The Lonesome Lawmen Trilogy

by Pauline Baird Jones

Soon, Willow. Soon you’ll understand.

  It was just a dream, she told herself, but the feeling didn’t go away. She looked at Matt. He looked strong and hard and very far away.

  “What’s happened?” It surprised her how steady, how calm her voice sounded. She must be a better actress than she had realized.

  He looked at Alice before he spoke. There was something familiar about the look that they exchanged. She couldn’t figure out why.

  “They found McBride.”

  “I…” Dani swallowed dryly, “didn’t know he was missing.”

  “He wasn’t,” Alice said reluctantly.

  Now she placed the exchange of looks. They were the precursor to bad news; the silent asking of, “How do we tell her? Can she take it?”

  Dani sank onto the desk chair, her back straight, her feet together, hands not clenched in her lap but only by supreme effort. “How?” She didn’t look at Matt.

  He didn’t hesitate. “Throat cut.”

  There was no softness in his voice. Dani was grateful. Right now she needed him to be as hard as the rock he climbed. A hint of softness and she’d shatter like glass.

  “Why?”

  This time Matt hesitated. “I don’t know.” He looked at Alice. “Someone hit Orsini, too. Word on the street is Hayes bankrolled it.”

  Alice frowned. “Wasn’t Orsini bankrolling the hit on Bates and David?”

  “That was the general consensus.”

  “Well, this is getting too weird.” Alice turned away from them and slid onto a stool, propping an elbow on the counter. “Who’s left besides Copeland who may or may not care now that he won’t get paid?”

  Matt opened his mouth, but it was Dani who spoke.

  “Spook. And me.” She hadn’t known all the players in Richard’s little drama, but it didn’t seem to matter, since they had all been taken out. “Spook and me.”

  Dani didn’t like where her thoughts were going.

  “What?” Matt asked, his voice and gaze going sharp as they honed in on her.

  For the first time since she had found out who Spook really was, Dani opened her memory and took out her three meetings with him and asked herself, with no awareness she spoke aloud, “Why didn’t he kill me when he had the chance? Twice, he didn’t do it. Why?”

  She looked up at Matt, her hand on a throat that still showed the marks of one meeting. “He could have so easily. But he didn’t. He just wanted to know…about…”

  “About what, Dani?” Matt crouched in front of her. If she really had a line into Hayes head, they needed to know. “What did he want to know?”

  She licked her lips. A small kick of desire tried to get a foot hold in his concentration, but he wouldn’t let it.

  “He wanted to know about Willow.”

  “But,” Matt stood up. This wasn’t what he’d expected. “He had to know you were Willow.”

  “No,” Dani shook her head, “he didn’t. When I asked him how he knew I was Willow, he went nuts. The first time he left. Then in the alley, he practically howled. That’s when I got him with the pepper spray. And hit him.”

  Her pride was so apparent, Matt grinned, but it faded as her words sank in. “But if he didn’t know you were the Willow he was chatting with…”

  “…why did he want to meet me at the mall?” Dani finished. “I don’t think I want to know.” She stood up and paced away. Then turned to face Matt, her face, her eyes asking him to give her an answer she could live with.

  Matt didn’t have one. “This is nuts. This can’t be.”

  “Dani,” Alice said, “when Hayes asked you out the first time after you met him, what did you think?”

  She hesitated. “I thought he was a girl.” She managed a brief, rueful smile. “He was a little too sensitive to be real, if you know what I mean?”

  Alice smiled. “I know what you mean.” She sobered, looked at Matt. “This could get interesting.”

  Matt opened his mouth to blast the whole idea, then closed it. How could he assert that Hayes couldn’t fall for Dani without seeing her? He might not like it, but he couldn’t deny that he had felt something looking at her picture the first time. After he had chatted with her, felt the charm in her written words bridge the space that divided them, it had gotten worse. Hayes hadn’t seen her in a silk bathrobe, but with his imagination, he didn’t need to.

  “Have you noticed,” he asked slowly, “what Hayes hasn’t been doing since he found out you were Willow?”

  Dani started to shake her head, then stopped, her body tensing as her thoughts spun through her wide green eyes.

  “That’s right,” he said, grimly, “no email. No threats.” To Alice he added, “We’ve got to get her out of here.”

  Alice started to agree. Dani started to disagree.

  Matt held up his hand and opened his mouth, but they all froze when they heard someone at the door.

  It was like watching a ballet, Dani thought, seeing them go into action together. No need for words. Each knew what their steps were. Did them with a minimum of fuss. Guns were pulled and checked. “At ready” positions taken on either side of the hall opening. In the silence, the soft creak of the door as it swung open was audible. As were the measured beat of masculine footsteps coming down the hall.

  TWENTY

  A cheerful whistle made a counterpoint for the footsteps and took the tense from Matt’s shoulders. He lowered his gun. Alice, still on alert, looked a question.

  “Luke,” Matt said briefly, shoving his weapon back in the holster.

  “The big brother,” Dani said. “I forgot to tell you he called.”

  Luke stopped in the doorway. He also filled the doorway, Dani noted. He seemed determined to take his “big brother” designation to its physical limits. Their relationship was obvious, he looked very much like Matt, though he topped him by about four inches and was less closed, more cheerful in aspect. Hands on his hips he looked at Alice, who still had her gun trained on him, gave her an appreciative once over and said, “I guess I need to quit threatening a federal agent.”

  Dani exchanged a delighted glance with Alice, who stowed her gun.

  “I forgot to give him the message,” Dani admitted, pulling his dark gaze, so like Matt’s and yet so not like him, her direction.

  “You must be Louise.” His eyes registered curiosity first, then approval. “Nice to meet you in the flesh.”

  Richard Sheridan, the attorney prosecuting Richard’s case had said something far less controversial during a deposition and she had wanted to go shower. Delivery, Dani decided as she grinned at him, was everything. “I can only concur.”

  Matt might have choked. It was hard to tell. When Dani looked at him, his face was still locked up tight.

  Alice extended a hand. “Alice Paysse. I work with Matt.”

  Luke took her hand and gave it a pat. “Lucky Matt.”

  “He doesn’t always think so,” Alice admitted, a smile lighting her face.

  “I got a situation breaking here, okay?” the subject of their conversation snapped.

  Luke sighed. It was a huge sigh. He couldn’t do small sighs with his big barrel of a chest, Dani decided. Somehow he managed to look mournful and abused. “Why do I have the nasty feeling I’m about to be stood up again?”

  * * * *

  Hayes stared at the computer screen with a frown. His tap into the security system at the federal building was proving to be a less than rich mine of information. No sign of Willow anywhere. It didn’t make sense. She had to be with them. He had done a city sweep of his contacts just before they cut him off. She was out of the cold and in care. He was sure of it.

  Had they already moved her to a safe house? It was possible. If they had, they had moved fast, even for them. The Marshals had protected Willow and for that he was reluctant to strike against them. In a strange way, they had become allies, though they didn’t know it yet. Of course, if they kept her from him, he would take them out one by one.

  They cou
ldn’t be allowed to interfere.

  No one could interfere.

  He was a patient man, but his patience was running out, no it was turning into pain. So much pain, he could hardly think his way through it. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. Only thoughts of Willow, of being with her, kept him going. He had to find her before the pain won the game. She had to complete the pattern with him. It was the only way to save them both. If he failed…

  He couldn’t, wouldn’t think about failure. Not when he was so close to having her. He touched her picture, how beautiful she was and how perfect for him. Not one of those flashy types, trumpeting their surface flash to the world. No, her beauty was quiet and deep, like the heart of his mountain. Her words floated up to disturb his reverie.

  I don’t do heights.

  He frowned. She was afraid of heights, of mountains. It didn’t fit the pattern—like a voice from the mountain itself, he heard the whisper, “I lift mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my strength.”

  Of course, that was the answer. Just like the mountain had relieved his pain, her fears would melt away in completing the pattern. Willow would be free of past hurts and fears, free to join her life to his. She would learn to love the beauty of the mountain heights, and with him she would honor and preserve the pattern forever. It had been ordained from the beginning. Like truth, it took time and distance to see it whole. In much the same way he had thought he needed Bates and people like him to guide him to the sacrifices. He hadn’t understood. He had been too close, too new to the pattern to see the whole. Now he understood more. When he joined with Willow, they would both understand all.

  Tennessee Williams thought time was “the longest distance between two places.” He was wrong. Time was the shortest distance between him and Willow. If he failed to close it before his time ran out, he would lose her forever. If they reached the peak, completed the pattern within the allotted time, then nothing would separate them in life or death.

  He had to find her, he would find her if he had to drown the whole city in blood to do it.

  Like always, when he needed it, the missing piece of the pattern came to him. Kirby. Kirby was the agent in charge of finding her. Find Kirby, find Willow? He tapped keys, then frowned at the screen showing the log of who had checked in and out of the building. Kirby wasn’t in the office. Hadn’t been in since yesterday. Odd. Very odd.

  * * * *

  “I’m not leaving,” Dani said. “I’ve been there, done that.”

  Her gaze held the swift parry of a sword when he tried to stare her down. He wanted to shake her. He circled her where she sat in his desk chair, her knees together, her hands carefully relaxed on her knees. Since he couldn’t shake her, he said with intense patience, “Hayes is a wild card right now. We don’t know what he wants, what he’s going to do. The only sensible thing is to fall back and regroup.”

  “I thought you wanted him?”

  “I do,” he shot back, “but…”

  “But what? When will you ever get a better chance to get him? When will you ever again have what he wants?” Dani asked, turning her head to stay with him as he circled.

  Matt looked at Alice, then turned away from them both, shoving both hands into his hair. “Talk to her, Alice.”

  “It’s our job to protect you, Dani.”

  “You just want to hide me away somewhere until somebody gets too tired to care. At least with the trial I had a deadline to hang onto, but this, this is a life sentence to limbo! I won’t do it.” Her hands curled into fists. “You want me to live. I want my life back. If you aren’t willing to try, then,” she took a deep breath, straightened her hands into a pseudo-relaxed and finished with quiet intensity, “let me talk to someone who will.”

  She almost flinched back when Matt spun to face her, anger coming off him in scorching waves. This heat wasn’t sweet or comforting, but she refused to back down. She would never make it if she did. Her body might survive, but her mind would die. Her spirit would die.

  Willow wouldn’t bend this time. She would snap in two.

  His gaze bored into hers for what seemed like forever. She let him see her resolve. Her need she kept hidden. He didn’t want her need, only her cooperation. He didn’t know he couldn’t have one without the other. She didn’t know how to separate them. Need was a package deal of all or nothing.

  When he sighed, the release of tension almost collapsed her like a balloon. She shuddered, dug her nails into her knees to stop it. He gave no quarter, so she wouldn’t ask for any.

  Then she almost broke when he crouched down in front of her and said, “You don’t understand what we’re trying to do. If you could, look, we’re just taking this in steps, trying to get past reacting to what he does. The first step is to secure your safety. Then we’re going to try and draw him in.”

  “He won’t decoy again,” Dani said, softly. “He’ll know. He always has. The only reason it worked the last time was because I was there.” Her nails dug deeper into her knees, the knuckles going white. Luckily her jeans provided a measure of protection. Too bad her heart wasn’t wrapped in denim. It hurt to have his face close enough for her wanting hands to trace, his dark eyes a deep pool she wanted to sink into more than she wanted to breathe air. What twist of fate had made her need a man who didn’t want it?

  “How can he know whether it’s really you or not, Dani?” Her eyes were a code he couldn’t break, her words harder to decipher than code. “How could he know?”

  “I can’t explain how. He just does.” She stopped, licked her dry lips.

  It was a hit at his pride when he felt want try to respond to her need. He tightened down the lid, but it was harder to do than the last time.

  “Just like I…” Dani stopped and looked away. Alice stepped into the circle of their tension, but if she felt it, it didn’t show on her face.

  “Just like you what?” she asked, in neutral tones.

  Dani looked up, hesitated, then said, “Just like I know when he’s hunting me.” Her gaze returned to Matt. “Don’t you see? That’s why the nightmares. Why I called him Dark Lord. Because I could feel him hunting me, just like Dark Lord hunted Frodo. Only Frodo could feel his eyes searching. I don’t feel his eyes. I feel his heart beating. It’s getting closer.” She swallowed painfully. “I hope I’m wrong. I hope he does want to kill me.”

  Now he understood. Knowledge left a bitter taste in his mouth, added tons to the weight of responsibility he already felt. His dad had taught he and his brothers’ two rules for dealing with the opposite sex: Do no harm. Don’t let anyone else do harm.

  That covered a lot of territory, set a high standard that he hadn’t always lived up to. He was human. He had hurt Judith. Hurt her badly. Hadn’t meant to. That didn’t change the regret he felt at letting his dad and himself down. He found it easier to keep from stumbling again by not getting too close.

  He was too close right now. He could see all the way to her heart. It was a brave one. She had guts. Her fear beat against his need to stay cool and calm. All the stuff he thought he’d shelved when Judith left rose up, trying to get into the act, trying to trip him up. With Hayes playing wild card somewhere, this was not a good time to even want to wrap his arms around her and tell it was going to be all right, that he would take care of everything.

  It was going to be all right. He would do everything he could to make it all right. Except wrap his arms around her and tell her so.

  It wasn’t in the job description.

  His cell phone rang, making saved by the bell take on new meaning for him. He stood up, an honorable retreat was the better part of valor. Hayes wasn’t the only one who could pull up quotes.

  “Kirby,” he said into the telephone.

  “You gotta get out of there, Matt,” Sebastian said, urgently. “Someone’s been tapping into building security. Looking at your log in/log out record.”

  He bit back a swear word. “Anderson know?”

  “Yeah, he says go. He’s
getting bad vibes, doesn’t even want to risk the airport without a plan. If you can handle it, he’ll wait for you to contact him. Only him. Wants this strictly need to know.”

  “Right.” He had to think, not just react. That’s what Hayes wanted. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Luke, who had gone to shower away his night shift in Homicide, rejoin them.

  “Matt?” Sebastian recalled his attention. “Be careful.”

  “I will. Thanks for calling. Tell him I’ll be in touch.” He shut off the telephone, thought for a minute, then looked at Luke. “We gotta move.”

  Without missing a beat he asked, “The cabin?”

  “For tonight, then we,” he hesitated, then looked at Dani, “then you decide what you want to do.”

  She sighed like one shedding a burden, gratitude softening her eyes. “Thank you.”

  Matt was giving her control, nothing else. “Thank me when it’s over. Then we’ll know if I deserve it. Now let’s get out of here. You coming with, Luke?” Luke nodded, Matt turned to Alice. He didn’t like leaving her to pick up, but he didn’t have any choice. It was her job. “Make sure she didn’t leave anything behind, then go. This won’t be a good place to be if Hayes is heading this way. I’ll be in touch.”

  She nodded. “Good luck.”

  Luke checked, then strapped on his gun. “Out the back?” Matt nodded. “I’ll take point.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  Dani sat between the two men as the sprawl of city fell away behind them. Ahead the road climbed steeply toward jagged, distant peaks lightly touched with snow despite the firm hold summer had on the plains below.

  Was it just her imagination or did she already feel cold? How could she tell? Strategists always made such a big deal about the high ground. She couldn’t see what why. In the movies heroes and victims were always heading up, when it was obvious that would just get them cornered. Granted this rugged countryside was very different from the tops of buildings and such, but the principles were the same: always leave yourself room to maneuver and stay away from long drops.

  The real kicker was, she had brought it on herself. In a heartbeat Matt would have sent her right out of this very high state, maybe even to a low lying one. Oh no, she had to have an attack of insanity and insist on staying to face the bogey man. And for what did she insist on this? For her life. The life, if Kelly was right, that she wasn’t even sure she wanted to have.