Turquoise Guardian

by Jenna Kernan

  “I’d advise against that.”

  Carter held his gaze.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Might shorten your life expectancy.”

  Tinnin was an eagle catcher, and he was a strong man who had Carter’s respect. He valued his opinion and wished like hell he could do as the older man suggested. Tinnin’s insinuation that there was real danger only made Carter more determined to stay with Amber.

  “I’ll go see her now.”

  Tinnin’s mouth turned down, and he nodded as if knowing already what Carter would do.

  “She’s not your responsibility, son. Not anymore.”

  Carter paused. He knew that in his head, but his heart whispered for him to protect her, that some part of her still belonged to him.

  He headed to the interview room where he found Amber sitting with her arms folded on the table and her forehead resting on her arms.

  “Amber?”

  She popped up, looking dusty and tired and more beautiful than he had ever remembered. Her smile returned at the sight of him, and something in his middle squeezed. His throat went dry.

  “Carter!” She looked relieved to see him. “Are you okay?”

  “Ears are still ringing.” He gave her a half smile. “How did it go in here?”

  She threw herself back in her seat. “They think I know more than I do.”

  “What were you delivering to your boss?”

  “They asked me that.” She lifted her chin toward the closed door, referring to the FBI.

  Carter waited and Amber met his gaze.

  “Receiving slips.” she said. “On a large delivery of mining equipment. I log it in, and then Ibsen follows up with payment.”

  Carter wondered why someone would feel it necessary to kill everyone in the receiving department. Someone who hated open-pit mining would tend toward sabotaging the mining trucks or attacking mining equipment.

  A knock sounded on the door. Amber stood and glanced at Carter. He had time to step between her and the door before it swung open.

  Carter recognized Jack, and his shoulders dropped an inch.

  “I called Ray and Dylan. We’re taking you to a safe place for the night,” said Jack.

  “Where?”

  “Ray suggested the lake.”

  He meant the restricted area of the reservation for members of the tribe only. It was where they often set a sweat lodge with the Turquoise Guardians. After purifying their bodies with sage smoke and steam, they would swim in the lake. There was only one way in, but the drive was over rough roads, and the journey would take an hour at least. More, now that it was dark. Still, he could think of no one he would rather have watching his back than Ray, Dylan and Jack.

  They had joined the US Marines together and served their first tour in the same unit. More importantly, Carter had grown up with them and loved Ray and Dylan like brothers.

  “They’re en route. You two are heading out in a few minutes.”

  “You taking us?” asked Carter.

  “Yes.”

  So it would be all four of them, Dylan, Ray, Carter and Jack—Tribal Thunder, as they were called among the Turquoise Guardians. All ex-military and some of the best fighters in the tribe. If anyone could keep Amber Kitcheyan safe, it was these men.

  “Thank you.”

  Carter told Jack about the receiving slips and his suspicions. Jack leaned forward braced on stiff arms and fists balled on the surface of the desk, listening. When Carter finished, his brother gave them each a long look and said he needed to speak to the chief.

  He walked them to the squad room and left Carter and Amber by his desk.

  “Wait here.”

  Jack joined Chief Tinnin in his office.

  Amber’s attention wandered over Jack’s workstation, catching on the photos. She smiled, lifting the frame that held the photo of his marine buddies. She knew them all, of course, would have graduated with them had she not left. Jack and Carter stood with arms locked around each other’s shoulders in the Sandbox with their best friends and fellow tribe members Ray Strong, Hatch Yeager and Dylan Tehauno. Amber said nothing, just pointed Carter out with an elegant index finger and smiled. Carter tried and failed to avoid glancing at Hatch. He cleared his throat, trying to force back the punch of grief. How could Jack even bear to look at it?

  Amber replaced the frame to the desk and lifted the one in the metal frame, looking at a photo of his family. Carter felt the tension in his chest ease. His breathing returned to normal, but sweat still popped out on his brow.

  “Is that Tommy?”

  Carter stepped closer, wiping away the sheen of sweat, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

  “Yeah. His graduation. That’s eight years ago now.”

  When Amber had last seen him, his younger brother had been a scrawny freshman who was tall but so thin a stiff breeze could blow him down.

  “He got big.”

  “Even bigger now,” said Carter.

  She glanced toward the office where his twin was deeply engaged in conversation with the chief.

  “But not as big as Jack.”

  Carter laughed. “No one is that big.”

  She returned her focus to the photo in her hands. “What’s Tommy doing now?”

  “Shadow Wolf,” said Carter, his chest lifting at the thought that his little brother had joined the elite Native American–only branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

  “Wow. Working on the border tracking bad guys?”

  Carter nodded, his smile full of pride.

  “That’s right. Traffickers mostly.”

  “I thought he wanted to join the military like his big brothers.”

  Carter’s smile dropped. “I talked him out of it.”

  “Hmm.” Amber’s attention went back to the photo. “And Kurt. He pilots the air ambulance?”

  “He’s also a paramedic and a Hot Shot.”

  “Your mom looks exactly the same. And your father? How’s he doing?”

  “He’s good. Still ranching.” Carter watched her and saw her brow knit.

  “He really is big, isn’t he?” Her index finger fell on Jack’s image.

  Carter returned his attention to the photograph.

  All his brothers had long hair back then. He still did, and so did Tommy. This photo showed why Jack kept his hair short. Three brothers with long, straight black hair and Jack, his hair soft brown and showing a definite wave. His gray eyes startling next to the deep brown of the rest of the brothers.

  “He ate more than us,” said Carter, using a family joke that didn’t seem very funny just now.

  “Jack doesn’t look like you three.”

  Carter locked his jaw and made a sound that was noncommittal.

  “Not just his hair, but his body type, too.”

  It was true.

  “I always noticed it, but this photo... Wow,” she said.

  Amber replaced the frame to the exact place it had been on Jack’s desk.

  Carter wrestled with a decision and acted on impulse.

  “Amber. I’d like to tell you something. But it’s private.”

  She turned her dark eyes on him, and his gut twisted as the need roused inside him, causing his blood to race.

  “I understand.”

  “I don’t want you speaking to anyone about it, not even Jack. Especially not Jack.”

  “Does it have to do with the case?”

  “No. It’s personal.”

  “Then I agree.”

  She was cautious. He liked that. Thoughtful and observant and smart.

  “My brother, he...he doesn’t believe that we have the same father.”

  Her dark brows arched, forming an elegant curve,
and her lips pursed. But she didn’t seem shocked or scandalized. Of course this wasn’t her mother they were talking about. It was his. His mother who taught special education for twenty-eight years at one of the tribe’s elementary schools, and he was implying that she had been unfaithful to their dad. It made his stomach ache.

  “I’d have to agree. He doesn’t look Apache. At least not only Apache.”

  Carter felt a stab of grief in his heart. It was a suspicion that he had tried to allay for years.

  “Parents aren’t perfect,” she said. “They make mistakes.”

  The way she said this made him wonder if she spoke from personal experience.

  “You mean your parents?” he asked.

  She rubbed the scar above her mouth as she met his gaze. The corners of her mouth dipped, and she turned to the windows as three vehicles pulled in before the station, their headlights flashing bright in the fading daylight.

  She pointed at the vehicles. “Is that Ray and Dylan?”

  She was avoiding the question.

  He didn’t let go. “Amber, what did they say to you to make you surrender your membership in this tribe?”

  Her scowl deepened. “That was a long time ago.”

  “Not so long.”

  She turned from the window and laid the palm of her hand on his chest. His breathing caught.

  “Why don’t we talk about that another time?”

  He wanted to press, but more than that, he wanted to press Amber against him.

  Carter slipped his hands in his front pockets, and his fingers touched the folded paper.

  He drew out the sealed white envelope he had been charged with delivering.

  “This is for you.”

  She stared at the offering. “Is that the letter from my uncle?”

  He nodded, extending his arm across the gap between them. She hesitated and then accepted the letter. Her fingers brushed over the top of his index finger. The tingling charge of electricity fired up his arm, sending his skin to gooseflesh. Their eyes met and held. Did she feel it, too?

  Her breath caught and her mouth opened. His gaze fixed on that appealing pink mouth as her teeth clamped on her lower lip.

  Carter released the envelope and stepped back, his skin flushed and his heart pounding. Whatever had been between them, it wasn’t over. That much he knew.

  Amber stared at the message. If not for that small white rectangle of paper, she’d be dead right now.

  Amber’s hands trembled as she tore the end of the envelope and removed the folded white sheet of paper, opened it and stared. Then she glanced up at Carter.

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  “What does it say?”

  Amber turned the paper so he could see the blank page.

  “What does it mean?” asked Amber.

  But Carter was afraid he understood. Kenshaw Little Falcon had known what was coming at the Lilac Copper Mine, and he wanted his sister’s child protected.

  “I have to see Jack and I need to speak to your uncle.”

  “You don’t think...” Her words trailed away as she must have reached the same conclusion as Carter. “No. That can’t be.”

  He did not offer reassurances.

  Carter had the strong urge to drop the paper in the garbage can. Instead he brought Amber into the chief’s office and shared the letter with them. Jack’s breath came in a long audible exhalation of air.

  “I’ll go see him tonight. He must have known what we’d make of this.”

  “It doesn’t prove anything,” said Amber.

  “It’s not good,” said Jack to the page.

  The chief slipped on a glove and dropped the envelope and blank page in an evidence bag.

  Chapter Nine

  Carter and Amber were gathered up in an impromptu caravan. Before them rode Dylan in a white pickup truck, the man who’d earned the most honors in the service. He was always where he was supposed to be and a born leader. It was natural for him to take point.

  Next came Jack’s truck carrying Carter in the front passenger seat and Amber on the smaller seat behind them. Ray took the tail, watching their back as always. Ray had a well-earned reputation for causing trouble and making decisions that were questionable at best. He had served time for some of his life choices, but he was rock solid when it came to Tribal Thunder. They trusted him, and she believed that he had never let them down.

  Carter glanced back at Amber, silhouetted by the lights of Ray’s truck.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She nodded, but she wasn’t. Amber had reached the point well past exhaustion back at the station, and she was not sure how she even remained upright.

  “You can stretch out on the backseat. It will take a while to get there,” he said. Though, how she would sleep when they bumped and jolted over the unpaved road he wasn’t sure.

  “Actually,” said Jack, “we’re not going to the lake.”

  Carter frowned at the change in plan. “Why not?”

  “We didn’t want Tinnin to know where you are. Then he doesn’t have to lie.”

  “The lake is a very defensible position,” said Carter, his mind slipping back to his military training.

  “But they don’t have fry bread or a barbecue grill out there.”

  “So you picked food over position?”

  “No, our mom is picking food over position. She found out you are back from Lilac, and no amount of talk will convince her you are all right until she sees you with her own eyes.”

  “Does she know about Amber?”

  “Of course. You think she’d cook fry bread on a Tuesday night for us?”

  “Did you tell her it was dangerous?” asked Carter.

  “Yes and she threatened to have Aunt Gigi drive her out to the lake with the grill and a vat of oil in the back of the truck.”

  Carter accepted defeat.

  Jack spoke over the seat to Amber. “We’re going to your sister’s.”

  Carter saw the smile lift her tired face.

  “Your mom will be there.”

  Her smile dropped like a curtain. Amber groaned and sank back in her seat.

  “Bad idea,” said Carter.

  Jack laughed. “Then you tell her.” He offered his phone.

  Carter relented but crossed his arms in frustration.

  “Relax. I called in some favors. Nobody gets past our police unless they recognized them.”

  Carter lifted a brow, knowing there was no department overtime. “What did you promise them?”

  “Mom’s fry bread.”

  That would do it.

  “And I’m starving,” said Jack.

  They arrived twenty minutes later to hugs and tears by both moms. Amber’s mom, Natalie, hugged Carter. The familiar odor of whiskey and cigarette smoke clung to her, but she didn’t seem so drunk that she was slurring her words. Amber’s sister Kay showed them in, and Carter and Jack were seated as the guests of honor. Ray and Dylan joined Carter’s aunt Gigi and uncle Paul at the table. Their father, Delane, was in the backyard with Kay’s husband, Aiden, cooking steaks. Kay’s children, both under two, were already in bed, but Amber and Kay crept down the hall to see them.

  Amber followed Kay, but her sister stopped shy of the bedroom door and turned in the hall.

  “Are you all right?” asked Kay.

  “Just exhausted.”

  “I can’t believe he has the nerve to come here after what he said to you,” said Kay. Amber had told Kay exactly what Carter had called her, and Kay seemed disinclined to forget.

  “His only other choice was to roll out of a moving truck.”

  Kay sniffed. “He still has no idea. Does he?”

  Amber sighed, hoping s
omeday Carter would listen.

  “I can’t believe what happened today. Those Anglos are crazy. When I think what might have happened.” Kay hugged her again. Then quickly let her go and smoothed Amber’s blazer. “This is filthy. You need clothes.”

  “I do.”

  Kay swiped at her tearing eyes, and her lower lip protruded in a gesture that Amber knew forecast more tears.

  “Don’t. I’m here now. It will be all right.” Except the Feds wanted her in custody as a witness or possibly a suspect and Tinnin had warned that the tribe couldn’t protect her for long. Her stomach roiled, the acid sloshing like water in the washer. Amber changed the subject. “How’s Dad?” Amber’s chest hurt as she waited. Kay’s eyes lifted to the ceiling before returning to meet hers.

  Kay picked at her cuticle, tearing away a bit of skin. “You know. The same.”

  The same was bad. That meant too much booze and too much gambling. Amber recalled the last time she had seen her dad.

  You are my children. I made you and I can make more just like you.

  “It’s stealing,” she had said. “You’re a thief.”

  His face had turned purple as he ordered her out of his house.

  Kay’s words broke into her musings.

  “They lost the truck and horses. They don’t have anything left, really. Just the house, but you know, it belongs to HUD. And Dad got arrested.”

  “Arrested?”

  “Yeah. For writing bad checks. He’s got a court date. But... Amber, I think he’ll have to serve some time.”

  She didn’t know how she felt about that. Was it long overdue or just another link in a chain of sorrow?

  At least Kay and Ellie had roofs over their heads, and her sisters were free and clear of debt. That made her feel some sense of accomplishment.

  “And Mom?” asked Amber, recalling trying to convince their mother to leave, too. All of them. Her mother hadn’t wanted to admit there was a problem, so she had watched Amber go. According to her mom, Amber was just on some kind of extended journey to find herself, as if her father had not done a thing wrong.

  “She needs some help sometimes.”

  Amber stiffened. “You are not giving her money.”

  Kay shrugged. “Food mostly. Safer that way.”