"La agua es fria," Maria, exclaimed, climbing up the steep bank by the river.
"In English, only in English now," Lupe growled.
"It's cold, I need to get in some dry clothes."
"Yes, later. Right now we need to be quiet, I saw lights nearby," Lupe whispered.
"I thought you said it was safe here, we cross at night and walk into McAllen. Gilberto will be there right."
"Yes, yes, but for now we need to be quiet."
"But..."
"Silencio!" Lupe mouthed.
The two women ducked into some low brush, the dry clothes they carried while wading were getting damp and dirty as they held their bags close to them. Though the night was not very cold, it was important to get changed into dry clothes, they'd be much less conspicuous that way.
A short distance away they saw the bouncing flashlights as two men searched along the bank of the river. As they got closer the women could hear them talking.
"This will be a lot easier once we get the fence in."
"Yeah, but that will only work down here, we get in the hills over there and it's all rock."
"It'll make it harder on them."
Maria could see that both men were carrying rifles, but they weren't wearing Migra uniforms, these men were just in regular clothes. She whispered to Lupe, "No Migra?"
"No, they aren't Immigration, much worse. Look if we stay here they will find us, we need to split up and move."
"But..."
"We knew this might happen. You know the way."
"Adios amiga," Maria whispered.
"English only... goodbye Maria," Lupe said, leaning over and kissing her friend. "Be safe."
The two women headed away from the men, trying to be as quiet as possible. Maria moved east, away from the men at first, but then after veering north for a while, she turned west, hoping to pass the men and then come back to the river where they already searched. She could then follow the river toward McAllen, where Gilberto would meet them.
Maria could see the river and knew, since she was well west of where she crossed before, she would be safe enough to change her clothes. Most of what she wore had dried, but was caked in mud, so she knew it would be better if she was in cleaner clothes. She quickly removed her blouse and jeans and pulled her change of clothes out of her cloth bag. As she started to slip an arm into her clean blouse she heard a voice:
"Well, well, what have we here?"
Holding her blouse up in front of her, she looked up to see a young man holding a flashlight in one hand and a handgun in the other. Remembering that the first two men following her and Lupe both had rifles, she realized this was a third man.
"Migra?" she asked.