Free Lines and shadows by Joseph Wambaugh Page A

had introduced them to the coyote in Tijuana, was from Jalisco. There were also three women in this crossing party whom Lino did not know. There was so much for Lino to fear waiting there—just seventy-five yards inside the line, yet so close to the lamps and noises of Colonia Libertad—that he had to relieve himself repeatedly, making many trips down the trail to disappear behind the bushes for a few moments. After his journey, and the money he had already been forced to pay, Litio had only 24 U.S. dollars left, and a
    $15 wristwatch, his most prized possession, and a leather cowboy belt with a big metal buckle. That and the clothes on his back. Yet Lino Ariza was by far the richest in his party that night. And somehow these border people, the coyotes and guides and criminals, seemed to sense it. Or so Lino imagined.
    At 10:00 P.M. they were standing on the rim of Dead-man's Canyon with their backs to the flickering lamps of Colonia Libertad. They crouched when a blue and white Tijuana police car drove slowly past the fenceless invisible line and flashed a perfunctory beam of light toward some children playing with an old truck tire.
    Then the party of trembling aliens saw three shadows approaching slowly in the darkness. It was so dark the shadows were only a few yards away when they materialized. Lino immediately suspected the worst because the three men were dressed slightly better than the pollos. They wore tight jeans and warm Pendleton shirts. All had long hair past their collars and two had bandannas tied around their heads in the manner of movie pirates. And they didn't walk like pollos. They strode boldly toward them so that Lino and his party instinctively crouched down to show their submissiveness.
    Lino wasn't sure who saw the knives first, but one of the women stood up screaming and began running back toward the border. It probably prevented a multiple rape, because the file://C:\Documents and Settings\tim\Desktop\books to read\Wambaugh, Joseph - Lines a... 11/20/2009
    dummy1
    Page 40 of 256
    other women panicked and followed her, leaving the bandits to deal with the squatting men.
    The bandits were of course more than a bit angry at having lost the women, but there were lots more where those came from. The leader, who wore a scraggly goatee, suddenly stepped behind Lino's friend Luis and placed the blade of his knife against the throat of the terrified unprotesting alien. Lino saw a trickle of blood and when Luis began to cry, another bandit smashed him in the face with a huge rock. Luis fell to the ground whimpering and pleading.
    The bandits never said anything except " Danos tu feria" the whole time they searched them. Only that slang demand for money. And only once. They were efficient. They didn't waste movements or breath. They got the $24 from Lino and his treasured watch and his leather belt. Luis Rodrigues, happy to be alive, gladly surrendered the only thing of value he had left, a cowboy belt with a big metal buckle. It had cost him 5 American dollars in Tijuana when he first arrived.
    The cops all wore the oldest grubbies they owned and the rattiest tennis shoes, but still were not quite properly costumed. Manny Lopez was thinking of making a Salvation Army or Goodwill run to outfit his troops like proper aliens. As they got to the rim of Deadman's Canyon, they were startled by three shapes squatting in the manner of pollos. Manny Lopez, who was getting the docile inflection down pat, simply said " Buenos noches" very respectfully as they passed. The squatting men did not reply respectfully, nor at all. The three were wearing jeans and had collar-length hair and two wore bandannas tied around their heads.
    One of the squatting men stood up. He had a scraggly goatee that fluttered in the wind. He told them in Spanish to watch out for la migra . And when they saw a pair of headlights in the distance which could not have been Border Patrol, he told them to duck. And then, sick and tired of the