by Aimée Thurlo
“How did you meet?”
“Years ago Ashe and I heard about his talks on the history and customs of the pueblo peoples. We went to hear him speak whenever he came as a visiting professor to the Rez. It was his respect for all tribes that impressed us. Whenever we could, we’d stay and talk to him after he was finished. Eventually, we all became friends.”
“So, will you come to my home?” Suarez asked.
“As long as you understand the danger, old friend,” Travis said slowly, “we’ll be glad to accept.”
“But we have another place to visit first,” Fox insisted, looking at Travis.
“We can make specific plans for that from the pueblo,” Travis told her. “It’ll be a lot closer from there, too.” Travis noted the look on her face. It spoke volumes. He’d have to keep a close eye on Fox, or she’d sneak off and go to Santa Fe alone.
“You’ll enjoy our pueblo,” Suarez assured her, telling her a bit about it.
As Suarez spoke to Fox, Travis stood by the driver’s side of the pickup, studying the campus grounds before them. Instinctively, he dropped his gaze to the rearview mirror and checked out the area behind them, as well. At first, he only saw kids getting in and out of vehicles and some walking around campus. But then, as he started to look away, a flash of movement caught his eye. Someone was coming toward them, weaving furtively between the thirty-or-so cars and pickups in the parking area.
The man’s approach was methodical and careful. This was no innocent student just cutting through the parking lot.
“What’s the matter?” Suarez asked, seeing that Travis’s attention had shifted.
“Stay here and keep talking, and try to act casual,” he told his friend. “Fox, I want you inside the truck, ready to roll.” He handed her the keys.
Without explaining further, he crouched down as if to pick up an object, then moved away quickly, circling toward the back row of vehicles. He’d been waiting for a chance like this for a long time, and he intended to take full advantage of the opportunity.
He crept silently as a cougar, making no noise even as he moved across the gravel. Their stalker was someone dressed in a maintenance uniform. Travis came up from behind him and, in one deft move, slammed him against the car. Securing the man’s arm at a painful angle, he immobilized his opponent by simply applying pressure to a key nerve on the back of his hand.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Travis growled.
The man groaned. “Ease up. You’re paralyzing my arm.”
The voice sounded familiar, but Travis was too angry to care. “You’re lucky I don’t tear your arm off and cram it down your throat. Now who the hell are you and what do you want?”
“It’s me, Travis. Marc Gray. I’m the U.S. Marshal you met.”
Anger and disappointment converged on Travis. “I could have killed you with one move,” Travis retorted, and quickly released him. “This was not a good idea on your part.”
Marshal Gray flexed his arm, then shook his hand, trying to get some feeling back into it. “I can see that now, but I really had no choice. Someone had to come and warn you, and I just happened to be closest. You two have to leave the area quickly. Your brother knows that a hacker at this college resource center used his password to get into the police database, and he called me first, suspecting it was either you or Fox.”
“If he didn’t tell anyone else, then we’re okay,” Travis replied.
“You haven’t heard the rest of it. Since he wasn’t one hundred percent sure who the hacker was, he had to file a report and that’s when the police chief got wind of it. Unfortunately, so did a reporter who happened to be at the station at the time. A few officers are on their way here from Window Rock and I expect the press will arrive shortly, too. This campus is going to be real crowded soon.”
Travis nodded once. “We’re outta here, then.”
“I also wanted to tell you, face-to-face, to be very careful what you tell Carl Andrews, our tech expert.”
Before Travis could ask him to explain, Fox came jogging up. “Are you okay, Marshal Gray? I saw who it was just as Travis corralled you.”
“I’m fine, but we don’t have much time. You have to go now.” He glanced at Travis. “Remember. Double-check anything Carl Andrews tells you.”
“Is he the leak?” Fox pressed.
“I don’t know for sure. All we have at this point is just circumstantial evidence and speculation. Carl has a great record with the Marshals Service, but there’s another side to the coin. I know he’s been passed over for promotion twice. He’s also heavily in debt, and is having marital problems. These things indicate he’s vulnerable.”
“How did you find us so quickly?” she asked. “Was it because I hacked into the police computers?”
“Exactly. Ashe suspected it was you because the user guessed his password. He called me and I had our people confirm your location through your radio’s beacon signal.”
Travis’s expression darkened and Gray cautiously took a step back. “You knew the radio had a beacon, right?”
“I thought I’d turned it off,” Travis said.
“No, it’s still working,” Gray said.
Fox pulled the two-way radio from her purse. “Do us a favor, then. Turn it off, please.”
He took a screwdriver from his tool belt and turned the setting screw to the left of the one Andrews had told them about. “That’s it. It’s not exactly brain surgery. Now get going, you two. I’d offer to give you a ride, but I don’t want to know exactly where you are, either, for security reasons. Good luck.”
“We have a problem,” Fox said slowly as Gray walked off. “Both these men can’t have given us the right directions on how to disable the beacon. I don’t know which one to trust. Do you?”
“It could be that Andrews simply made a mistake, or maybe Gray did. Neither of those men looks or acts like experienced field agents to me, even though Andrews is supposed to be a tech expert. They’re more like bureaucrats.”
“What we have to do is make sure that beacon really is disabled,” she said.
Travis crouched between two cars and took the back off the unit, using his pocketknife. “This doesn’t look so different from the ones that are military issue.” He studied it for a moment, then disconnected the wire that supplied the transmitter beacon with power from the batteries. “This is the only way I know of to make sure it’s not transmitting.”
Suarez came up to them. “I stayed behind the truck while you were talking to that Anglo. I wasn’t sure if you wanted him to see me or not, considering you’ll be staying at my house.”
“Good move,” Travis said. “Let’s go now. Time’s crucial.”
As he studied Fox’s uncompromising expression, he found that he could read her mind as easily as she’d read his. She’d look for a way to duck out and follow her own course as soon as she could. She didn’t want to stay safe nearly as much as she wanted answers.
Fox led the way back to the truck, and Suarez left them to find his own vehicle. Travis’s gaze, and the thoughts that burned through him, stayed centered on her. She was an exasperating creature. She never backed down, even when she had every reason to do so. She’d frustrate him, and argue incessantly. Yet there was something about her that made her completely unforgettable.
Questioning his sanity, he bit back an oath and focused on what lay ahead.
SUAREZ’S HOME HAD AN undeniable atmosphere of comfort, especially compared to what they’d been used to lately. The leather easy chair by the window had the soft patina of frequent use, and the matching hassock showed the permanent impression of two feet. The walls were covered with massive, ceiling-high bookshelves filled with volumes on subjects ranging from anthropology to zoology. An Indian blanket woven in orange and black wool lay unfolded over the back of the sofa as if it had been recently used.
“You have a nice, cozy house. It has a lived-in look,” Fox commented, wondering how long it would be before she had a place to ca
ll home again.
“Some say it begs for a woman’s touch,” Suarez said.
“Who doesn’t?” Travis countered with a wry grin.
Suarez laughed. “Well, you haven’t changed much. Come,” he said, going down the narrow, whitewashed hallway to his study. “We’ll be more comfortable in here.”
The study appeared slightly larger than the living room, and had an atmosphere of purpose about it. Two computers, a desktop and a laptop, were placed beside each other on two connected desks. He gestured toward the easy chairs set by the windows. “Make yourselves at home,” he said. “Now tell me. What’s the best way I can help?”
“Don’t let Fox go near those things,” Travis said, pointing to the computers. “Hacking is her favorite pastime.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Fox said, good-naturedly. “I’ve already gotten all the information I can about my past. There’s no need for me to access other databases.”
“If I may make a suggestion?” Suarez asked. Seeing her nod, he continued. “Perhaps you’re going about this the wrong way. What you should concentrate on is learning more about your enemies. They seem to know a lot about you.”
“That’s true, but they’re not exactly trying to help us,” she said, her smile taking any sting out of her words.
Suarez glanced at one of his computers. “Maybe we can zero in on the one that’s already been identified—Prescott.”
“The police and the U.S. Marshals have an extensive file on him, but there’s nothing there that’s useful to us now,” Travis said. “My brother and Deputy Marshal Feist have gone over that repeatedly.”
Suarez considered the matter. “Let’s look in a direction the police and the marshals haven’t,” he mused. “Do you know where he went to college? As a professor, I’m able to access many university databases.”
Fox looked at Travis, but he only shrugged. Glancing back at Suarez, she shook her head. “I don’t think that it ever came up in our conversations with the police.”
“Well, let me do a search. If he practiced law in New Mexico, then there’s a chance he went to a university here, and I know of only one, the University of New Mexico, that offers a law degree. If that’s true, I’ll be able to access his records and those may reveal something useful to you. One never knows.”
As they waited, Travis turned toward Fox. She’d been undeniably tense but in his steady gaze, Fox saw courage and inner strength. The caring and concern that had prompted him to reach out to her in this way was a balm over her troubled spirit. And in the gentle smile he suddenly gave her, she saw the reflection of love.
Chapter Twelve
Silence, marred only by the hum of the computer’s cooling fan, hung heavily in the room as Suarez continued searching through the various databases.
“We’re in luck,” Suarez announced, interrupting the silence at last. “Prescott got his law degree at the University of New Mexico, just as I suspected.”
Fox went over to where Suarez sat, and looked over his shoulder at the monitor. “That’s a start. What now?”
Suarez continued to scan the pages scrolling down his screen. “His graduate-school adviser was Professor Samuels, and I know that man very well. He’s been here as my guest frequently. I’ll talk to him in confidence, and see what I can find out about Prescott and the person he was back then.”
Suarez stood. “I’ll call him up right now. You two make yourselves comfortable while I use the phone in the living room.”
As he left, Fox noticed that Travis was pacing by the window. “You’re just not comfortable here, are you?”
“It’s the home of a friend, and you’re safer here than any other place I can think of,” he answered, avoiding her question.
“But you’re still uncomfortable,” Fox insisted. “Why?”
“The pueblo hems you in. It’s like a closed society, Navajos are welcome but only to a point. It goes against the grain to let my guard down here.” He stared at the floor, then back up at her. “Don’t worry about it. I can handle it.”
Fox said nothing, determined to respect his privacy, though she would have given anything to have him reach out to her. Since he wasn’t the type of man who ever opened himself up to anyone, it would have been a sure sign that he saw her as a trusted equal, not just someone he felt obligated to protect.
She waited, hoping he’d say something more. When he didn’t, she sighed softly.
“You’re taking this wrong,” Travis said, sensing her thoughts. “If I were shutting you out, I would have denied that there was anything wrong. The fact that I’m admitting there is a problem, should tell you how much—”
Travis stopped and she held her breath.
“How much I...” He shook his head as if he just couldn’t make the rest of the words come out.
She knew that, deep down, he’d wanted to say more, and everything feminine in her had longed to hear it, but Travis was a man who had learned to use privacy as a shield. It went against all his survival instincts to completely drop his guard.
“It’s okay, Travis,” she said. “Some things just aren’t easy to put into words.”
He nodded, visibly relieved. “I’ve never been good at that, you know.”
Suarez came into the room, smiling. His eagerness told her, even before he spoke, that he’d learned something that would be of value to them.
“I have good news. I was able to get more on Prescott’s background, things you might find useful.” He sat down. “Prescott’s story is almost like the classic example of right instincts spoiled by too much ambition. When he was in college, his life seemed beyond reproach. He even turned down one of the highly competitive grad-assistant positions so that another student, with greater financial need, could get the post and stay in school. Prescott ended up working part-time at a car dealership in Albuquerque instead—Montoya’s Imports. He remained there all through law school. On the surface, I have to admit, it really looked like Prescott worked hard to earn his degree.”
“How can that help us?” Fox asked, disappointment in her voice.
“Remember that I said, ‘On the surface,”’ Suarez replied with a smile. “Prescott, apparently, always had money. Lots of it. His life-style was not ostentatious, but it was sufficiently above average that his adviser checked to make sure Prescott was entitled to the financial aid he was receiving from the government. That inquiry apparently put my professor friend in some hot water with the administration. That’s why he still remembers the incident. It appears that Prescott had some powerful friends even back then.”
“We should check out that car dealership,” Travis said. “Do you know anyone who works there, by any chance?”
“No, I don’t. But why don’t you pay the place a visit? There may be somebody still working there who remembers Prescott. If you approach them just right, I’m sure you can get them to open up to you.”
“We’ll give it a shot,” Travis said. “Thanks for the tip.”
Fox stood and began to pace. “The answers are out there just waiting for us. But the longer we wait, the harder it’ll be for us to pick up the trail leading to the killers.” She met Suarez’s gaze. “Your offer to have us stay here as your guests was very kind. And you’ve helped as a great deal. But I’m really afraid that if I sit still much longer, the answers I’m looking for will slip right through my fingers. The people after me have already burned down the only home I’ve known. Given enough time, they’ll destroy every single link I have to my past.”
“You have to go, then,” Suarez told them. “I understand. The rush-hour traffic to and from Santa Fe right now will help you stay low profile, too. But do come back when it’s all over. It would be wonderful to see you both again.”
He and Fox replenished their food and water supplies, and got new batteries for the cell phone. Once they’d gathered what they’d need, Suarez walked outside with them. As they stood by the door, he glanced down at Travis’s jish. “Remember there’s power and strength i
n your heritage. It sustained your tribe through years of hardships when the Anglo world tried its best to destroy them.”
He paused, then continued. “When someone from our pueblo is faced with difficulties we say to them, ‘Be as a woman, be as a man.’ In other words, let the qualities of both guide you. In the Navajo Way, you say that only by joining can a male and a female be complete. There is a lesson woven into both our ways that you need to draw on now. If you work as one, blending your strengths, then you’ll have everything you need to face your enemies. Nothing will be able to oppose you for long if you stand together.”
A heaviness of spirit weighed Fox down as they left the pueblo far behind them, heading southeast. “I hope I get a chance to see him again,” she said, turning around for one last look. “I like that man.”
“So do I.” Travis stopped the car by the side of the road and shifted to face her. “What you have to remember is that, no matter how trusted or well intentioned a friend, we can’t really count on anyone now, except each other.”
“It’s enough,” she said softly, reaching for his hand.
She saw the softening in his gaze, then the surrender, as his iron will broke and more primitive emotions took control of him.
With a groan, he drew her against him and held her tightly, as if desperate to burn away her fears with his caresses. When he took her mouth, his kiss was harsh and hot.
She felt a blinding rush of feelings, a sweet burn that left her aching for more.
A moment later he drew away reluctantly. “I wish I could erase all the bad things that have happened to you. You deserve much more than what life has handed you.”
“But, sometimes, what life gives me is enough, at least for the moment,” she brushed his face lightly, then drew back.
He placed the vehicle in gear and got underway. Silence lay heavy between them.
As they went down the solitary road that would eventually join the main highway, Fox shifted in her seat. “I know you’d rather go to the car dealership in Albuquerque first, but we have to pass through Santa Fe anyway en route. I want to take advantage of that and go to my biological parents’ home while we’re there. Maybe something I see will trigger my memory.”