by Linda Howard
There. One of the ripples curved backward, and when she picked her way through rocks and bushes to investigate she saw the opportunity for which she had been looking. She ran her hand over the rock, exulting in the sandpaper texture of it under her palm. Maybe, just maybe…
She ran back to the camp and grabbed the curling iron out of the bag. Chance hadn’t asked, but the pistol wasn’t the only weapon she carried. Quickly she unscrewed the metal barrel from the handle and removed a knife from the interior. It was a slender blade, made for slicing rather than hacking, but sharp and almost indestructible.
Her idea registered somewhere between being a long shot and just plain crazy, but it was the only idea she’d had that was even remotely possible. At least she would be doing something, rather than just waiting around for a rescue that might never happen.
She needed gloves to protect her hands, but she didn’t have any. Hastily she opened the first-aid box and took out the roll of gauze. She wrapped the gauze around her palms and wove it in and around her fingers, then taped the loose ends. The result was crude but workable, she thought. She had seen the gloves rock climbers wore, with their fingers and thumbs left free; this makeshift approximation would have to do. She might wear blisters on her hands, anyway, but that was a small price to pay if they could get out of here.
Knife in hand, she went back to her chosen point of attack and tried to figure out the best way to do this. She needed another rock, she realized, one that wasn’t soft. Anything that crumbled would be useless. She scouted around and finally found a pitted, dark gray rock that was about the size of a grapefruit, heavy enough to do the job.
Digging the point of the knife into the soft sandstone of the wall, she gripped the rock with her right hand and pounded it against the knife, driving the blade deeper. She jerked the blade out, moved it a little to the right, and pounded it in again. The next time she drove the knife in at a right angle to the original gouge, and hammered it downward. A chunk of sandstone broke loose, leaving a nice little gouge in the rock.
“This just might work,” Sunny said aloud, and set herself to the task. She didn’t let herself think how long it would take to carve handholds out of the rock all the way to the top, or if it was even possible. She was going to try; she owed it to Margreta, and to herself, to do everything she could to get out of this canyon.
Almost two hours later, the sharp crack of a pistol shot reverberated through the canyon, startling her so much that she nearly fell. She clung to the rock, her cheek pressed against the rough surface. Her heart pounded from the close call. She wasn’t that high, only about ten feet, but the canyon floor was jagged With rock, and any fall was certain to cause injuries.
She wiped the sweat from her face. The temperature was rising by the minute, and the rock was getting hotter and hotter. Standing with her toes wedged into the gouges she had hammered out of the rock, she had to lean inward against the rock to brace herself, because she had to have both hands free to wield the knife and the rock. She couldn’t put nearly as much effort into it now, or the impact would jar her from her perch.
Panting, she reached over her head and blindly swung the rock. Because she had to press herself to the rock to keep her balance, she couldn’t see to aim. Sometimes she hit the target and the knife bit into the rock; sometimes she hit her own hand. There had to be a better way to do this, but she couldn’t think of one. She was an expert at working with what she had; she could do it this time, too. All she had to do was be careful, and patient.
“I can do this,” she whispered.
Chance carried the skinned and cleaned rabbit back to the camp. He had also found a prickly pear cactus and cut off two of the stems, sticking himself several times as he removed the spines. The prickle pear was both edible and nutritious; it was usually fried, but he figured roasting would do just as well.
His temper had cooled. All right, so she had taken him in. He hadn’t blown the plan; everything was still on track. All he had to do was remember not to be fooled by that oh-so-charming face she presented to the world and the plan would work just as he had expected. Maybe he couldn’t make her love him, but he could make her think she did, and that was all he needed. A little trust, a little information, and he was in business.
He stepped beneath the overhang, grateful for the relief the shade afforded, and took off his sunglasses. Sunny wasn’t here. He turned around and surveyed what he could see of the canyon but couldn’t spot her. Her green T-shirt and beige jeans didn’t exactly stand out in the terrain, he thought, and abruptly realized what effective camouflage her clothing was. Had she chosen it for that exact purpose? She must have; everything she carried in that bag had been geared toward survival, so why should her clothing be any different?
“Sunny!” he called. His voice echoed, then died. He listened, but there was no answer.
Damn it, where was she?
The fire had died down, which meant she hadn’t tended it in quite a while. He bent down and added more sticks, then skewered the rabbit and set it on the spit, more to keep it away from insects than anything else. The fire was too low to cook it, but the smoke wafting over the meat would give it a good flavor. He wrapped the prickly pear stems in his handkerchief and walked back under the overhang to keep them out of the sun until he was ready to cook them.
The first thing he saw was the open first aid kit.
Alarm punched him in the gut. The paper wrapping had been torn off the roll of gauze; the tape was lying in the lid of the box, and it had also been used, because the end had been left free rather than stuck back to the roll.
Another detail caught his eyes. The curling iron had been taken apart; the two halves of it lay in the sand.
He swore viciously. Damn it, he should have remembered the curling iron and not assumed the pistol was the only weapon she had. She couldn’t have hidden another pistol in the curling iron, but a knife would fit.
He didn’t see any blood, but she must have injured herself somehow. Where in the hell was she?
“Sunny!” he roared as he stepped back out into the sun. Only silence answered him.
He studied the ground. Her footprints were everywhere, of course, but he saw where she had walked to her bag, presumably to get the first aid kit; then the prints led back out into the canyon. She was headed toward the plane.
He wasn’t aware of reaching for his pistol. He was so accustomed to it that he didn’t notice the weight of it in his hand as he followed her tracks, everything in him focusing on finding her.
If it hadn’t been for the tracks, he would have missed her. She was almost at the far end of the canyon, past where the plane sat baking in the sun. The rock walls were scored with hundreds of cuts, and she was tucked inside one of them, clinging to the rock about a dozen feet off the ground.
Astonishment, anxiety, relief and anger all balled together in his gut. In speechless fury he watched her reach over her head and stab a wicked-looking blade into the soft rock, then, still keeping her face pressed against the hot stone, use another rock to try to pound the knife deeper. She hit her hand instead of the knife handle, and the curse she muttered made his eyebrows rise.
Strips of gauze were wound around her hands. He didn’t know if she had wrapped her hands because she had hurt them, or if the gauze was an effort to keep them from being hurt. All he knew was that if she fell she would likely maim herself on the rocks, and that he really, really wanted to spank her.
He ruthlessly restrained the urge to yell at her. The last thing he wanted to do was startle her off her precarious perch. Instead, he stuck the pistol in his waistband at the small of his back and worked his way over until he was standing beneath her, so he could catch her if she fell.
He forced himself to sound calm. “Sunny, I’m right beneath you. Can you get down?”
She stopped with her right hand drawn back to deliver another blow with the rock. She didn’t look down at him. “Probably,” she said. “It has to be easier than getting up he
re.”
He was fairly certain what she was doing, but the sheer magnitude of the task, the physical impossibility of it, left him stunned. Just for confirmation he asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m cutting handholds in the rock, so we can climb out of here.” She sounded grim, as if she also realized the odds against success.
His hands clenched into fists as he fought for control. He looked up at the towering wall, at the expanse stretching above her. The dozen feet she had climbed was only about one tenth of the distance needed—and it was the easiest tenth.
He put his hand on the rock and almost jerked back at the heat radiating from it. A new concern gnawed at him. He didn’t yell at her that this was the stupidest idea he’d ever heard of, the way he wanted. Instead, he said, “Sweetheart, the rock’s too hot. Come down before you’re burned.”
She laughed, but without her usual humor. “It’s too late.”
To hell with cajoling. “Throw the knife down and get off that damn rock,” he barked in sharp command.
To his surprise, she dropped the knife, then the rock she held in her right hand, tossing both to the side so they wouldn’t land near him. Every muscle in her body was taut with strain as she reached for the handholds she had cut and began to work her way down, feeling with her toes for the gouges. He stood directly beneath her, reaching up for her in case she fell. The muscles in her slender arms flexed, and he realized anew just how strong she was. One didn’t get that kind of strength with a once-in-a-while jog or the occasional workout in a gym. It took dedication and time; he knew, because he kept himself in top physical condition. Her normal routine would be at least an hour of work, maybe two, every day. For all he knew, while he had been checking the traps she had been doing pushups.
For all the gut-deep burn of his anger, it was overridden by his concern as he watched her inch her way down the face of the rock. She was careful and took her time, despite the fact that he knew the rock was scorching her fingers. He didn’t speak again, not wanting to distract her; he simply waited, not very patiently, for her to get within his reach.
When she did, he caught her feet and guided them to the next gouges. “Thanks,” she panted, and worked her way down another foot.
That was enough. He caught her around the knees and scooped her off the rock. She shrieked, fighting for her balance, but now that he had her in his grip he wasn’t about to let her go. Before she could catch her breath, he turned her and tossed her face down over his shoulder.
“Hey!” The indignant protest was muffled against his back.
“Just shut up,” he said between his teeth as he dipped down to pick up her knife, then set off for the camp. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“Good. You had too much hell in you, anyway.” She clutched him around the waist to steady herself. He just hoped she didn’t grab the pistol out of his waistband and shoot him, since it was so close to hand.
“Damn it, don’t you dare joke about it!” Her upturned bottom was very close to his hand. Temptation gnawed at him. Now that he had her down, he was shaking, and he wanted some retribution for having been put through that kind of anxiety. He put his hand on her butt and indulged in a few moments of fantasy, which involved her jeans around her knees and her bent over his lap.
He realized he was stroking his palm over the round curves of her buttocks and regretfully gave up on his fantasy. Some things weren’t going to happen. After he tended her hands and got through raising hell with her for taking such a risk, he fully intended to burn off his fright and anger with an hour or two on the blanket with her.
How could he still want her so much? This wasn’t part of the job; he could live with it, if it had been. This was obsession, deep and burning and gut-twisting. He had tried to put a light face on it, for her benefit, but if she had been more experienced, she would have known a man didn’t make love to a woman five times during the night just because she was available. At this rate, those three dozen condoms wouldn’t last even a week. He had already used six, and it might take two or three more to get him settled down after the scare she had given him.
The hard fact of it was, a man didn’t make love to a woman that often unless he was putting his brand on her.
This wouldn’t work. Couldn’t work. He had to get himself under control, stay focused on the job.
He heard her sniffing as they neared the camp. “Are you crying?” he demanded incredulously.
She sniffed again. “Don’t be silly. What’s that smell?” She inhaled deeply. “It smells like…food.”
Despite himself, a smile quirked the corners of his mouth. “I shot a rabbit.”
There was a small disruption on his shoulder as she twisted around so she could see the fire. Her squeal of delight almost punctured his eardrums, and his smile grew. He couldn’t stop himself from enjoying her; he had never before met anyone who took such joy in life, who was so vibrantly alive herself. How she could be a part of a network devoted to taking lives was beyond his understanding.
He dumped her on the ground under the overhang and squatted beside her, taking both her hands in his and turning them up for his inspection. He barely controlled a wince. Her fingers were not only scorched from the hot rock, they were scraped raw and bleeding.
Fury erupted in him again, a flash fire of temper at seeing the damage she had done to herself. He surged to his feet. “Of all the stupid, lame-brained…! What in hell were you thinking? You weren’t thinking at all, from the looks of it! Damn it, Sunny, you risked your life pulling this stupid stunt—”
“It wasn’t stupid,” she shouted, shooting to her feet to face him, her brilliant eyes narrowed. She clenched her bleeding hands into fists. “I know the risks. I also know it’s my only hope of getting out of this damn canyon before it’s too late!”
“Too late for what?” he yelled back. “Do you have a date this weekend or something?” The words were heavy with sarcasm.
“Yeah! It just so happens I do!” Breathing hard, she glared at him. “My sister is supposed to call.”
Chapter 10
A sister? Chance stared at her. His investigation hadn’t turned up any information about a sister. The Millers hadn’t had any children of their own, and he had found adoption papers only on Sunny. his mind raced. “You said you didn’t have any family.”
She gave him a stony look. “Well, I have a sister.”
Yeah, right. “You’d risk your life for a phone call?” Some terrorist act was being planned after all, he thought with a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. That was why she’d been lugging the tent around. He didn’t know how the tent fit into the scheme, but evidently she had been planning to drop out of sight.
“I would for this one.” She wheeled away, every line of her body tense. “I have to try. Margreta calls my cell phone every week at the same time. It’s how we know the other is still alive.” She turned back to him and shouted, “If I don’t answer that call, she’ll think I’m dead!”
Whoa. Once again, the pieces of the puzzle that was Sunny had been scattered. Margreta? Was that a code name? He searched his memory, which was extensive, but couldn’t find anything or anyone named Margreta. Sunny was so damned convincing….
“Why would she think you’re dead?” he demanded. “You might just be in a place that doesn’t have a signal—like here. What is she, some kind of nutcase?”
“I make certain I’m always somewhere that has a signal. And, no, she isn’t a nutcase!” She threw the words back at him like bullets, her mouth twisted with fury at him, at the situation, at her own helplessness. “Her problem is the same as mine—we’re our father’s daughters!”
His pulse leaped. There it was, out in the open, just like that. He hadn’t needed seduction; anger had done the job. “Your father?” he asked carefully.
Tears glittered in her eyes, dripped down her cheeks. She dashed them away with a furious gesture. “Our father,” she said bitterly. “We’ve been running from him all
our lives.”
The pieces of the puzzle jumped about a little more, as if a fist had slammed down and jarred them. Easy, he cautioned himself. Don’t seem too interested. Find out exactly what she means; she could be referring to his influence. “What do you mean, running?”
“I mean running. Hiding.” She wiped away more tears. “Father dear is a terrorist. He’ll kill us if he ever finds us.”
Chance gently cleaned her hands with the alcohol wipes from the first aid kit, soothed the red places with burn ointment and the raw spots with antibiotic cream. The gauze she’d wrapped around her hands had protected her palms, but her fingers were a mess. Sunny felt a little bewildered. One minute they had been yelling at each other, the next she had been locked against him, his arms like a vise around her. His heart had been pounding like a runaway horse.
Since then he had been as tender as a mother with a child, rocking her in comfort, cuddling her, drying her tears. The emotional firestorm that had burned through her had left her feeling numb and disoriented; she let him do whatever he wanted without offering a protest, not that she had any reason to protest. It felt good to lean on him.
Satisfied with the care he had given her hands, he left her sitting on the rock while he added some fuel to the fire and turned the rabbit on the spit. Coming back under the overhang, he spread the blanket against the wall, scooped her into his arms, and settled on the blanket with her cradled against him. He propped his back against the wall, arranged her so she was draped half across his lap and lifted her face for a light kiss.
She managed a shaky smile. “What was that? A kiss to make it better?”
He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip, his expression strangely intent as if studying her. “Something like that.”
“I’m sorry for crying all over you. I usually handle things better than this.”