by Angi Morgan
She nodded, her eyes big with tears, her heart full of courage. She must be frightened out of her mind.
Once again, they held hands and moved as silently as possible across the yard, staying low, darting between the few trees. They made it to the old wooden shed and heard breaking glass inside the house.
“Take cover.”
They ducked behind a rusty wheelbarrow with a hole in the bottom. Rapid shots hit the wood, penetrating it and ricocheting off the rusted wheelbarrow.
“I don’t think he’s trying to take us alive anymore,” Avery said, pointing to a rake.
It was equal in rust to the other smaller tools in the shed and not a surprise that it was left behind in the move. The handle looked as if it might break by picking it up. It was the closest thing to a weapon that they had.
“See anything to pry these back planks apart. If we’re lucky, Snake Eyes might not see us leave.” Another round of fire had them ducking again. Another broadside to the shed, but just a short burst.
Jesse leaned against the bottom support of the wheelbarrow and it moved. Staying low, he worked the screws back and forth until the support popped off. They wedged it and shoved, prying the old planks to where the nails lifted free. A second plank and they were free.
Again.
They squeezed through, dragging the rake and wheelbarrow support along with them. They were behind the barn when another blast of bullets hit the shed.
“How many more times do you think we can escape this guy?” Avery asked.
“None,” a voice said.
* * *
POINTING A GUN at them, a man dressed entirely in a black rubber skin waved them to the wall. The black material was almost like a wet suit. It wasn’t quite like anything Avery had seen. Old-fashioned. He was hooded, wearing thick old rubber gloves duct-taped at his wrists.
Yet with modern reptile contacts. She’d seen them before on kids around Halloween. Yellow with horizontal pupils. A memory of them flashed for a moment. “You were dressed like this when you drugged me.”
“Looks like we’re repeating the same act,” he said, confident he had them. “No one I’ve ever hunted has gotten away, Deputy. If you won’t tell me what I need to know, I’ll get the information somewhere else. There’s always a backup plan.”
“Duck!”
Avery flattened herself on the ground. Snake Eyes realized the rake was coming at him a fraction too late. Jesse made contact with their attacker’s side. The man screamed, pulling the trigger, but the handgun was pointed at the sky.
Jesse pulled for another swing, but the handle broke in half, leaving the rusty prongs in their assailant. Snake Eyes screamed again as he tugged himself free. Jesse tried to help Avery up, but she’d seen where the gun had flown.
Snake Eyes stepped on her leg as she scrambled forward. Pain blasted through her calf. She stopped the scream inside her chest. She didn’t want to stop her partner.
“Scott, you idiot, get over here,” Snake Eyes called out.
Jesse caught the man’s arm, spun around and elbowed him in his face. He staggered backward, grabbing his nose.
Snake Eyes had another man with him. Avery crawled toward the only real hope they had...the gun.
Punches flew behind her. She heard fists connecting with flesh. The solid thumps against ribs and jaws. She couldn’t take the time to look. Finding the gun was their way out. She got to her knees, searching the overgrown johnsongrass. She’d heard the gun clank against something metal but didn’t know exactly where.
Unable to stop herself, she caught glimpses of Jesse’s right cross and Snake Eyes responding with two solid body punches. “Where is it?” She smoothed the grass, going through it all, found an old garden tool, then...
“Got it!” Her fingers wrapped around the butt of the gun and she rolled to her back in time to see the second guy round the corner of the barn. “Hold it! Stop!”
The men staggered apart. The young man with the rifle planted his feet and aimed at her. Snake Eyes narrowed his contact slits and backed toward his accomplice.
“Looks like we have a standoff.” He got next to the rifle, tapped the guy on the shoulder, and they ran around the corner. “You’ll be hearing from me soon.”
Avery tried to stand and follow. Her calf was cramping from earlier, her arms could barely point the gun and she was still barefoot. “Are you all right, Jesse?”
“I don’t think I can follow, either.” They both ran as far as the barn, where they watched the men jump into an old Jeep and drive away.
The younger guy fired his rifle wildly, pinning them at the corner of the barn. He whooped and hollered as Snake Eyes drove south.
“He’s getting away,” she croaked.
“We’re alive,” Jesse replied. He took the handgun from her. “Maybe we’ll get lucky with this thing. Prints or registration.”
“When do we begin walking back?” Avery did not look forward to moving at all. She needed to massage the cramp in her leg and might even need to throw up. “Not before we get some more water.”
After a couple of steps, limping back toward the house, Jesse slipped his shoulder under her arm to help.
“I think we can wait five or ten minutes.” He panted and pulled her to a stop.
“Good idea. It won’t take too long if we double back and cut across a field. If we’re lucky, someone heard the gunfire and reported it.”
“Yeah. I feel real lucky.”
Chapter Fourteen
Scott what’s-his-name was increasingly annoying. Snake Eyes should be on his way to find Garrison Travis and the hairdresser witness. Instead, he watched a young man who had shown his face to the enemy. He’d also nearly shot them in that shed.
“You do not take instruction well, Scott.”
“Man, I was getting the job done. It’s not my fault that collar had a cheap lock.” He danced around the hotel room, trying to imitate an American Indian war dance. He wasn’t close.
“Stop that at once.”
“Hand over my money, and me and my Jeep are out of here, man. You can find your own way back to wherever you crawled from.”
The sharp knife sliced deeper through Scott’s throat than Snake Eyes had intended. He watched the younger man grab at the wound. Both of them knew there was nothing to do but die.
“This is the reason I don’t work with amateurs. Pathetic. What did you expect after you moved the other two bodies to the grove? You actually thought you were better? Perhaps good enough to work with me?”
Scott’s blood gurgled to the floor when he dropped. The life left his eyes. There was no reason to take the kid’s eyes. It would just delay his next move having to make another pair. Leaving the body in a hotel room without his signature was against his principles. He gathered his tools.
Still in his suit, he removed the keys from the front pocket of the twitching body. It amazed him how instinct clung to life. He could dispose of Scott’s eyes later. Somewhere down the road where animals would use them for nourishment.
From his bag, he removed the eye rocks he’d especially painted for Ranger Ryder. He’d need to find another. Yes, the yellow-faced whip snake’s amber around the eye would match well enough. It would be easy and quick to paint in its simplicity.
The black river rocks were a snug fit in the small eye cavity, but looked good. “Oh, to be a fly on the wall when you’re found, Scott.”
The nosebleed he’d received during the fight would give Avery and Jesse a mental boost. An injury to your opponent would always give hope. As would the blood they were sure to collect from the rake. He wasn’t in any of their systems. They’d never discover his identity through DNA, but that wouldn’t stop them from searching.
“Finish or die,” his father would laugh and joke. He wasn’t talking i
n a literal sense, of course. His father had actually taught him survival skills. He’d been a terrific father.
No regular education or training would have provided the opportunity to become who he was. Or could have taught him to be so independent. Depending upon only himself.
Finish or die.
He would do just that. Finish this job or... There was no or. He started. He must finish.
The towels he used on his side were still there as he left the room. No hotel cameras caught him. He’d made certain they didn’t work beforehand. He got in the Jeep to drive back to his camper.
A week ago, he’d wanted a greater challenge. Well, now he had one. His prey were wounded. They’d be on guard, wary. They might be protected by others. Yes, this was a challenge.
He’d have to drive into Tucumcari, New Mexico, for additional supplies. Ha. The shortest route was straight through Dalhart. The risk would be... Not any real risk. No one knew him or what he looked like. He’d taken care of the witnesses.
The next phase would be stealth instead of torture. He’d made a huge mistake counting on anyone other than himself to watch the picnic grove. Lesson learned. He sniffed at the blood dripping yet again.
First the information. Then he’d terminate the two people responsible for bloodying his nose. That was a guarantee. He tossed his bag on the seat next to him and put the Jeep in gear.
“Thanks for the ride, Scott.”
Chapter Fifteen
Avery should feel safe. Two Texas Rangers were sitting on her porch and another was in her living room. So why couldn’t she sleep or even stop her heart from racing with every sound?
A green-slanted-eyed monster haunted every minute she closed her eyes. She was starving, but the thought of eating got her stomach in knots. She kept drinking water, then had to get up every half hour. Both she and Jesse had been seriously dehydrated by the time they got to the hospital.
The Amarillo doctors had wanted them to stay overnight, but Jesse had insisted they’d be safer in Dalhart. She agreed and they were escorted to her house. That was—she looked at the clock—two hours and forty-seven minutes ago.
Almost three hours that she’d been lying on her mattress with the door cracked open—as Jesse insisted. Whatever conversation the rangers had in the other room had been whispered so they wouldn’t disturb her sleep.
Avery tossed back the covers and tried to get up. She wanted to act as if everything was normal, but her body caused her to moan. She thought she’d been sore this morning. Every muscle had forgotten how they worked, screaming in agony. The moan couldn’t be helped.
And Jesse heard it. His bare feet slapped the hardwood floors as he came through the hall. Head poking through the opening, he was quiet and obviously trying not to wake her. Truth time.
“I can’t sleep. I haven’t been asleep. I doubt I will be asleep anytime soon.”
“Me neither.” He extended a hand to help her up but withdrew it. “What do you need? I’ll get it for you.”
“An ice pack for the back of this leg.” The one Snake Eyes had stepped on. “And company. If you help me up, I can sit on the couch.”
“I can get the ice pack, but you’re staying put. Wyatt and Kayden are chatty and I can hear them through the window.” He tapped the door frame and was gone.
“But, Jesse—”
“Let me get the ice.”
Avery piled all the pillows in the corner and scooted so she could lean against them. Then alternated pointing her toe away and pulling it back, trying to stretch the pain into submission. Maybe if she asked real nice, Jesse wouldn’t mind rubbing the cramping muscle. Maybe.
“Hey, I was thinking.” He came through the door empty-handed. “Do you have a heating pad or something? A sore muscle needs to relax, not tighten up from the cold.”
“No heating pad.”
“I could call one of the deputies—”
“Please don’t. Once this is all over, I’d be running errands for them forever. It’s bad enough that Dan had to come back from Dallas when we went missing.”
“You didn’t expect him not to. Did you?” He sat on the mattress, pulled off his belt and made himself comfortable. “Give me your leg.”
Just as if no time or an ill-fated night had transpired between them, he massaged her aching muscle. The rest of her body tingled at the thought it might also get attention. It wasn’t fair. She couldn’t return the favor.
“Can you count to ten for me?”
“You’re joking.” She looked at his eyebrow quirked high onto his forehead. “I guess you’re not. One, three, five, seven, nine, ten.”
“Was that for real? Dammit, Avery. I shouldn’t have listened to those guys about moving you. Get dressed. I’m taking you back. You should be kept under observation—”
“Wait. Sorry. I was joking. Whatever it was this morning has passed. Sort of like a concussion. My counting ability returned at the hospital.”
“Don’t mess with me that way.” He’d shoved her legs to the side when he was ready to rush her to the hospital. Now he wrapped his firm grip around them and continued an absentminded rub.
“Yes, sir. Promise. I didn’t mean it.”
During their captivity he hadn’t looked as panicked as right then. He began working the muscles again, but this time a stern look invaded his features. She could see him pretty clearly with the light that came between the window and sill. He clenched his square jaw. His eyebrows were drawn straight and close together.
Since they had been driven back to Dalhart after their fight with Snake Eyes, he hadn’t let her out of his sight. That was how she knew that his eyes had lost their usual sparkle.
“Hey. Earth to Jesse. You can stop playing Twister with my leg now.”
“Huh? Was I hurting you? I must have drifted.”
“I could tell.” She didn’t pull her legs from on top of his. She was comfortable and the contact felt reassuring. “You know that I’ve been in some tough scrapes before. We both have. But this... This was...”
“Intense.”
“And very personal. Why do I feel...invaded?”
“Snake Eyes did his homework. He messed with us personally. That hasn’t happened before.”
“Dan said your car had bleach in the radiator. Did he tell you that?” Topics of conversation were limited—at least in her head—to Jesse or the case. She chose to ignore the Jesse topic. “Do you think we’ll find that Scott guy dead somewhere soon?”
“Yes. Unfortunately. I couldn’t get the plate number to help find him sooner.”
“If the Jeep had any at all.” She shook his shoulder. “There was nothing you could have done. That teenage hellion almost killed us in that shed.”
“Snake Eyes knew more than he should have. Like how I wouldn’t leave you. Knew that threatening your life would eventually get the information he wanted.”
“I might have told him if I’d known.” She rubbed her throat where the collar had been.
Some tech somewhere was analyzing it to see exactly how it worked and all the grim details. The doctors said she’d be feeling the aftereffects of the multiple shocks until she didn’t. In other words, they didn’t have answers. Especially answers about her returning to work. Or about anything, really.
Those same techs had been here to sweep the house for electronic devices, had taken their phones, their laptops and had even checked her cable for suspicious whatever. But they’d found nothing. The powers above her pay grade believed Snake Eyes hired someone to gain information to them.
She didn’t. The experience was too...
“I advised Major Parker that they should move your brother. When they do, he’s going to know something’s wrong.”
“Are they going to move him? Snake Eyes might find out his location if he�
��s moved.” Mixed emotions rushed through her. Was it the thought that her brother might face the insane man who wanted to torture her and kill him? Or a little envy that someone else—maybe him—might catch the bastard before she could?
“That’s a risk they’re going to take.”
“We have to find him. Snake Eyes.” It wasn’t sibling envy for once. She was scared for her brother. “There’s got to be something we’ve missed.” She tried to move past him to get off the bed, but he stopped her. “Come on, Jesse. Neither of us is going to sleep tonight. You know that.”
“We’re not looking at another crime-scene photo tonight.” He cupped her cheeks and gently brought her face even with his. “We’re just...not.”
Avery wanted to lean in and kiss him. Unusual and stressed circumstances might have brought them back together. Okay, there was the tense part where she threw him in jail. But after that, they’d worked together well. So...
Jesse dropped his hands, leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, burying his hands in his armpits. If that didn’t speak volumes, she didn’t know what did.
Leaning back against her pile of pillows, she wasn’t just frustrated. She was on the verge of being angry. More like one step away from already angry. I’m tired. Exhausted. This isn’t the right time. There won’t ever be a right time.
“I want to know why you left me that night. I know I didn’t have much experience, but was it that bad?” She bit her lip, anticipating his answer. Preparing for the worst. If he didn’t answer at all, that would tell her everything she needed to hear.
She impatiently waited. He didn’t move and didn’t look lost in thought. He looked worried, sort of ashamed—just like when he confessed he was about to tell Snake Eyes what he wanted to know.
“I’m your brother’s best friend.”
“Sometimes you seem to forget that I was a third of that trio. I have no doubt that you were closer to Garrison, being guys and all.” She popped his biceps with her fist. “We were close, too, you know.”
“But I never made a promise to you not to sleep with Garrison.”