Her Texas Ranger Hero

by Rebecca Winters

  “Please. He’s responsible for a human trafficking ring out of China. I need to find him ASAP.”

  “I’ll send it now.”

  “Thank you very much.”

  “Anything to help.”

  Once he’d received the file compiled by Lieutenant Hayes, Luckey read through it carefully. Several pieces of news leaped out at him. Martin was the adopted son of a Caucasian mother, Anna Martin, a gymnast from Freeport, Texas, and a Chinese father, Sima Wang, who was a sports facilitator from Beijing. Through Wang, Martin had a Chinese passport. The family had traveled back and forth to mainland China, and then one day none of them were heard from again. Years later the news broke that after committing the robbery and deaths of the guards by DMSO injections in Las Vegas, Nevada, Martin had evaded arrest. It was presumed he’d fled to China under one of his many aliases.

  Luckey was puzzled. Who were the birth parents? Why was the child given the adoptive mother’s last name? What happened to the adoptive mother and father? It didn’t sound like an ordinary adoption. Something was fishy from the get-go.

  Tired and hungry, he left the office for home. After a visit to the barn, he made himself a meal and worked until late. He wrote down two addresses from the UPS carrier that had delivered cream to Freeport, the town Robert Martin’s adoptive mother was from, neither of them Martin’s aliases. The answers Luckey sought about the recipients and Martin’s birth parents would have to wait until morning, when he planned to drive there and investigate.

  In his gut he knew another clue was hiding that would bring him closer to capturing the sick man who’d destroyed so many lives. Luckey finally fell asleep with the knowledge that Saturday was coming and he’d soon be taking Ally home to meet his family.

  * * *

  ALLY DIDN’T KNOW you could love a whole family on sight, but after meeting the forty people gathered for Luckey’s father’s birthday in Dripping Springs, she sure felt as if she did.

  Everyone was so nice and laid-back. Randy was more reserved, like his father, and had his darker hair. Luckey took a little more after his dark blonde mother, Melanie, who was outgoing and the sweetest, warmest person Ally had ever met. The woman had a charm she’d passed on to her son.

  Everyone congregated around Luckey, especially Randy’s kids and the children of his cousins, as he showed Ally the ranch on horseback. The whole family rode together and it was obvious they all loved their Texas Ranger, but she was way of ahead of them in that department.

  A stream ran through a portion of their property. When their group reached an oasis-like area shaded by a grove of oak trees near the creek, they dismounted. A fabulous spread had been prepared ahead of time, with tables and chairs for everyone. Between three-legged and gunnysack races, with prizes for the winners, Ally had never laughed so hard or had so much fun.

  Gifts appeared for the patriarch of the Davis family. To her surprise, Luckey gave his father a scarf exactly like the one she’d given Jeremy. “You’re now an honorary Ranger, Dad,” he told him.

  She’d bought his father a black domino mask. Luckey’s shock was visible when his father opened her package. He put the mask on and tied the ends at the side of his head.

  Randy grinned. “Good grief, Dad. You look like the real thing! Do you know something we don’t? Is retirement already too hard on you?”

  Everyone laughed. Luckey’s hand slid to Ally’s where they sat.

  “No, no, no,” their mother called out. “Your father’s days for saving the world are over. We’re going on a long cruise.”

  Randy’s wife, Robin, shook her head. “He’ll never last, Mom. Give him one day on board and he’ll want to get off at the nearest port and head back to Texas.”

  More laughter ensued. “She said a mouthful,” Luckey whispered to Ally. He rubbed her palm with his thumb. “Are you ready to take a ride with me? Alone?”

  Her heart turned over. “You think your family will let us slip away?”

  “Just watch.” He got up from the table. “I hate to have to do this, but I’ve received a message that means I have to get back to Austin.”

  There was a collective protest.

  “I love you all. Happy Birthday again, Dad.”

  Ally followed Luckey as he walked over to his parents. They both got up and all four of them hugged. Ally eyed the older pair. “Thank you so much for this wonderful day,” she said.

  Luckey’s father smiled. “Come on over anytime, Ally. You’ll always be welcome.”

  Luckey’s mother walked her over to her horse. “I’ve never seen my son so happy. Whatever you’re doing, I’m very grateful.”

  The wistful note in her voice caused Ally to swallow hard. “You’ve raised a wonderful son. I wish we could stay and help you clean up, but—”

  Melanie shook her head. “If the day ever comes when Luckey actually stays for a whole party and is the last one to leave, I won’t believe it. I married a restless man and I’ve gotten used to it.”

  Ally had the suspicion his mother was telling her that Luckey was restless, too. But Ally had already learned that about him. His mom had to know why Luckey and his wife had divorced. Was Melanie afraid Ally wouldn’t be able to handle it? Was this her way of warning her?

  “Ally?” Luckey had come up behind her. “It’s time to get going.”

  “Thanks again,” she whispered to his mother, and mounted Silver. Luckey got on Persey and they started back to the house. She darted him a covert glance. “Did you really have to leave the party?”

  “Yes. I want time alone with you.”

  She took a risk. “You mean before you have to leave me in a little while?”

  The answer was a long time in coming. “Yes. What did my mother tell you?”

  Ally smiled to herself. “Something I already knew. I like your family a lot.”

  “You’d blush if I told you what everyone thinks about you, but you have a hard time accepting a compliment, so I won’t.”

  “Am I that bad?”

  “Worse.” They rode in silence for a bit.

  “Have you learned anything more about the case?”

  “I did when I went to Freeport yesterday, but before I tell you about that, are you ready to talk about how you felt when you heard Ranger Landrey had been killed?”

  That was the subject they’d been avoiding until now. She took a deep breath. “You already know.”

  “It wouldn’t help to tell you a tragedy like that rarely occurs?”

  “No. I wish it did.”

  “Would that be the biggest reason you wouldn’t want to marry me? Or do you have other reservations? Did Mom tell you I’m hard to live with?”

  “She said you were restless like your father, but that she’d adapted.”

  “She adapted to a lot of things, but it’s a lie that she didn’t worry about him getting killed. She worried every time he left for work, but she put up a good front around him. Robin’s the same way around Randy, but he and I know differently.”

  “That describes my mother, too,” Ally confessed. “Dad will never know how hard her life with him has been at times. He’s had death threats. It’s a miracle he wasn’t shot during his tenure.

  “They never spoke about the close calls and Mom and I pretended we didn’t worry. But nothing could have been further from the truth. Early on, she decided to fight her fear by doing something dangerous herself. That gave me courage and I helped her. Somehow we survived those years.”

  A grimace marred Luckey’s handsome features. “Only to meet me and hear me bring up marriage on the same night one of our legendary Rangers was gunned down.”

  Ally bit her lip. “I won’t lie. It shook me to the core. I thought of his poor wife. I thought of your ex-wife. I’m sure when she heard the news, she was thankful she didn’t have to bury yo
u.”

  “I have no doubt that’s true. I hate to tarnish your vision of your childhood idol, Ally, but it has to be said.”

  She shivered at the direction their conversation was taking. “What do you mean?”

  “The Lone Ranger didn’t marry. Now you know why. It’s good we cleared the air. Come on. Persey and I will race you to the trailer.”

  He took off like a silver bullet. She let him go. Of course she couldn’t catch up with him, but that wasn’t the reason she didn’t try. Their conversation had reminded him of his divorce and the choice he’d made to stay with the Rangers, which meant losing his wife.

  By the time she reached his horse trailer, the shadows of evening were lengthening and she knew he wouldn’t ask her to marry him a second time.

  Silence reigned on their way back to her parents’ house. When he pulled up in front of the barn, he darted a glance at her and said, “I’ve decided to get a tutor for my Chinese lessons. Agent Chen said she’d fit me into her schedule when she could. She could never be you, but we can’t always have the things we want.”

  He didn’t say it in a cruel, punishing way. Luckey simply sounded resigned, but every word caused Ally excruciating pain.

  After levering himself from the truck, he walked around to help Silver back out of the trailer. Ally took over and led her horse into the barn. While Luckey stood by, she fed and watered her Morgan before walking out of the barn.

  Gathering her courage, she looked up at him. “I had a fantastic time with your family. Thank you for that. I know you need to get back to work. You don’t have to drive me to the front of the house. I’d actually prefer to walk.”

  His face had turned into a frozen mask. “As I dig further into this case, I’ll give you and your parents updates. You know where to find me if there’s anything you need. I think you’re an amazing woman, Ally Duncan. What you did for Shan won’t be forgotten. It’s been my privilege to spend time with you.” He tipped his Stetson and climbed into his truck.

  Her vision blurred as he drove off. She felt as though she’d been run over by a tank and couldn’t move.

  * * *

  WITH PERSEY PUT to bed, Luckey grabbed a beer out of the fridge and stood in the kitchen, feeling at the lowest ebb of his life. Nothing could alter what had just happened between him and Ally. If he lost her, he didn’t know how he was going to carry on.

  He was in hell, but he had a job to do. Work would help stave off the red-hot pain until he dropped from sheer exhaustion.

  Yesterday he’d spent all day in Freeport, three hours from Austin, looking for evidence of any kind that would lead him to find Robert Martin. The two addresses where cream had been delivered turned out to be a health care facility and an elderly couple’s home.

  As for the adoption, he’d discovered it had been closed. That was too suspicious under the circumstances. Luckey visited Brazosport Independent School District in Freeport to make inquiries about Anna Martin. No one could shed any light on her.

  He’d decided to visit some kung fu facilities. At the fifth one, an older man in charge of a Chinese gym that taught martial arts told him Anna Martin had worked out there for several years. She’d won some local awards for kung fu. He remembered that she took take care of her sister’s boy. When her Chinese boyfriend wanted her to go to China, she wouldn’t go unless he took the boy, too. They’d had a big fight, and the manager of the gym never saw them again.

  Luckey was excited to have learned that Robert Martin was the son of Anna’s sister. It brought him a step closer to solving this case. The adoption had to be illegal. Luckey went to the vital statistics bureau, where he found a birth certificate for a Caucasian baby boy, Robert, the son of Sybil Martin and Andrew Mott.

  Further inquiry proved the two parents were deceased.

  Momo Demott was one of Robert’s aliases. Sid Marteen was a close fit for Sybil. That led Luckey to look up any Martins, Marteens, Motts or Demotts, who’d lived in Freeport, but nothing that could be linked to Robert Martin turned up. No matter. Luckey wouldn’t stop until he found him and sent him to prison for the rest of his life.

  At two in the morning Luckey finally staggered to bed. As soon as he woke up the next morning, he went outside to see to Persey’s needs and put him in the corral. After eating breakfast, he started cross-checking all Robert Martin’s aliases against the remainder of names he hadn’t yet gone through from the international carriers’ files.

  He left his phone on voice mail while he worked. Randy called to announce his approval of Ally. Following that call, he heard from both his parents and three cousins, all letting him know they were very impressed with her. The only person he knew who wouldn’t call him was Ally herself. But when he looked for her name on his phone anyway, and discovered it wasn’t there, he received another gut punch that came close to incapacitating him.

  Around noon an email came through from Mr. Guan. At last! Luckey opened it.

  I have two contacts for you, Mr. Davis. A silk merchant in Chengdu named Mr. Li Wang will be expecting to hear from you. Also a Mr. Mahyadi Suharto from Jakarta. Their phone numbers and email addresses are written below. I hope this helps you in your investigation.

  Luckey was impressed with Mr. Guan. He replied to the email to thank him for his invaluable help. Then he sent messages to both men, explaining the situation so they’d understand this was a matter of life and death. Thirty minutes went by before Mr. Wang responded by email.

  Mr. Davis, we’ve analyzed the fabric sample photograph. The particular pink silk you’ve inquired about is a relatively new product manufactured eighteen months ago here in Chengdu. Our company has sixty outlets throughout China. Seven are in Chengdu. It would be most helpful if you could supply a date for the time you believe the pink and-gold embroidered silk would have been purchased and in what city and province.

  Where and when? At this point Luckey was really stretching the boundaries of his imagination to think Yu Tan’s mother had been in possession of that fabric. But Beatrice Duncan had traveled to Chengdu with Soo-Lin’s parents. Was it possible she’d made a purchase for the Tan family? There was only one way to find out. If nothing jived, he could forget that route to discovering the name of the girl in the morgue.

  He phoned Ally, steeling himself not to react when she answered. To his surprise, he got her voice mail. He left a message that he was coming over, but on a Sunday she could be anywhere. Without hesitation he reached for the silk sample and left the house for the Duncan ranch. Maybe she was at home, maybe not. But no matter. He needed to talk to her parents and would make this an official visit.

  Beatrice answered the door. “Oh—Luckey—I don’t believe Ally knew you were coming. She’s out riding.”

  So she was home. “It’s all right. I’m here on official business, but I did leave a message with her. Is your husband home?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’d like to talk to you for a few minutes if that’s possible.”

  “Of course. Come in.”

  She led him to the living room and went to look for him. In a minute they’d joined Luckey and sat down. He explained why he’d come. “My contact has traced the fabric found on the girl’s body to Chengdu, where it was manufactured.

  “Ally tells me you’ve been home from China since the end of August. Is there any chance you visited Chengdu anytime in the last eighteen months?” Before they had a chance to respond, Luckey frowned. “Wait, now that I think about it, Ally said you always went to see the pandas in the fall, which would put you there prior to eighteen months ago. That discounts my theory.”

  “No,” Larry interrupted. “Our very last visit to Chengdu was in June.”

  Beatrice nodded. “That’s right!”

  “I had to attend a US-China bilateral meeting on commerce and trade, and took the family with me. We invited Soo-Lin�
��s family to go with us. Soo-Lin came with her husband.”

  Luckey’s heart began to pound. “Where did you stay?”

  “The Saint Regis Hotel.”

  He leaned forward. “Beatrice, this is very important. Did you go shopping while you were there?”

  She nodded. “We shopped our heads off for the whole two days.”

  “Do you remember visiting a fabric shop with Soo-Lin’s mother?”

  “I know we went in and out of several stores. Their silks are beautiful beyond belief.”

  Luckey pulled the fabric sample out of his pocket. “I’d like you to take a good look at this.” He handed it to her.

  She took it from him and examined it. “Larry? Turn on the lamp.” He did her bidding so she could get a better look at it. “That gold thread with the pink silk... I do remember it. Soo-Lin’s mother bought it and two other fabrics from that shop to take home as gifts for the extended family.”

  Beatrice turned to him. “Oh, Luckey—I can’t believe it, but I’m sure you’ve found Yu Tan! You don’t know what this will mean to their family. Thank you! Thank you!” She threw her arms around his neck and wept.

  Elated to realize his wild hunch had paid off, he was slow to realize Ally had just walked into the living room. “What’s happened?” she cried, looking agonized, but so beautiful, even wearing jeans and a pullover, that he could hardly breathe.

  Her dad put his arm around her. “Luckey has just learned that Yu Tan is the girl in the morgue.”

  “What?” Her face had gone white.

  Luckey nodded. “Your mom took one look at this sample and remembered the day last June when she and Soo-Lin’s mother bought fabric at one of the shops in Chengdu. Soo-Lin’s mother wanted to give them as gifts to her extended family.”

  “That means Mr. Guan contacted you.” Ally sounded as if she was in shock.

  “He’s already performed one miracle for us and he’s also put me in touch with a silk merchant in Jakarta. If that lead pans out, we might be able to identify the Indonesian girl in the morgue, too. I believe taking you with me to Houston to act as interpreter was the charm. I’m indebted to you for that, Ally.”