“No problem. Where are you staying?”
“Made camp not far from here. For now. We’re gonna have to move around a lot.”
Elliot nodded. “Garrett didn’t sound the alarm. I wanted to make sure you knew that. He tried to stall, never said a word about whatever the hell happened at the estate this morning. The rangers never knew you and Kirsten were missing until they showed up to place her under arrest.” Elliot paused, eyeing his brother. When Adam didn’t speak, he said, “I saw the bruise on Garrett’s jaw, Adam. The rest I’ve been piecing together on my own.”
Adam lowered his head, guilt rising like bile in his throat. “He didn’t give me any choice.”
“The hell he didn’t. He’s our brother, Adam. He wouldn’t have—”
“He was going to let them arrest her.”
“Well what the hell did you expect him to do? He’s the sheriff, and she’s wanted for murder.”
Adam shrugged, shook his head. “Is Garrett okay?”
Elliot just stared at him. Then his smile finally came back. Slowly, but surely. “What? You afraid you hurt him?” Elliot’s grin grew wider. “You are, aren’t you? You sure do have an active fantasy life, pardner. Garrett’s got thirty pounds on you. You might better ask yourself why big brother Garrett went down so easy, instead of wondering how bad you might have hurt him. If he’d hit you back, you’d be in a coma right now.”
Licking his lips, biting back an angry retort based solely on his own ego, Adam paused, thought back and finally sighed. “You’re right. He did go down awfully easy.”
‘“Course I’m right.” Elliot shrugged. “I mean, not to belittle that bruise on his jaw or anything—you always did have a solid right hook—but this is Garrett we’re talking about here.”
Adam’s guilt grew even bigger. “He let us go,” he said slowly.
“Damn straight he did. Then, when the rangers came out later in the day and found you two gone, they accused Garrett of aiding and abetting. Threatened to bring him up on charges, but I think he managed to convince them he was completely unaware you’d left. And now they’ve got a full-fledged man-hunt going on.”
“I figured as much.” Adam lowered his head, sighed. “Listen, all I want to do is buy some time. Find out who killed that bastard, pin a medal on him, and then see to it Kirsten doesn’t end up doing his time for him.”
Elliot sighed, too, hunkered down. “I kinda figured that was the plan. But how are you gonna do any digging when you can’t get back into town?”
“I’ll think of something.”
“I could—”
“No.”
“But if I—”
“Absolutely not.”
“Adam, for crying out—”
“No, Elliot.”
Elliot’s jaw went tight. He held his brother’s gaze, his own every bit as stubborn. And then he pulled a hand out of a pocket. It had a brown plastic prescription bottle in it. He held it out. Adam took it.
“What is this?” Joseph Cowan’s name was on the bottle. And the name of the drug it contained was one that was familiar. “Percodan?” Adam glanced at Elliot for an explanation.
“I found it in the medicine cabinet in Cowan’s master bathroom when I…er…broke into the house today.”
“You broke into the—”
“I thought you ought to know about it.”
Adam sighed, turned in a circle and pushed his hat off his head. When he faced Elliot again, he shook his head. “The rangers left this?”
Elliot shrugged. “Probably didn’t see anything too strange about a pill bottle in a medicine cabinet. Maybe they didn’t recognize it for what it was. I wouldn’t have myself, except for Doc prescribing it for me when I was seventeen and got thrown by the bull—”
“Thrown and then stomped by the prize bull you’d decided you could ride,” Adam said. “I remember. You were broken in so many places, the whole family ached.”
“But, Adam, why the hell would Cowan have been taking a painkiller this powerful? This stuff is a narcotic, for crying out loud.”
Adam blew a sigh. “You got me. It’s a damned good question. But, Elliot, I don’t see what this could have to do with the murder. He didn’t die from any drug overdose. It was a bullet in the middle of his forehead that put the bastard in hell where he belongs.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe nothing. But it’s all I could come up with.”
Adam stared at the label, willing the bottle to talk to him.
“You’ve still got it bad for Kirsten, don’t you, Adam?”
Looking up sharply, Adam saw the knowledge in his brother’s eyes…the brother who was no kid anymore. Finally he just lowered his head again.
“Hell, we all saw it from the minute you came back here. You were the only one who didn’t.”
“Yeah, well, she’s keeping a whole pile of secrets, Elliot. And I don’t know if she’s gonna be ready to trust any man again any time soon.”
“Shoot, you’re not any man. You’re my brother.”
He felt his lips pull into a half smile. “Thanks, Elliot. That means a lot.”
Elliot smiled back, slapped Adam’s shoulder and turned toward his horse. And that was when the echo of distant gunfire came floating on the breeze, ringing and bouncing off the canyon walls, making it impossible to judge direction or how many shots or anything else.
But Adam’s heart froze over, and that was all he needed to know. “Kirsty…” He leapt into the saddle and spurred the horse toward camp, where he’d left her. But he had a sick feeling he wouldn’t find her there.
He was halfway there before he realized his kid brother was riding right alongside.
They passed the camp, and he knew without much more than a glance that Kirsten wasn’t there. No horse, no sign of life. She’d bugged out on him. Headed for the border. Hell, she was running from him all over again.
They rode hell-bent for leather, and the shooting became louder. The horse blew hard, digging her hooves into the dirt, throwing clumps behind them and thundering over the barren ground. And finally Adam saw her. Kirsten was heading right for them, her horse running like the wind, her body bent over, almost horizontal to the animal’s. Beyond her, lights and motion. ATVs and spotlights, bounding over the rugged terrain.
“Take her and go,” Elliot shouted. “Go on. I’ll stall them.”
“Elliot, you can’t—”
“Have a little faith in the kid, will you?” Elliot said with a grin, and then he clicked his tongue at his horse, and the two rode off in the direction of the border patrol. Elliot seemed to be setting a course for a direct interception.
Left with little choice, Adam turned his horse around and caught up to Kirsten.
She was breathless. Her face as pale as the moonlight, her eyes wide. She stared at him as he rode up beside her, but she didn’t say a word.
“Come on,” Adam said. “This way.” And he guided her up into the craggy foothills, into cover. It would be tough for anyone to find them here, and he didn’t really expect the border guard to try. They had to keep their posts. They could call in reinforcements, of course, but if he knew Elliot, and he did, by now the kid was spinning a yarn that would throw them off the scent.
Within a few minutes, the sounds of pursuit seemed to have stopped. So had the shooting.
“Right here. Come on.” Adam slid off his horse on a boulder-strewn hillside and reached up to help Kirsten down, as well. She came. No resistance, no argument, and not a word. Her feet hit the ground. Her knees followed.
“Hey, hey, careful now.” Adam closed his arms around her, tugged her upward. The rag doll response was what finally tipped him off. Her head hung on a limp neck, and her hair was in her eyes.
“Kirsten?” He pulled her upright and pushed the hair aside so he could look at her face. But her eyes were closed, and his hand came away wet and sticky. “Kirsty!”
He shook her. No response. Gathering her up, he pushed her hair aside and tu
rned her face toward the moonlight so he could see the damage.
But all he could see was blood.
Chapter 9
Kirsten’s head hurt. She opened her eyes slowly and tried to see through the haze and the pain. It smelled funny here. The surface she lay on…stiff and soft, not the hard-packed ground. A shape came into focus. A face. A dear, familiar face.
“Adam?”
He leaned closer, his hands on her face, smoothing her hair. “It’s all right. You’re okay. I’m right here, Kirsten, and you’re gonna be just fine.”
Blinking, she tried to see him clearly, but she couldn’t. His face swam and danced in front of her. Her bed tilted, and she felt certain she was about to be dumped onto the floor. She reached for Adam, and he was there, gripping her shoulders, his hands strong and solid. The sensation of falling faded. The room around her straightened, and she relaxed. “Don’t let go,” she whispered.
“I don’t plan to.”
When she opened her eyes again, her vision was clearer. Adam stood beside her, one hand still holding her shoulder, the other gently stroking her hair. Around her, the familiar accoutrements that told her she was in a doctor’s office. Stainless steel and glass, bottles and bandages. The giant domed light above her. The tall white scales in the corner.
And Adam. Holding her. Holding on to her just the way he’d promised he would.
She remembered then. The wild ride, the gunshots that had followed her, pursuing her like death itself. The burning pain and paralyzing shock of a bullet slamming into her head like a red-hot mallet. The moment of horror as she realized she’d been shot.
Lifting one shaking hand, she touched the spot from which the pain seemed to emanate, and found thick, soft bandages there.
“It was only a graze.”
“Was it? It felt more like a freight train,” she muttered.
“I’ll bet it did. Here, take this.” He slipped a tablet between her lips, then cupped her head, lifted her and held a paper cup to her mouth. She sipped the water, swallowed the pill. “Tylenol with codeine,” Adam told her, lowering her head to the pillow once more. “It’s mild, but it ought to help with the pain.”
She nodded, then looked around the oddly silent place for the doctor.
“We’re alone,” Adam said, reading her the way he always had. “It’s only 3:00 a.m. Lucky for us, Doc doesn’t have any fancy locks on his office doors. Just a simple tumbler that’s easy as hell to pop open.”
Holding her throbbing head with one hand, she sat up slowly. “Adam, that’s illegal…. God, stealing drugs…you’re going to wind up in jail.”
“Not unless we get caught.”
“Jail’s the least of your worries, you two.”
Adam’s head came up fast, and Kirsten’s heart jumped…but settled as she recognized Elliot’s voice. The youngest Brand brother came light-stepping his way through the clinic and found them in the little treatment room. Squinting through the darkness, he nodded a greeting toward his brother. Then he came closer to Kirsten, eyeing her with real concern.
“I saw the blood. Figured I’d find you here. I wondered which one of you took the bullet. You okay, Kirsten?”
“It hurts like hell, but Adam says it’s just a graze and I’ll be fine.”
Adam pocketed the pill bottle he’d taken from Doc’s locked cabinet. “You sure you weren’t
followed here?” he asked, and his tone was sharp.
“You think I’m an idiot?” Elliot countered.
Adam only sighed. “What the hell happened out there, El? Since when do the border guys shoot first and ask questions later?”
“Since never.” Elliot shifted his worried gaze from Kirsten to Adam and back again. “I talked to them. Convinced them I was just an innocent passerby out for a midnight ride and that I’d unwittingly stumbled into the cross fire. And then I asked them the same damn thing. Why they were firing at shadows in the night.”
“And what was their answer?” Adam prodded.
“They claim the shadow shot first.”
Both men looked at Kirsten sharply. She blinked, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“The officers swear you shot at them, Kirsten,” Elliot explained. “They say they returned fire, but only after you fired at them. And frankly, hon, I’m inclined to believe them.”
She blinked at him, so confused the dizziness returned. “But…I didn’t even have a gun.”
“I know that,” Elliot said.
“But somebody did,” Adam said slowly, thinking aloud. “Somebody fired at those border guards.”
“I don’t understand.” Kirsten searched both men’s faces, saw the knowing glance the two brothers exchanged, the nod of affirmation that passed between them. As if they’d already figured out something she wasn’t seeing just yet.
“Those boys are too well trained to just start shooting at shadows, Kirsten,” Adam said, his eyes on his brother. “I don’t think they would have fired if they hadn’t believed you did. And I think that’s just what someone wanted them to believe. Somebody fired the first shot. But it wasn’t you, and it wasn’t the border patrol.”
“Whoever it was, they did it deliberately,” Elliot added. “Knowing damn well it would force the border patrol to return fire.”
“And they damn near got you killed,” Adam finished. He stood in front of her, staring into her eyes, his own so tortured that she could feel his pain. “Thank God it didn’t work,” he whispered. And he pulled her against him, held her. His heat warmed her, and his heart beat hard against her. “Thank God you’re okay.”
Her arms crept around his waist. She didn’t want him to let her go.
“Why did you run away, Kirsty?”
She closed her eyes. “I…I thought it would be better for you if I just…got the hell out of your life, once and for all.”
He shook his head slowly, staring down at her. “Honey, you tried that once. It didn’t work.”
“I know,” she whispered. Then, slowly, she pulled herself away from his embrace. She had to think, had to figure this out. “You think the man who fired the first shot was the same man who killed Joseph, don’t you, Adam?”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “I don’t know what else to think. I just want to know why.”
“Could be he thinks she can identify him,” Elliot said slowly. He paced across Doc’s floor, then came back to her again.
“But he knows he was covered head to foot when I saw him. He has to know I couldn’t possibly have any clue who he is.”
Elliot shrugged. “Maybe you have a clue you aren’t aware of.”
Adam rubbed her back, soothing the tension that coiled her muscles tight. “Is the pain any better?’’
“A little.”
“If it comes back, say so. You can take another one of these if you need to.” Stepping back a little, he pulled the pill bottle from his pocket, then stood frowning at it. “Hell, I forgot.”
“What?” she asked.
Adam glanced at Elliot, then back at her. “This.” He handed her the bottle. Not the codeine, but a prescription bottle with Joseph’s name on it.
“I found it at your house,” Elliot said, coming back to the table where she sat. “It’s a narcotic used for pain. A powerful one. Do you have any idea why your husband would have been taking something this potent?”
She shook her head. The movement hurt, and she winced. “No idea at all. I didn’t even know he’d seen a doctor…this doctor. Doc’s name is on the bottle.”
“Yeah,” Elliot said, meeting Adam’s eyes. “And Doc’s files are in the next room.”
Adam licked his lips, sent Kirsten a questioning glance.
Kirsten nodded once. “We’ve come this far. We might as well compound the charges as much as possible, right?” Bracing her hands on Adam’s shoulders, she slid to the floor. He gripped her waist, steadied her. With his presence and his warmth as much as with his hands. And with the look in his eyes.
“Okay?”
“So long as you hold on to me,” she whispered.
He bent, pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Don’t worry. I’m not letting go. Not this time.”
Elliot cleared his throat and discreetly stepped out into the hallway.
“That’s not what I meant,” Kirsten said when he’d gone.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s what I mean.”
“But, Adam, you don’t know—”
“But I will know. And if you think this deep, dark secret of yours is going to make a difference to me, you’re wrong. But you’re not going to realize that until you open up to me, Kirsten. Give me the chance to show you that I’ll stand by you this time.” He squeezed her waist, looked down at her. She couldn’t hold his gaze. Guilt twisted her heart up in knots. Adam sighed softly. “But I guess I have to wait until you’re ready to tell me. Come on, Elliot’s waiting.”
He led her into the hall, placed her hand on the wall and let go of her long enough to go to the door, where Elliot was already at work.
The younger Brand jimmied the lock on Doc’s office door. Then he swung it open. “Yesss,” Elliot whispered with a flourish.
“I don’t even want to know where you learned that particular skill,” Adam said. He put his arm around Kirsten’s shoulders and guided her inside. “Sit here,” he said, easing her into the soft chair near Doc’s desk. Then he turned to the file cabinet, tinkered with the drawer and finally got it open while Elliot looked on.
“I see I’m not the only one in the family with a talent for criminal acts,” Elliot quipped when Adam slid the drawer open.
“Yeah. Must be from those outlaw ancestors of ours.”
Elliot grinned and leaned closer, while Adam began perusing the files. Kirsten couldn’t sit still as Adam thumbed through the folders and finally pulled one out. Pushing herself to her feet, she moved unsteadily closer. Adam had flipped the folder open, was reading slowly. Elliot was leaning over him, reading as well. They looked at each other, and almost in unison the two Brands swore softly.
Kirsten gripped Adam’s arm. “What is it? What does it say?”
Licking his lips, Adam looked down at the sheets in front of him. “Carcinoma. Inoperable. Prognosis, terminal.” Then he met her eyes. “Cancer,” he said softly. “Doc gave Joseph two months at the outside. And this is dated six weeks ago.”
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