Swelter

by D. Jackson Leigh

  August relaxed a little. Better than a human wolf with a gun. A low whine pierced the night, and August cocked her head. “Rio?”

  They both relaxed at the answering woof.

  August rolled onto her back. “Come here, girl.”

  The collie was on August in a heartbeat, licking her face and yipping her happiness at finding her. She spared a few licks for Teal, too.

  “She’s sure a sight for sore eyes,” August said, then wrinkled her nose. “But I don’t know what you’ve gotten into. You reek.”

  “Phew. She smells like she’s been in the garden with Pops.” Teal ruffled Rio’s fur. “I was imagining a mountain lion about to jump on us. Does this mean we can go back already?”

  August sat up and retrieved the note Pops had tied around Rio’s neck, then unclipped the pen light from where it hung on the outside of the pack. She read quickly. “Son of a bitch.”

  “What does it say?”

  Everything in August wanted to go back. But the horses were probably halfway to the ranch by now, and Pops’s note warned that BJ had been injured and Reyes’s hit man would likely be headed her way soon.

  “It’s just a warning that the bad guys are coming for us. Pops said he’d try to delay them a bit. We already have a head start and will be traveling faster since we know where we’re going. Still, we shouldn’t rest too long.” She stared into the darkness for a moment, then pulled out her cell phone.

  Teal looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Surely you can’t get a signal out here.”

  “No, just setting an alarm.” She was never so glad she’d downloaded those nature sounds on a whim. She set the alarm for an hour before dawn and turned the wake-up sound to “hawk’s cry.” She made room on the bedroll by her feet and pointed. “You’re sleeping down there. Even that’s a little too close, considering the way you smell.” Rio curled up in the spot indicated, and August lay back, holding her arms open in invitation to Teal. “We’ve got one hour to sleep.”

  “I doubt that I can. Or that you can either.”

  “We have to try because we’re going to need the energy tomorrow. We can relax now because Rio’s hearing is a lot better than ours. She’ll wake us if anything sounds unusual.” She wrapped one arm around Teal and rested the other within inches of her gun. She wouldn’t make that mistake twice.

  *

  Bunny stomped on the brakes and whipped onto the road’s shoulder at the sound of hands slapping against the back window of the truck’s cab. She shot her husband an irritated look. “These guys are gettin’ on my last nerve.”

  Tank gave her an apologetic shrug and lowered his window to twist around and poke his head out. “What?”

  “Back there, on the left.” Johnston pointed behind them. “I thought I saw some tire tracks, and it looked like some of the sagebrush had been knocked down.”

  Tank dug a dusty set of night-vision binoculars from the glove box and scanned the landscape. A flat prairie led to some not-so-distant hills, both covered with scrubby trees and spotty undergrowth. A small cloud of dust kicked up near the hills. “There’s somebody out there, all right.”

  “Hold on.” The men hardly had time to heed Bunny’s warning when the big truck made a U-turn and rolled slowly back down the two-lane blacktop. She turned the air-conditioning off and rolled her window down, too, since Tank was hanging out of his, scanning the road shoulder with a mag light.

  “There.” Tank pulled back and pointed. The tire tracks were faint on the hard-baked ground, but it was clear from the crushed underbrush that something big had made a winding path around the largest of the scrubby trees.

  “Lord, I don’t know how I missed that.” Those deputies weren’t so bad after all.

  Tank wedged himself through the window to shout instructions to them. “There’s no way they’ll miss this big rig coming after them, but you guys stay down where they can’t see you. We’ll stop when we get closer and let you crawl out the back and spread out in the trees.” He grunted as he squeezed his belly and wide shoulders back through the window to settle in his seat, then gave her a thumbs-up. Good thing she had Tank around. He was the yang to her yin, and she loved every pound of his big, hairy body.

  Bunny backed the truck up and swung wide to follow the SUV’s path. “Yee-haw.” She grinned at Tank as she wrestled the steering wheel and shifted into four-wheel drive. “I love goin’ off-road.” They bounced around the cab, and cursing accompanied the loud thumps in the back as the truck navigated the ditch.

  The SUV’s path through the brush was clear, and although their monster truck was much wider, the scrubby trees barely topped the big tires that rolled over them like they were twigs. Still scanning the horizon with the night-vision binoculars, Tank suddenly edged forward in his seat.

  “Holy shit, baby doll. They’re headed toward us, not away.”

  Her breath caught. “That’s not good, sweet cheeks. That means they’ve already dumped our boys out there.” A lump grew in her throat at the thought, and her voice cracked. “I don’t know what I’ll do if something bad happened to Tommy.” She slowed to a stop. “My sister is so much older, he’s more like a little brother to me than a nephew.”

  “I’ll skin every one of them alive if they harmed one hair on that boy’s head,” Tank said, wrapping her in a one-armed hug.

  “Thanks, sugar.” She soaked up his love for a few seconds, then gave him a squeeze before pushing him away. “Now you and the boys git. I’m gonna block their path so you can pick them off.”

  “You be careful and keep your head down, sweet cakes.” Tank turned his puppy-dog eyes on her. “I don’t want nothing happening to you.”

  She gave him a quick peck on the lips, then handed him a rifle from the gun rack behind them. “You stay safe, too, big guy. I need my teddy bear.”

  With a wide smile, he slid out of the cab to the ground and joined the deputies. She watched them disappear into the brush on either side of her and then turned her attention to the task at hand. The top of the black SUV was still moving toward her through the ground cover. She smiled. While she could easily see them from her tall vantage point, they wouldn’t see her until she was nearly on top of them. She began to sing softly. “A hunting she will go, a hunting she will go. Hi-ho, you’re road kill-o, when Tonka rolls right over you.” She waited until the SUV drew close so that she didn’t get too far from her guys, then revved the 5.7-liter Hemi pushrod V-8 engine and barreled ahead.

  The SUV slammed to a stop, and she rumbled within inches of its hood. She didn’t want to give them room to go around her. The SUV sat for a moment, then began to back away. She drove forward, keeping less than a foot between them. It stopped and so did she.

  She needed to buy some time for Tank and the boys to get into place. She reached for the mike attached to the dashboard and flipped the switch from “CB” to “loudspeaker.”

  “Listen up, you crackheads. A little birdie told me you took some friends of mine for a little joyride. Only it might not be so much fun for them and it’s past their bedtime, so just let them out of your car and I’ll take them on home.”

  The night was dead quiet, not even a cicada sounding in the stillness, so it was easy to hear the hum of the window being lowered. Without hesitating, Bunny stomped on the gas and braced herself for the impact. She ducked as a bullet shattered the windshield and another pinged off the bull guard that protected the front of the truck. Then the truck tilted as the big wheels began to crawl up onto the SUV’s hood. The SUV’s back tires spun in the dirt as the driver tried to back out from under the monster truck, but the truck was too heavy. Bullets ricocheted off the plates welded underneath to protect the truck’s underside when off-roading.

  When her tires reached the windshield, the SUV doors flung open and three men jumped out, all firing at the truck. Bunny ducked as low as possible when a bullet whizzed past her ear and embedded itself in the cab’s ceiling with a thunk. That was too close. Then the loud crack of rifle fi
re ended any further shooting. Her Tonka rolled over the SUV, crushing the hood, top, and back into the body of the vehicle. She hoped to hell she was right that none of The White Paw guys were in there. By the time she got the truck turned around, Tank and the deputies had the three men on the ground, belly down with their hands cuffed behind them.

  She jumped from the truck and walked over to them. “Tell me nobody else was in that truck.”

  Tank turned to look at the SUV. Its roof was flat against the body, and all four tires were blown. “I sure hope not, sweet thing. If they are, we’re going to need a pry bar to get them out.”

  “Everybody okay?” she asked.

  Tank laughed. “Who knew these guys could shoot the wings off a fly at fifty yards?”

  The deputies all grinned.

  “We been hunting rabbits together since we were kids,” Johnston said. “These guys don’t move half that fast.”

  She smiled back at them, then walked to the nearest prisoner. “Where’s my nephew, Tommy?”

  The man turned his head away from her.

  Bunny narrowed her eyes. “I can see that my honey bear here didn’t warn you that I’m taking hormones because we’re trying to have a baby. If you think too much testosterone makes a man mean, you should try injecting an overdose of estrogen in a woman.” The man’s forearm was bleeding where he’d been winged by one of the deputies. She placed her heavy biker boot on the wound and shifted her weight onto that arm. The man screamed.

  Johnston frowned. “Miss Bunny, you can’t be torturing the prisoners after we have them in custody.” He took a step toward her but stopped when she glared at him.

  “Uh, Johnston. You don’t want to mess with her. She’s not lying about those hormones.” Tank backed away a step. “I suggest you just turn your back. Then you won’t have anything to report.”

  Johnston hesitated, then backed away, too. “I think I need to water the flowers.” He turned and disappeared into the scrub.

  The second deputy stared after him, then followed. “Me, too,” one said. “Bouncing around in that truck makes you have to pee.”

  The third deputy hesitated. “I hear a tree calling my name, too.” He hurried to join them.

  Tank chuckled. “Nothing like female hormones to send men running.” He put his hands up when Bunny turned her glare on him. “I’m staying. Somebody needs to tape their mouths so they don’t get the coyotes howling.”

  “Don’t bother. I want his buddies to hear him scream so they’ll know what’s in store for them.” She stepped down on the man’s arm again. He clenched his teeth to muffle his scream this time. “I’ll ask one more time. What did you do with my nephew?”

  “We didn’t kill him,” the man gasped.

  “Shut up,” one of the other men said. “Another word and it’ll be your last.”

  Bunny left the man she’d been questioning and strolled over to the one issuing threats. “Really? Maybe you want to tell me, tough guy.”

  The man twisted to stare up at her, his eyes full of hate. He spit on her boot. “I’m not afraid of you, bitch.”

  She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “Okay. I’m tired of this game.” She held out her hand. “Give me your knife, sugar.”

  “Now, honey pot. We can explain the gunshot wounds, but the sheriff might not understand if you cut them up, too.”

  “Oh, I’m not going to cut him. I just need access to a few dangly bits.”

  Tank gulped. “I was afraid that was next.” He withdrew a long switchblade from his pocket and handed it over. “You want the calf bar?”

  “It’s in the back next to my calving box.”

  Tank returned from the truck with a three-foot-long, two-by-two board that had leather cuffs attached to each end. He buckled the man’s ankles into the cuffs and straightened. “I think I’m going to find a tree to water, too.”

  “Coward.” Bunny chuckled as he hurried away. “He never can watch when I have to castrate a calf.” She flicked the knife open, planted her knee on his lower back, and slid the knife under the waist of the man’s pants.

  “Fucking bitch. Get off me.” He struggled under her weight, but Bunny was a big woman. Bigger than this man if he’d been standing.

  The sharp blade cut neatly through his jeans and underwear. She kept cutting until he was exposed from waist to mid-thigh. He struggled harder when she reached between his legs and squeezed his scrotum.

  “Bitch. I will kill you.” His scream and red face only made her laugh and squeeze again…hard. He struggled to find a way to pull his legs together and protect his tender organs, but the calf bar held him fast.

  “Where’s my nephew?”

  The man panted, then rattled off a string of curses in Spanish.

  “You know, those three years of Spanish in high school sure are paying off because I know exactly what you just called me.” Keeping her knee on his back, she placed her other foot between his legs, his testicles under her heel, and applied a little pressure. He screamed, drool dripping into the dirt under his cheek, and she raised her heel. “I’ll give you one more chance before I crush your balls under my boot. Where is my nephew?” When his reply was another Spanish curse, she stepped down a little harder.

  “Stop, stop. About a mile back the way we came.” Tears rolled down the man’s cheeks.

  She stood, closing the switchblade and shoving it into her back pocket. “Now, was that so hard? You’re only a little bruised. If my nephew isn’t alive and well, I’m coming back with my calving box, and all three of you will be singing soprano in the prison choir.”

  Tank and the deputies emerged from their hiding places. “Come on, Bun. Let’s go get Tommy.”

  She nodded, suddenly tired and ready to let him take his turn at being in charge. It was one of the things that made them work as a couple—each was able to step back or step up, depending on what the other needed. She thanked the stars again for sending her the perfect mate.

  Two of the deputies stayed behind, and Johnston settled on the hood of the truck, clinging to the bull guard with one hand and holding the mag light in the other. Bunny held back the tears until Tank had helped her into the passenger seat of the truck and climbed into the driver’s side. He leaned across the console, his beard stubble tickling as he held her face in his big hands and kissed away her tears. “Damn hormones,” she said.

  But her tears sprang from the fear gripping her heart, not hormones, now that they were moments from finding her older sister’s son, the kid she’d loved like her own since she didn’t yet have a child. These drug dealers were really bad men, and she was terrified of what they might find.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Exhaustion won out, and it seemed they had just fallen asleep when the hawk’s scream sounded so close that Teal nearly jumped out of her skin. August’s arm tightened around her.

  “It’s okay. That’s my phone alarm.”

  Teal sat up and pressed her hand to her chest in a half-conscious effort to calm the frantic thumping of her heart. “Warn me next time.” She twisted to look down at August. It was true that the night was darkest before dawn, but August’s cell phone, also awakened by the alarm, still glowed next to her head. Her eyes were closed, her beautiful features etched with weariness. Teal had already learned in the few nights they’d spent together that August liked her first few moments of wakefulness to be slow and quiet. She bent over her, brushing her lips against August’s, but August reached for her and deepened their kiss. Teal’s belly tightened and her sex throbbed to life. She gently disengaged after a moment and smiled when August blinked sleepily and smiled.

  “That kiss almost made me forget the rock that’s been poking me between the shoulder blades for the past hour,” August said as she sat up.

  “Mmm. It must be the match to the one that was digging into my ribs.”

  They stood and stretched, then chuckled quietly as Rio did the same. August disappeared into the dark while Teal rolled their bedding int
o one long bedroll and tied it to sling over her shoulder. It would be heavier than two bedrolls, but she could switch shoulders periodically if necessary and would be cooler than having both shoulders covered. She wiped at the sweat already beading along her upper lip. This was supposed to be the coolest hour of the day, but the air was so heavy it was hard to breathe. She could only imagine what it would feel like at noon.

  When August reappeared, she handed Teal a small spade, the penlight, and a tissue. “The tissue is biodegradable. Follow along the right edge of the cliff and look for the shallow hole I dug. We don’t want to leave any obvious evidence, so after you use the spot, throw your tissue in with mine and fill the hole.”

  Teal hurried to comply and wordlessly accepted the bottle of water and protein bar August handed her when she returned. She gobbled down both and tucked her trash into the pack August had already shouldered. She started to pick up the bedroll when August stopped her.

  “Give that to me.”

  “You can’t carry everything, August.”

  “I can when I’m taking the shorter trail and you’ll need to move at a faster pace.” She led Teal back to the main trail. “The main trail meanders a bit and curves back to the left where this side trail, which is actually a shortcut, meets up with it again. I’m not the runner you are, so I’ll play pack mule and take the short route while you lay down tracks on the main trail. Take Rio with you.” She handed the pen light to Teal.

  “How far?” It scared Teal a bit to split up.

  “About an hour from here.”

  It was a good idea, and the sky was beginning to lighten, which lifted her fear a bit. “Okay. See you soon.”

  “Wait. Jog with short steps until you see another trail on your right, then run down that trail a short distance, retrace your steps, and take off full speed down the main trail. That will buy us a little more time while he investigates the side trail.” August pulled her close and kissed her again. “Most of all. Be safe.” She knelt to pet Rio. “Go with Teal, girl. Guard.”