The Man from Texas

by Rebecca York

  “I thought about it. If I could stash you here, I would. But I can’t leave you in the middle of the desert.”

  “I wouldn’t let you do that anyway.”

  “Yeah, I figured.”

  They dressed, drank more water and strapped on the small backpacks that he’d included with their supplies, then ate some trail mix as they walked.

  A half hour later, Hannah knew why Luke had started early. The sun was brutal above them, the heat already like an oven.

  By the time they reached the mountains, her shirt was plastered to her body and sweat was trickling freely down her body.

  Luke looked at her appraisingly, then ordered her to take a drink. She didn’t need a second invitation. But she rationed the water, figuring that she might need it more later.

  Reaching the mountains was a relief. At least there was some shade as they wound their way up a steep trail carved through stark rocks.

  Twice more they stopped for water, although Hannah suspected Luke was also using the opportunity to let her catch her breath. She had kept up her exercise schedule when she’d left the police force, and she’d thought she was in good shape. But that was in Baltimore. In the desert, the relentless heat was taking its toll on her stamina.

  When they came to a place where the trail forked, he stopped again, and she leaned against a rock, trying not to look as if she was winded.

  She could see Luke was wound tight as a mainspring as he chose the trail to the right and started moving again.

  She didn’t waste her breath asking if they were getting close to their destination. Instead, she simply kept plodding along in back of him, determined to keep up the pace. He came around a curve, stopped short and stepped back, blocking the middle of the path.

  The stench coming from the other side of the rock told her what he was blocking from view.

  Something very dead. She shouldered past Luke—then gagged. There were six bodies, and all of them had been in the hot sun for much too long.

  “Sedgwick’s men?” she asked.

  “Yeah. And another guy. Someone I don’t recognize.”

  They both stepped back around the rock where they didn’t have to confront the carnage. She’d seen bodies before, but not bodies like these.

  “You think you can figure out what happened?” she asked in a choked voice.

  Before he could answer, another voice chimed in. “I’d like to hear the answer to that, too.”

  The speaker was a man with an automatic pistol in his hand.

  “Take out your guns, nice and easy,” he said. “And drop them on the ground. Then raise your hands.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Hannah stood facing the man with the gun, struggling to project an aura of calm even when her heart was pounding so hard inside her chest that she felt as if she was going to faint.

  Without making any sudden moves, she pulled the gun from the waistband of her jeans and tossed it on the ground, then raised her hands.

  Beside her, Luke silently did the same, his eyes never wavering from the man who had surprised them.

  Who was this guy? One of Sedgwick’s men? Had he stationed someone out here round the clock in the middle of nowhere? Or was this someone from the Mexican authorities?

  “Let the woman go. She had nothing to do with what happened here,” Luke said.

  “We’ll see. Show me where you stashed the money.”

  “Not around here.”

  “You expect me to believe that? Then why did you come back—to make sure your friends are still dead?”

  “I have my reasons.”

  “You’re going to turn the cash over to me,” he said, his voice flat and his eyes as cold as a lizard’s.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “If you don’t talk, the lady is going to get hurt,” the gunman answered.

  Hannah studied him with a strange sense of detachment, as if she were on the other side of a one-way mirror looking at an individual in an interrogation room. The way he spoke, his malevolent expression, told her that he had no conscience. He intended to leave her and Luke as dead as the men they’d just encountered.

  Luke was speaking again. “The money’s in a safe place, but if you want to get your hands on it, you’ll need my cooperation.”

  “I don’t need you. The lady will tell me.”

  “She doesn’t know.”

  The gunman considered for a moment. “Then this is how we’ll play it—you’ll tell me, to keep her from getting shot in the kneecap and left out here for the buzzards.”

  She saw Luke’s complexion go gray and knew their captor hadn’t missed the reaction.

  “All right. The money’s buried about twenty miles from here.”

  Hannah processed the information. Luke had just told a bald-faced lie.

  “Nice try. What are you trying to do—buy yourself some time?”

  “No,” Luke answered, his voice unwavering.

  “Where exactly? Hurry up or your girlfriend gets it now.”

  She saw Luke’s jaw harden, saw a look of bone-chilling anger come into his eyes. “The money’s in a little canyon with a natural spring,” he said, describing the place where they’d been the night before. “I put it in a nice safe hidey-hole where nobody’s gonna stumble over it. And if you touch a hair on her head, I won’t tell you a damn thing.”

  The man with the gun contemplated him for agonizing heartbeats. Finally he said, “Then I guess you’re damn well going to have to show me. But if I find out you’re lying, she gets it first. Then you.”

  Luke said nothing, only nodded.

  “Okay, I’m parked on the other side.”

  Hannah had no idea what he meant. The other side of what? He confused her even more as he gestured toward what looked like a solid wall of rock behind him.

  Stepping aside, the man narrowed his eyes and pointed the gun at Luke. “You first. Through the cave. And don’t try anything funny, like getting too far ahead of me. You make a wrong move and your lady suffers the consequences.”

  Hannah clenched her teeth to keep her jaw steady. If they got to that canyon and Luke couldn’t produce the money, they were in big trouble. So somewhere between here and the canyon, he had to be planning on their getting away. But how? And where?

  As he passed her, he said something under his breath. It sounded like “Nasty critters.”

  Just the two low words as their eyes met for a brief, fierce instant.

  The man with the gun had heard him, too. “What was that? What the hell did you say?” he demanded.

  Luke raised his chin. “Just an editorial comment.”

  “About what?”

  “You.”

  “Get going before I shoot you here.”

  Luke strode down the narrow gap. As Hannah watched his tight shoulders, she puzzled over what he’d said.

  Nasty critters. The phrase was important enough for him to risk a comment now, of all times. He’d said critters. Not critter. He wasn’t talking about the man who held them captive. He was trying to tell her something. But what?

  She turned the phrase over in her mind as Luke led the way toward the rock wall. When she followed, she spotted what she hadn’t seen from several yards away. The path turned a sharp corner into a covered passage.

  The cave had a high roof and an uneven floor that slanted downward toward another opening—so that light filtered in from two directions.

  Luke stopped abruptly at the entrance to the tunnel.

  “Get going!” the man with the gun snapped.

  “Give me a minute for my eyes to adjust. You know damn well it’s dangerous in here. One wrong move and you could go over the edge. Or step on some nasty critters.”

  Hannah took in the words. Nasty critters. He’d said it again.

  Behind her, she could hear their captor shifting impatiently from foot to foot. Then Luke started forward. Dry-mouthed, she followed, aware every second that a gun was pointed at her back.

  The light was
dim, and the temperature was several degrees cooler than outside, cooling the perspiration on her neck.

  Luke was certainly right about the place being dangerous. There was a rock wall on the left, then a narrow walkway a couple of feet wide strewn with fallen rubble. To make matters worse, part of the surface had crumbled away, where the ledge dropped suddenly off into darkness.

  Luke turned and pointed toward a pile of loose rocks. “Watch your step. You could slip if you’re not real careful.”

  “I’ll catch her if she does!” the gunman replied, then switched on a flashlight.

  Shuddering at the prospect of his dirty hands touching her flesh, Hannah pressed a palm against the rough rock wall to steady herself physically and mentally, too.

  Trying to get her bearings, she looked around and was astonished to see paintings like the ones in the little canyon with the watering hole.

  Going stark still, she stared at the stylized figures. The shamans had been here, she thought in wonder, her eyes taking in the sweep of images that marched along the rock wall a few feet above her head.

  “Get moving!” the man in back of her ordered.

  “I’m scared of the dark,” she managed to say, making her voice quiver.

  He made a derisive sound, then raised the light so that it played along the ledge by her feet. “I’ll give you something to be scared of if you don’t move.”

  Automatically, she took a step forward. But her mind was spinning now. This was a magic place like the canyon last night where Luke had taken her in his arms. She’d felt it then. And she felt it now in a rush of cool sensation that helped to center her.

  Still, her pulse was pounding as she crept forward, feeling as if the world had slowed around her, giving her the time she needed. Time to remember something important.

  “I said hurry up,” the man behind her growled. “We haven’t got all day.”

  “I’m going as fast as I can,” she answered, hearing her own voice come from far away. Her eyes were riveted to the wall beside her, all her senses alert for something that should be obvious. The drawings? Was there something in the drawings that would help her?

  Several feet in front of her, she spotted a place where the artist had painted a cluster of black dots like a clump of spiders clinging to the vertical surface. As she focused on them, Luke’s words leaped into her head. Nasty critters.

  Luke had said nasty critters. Twice. Telling her there could be dangers in this cool, dark place. Dangers real or imagined, she suddenly realized.

  It was then that she understood what he wanted her to do. Throw the man behind her off balance.

  Carefully she picked her moment, waiting until she had just passed a pile of loose rubble that had shifted dangerously under her feet, sending a spray of chips over the edge of the narrow ledge. Then she drew in a breath. Stopping in her tracks, she let out a scream of terror that echoed and reechoed off the stone walls of the tunnel.

  “Black widow spiders!” she shrieked like a helpless female in a horror movie, her voice rising in feigned panic as she ducked down and covered her head with her hands.

  “Where?” the gunman shouted from behind her.

  “Over there!” Frantically she pointed, cowering back.

  He was almost on top of her now. So close that his pant legs brushed against her boots.

  From her crouched position, she pushed backward, catching him in the knees, tipping him off balance on the narrow stone walkway.

  As he scrabbled to get his feet back under him, he dropped the flashlight and squeezed the trigger of the gun, sending bullets glancing wildly off the rock. Then the gun, too, clanked to the ledge and went over the side.

  “Stay down,” Luke shouted.

  She grabbed for the weapon, missed it, then flattened herself against the rock as Luke leaped over her, head lowered as he butted their captor in the stomach.

  She heard a scream as the man tried to right himself. Turning, she saw him grab desperately for purchase, clawing at the rock wall, even as he pitched over the edge of the walkway and tumbled into space, his scream of horror echoing off the cave walls as he fell through the darkness.

  Long moments later, she heard him hit the bottom somewhere far below, but the flashlight had gone out when it tumbled over, so she could see nothing. The gun was down there, too.

  Stunned, she could only stare into the blackness. It had all happened so fast that she could hardly believe it was over until Luke grabbed her. Pulling her into his arms, he wrapped her in a grip so tight that it was almost impossible for her to breathe.

  EYES CLOSED, Luke clung to her with equal strength, feeling the pounding of her heart and his.

  When he thought about what had almost happened, he felt cold, clammy sweat break out across his skin.

  For long moments they simply held each other as he gathered her away from the edge.

  “You are the bravest woman I ever met,” he whispered, his lips skimming her hair, his hands stroking over her back and shoulders.

  She shook her head. “I was scared.”

  “So was I. I knew he wasn’t gonna drag us back to Baltimore to look for the money. And I knew damn well I had to think of something before we got to the canyon.”

  She nodded against his shoulder.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. Was that what you wanted me to do—make him think there were nasty critters in here?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. If you could shake him up, I could take him.”

  She lifted her head. “Where did he come from? Did you know who he was?”

  “Vincent Reese.”

  “Am I supposed to know that name?”

  He shook his head. “No. He’s another player in this damn game.”

  “How did you know him? It didn’t look like you’d met.”

  “We didn’t. I’d found out from my boss at the Peregrine Connection that he was operating in this area. Him and his buddy. They were stalking the Sedgwick gang, trying to move in on them when money was changing hands. I guess he double-crossed his partner. He must be the guy I didn’t recognize back there with the rest of the dead men.”

  Hannah shuddered, then looked toward the chasm. “How deep is it down there?”

  “I don’t know. But it’s got to be deeper than the spot where I went over the side.”

  Her head jerked up. “You fell down there? That’s what happened to you?”

  He gave her a rueful look. “I still don’t remember much about it. All I have is an image of myself flying over the edge into the darkness. But that makes sense.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “The best I can reconstruct it, I was probably in here guarding the money. Then the shooting started, and I hustled toward the entrance when I heard the gunfire. I must have slipped on the loose gravel. Or maybe the ledge gave way. All that makes sense, but I still don’t remember how I got out.”

  Her arms tightened around him. “You were too tough to die here. Either you walked out or you drove.”

  “Yeah.”

  She brought his mind back to the present when she asked, “How did Reese find us here?”

  “I assume he had a lookout in town, in case I came back. Maybe his contact was our friend Diego.”

  “Maybe we should get out of here in case somebody else shows up.”

  “Yeah. But we’d better go back for our weapons.”

  He noted with amusement that she hadn’t even been thinking about that. Taking her hand, he began leading her along the ledge, back the way they’d come, a much different journey than the first time. Now that Reese wasn’t behind them, he felt as if a million-pound weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

  “It’s all over,” she said with a sigh of relief as she forged ahead toward the end of the tunnel where they’d entered earlier.

  He hated to shatter her feeling of safety, but there were still too many loose ends dangling. “Not yet.”

  Her fingers tightened on his. “You mean we’re still in
danger from Sedgwick’s gang?”

  “Sedgwick’s men—and the Peregrine Connection.”

  “I understand about Sedgwick, but why would the Peregrine Connection come after you? You work for them.”

  “Either they think I’m dead, or they think I took off with a million dollars that doesn’t belong to me.”

  “They know you’re honest!”

  “They know I was honest. I’ve got to tell them what happened here. Reese said he had a truck parked at the other end of the cave. We’ll take it and get back to civilization. Not Pritchard. It’s too hot for us there at the moment. Who knows how many spies have been paid to rat me out.”

  They retrieved their weapons and started back the way they’d come.

  “Why was Sedgwick’s gang meeting out here?” Hannah asked.

  “To exchange money for drugs. I suggested the location, and they liked it because the cave has two entrances. I found it when I was a teenager prowling around in the desert when I needed to get away from my old man.”

  “You crossed into Mexico by yourself when you were a teenager? Wasn’t that kind of dangerous?”

  He shrugged.

  “I guess you were a real asset to Sedgwick, knowing the country along the border.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Were there other meetings here?”

  He nodded. “This was the third.”

  As he spoke, they reached the other end of the cave and stood facing a slitted opening in a rock wall. Luke paused, his hand on Hannah’s arm.

  “Wait,” he ordered.

  He cautiously emerged from the cave, blinking in the sunlight. Quickly he scouted the area, making sure that Reese had come alone. When he was satisfied, he started back for Hannah, a dull ache gripping the pit of his stomach because he knew what he had to do now.

  Perhaps what he was feeling showed on his face because she drew in a little breath before asking, “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I’m going to drop you off somewhere safe then get back to headquarters before they catch up with me.”

  “No!”

  “I have to go back. Otherwise I’ll be a fugitive for the rest of my life.”

  “I understand that part. I’m saying you’re not dropping me off somewhere.”