“Yes, but first I want you to head for that orphanage in Acuña before she gets there. Dig through her files, her computer, whatever you can, and see if you can turn up anything useful.”
“But boss…I’m right behind her and Carmichael now. I could take them out easy—”
“Think, Briggs. They’re on the run, no telling where right now. Even if you found them, it’s too risky to blast away with a gun in an American city. We’ve got to be smart. Plan ahead.”
“You think I’ll be able to find her again?”
“Whatever you find in her computer will lead you straight to her. I’m sure of it. Go on across the border, get a good night’s rest and catch the first flight to Del Rio in the morning. Rent a car there and head for Acuña.”
Briggs had hoped not to see Mexico again unless it was a resort vacation. He sighed. “Okay, boss. I’m on it.”
When it was his turn at the checkpoint, he flashed his badge and got out of the car. Two courteous port-of-entry agents inspected both of his disassembled guns, which he had stored in the trunk of the Crown Victoria.
“Are you about finished here?” He injected just a trace of impatience into his voice.
“Yes, sir. You’re good to go. Have a nice evening.”
He planned to. Cruising into McAllen, Texas, the City of Palms, he decided to sample the nightlife before retiring to a hotel. Yes, he was going to have a very nice evening.
Eli hooked his elbow across the back of the seat. “Y’all want something to eat before we get on the road to San’tone?”
Owen, in the front passenger seat of Eli’s Border Patrol SUV with Bernadette directly behind him, wished he could treat everybody to a steak dinner. Under the circumstances, not a good idea. He loved his brother, well, like a brother, but here he was, back to feeling like one of John Wayne’s sidekicks.
“Anything but burritos.” Owen turned to wink at Bernadette and she smiled.
“I’m thinking Chinese.”
Just in case the hit man had caught up to them, they’d left by the back door, with Eli going first to make sure the coast was clear. It was galling to be so out of control in the situation. A target.
At least the SUV’s tinted windows should hide Bernadette’s identity. He wished they could scare up a couple of U.S. marshals to guard her, but she wouldn’t accept that much protection. Owen supposed he should be grateful she allowed him and Eli near her.
“Okay, Chinese drive-through it is.” Eli turned around and started the car.
Thirty minutes later, they were on their way north, teasing Eli for refusing to handle chopsticks and drive, the SUV filled with the exotic odors of kung pao chicken and stir-fried vegetables. By now it was nearly eleven and Highway 281 was fairly deserted.
Owen finished his own meal and half of Bernadette’s, then stuffed the trash in the take-out sack. He didn’t have to wait long for Eli’s questions.
His brother cut off the radio. “Okay, you two, spill it. What’s going on?”
Owen watched Bernadette’s shoulders tense. He hated that she’d had so little emotional respite, but Eli had to know how to help them. Much as he didn’t want to admit it, she was likely to drop something to Eli that she hadn’t told him yet. He held his peace.
“Come on, Benny,” Eli said gently. “You know I’ll help however I can, and anything you say to me is confidential.”
“Eli, I know that.” Bernadette laid her head back against the seat. “It’s not that I don’t trust you.”
Owen ruthlessly suppressed a surge of some foreign emotion. Hurt, maybe? This is your brother, man. Let him help.
But he couldn’t help remembering the night last summer when Benny had called Eli, hysterical over the sudden death—murder, as it turned out—of one of her orphanage kids. Dulce Garcia, smothered by her pillow because she happened to look very similar to a young murder witness—a witness who had become Eli’s adopted daughter.
And Owen had never asked her why she’d called Eli instead of him. He couldn’t without sounding like a jealous chump. And he was not jealous of his happily married brother.
Still, he waited, breath held, to see how she’d answer. If she blurted everything out to Eli after refusing for the last three days to tell Owen anything, he’d—he’d—
Well, what would he do? Suck it up and be a man, that’s what. Do everything in his power to keep her safe.
“Okay, then, if you trust me, you’ve got to give me some idea who we’re up against.” Eli glanced at Owen. “I understand if there are things in your past you’d rather not share. But we can’t help you if we’re boxing at shadows.”
Half a mile rolled past before Bernadette sighed. “That’s true. But like I told Owen, my past is all mixed up with somebody else that I have to protect. She has a family, a new life, and she’s in as much danger as I am.”
“What could be more dangerous than someone trying to kill you?” Owen asked incredulously.
“I know what you’re thinking, but I’m all alone. No family, no ties to anybody else. I promised this woman I’d keep her secret for her family’s sake.”
Owen wanted to kiss some sense into her. “You’ve got more ties than anybody I know! There are people who love you and depend on you, and I’m not going to let you throw yourself under the bus like this!”
There was a shocked silence. An eighteen-wheeler roared past with a gust of wind. Then Eli let out a breath. “Okay, calm down, Owen. Nobody’s throwing anybody under a bus.” He paused. “Benny, what do you want us to do?”
She dabbed her fingers under her eyes and Owen felt like a jerk. “Just help me get to Memphis with as little hassle as possible. I don’t mind if Owen comes, but nobody else. Please.”
Suddenly, Owen’s world turned right side up. She wanted him and nobody else. Not in a romantic way, but still…. Maybe she wasn’t angry with him for pressuring her for three straight days.
There was just one little problem he had to iron out.
Bernadette stumbled into Isabel Valenzuela Carmichael’s outstretched arms and had to fight the urge to burst into tears.
Pulling back to see her friend’s face, she found the feminine compassion she’d had no idea she needed so desperately. Even at three o’clock in the morning, sans makeup and dressed in a chenille bathrobe, Isabel looked like a Latina movie star.
She also looked wide awake and highly maternal. “Come sit down for a minute.” She clasped Benny’s hand and drew her toward a homey family room featuring a stone fireplace, a huge leather recliner and two big sofas on either side of a glass coffee table. Gently pushing Benny onto a sofa, she turned to Owen. “Go on in the kitchen—I made cinnamon buns for breakfast, but you can have one now. I want to talk to Benny.”
“Okay, I know when I’m being booted out.” Owen shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen with Eli. “Cinnamon buns.” Benny heard his voice drift back. “You lead such a hard life, man.”
Isabel’s dark eyes twinkled. “Owen’s always hungry, no matter how much you feed him. How about you? I can run and get you one, too.”
“No, thanks. We ate Chinese on the way up here.” She reached for a sofa pillow and tucked it against her side. “I apologize for getting you up in the middle of the night. I told Eli we should just come in quietly and sleep on the couch.”
“Are you crazy?” Isabel blinked. “When I haven’t seen you since Christmas? Were you able to sleep in the car at all?”
“Some.” Benny yawned. “Owen’s just like that battery-operated bunny. He just keeps going and going. But I’m dead.”
“I imagine. We moved Mercedes in with Danilo for the night so you can have her room, but I thought you might want to wind down for a few minutes first.”
“Yes, but if you don’t mind, I’m too tired to answer questions. Can we just talk about kids and sewing and college classes?”
Isabel’s shrewd look said she understood Benny’s reluctance to get into the details of her adventure. But she smiled. “I never mi
nd talking about my kids. Danilo’s taking the first grade by storm. Literally.” Isabel shook her head. “Just yesterday, his class was practicing for their spring musical. On the way out of the auditorium, he unplugged the custodian’s vacuum cleaner. Shut down maintenance for a solid two hours before they could figure out what the problem was.”
Bernadette laughed. “He was only being a clown.”
“Eli says he’s just like Owen, and he’s driving me crazy!” But Isabel chuckled, too. “Mercedes, on the other hand, is doing so well in her speech classes we can’t believe it. She still signs, of course, but she loves to practice talking, and her English lipreading is amazing.”
“Bilingual lipreading. That’s a wonderful gift.” Though profoundly deaf, Mercedes had been largely responsible for the apprehension of the man who had killed Dulce and kidnapped Isabel and Danilo last year. Benny couldn’t wait to see the little girl and give her a huge hug. “Is she still drawing?”
“We signed her up for after-school art lessons at the university. In the morning, I’ll show you some of her most recent work—oops, I guess that’s in just a few hours.”
“What is today, anyway?” Benny suppressed a yawn. “I’ve completely lost track of time.”
“Saturday. I’m so glad I have a day to spend with you and Owen without worrying about classes. Eli’s off duty until Monday, too.”
“I’m afraid I’ve put him in a bad spot, but I’m so grateful he could come get me and Owen.”
“Eli lives to take care of people. And so does Owen.”
The curious look in Isabel’s eyes was inevitable. Bernadette turned her head. They were friends, but not on as intimate a level as she’d been with Meg. “He’s been very good to me.”
“Of course he has. He’s been in love with you for over a year. Why do you think he took that mission supply-drop assignment?”
“Because he’s a good guy and he loves to share. It didn’t have anything to do with me.” She hoped. She felt that ridiculous wave of heat creep up her neck again. Oh, she was too tired and distraught to deal with this.
“Benny, I know when a man is ready to settle down. I’ve been through this twice myself, remember?” Isabel’s first husband, also a Border Patrol agent and Jack Torres’s partner, had been killed in the border incident involving Eli and Owen’s father. She’d been happily married to Rico Valenzuela for five years.
Benny looked over her shoulder to make sure their voices hadn’t carried into the kitchen. She heard the men laughing over something Owen had just said. “Well…well, maybe he’s ready, but I’m not.”
“Why not? Benny, he’s a strong Christian, he’s got a great job and goodness knows, he’s a doll! What are you looking for?”
“I’m not looking for anything.” Why was that so hard for people to understand?
“Maybe he’s been coming on a little too strong. I can’t imagine anybody being intimidated by Owen, but is that it?”
Benny pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, no! Isabel, can’t Owen and I just be friends?”
“I’m not sure.” Isabel looked troubled. “I’m positive he…but maybe I’m wrong.” She gave herself a little shake. “But listen to me, pestering you when you’ve just come home from such a hard trip, when you’re probably dying to go straight to bed. I’m sorry. Come on, if you’re sure you don’t want something to eat or drink, I’ll show you where the bathroom and Mercedes’s room are.”
Benny followed Isabel into the kitchen, where Eli and Owen sat at the table, sharing a plate of gooey cinnamon rolls and a carton of milk.
“Eli!” Isabel huffed. “I thought we agreed you weren’t going to drink out of the carton anymore.”
Eli looked guilty. “Owen made me do it.”
“I did not! You said you didn’t know whether the dishwasher had been run.”
“Never mind.” Isabel sighed. “I wanted you to know I put a pillow and some sheets in the coat closet for Owen. Can you help him make up the couch while I get Benny settled upstairs?”
“Sure.” Eli picked up the plate of pastry. “I’ll just put these away first.”
“I don’t know why he’d bother,” muttered Isabel to Benny. “They ate all but two of them. I’ll have to start all over for breakfast.”
Benny smiled as she followed Isabel up the stairs.
Owen wandered into the family room and found the linens Isabel had left for him in the closet. He didn’t see his brother more than once or twice a month now that Eli had married and moved away from the border so that Isabel could go to college. Still, he was almost as comfortable in their home as he was in his own apartment.
They always offered to move six-year-old Danilo out of his bed for Owen, but he preferred to sleep on the sofa. He liked to get up early, raid the refrigerator and take a glass of orange juice out to the back deck to read the paper. Once the kids got up, he’d play “Uncle Owen,” bouncing on the trampoline with them, swinging Danilo on the tire swing, taking a cup of pretend tea with Mercedes. She was such a girl, and he enjoyed teasing her with exaggerated bad manners.
Eli, apparently having dealt with the remnants of the cinnamon rolls, came out of the kitchen to help him set up the roll-out couch.
“Sorry if I got you in trouble.” Owen flipped open Isabel’s crisp sheet. He held it to his face and sniffed. She liked to hang things in the fresh air and they always smelled so nice.
“She wasn’t mad. Just teasing you.”
“How could you tell? She looked mad to me.”
Eli got that goofy “Isabel” look on his face. “I’m getting to where I know her really well.”
“After eight months? You still got a lot to learn, boy.”
“Maybe so. But I’m happy.”
Owen snorted. Well, duh. He stuffed the sheet under the bottom of the mattress with less than military precision.
Eli fixed it. “So what’s going on with you and Benny? She reminds me of that cat Mom used to have. Remember when you blasted it with your Super Soaker?”
“Only you would bring up my youthful indiscretions at a time like this. I did not squirt Benny with a water cannon.”
“That’s not what I’m saying!” Eli scowled. “I’m just saying she looks really nervous around you. What have you done?”
“I haven’t done anything!” He glanced toward the stairs. He could hear the shower running, but lowered his voice anyway. Isabel didn’t need to know what a neurotic mess he’d turned into. “You’d look a tad traumatized, too, if you’d been shot at and chased halfway across Mexico.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Eli plopped into the recliner as if it wasn’t nearly four o’clock in the morning. “All that aside, I thought you went down there to sort of stake your claim with her. Get her to come home.”
“I never said that!”
“Owen.” Eli shook his head. “This is me, remember? The guy who taught you how to drive? Your chauffeur for your first date? Does she know what you went down there for?”
Owen gave up on defensive pride. He sat down on the sofa bed and bent to take off his shoes. “I think so,” he muttered toward his feet. “We kind of talked around it.”
“So what did she say?”
“I never realized what a nosy Nelly you are.” He sighed and flopped backward onto the couch. “Remember when we were up in my chopper, looking for the guy who killed Dulce?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You told me that day that going after Benny was a hopeless case.” He swallowed hard. “Well, you were right.”
“I was an idiot. Don’t pay any attention to that man behind the curtain.”
“Ha. You’re dealing with the Cowardly Lion here, man. I’m about ready to give up on her. I mean, how many different ways can a woman say no?”
Eli looked skeptical.
“Okay, listen.” Owen decided to shoot straight. He needed his brother’s counsel. “I do love her. You know I do. But she’s not exactly what I thought she was. What you
said a minute ago struck home with me—about getting to know Isabel over the last eight months.” Eli’s eyes widened and Owen backtracked. “I don’t mean Bernadette and I got, uh, intimate or anything like that. I just mean we’ve been together a lot. Through thick and thin, as they say. It changes the way you think about a person.”
Eli frowned. “Maybe you’d better explain a little more.”
“Well, for example. Every time I touch her, she flinches. Not like she’s afraid of me, but more like—” he fumbled for words “—like she’s afraid of herself. You watch her. She’s affectionate with Isabel and the children. She even hugs you freely. But let me get within a couple of feet and boom, she freezes up. She relaxed a little bit toward the end of the trip, when we had more important things to think about, like staying alive. But, Eli, I can’t marry a woman who won’t let me touch her!”
He looked away, the outburst having come from somewhere in his gut that he didn’t even know was there. Eli opened his mouth to reply, but Owen held up a hand to forestall him and sat up, restless.
“Man, that sounded beyond selfish.” He put his head in his hands. “I know there’s a reason for it. Somebody hurt her a long time ago and it had nothing to do with me. I just don’t know if I’m strong enough to deal with it.”
Eli lowered the recliner footstool and leaned forward, elbows on knees. “Listen, brother, don’t sell yourself short,” he said quietly. “If anybody can love her past whatever the problem is, you can. Or, rather, the Lord in you can. Don’t imagine that Isabel and I have this perfect understanding all the time. She’s got issues with losing Rico like she did that we’re still getting over. It just takes time. Lots of prayer. Communication. Strong counsel.”
Owen looked up and met his brother’s gaze. The compassion there made his eyes burn.
Eli smiled. “I’ll leave you alone and let you get some sleep. Just know that Isabel and I are praying for you, and you can talk to me about it anytime. Okay?”
“I hear you.” Sighing, Owen dropped onto the pillow. “Just do your best to keep Danilo from jumping on me at the crack of dawn.”
On Wings of Deliverance Page 12
