Top Gun Guardian

by Carol Ericson

  “It can’t hurt to check it out. We can start by thanking him for the entertaining parade and see where it goes from there. See if he acts suspiciously or repeats the warning.”

  “See if he swings another crane at my head?”

  His hand joined hers and the strength of his fingers as they curled around hers loosened the knot of tension in her belly. “Is that what you’re worried about? If he were responsible for the crane incident, he wouldn’t be drawing attention to that fact.

  “And let’s face it.” He slid a glance to Malika, pinching puffs of pink cotton candy from a beehive of the stuff. “If the people who want Malika are in White Cloud, they’ll want to conceal themselves for as long as possible.”

  His words acted like a prod, and Raven spun around and charged back to Malika’s side. She stroked her hair as if to make sure the little girl was still in one piece.

  As Malika held out her cone of spun sugar, Raven nipped off a dollop of cotton candy and stuffed it in her mouth. The gauzy texture melted in sweetness on her tongue, almost drowning out the bitter taste of fear Buzz’s words had sent skittering across her flesh.

  If the rodeo clown had cautioned her to be careful, what did that mean for Malika?

  A voice from the loudspeaker announced the start of the rodeo and much of the crowd milling around the carnival rides surged toward the rodeo ring.

  Buzz scooped up Malika in his arms and placed a hand on the curve of Raven’s back to guide her through the human traffic. He leaned forward, stirring her hair with his breath. “When you see the rodeo clown, point him out to me.”

  They climbed the bleachers to a spot near the top and scooted down the cold metal benches. Austin and Josie sat in front of them with their kids bouncing in place and twisting around to point out the intricacies of the rodeo to Malika.

  An announcer took the center of the ring, welcoming everyone to the Harvest Festival and rodeo. While she stood for the national anthem, Raven surveyed the rodeo personnel for a glimpse of the clown from the parade. Who knew all clowns looked alike?

  She shook her head at Buzz and they sat down to watch the roping event. While Wyatt and Britney squealed and clapped, Malika tugged on Raven’s sleeve. “Is that hurting the cow?”

  “I don’t think so.” She rubbed Malika’s back. “Let’s ask Buzz-Daddy.”

  Once Buzz assured Malika that the roping didn’t hurt the calves, she squealed as loudly as the other two kids.

  Raven clapped and cheered at the cowboys’ exploits, waiting for the bull riding and a better look at the rodeo clowns. For a break in the action, the announcer invited all kids between the ages of five and ten to come down to the ring for a contest. The object of the contest was to snatch a ribbon from the tail of a scampering calf, and all the kids in their party clamored to try their luck.

  Raven grabbed Buzz’s arm. “Do you think we should let her?”

  “Nothing’s going to happen with a crowd of people watching. She’ll be fine.”

  Raven reluctantly released Malika’s hand as Austin guided the kids down to the ring. A few of the clowns gathered around the edges of the ring, but they all looked too tall to be the one who might have spoken to Raven.

  Maybe the parade clowns were different from the actual rodeo clowns. Maybe the man was wearing street clothes now. Maybe he was watching her.

  Folding her arms, Raven squinted at one end of the ring where the kids were lining up. “Do you see Malika, Britney and Wyatt?”

  “You can see Malika’s red jacket.” Buzz put an arm around her shoulders and pointed. “Josie loaned her one of Britney’s jackets. She thought it was odd that Malika had only a dressy coat with her.”

  Raven plucked at the cashmere coat she’d been wearing on the escape from New York. “She probably thinks my coat is weird too, paired with jeans and sweatshirts.”

  “I told her it was a spur of the moment trip.”

  “Did she buy that?”

  “Not really.”

  “So Josie senses something’s off?” Raven rolled her eyes. “She should’ve been the covert ops agent in the family.”

  “She knows better than to question me…even about a hasty marriage.” He jerked his chin toward the rodeo ring. “Watch. They’re ready to go.”

  A calf with a red ribbon tied to its tail scampered into the ring. A loud horn blasted and the kids took off after the calf. Raven spotted Malika tearing after the calf with her arms outstretched.

  Tears flooded her eyes and the kids and the lights blurred. She sniffed, wondering when she’d grown so sentimental.

  Buzz turned a smiling face toward her with brows raised. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m just thinking how far removed this is from rebel soldiers rampaging through her house and assassination attempts on her father.”

  He kissed her temple. “That’s why we’re here. To get her away from all that.”

  And had they? Raven’s heart skipped a beat when the race ended and several rodeo clowns flooded the ring to lead the kids to the exits. With a dry mouth, she studied the man who ushered Wyatt, Britney and Malika out of the ring, and then realized the clown was a woman.

  The kids returned to their seats grumbling about pushing and shoving and how they all had a chance at the ribbon except for some kind of sabotage from another contestant. When the cowboys returned to the ring for a few rope tricks, Raven excused herself.

  “I’m going to brave one of the Porta-Potties and get something to drink. Does anyone want anything?”

  Buzz jumped up. “I’ll come with you.” He lifted Malika from her seat and plopped her in the middle of Wyatt and Britney. “Tell her what’s going on, you two.”

  Raven scooted past the knees and purses and waited for Buzz in the aisle. When he joined her, she said, “You didn’t have to come with me. I don’t plan on standing beneath any more cranes.”

  “I didn’t think you could carry back all that popcorn on your own.” He jumped from the bleachers and lifted her to the ground.

  While Buzz stood in line at the concession stand, Raven wandered back to the carnival grounds to the row of blue Porta-Potties on the side of the property. Two lines had formed to use the johns and Raven blinked when she saw a rodeo clown at the front of one of the lines.

  Her heart pounded as she joined the back of the line, taking note of the clown’s bright green shirt under his baggy polka-dotted overalls. His short stature confirmed her identification of him as the clown from the parade.

  She slipped out of line when the clown entered the next available Porta-Potty and waited in the shadow of an oak tree. She glanced over her shoulder at the concession stand, which partially concealed the line snaking into it. If she waited for Buzz to get through the line and ran to get him, the clown might disappear.

  She had to do this alone.

  The door of the Porta-Potty swung open and the man emerged, adjusting the straps of his overalls.

  Raven stepped from the shadows into his path. “Excuse me?”

  He jerked his head up. As his gaze focused on her face, his eyes widened, their roundness exaggerated by the makeup encircling them. His gait faltered but he kept moving, putting his head down, the curly red hair of his wig flapping at his ears.

  “Excuse me.” Raven put out a hand. “W-weren’t you the clown who approached me during the parade?”

  His head shook, the red fright wig whipping back and forth. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, lady.”

  Raven drew her brows together, certain this was the same man who singled her out in the crowd. “The parade through Main Street. You came up to me.”

  He scurried faster, glancing to his right and left. “Came up to a lot of people during the parade. Enjoy the rodeo.”

  Raven scuffed her feet to a stop. She wasn’t about to go chasing him into the rodeo ring, but his odd behavior convinced her he was the clown who had approached her.

  And he had whispered the warning.

  She turned the corner of
the concession stand just as Buzz was coming away from the window, his arms laden with bags of popcorn and his hands clutching red licorice.

  “Where have you been? Long lines?”

  She relieved him of a few bags of popcorn and stuck a piece of licorice in her mouth. “I found the rodeo clown.”

  Buzz almost dropped the remaining bags of popcorn. “You did? Where is he?”

  “Probably back at the rodeo.” She waved her licorice toward the lights of the rodeo ring. “I spoke to him.”

  This time, Buzz jerked and fluffy kernels of popcorn jumped from the tops of the bags. “You talked to him?”

  “Yeah, and now I’m more convinced than ever that he told me to be careful. He was acting weird. If he’d just acknowledged that he’d come up to me during the parade, I might have doubted his words. But he didn’t want to talk to me.”

  “Well, I want to talk to him.”

  “I think you’re going to have to wait.” A roar from the rodeo ring signaled a new event. “Come on. I’ll point him out.”

  They edged up the steps of the bleachers, balancing the snacks and slid into their seats. Malika clambered over the row in front to wedge herself between Raven and Buzz. “Bull riding.”

  “That’s right.” Buzz handed her a piece of licorice. “The cowboys are going to try to ride the bulls for as long as they can.”

  Wrinkling her nose, Malika chomped on the licorice. “Will they get hurt?”

  “When the bull tosses them or they fall off, the rodeo clowns make a lot of commotion to distract the bull away from the cowboy.”

  Schooled on the finer points of bull riding, Malika leaned her elbows on Austin’s shoulders to get a better look.

  Buzz nudged Raven. “Do you see him?”

  “Two posts down from the gate where the crowd is crushing in. The guy in the lime-green shirt.”

  “Can’t miss him. I’ll pay him a visit after the show.”

  The first bull rider came charging out of the gate, his arm waving in the air as the bull bucked and twisted. The cowboy slid to the side of the bull and tumbled off, rolling toward the fence. A barrel with a clown waving his arms and legs from the sides rolled across the bull’s vision. The bull lowered and gored the barrel once before the clown scampered out of the ring.

  During the display, Raven’s fingers had curled around the strap of her purse. Once the rider and the clown were safe, she flexed her fingers and took a deep breath.

  The next bull rider shot out of the gate like a cannon. The bull kicked up his back legs and thrashed his shaggy head from side to side. Still the cowboy clung on, his hat flying off his head and his chaps flapping around his legs. The bull seemed to give one last monumental heave, which sent the rider sailing through the air. He landed on his back and scrambled to his feet.

  Another clown sallied into the ring—a short clown with a lime-green shirt. He waved his arms and flapped his baggy overalls before abruptly dropping his arms to his sides.

  The bull pawed the ground and switched his attention from the prone cowboy to the spectacle of the clown. The clown staggered backward and swayed to one side as if in slow motion. The crowd exhaled a collective gasp at the clown’s bravery…or stupidity…by not hightailing it out of the ring.

  “What’s he doing?” Buzz sat forward in his seat.

  Shaking his massive head, the bull focused on the clown, who was now clutching his chest and weaving his way toward the gate. Two more clowns jumped into the ring, but the bull had his target.

  The bull charged. He head-butted the clown, snagging him with his horns as screams and shouts rose from the audience.

  Before Raven covered her eyes with a shaky hand, she caught a glimpse of bright green stained with red soaring through the air.

  Chapter Twelve

  A wave of shock reverberated through the crowd, and Buzz crushed Malika against his chest. Raven had planted her forehead against his shoulder.

  “That was bad. The guy’s not moving.” Austin twisted in his seat.

  The cowboys had herded the bull from the ring, and a couple of people were crouching beside the injured rodeo clown. Raven’s rodeo clown.

  Raven raised her face to his, and her dark eyes shimmered with confusion. “What just happened?”

  If Buzz hadn’t seen the man attacked by a bull, he’d be making some strange connections right now between the clown’s injuries and his warning to Raven. He skimmed a hand down her throat. “It’s just an accident. He couldn’t or wouldn’t get out of the way. Maybe he thought he needed to put on a better show.”

  Britney had climbed into her father’s lap and Austin shook his head. “That was quite a show.”

  “God, he’s still not moving.” Josie had to drag Wyatt’s attention from the ring. “I think we should get going. They’re not going to carry on now, will they?”

  “Depends on how badly he’s injured.” Austin’s words merged with the wail of a siren, and an ambulance pulled onto the rodeo grounds.

  Many people had vacated their seats and surged toward the parking lot while others milled around, wondering if the show would go on.

  “The kids are upset. We should leave.” Josie grabbed Wyatt’s hand and shuffled past her husband toward the aisle.

  Worry gnawed at Buzz’s gut, and the ashen pallor of Raven’s face told him the same thoughts were running through her mind. Why that particular rodeo clown?

  They packed up the kids and headed for their cars. Buzz exchanged meaningful glances with Raven on the ride home but since the drive was short and Malika showed no inclination to fall asleep, he kept his thoughts to himself.

  Once they got the kids to bed, Buzz wanted nothing more than to retreat to his bedroom to discuss the accident with Raven, but Josie had other plans.

  She rummaged in a kitchen drawer and pulled out a corkscrew. “Anyone else want to join me? If ever a night called for it, I think this one qualifies.”

  “Count me in, honey.” Austin collapsed on the sofa. “It’s not like we haven’t see accidents at rodeos before. Stuff happens.”

  “Yeah, but usually there’s some sign of life from the injured person.” She held up a wineglass. “Raven? Buzz?”

  Raven said, “Sure. Let me help you.”

  Buzz tried to catch her eye while she hung up her coat in the closet in the foyer, but she avoided his gaze and joined Josie in the kitchen.

  Maybe she didn’t want to discuss the implications of the rodeo accident. Maybe he didn’t either. He propped up his feet on the coffee table, folding his arms behind his head.

  When Raven handed him a glass of wine, he smiled his thanks and gestured to the cushion beside him. “That wasn’t the best introduction to a rodeo for you.”

  “Or Malika.” Raven traced the rim of her wineglass with her finger and turned toward Josie. “Are kids traumatized by this sort of thing?”

  “Kids are resilient. I swear I wanted to get out of there more for my sake than Wyatt’s. But it depends on the kid. Is Malika particularly sensitive? Did she have a hard life before you and Buzz…adopted her?”

  Raven bent forward to brush an imaginary piece of lint from her sweater. “Well, she didn’t have a typical middle-class American upbringing.”

  You can say that again. Buzz took a swig from his wineglass. Compared to what Malika had witnessed in her short life, a bull goring a rodeo clown was small potatoes. Still, the girl had to be on edge, sensitive to the slightest upheaval in what was supposed to be her safe haven.

  Josie narrowed her eyes above her glass. “What were the circumstances of her upbringing? You two never did go into much detail about how you came to adopt Malika, and I’ve learned never to ask my brother a direct question.”

  Buzz clinked his wineglass onto the table and stretched. “That’s a long story for another night. I’m going to go up and read. Raven?”

  It wasn’t a question so much as a command. His sister would pry and dig and ferret until she got to the truth. And he didn’t want to
reveal anything until he got Malika safely back in the arms of her father and installed back home in a secure country.

  And he sure as hell didn’t want to come clean about his bogus marriage. He wanted to live that lie as long as possible.

  “I’ll join you.” Raven pinched the rim of his glass and hers between two fingers and headed for the kitchen.

  He waited by the foot of the stairs as she washed the glasses in the sink. He didn’t want to leave her alone with Josie for one minute.

  As they said their good-nights, Josie’s speculating face assured Buzz he’d removed Raven from the line of fire just in time.

  Buzz snapped shut the bedroom door behind them and leaned against it. “So what do you think?”

  “I think she’s on to us.” Raven fell across the bed, drawing her knees to her chest.

  “Not Josie.” Buzz folded his arms across his chest and dug a shoulder into the door. “I’m talking about the accident.”

  “It was an accident.” Clasping her arms around her legs, she rocked forward. “How could it be anything but? Are you trying to tell me someone slipped the bull an energy drink or something to make him angry? I gather bulls act that way all the time.”

  Buzz studied the tips of his boots. “But did you notice the clown? I can tell you, rodeo clowns do not act that way all the time.”

  “The staggering and flopping around?” She rested her head on her knees. “I thought that was part of his act.”

  “It may have been, but when that bull started charging, the guy should’ve been hightailing it to the fence.”

  “What are you saying? You think there was something wrong with him before he entered the ring?”

  Buzz pushed off the door, raking his hands across his scalp. “I don’t know. It just seems like too much of a coincidence. The guy acts nervous talking to you and fifteen minutes later he has an accident in the ring.”

  “You told me yourself—rodeo clown is a dangerous job.”

  “So is this.” He sank onto the bed next to her and covered her clasped hands with one of his. “Maybe it’s time for you to go home.”