Storm of Lightning Read Online Free PDF Page A

then went downstairs, where Taylor and McKenna were waiting for us. The four of us crossed the wide street to Miguel’s Taqueria.
    The restaurant was old, but fairly clean. Three tables were already set with utensils, tortillas, hot salsa, and iced bottles of pineapple and strawberry Mexican soda pop. Everyone was eating flour tortillas and tortilla chips with guacamole and bean dip. Taylor, McKenna, Ostin, and I sat down at the table with Scott. There was a black lava rock bowl in the center of the table piled high with fresh guacamole. Scott pushed a woven basket of tortillas toward us.
    â€œThese are fresh. They just cooked them for us.”
    â€œI love homemade tortillas,” Ostin said. He rolled up a tortilla, dipped it into the guacamole, then took a big bite. “That’s better Mexican than Idaho has.”
    â€œYou think?” Zeus said sarcastically. “Maybe it’s because we’re in Mexico?”
    â€œIdaho has excellent Mexican food,” Ostin said. “We have lots of Mexicans living there.”
    â€œEveryone, look over your menus,” Scott said. “Lillia will be back in a minute to take our orders.”
    â€œWho?” Taylor asked.
    â€œThe owner’s wife,” Abigail said.
    The menu was printed in both Spanish and English, though the English translations were pretty funny. There was pig-spit. (I assume they meant pig roasted on a spit.) Roasted rabbi. (Rabbit?) And Jack’s favorite, “The water served here was passed by the owner.” No comment.
    I was really hungry and ordered a combo plate with two shredded beef tacos, a chile relleno, and a side serving of rice and refried beans.
    Taylor ordered the same but with only one taco. Less than twenty minutes later Lillia brought out our meals. While we were eating, Scott said, “Naco’s really an interesting town.”
    â€œBy ‘interesting’ do you mean ‘lame’ or ‘ghetto’?” Tessa said.
    Scott grinned. “Maybe not as interesting as it used to be, but it has history. Its nickname was, ‘ Un pueblo chico, olvidado de Dios .’ ”
    â€œA small village forgotten by God,” Ostin translated.
    â€œThat about sums it up,” Tessa said.
    â€œNaco is where the longest sustained battle of the Mexican Revolution took place. Any old building here still has bullet holes. The hotel we’re staying at used to advertise that it has thirty-inch-thick mud walls that are bulletproof.”
    â€œThat’s how to advertise a resort,” Tessa said. “ ‘You probably won’t be killed until you go outside.’ ”
    â€œFor entertainment, U.S. citizens used to line the border to watch the fighting. The Mexicans were careful not to shoot over the border, because they didn’t want America getting involved in the war.”
    â€œNow, there’s a wholesome family activity,” Tessa said. “Let’s go down to the border and watch them kill each other.”
    â€œSpeaking of bullets,” I said, “let’s talk about tomorrow.”
    Scott groaned a little. “ As I said , there’re not going to be any bullets or fighting. If we see any sign of the Elgen, we turn back.”
    â€œYeah, I heard you,” I said.
    Taylor looked at me with a worried expression. She knew I wanted to fight.
    Scott continued. “I asked the hotel clerk if he’d seen any Americans wearing black or purple uniforms. He said he hadn’t, but he did tell me that there had been some explosions down south, then some smoke for several days. He thought that either the Mexican Army was conducting war games or there was a raid on a drug cartel. Of course he didn’t know anything about the ranch.”
    â€œDid you ask if he saw any other Americans?” I asked.
    â€œI asked if your mother or Ostin’s parents had stayed at the hotel. He didn’t remember them, and he couldn’t find