“No. We always leave that closed. Maybe the wind blew it open.”
The sky clapped with thunder again and Raven sloshed water over her hand. A tight knot was forming in her belly. “It’s really not that windy.”
Suddenly, a streak of blue appeared at the gate. Britney’s jacket flew out behind her as she rode her horse into the paddock from the trail. Raven couldn’t make out her face, but her actions were jerky, frantic.
Raven dropped the glass where it crashed to the floor. “The kids are outside.”
“What?” Buzz bounded to his feet and crowded her at the window.
By this time Britney had been joined by her brother and Shep’s two grandkids. All rode their horses into the paddock and slid and tumbled to the ground.
No Malika.
Raven cried out. “Malika’s not with them!”
Buzz charged to the closet and grabbed his gun. Then he flung open the side door. Raven forced her rubbery legs to move and followed him outside where the rain pelted her face in angry bursts.
The kids, their faces streaked with tears and mud, left their horses in the paddock and clambered through the gate. “Uncle Buzz, Uncle Buzz. The clown has Malika.”
Raven shoved a fist against her mouth to trap the wail that threatened to consume her.
Buzz grabbed Britney’s shoulders. “What are you talking about? Where is she?”
“We wanted to take her riding on the trail, Uncle Buzz. She said it was her last day here. She was ready.”
“Stop.” He held up his hands and Raven marveled at their steadiness. “Where is she? Where did the clown grab her?”
Clown? Raven’s mind moved sluggishly.
“He jumped in front of us where the trail bends near that clump of juniper. He must’ve been hiding in there.”
Austin and Josie came running from the house, their faces white with shock. “What happened?”
“Someone has kidnapped Malika.” Josie flinched from the fury in her brother’s blue eyes, but it acted like a slap in the face to Raven.
Someone had her little girl. And she was going to get her back.
“We’re sorry, Uncle Buzz. We just wanted her to ride like us.”
“You said it was a clown, Britney. Was he on a horse?”
“No horse. He was like one of those rodeo clowns. His face was white and he had a red nose and red hair.”
Oh dear God. Raven grabbed her upper arms. Was that how he’d been able to blend in all this time?
“Josie, get the kids in the house and call 911. Raven, go with her.”
“The hell I will.”
Buzz reacted with a slight hitch in his step, but he continued his march into the paddock. “I’m going after him on a horse, Raven. You’ll never keep up on foot.”
She straightened her spine. “Get me on one of those things. I’m coming with you.”
“I’m not putting you in danger. We’re just wasting time now.”
“You’re right. You go ahead and I’ll figure out how to climb into one of these saddles on my own.”
“You’ll kill yourself.”
“That’s my girl out there.”
Buzz swore, but he called over a horse and hoisted Raven into the saddle. “Follow me and just sit there and hold the reins. This horse knows the trail.”
Raven’s terror at sitting astride the big beast didn’t come close to her terror at losing Malika. The horse jolted Raven’s spine as he clopped after Buzz’s horse and Raven clamped her legs to the animal’s sides. Like a mantra, she repeated in her head he won’t harm her, he won’t harm her.
Farouk and his minions needed Malika alive to blackmail President Okeke. They wouldn’t hurt Malika. She, on the other hand, was completely expendable. She gritted her teeth and hung on as her horse broke into a gallop to keep up with Buzz’s horse. She might be expendable, but she’d give her life to keep Malika safe from harm.
Buzz hunched forward in his saddle. Then he turned and held out a hand. “Pull back on the reins.”
Raven tugged, but the horse kept moving forward. She yanked harder, bringing the horse’s head up. She didn’t know if it was her skillful handling of the reins or peer pressure, but her horse slowed to a stop before it barreled into the back end of Buzz’s horse.
Buzz slid from the back of his horse and held a finger to his lips. He hitched the reins over the nearest bush and backtracked to help Raven from her horse.
“Are you okay? You did great.”
“I’m fine. Why are we stopping here?”
“This trail comes out almost to the road, running parallel to it. He’s been on foot all this time, but he probably has a vehicle waiting for him on the road.”
Panic surged from Raven’s gut, leaving the bitter taste of bile in her mouth. “Oh my God, once he gets her in the car, she’s gone.”
“We’re not going to allow that. The kids said he didn’t have a horse, and Malika’s pony wandered back to the paddock. They’re on foot and we just made up a great deal of ground. We can’t thunder in on a couple of horses. We have to take him by surprise.”
“How?”
He tugged her hand. “We’re getting off the trail and taking a shortcut. We should be able to see them and reach them before they hit the road and escape.”
Buzz swept a branch out of the way, and Raven ducked beneath it, landing in a tangled web of bushes and trees. She’d never imagined the vegetation lining this trail was so lush. It looked like a greenish-brown strip from the house, but many of the bushes had refused to shed their foliage in the fall. And now they offered cover.
After several minutes of creeping quickly through this parallel world, Buzz held out his hand and cocked his head to the side.
Crunching rock and snapping twigs caused Raven’s heart to skip a beat. It had to be the kidnapper. The noises ceased and Raven and Buzz froze in midstep.
Thunder boomed above them and a sheet of lightning brightened the clouds in a flash. They used the noise to claw their way to the edge of the riding trail.
A man in the middle of the trail, dark hair sticking out in all directions and white makeup smearing his face, struggled with his burden. Malika.
Raven clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out at the sight of Malika’s limp form draped over the man’s shoulder. He must’ve drugged Malika the same way he’d drugged Raven the night of the bonfire.
The thunder resounded like a bass drum, and Raven turned wide eyes to Buzz. He had his weapon clutched in front of him, but the man on the trail had his own gun out and he held it perilously close to Malika’s head. In desperation, the man might shoot Malika. He’d never give her up willingly.
If only the man were distracted. Buzz could get a clear shot at him if the kidnapper’s gun was pointing away from Malika.
Like a lioness protecting her cub, Raven’s instincts shifted into gear and overruled her reason. She crashed through the bushes ahead of Buzz and staggered onto the trail in front of the man holding Malika like a sack of potatoes.
She growled, “You’re not taking her anywhere.”
The man stumbled in his surprise, his head whipping from side to side, looking for additional people emerging from the bushes. Nobody came. Buzz kept his cover.
He hoisted Malika. “I have my orders. I knew you’d be trouble.”
“You’re right. I’m trouble. Is that why you tried to take me out? First with the crane and then at the bonfire?”
He licked his lips, lifting his weapon halfway between Malika and Raven. “It was a benefit, but that’s not why. I had my orders when it came to you—kill Buzz Richardson’s woman, just like we killed his parents.”
A cold bead of sweat trickled down Raven’s back. Buzz had been right. Farouk had wanted revenge.
He waved the gun. “That rodeo clown saw me swing the crane at you. I had to take him out. Then I picked up the wrong kid at the parade. Nothing but trouble. Farouk should’ve handled you himself.”
“Well, here I am
.” Raven spread her arms wide. If he pointed the gun at her, Buzz would have a chance to take him down without harming Malika. Maybe he wouldn’t even have time to get a shot off.
The thunder clapped and simultaneously, the skies opened and rain gushed down on them. For just an instant, the man glanced upward and that was all Raven needed. She crouched forward and charged at the man’s legs.
He grunted in surprise when she barreled into his kneecaps. He staggered and swung down the hand clutching the weapon. As he did so, an inert Malika slipped from his grasp.
Raven rolled to the side to break Malika’s fall when a crack split the air. The man dropped to his knees. The smell of gunpowder stung her nose, and when Malika landed on Raven’s back, Raven rolled to cover the girl’s body with her own. Another bullet slammed into the man’s body and he fell face-forward into the mud on the trail.
“Raven!” Buzz dashed to her side and dropped to the ground. “My God, are you okay? Is Malika okay?”
“I’m fine. Malika is drugged, but she’s breathing steadily.” Raven rolled off Malika’s body and scooped the little girl into her lap. “He almost had her. He almost took her away from me.”
Buzz wrapped his arms around both of them from behind. “When you went crashing through the bushes and into the trail, I almost had a heart attack. You’re crazy. You took a huge risk.”
Raven dashed the tears from her face. “I had to.”
A siren blared in the distance, and Raven sniffled and wiped her nose on her rain-soaked sleeve. “Better late than never.”
“You’re better late than never, Raven Pierre, and I’ll wait for you for as long as it takes.”
“How about two seconds?” She flung her free arm around his neck and kissed him through her tears and laughter. “I love you, Bryan Richardson, and if you’ll take me back we can have ten kids.”
“I’ll take you back, but there are no conditions to my love, Raven. There are no rules—” he placed a hand on Malika’s head “—that define a family except love.”
Raven sighed, wrapped in love and content to wallow in the mud with her family.
TWO WEEKS LATER, BUZZ and Raven sat in the backseat of a Lincoln Town Car. Josie and her family had made it home safely. Buzz had told his sister just enough for her to realize Malika was not his adopted daughter and Raven was not his wife. Not yet.
Buzz peered out the tinted windows and leaned forward in his seat. “They’re here.”
Raven scooted next to him and they watched out the window as President Okeke climbed from a limo and Malika trailed after him.
Raven sucked in a breath and Buzz patted her hand. It had been tough for her to part with Malika over a week ago when the CIA had reunited her with her grateful father. And it wouldn’t be any easier now.
Buzz speed-dialed Colonel Scripps. “President Okeke is about to board. I’ll call you as soon as our meeting is over.”
“Find out what you can, Buzz. The Agency is telling me Jack’s dead.”
Buzz ended the call and worry gnawed at his gut as he pressed his forehead against the car window.
A cool hand caressed the back of his neck and Raven kissed his tense jaw. “Whatever news President Okeke has about Jack, I’m right here with you, Buzz.”
The president and his daughter ascended the steps of the private jet and Buzz pushed open the door of the Town Car. “It’s showtime.”
Lacing his fingers through Raven’s, he pulled her across the tarmac to the waiting plane. A few suits— CIA or the Dignitary Protection Division—moved in front of them, but the Burumandan bodyguards waved them up the stairs.
Buzz ducked through the hatch and extended his hand to President Okeke, already strapped in his seat. “Mr. President.”
“Mr. Richardson, I can’t thank you enough.”
Raven had rushed to Malika’s side and the two were locked in a big hug, their tears mingling.
“You’ll have to allow those two a visit or two…or ten.”
The president chuckled. “And thanks to you, I’m going to have to buy my daughter a horse and engage a riding instructor.”
“Your daughter could teach that riding instructor a thing or two about horses, sir. I congratulate you on your young country’s success in avoiding revolution.”
“Yes, my country is safe once again, and we will be more than willing to work with your country in regard to this terrible weapon we possess. No country should have this technology.”
“I agree with you, Mr. President. Now, if you’ll excuse my frankness, sir, a deal is a deal.”
Raven jerked her head up, eyes wide. She kissed Malika on the cheek and joined Buzz, sliding her hand down his back.
The president flashed a wide smile in his brown face. “I retract my earlier statement, Mr. Richardson. I guess I can thank you enough.”
“It’s all I ask in payment for keeping Malika safe.”
President Okeke nodded and crooked his finger. Buzz and Raven hunched forward, and Buzz’s breath caught in his throat. Would they finally get something on Jack?
President Okeke whispered in a hushed voice. “He escaped his captors. Nobody knows how and nobody knows where…but Jack Coburn is alive.”
Epilogue
Smoothing a hand over his fake moustache, Jack eyed the machine-gun-toting Bundespolizei as they strolled through the Frankfurt airport. He had completed the first leg of his journey successfully. Using the money and resources from the black duffel bag, he’d slapped on a new identity and escaped Afghanistan. He’d rewarded Yasir handsomely on his way out, too. The boy had proved to be an invaluable resource.
Of course, assuming a new identity had been easy since he didn’t have a clue about the old one. No, not true. He was Jack Coburn, American spy.
A bead of sweat rolled along the edge of the uncomfortable wig and he nudged the duffel bag farther under the plastic seat with his foot. Since the bag contained stacks of cash and assorted passports, he’d checked it instead of carrying it on and subjecting it to the X-ray machines. He wouldn’t have gotten two feet past security with that stash.
Now before he checked it again for the second and final leg of his journey, he’d dip into its contents once more. He figured any good spy worth his salt would switch identities halfway to his destination, and it just so happened his lucky duffel contained another American passport.
Two Bundespolizei sauntered past the self-serve café, and Jack dipped his head to take another bite of his sandwich. He watched them turn the corner through the plain lenses of the glasses perched on the end of his nose and blew out a long breath. He wiped his moustache with a napkin and then dropped it onto the tray.
Easing to his feet, he snagged the strap of the bag and hitched it over his shoulder. Then he grabbed the tray and dumped the remains of his lunch into the trash.
Locating a men’s room in a sparsely traveled corridor of the airport, he slipped inside, the duffel banging against his hip. Forty minutes later he slipped out again, a changed man.
He bought his one-way ticket to Miami with cash and hoped the combination of a one-way ticket and cash wouldn’t trigger a lookup on some terrorist watch list. He checked the bag again and bought another bag that he stuffed with books and a couple of airport T-shirts, so he’d have something to carry on.
He shuffled through security without a hitch and strolled to the edge of the screening area to put on his shoes and jacket. Leaning forward, he caught sight of a computer screen on one of the lecterns stationed at the end of the security area. His pulse raced and his gut tightened.
He recognized the face on the screen with an obvious warning message flashing above it. It was the face that had stared back at him from the cloudy mirror in the little shack in Afghanistan.
Jack Coburn was a wanted man.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8229-2
TOP GUN GUARDIAN
Copyright © 2011 by Carol Ericson
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