Blog 15-Now we know where they are

Patria's phone buzzed. "Live stream." She put the tiny screen close to my face. I saw a dim gray image. I heard screams coming from the phone. They quickened into chants, first a wall of sound, and then, suddenly, I made out the words. “Sueltenlos, sueltenlos ya." The image zoomed and a searchlight came on. In the moving light one of the gray figures became distinct, then gray again. “Elpidio...” Patria pointed to the gray silhouette. How could she tell? All I saw were human shapes with bandannas on their faces, a row of them faced off with Guardias lined up on the inside of a metal mesh fence. The searchlight swung. For just one moment I saw the back of a jacket with the circle emblem Machi had drawn with a marker just last night. “That's Maceo.” Patria nodded. “Now we know where they are.”
She set the phone down by her side. “They're good at doing stealth night wade ins to the Camp...” I was shaking. Her phone pinged again. She read the text message out loud. “Can't reach Anacaona. Guardia beat R. Didn't seize his phone. Tell her to get pix into Verdad.” I recognized Robles. He'd helped us build our lean-to. His bandanna hung from his neck and his head was bleeding. What if this had been Machi? I retched and tasted cafe con leche and vomit. I swallowed hard.
Patria switched the phone back to the live stream. The blurry image showed hundreds of people running toward the beach, silhouettes swarming, shifting direction, swooping like a flock of strange birds. I couldn't tell how they were signaling intention to each other. “Look close. Look at the Guardias. Patria handed me the phone. I didn't understand. “Are they menacing?” I studied them and began to see. "Can you see that most of them se hacen de la vista gorda?" I shook my head. “I just don't get it. Are they lazy? Alienated?” Patria handed me the phone. “They're on our side. Guatas. The City Force doesn't own their minds.” She wasn't making sense. “Then why did they beat Robles?” Just then the swarm engulfed the place where the Guardias held Robles and when it moved away, the Guardia stood alone.
“Siempre hay uno, maybe a new man. But things are more porous than you'd think between the Camp and us. We have our ways with the Guardias and then the lawyers have official ways. There's a lawyers' group in Coral that has lists of who's in there, although the lists are not complete. They're filing a mass habeas corpus petition on Grito Day and at the same time we're doing a Camp Wade In Invasion. Those are our ways, tracker ways.” Patria paused. “We'll start tracking Ori tomorrow. There's a wall outside the lawyers' place. Tomorrow we'll take the 20 minute walk on the Carretera Naval into Coral and put your husband's picture up. You never know what Guardia will recognize him and let him know inside you're out here looking, and let you know how he is.”