Sunrise Crossing

by Jodi Thomas

  With only a few places close where an outsider could rent a room, Gabe had thought it would be easy, but the man who hunted, the man like himself, hadn’t left his scent anywhere. Chances were good that he’d broken into an abandoned house or one where the owners were away. The guy could learn enough about the people who lived there to pass himself off as a relative dropping by to check on the place. The people might be on vacation or in a second home somewhere or even in the hospital.

  The con wasn’t as easy in small towns as in cities, but it might work.

  Or maybe the hunter had pulled a travel trailer or had driven a truck he could sleep in. Because of the canyon, there were several places he could have parked, even down in Ransom Canyon. A man alone, in a camper or even camping gear, wouldn’t be noticed in town.

  It wasn’t until he heard the click of the side door to Yancy’s place that Gabe realized he’d fallen asleep. As always, he was instantly awake and alert.

  Tori slipped like a fairy through the first hint of dawn. For a few minutes Gabe just watched her. She was happy, dancing almost. Whatever had happened in Yancy’s little room off the office had been good. Once she stopped just to twirl in the crisp morning air, and Gabe grinned, thinking about how happy she seemed.

  If she was happy, he’d bet Yancy was, too.

  He’d been so busy watching her he hadn’t noticed a shadow following Tori until it was too late to call out and warn her.

  She was on the road now, running as if in a hurry to get to the little attic room he’d watched her working in sometimes all night.

  The shadow of a man ran behind her in the ditch. He kept his head low, rising up only slightly when he knew his entire body was camouflaged in crossing wisps of morning fog. The runner was tall, broad-shouldered and dressed totally in black.

  When they crossed the open field to the stand of trees planted along the ridge as a windbreak, Gabe had to double back. Tori might not turn around, but the stalker would.

  He’d take one look back just before he entered the trees and followed her. The man trailing Tori would need to know that no one saw him. No one could later link him with the girl who was about to disappear.

  If Gabe could have reached the man, he would have taken him out without a second thought. He’d killed before in combat. Silently, quickly. But they were moving too fast for Gabe to reach them in time, and Tori might have looked back if he made any noise.

  He wanted her to keep running. That might be her only chance. If Tori could get far enough ahead? If Gabe could overtake the stalker?

  Too many ifs.

  Gabe had to circle round to stay hidden from the rapidly growing light. He crossed fifty yards to the right then slowed, moving soundlessly between the trees. Hoping to cut the man off before the stalker could reach Tori.

  For a few moments he lost sight of Tori. Then the man disappeared into the trees as if melting.

  Gabe ran now, not taking the precautions he should have. Knowing that this location was perfect for a kidnapping. No one close enough to hear her cries. No one watching.

  A sound, like a struggle, echoed through the trees, and Gabe listened, trying to pinpoint their exact location. Trying to see through last year’s vines and dead leaves still hanging on low branches.

  Another sound, as if someone were hitting something. The scuffle of feet.

  Then nothing.

  Gabe suddenly didn’t care if he made noise. Something was wrong. The man was hurting Tori. He plowed through the branches, breaking them as he ran. One caught his open palm, cutting deep enough to scatter blood. He barely noticed.

  When he reached where he thought the sounds had come from, there was nothing but silence.

  He heard the click of an engine being turned on and moved toward the familiar clamor. Just as he broke through the trees on the other side of the windbreak, he saw a small gray car pull onto the country road near the gate of Montgomery’s ranch.

  As he memorized every detail of the car and the man driving, something caught the corner of his eye.

  A yellow boot at the edge of the trees.

  Tori was gone. The sun warmed his face, but nothing could warm his heart. He would not sleep until he found her and the man who had taken her. If she’d been killed, the hunter in the small gray car wouldn’t have time to draw a breath when Gabe found him.

  An hour later he’d showered, bandaged his hand and put on his disguise, along with all the weapons he might need. Gabe would also need all his skills to lie his way into Yancy’s and Parker’s trust.

  First stop, the hardware store, where he filled the back of his car with tulips of all colors. Second stop, Yancy’s office at the retirement community.

  Gabe adjusted his glasses and walked into the sunroom. He took his time moving between the retired teachers, stopping to visit briefly, even accepting a cup of coffee.

  Finally, he made it to Yancy, who was standing behind what had once been the counter at the motel office.

  “Morning, Yancy,” Gabe said, noticing that his son looked tired but happy this morning. He wouldn’t appear so calm if he’d known what had happened at dawn.

  “Morning, Professor. You in to take more notes this morning?”

  Gabe shook his head. “No, I’m here for your help.”

  Yancy looked up from paperwork he was studying. “I’d be glad to help any way I can. It’s a slow morning.”

  Gabe made sure no one was within hearing distance. His caution seemed to pique Yancy’s interest. “I’d like to give the little angel who saved me the other night a surprise. We probably both know how much she loves spring, so I just bought out the first shipment of tulips at the hardware store. I’d like you to take them to her.”

  Yancy didn’t move. “I’m not sure who you’re talking about.”

  Gabe was ready. He began. “You know exactly who I’m talking about and I understand why you hesitate. I would in your shoes, as well. In fact, I admire you for it.”

  Yancy wasn’t buying anything Gabe was trying to sell. He beefed up the lie. “Tori and I are good friends, Yancy. She trusts me the way she trusts you.”

  “What do you know?” Yancy asked as he seemed to be widening his stance and about to make a stand.

  Gabe didn’t react to the younger man’s hard manner. “I know she loves you, for one thing. She told me. She also told me she was going to tell you her real name.” Gabe lowered his voice. “Victoria Vilanie, a fine painter.” He figured if Yancy was sleeping with Tori they’d probably gotten around to proper names. “I also know she’s in danger. More than you know.”

  Yancy relaxed some. “How do I know you’re not part of the danger?”

  “You don’t, I guess. That’s why I’m asking you to take the flowers to her. She trusts me. She told me she’s staying on a friend’s farm, but I didn’t ask where it was at the time.”

  “Well, I’m not telling you, Professor.”

  Gabe grinned. “I wouldn’t expect you to. I’d just like you to deliver the flowers for me. You can tell her I’ll meet her at our usual place for ice cream this afternoon if she takes a break from her painting.”

  Yancy let out the breath he’d been holding. “You do know her. If she told you she paints, you must be a friend. I’ll take the flowers, but it’ll be a while before I can take a break.”

  “Oh, that’s fine.” Gabe clapped his hands as if he were delighted. “I’m meeting with a farmer for coffee this morning across the street.” He handed Yancy his keys. “I’ll be back in an hour or so for my car.”

  When Yancy stared at his keys, Gabe added, “You did right, son. When you’ve got a treasure, don’t take any chances, even with a harmless old fellow like me. Thanks for delivering them. I about broke my back loading them.” Gabe leaned forward a little as if in pain. “You tell her the flowers are just a small t
hank-you.”

  Yancy studied him. “How’d you hurt your hand, Professor?”

  “Changing a flat. Just a scratch.” Gabe gave a quick wave and hurried across the street to the café. He didn’t want to give Yancy enough time to back out of the favor or ask any more questions. He was betting on Yancy wanting to see her more than him simply doing a guy he barely knew a favor.

  Twenty minutes later when Yancy turned off the main road heading toward Parker’s farmhouse, Gabe was standing in the trees watching.

  He had no idea what Parker and Yancy would do when they figured out Tori was missing, but whatever it was would keep them busy while he looked for the small gray car. If he hadn’t had Yancy deliver the flowers, it might have been hours before they found Tori missing.

  The kidnapper might be holed up somewhere close, making sure no one had noticed her gone. Maybe waiting until night. If he’d been out all night stalking Tori, he might need sleep before he drove hundreds of miles.

  While the kidnapper killed time, he’d probably wrap up all the loose ends so that he couldn’t be tracked.

  Gabe usually went as far as to remove any records on the hotel computer and to swap the license plates on his car with those from a similar car. The kidnapper would do the same. Hunters never wanted to be hunted. To keep their job, they needed to be no more than a shadow. A person people might remember seeing somewhere, but they could give no details.

  As soon as this bounty hunter knew there were no roadblocks or clues to who he really was left behind, just as a precaution he might drop hints to anyone he’d talked to that he was heading in the opposite direction. Then, in the cover of night, he’d head out with Tori locked away in the trunk.

  As Yancy disappeared around the bend where the oak tree stood, Gabe put on his fedora. He began walking northeast, away from town, away from Montgomery’s place. He’d seen the small gray car head that way. It had been parked in mud when the hunter had hidden it in the trees preparing for the grab. With luck, there would be tracks where he turned off the road. It couldn’t be far. If the kidnapper had been watching Tori, he knew she went through the trees on her way home. He must have been tracing her on foot and would have left tracks.

  The shots near the farmhouse last night told Gabe something important about the man who took Tori. He was getting impatient, something a hunter should never be. He may have had some kind of special training, but he was reckless, sloppy.

  Despite all the noise Gabe had made at dawn, the hunter hadn’t noticed him, which told Gabe that the hunter was tired or ill or simply pissed off that it had taken him so long to find his mark.

  Gabe was out of sight by the time Yancy probably knocked on Parker’s door. Let them run around panicking. He had no doubt they’d call the law. That’s what honest people did. But he would find Tori faster without Fifth looking over his shoulder.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  YANCY THOUGHT HIS brain would explode when he found out Tori wasn’t at the farmhouse. He’d been setting all the tulips on the porch while Parker went upstairs to get her. Parker hit the door a few minutes later in a panic. “She’s not in the attic. Her room hasn’t been slept in. She’s not here!”

  Parker’s words were like shots to Yancy’s heart. “She left my place two hours ago, at least.”

  Parker paced back and forth while Yancy just tried to breathe. “Clint left early, maybe half an hour after dawn. He was meeting the deputy who’d stopped by last night. They were going to fly over his land, checking gates for signs of the trespasser who had been firing shots off last night.”

  “Where is he now?” Yancy asked.

  “I don’t know. Home, I guess. He called to say they didn’t find anything but a broken lock and a few tracks. He would have said something if he’d seen Tori walking.”

  Yancy tried to think. “I heard the side door open about first light. I thought of running after her, but she’d slipped out without waking me before. She likes the walk between my place and here when the world’s changing.” He fought the urge to join Parker in her pacing. “I didn’t want to order her to stay. I was afraid of holding too tight. Afraid she’d bolt if I did.”

  “Is there anywhere she would have gone besides your place or here?”

  “The old house we’re working on, maybe. She likes to walk the land, but I think she limits it to your farm.” Yancy shook his head. “She wouldn’t be anywhere else in daylight. She’d be worried about someone noticing her.”

  “I’ve never heard her mention any place she goes but to see you.” Parker grabbed her coat. “Let’s check your house first. Then we’ll retrace her path from your place to here.”

  Yancy nodded. It didn’t seem like much of a plan, but it was better than doing nothing.

  Thirty minutes later, they’d checked both his house and the barn. Nothing. They’d walked the path back and forth.

  Clint pulled up, having noticed them in the windbreak of trees. Without asking too many questions, he joined them in the search.

  Yancy did little but listen to his heart pound and Parker thinking aloud as she kept coming up with ideas of where else Tori would be. None of them seemed logical. Tori was too shy, too afraid. Too happy here to run.

  When they found her yellow boot in the tall grass by the trees, all theories stopped. They looked at each other and knew the truth. Their greatest fear had come true: someone had taken Tori.

  Clint spoke first. “We’re calling in the sheriff. He’s already overdue to be out here. Who knows—the tracks he’s coming to look at and the broken lock on the gate may have nothing to do with the shots last night and everything to do with Tori. If I’d only been in the air thirty minutes earlier.”

  Yancy chimed in. “If I’d insisted on taking her home, she wouldn’t have been walking. She...”

  Parker broke in. “And if I hadn’t been born, I wouldn’t have bought this place and Tori would not have been here to be kidnapped.”

  Circling her shoulders with his arm, Clint added, “You win. It’s all your fault.” He pulled her close and hugged her.

  Parker hesitated, then accepted the cowboy’s hug.

  Yancy knew Parker must feel as though her effort to help Tori was a terrible failure.

  He felt sorry for Parker. All Tori had wanted was peace and the lady had tried to offer that. But Tori’s parents had put a reward for information out there. They’d blown the whole thing up, probably to get Tori’s name in the news. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the police thought she was missing, but with money offered, a quarter million, it had put her life in danger.

  “When we call the sheriff, ask them to keep it quiet,” Parker said. “We don’t want reporters here.”

  “Wrong,” Yancy whispered, his eyes closed as if in pain. “Bring them all in. It’s time they know the truth.”

  “I agree,” Clint said. “If we broadcast it everywhere maybe someone somewhere will help us find her.”

  Clint punched in Fifth Weathers’s cell number. Fifth must have picked up the phone on the first ring because Clint started talking. “Get here fast. We’ve got a kidnapping on our hands.” A moment later, he handed the phone to Parker. “The deputy is driving. Sheriff’s firing questions. You talk faster than I do.”

  Parker gave details as all three walked back to the road. They were waiting a few minutes later when the cruiser pulled up.

  Time seemed to be moving in slow motion as they drove back to the farmhouse to make calls and plans. Sheriff Brigman knew what to do. How to call in help. Where to get experts checking the corner pasture, which was now referred to as the crime scene.

  Yancy sat on the steps of the porch, letting all the panic whirl around him. He wanted to help, but couldn’t see how. With all their talk, no one seemed to know what to do.

  Only Yancy knew what he should have done. He should have h
eld on tighter. For once in his life he shouldn’t have let go so easily. He thought about all the people he’d known in his life. He’d let go; he’d walked away; he’d never cared enough to stay and fight.

  But he cared enough now. He should have told Tori to wait so he could have driven her home or walked with her. He could have protected her until she was back at the farmhouse. Then he could have walked back to town. No one was looking for him. No one would kidnap him.

  He kicked one of the tulip pots off the porch just for the hell of it. Suddenly, something hit him like a slap. The professor had lied. He’d said he met Tori for ice cream sometimes in the afternoon. That couldn’t be true. For one thing, Tori never came near town until dark, and even then, it was only to his house; and two, she’d said she hated ice cream. She’d claimed it froze her brain when she ate it fast and froze her tongue when she ate it slow.

  He knocked another pot over as he stood and ran into the house. Fifth not only listened to every word, he took notes. The others gathered around as Yancy explained how Gabe Santorno had met Tori. About how he’d dropped by, wanting to know where she lived, so he could take gifts. About how he asked all kind of questions.

  “Anyone else know about the professor?” the sheriff asked.

  Fifth raised his hand like a kid in school. “I’ve been watching him. As far as I know, the man’s done nothing wrong around here, but he’s not what he seems. I do have one fact that might help. To my knowledge the professor did not sleep at the bed-and-breakfast last night.”

  “So,” Yancy noted as if he were part of the investigating team, “he could have been out in the dawn light, waiting for Tori.”