esperanza and I are going to walk around and look at the terrain. Figure out for yourself what Renata and her friends will do when they get here tonight, how close they will be , what kind of cover is best for them, and then use your brain to come up with a position that will give you the upper hand. It will be dark in an hour, and by then, when we have all the equipment installed, we will start the drill .”