Lightning Lingers

by Barbara Freethy

  "How many people are usually at the ranch?" Jake asked. "Do you have any idea? Have you ever been there?"

  "I was there many years ago. At the time, there was a large house, a stable, pastures for cattle and horses as well as farmland."

  "So it's big," Katherine murmured, not happy about trying to rescue TJ from some massive compound.

  Sylvia nodded.

  "Does anyone go in or out on a regular basis?" Jake continued. "Do they have food delivery? I'm looking for a way to get onto the property without arousing suspicion."

  "What will you do then?" Sylvia asked before Katherine could fire off the same question.

  Jake hesitated. "We'd need to create a distraction of some sort, focus attention away from whoever is guarding TJ."

  "And then what?" she asked. "I don't know how you and I can do this alone, Jake. We don't have weapons. We're not soldiers. How can we possibly rescue TJ from a fortress controlled by a drug lord?"

  "We'll use something as deadly as a gun—fire. Fire makes people run."

  She nodded, thinking about the plane explosion that had sent her and Jake racing through the forest. "That could work. But they might throw TJ in the van and drive somewhere else."

  "Maybe we can disable the vans before we set the fire. I know enough about engines to pull some wires, but everything depends on us getting onto the property."

  "I will ask my friend Paolo to help us," Sylvia said. "Paolo used to work at the ranch when it was run by Rodrigo's father. He knows many ways onto the property. I'm sure he would be willing to lend you a vehicle. I will send Carmen for him now." Sylvia got to her feet. "While we are waiting for Paolo, you will eat. I will make you lunch, and you will gather your strength for what lies ahead."

  "Thanks," Jake said. "But don't go to any trouble."

  "It is no trouble to cook for my great-grandson and his Katherine," she said with a smile.

  Katherine blew out a breath as Sylvia left the room. "Do you really believe we can do this, Jake? Are we crazy to try on our own? Should I find someone with a phone and call someone at MDT? I could contact TJ's girlfriend, although I don't have her number anymore; it was in my phone. But I'm sure someone could connect me to her."

  "I'm not against involving the company," Jake said. "But it will take time to get anyone down here."

  She hated to wait another second knowing that TJ was in the hands of some very bad men. "You're right."

  "We can do both. We can call MDT and then also go out to the ranch and see what we're up against."

  "I just don't want to make this worse. What if I call the wrong person and then they make sure that TJ never gets found?"

  "That's the risk. You're really good at pointing out the problems."

  "I just wish I was better at fixing them."

  "Well, you thought it was going to be too easy," he reminded her.

  "Yeah, that was stupid." She paused. "I am sorry that I snapped at you. None of this is your fault."

  "I know. You were just angry. I was a good target." He met her gaze. "But Mamich was right about one thing—we need to work together."

  "I agree. To be honest, I can't quite believe you're still with me. You didn't even want to get off the plane and set foot in Mexico when this all started."

  He smiled. "And look where I am now. Which, according to my great-grandmother, is exactly where I'm supposed to be."

  "I wish Sylvia could look into the future and tell me TJ is going to be all right."

  "Maybe she can, but I don't think you'll believe it until TJ is with you, and you can see for yourself."

  "You're probably right."

  "Let's get some food, Kat. Then we'll take another look at our crazy, half-assed plan and decide whether or not we want to talk ourselves out of it."

  * * *

  Their late lunch was a modest meal of chicken, rice, and beans, but every bite was savory and delicious, seasoned well by the herbs in his great-grandmother's garden.

  "You were both so hungry. I should have fed you as soon as you arrived," Sylvia said.

  "This is delicious, Mamich, but I noticed that you're not eating," he said.

  "I'm glad you like it. I am not as hungry as I used to be. I eat enough to sustain me. That's all I need."

  He wished she'd eat a little more. She was very thin, and despite her steely will and sharp mind, she had a fragile quality to her, as if she could break at any moment.

  "How is your mother, Jake?"

  "She's well. She works at the university."

  "Did she remarry?"

  "No. She lives alone and seems happy enough. Not that she'd probably tell me if she wasn't. She keeps her thoughts to herself, unless those thoughts are critical of what I'm doing. Then she's very vocal."

  "As a mother should be. Alicia writes to me often, but I haven't heard from Danielle in years."

  "She just got a new job in Washington, DC. She's going to be working for the US senator from Texas. She moved a few days ago."

  "It sounds like an important job."

  "I think it is."

  "Danielle always needed to be seen, the burden of the middle child."

  "I guess. She worked hard at being popular, that's for sure. She has more professional ambition than Alicia and I put together."

  "But you are happy flying airplanes?"

  "Yes. It's always been my dream job."

  "It was the same for your father. Even as a little boy, he would look to the sky whenever he heard a plane. He told me once flying was his way of getting close to the heavens."

  That sounded a little like his father but even more like his great-grandmother. "You were really close to him, weren't you?"

  "After my daughter died, I looked at Wyatt as if he were own my child. I was very sad when his father took him to Texas, but we had forged a bond that was too strong to break. He came back here as often as he could, and he wrote me many letters." She paused. "I have them in my room. One day perhaps you'll want to read them."

  She'd made that offer before when he'd been here ten years ago, but then it had seemed far too painful to consider looking at his father's handwriting, seeing his words. But now, maybe it would be cathartic. "One day," he said, knowing that he needed to keep his emotions about his father and the past at bay. He needed to concentrate on the huge task ahead of them.

  Glancing over at Katherine, he saw her staring out the window, lost in thought. She was worried and scared, and he wished he had the power to make her feel better. But that wouldn't happen until they found TJ.

  "Would you like more to eat, Jake?" Sylvia asked.

  "No, that was enough."

  "Katherine?"

  Katherine started. "What?"

  "Would you like more food?" his great-grandmother inquired.

  "No, thank you." She pushed her empty plate away so she could rest her arms on the table. "That was very good. Jake was right. He told me you were a good cook."

  "It is easy to cook when the food comes from your garden."

  "I can't even imagine," Katherine said. "I barely use my spice rack, not that I have much time to cook."

  "You were meant for more than cooking," Sylvia said. "The gift of healing is precious. You must treasure it."

  Katherine nodded, but she looked a bit taken aback by his great-grandmother's words. "I never really thought of it as a gift. It's always been a goal that I had to strive for."

  "And now that you have it, you will use it wisely."

  "I will definitely try."

  An odd expression crossed his great-grandmother's face. "You were meant to change the world—both of you. That is why you are here. Why I have dreamed of you these past nights."

  "I don't know about the world," Jake said. "We're just trying to find one man."

  "One man who is important to this world. I don't know how, but I know that he is. The saving of his life will save many others."

  "Can you see if he's okay?" Katherine asked. "Do you have that ability?"

  "
I feel that he is waiting for you, but his destiny is still to be written."

  Katherine nodded. "Okay." She pushed back her chair. "Would you excuse me? I need to use the bathroom."

  "It's down the hall by the back door," Sylvia told her.

  When Katherine left, she gave Jake a smile. "Your Katherine is as beautiful as you said. I am happy that you are back together with your soul mate."

  He wanted to say he didn't believe in soul mates, but he had to admit that if there was such a thing, then Katherine was probably it. "We're not exactly together. She needed me to help find her brother. I don't know where we're going to end up when this is over."

  "No one knows the end, Jake."

  "Not even you? You seem to have visions of some things."

  "Some things become known to me—not all. I know Katherine wanted more assurance from me. I wish I could have given it to her."

  "She probably wouldn't have believed you anyway."

  "Her mind and her heart are always in battle," Sylvia said.

  Jake was surprised that his great-grandmother had read Katherine so well. "Yes, they are. She's afraid of feeling too much."

  "Or loving you too hard."

  "I let her down a long time ago. I didn't realize it at the time. I thought she was abandoning me, but since we've talked again, I see things I didn't see before."

  "I'm sure she does as well. Perhaps now is your time."

  A very big part of him wanted to believe that. "I wonder," he said. "But how could I trust that she wouldn't run again?"

  "Is she not worth the risk?"

  "I don't know. I honestly don't think I could go through that pain another time." He'd never admitted that to anyone—not friends, his mother or his sisters—but somehow here in this small kitchen in the middle of nowhere, the words poured from his lips.

  "You have no decision to make, Jake. You think you have a choice, but you don't. Katherine is already inside your heart. Even if she leaves, she'll always be with you."

  "I don't want her to leave and take my heart. I couldn't be like you, Mamich. I couldn't love someone and let them go."

  Sylvia smiled with the wisdom of the ages in her eyes. "You are thinking only of yourself, of what you need, how you feel. What does she need from you? Love looks outward, not inward." A knock came at the door. "That must be Paolo."

  Jake got to his feet, relieved at the interruption. The last thing he needed to be thinking about right now was love.

  * * *

  After washing up in the bathroom, Katherine headed outside. She needed to get some air, to think about what to do next. She had mixed feelings about whether or not to contact MDT or the police or anyone in a position of power versus trying to save her brother on her own. Her logical brain told her she was insane to think she and Jake could infiltrate the headquarters of a drug cartel and rescue TJ. On the other hand, it was doubtful anyone in the local area would help them.

  The Calderon family had been running this territory for years and the deaths of innocent villagers hadn't inspired the local government to do anything that would stop the funnel of money coming from the cartel to the town. So why would anyone want to help them? In fact, if they asked too many people around town for help, there was a good chance that someone would relay that information to the Calderons, and they'd have no chance of saving TJ.

  If they were going to take anyone by surprise, they would have to do it fast, before too many people knew they were in town or could get the information to the men in the black van.

  She wandered through the garden as her mental debate continued. Stepping into the shed, she stopped to sniff some of the herbs. Sylvia had jotted down some names by some of the plants, and she knew enough about plant properties used for medicine to recognize some of them: agave, acacia, chamomile, lemon grass. Sylvia really did have an herbal pharmacy behind her house. She wished she had time to talk to Sylvia about what she used for what symptom and how she used it.

  But first she had to find a way to save TJ, and distracting herself with the science of herbs wasn't going to get her any closer to that goal. She needed to go back into the house and hope that Sylvia's friend Paolo would be able to help them put together a better plan to get onto the ranch property than the one they'd come up with so far.

  As she stepped out of the shed, she heard a footstep behind her.

  She was just about to turn when someone grabbed her from behind. She opened her mouth to scream, but someone shoved a rag into it, gagging her. A bag came down over her face. She kicked out her feet, but someone picked her up and tossed her over their shoulder. A moment later, she landed on something hard. An engine roared and she suddenly knew exactly where she was—in the back of a black van.

  It looked like she'd found her own way onto the ranch or to wherever TJ was being held. He had to be alive, she thought desperately. They wouldn't kidnap her if he wasn't—would they?

  Fifteen

  Paolo Garcia was a lean, wiry man somewhere in his mid-sixties who'd known Jake's father and claimed a long friendship with Sylvia. He'd also known the Calderons and had worked at the ranch for several years while Rodrigo's father, Jose Calderon, was in charge. He'd told Jake that there was only one way onto the ranch without using the main road and that would require him to climb down a rather steep hillside. He also said that Rodrigo had put a lot of ex-soldiers on his payroll in recent months. There was talk that Rodrigo was planning a takeover of some territory, perhaps the state to the north that was run by another family cartel.

  Everything Jake heard reinforced the doubts he'd already had. He needed to find Katherine and make her listen to Paolo. He knew she would run into fire for her brother, and he wanted to help TJ, too, but he also didn't want to lose Katherine in the process.

  "Where is she?" he muttered.

  "I think she needed a moment to herself," Sylvia said, meeting his gaze.

  "I was happy to give her the space, but I need her in this conversation." As he finished speaking, he heard the slam of a car door, the roar of a motor, and through the living room window, he thought he saw a flash of black. He jumped to his feet. "Did you see that? It looked like the van from earlier today."

  He walked over to the window and saw nothing but a dusty street in front of the house. That dust cloud also reminded him of the van.

  Turning away from the view, he called out, "Katherine?"

  He walked down the hall. The bathroom was empty. The bedrooms were empty, too. His heart flipped over in his chest as he saw the back door ajar.

  "Katherine," he yelled again, as he ran outside.

  The door to the shed was open, but the building was empty.

  "She's gone," he said as Sylvia and Paolo came into the yard.

  "Maybe she took a walk," Sylvia began.

  He gave a definitive shake of his head. "She wouldn't leave without telling me." He knew without a doubt that Katherine had not left the yard voluntarily. "They took her—Rodrigo's men. She must have come outside, and they grabbed her. Dammit."

  He wanted to put his fist through a wall. How had he been so stupid? He should have realized that whoever had grabbed TJ had seen Katherine running after the van. They'd come back to get her. And apparently, she'd given them the perfect opportunity when she'd stepped outside of the house. There was no more time for planning, no option for second thoughts. "I need to go to the ranch now, Paolo."

  Paolo nodded, his expression grim. "You can take the truck. We will make a plan together."

  "They may expect you to come," Sylvia said, concern in her dark eyes. "It will be more dangerous now."

  "I don't care. I'm getting Katherine and TJ out of there tonight."

  "I understand. We must speak for a moment first," Sylvia said. "Paolo, will you wait in the house?"

  The older man nodded and left them alone.

  "Don't try to talk me out of this, Mamich."

  "I wouldn't do that," she said quietly. "I have been thinking while you and Paolo were talking. I can help
you, but only if you choose to believe."

  "Believe in what?" he asked, a little frustrated by her cryptic words.

  "In me. Come with me."

  He followed her back into the shed. She walked over to a box in the corner and pulled out a three-foot-long iron rod. "I have six of these. When you get to the ranch, you must plant them a dozen feet apart, as close to any brush or trees as you can get. I will call down the lightning. The rods will show it where to go and the flashes of light will lead you to Katherine."

  He stared at her in bemusement. "You're going to call down lightning? How are you going to do that?"

  "It doesn't matter. I have done it before, and it has worked—when the gods are willing to listen. They are listening now. I didn't understand why you and Katherine were coming. Even when you said it was to save her brother, there was something missing, but now I know that you are here to save the world from the evil at the ranch." She gave him a tired smile. "I am not explaining it well, and I know you have trouble believing in what you cannot see, so all I ask is that you believe in me. Can you do that? Can you trust me, Jake?"

  "If whatever you're going to do will save Katherine and TJ, then I can believe. I can trust you." Here in this world of Mayan culture, his own reality seemed very far away. He was going to need a miracle to rescue Katherine, so why not hope the lightning gave him one?

  "Good. Rodrigo fears the lightning as many do in this area. He believes in the gods. He will be afraid. The lightning will be his weakness, and it will be your strength." She put her hand on the side of his face. "Be careful, Jake."

  "I was going to say the same to you. If Rodrigo's men took Katherine from this yard, you may be in danger. You might want to stay with a friend tonight."

  "I'm not afraid. The devil has been ruling our world for too long. Tonight, good will triumph over evil."

  "I hope so."

  "I have something to give you." She led him into the house, into her bedroom. Walking over to her dresser, she opened her jewelry box and pulled out a gold medallion.

  He recognized it immediately. "Dad had one of those."