Her Hero

by Aimée Thurlo

  Jake came up next to him. “It’s clear now. I’m not sure what’s going on out there, but if it had been harmless, whoever that was wouldn’t have been lurking around.”

  Jake opened the locked drawer of his desk, then returned, a .45 pistol in hand. “I’m walking you two to your truck.”

  “No. I’ve involved you enough,” Joshua said.

  “I’m going along anyway. And then I’m following you at least to the outskirts of town.”

  “No. I can lose a tail better if I’m on my own,” Joshua insisted.

  “All right, just to your truck, then. But if you change your mind, come back, I’ll be waiting. You have backup here. Count on it.”

  As NYDIA DROVE, Joshua kept his eyes glued on the side mirror. When they finally reached the highway that led out of town, he asked her to pull over. “Let me take the wheel. I can’t see anyone, but I feel someone there.”

  She nodded. “No problem. You know these roads better than I do. And something is wrong. I feel it, too.” She scooted over.

  “The voice?”

  “No voice. Just a feeling.”

  As Joshua maneuvered the hairpin curves in the road, a

  shot rang out. The right front tire blew out, and the truck

  lurched violently to the right. Joshua struggled to keep the vehicle from rolling as he maneuvered off onto the shoulder and into a shallow arroyo.

  Joshua did not try to come to a stop until he reached the deeper end of the wash. The steep sides could provide cover. “Stay low,” he said as they left the vehicle.

  Hiding in a crevice beside the truck, they waited for several minutes, but no other shots rang out. Joshua listened to the wind, invoking its power as messenger. After an eternity, the insects began to hum. “The danger has passed.”

  “Passed? No way. We’re being manipulated. This was too easy and too convenient. Let’s get the tire changed, fast. If anything, we’re in more trouble now.”

  “Intuition?”

  “It’s common sense. Puzzle it out. If the sniper wanted us dead, he wouldn’t have shot out the tire, he would have aimed for the driver—you. Why would he bother doing something like this unless he was also planning something else?”

  “Yeah, but what and where?” Joshua muttered as they worked to change the tire quickly.

  “What would we do if we were him?” she mused. “He wants to frame you….”

  “So he would go back to Jake’s and do something there,” Joshua concluded. “People saw us in town, and possibly at the library. So if anything happens to Jake now—”

  After the last nut was tightened on the spare, they threw the jack and damaged tire into the back, and raced back to town. Joshua felt an urgency, a sense of impending danger tugging mercilessly at him. Nydia’s acknowledgment that she shared his feeling had only heightened his concern.

  As they parked behind the library, Joshua saw Jake standing by the window that faced the alley.

  Joshua hurried inside. “Are you all right?”

  Jake nodded, his eyes narrowed, his body tense. “Yeah. What’s wrong?”

  Joshua explained about the tire and the progression of logic that had brought them back. “Has anything happened here?”

  “Follow me.” Jake led them back outside, and pointed out a trail of giant footprints beneath the window. “So this couldn’t have been your work, then.”

  Nydia crouched by the tracks, studying them. “The same person who left the footprints at the sheriffs house did this,” Nydia said. “See for yourself. Look where Joshua walked. The depth is different. But what’s this all about? Did he set a bomb here, too?”

  “No. I had just brewed a fresh pot of coffee when I thought I heard a sound outside. I came out, but all I saw were those tracks that disappear into the brush. I followed the trail, but got nowhere, so I came back.”

  “Maybe you interrupted his plans,” Nydia said.

  “Or maybe he was just casing the place, intending to return later,” Jake said.

  Hearing a vehicle approaching, Joshua turned around, braced for trouble. He relaxed as he recognized his brother’s Jeep.

  The look on Gabriel’s face spoke volumes to him. The investigation was eating at his brother, eroding his confidence. One thing he knew about his eldest brother was that the more confident he appeared to be, the less so he truly felt, though Gabriel would have denied that vehemently.

  Joshua filled Gabriel in quickly on what had happened. “While you record whatever you need to here, I’m going to follow the tracks and see where they lead me,” Joshua said.

  Jake shook his head. “Waste of time. As I said, I already tried that. The tracks disappear by the stream, about a mile from here.” He glanced at Gabriel. “And both of you know I can track. If there had been anything to follow, I would have found it.”

  Gabriel photographed the tracks, then working together with Joshua, Jake and Nydia, followed the trail. It was a rugged hike, but as Jake had said, the footprints ended abruptly at the stream. “Whoever did this knows how to lose a tail,” Gabriel muttered.

  “I’m going to keep searching upstream,” Joshua said. “The trail’s got to pick up somewhere, and I intend to find it”

  “You’ll never be able to tell if you’re tracking the same person, because you can bet he changed shoes farther on,” Gabriel said.

  “I’ve got to try anyway,” Joshua insisted.

  “All right, but watch yourself,” Gabriel said. “I’ve got to get back to town and see if I can get a plaster cast of the prints. If it rains again tonight, all the evidence will be gone.”

  As Gabriel and Jake went back, Nydia studied the tracks. “He obviously went into the water, and on the far side of this stream there’s too much grass for him to have left a trail. I hate to tell you this, but I think we’re out of luck.”

  “If I had been him, I would have gone up or down the stream for a long while before crossing to the other side. I’m wading to the other side, because sooner or later the trail will pick up there. I intend to keep looking as long as there’s light.”

  “Okay. We’ll cross here. Four eyes are better than two. We can come back here and continue on from this spot if we find nothing on the other side.”

  “You don’t have to do this, you know. You can search this side now, and I can come back and meet you here later.”

  “Nothing doing. We’re sticking together. There’s no telling what other surprises this scumbag is going to throw at us if we get close. You need me.”

  “Yes, I think I do,” he murmured provocatively. He heard the way her breath caught, and saw her eyes darken in response to his words. They did need each other, more than he’d ever dreamed possible.

  Forcing himself to concentrate on the task at hand, Joshua waded across the waist-deep stream. The going was slow, but to his surprise, she swam past him, arriving at the other side just before he did.

  As she stepped out of the water, he noticed the way her shirt clung to her, accentuating the softness of her breasts.

  Heat slammed into him. He wanted to pull her into his arms, to feel her softness against him, to hear her crying out his name.

  As if she sensed the direction of his thoughts, she looked back at him, her mouth parting slightly. The gesture almost shattered his will. He forced his gaze away, forsaking what he wanted most at that moment.

  Together, they slowly made their way upstream. Nydia matched his pace, never slowing him down. After an hour, he’d still failed to find anything to support his theory or his hope of picking up the trail. It was getting close to dark, and frustration tore at him. As he turned back to look at her, he suddenly realized that she was no longer with him.

  He glanced around quickly and called out to her.

  “Here!” She was crouched by the edge of the stream, studying a long branch.

  “What have you found?”

  “I was walking along when this caught my eye. The other end is partly lodged in the middle of the stream. That’s
what gave me an idea. I remember playing in the Animas River as a kid and pole-vaulting across from one sandbar to the next. It was fun, and if you missed, you just splashed in the water. The way this branch was lying in the water reminded me of that.”

  He crouched next to her. “A pole vault,” he- nodded slowly. “No wonder we didn’t see any footprints close to the streambed on this side. He made sure he landed in just the right spot.”

  “Like right there.” She gestured toward the grassy area near the boulders.

  Joshua walked to an area thick with vegetation and crouched down, searching the ground. Spotting a broken twig, he picked it up and placed one end in his mouth.

  “Oh, please! Didn’t your mother tell you not to put things in your mouth when you don’t know where they’ve been? That’s unsanitary!”

  He looked up, surprised. “The sap is fresh. He didn’t cross long ago. Shall we go on?” He had to struggle not to smile. Although her observation skills were good, she had forgotten the tricks the trackers of their tribe had often used. “Old tricks sometimes work the best.”

  “Maybe, but I wouldn’t have done it.”

  “I’m more worried about gunfire than I am about a twig and germs.”

  Nydia fell into step beside him. “So where are we heading now?”

  “Right through that wooded area. He wants to avoid leaving a trail, so that’s where he’ll go.”

  As they passed a thick stand of young pines, he suddenly stopped.

  Nydia ran into him. “What the heck are you doing?”

  “He’s anticipated me,” Joshua answered, his voice taut. “Look.” He walked around what seemed to be a bed of pine needles and scattered tumbleweeds. “Study the edges. It’s not solid ground beneath.” With the toe of his boot, he pushed the cover away and exposed the deep pit below. Nasty-looking spikes protruded skyward from the bottom. “The fall might have killed us, even if we hadn’t been impaled by those sharp stakes.”

  Suddenly, there was a snap beneath his foot, and he knew he’d been had. In a heartbeat, a branch whipped down from a tree and swept him into the pit.

  Chapter Nine

  Nydia’s heart lodged in her throat. Lying down on the ground, she edged forward on her stomach. “Talk to me! Are you hurt?” She avoided using his name, knowing that now, more than ever, he wouldn’t wish her to do so. The dineh believed that names had power and, if used properly, could help a person at a critical time. At the moment, she couldn’t think of any two people who could use help more, so neither could afford to waste any source of power.

  “Answer me!” she repeated loudly. As she heard him groan, a paralyzing fear shot through her. The certainty that he had been impaled by a stake, and that she wouldn’t be able to bring help in time, made her ache everywhere.

  “I’m all right. I managed to bounce off the side and

  avoid getting speared. Nothing appears to be broken, either,” he managed to say.

  His voice seemed to be coming from the grave. Though it was dusk now, there was enough light to see the sharpened stakes protruding upward. She couldn’t see the bottom of the hole, however. About the only thing she could make out was Joshua’s face and that, just barely. “How deep is it? Can you climb out?”

  “Not without your help.”

  “I can’t pull you up. Your weight would just pull me in with you. I’ll go get help.”

  “No. It’ll be dark soon, and I think that whoever set this trap is waiting for that. I’m not armed, and if he comes up on me while I’m here alone, these spears won’t be much of a defense against a gun. Look around and see if there are any sturdy branches you can lower down to help me get back to the surface. In the meantime, I’ll pull out these stakes and throw them up and out of our way.”

  Nydia moved off, searching the ground and the area. “I’m going to have to look farther out. There are taller ponderosa pines ahead. One of those branches might work, but I don’t know how long my search will take.”

  “All right. But before you go, there’s something I want you to carry with you.”

  A moment later, a beaded pouch landed at Nydia’s feet. She recognized it immediately. “That’s your medicine bundle. I can’t take that!”

  “Yes, you can,” he said. “It’s all I have to give you while you search. It’ll help you in ways you don’t yet understand. Go ahead. Take it.”

  It was his way of protecting her though he couldn’t be with her himself. Understanding him, she took the medicine bundle and placed it carefully in the button-down pocket of her shirt. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Darkness settled, increasing her uneasiness. After a long search, she spotted a partially fallen branch that dangled precariously from a tall, old ponderosa pine. Putting her weight on it, she worked it back and forth until it fell with a mighty crash.

  She dragged it back slowly. By the time she reached Joshua and lowered it down, her hands were scratched and bloody from the rough bark and pine needles. “This is the only one I saw that might work.”

  “It’s fine. Hold it still while I use it to climb up.”

  She did her best, but the moment he put his full weight on it, the branch rolled out of her grasp. “I can’t hang on to it. I’m going to have to get someone else here. It’s your only chance.”

  “Try once more.”

  She heard him start a sing. The chant filled the darkness, and took flight into the night. It seemed as if the air itself shimmered with power as old as the woods around them. Her skin tingled, and she felt a new confidence making her stronger. She wasn’t sure how long it took, but soon she saw Joshua reach up and grasp her forearm. It was then that she saw the blood that covered his shirt.

  For a moment, she couldn’t breathe, and her newfound strength vanished. She knew he needed her to help him climb the rest of the way, but how could she do tha? He was so heavy.

  His song grew stronger, wrapping itself around her. The world seemed to begin and end in the texture of the notes and the magic of the chant.

  She closed her eyes, letting the power enter her. Before she realized it, he was safe on the ground beside her. A tear spilled down her cheek as they both sat gasping for air.

  “No, sawe, my sweetheart, don’t cry,” he said, drawing her against him. “I’m all right, and so are you. That’s the only thing that matters.”

  “You’re hurt. You’re bleeding,” she managed to say. One of the spikes had caught his shoulder badly.

  His callused finger brushed away the tear. Then, holding her face in his hands, he took her mouth with his own. His tongue caressed her intimately, searching out secret places that left her quivering in his arms.

  She was aware of everything about him, his strength, the tenderness of his touch and the searing intimacy of his kiss. The wildness, the passion swept over her. She’d never imagined anything could be like this.

  Joshua released her slowly and reluctantly. As she pulled away, she saw through his partially open shirt a profusion of smaller cuts that covered his chest in a blanket of crimson.

  “You need a doctor. We have to get out of here now.”

  “Yes, we do have to leave, but I don’t need a doctor. They’re all small cuts I can take care of once we get back.” He reached for the medicine pouch that rested half out of her shirt pocket.

  His knuckles brushed her breast, and she shuddered. What unimaginable power he had over her senses! Weak at the knees, she pulled out the medicine bundle and handed it back to him. “As soon as you’re ready to go, say the word.”

  He stripped off his shirt, revealing his spectacular build. As she watched him, he placed some herbs on the scrapes that covered his torso and shoulder. She knew she couldn’t offer to help. Neither of them could afford the distraction.

  “All right. Let’s get moving.”

  “We’re going to your brother’s clinic first,” she said.

  “I’ve told you it isn’t necessary.”

  “The way I see it, a doctor doesn’t treat himself,
and neither should a hataalii.”

  He laughed. “I’m not sure if that’s an apt comparison, but we’ll go.”

  His grin practically tore her breath away. Forcing her thoughts to what lay ahead, she remained close, by his side as they made their way back.

  THE HIKE IN THE DARK was rough, but at least they were able to cross the stream on a fallen log instead of getting wet again. Both were exhausted after their ordeal. As they reached the truck, Nydia felt as if her limbs had been carved from stone. “We’re here! I don’t think I could have taken another step.”

  “You can do whatever you set your mind to,” he said.

  A wonderful warmth filled her as she heard that admiration in his voice.

  Following Joshua’s directions, Nydia drove her truck to Lucas’s clinic, but the number of cars there took her by surprise. “I don’t get it. How come so many teenagers are here?” she asked.

  “I’d say there was a dance at the high school tonight. That means an occasional fist fight, and business for my brother.”

  Spotting her truck, Lucas hurried outside. His gaze traveled over Joshua quickly. “Drive around the back. I’ll meet you.”

  As they circumvented the kids and parents waiting at the front, a few insults rose from the people gathered there. Inside, comments could still be heard even though they were sequestered in a closed room.

  Lucas led his brother to an examining table. “What the hell happened to you?”

  Nydia watched as Lucas cleaned out the wounds. Had Lucas dabbed that much alcohol on her, they would have had to scrape her off the ceiling. Joshua didn’t even flinch, but continued to tell his brother about their adventures.

  “Is Joshua going to be okay?” Nydia asked, her voice taut.

  Lucas smiled at her. “Tree is built like, well, a tree. He’s got the constitution of a gnarled oak. He’ll be just fine.”

  Nydia took the first deep breath she’d taken in two hours, and dropped down into a chair. “We’ll need to tell the sheriff what happened.”

  “I’ll take care of that. He’ll get a call just as soon as

  I’m done patching up my brother.”