Water was the least of Sarah’s problems. The land changed to rocky outcroppings, some taller than her, others wide enough to conceal more than men and horses. The surface changed, too. Gone was the level earth, it dipped and rose, making for slow progress.
“Sarah,” Lucas whispered, tugging on her jacket to get her attention. “Wait Look over there.”
Sarah backed up a few steps, her gaze directed to where Lucas pointed. The land rose hill-like. She could see where the recent storm had tumbled mud and rocks. But it was the darker spot midway up the rise that held her attention.
Despite the overcast day, the area she stared at was darker than the sage and tree-strewn land. Thickets of walnut, cedar and pine lay before them.
She wasn’t aware that she crouched down until she looked over at Lucas.
“I’ve never seen that before.”
“It looks like a cave, Sarah.”
“A cave. Yes. Perfect shelter. Hidden away, but Lucas, do you see any sign of their horses?”
“Not from here. I will go—”
This time she grabbed his arm. “No. Stay right here. Hard as it may be to wait, we need to be sure. That climb won’t be easy. If we go up and we’re wrong, we’ll expose ourselves to them.”
He stared at her for long moments, his eyes far too old for a boy. “You ask me to wait? You didn’t see what these killers did? They will kill my father. And my brother. You wait. I’ll go.”
He jerked his arm free of her grip.
“Lucas, please. Think about this. If you go up there without being sure and are right, you could endanger them more. Those animals won’t hesitate to kill them. Then they’ll come after you.”
“You say nothing of yourself.”
She gnawed her bottom lip. “I’m afraid. I won’t lie to you. I just want us to have a good plan, a plan that gives us a chance.”
She shivered at a sudden drop in temperature and glanced skyward. No sign of lightning in the distance, but the clouds appeared darker. She hoped the rain would hold off.
She had to wait for Lucas to make up his mind that to rush off could prove fatal to his father and brother. If they were even up there. The more she studied it, the more she was certain the storm had torn loose enough rock and earth to reveal a hidden cave. But how deep was it? How was she to find out if Rio and Gabriel were there?
She should count it as luck if they were above them. But one opening meant one way in and one way out How could she protect them with two killers holding them?
“We can’t go in there, Sarah.”
“I know. I was just thinking about that. We need to figure a way to lure them outside. If they are in there.”
Sarah shivered. She was fighting fear and panic that she and Lucas wouldn’t be strong enough or smart enough to save them. Lucas shifted and glanced down.
“Not a good place to wait. Too wet.”
His remark brought her attention to the cold damp that had seeped into her boots. Again she gazed skyward. It would be getting dark soon and colder. She shifted her position, wrapping her arms around herself as if to ward off the chill. But the true cold came from somewhere deep inside herself.
Sarah hadn’t realized she closed her eyes, images forming, her own sense of helplessness coming back.
When she turned to Lucas, she couldn’t believe he wasn’t there. His name was a soundless cry from her lips. She strained to see where he had gone.
It was minutes before her gaze picked out his slithering body, heading upward, right toward the dark mouth above them.
There was no time to waste cursing him for taking matters into his own hands. She had to move and move now.
Chapter Twenty-One
Deep within the abandoned mine shaft, the only light came from the fire set against the back wall of stone. Firelight danced on the blade that snaked toward Rio. Only his wrists were tied, held chest high before him. He spun away. Not too fast. And not too far.
Rules.
If he had any hope of winning, of taking down the killer that taunted him with his own knife, of gaining freedom, it was crushed with every flickering glance he spared toward his son.
Gabriel had courage. Even fighting for their lives, Rio managed to separate part of his mind to see that The child stood rigid, as he had been ordered, another killer, another knife at his throat.
More rules of the game.
Killers’ rules.
Killer games.
He weaved and dodged the blade again, this time slamming his shoulder against the pointed protrusion of rock.
Pain flared from his shoulder down to his nearly numb wrist He blocked it out Just as he had been forced to block out all that came before this moment.
He was losing track of how long it had been.
The time was lost but not the image.
He would never lose that.
Stepping over the threshold of the tack room, seeing a knife at his son’s throat…no, nothing would wipe the sight from his mind. Not even the blow to his temple that stunned him while they wreaked their horror for Sarah to find.
Sarah.
No. He could not think about her. Or Lucas.
Yet they were there. Worry for them rising despite his own effort to block it, too.
The distraction cost him. At first he didn’t feel the slice of the blade across his raised forearm. At least it was his own knife the bastard was using. Clean blade, honed to a deadly edge.
Quick death.
Rio skirted the fire. His moccasins allowed for better purchase on the rock-strewn floor. But in other places, sand was thick, almost ankle deep. He had to avoid being trapped.
Stay alert!
Dodge. Weave. Duck. And sway. He sucked in his stomach. Close call. He’d almost been had.
How much longer?
He flexed his fingers, the rope around his wrists tight cutting off his blood.
They were going to win. Get away with the spree of killing that both of them taunted him with.
An end to his life.
And his sons.
Sarah would be at their mercy.
Animals. Remember? They have no mercy.
Move.
Keep moving. Provide their sport.
Bound. Gabriel was helpless.
Weaponless.
Dart to the right. Back bowed. Another slash from the tip of the knife. Jump over the fire.
Move. Again. Don’t think of your child held hostage. Don’t think at all.
“Finish him. Finish him off, Harson. Gettin’ damn tired jus’ standin’ an’ watchin’. Ain’t no fun for me. You promised me fun. I wanna go get the woman.”
“Shut the hell up, Boorum. You’ll get yours.”
Rio ignored Boorum’s whining. But it was steady now. Impatient He had the appearance of a small shaggy bear, his light eyes twin pinpoints of evil in his heavily bearded face. Greasy strings of dark hair sank to his shoulders. The once-glossy bearskin vest carried the same rank stench as Harson. Rio had learned the hard way that the smaller killer’s bulk was not fat He swung a mean fist Big, meaty hands that liked to punish.
Especially anyone smaller than him.
He learned, too, that his home was not the first they had ravaged. His wife not the first savaged and killed. His prize stock not the first they had run off and sold.
He stood their failure. He had taken revenge.
They were the only two left.
He had killed Harson’s brother at Sarah’s.
So now he paid for that. Now he provided sport.
Rio’s gaze flicked from the knife to the eyes of the man who wielded it. Harson was not without skill. Rio continued to dance away from the blade.
Harson had a few inches in height on him, his body rope-lean. But he had long arms, and that made him dangerous.
Rio stumbled. The knife flashed. Another slice. This time only cloth was cut.
He stared at the scar that ran from the corner of Harson’s left eye across his cheek to his chin. Some
one, somewhere, had cut open his face. The hands bore other scars.
“Com’on, breed. Come an’ get me.”
Silence.
That was a rule, too. No answer to taunts. Rio darted to the other side of the fire. One minute. A small distraction. That’s all he needed. If only there had been time to talk to Gabriel. To warn him to watch for a chance.
The one thing he could and did do was to keep his gaze from the fire. Beyond all was a deepened gray. But even as he kept his gaze away from the light so not to impair his vision, he kept moving close around it, or jumping over the flames, to force Harson’s eyes toward the light. A twist into the shadows, Harson following, his eyes not as sharp as they adjusted from light to darkness.
He could make it work.
He had to make it work. His strength was ebbing. Thinking, breathing, both were becoming difficult. He had to stop listening to the hammering voice that promised him and his death.
Sweat soaked his clothes. Dripped into his eyes. Stung. Shoulders hunched, he swiped at the sweat, arms raised to protect his face.
Harson sliced off the last button holding his shirt closed.
Rio squinted.
He could not look away. Harson’s eyes held a deep, cold hardness that was unmistakable.
He was getting ready to finish him off.
Dark eyes where violent energy darted around as if it were trapped and had to come out Had to kill.
The thick, coarse features that promised it would not be quick, not clean, but ugly.
Sarah!
Her silently screamed name jolted Rio. Once done with him they would go after her. He had lied to her. Made her hate him. Cast the lovely gift of herself aside as if it meant nothing. It had been everything.
She would never know. Never hear the words from his lips. He was stumbling now. Sand and rock traps for his feet. Sweat blinded him.
Whimpers from Gabriel.
Growled orders.
Silence but for the pop of sap in the fire.
Harson edging him toward the back wall. Trapping him.
Rio seethed with violence all his own. Feeling the muscles of his body loosen. Ready for anything.
Ready now to make his move.
Sarah no longer saw Lucas. He had had a head start. She had watched him, elbows crooked to hold the rifle horizontal to the slithering moves of his thin body. She lost sight of him halfway up the rocky, brush-strewn slope. She had started to follow after him. Even took a few crouching steps in his direction, then changed her mind.
She had no skill to move surely and quietly, more certain with every breath she took that Rio and Gabriel were up there. In danger.
She was chilled to the bone. The cold brought with it a numbness that encased her body and stopped her from thinking of what she had to do when she reached that opening.
Sarah could not avoid the sharp, jagged edges of rock buried beneath the thick layer of mud that made the last few feet of her climb treacherous.
In the distance thunder rumbled. The threat of rain brought a new fear. The storm had washed all that had hidden the cave, would more rain hide it again?
She inhaled, trying to sense how close the rain was. But the darkness, the overpowering sense of danger blocked her. She tried to moisten her lips, but they remained as dry as her throat and mouth. She was breathing too fast, like someone who had run a long distance beneath the desert sun.
She looked up. The opening was about five feet high, no more than three or four feet wide. The darkness descended and made details hard to see. But she had the impression this was man-made. Almost like a mine.
The wind freshened, chilling and damp. She had to stop thinking about the threat of rain.
Just as she drew up into a crouch, prepared to lunge toward the opening, she felt someone’s presence.
“Sarah,” came Lucas’s whisper. “Wait.”
She froze, unable to speak as he worked his way alongside her.
“I found their horses. Set them loose.”
She squeezed his hand. “We need to hurry. I feel…I…”
“Yes. I feel the danger, too.”
Sarah shook her head. Her fear was playing tricks with her hearing. Lucas sounded older, steady where she was still uncertain of what to do. But they were both standing, ready to go beyond the blackness that loomed before them.
They were three or four feet inside when the glow of fire was reflected on the stone walls. The opening curved away from them and slanted downward.
Not knowing what they would find, Sarah led off, her back to the uneven wall, taking side-to-side steps that allowed her to avoid most of the small rocks that littered the floor.
She heard the low, taunting sound of a man’s voice. A few inches more brought a child’s cry.
Gabriel! She glanced at Lucas. He nodded. She reached for his hand, courage flooded her. Both Rio and his son were alive.
Then there was no more waiting. She stood at the edge of the fire-lit cave.
Deeper and wider, as if the hillside had been hollowed to make room for this hidden place. There was a drop of about four feet to the bottom.
No matter what Sarah thought to see, nothing came close.
Little Gabriel, his body shaking with the wide, long blade at his throat. The grinning lips on a killer’s face. His gaze on the scene before him.
Firelight, flickering as it threw shadows on the cavern’s walls. Shadows distorted by the natural jut and curve of stone.
The hulking form, knife wavering, taunting Rio.
And Rio himself, hands splayed, wrists bound before his body, all sinuous moves directed by the threatening knife.
Thin red ribbons sliced Rio’s arms, chest and thighs. It took her seconds to realize they were all knife cuts.
Lucas’s breathing beat loudly in her ears, a beat that pounded like her heart. Terror held her upright as her knees weakened and threatened to give way. She barely felt the boy’s hand grip her upper arm.
A whisper rose in her mind, gathering force, then screaming a warning she had to heed. She looked down. She had drawn and cocked her gun.
“Don’t fire.” Sarah whispered the words in Lucas’s ear. “Stone walls. A ricochet could kill them.”
The boy nodded his understanding, needing no explanation from her with regards to them. He knew she was only concerned with his father and brother.
Their gazes locked and held. Sarah sensed what Lucas wanted from her. She knew what she had to do.
“Drop the knife and let the boy go!” she yelled.
She had grabbed the killer’s attention. His head snapped to glare at her as she moved out into the opening. But she hadn’t counted on Rio being ready to make his own move.
As she repeated her order with the gun held steady in her hand, Rio fell to one knee. His hands swept down, sand flew upward in a spray as Rio lunged toward the hulking body before him.
Filthy curses filled and echoed in the cavern.
Sarah repeated her demand, this time backed up with a single shot. She saw Gabriel reel free from his captor.
“Lucas! Get your brother out of here.”
She didn’t look to see if he obeyed her. Her eyes watched the flash of the knife aimed at Rio. Once more sand flew high. She saw the bulky body staggering away from Rio.
She sensed Lucas moving away from her. But she couldn’t be drawn to look. She had to help Rio, had to protect him.
His graceful, powerful body twisted and turned, avoiding every thrust of the knife. But he was being forced back against the wall.
Sarah steadied herself. She knew there was no choice. Shots rumbled. The noise rivaled the outside thunder. Bright blood blossomed as the killer half turned to shout at her.
She couldn’t hear him, for Lucas was firing right along with her.
Their guns were empty. She kept triggering only to hear the empty clicks. Someone was screaming in pain.
Sarah fumbled at her belt, sliding cool bullets into hot metal. She lifted the gun, sighted
it and found no one standing to shoot.
The noise suddenly stopped. There was only Gabriel, sobbing in his brother’s arms.
Sarah stepped forward to the very edge of the drop. The fire had been scattered over the sandy floor. Wood still burned.
“Rio?” The cavern’s walls threw her cry back at her. An aching, desperate sound that would not stop. She kept calling him. Her voice rose with panic when he didn’t answer her.
Lucas and Gabriel were suddenly beside her. Both boys’ faces were pale with shock, two pairs of dark eyes moist with tears.
“Where? Where is he?” she screamed, then pushed them aside.
Rio came up from the floor slowly, using the stone wall at his back for support. His breathing was harsh, almost too loud in the sudden silence. He stared down at his knife, then shifted his gaze to the body wounded by bullets, but dead by his hand.
“Rio?”
Tears blocked her throat. She watched him, praying silently, pleading and screaming for him to come to her. She saw his staggered first step and fought herself not to go to him. She knew, without knowing, that he had to do this on his own.
She could only wait.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sarah saw that her agony of waiting was shared by his sons. They crowded close to her as Rio made his way to them. Lucas bent forward, arms extended to help his father climb up to where they stood.
Rio looked back, then stared at his sons. His hand shook as he reached out and touched first Lucas’s shoulder, then Gabriel’s.
The scattered fire still burned. In the wavering light, she saw Rio’s eyes, dark, bottomless, glimmering.
She felt his hand touch her cheek, his thumb brush her lips. The horrors of the day faded in a sudden, dizzying rush of love and desire for this one man above all others.
“Sarah.” Rio swayed where he stood. Lucas came to support him. Gabriel clung to Sarah.
She started to walk, willing weak knees to hold her upright, but Rio stopped her.
“Wait If I died this day…” His voice broke. He flung his head back, gulping for air. Lucas had slipped an arm around his father’s waist and urged him to walk on, but once more Rio hung back.
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