The Journey to Freedom: Path to WW3

Chapter V

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." Sigmund Freud

When I reached my ex-wife's house, everything was ok.  I could not have been gladder than when my daughter was born. I park and knock on the door. My father in law opens the door with a baseball bat.

"Oh, Nicholas! Eres tu! Ándale pásale. Está muy peligroso allá afuera." He exclaims.

I go inside and see the house is empty, "Y todos los demás?" I ask.

"Están en el cuarto atras" he proclaims.

"Vine a ver a Génesis inmediatamente cuando escuché de los narcos que llegaron a Piedras Negras." I tell him.

As he opens the door to the back room the sunlight shines into the room and my daughter runs into my arms and yells "PAPI PAPI!!"

My tears run down my face as I hear her call me daddy in Spanish. I was so happy to know that she was ok, and then the welcoming is short lived by an explosion about half a mile from the house. I immediately hug my daughter with all my might and tell her it's going to be ok.

Then I look at my ex-wife and tell her "Elizabeth, vine para que me prestará la niña, para llevarme la para Alemania. Con los narcos aquí en la ciudad es hora de pensar en ella. Mirá, olvida todas las peleas entre nosotros. Piensa en la niña. Por favor?"

She tells me "Ay por favor! Nomás haciendo escusas para que me la quites. Nunca te la voy a dar. Prefería que todos nos muriera nos antes de que te la entregué."

I calmly tell her "Por favor comportate. Razona las cosas.  Que no vez que ya no es salvo aquí? Mínimo conmigo va estar bien. Y ya cuando se vayan los narcos, inmediatamente te la regresó. Te lo juro."

"No! So quieres cuidar a la niña. Entonces tú quédate aquí. O sinó. Vete!" she proclaims.

"Esta bien. Me quedaré por una semana, pero si las cosas se ponen peores prométeme que me la vas a dar sin pelear conmigo. Yo daría la vida por mija. Cualquier cosa por ella. Pero por ti, no. Ya no." I reply to her.

My daughter looks at me with tears in her eyes and asks me "Se están peleando por mi culpa papi?"

I look at my daughter and give her a broken smile, "No, mi niña preciosa. No estamos peleando por ti. Recuerda, lo que pase entre tú mamá y yo, jamás van a ser tu culpa. Tú mami piensa que te quiero quitarte de ella. Pero yo nomás quiero que te vayas a vivir conmigo hasta que se vayan los narcos porque ya no es a salvo aquí para ti mi reyna." I tell Genesis.

"Ay por favor. Siempre me quisiste quitar. Pero te lo juro que nunca se va ir contigo." Elizabeth yells.

I look at my daughter and she gives me a smile with tears in her eyes and I can see that she knows that we are fighting over her, like two wolves over a piece of meat. She might be eight years old but she is smart like me. The windows rattle from the distant explosions. All these sounds sound too familiar, sounds like war, sounds like Iraq. I get into my soldier mentality and tell everyone that we have to leave the house and go someplace safe. But no one wants to leave; everyone wants to stay because they are afraid of the explosions. Suddenly we hear a helicopter fly over us and I run to the door to see in which direction it flies. It appears to go north. But why are they flying north? There are no entries into town from the north, if these cartels are coming from the south, then why are they attacking from the north?

"Prende la television y pon las noticias." I tell my ex-wife.

She turns on the TV and she puts it on the news. The live news report shows neighborhoods on fire, cars exploding, and shootouts with the Mexican soldiers and the cartels.

"Elizabeth, necesito que me digas todo lo que ha pasado en los últimos meses. Cuál es la razón que los narcos están haciendo tanta destrucción aquí?" I ask her.

She looks at me confused and asks "Nada que ver? Son narcos. Obvió les valen madre lo que ellos hacen."

I reply "Mira. Hay pocas razones por qué está gente se comporta así. Uno, porque otro cartel invadió el territorio de ellos. Dos, porque atraparon a un jefe grande y lo metieron en la cárcel y los carteles lo están tratando de sacar. Y al fin tres, nomas quieren controlar el pueblo porque está pegado con Estados Unidos."

She starts to think and says "Ahora pensando lo bien. Hace un mes agarraron a un jefe del cartel de Coahuila. Y se me hace que lo metieron en la cárcel afuera de Piedras."

And it suddenly hit me! The prison is in the north of town! They are trying to release the captured cartel boss from the prison! If that happens, things are going to get worse. I can only hope that they don't succeed. I knew it! I knew that for some reason they had to be attacking to the north, or else it would be pointless if they hadn't already taken over the whole town.

"Y otro de los jefes del cartel murió cuando estaba en un tiroteo con el militar. Creo que descubrieron quien era y lo mataron. Pero el jefe principal anda por Michoacán. Dicen que controla el pueblo donde vive. Que supuestamente le da dinero a la gente y comida para que estén a su lado." My daughter's mother adds to her response.

"No me importa de los demás. El que tiene importancia es que anda aquí. Eso quiere decir que el resto del cartel va venir a sacarlo o quemar todo el pueblo hasta al fin lo saquen de ahí." I tell my ex.

So for now, I'm just going to sit back and hope that things don't go the way. I said they were because then I would literally have to take my daughter away from Elizabeth and she would be none too happy. Either way, if it doesn't go the way I said it would, at least I would have a weeks' vacation with my daughter.