by D'Ann Lindun
“That’s not true,” Jamie said.
“Isn’t it?” He stepped close enough she could see the black line around his irises. They seemed to glow with his rage.
“Mexican people don’t always get a fair shake,” she said. “But they don’t always play by the rules, either. For instance, instead of crossing illegally, they could apply for a green card.”
He lifted the gun and she thought he might either shoot her or strike her. Instead, he shook it. “The blood of a few American princesses isn’t going to make up for all the Mexican lives lost, but it’s a start.”
“You’re sick.”
She never saw the blow that knocked her down.
Jamie pushed herself out of the mud, spitting it out as she rose. Her ears rang and her cheek felt like it had caught fire. She grinned at him. “Truth hurt?”
He kicked her in the chest, sending her reeling backwards.
This time it took her a minute to push up on her hands and knees. “Big man, beating on a woman. Wait until they get hold of you in prison.”
“Puta! I could kill you now.” He grabbed her hair and stretched her neck back so far she thought it would break.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Austin’s gun, swinging just inches away. If she could just reach it— She smiled through the mud. “But then you won’t get your nice big payday, will you?”
He let go of her hair and slapped the back of her head so hard her teeth clacked together. “You think you’re so smart, chica? You’ve run in circles while we’ve stolen chickens from your henhouse, one right after the other, and you never even caught our scent.”
“Our?” She swiped her mouth and blood came away on her hand. “Who is we? You and your ego? Or you and your tiny little dick?”
He grabbed her face and squeezed, pressing it against his crotch. “I’ll show you a small cock. When I’m done riding you, no other man will want you.”
Not gagging took all her willpower.
He shoved her away. “Nah. I don’t want your panocha blanca. I’ll save it for a buyer with a whole lot of pesos.”
She ignored his vulgarity. “You still never said who we is.”
A viscous chortle rocked him. “Still haven’t got it all hammered out, have you? I take back what I said about you being smart.”
“Why don’t you tell me?” she challenged when he released her.
“Shut up.” He grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. Her weight landed on her bad ankle and she moaned. “Move it.”
With no choice, she did as told. Her body felt like a wrung-out disharag.
When she was done with him, the electric chair would look like an easy out. His hate-filled words filled her mind. Girls had been taken under her watch. How had she missed him as a suspect? He’d never crossed her radar. In fact, she’d warned Tad not to harass him because he was a Mexican-American and she’d not wanted him to feel picked on.
Big Jim would be so disappointed in her. His faith had been misplaced. And Dani. The little girl would never look up to her mother again.
She’d let down so many people.
How could she ever face them all again?
One thing for sure, she’d die before she’d let Alejandro hurt any more women or girls. Starting with her. She’d be damned if she was going to Mexico to be sold into sex slavery. Getting hold of the gun Alejandro held or Austin’s pistol hanging from his shoulder seemed next to impossible.
She couldn’t run.
She’d have to fight.
~*~
A lone rider came up the trail toward them.
Jinx.
Jamie’s heart leapt. Someone had come for them. Her deputy had his head down against the storm; the only way he’d see her was if she could somehow get his attention. Jamie opened her mouth to call out, but before she could, Alejandro placed his hand over her mouth. He pulled her off the trail and into the trees as the rider passed. Jamie struggled in his grasp, but he held her firmly against him.
“Silencio,” he warned against her ear.
Jinx passed without ever seeing them, and Jamie sagged in Alejandro’s grip. He released her. “Not a word or you’ll die here.”
With no choice, she kept her mouth closed.
“Move it,” he ordered with a shove.
She marched. As soon as Jinx found Austin, he’d figure out she was in trouble and send the posse. Hopefully in time.
Although she tried several more times to stop and get Alejandro to give her more details about the missing girls, he refused and continued to push her down the mountain, driving her like an animal headed for slaughter.
Where the hell were her horses? And dog?
When the trail narrowed alongside a twelve foot drop-off above a roaring stream, Jamie staggered, only partially pretending to be too exhausted to walk any more. She tripped and fell to her hands and knees. “I can’t go any farther.”
“Get up.”
“No.”
He poked her in the butt with the gun. “Get up.”
“No. Shoot me if you want to, but I’m not going one step further without a walking stick.” She held her breath. She’d taken a big gamble here, one that might get her killed. Or one that might save her life.
Muttering a curse under his breath, Alejandro gestured toward the bank. “Sit there and don’t move until I get you one.”
He moved a few feet away and began to jerk on a dead tree branch.
Jamie scrambled to the edge of the bank on the high side of the trail. Her ankle throbbed with a dull ache, but it had nothing on her heart. The farther she walked from Austin, the more despair filled her. He lay dying alone with no one to hold his hand as he passed.
Alejandro returned carrying the branch.
As soon as he came within striking distance, Jamie let out a rebel yell, and aiming at his knees, kicked as hard as she could. Her feet connected with his knees in a bone jarring thud. For a moment she didn’t think it worked. Then his eyes grew wide and his arms flailed as he tumbled backward over the edge of the bank. His scream echoed eerily from peak to peak.
Jamie rose and peered over the edge. No sign of Alejandro the water had carried him away. With any luck, he’d drowned.
Burying her head in her arms, Jamie sobbed, letting go of the grief, fear and anger she’d held in for the last two hours.
The stress she’d been under since Big Jim named her sheriff poured out of her.
Grief for a man she’d just found and lost shook her soul.
She didn’t know how long she cried. Until she couldn’t cry any longer.
Then, because rain poured down her neck, she wearily pushed to her feet, picked up the branch Alejandro found, and began limping down the trail.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Austin fought to stay conscious.
Playing possum until the gunman took Jamie seemed like the best course of action. Without his gun, he’d been useless. He could follow and help her.
He’d been shot before, and although he thought he remembered how much it hurt, he didn’t. His shoulder alternated between feeling numb and on fire. It throbbed like a bitch. Careful not to pass out, he pushed to a sitting position.
If he’d been wearing his usual western shirt he could have just unbuttoned it and pushed it off the injury, but he wore a dead guy’s sweatshirt. And it wasn’t going to be easy to get it over his head. Sitting around thinking about it wouldn’t get the job done. Gritting his teeth, he pulled his useless arm out of the sleeve. Sweat beaded on his forehead and upper lip as he struggled free.
“Damn.”
He had no time to waste sitting around. By now God only knew what might be happening to Jamie. Visions of Marisol’s broken body flashed through his head as he freed himself from the bloodied garment.
He would not let the same happen to Jamie.
Blood flowed from the wound in his shoulder, but the bullet had gone through. A good thing, he supposed. Digging his pocket knife out of his jeans, he cut the sweatshi
rt into long strips and tied them around his shoulder for a bandage. With only one hand he couldn’t get them tight, but hopefully they would stem the bleeding enough he could walk out of here.
His clothes were still damp, but he pulled them on anyway.
Getting his boots on one handed was tougher, but he managed.
His head swam and he sat still, waiting for it to pass.
Jamie needed him.
Guilt rumbled in his belly. He should never have made love to her. Doing so had been a mistake. No matter how he felt about her, he’d compromised their work relationship. Because he’d let his cock control him, he let her get too close emotionally.
He refused to examine how he felt about her. Not now. Later. When she was safe.
Standing took all his willpower.
A rush of nausea threatened to incapacitate him. He fought it back. Jamie. He had to get to her. With that thought pushing him, he pulled on his coat and slicker before stepping through the tent flap into the rain.
Walking on the slick, muddy trail took more effort than anticipated. Austin pushed himself as hard as he dared, but he’d lost a lot of blood. He felt it trickle down his side and onto the waistband of his jeans. He didn’t take time to stop and look at it. There was no time. He had to reach Jamie.
Following her tracks wasn’t difficult. In the mud, they stood out as clear as a road map. She took small steps, the bigger footprints of the killer sometimes covering them. So far they stayed on the trail, stopping occasionally.
At one point he saw where Jamie had been on all fours. Austin’s blood boiled. Had that son-of-a-bitch hurt her? If he had, the punishment would be severe—
He pushed on. No time to dwell on what he’d do when he caught up to them.
The temperature dropped, turning the rain to sleet. Austin buried his chin in his collar and continued to slide down the mountain. As he trudged, his mind went over the events of the last few days.
He suspected they had found Kate Hollenbreck’s killer, and most likely who murdered the man from the tent. What he couldn’t piece together yet was why. A serial killer? That didn’t fit. They usually had a type, or at least a certain victim profile. He couldn’t imagine what a lady rancher and a couple of coeds had in common.
Something else to figure out.
He’d been on hard cases before, but this one topped them all. No small town had this much random crime. Could all the disappearances and deaths be related? How? It was like trying to tie a knot in a string that was too short. The pieces just would not come together.
What was he missing? Not seeing?
This damn case would make an old man out of him.
The trail wound close to the stream. The rushing, dirty water sounded like a freight train, blocking any other sound. Taking care not to slip, he edged alongside it. He could swim pretty well because he and his brother had spent a lot of time in the quarries back home in Kentucky, but this water moved too fast for swimming.
The current would carry a body all the way to the Colorado River.
~*~
Austin had about come to the end of his endurance when he spotted a rider. Jinx. Relief filled him and he sank onto the trail to wait.
Austin lifted a hand as he approached. “Am I glad to see you.”
“You look like hell.” Jinx dismounted and looked around. “Where’s Jamie? And your horses?”
“Long story,” Austin said. “The short verse is Jamie’s with a killer and we have to get to her fast. You didn’t pass them on the trail?”
“No.” Jinx looked confused. “She’s with a killer?”
“We found a body last night,” Austin told him. “We were headed back to town to get Doc when someone shot at us.” He indicated his head. “I was grazed and Jamie’s horse went over the embankment. She twisted her ankle pretty bad and the horses ran off, so we decided to spend the night in the camper’s tent.”
“Wait.” Jinx untied his saddlebags and carried them to Austin. He pulled out a thermos. “You look like you could use some coffee.”
Austin took the proffered cup with gratitude. “Thanks.”
“Go on,” Jinx prodded.
No way in hell was he sharing what had happened between him and Jamie, so he skipped ahead. “Son-of-a-bitch caught me off guard.” He nodded toward his shoulder. “Shot me and took off with Jamie. I’ve been tracking them.”
“Where did you leave Jamie’s rig?” Jinx handed over a bag of trail mix.
Austin stared at the older man. “You didn’t see it at the trailhead?”
“No, and it’s not at Jamie’s place either.” Jinx frowned. “I couldn’t have missed her on the road. It’s too narrow for two trucks and trailers to pass without seeing each other.”
“That makes no sense.” Austin finished the coffee, feeling a hell of a lot better. “Who would move Jamie’s truck and trailer? I don’t think it was the guy who attacked us, because he was up here.”
“What does this fellow look like?”
He had a Mexican accent, although not pronounced.” Austin held his hand shoulder high. “Short, stocky. He wore a ball cap, sunglasses—”
“Sunglasses? In the rain?”
“Yeah. I thought it was weird, but didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it, considering he had a gun pointed at me.”
“That sounds like Alejandro Vasquez.”
“He ever been in trouble before?”
“No.” Jinx shook his head. “He’s always been quiet, hard working. Lost his left eye in a farm accident when he was a little kid. That’s the reason for the constant sunglasses.”
“Well, something’s caused him to snap.” Austin handed the cup back to Jinx. “Let me have your gun. I’m going after him before he hurts Jamie.”
Jinx placed his hand over his pistol. “You’re not leaving me up here unarmed. My rifle’s on my saddle. You can take it. Ride Red. I’ll walk out.”
“There’s a tent a ways up the trail you can get in to stay dry until I send help.”
“You save that girl.” Jinx’s throat worked. “I love her like my own daughter.”
“I plan to,” Austin said grimly.
“Not until I bind that shoulder,” Jinx insisted.
Austin wanted to argue, but he knew he’d be no good if he passed out. Or bled to death. “Okay, but make it snappy.”
After Jinx patched him up, Austin said, “Be careful. I’ll send help as soon as I can.”
“You have a cell phone?”
Austin felt his pocket. “Yeah.”
“The first place you get service is the Hollenbreck ranch line. Near where you found Katie.” Jinx held out his hand. “Go. Hurry.”
They shook hands.
Jinx’s next words startled him.
“You let Jamie know how you feel about her, because she’s in love with you, too.”
Austin opened his mouth, but Jinx held up his hand. “Don’t panic, son. No one but me sees how you two look at each other.”
“Okay.” Austin managed a nod.
He mounted the horse and reined away, his thoughts racing. Foremost on his mind was Jamie’s safety. He had to get to her in time. He had let Marisol down; he would not let Jamie suffer the same fate.
Two sets of tracks clearly left camp sticking to the trail. If Jinx hadn’t passed her on the way in, where was she? Had Vasquez taken her into the mountains to kill her? To do the same thing Las Carnales had done to Marisol? A shudder of dread raced down his spine.
The terrain was too dangerous to lope, but Austin pushed the sorrel as hard as he dared. The sleet turned to snow and began to stick to the ground, hiding any tracks. Only the faint hoof prints of Jinx’s horse showed now. He urged the gelding into a bone jarring trot.
As he rode, his thoughts turned to Jinx’s words.
Although unexpected, they rang of the truth.
He loved Jamie. He had almost from the first time he’d seen her. Her beauty attracted him, but it was her spirit that touched him. Her ag
e. Dani. Marisol. His job. Obstacles that kept him from acting upon his feelings. None of that mattered now if he lost her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Jamie’s ankle throbbed with unrelenting pain. Spotting a downed tree next to the trail, she sank onto it and stretched her leg out along it. She desperately wished to take off her boot, but if she did, there would be no getting it back on. She had no idea how long she’d been walking, but it seemed like hours since she’d pushed Alejandro over the embankment.
Regret gripped her. He couldn’t tell her where the women had been taken now. At least they had a starting point. More than they’d had up until now.
Austin.
Her heart twisted into a painful knot and tears threatened. His death was on her. More than the women’s, even. If she’d been alert, aware of her surroundings, Alejandro never would have gotten the jump on them.
Sleet blew sideways into her face, reminding her she didn’t have time to mourn right now. Cold hadn’t been a problem up until now, but if she continued to sit much longer, she’d be in danger of hypothermia. Just a few more minutes, then she’d go.
A horse neighed.
Her head whipped around. The wind howled eerily through the trees, making all kinds of strange noises. Nugget or Sunshine? Had they finally come to a stop? Been grazing this whole time? What she wouldn’t give to have a horse right now. With a weary sigh, she pushed off the log.
She heard it again.
A definite neigh from a horse.
But not below her—it came from behind.
Jinx’s horse? Had he turned around before reaching Austin? Praying for someone she knew, Jamie stood in the middle of the trail to wait. In a matter of minutes, a trotting horse and rider came into view. The rider looked bigger than Jinx, but it was hard to tell through the storm.
“Jamie?”
Austin?
She shook her head. Exhaustion and pain were making her see and hear things not there. She blinked. Took a tentative step forward. Her ankle caught and she stumbled. “Austin? Is that really you?”