“Believe me, it’s my fantasy, too.”
“Can’t happen here, Cowboy.”
“No, ma’am, it can’t.” He slowly unwound and stood up. Looking at his watch, he said, “It’s four thirty P.M. My gut tells me that gang is in the meadow stacking the bales in the rear of those ATVs.”
“If they’ve got four ATVs, they aren’t going to put twenty-plus bales into all of them just one time. They are going to have to make at least two trips.”
“Yes, and probably to that other road we don’t know about.” He scowled, hands resting on his hips, in thought. “I don’t think they’ll be hunting us. They’ll probably think we rode off, and they don’t have that kind of time to hunt us down. They have to get those bales out of the meadow and to the Elson barn. That takes a while.”
She stood up, pushing pine needles off her Levi’s. “I agree.”
“We can’t wait to see if Salt Lake is reacting to us being out of contact or not.”
She stood beside him, inches separating them. Anna wanted to be close to Gabe, and she knew better than to touch him again. She felt the explosiveness palpating between them, that hunger to become one, to seal their hearts with each other. Would they live to do it? To come together? She wasn’t sure.
“Can we walk the horses through the woods toward the other end of the lake where we can get eyes on them?” she wondered.
“Yes. We’ll ride. We’ll have to make sure the horses don’t step on any larger pieces of limbs that are down. The noise could give away our position.”
She grimaced. “And let them know that we’re still lurking around. I think they’d tried to go after us again, but it would have to be on foot. Those ATVs will never make it through the thickness of this forest.”
“My bet is that they’re going to focus on the bales. Ready to saddle up, partner?” he asked, giving her a warm look.
“Let’s go,” she said.
“I’ll bet your legs are killing you,” he said, lightly placing his hand on the small of her back as she walked at his side.
“I’m ignoring them . . .”
He helped her mount, handing the loop of reins into her waiting hand. “Follow me, mi corazón, my heart.”
She gave him a loving look, picking up the reins, their fingers touching. Her heart burst with anguish, but she said nothing because it was the wrong time and place. Reaching out, she caressed his roughened, sandpapery cheek.
Within moments, Gabe mounted and they faded deeper into the darkened woods. As they approached the end of the small lake, Anna could see the meadow. Right now, it was empty of ATVs and soldiers, with six large bales left to be picked up.
Gabe nudged his horse into a trot, remaining hidden in the forest, heading for the other end of the meadow.
Anna knew he was looking for that other road. Where they had been, it was impossible to know if the ATVs had gone out the regular road or a secret way. She grimaced, her butt taking a beating on the saddle as Top remained close to Gabe’s horse, who was at a fast trot.
The light grew as they got closer to the tree line. Anna saw Gabe unstrap the Glock. She did the same. She focused on her doglike hearing, wanting to pick up the sounds of ATVs returning to the meadow. Right now, no birds were singing.
The forest was still. As if waiting . . . waiting . . .
She wished for a sniper rifle. In most instances it put a lot of distance between her and her target. Here, the only weapon would be close quarters use of pistols at seventy-five yards or less. Not good.
To her surprise, they came upon a nearly indistinct roadway that was used very little. Gabe dismounted and so did she. They were still within the tree line, within fifty feet of that road. Anna could see ATV tracks on it. A lot of the pine needles that had once covered it were removed by the thick, heavy tire treads, showing them that the soldiers had left out of the meadow on this unknown route.
Gabe made a signal with his hand indicating that they take the horses deeper into the forest. They walked for ten minutes before finding a suitable place to tie them up on a low-hanging pine tree limb. Together, they jogged silently toward the road.
“They’ll be back,” Gabe said in a low voice as they moved swiftly toward the tree line ahead of them.
“Yeah. Wish I knew when.”
“We don’t know how long this other road is. No idea . . .”
“What do you have in mind?”
Gabe halted, looking warily up and down the road, and then toward the meadow. There was nothing that said the soldiers couldn’t come in from the other end. He was taking no chances. He squatted and Anna joined him. They remained close to keep their voices from being heard.
“Let’s use our cell phone video. We can at least identify the soldiers that way.”
“Plus, show them in the process of hauling the bales on the ATVs, which the prosecutors will like,” she said, and she gave him a sour smile. Gabe nodded, his face hard and unreadable. Now, she was seeing the soldier in the field and it made her only love him more. This was a man who was a fierce opponent, but also a fierce protector of those he loved. Anna could literally feel the energy pouring off him and in her direction. She wondered if he was trying to find a way to keep her out of the line of fire. Fat chance that would happen! They were heavily outnumbered and no way able to take on close to a dozen heavily armed drug soldiers who would kill them on sight.
“Wait . . .” Anna rasped, sitting up, craning her head to the left, to the road. “I hear them! They’re coming our way.”
Gabe rose, nodding. “Let’s head this way. I want a good video angle on them in the meadow.”
Anna followed his long-legged strides parallel to the road but angling into the forest more to remain unseen. Her heart never amped up with adrenaline. Snipers had been medically recorded with normal heart rhythm and pulse even though they were being hunted or being the hunter. She knew that SEALs of the US Navy had been recorded doing the same thing. Maybe, she thought as they jogged rapidly into a darker area, their bodies knew that because they were hunted all the time, there was no use getting amped up and anxious about it.
Gabe halted. He saw a huge black basalt promontory spanning twenty feet. He signaled her to remain at one end, and he took the other. Both pulled out their cell phones, setting them up for the video recording.
Anna had a perfect view of the entire meadow. She had eighty percent on her battery. That was good. She threw Gabe a thumbs-up, letting him know she was ready. She missed the radio contact between them. Hand signals and simply reading her partner’s intentions would have to do.
The ATVs drew closer, their sounds drowning out the quiet of the forest. Anna remained on one knee. She set her phone down on the dried pine needles and pulled out her Glock, putting a bullet in the chamber and then settling it back into the holster.
Soon, the first ATV drove by with four soldiers on board. From Gabe’s end, he got the first look at them, and by the time they reached Anna’s end, she had excellent profile photos of each man on board. They were hard-looking, lethal, and she knew the type only too well. The second and third ATV roared by. She spotted the two Elson brothers on board the fourth.
Within minutes, the foursomes in the vehicles were out in the meadow, the men leaping off and hurriedly carrying the last of the bales, one to each ATV. Anna filmed the entire sequence. Between her and Gabe’s video, they would have a complete picture to show the DEA and the prosecutors. Good!
She saw Gabe stand. He signaled her with his hand to take off toward the hidden horses. Crouching, Anna ran. She could hear the ATVs starting up. Digging the toes of her boots into the soft floor, she ran hard, wanting to get much deeper into the forest so the soldiers wouldn’t know of their presence.
The ATVs passed them just as they reached the horses, the sounds of the growly engines muted and softened within the forest. Gabe untied the horses, giving her the reins to her mount.
“Put your cell phone in the saddlebag and make sure it’s buckled up so
it can’t be tossed out.”
“Roger that,” she said, quickly unstrapping the leather bag and placing her phone in it after she’d shut it down.
“We’re going to follow them,” Gabe said. “They’ll leave us far behind because of their speed, but we have to find out where they are gathering for these drops.”
“Yes,” she said, getting into the saddle. The sounds of the ATVs were barely discernible now.
Gabe turned his horse, trotting swiftly through the forest, paralleling the road. When he could no longer see it, he moved them closer to the tree line where they’d have a good view again.
Anna tried to key her hearing to any ATV noise, but heard nothing. They were now following the road that took a long, arcing curve over a thousand-foot slope. Gabe tried to keep them within the tree line, but sometimes the road made a sudden sharp turn here or there. They skirted around another large basalt rock area.
Suddenly, they were out of the tree line as the curve opened up.
Anna gasped. They had trotted into a large, oval area of flattened brush and grass. Right in front of them were three pickup trucks, the ATVs off to one side, the bales being tied into the trucks, flaps going over them so no one could tell what they were.
Anna croaked. She jerked Top to a hard stop. Red was already sliding to a halt.
Too late!
They were spotted!
Damn!
Anna saw three of the soldiers pick up AK-47s. A fourth screamed, pointing at them, running for his weapon next to a pickup truck.
Gabe sank his heels into Red’s flanks, heading straight back into the woods. Top was hot on his heels.
Wood exploded as a hail of AK-47 bullets screamed around them. A branch was hit, falling right in front of Gabe and his horse. It nailed him in the shoulder, nearly knocking him off.
Anna wasn’t so lucky. Another overhead branch was hit. It fell straight down, striking Top’s head.
The horse jerked to the left, trying to avoid the blow, but it was no use! Anna lost her seat. She went flying and tumbling end over end ahead of Top. The other end of the limb struck her in the right shoulder, pain racing into her upper chest. Anna bit down hard on her lower lip to stop from crying out, and tucked. She knew hitting the ground in a ball would lessen impact and potential injury to herself.
She hit with an “ooof!” and rolled. Top had stumbled and fallen, crashing to the ground so near to her that she could smell the sweat of the terrified animal’s fur.
Stopping her roll, she leaped to her feet, feeling the pain in her shoulder. Top was dazed but got up, a little wobbly on four legs for a moment.
Gabe rode back to her and dismounted, his expression contorted with worry.
“I’m okay,” she said, heading for Top, who was shaking his head. On one side of it was blood running from where the overhead limb had struck the gelding.
Gabe, holding the reins on his own spooked animal, walked up to Top.
More bullets were whining and flying into the woods.
When would they quit firing, Anna wondered, patting her shaken horse.
Gabe handed her the reins, quickly examining all four legs of her mount. He wasn’t lame. The cut above Top’s left eye was an inch long, bleeding, but it wasn’t deep. Gabe took his handkerchief out of his back pocket and applied pressure to it. In less than two minutes, the bleeding stopped. Top snorted and nudged Gabe’s chest in thanks for his help.
“It’s a mild cut,” Gabe told her. “Nothing to worry about. Top will be fine in a moment. He’s just rattled but he’ll regroup.”
“Thank the Lady Guadalupe,” Anna whispered, taking the loop of reins and mounting.
Gabe fluidly mounted Red and waited those minutes to allow Top to get himself back together. He noticed the horse’s brown eyes were alert and shining, not dull or disoriented, which would indicate Top had a concussion. “We have to gallop now,” he said hoarsely. “Ride careful.”
Galloping in this thick of woods seemed like a crazy thing to do to Anna. The horses had to run in and around huge pine tree trunks as if they were in a pole-bending contest. The jerks, moves, and leaning one way or another on Top in order to remain upright was so dangerous for both of them. She barely was able to hang on.
The gunfire stopped!
Gabe slowed to a trot. He fell back to where Anna was bumping along in the saddle. “You okay?” she asked.
“Top seems okay. What do you think?”
“He’s his old self,” Anna said.
Gabe’s face relaxed a little. He looked around. Nothing. “Vamoose,” he told her.
“Yes . . . yes . . . let’s just get out of Dodge!” She had no idea where they were. They had no maps on them, as they’d thought they were taking a simple ride to look at a meadow. She swore she’d never make that mistake again.
IF they got out of this jam alive.
Gabe waved his arm, asking her to follow him.
He always seemed to know where he was going. They didn’t even have a compass to share between them.
Now what? Were the drug soldiers running after them? Trying to locate them? It would be impossible for them to use the vehicles because they didn’t have the room necessary to drive through this forest without crashing into one of these massive pine tree trunks. Her mouth was dry as if cotton balls were inside it. She was sure after this hellish run, both horses, shaken up and jittery, were as thirsty as she was. They’d need to find a water source.
What the hell were the drug soldiers doing right now? How Anna wished for a Pred to be flying silently overhead. But even if there was one, they were out of contact with Salt Lake HQ and wouldn’t know it, see it, or hear it.
They were in a very, very dangerous situation. And no help was coming to get them out of this hot mess alive. Oh, Dios!
Chapter Twelve
“That was those people from next door,” Kaen growled to Elisha as they helped get that last bale hoisted into their ATV.
“I know,” Elisha said, hearing the disgust in his brother’s voice.
“You don’t sound very upset by it,” Kaen said, taking the driver’s side of the ATV. “Get in! We’re moving!” he said, and he threw a thumbs-up to their leader, Jose, who was in the lead ATV and pulling out of the meadow.
Elisha settled into the passenger seat, wrapping his hand around the strut as Kaen gunned the ATV, the noise buffeting his sensitive ears. His heart twisted. What were Gabe and Anna doing up here on this mountain earlier? He’d been in the group who had spotted them. Kaen was the first to fire at them knowing full well they were their neighbors from next door. He knew drug soldiers shot first, asked questions later. Elisha had deliberately shot at them, but purposely missed them. He couldn’t kill them. They had been so kind and caring to Roberta, who needed their almost daily help. She lived alone and relied on Anna and Gabe since they’d moved next door. It had been a godsend to Elisha, who took the full-time responsibility of caring for his mother.
The ATV bumped and jumped, the tires spinning and shrieking in protest, throwing up a spray of mud and grass as Kaen guided it swiftly to catch up with the other three machines. By the time they left the meadow, they were heading down the little-used muddy road where their pickup trucks were parked. His mind lurched between their duties to the lieutenant, Jose, and the drug lord, and the fact that Gabe and Anna were on the run for their lives.
Once they arrived at their destination, the team of men, one of whom was badly wounded in the first fracas with the ranchers on the mountain, were sitting in one of the trucks.
Elisha went to check on Manuel first, and found him dead. He tried to quell his rolling stomach, the acidic nausea climbing in his throat, wanting to vomit. He hated this work! But there was no way out. He wanted to care for his mother, who had been beaten by his father all their married life. She had suffered numerous fractures and was not only broken in spirit, but bodily, as well. It had been Anna who had first come over when they arrived at the ranch next door, to see her, to be
there for Roberta. Elisha had been relieved when Anna, and then Gabe, would come over and help her. They took her to Wind River to shop for groceries. They took her to several doctor’s and dentist’s appointments. They didn’t have to do that, but they had. Elisha felt guilt eating at his conscience as he walked over and told Jose that Manuel was dead.
Jose merely nodded.
“Get a shovel,” he snapped, helping to load another bale into a truck. “Dig a grave. Bury him.”
Nodding, that’s what Elisha did. Dig a grave. There was no mercy from Jose. Ever. He hated being around the Guatemalan lieutenant who was favored and trusted by Gonzalez, their drug lord. There was no way he wasn’t going to obey him, either. He’d seen Jose mercilessly shoot others in the head, killing them without any feeling whatsoever.
Elisha went to the pickup, where there were shovels and rakes in the bed. He grabbed a shovel and looked for a place to dig a shallow grave. He knew that no matter how deep he dug into the wet soil beneath the brown pine needle mat on the floor of the nearby woods, a hungry grizzly or black bear coming out of hibernation would happily dig into it and eat what was left of the soldier. That was the way of nature.
Elisha got to work, unhappy, but glad that he hadn’t been wounded in that fray. He wondered, as he dug, if Gabe or Anna had been wounded. It didn’t seem like it. They rode like fire itself and quickly disappeared around the end of that ledge drop-off. Later, they had been spotted again as they’d driven their ATVs around that long, curved corner, utilizing the other road to get into the meadow. Again, they’d ridden off, disappearing quickly into the thick, nearly impenetrable forest. Why were they hanging around? They had found the dropped bales in the meadow, that was a fact. Why were they so curious? Curiosity killed the cat. Elisha tried to put himself in their place. It wasn’t every day a person would see big, black plastic-wrapped things in a meadow. They were probably up in this area scouting around, acclimating to the size and extent of the property. And this meadow was owned by the Rocking G. That was a more than suitable explanation.
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