Mesa looked at him, not willing to pull the gown off with him watching, since she was not wearing a bra.
He read the hesitation in her eyes and scoffed at her modesty. “I’m not interested in sex, Mesa. At least not now. Maybe another time or another place it might have been interesting, but right now, I’ve got more important things on my mind. I’ve already killed two men, and getting my money from the Storm Horse ranch and getting out of the country is much more important.”
Even in her fear, Mesa recognized the danger she was in. He’d never leave her alive to identify him. Her heart almost froze at the idea of never seeing Raale again, of never becoming Rafe’s wife. Tears pooled in her eyes and she batted them away furiously. She didn’t want this animal to see her cry!
She snatched the thin hospital gown off and pulled on the shirt he’d given her and began to button it. Her fingers trembled but she got it done, then she stood and pulled on the pants. When she had them on she turned and glared at him. “May I have shoes?” Her voice reflected the icy fear that had engulfed her entire being.
He found a pair of slip on sneakers at the bottom of the closet and dropped them on the floor next to her feet.
“When we leave this room, I want a smile on your face. If you are foolish enough to raise anyone’s suspicion, they will die. If anyone asks, I’m escorting you down to the gift shop and we’ll return shortly. Do you understand this, Mesa?”
She nodded and was relieved to see Jenny was still breathing as Cunningham managed to drag her unconscious body into the bathroom and pull the door closed.
“This is on you, Mesa,” he said, his emotionless eyes putting her in mind of a cold blooded reptile. “If anyone else gets hurt or dies, the blood is on your hands. I just want to get my money and get the hell out of here.”
She raked her fingers through her hair and nodded as he pointed to the crutches.
“Let’s go.” He pocketed the pistol along with the hand holding it and as they entered the hall, his other hand came to rest between her shoulders as if he was prepared to steady her if needed help.
At the nurses’ station, Trish, Rafe’s cousin, arched a brow. “You feeling that good this morning, girl?”
Mesa smiled. “I’m ready to get out of here as soon as the doctor releases me.”
Trish nodded and her smile widened. “Where’re you headed?”
“Just down to the gift shop. I wanna pick up something for Raale.” She swung the crutches ahead and moved her body forward between them. “We won’t be long.”
“Kay. Doc probably won’t be here for about an hour so take your time.” In the back of her mind, Trish was trying to remember ever seeing Trey Cunningham visit anyone in the small hospital that served Oak Ridge. Another nurse called her attention to a different patient’s chart, and Trish’s mind returned to her duties.
The elevator door slid open and an orderly pushing a patient in a wheelchair exited it and Cunningham urged Mesa into it.
The doors closed behind them and a moment of panic clutched at her heart, but by the time the doors opened to the ground floor, she had regained control.
Together they crossed the lobby and out through the automatic entrance doors into the parking lot.
Keeping his hand between her shoulders, he directed her to the passenger side of a big SUV parked nearby and helped her inside, then placed the crutches in the back seat.
Mesa’s eyes searched frantically for an avenue of escape as her abductor crossed in front of the vehicle, and hope dissipated when he slid in behind the wheel. In spite of her resolve not to cry, a few tears dropped onto her cheeks as the parking lot and then the town slipped behind them. She wiped them away quickly, not wanting him to see them.
“Why are you doing this Trey? I’ve never treated you with anything less than respect,” she asked, hating the tremble in her voice.
“Believe it or not, Mesa, this isn’t about you. It’s all about my money. Just as simple as that.” He never looked at her while he spoke, instead, his attention was on the road ahead of him.
“You’ve always had plenty of money. When your father dies, you’ll be one of the richest men in the state.” Desperately she hoped he’d listen to reason, but in her heart, she knew it wouldn’t happen.
He scoffed at the mention of his father. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you? Well, the old bastard is planning to leave everything to the red roaches on the reservation.” His voice was raw when he turned and looked at her. “Every damn cent of it!” One of his hands slapped at the steering wheel in frustration. “All of it! He hired a damned Indian woman to be his nurse, and this is all her fault. She’s wheedled and schemed until he’s convinced that a bunch of red roaches need it worse than I do.”
Mesa couldn’t help shrinking as far away from him as she could get. She was terrified of the insanity she was seeing for the first time.
His eyes were almost glazed and spittle strung from his mouth as his rant continued. “Once I get my money, I’m going back to his place and kill both of them. They don’t deserve to live, treating me like I’m a nobody. Dammit, I’m his son!” A glare of pure hate emanated from his face when he looked at her. “I hate Indians. All of them. Damn Jenny Storm Horse thought she was something, walking away from me. She should have been grateful for any attention I gave her. The damned red bitch. I lowered my standards because she had a pretty face, but she was still beneath me, pretty face or not.” His attention swung back to the highway. “All because of that old squaw that raised her poisoned her against me, and she needs to pay for that. In fact, I think today is the day they all pay.”
Mesa wiped away more tears. Cunningham was insane, and she would not live to see her daughter grow up. Oh, God, she hated that her death would be the cause of pain for Raale and for Rafe. She’d never get to have a closeness with her mother, and it would be up to Uncle Rance and Jory, strong, faithful Jory to comfort them all while he went through his own grief from her loss.
She didn’t want to die. She had so much to live for. For a second, she considered jerking the car door open and just bailing out, but she’d still be dead and Cunningham wouldn’t be. At least, as long as she lived, she had a chance to survive, as minute as it might be, and maybe she could keep him away from Uci.
He hit the brakes and turned off onto the dirt road that led past the driveway to the Strom Horse ranch.
Once he turned and was driving up the driveway, Mesa felt bile burning the back of her throat. Frantically she prayed the Uci would not be home, but the little car was parked in its accustomed spot and Uci walked out onto the porch as Cunningham brought the car to a standstill.
“You said if I came with you, you wouldn’t drag her into this,” Mesa reminded him.
“And you believed that? I’ve got the gun, and I’ll do whatever the hell I please. Open your mouth to warn her and I’ll kill her on the spot,” he warned as he got out of the car and walked toward the porch.
Mesa was gripped with the urge to slip under the wheel and drive away, but knowing that if she did that, Uci would surely die, she sat and waited.
The two seemed to exchange a few words, then he walked up the steps and stood beside the small woman. A few more words passed between them and Uci shrugged and walked down the steps beside him and out to the car.
She grumbled softly as she had to climb up onto the side bar to get into the back seat.
Mesa turned to look at the woman who’d raised Rafe, her heart breaking with the knowledge that they’d both die at the hands of a mad man. “Uci, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
Uci reached up and patted the younger woman’s arm gently. “It’s alright, Mesa. Nothing is going to happen today that our Creator doesn’t allow to happen.”
Cunningham slipped behind the wheel, his insanity expressed with a quick laugh. “How touching, old lady, but you need to know that I have a gun and,” his voice grew heavy with sarcasm, “your Creator does not, so I don’t think he has a hell’uv’ a lot to say
about what happens today.”
Uci gave Mesa’s arm another pat and set back in the seat. “You might be surprised at what He can do.”
“Shut up, you ignorant old bitch. I don’t want to hear any of your hocus pocus Indian crap. Just sit there with your damned mouth shut.”
^^^
The cell block door slammed open and a pale Beth stood there looking at them, her eyes wide and brimming with unshed tears. “Rafe, the hospital called. Jenny was found semi-conscious in Mesa’s hospital room and Mesa is gone. Jenny has become more alert and said she had been knocked out by Trey Cunningham, and they think he took Mesa with him and left the building.”
Rafe felt like he’d been slammed into a solid block wall. He couldn’t be hearing Beth right. He pushed into a standing position and looked at her. “Slow down and say that again.”
She shook her head from side to side. “You heard what I said. They need you over there, so get going!”
Levi was now standing beside his stricken friend. “Come on, boss. We’ll find out what happened when we get there.”
As they arrived at the hospital, siren screaming, the shock that had paralyzed Rafe’s mind began to clear. At a run he burst through the entrance and when he entered, Jenny tore herself out of Russ’s arms, flying across the lobby to meet her brother, her eyes swollen from the tears that still marked her cheeks.
Russ, accompanied by an anxious Trish, joined them, Trish slipping comfortably into Levi’s welcome arms, where she stood quietly waiting until Rafe finished talking with his sister.
Rafe cradled Jenny in his arms as she sobbed through what had happened earlier in Mesa’s room, and a combination of rage and terror flooded through his body listening to his sister sniffle through the story. When Jenny was finally finished, Rafe’s mind sorted through the information she’d provided.
Cunningham had entered the room as if he’d just dropped in for a casual visit, but it didn’t take long for him to pull a small handgun from his pocket and inform them that Mesa was leaving with him.
Like a tiger defending her cub, Jenny had flown at him, ignoring the weapon in his hand until he used it to club her on the side of the head. Stunned, she’d slipped in and out of consciousness but had heard him telling Mesa that he was heading out to the Storm Horse Ranch and if she didn’t go with him, without causing a scene, he’d kill the old lady when he got there. It had something to do with money he’d hidden out there somewhere, but Jenny hadn’t heard more.
“Sugar,” Rafe hated to question his distraught sister, but none of this made any sense to him. “Why would Cunningham hide money at the ranch, and when would he have done it. I haven’t seen the man in the area in years.”
She shook her head negatively. “I don’t know, Rafe. I know I missed parts of what he said and did, but I just don’t know.”
Russ stepped closer and pulled his wife back into his arms, freeing his brother-in-law to do whatever he needed to do, and Rafe swung his attention to his cousin as she eased out of Levi’s embrace.
“Did you see them?” he asked, sensing Trish’s anguish.
She nodded and told him about the brief exchange she’d had with Mesa in the hallway. “Thinking back on it, I’m sure he forced her to go with him. I should have known it. I might have been able to prevent them leaving.”
Rafe shook his head negatively. “You couldn’t have known, Trish. Don’t feel guilty.” He looked up at Levi.
“Come on, we’ll plan while we travel.” He looked back at his sister and her husband. “I’m going out to see if I can find them and to make sure Uci is alright.”
Jenny nodded. “I called her and warned her to lock the doors and not to let anyone in, but if he goes out there, you know she’ll try to help Mesa.”
Rafe nodded and swung around, his steps carrying him out the door almost as quickly as they’d brought him in, only a few minutes earlier.
“This is crazy,” Rafe muttered as he slipped behind the wheel of the SUV.
Levi fastened his seatbelt quickly, knowing that his boss would scorch the asphalt all the way to the ranch. “Do you think Cunningham could know how you feel about Mesa?”
Rafe shrugged. “This is a small town and we know rumors travel faster than Caster Oil around here. Anyone that has seen Raale knows she’s mine, so yeah, there’s a good chance he at least knows she’s the mother of my child.”
“What are the chances that he’s involved with that meth lab?” the deputy queried.
“Pretty damn good. He probably killed the mayor to keep him from talking, but I don’t know how.” The tires on the SUV squealed as Rafe accelerated out of the hospital parking lot.
Levi reached over and flipped on the siren and flashers. “Just till we get out of town.” He cut Rafe a quick look. “We probably don’t need to warn Cunningham that we’re coming, but people here in town need to get the hell out of our way.”
Rafe nodded, his concentration focused on driving. “Call Beth and ask her to send everybody on duty out toward my house, and send Spur with whoever leaves from the office. We’ll meet them there.”
To Rafe it seemed to take forever to reach the road that led up to his home. He pulled the vehicle in behind a thicket of scrub oaks and turned off the motor.
“Wait here and meet our back up. I’m going in on foot and check out the house. Make sure Uci is safe, and then I’ll let you know what we need to do next.” Rafe’s mind was already working out the best approach to the house. He slipped into the trees and disappeared.
The tree line was pretty thick along the road, but when he reached the driveway, it was a different story. Crouching as low as he could, he ran the few steps to a nearly dry creek that ran from the spring in the upper field, down behind the house and parallel to the lane until it crossed the road through a culvert on the other side of the driveway from the mailbox. There was some tree cover along the watercourse, but more importantly, the creek had eroded the land along its path, and that lower ground would offer him cover.
Hurrying as quickly as he could, Rafe made his way along the creek until he reached the place closest to the house. Peeking up over the edge of the bank, he visually swept the area but saw no sign of a vehicle except for Uci’s little car. That was a ray of hope, but knowing better than to throw caution into the open, Rafe crouched and moved quickly from the creek bank to hide briefly behind an old oak tree that had once held a tire swing he had swung on as a kid. Then a few years later, he had pushed Jenny and Mesa on that same swing, enjoying their squeals when he pushed them so high their pigtails flailed out behind them. He shook the memories away, clearing his mind of everything except the job he had to do.
From the oak, he sprinted to the edge of the house. He dropped his hat to the ground and eased along the side of the building, carefully peeking into each window as he reached it, hoping to see Uci going about her daily routine. By the time he checked the side of the house closest to the creek, he’d seen no sign of his grandmother and a knot of fear tightened in his gut.
He continued around the house until he reached the back porch. Cautiously he eased across the wooden structure being careful to avoid the boards that squeaked. Testing the doorknob, he found it unlocked, and that knot in his stomach tightened yet again.
He eased it open, pausing to listen for sounds from the house, but silence seemed to settle around him like an oppressive fog. Slipping inside, he made a quick but thorough search for his grandmother but had to accept the fact that she was not there.
He called Levi from his cell phone and asked that he bring Spur up to the house after he sent the rest of their team to set up road blocks on every road approaching the ranch from any direction. It was clear that Cunningham had Mesa and Uci and he’d taken them for a reason.
When the purring motor of his SUV announced the arrival of Levi and Spur, Rafe was standing on the porch waiting for them. He’d spotted a set of unfamiliar car tracks leading past the house, between the barn and the round pen and across the cat
tle gap that led to the hayfield on further, to the back side of the ranch.
He’d read the signs left in the dirt by Cunningham going to the door from his parked car and returning. Uci had left her small tracks beside those of her abductor returning to the vehicle, and it was clear that she had been in the car when it moved on.
Rafe hopped in the SUV before Levi brought it to a complete stop and directed his deputy to drive along the path the other car had taken.
“They’re maybe forty-five minutes ahead of us, but I just don’t know where the hell he’s taking them or why,” Rafe groused in frustration as they followed the tracks.
“What’s back there?” Levi’s head bobbed in the direction the tracks appeared to go.
Rafe shrugged. “A couple of big hay fields, pastures for the cattle, some pine trees that Uci talked about having cut next year. Hell, the house sits at the front of the acreage. Everything else is back here. Close to fifteen hundred acres if my memory is right.”
“Hay barns?” Levi asked.
Rafe nodded. “Several, plus a couple of machine sheds for the haying equipment, pens for separating the cows, shelters so the animals can get out of the weather. You name it, it’s back here.”
“How would Cunningham know about all this?” Levi’s mind was in detective mode and Rafe was thankful.
“He dated Jenny in high school and they used to ride all over this place.” Rafe replied. “He probably even knew there was a back entrance through the pines, but if he did, why the hell didn’t he just come in that way and leave my family alone?”
Levi knew Rafe didn’t really expect an answer to his question. They’d both been in law enforcement long enough to know that if criminals thought the same way they did, they wouldn’t be criminals.
The two lane track that Cunningham had followed back into the pastures crossed a cattle gap into an open field, deep in Bahia grass, and then the track ended. It was still easy enough to see where the grass was flattened by the weight of the vehicle they were searching for.
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