One Grave Less

the curved hood of the truck. Rosetta was in front of her.
    Ambush was one of the best of plans. Maria, for the first time, wasn’t afraid. Either the adrenaline knocked it completely out of her, or her brain understood that fear was of no use anymore. She got her gun and scrambled over the rocks blocking the road, moving to higher ground so she could see over her truck at the road behind them.
    “Get farther away, Ariel,” she said, using the little girl’s real name. “If this doesn’t work out, hide until they leave and make your way to Benjamin Constant like we planned. Use the compass and the map, the way I showed you. Find someone with a phone and call your mother at the RiverTrail Museum in . . .” Shit, where was that damn museum? Damn it . “Rose, no, Rosewood, Georgia. If you can’t find her there, call John West in Cherokee, North Carolina. Tell him what happened. Tell him you were with Lindsay, and to come and get you.”
    “No! You’re coming with me!”
    Maria heard the panic in Rosetta’s voice and saw the tears in her eyes.
    “I’m going to do my best. What I’m telling you is just plan B. Now, go. You can do this. You are the strongest little girl I know.”
    She could hear the truck now, hear them gunning the engine. If she was lucky, they would come around the curve too fast and slam into her truck before they could stop. But she wasn’t going to count on luck. She had the advantage. She supported her arm on a rock and aimed. As soon as she saw the truck, she fired at the windshield on the driver’s side. She didn’t stop to see if she hit anything, she continued to fire as the truck careened down the narrow ledge. She saw the automatic weapon outside the passenger side window trying to aim at her, firing over her head up the mountain, unable to aim accurately. She saw the truck swerve and skid; she saw that it was not stopping. She fired again at the passenger side of the windshield, hoping she struck the gunman. Then their vehicle hit her truck with a terrible noise. She ducked as she heard more gunfire and crawled over rocks until she found Rosetta huddled under an overhang, wide-eyed with fear, her lower lip trembling and tears running down her face. They listened at the crunch and deep squeal of metal against metal, then they heard the thunder of something big tumbling over the side into the gorge.
    More bodies for someone to follow.
    Don’t lose it now , she told herself.
    “Don’t move. I don’t want to shoot you by mistake, okay? I need to see if anyone survived. I don’t want anyone following us.”
    Rosetta nodded.
    “You’re doing fine,” said Maria.
    She crawled back to look, to see if there was anyone left, if someone had jumped out at the last minute.
    Her truck was hanging over the edge, caught on a tree, or something—teetering, ready to fall. She didn’t see the other vehicle. She waited, watched, listened for groaning, someone walking over gravel, anything.
    “Do you need help?” she called out just to see if anyone would answer.
    Nothing.
    “ Você precisa de ajuda? ” called Rosetta.
    Maria wanted to laugh. What a kid.
    She listened again. Something? Soft noise. Scraping?
    “Rosetta,” she called.
    “Yes,” she answered from the rock shelter.
    Maria aimed her gun to the right and up and fired. A woman—dark hair, dark eyes, camouflage pants, and peasant top—tumbled off the top of the ledge above her and lay on her back on the talus, staring at nothing, blood spreading over her chest. Her gun clattered on the rocks at Maria’s feet. She picked it up. Maria didn’t recognize the woman. Another of the many strangers bent on capturing her and Rosetta. What the hell?
    “Anybody else?” she said out loud.
    No more sounds. Still she listened.
    Maria finally walked back to Rosetta and hugged her.
    “I’m sorry I broke down,” said Rosetta.
    “Are you kidding? You’re a rock, kiddo. The best kid ever. I could never have gotten this far without you.” Maria hugged Rosetta to her and squeezed hard. “Just the best.”
    Maria looked at the way before them. A long expanse of treetops in all directions. They were at the top of a butte that had a steep rocky slope down to the forest below. She could see the river, the one that went through the gorge, winding its way through the forest. Maria guessed that at some point it would flow into the Amazon.
    It was a beautiful world. She wished she could be enjoying its interests and not its