by Sharon Sala
“There was a bloodbath down in Juarez. Jorge Diaz killed Emilio Rojas’s oldest son and Rojas’s contingent retaliated by destroying everyone related to Diaz, including Diaz, himself. The only member still living is an old woman in the last stages of Alzheimer’s. I guess Rojas decided she was already as good as dead.”
“How does Sonora figure in this?” Dave asked.
“Not sure, but Jorge Diaz was one of the top men in the Garcia cartel. What you don’t know is that the tips we’ve had on Garcia’s whereabouts in the States came directly from Diaz, himself, and Rojas used to be old man Garcia’s right hand man. We’re thinking that Diaz figured out who ratted him out and sent word to do him in.”
“Talk about overkill,” Dave said. “So, what do you want us to do?”
“As soon as Sonora calls, I’ll let her know what’s happened. I still want her to come in. We can’t protect her if we don’t know where she is, but I don’t think she’s going to change her mind. So … I’m sending out another half dozen men. They’ll rendezvous with your team sometime this afternoon. Fill them in on everything you know so far and step up the search for Garcia. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but whatever’s going on with him has gotten uglier.”
“Yes, sir. Will do.”
Mynton disconnected just as a waitress came by Dave’s table.
“More coffee?” she asked.
“Yeah, why not?” Dave muttered. “May be my last chance to get the good stuff for some time to come.”
CHAPTER 13
Sonora woke up to a room filled with sunlight, a cup of hot coffee on the table beside the bed, and Charlie curled up on her feet.
She stretched, careful not to dislodge Charlie’s comfort zone and then scooted backward until she could feel the headboard against her spine. Once she was settled, she crossed her feet, pulled the sheet up to her waist and reached for the coffee.
Sensing the possibility of a good head scratch, Charlie abandoned his spot at the foot of the bed for Sonora’s lap.
“Hey, baby,” she said softly. She started to pick him up, then remembered his wounds and allowed him to find his own place.
Once the cat was through moving, she took a grateful sip of coffee and laid her hand on Charlie’s head. At that point, he started to purr. It sounded a little bit like an old man’s snore, which made her smile. Then Adam walked into the room wearing a pair of red gym shorts and nothing else, and her smile got even wider.
“Good morning, Adam.”
“Good morning to you, too, sunshine,” he said softly, then frowned at his cat. “Hey, Charlie, so this is where you got off to, and here I thought you were my friend.”
Adam was carrying a cup of coffee and a plate of sweet rolls. He sat down at the foot of the bed beside Sonora and then laid the plate between them.
“Help yourself,” he offered, as he took a big bite of a bear claw, eyeing his cat as he chewed. “So. I let you in because I feel sorry for you, and this is how you repay me? By getting into bed with my woman?”
Sonora was grinning and couldn’t stop. Not only was it charming the way Adam and Charlie communicated, but he’d referred to her as his woman. If someone would have asked her before she ever met Adam Two Eagles, she would have said she didn’t like possessive men, but hearing those words coming out of his mouth had changed her tune. When it came to him, she liked being claimed.
She eyed the plate he’d put down, then reached for a jelly doughnut.
“Umm, my kind of man,” she said, as she took a big bite.
Adam grinned. “Besides knowing how to rock your world, exactly what kind of man would that be?”
Sonora arched an eyebrow then threw back her head and laughed. Out loud. Until she gave herself the hiccups.
Hic.
“The kind of man who thinks breakfast consists of sugar,” she said.
Hic.
“Take a drink of coffee,” Adam suggested.
Hic.
“I didn’t know coffee would cure hiccups.”
Hic. Sip.
“I don’t know that it will. It was just the first thing that came to my mind,” he said, and took another bite of his bear claw.
Hic. Sip.
“You’re a piece of work, Two Eagles,” Sonora said, then began to hold her breath.
“That won’t work, either,” Adam said, stuffed the rest of his bear claw in his mouth, chewed, then swallowed.
He was considering a second sweet roll when he saw Charlie look toward the window. A pair of robins lit on the bird feeder outside and began to feed.
Adam saw Charlie’s eyes suddenly cross and his tail twitch. He recognized the signs of an imminent attack.
“Uh … Sonora, watch out. I think Charlie—”
Charlie launched himself from her lap, which meant digging in to her legs with his back claws for better leverage.
Sonora gasped in pain. Coffee lurched from one side of the cup to the other. And since her fingers had tightened instinctively on the cup handle, the fingers on her other hand—the one holding the jelly doughnut—tightened as well. Jelly squished out both ends of the roll. The south end of the doughnut squirted onto her breasts while the north end ran between her fingers and started down her elbow.
“Oh Lord,” she cried, and looked to Adam for help, which was a mistake.
Adam was laughing so hard he couldn’t move, let alone help. So she sat there in disgust with jelly running down between her breasts as well as down the inside of her forearm while Charlie hit the window with a thud.
It was the surprised look on the cat’s face as he got up from the floor that sent them both into a second wave of hysteria. Meanwhile, Charlie stalked out of the room with his tail in the air and his ears flat to his head, indicating his total disgust with a pair of tricky birds and two humans.
“Oh my God … that was funny,” Sonora said, as she tried to catch her breath. “Did you see Charlie’s face when the birds flew away? It was such a … so close and yet so far away … look.”
Adam’s laughter had come and gone far quicker than hers. The moment he’d seen that jelly begin to slide past her breasts, he’d been unable to think of anything else but tasting it. He took the doughnut from her hand, then moved it along with the plate of sweet rolls to the floor, took the coffee cup out of her hands and set it aside, then grabbed her by the ankles and pulled until she was flat on her back.
“Adam, I’m going to get jelly all over the—”
He licked the jelly from her arm, then from between her fingers with slow, deep strokes until her toes curled.
“Uh, um …” Her body went weak. “Have mercy,” she whispered.
Now he was on his hands and knees above her. Sonora saw his head dip, felt his hair brushing against her skin as his tongue licked the jelly trail between her breasts. When he started up her body to the point of impact, her eyes rolled back in her head.
“Oh. My. God.”
It was her last conscious thought.
* * *
After a shower and then dressing in yesterday’s clothes, which were now clean and dry, Sonora had to face the fact that her time with Adam was coming to an end. She didn’t know what to think about how quickly he’d gotten under her skin. She was way more than in lust and it made her nervous.
She’d followed Adam outside and was watching him load up his pickup truck with an assortment of tools. The yard was covered with leaves and small bits of tree limbs. There was a corner of the roof off the barn and a tree had fallen across a fence. The blessing of it all was that the house had weathered it well.
“Don’t you want me to help clean all this up?” she asked, as she followed him into a shed.
“No, honey. I’ll tend to this after I get back.” Then he picked up a chain saw and a plastic fuel can with fuel for the saw, and carried them out.
“Why do you need this chain saw?” she asked, as he set it in the truck bed up against the cab.
“In case there are still some tre
es blocking roads.”
“Oh.”
“I called Franklin while you were in the shower,” Adam said. “Told him we’d be there before noon.”
“Is he all right?” Sonora asked.
Adam hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, although his voice sounded weak. He may be having a bad day.”
Sonora looked away. It still broke her heart to think that her time with her father was going to be so short. They were being cheated and there was nothing either one could do about it.
“So, are you ready to go?” she asked.
Adam glanced up. Sonora’s eyes were shimmering with tears. That was something he couldn’t bear.
“Come here, honey,” he said softly, and opened his arms. She walked into them willingly and selfishly let herself be held.
“I’m so sorry that your reunion with your father has to be colored with his health crisis.”
“Me, too,” she said, then lifted her head and took the kiss that he offered, savoring the smell of soap on his skin.
Finally, it was Sonora who pulled back.
“We’d better go. I’ve left Dad alone too long as it is.”
“He’s used to coping alone. He’s been alone all his life,” Adam said.
“As have I,” she said.
“Yes, but you’re not anymore. Remember that,” Adam said.
“Only I don’t know how long I’ll have him, Adam. That’s what makes me sad.”
Adam combed his fingers through her hair, then cupped the backside of her hips and pulled her close against him. “I’m still here,” he said. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
Sonora looked at him then, accepting his quiet reminder as truth. “I’m just beginning to realize what that means,” she said, and then looked away. “So, we’d better get going, okay?”
Adam watched her climb into the truck and then followed her into the cab. Once she’d settled, he patted her on the leg.
“It’s going to be all right.”
Then he started the engine.
Sonora watched as he backed up and then started down the driveway to the main road.
“Adam?”
“Yeah?”
“When you said that it was going to be all right …”
“Yeah?”
“Well, did you know that because it’s something you … uh … ‘know’, or did you say that because it was a kind thing to say?”
He was surprised by her perception and had to think about it for a bit.
“You know what, honey?”
“What?” Sonora asked.
“I’m not really sure.”
She sighed, then nodded. “Yeah. Me, either,” she said, then added, “But I want it to be true. I so want it to be true.”
* * *
The wren Franklin had been freeing from the chunk of wood had flown out last night and landed on a nest with two tiny eggs in it.
Franklin was more than pleased with the finished product and had carried it around the house all morning, studying it for flaws. So far, he’d found none.
Finally, he’d set it on the table in front of him while he’d eaten breakfast, admiring the cocky tilt to the little bird’s head.
“Little Mother,” he said softly, and rubbed the curve of her tiny head, feeling the grooves where he’d given her feathers, and imagined he could almost feel a heartbeat. “That’s what I’m going to call you. Little Mother.”
Even though he knew it couldn’t happen, he thought he heard the beginnings of a pleased chirp.
He ate his breakfast without tasting it, knowing it was important so that he could keep up his strength, and was glad for the diversion when he heard the sound of a vehicle coming down the drive.
He got up quickly and carried his dirty dishes to the sink, then started toward the front door. Before he could get there, the door opened and Sonora and Adam entered. His heart quickened at the sight of her face. If he could live one hundred years, it would still not be long enough to take her presence for granted.
He shook Adam’s hand and hugged his daughter.
“So glad you’re both all right. That storm was a nasty one. I’m so glad no one got hurt.”
“Oh, Charlie did, but he survived,” Sonora said.
Franklin frowned. “Who’s Charlie?”
Adam’s eyes were twinkling, although he managed not to grin. “My cat,” he said.
Franklin nodded. “Oh yes. The big one with gray and black stripes.”
“That’s the one,” Adam said.
“But he’s all right?” Franklin asked.
“He had some cuts on his side and he was so cold and wet, but Adam doctored him and he was obviously well enough to attack a window this morning, trying to catch two birds at the feeder outside,” Sonora said, and then grinned, remembering the sight.
Franklin chuckled, and resisted the urge to hug Sonora again. He didn’t want to put her off by smothering her with attention, but she filled his heart with such joy.
As they were talking, Sonora heard the sound of her cell phone ringing down the hall.
“Oh yes,” Franklin said. “Your phone. It’s been ringing off and on since last night.”
Sonora frowned. That didn’t sound good.
“I’ll check the messages,” she said. “Be right back.”
“Go ahead,” Adam said. “I’ll still be here. I want to talk to Franklin a bit.”
Sonora nodded, then flew down the hall toward her room.
Once she was gone, Adam straightened his shoulders and looked Franklin in the face.
“I’m falling in love with her,” he said quietly.
Franklin was not unhappy to hear it.
“What about her feelings?” Franklin asked.
Adam shrugged. “I can’t tell for sure. She holds everything back.”
Franklin sat down on the sofa. Adam followed.
“She’s been so hurt by life,” Franklin said.
Adam hesitated, then realized that Franklin needed to know what he’d seen in his vision.
“She’s in danger,” Adam said softly.
Franklin stilled. “And you know this because?”
“I saw it,” Adam said.
Franklin’s shoulders slumped. He didn’t have Adam’s gifts, but he knew enough to trust them.
“Does she know?” Franklin asked.
“No, I didn’t tell her about the vision, but it’s nothing she doesn’t already know. Remember … she’s the one who told us when her friend was murdered.”
“What can we do?” Franklin asked.
Adam thought of the vision again, and of the helplessness he’d felt at not being able to help her.
“I don’t think there’s anything we can do, except trust Sonora to be able to take care of herself. There is a great power within her. More than even she knows about herself.”
Franklin nodded. “Then so be it,” he said.
* * *
Unaware of that she’d become the topic of their conversation, Sonora burst into her room and grabbed her cell phone from the charger just as it rang again.
She answered, a little breathless and a little nervous. “Hello.”
Gerald Mynton stopped pacing and dropped into his chair with a huge sigh of relief. “Thank God,” he muttered. “Where the hell have you been? I told you to stay in touch.”
“Good to hear from you, too,” Sonora said. “As for where I’ve been … in a cellar dodging tornadoes, then at a friend’s house until daylight.”
“Good Lord!” Mynton said. “Real tornadoes … as in—on the ground and sucking up everything in its path?”
“As in,” Sonora said, and then quickly changed the subject. “What’s happened?”
“A big mess down in Juarez. Don’t know how Garcia figures into it, and not sure how it impacts you, but I’m guessing it does.”
She dropped down onto the side of the bed and leaned forward with her head in her hand. “Talk to me,” she said.
“You know who Emilio Ro
jas is?”
She thought a minute, then remembered the background info on the Garcia clan. “Wasn’t he the old man Garcia’s right hand man?”
“That’s the one,” Mynton said.
“So, what does he have to do with all of this?”
“Okay, here’s what we know so far. Jorge Diaz is the man who leaked info to the DEA regarding Garcia’s whereabouts. We’re guessing that he wanted Garcia out of the way to take over the cartel’s business. With Juanito dead and Enrique already in jail awaiting trial, Miguel was the only one left in his way.”
“But how did Rojas and Diaz connect?”
“We’re guessing that Miguel called in a marker, talked Rojas into doing a little payback for him, and it all backfired. Diaz killed Rojas’s oldest son. Rojas retaliated by decimating the entire Diaz family, except for an old woman with Alzheimer’s disease.”
“Oh Lord,” Sonora said. “What a mess.”
“That’s an understatement, Jordan.”
“So, how does this affect me?”
“Not sure, but there is the possibility that when Garcia finds out what’s happened, he’s going to freak and blame you for the entire incident, since Juanito’s death was what started this whole thing.”
“Crap.”
Mynton sighed. “And then some. Please. Reconsider. Come back to Phoenix where we can protect you.”
Sonora thought of all that had happened to her since she’d begun this journey—the visions she’d had—the dreams of her childhood—the tattoo on her back—and Adam Two Eagles’s power to heal. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but she knew that whatever came, she would be safer within the boundaries of this world.
“No. I’m not leaving. I’m safe here.”
“But for how long?” Mynton argued.
“Until I’m not, I guess. And when that happens, I’ll deal with it, just like I’ve dealt with everything else. I’m not helpless, sir. The government trained me well.”
Mynton leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “I never said you were helpless, Sonora. You’re a good agent. I just don’t want to lose you, that’s all.”
“Agents are a dime a dozen, sir, but there’s only one of me.”
Mynton flinched. She’d put him in his place and rightly so.