Page 82 of Marks of Rebellion

"There's nowhere else to cross?" I ask.

"No. This river runs along the border. This is one of the few places shallow enough to make it across. I know the landowner."

"Where is he?"

"Working in the fields is my guess. But he'll let us pass if he catches us."

"How do you know him?"

"I just do," Julieta quietly says.

More unanswered questions.

Over the course of the day, I've grown to like Julieta, but her lack of disclosure drives me insane.

Ryker seems to have some idea about her secrets, but it makes me uneasy, not knowing what she is hiding.

Vanessa hasn't told you everything, either.

It's a reminder that I'm a hypocrite for expecting Julieta to be fully transparent when Vanessa is still keeping secrets, too.

Her fear of being in Guatemala makes sense, since the guerrillas captured her, but I want to know why they took her.

I've not pushed Vanessa to tell me more, due to her panic attacks. But I'm only going to be able to hold off for so long before she's going to have to tell me all her secrets. Deep down, I can't lie to myself. If I'm going to protect her, the truth of what she's running from needs to come out. At least to me.

Ryker stops the vehicle about twenty feet away from the riverbank. The river is about half a football field wide. The water is moving but nothing that would sweep us away if we stood in it.

Ryker turns to me. "You ready to push if needed?"

"You won't have to, promise," Julieta blurts out in a worried voice.

I groan. "Julieta, I hope you're right."

"I am. Honestly. The bottom is always hard in this spot."

Always? How often has she done this?

"I'm just preparing Hunter to go for a swim." He winks at Julieta.

I snort. "Funny."

"Floors empty?" Ryker asks.

"We're good back here and ready!" Vanessa chirps.

"Why do you seem excited about this?"

She beams. "This is an adventure! I do hope you don't have to go in there though...that water looks disgusting."

"No one is going to have to go in," Julieta claims again.

"Hit it, Ryker!" Vanessa calls out, like he's a race car driver or something.

"I think you better go slow in case there are any stumps on the bottom. We don't need our tires blown out," I advise.

"There aren't. It's gravel and maintained," Julieta informs us.

"Is this a drug route or something?" I blurt out.