The Only Road Read Online Free PDF

from his mind—but because he was surprised he’d managed to sleep at all.
    The truck jarred and rattled as it slowed down. That must have been what had woken him up. He shifted, causing the bones in his stiff neck to crack and pop, and started to dig his way out to check where they were.
    A hand grabbed his shoulder.
    He screamed.
    â€œShh!” A harsh whisper came from Ángela next to himand he understood. They were stopping. If they were stopping, there had to be a reason. And until they knew what the reason was, they had to stay hidden. Jaime cursed himself for not thinking. Barely a few hours from home and he could have gotten them caught.
    The truck pulled to a complete stop. Jaime kept his breathing shallow to avoid shifting any bags. Pancho didn’t get out of the cab or turn off the truck, so that meant he hadn’t stopped by choice. Something out there had made him stop.
    Through the gaps in the sacks, Jaime could see lights flashing red against the dawn sky. Two sharp and deep barks came from the distance. The bags around Jaime shifted, and he knew Ángela had retreated farther into the sacks of used clothes; dogs scared her to bits.
    For a second Jaime wondered if he should be scared too. He liked dogs. But that didn’t change the fact that they had teeth he couldn’t compete with. And noses that could detect a hidden human. Careful not to shift the burlap in case someone, or some dog, was watching, he tilted his head to listen again. Good, the dogs were far away.
    Pancho blared his horn. Three other drivers followed his example. “ ¡Oye! What’s going on?”
    In the back of the truck Jaime cringed. Why did Pancho have to draw attention to them? Between the distance they’d traveled and the flashing lights, Jaime guessed theymust be at the border of México. If they had passports or papers, he and Ángela could sit up front with Pancho, just say they were visiting family for a couple days . . . on a school day . . . with Pancho, who looked more like a weathered gringo with his light eyes and skin than Jaime and Ángela with the black hair and square faces they got from their Mayan grandfather. Hmm, maybe better to enter México this way, sandwiched between bags. As long as they weren’t discovered.
    It was seconds, or maybe hours, before he heard boots thumping on the pavement toward them. The red flashing lights still cut into the night. By that point, the sky had lightened, bits of green and red mixed with the blue and purple.
    â€œIs that you, Pancho?” came a gruff voice less than a meter away.
    â€œ Claro , I have things to sell, you know. What’s happening?”
    â€œSome kid smuggling. He insists he’s been set up, but that’s what they all say.”
    Pancho swore. In his mind Jaime agreed with him. If the border patrol had already caught someone with drugs, they’d definitely search Pancho’s truck in case he had some too. Even though Ángela didn’t move or make a sound, Jaime knew that, deep among the bags, she must have been thinking the same thing.
    A slight weight shifted the truck, like the guard was leaning against Pancho’s open window. “So, what you got today?”
    â€œClothes. Some nice labels—Gap, Calvin Klein. What size is your wife? I got some Levi’s she might like.” The rustle from a plastic bag up front indicated Pancho was moving things around.
    â€œNo, better not,” the guard answered, but the truck creaked as if he were leaning farther into the cab. “If they’re too big, she’ll think I think she’s fat. If they’re too small, she’ll be furious that she’s fat.”
    Still, the sound of jeans being shaken out and held up came from outside the truck. A dog barked again. The chink from the dog’s collar implied he was trotting closer. Ángela’s nails dug through his thin shirt and into his shoulder. The