LITMIR.BIZ

       Prologue

      His name was Hermano Escobedo. Mexican by birth. He came from a small village in Chihuahua, where there was little opportunity to further himself. Four years previously he had traveled across the border into Texas, encouraged by a longtime friend who had done the same thing a couple years earlier and found work. When his friend had the means to send money to Escobedo, he’d told him to make the journey. America was where Escobedo could earn a living. He could send cash to his remaining family—his aging grandfather and grandmother. The offer was too good to pass up, and Escobedo finally made the trip.

      Initially, things worked out well. Escobedo’s friend helped him get established, pointed him in the right direction to find work. He learned to speak the language. He was smart and had a good ear. It helped. In the Texas town of Broken Tree, the young Mexican showed a willingness to take on a number of jobs.

      Escobedo’s background was farming. He had a flair for gardening and built a small but steady number of clients. His touch with flowers and plants gained him more customers. He was able to save a little money and his long-term plan was to provide for his grandparents. He found himself a small apartment in Broken Tree. It was nothing grand, but to Hermano Escobedo it was a step up from the tiny place he had shared with his grandparents. Then, two years into his time in America, he received the news that his grandparents had passed away. The priest in the village handled the funerals, so Escobedo had little incentive to return to Mexico.

      When he received an offer to tend the gardens at the out-of-town estate belonging to a man named Seb Jessup, Escobedo accepted. One of his Broken Tree clients had referred him to Jessup. When Escobedo first saw the place, he was overwhelmed. It was huge, a great, sprawling house surrounded by lawns and gardens. There were stables for the many horses the man owned. Barns to house machinery. It was always busy, with people coming and going all the time. Expensive cars. Smiling young women. It could have been all too much for a simple peon from Chihuahua, but Escobedo had a steady head on his shoulders. He pushed the glamorous lifestyle out of his mind and simply took on the work offered.

      Everything went well at first. Jessup sent a car for him three days a week, though Escobedo rarely saw his employer. In fact, he had only ever seen the man once to speak to. That had been on the day he accepted the job. The drive from town took just under twenty minutes, and the day began early and ended late. Escobedo was given charge of the operation. There was a fully equipped workshop that contained all the tools he would ever need, and while the workload was heavy, he took it in stride.

      After a few weeks, Escobedo became accepted among Jessup’s other employees, to the point that hardly anyone paid him much attention. And Escobedo simply blended in. He was paid at the end of each week by a man named Hatton, who seemed to be Jessup’s right-hand man. Hatton said little.

      Escobedo’s friend, being ambitious, had moved on. He had packed his belongings into his car and driven out of Broken Tree, leaving Escobedo to his new life. It didn’t worry him too much. He had always been a solitary person. It was only in the evenings that he felt out of place, but long days of physical labor left him exhausted, and he retired early most nights, knowing his day would start early. When he was not working at the Jessup place, he had his local customers to tend to.

      It did not concern Escobedo that there were times when the atmosphere of the Jessup estate changed. Became tense. Agitation seeping in through the calm. Escobedo had learned early on to stick to his own affairs, not to involve himself in matters beyond his purview. He had heard rumors about Seb Jessup, that some of his enterprises were on the risky side. Perhaps even unlawful. Escobedo closed his mind to these rumors. He had steady work. No one bothered him and whatever his employer got up to was none of his business.

      That was because he had no idea what was really going on around him. He stayed below the radar. His friend, shortly after Escobedo had arrived in Texas, had explained the facts of life:

      “Remember who you are. Do your work. Be humble and do not ask questions. Leave your curiosity at home each day. Be what you are. Invisible. The laborer. Have no shadow. Understand this and you will survive. Make noise and you will pay the price.”

      Even though he kept a low profile, Escobedo could not escape hearing the gossip of the other Hispanic employees. Some worked inside the house, others in the body shop where Jessup’s extensive fleet of cars and SUVs were parked. Escobedo picked up murmurs. Tried to remain indifferent, but words stuck. Remained in his memory.

      Words like illegals.

      Wetbacks.

      Transients from across the border.

      Once heard, these words became a permanent fixture in Escobedo’s thoughts. He wanted to ask questions, but his friend’s advice made him hold his tongue. So he watched and listened. There was inside him a sense of morality that refused to allow him to ignore those words. And the harder he tried to dispel them, the stronger the need to know more plagued him.

      The urge to understand grew, and he watched and listened more intently.

      His friend’s advice teased him. Leave your curiosity at home each day. But Escobedo’s need to know would not let him rest.

      He understood the regime that exploited Mexican labor. The shadowy businesses that brought in cheap workers, in the same position as he was. People who wanted to work. To enjoy a better quality of life. They all knew it was a risk, that they would be paid only the minimum, yet they still came, because even that was better for many of them than the life they had in Mexico.

      Escobedo had been luckier. His friend had obtained a work permit for him, the piece of paper that made him official. Having someone vouch for him had made life easier. At least Escobedo did not have to survive like a criminal. He could walk the streets with impunity. He wished things were better, but at least here in America he felt safer than in Mexico. And if he worked hard he would eventually become an American citizen.

      Then the day came when a situation developed and drew Escobedo to it with its addictive power.

      He had been on his knees behind the thick shrubs he was pruning, so was unseen by the men who made their way through the gardens and vanished inside one of the large barns. Something in the way they moved caught Escobedo’s interest, and he heard one of them speak as he passed within ten feet of him, seemingly unaware of the Mexican’s presence.

      “Damn illegals. Jessup will make them pay this time…”

      Escobedo had waited until the men were all inside the barn, then took a roundabout route that brought him to the far side of the building. As he slid against the wall, he heard a voice that was unmistakably Jessup’s. The man was angry, almost ranting. Escobedo eased his way to a side door and slipped through it. The sound of Jessup’s voice filled the interior of the barn. Escobedo snaked his way through the collection of farm implements until he was able to see what was happening.

      And wished he hadn’t.

      He knew right then that his earlier indifference to the rumors floating around had allowed these things to continue. He

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