The Danger Within

by Valerie Hansen

  Becca chuckled. “I hate to tell you this, Layla, but there was meat in the enchiladas.”

  “Not in mine,” she replied. “I got the plain cheese ones. Somebody must have told Imelda about my funny eating habits.”

  Smiling, Michael nodded. “I may have mentioned it. She was supposed to fix me a steak. I guess she changed the menu when we were so late getting home.”

  “Yeah,” Sam said. “It’s a wonder you got here at all. By the way, did I tell you we located Doc Pritchard? He’s vacationing in Las Vegas, just like we thought.”

  “That’s a relief. I was afraid he was another victim of whatever’s been going on around here.”

  “So was I,” Sam said. “Sure you haven’t got a clue who could have set off the explosion?”

  “Nope, no idea,” Michael said. “When the medical examiner gets through with Ben’s body, maybe that report will tell you something, although I doubt it.” He looked at Layla while continuing to speak to Sam. “It might have been an accident. You know how unstable old dynamite can be. Maybe some of it went off spontaneously.”

  “And maybe pigs can fly,” the detective said.

  That made Layla giggle. “I hope not. Little birds in the sky are bad enough!”

  While the laughter died down, she yawned. “I’m sorry, guys. I’m exhausted. If you don’t have any more questions for me, I think I’ll wander home. Try to get some sleep.”

  “Don’t go!” Michael’s response was so quick it startled everyone, including himself.

  Layla reached for his bandaged hand, saw him wince when she touched him and drew back. “I’ll be fine. Honest. You know I can’t stay here with you.”

  “If it’s a chaperone you need, I’ll be glad to volunteer,” Becca said cheerfully. “You two have been through a lot today. It’s perfectly natural for you to want to stay together a while longer.” She turned to Sam. “Go home, partner. Kiss your kids for me. I’ll either hitch a ride into town tomorrow or you can come back and pick me up. Either way’s fine.”

  “You serious?”

  “Totally.”

  “Okay.” Sam rose. “I’ll get some cake tomorrow, then. ’Night everyone.”

  Michael walked him to the door while Layla stayed behind with Becca.

  As soon as they were outside where the women couldn’t overhear, Sam stopped, looked around to make sure they were totally alone and spoke quietly. “There’s something that still puzzles me. Something that’s not quite right.”

  Michael’s brow knit. “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Blaming everything on a dead man seems too easy, too pat.” He paused, thoughtful. “We’ll have to wait for the coroner’s final report but I suspect your old foreman has been dead a long time.”

  “Probably. Why is that a problem?”

  “Because, if he was already out of the picture, who poisoned your cattle? And while we’re at it, who blew up that mine tunnel while you were inside? I’m pretty sure we’re going to find it was no accident.”

  “I told Layla I thought some old dynamite might have gone off spontaneously. That stuff can be pretty unstable.”

  “True. But dynamite doesn’t reposition itself to take out the only tunnel that might kill people.”

  “Good point.” Glancing back at the house, Michael was obviously growing as concerned as Sam. “Once I’d decided the antifreeze in the feed wasn’t an accident, I assumed Redding was responsible. Now that I think about it, though, I suppose it could have been someone else.”

  Sam proceeded to his car, then turned and faced Michael. “It sure could have. Somebody on the inside, maybe. What about Hector? He showed up here just when you needed a foreman. He was either lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time or he knew in advance that you were going to be shorthanded.”

  “He never acted suspicious.” Michael stiffened. “Do you think he might have killed his predecessor just to get his job? That seems awfully far-fetched.”

  “Nothing criminals do surprises me anymore. I’m going to suggest that Brendan have the FBI look deeper into Hector’s background. It can’t hurt.”

  “Sure. Whatever you think will help. I haven’t seen him since we got home but he’s probably in the barn. Do you want me to call down there or go get him so you can question him tonight?”

  “No. You’ve had a rough day. We’re all beat. There’s no hurry. Just keep your doors locked and watch yourself.” Sam smiled. “And keep an eye on that pretty vet, too.”

  “Now you’re on the right track,” Michael said, smiling. “That’s a job I can do gladly.”

  Inside, Layla was expressing relief that Becca had volunteered to stay the night. “Thanks. I really didn’t want to leave Michael or be by myself, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “I figured as much.” Becca began carrying dishes to the sink and rinsing them. “I’ll take care of this for you. You shouldn’t get your sore hands wet. Why don’t you go crash on the sofa in the living room? I’ll tell Mike where to find you when he comes back inside.”

  “I like Michael’s friends,” Layla said, pausing halfway to the hall door. “You’re all very special people.”

  “So are you. I get the feeling you and our favorite rancher have come to an understanding. Am I right?”

  He walked back into the room in time to answer, “Yes,” for both of them, then strode directly to Layla and put his arm around her shoulders.

  She leaned into him. “Um-hum. Does it show?”

  “Sam may have missed it, but that’s because he’s a man. For me it’s like a flashing neon sign,” the female detective said with a chuckle. “Now scat, you two. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy here and you both need to kick back. I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

  “You’re sure you don’t mind?” Layla asked.

  “Nope. Go, before I get all misty-eyed. You guys look way too happy to suit me and it’s not good for cops to get overly sentimental. Ruins our hard-boiled image.”

  Smiling and still guarding Layla as if he planned to do so for the rest of their lives, Michael led her from the kitchen into the living room.

  She curled her legs under her as she sat beside him on the smooth leather couch. She snuggled closer. “I could get used to this.”

  “Yeah, me, too,” he said tenderly. “Think we can talk Becca into moving in to chaperone us for the next few months?”

  Layla laughed. “I doubt it.”

  “Too bad. I’d like to spend every night with you, just like this.”

  “I know. Me, too.” She sighed and smiled dreamily. “I wish we didn’t both know it was wrong.”

  “It’s more than that,” Michael said. “I respect you, Layla. I intend to take care of you, to keep you safe no matter what, but I never want to do anything that would make people think less of you, either.” He leaned in to place a light kiss on the top of her head. “We can wait. Somehow.” He laughed softly. “Even if it kills me.”

  “You poor thing.” She blushed. “I know we agreed not to rush into anything but I don’t want to wait too long. I’ve looked all my life for a place where I can truly belong. Now that I’ve finally found it, I don’t want to take the chance of losing it.”

  “You’ll never lose me, I promise. There’s nothing you could do or say that would make me stop loving you.”

  “I love you, too, cowboy.”

  Layla’s eyes were filled with tears of thankfulness, love and divinely inspired awareness as she raised her face to accept his kiss. The past was over. The future was bright. And she was finally going to become part of a real family, a family that would love and accept her just as she was.

  She knew how Michael felt. She could hardly wait.

  Epilogue

  El Jefe stormed into the dimly lit room, kicked the door shut behind him and proceeded to pace.

  He repeatedly slammed his fist into his opposite palm like a baseball hitting a catcher’s mitt. “I don’t believe it! It can’t be.”

 
; His companion remained in the shadows and let him rant rather than face his wrath directly.

  “How can they have escaped?” El Jefe shouted. “They should be dead. They must all die. It is my due, my just payment for what the Vance and Montgomery families did to me.”

  “Perhaps—”

  “Quiet! Let me think.” He whirled, then pulled a cigarette from the pack in his shirt pocket. “I should have shot those horses first,” he muttered. “Their tracks led the rescuers straight to the mine.”

  “The explosion still might have killed Vance and the woman.”

  “I know. I don’t understand how it missed.”

  While his cohort watched, he seemed to suddenly grow calm. Taking out a match, he struck it on the edge of the table, held it up and watched it burn instead of using it to light his cigarette.

  As he stared into the flame his demeanor changed again and became so menacing it sent a shiver of terror through his companion.

  The flickering match lit the stark planes of his face and reflected from his dark eyes, revealing flashes of pure evil. He began to quote from the Bible, abridging and altering the text to suit his madness.

  “Kings 1:10,” he boomed. “‘If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you all!’”

  Laughing low, as if to himself, he added Hebrews 12:29. “‘For our God is a consuming fire.’”

  That passage of Scripture seemed to amuse him even more. He faced his cohort and grinned with evident self-satisfaction. “Yes!”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You soon will,” El Jefe said. “You soon will. And so will my enemies. I know what to do. We begin.”

  “Begin what?”

  Eyes wide and overly bright, El Jefe stared at the roof of the hidden room as if seeing through the rock to the surface.

  “Begin proving to Colorado Springs that I am truly invincible.”

  “Now? So soon after the explosion at the Double V? Are you sure?”

  There was no hesitancy. “Yes. It’s time.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-5134-6

  THE DANGER WITHIN

  Copyright © 2006 by Harlequin Books S.A.

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