11. Sightseeing tour

The following day Sandrine almost said 'good morning'. After yesterday she did not want to bring up a chance for him to tease her. Also he obviously trusted her or at least thought that it was worth to see if he could trust her. After all she saw no chance to escape at all. Even if she did, what would she do then?

"Put on something comfortable, we will have a hard march before us," he told her as she went to the bathroom.

"We going to walk?"

"We are going crossing the border and since the travel route is out of question, we will take the scenic route."

This day it was anyway too hot to wear anything long, so she got her shorts and a top. Walking was better than sitting in a car all day. They left and after a short breakfast, they continued their journey. They were close before the Mexican border. After two hours Pick turned into a small sideway which lead into the mountains. The road became worse which each mile. Finally Van Cleaf stopped the car.

"From here we have to walk."

They hid the car and walked on. By noon they reached a tiny passage that lead into a rocky, dusty landscape. Every hour they made a short rest. Also it was hot and the path was uneven Sandrine enjoyed their walk. She often jogged or made long strolls around the lake, which belonged to her old school. After four hours they stopped on a more open space covered with huge stones.

"How far is it?" she asked her kidnapper.

"I think we will have to walk two or three hours, then I get us a car."

Sandrine leaned back to a stone. The positive side effect was that all the fat stuff she had eaten during the past days would be undone. She was drinking from an already warm water flask when Pick suddenly pushed her down. In the same moment she heard several shots which hit the rock where her head had been a second before.

He pushed her behind the rock, while the shooting continued. Suddenly he stood up, fired twice and dodged again beside her. A short loud rattle in one's throat was followed by even wilder shooting at the rock. Van Cleaf seemed to be unimpressed, he removed a second pistol from his jacket. Then he checked both weapons and turned to Sandrine: "You stay here."

'Like I am about to go anywhere else,' she thought. "Very funny," she heard herself replying. Pick smiled at her for a second afterwards he turned his attention back to their current problem. With a sudden movement he left the cover firing both his guns at the others. Sandrine heard that another one was hit. Then everything went silent. Finally she heard footsteps coming closer.

Van Cleaf saw a bunch of Mexican outlaws crossing by, they were well armed, but lacked his experience and talent. The did not even looked out for him. The more they were surprised as he jumped from a rock behind them. Emptying his guns and leaving only three of the seven remaining men alive, he rolled over the ground behind the next cover. Instantly reloading his pistols.

One of the men tried to reach the next rock, as a bullet hit him in the back. The other were to shocked to do anything. As Pick ordered them to put their weapons down they obeyed without muttering.

Sandrine watched Pick emerging behind the rock with a dreadful smile addressing the outlaws. "Get on your knees and put your hands on your head."

Since there was a lack of opportunities both men did as they were told. Van Cleaf was enjoying himself with the situation. The Mexicans were afraid and part of them knew that they were going to die, but of course the other part was hoping for a way out. He walked around them and with cold amusement in his voice he asked: "Any famous last words?"

The left one who felt the cold metal of the gun pressing against his head started begging for his life. Sandrine was deeply shocked as she saw how much Pick enjoyed this. It gave her goose bumps to see the cruel smile as he slowly pulled the trigger. The mans head seemed to explode in a ray of blood and flesh. The other one trembled.

"That was pathetic - now to you!"

"Fuck you," replied the last outlaw and spit out.

"Much better," he said and shot.

Sandrine wished she had looked away, but it seemed impossible. It had shown her the darkest trait of Pick's character. The girl had the feeling that it was important for her to know it, also this left her in a state of terror, confusion and delusion.

"Let's go," he said. Satisfaction was still written in his face, slowly she grabbed her bag and walked beside her kidnapper. She did not even wanted to think about what happened. The last time he had killed somebody she could tell herself that it was the only way to save her, the same pretence worked for the other seven outlaws, but never for those two. Even know she failed to realise that Pick had been hit by a bullet.

Van Cleaf himself did not gave it much notice. Adrenalin was still flowing through his veins and right now he could not do anything about it. It still bled a bit, but the shot had went right through his shoulder without doing serious damage. Of course he realised that Sandrine was bothered about the events, but he left the situation as it was.

Not a further word was spoken until they reached the end of the path. Not far from there was a huge parking lot. Van Cleaf mentioned that all these cars were already stolen as he opened the door of a beige pick-up. Sandrine was still not up to any conversation and remained silent. She wondered how long they would travel this day and for another two hours she had the chance to watch the dusty landscape.