by Dana Mentink
She eased along toward a crevice cut into the rock face a few feet right of her position. She was not sure it would be enough to hide behind. She wondered why she did not hear Autie climbing up after her. Maybe he was not following anymore. He’d given up.
No. There was something in his eyes, the terrible disconnect of emotion that told her he would not stop until he’d completed his mission to kill her. Her mind continued to whirl as she scrambled along. How had she gotten here? Fighting for her life in a barren wilderness? What had she done to deserve the terror of being hunted down like a crippled animal?
Autie’s voice echoed in her memory.
“You ran away. You ran from your family and left your father to die.
“Even this place, these endless Badlands, cannot help you escape your own truth.”
Before, she would have believed it, let the guilt paralyze her, but the truth flowed through her like a rush of cool water.
She’d come back for her sister who had forgiven her.
She’d met a man who she’d fallen in love with.
She’d chosen to step back into the light, even if it was only for a short while.
Another explosion of thunder, and seconds later came the blaze of lightning. When it had passed she clawed her way to the crevice, hanging on to wet shrubs as she made her way down into the shadows.
Something slithered in the darkness and she nearly screamed. A snake? She clenched her jaw. It was enough to worry about a killer. The snakes would have to stay out of her way. She pressed her back against the rock face, which still held a faint trace of warmth from long hours in ferocious heat. With trembling fingers, she found the phone.
One second to will her fingers to punch in the numbers.
Another moment to clutch the phone to her ear.
A third and she heard only a “caller unavailable” tone.
Then a rifle shot exploded through the air and she felt herself falling.
NINETEEN
The sound of the shot electrified Logan. He sprinted to the edge of the ravine. No movement below that he could detect. The fender of a car showed from under a fold of rock. He found the easiest route and quickly secured a coil of rope around a wide column of sandstone before he began rappelling down. He didn’t allow himself to contemplate where the shot might have found its mark.
Or where the next one would.
He raced down, feet springing off the wet rock, lightning illuminating his path.
Isabel would be all right.
And he would stop Autie.
The cliff flashed by in a blur as he made it to the bottom and unclipped himself from the ropes in one smooth movement. Then he was running, weaving toward the car. He crouched behind a fallen boulder a few yards away and checked again for movement.
Nothing.
The strange twisted canyon distorted noise so effectively he could not be sure the shot had come from here or farther down the path, but he could not leave the vehicle unchecked, not if there was a chance she was in there.
Whatever her injuries, he could treat her, save her.
He’d dealt with worse things than bullet holes, he reminded himself.
Heart ricocheting against his ribs, he approached the car, gun in hand. A rumble of thunder thickened the air.
In spite of his slow movements, the grit crunched under his feet with every step.
His mouth went dry as he neared the car. The windows were beaded with a curtain of raindrops but the passenger-side window was open.
He eased around to it, hands squeezed around the gun, body wire taut.
A face appeared.
Logan aimed his pistol as Autie did the same with his rifle.
“Good evening, Captain Price. It would seem that we have a standoff.” Autie smiled but the rifle didn’t move.
Logan dared not take his eyes off Autie to look inside the car. “Where’s Isabel?”
“Isabel? Why, I thought she was with you.”
Logan took a step forward. “No more games. Your mission is over. Nora Baker’s body has been uncovered, and you and John are going to jail.”
“You would not leave a mission unfinished, now would you?”
“I would if we were called off. Consider your mission cancelled and step out of the car.”
“But we are just getting started with our little skirmish in the Badlands. Surely you don’t want me to surrender already.”
“Get out of the car. Slowly.”
Autie surprised him by heaving a deep sigh. “Very well, Captain. It seems you have me cornered. I will be a co operative prisoner. May I offer you the rifle, as terms of my surrender?”
Logan tensed as Autie carefully turned the rifle and handed the butt end to Logan. He took it and backed up a couple of steps to lay it against a rock. “Now, get out and keep your hands where I can see them.”
“Of course.”
Logan watched Autie exit the vehicle, hands in the air.
Logan’s instincts prickled. He smelled an ambush, but Autie patiently let Logan pat him down with one hand.
“No guns or knives up my sleeves, Captain. It’s just me and you. That’s the best way, is it not? Man against man. An equal playing field.”
“Get over here, away from the car.”
“Ah, yes. The car. You would want to check that, to be sure Ms. Ling is not folded in the backseat or the trunk, bleeding to death.”
“Move.” Logan kept the pistol trained on him as Autie backed away, hands still in the air.
“Do you have the time, Captain?” Autie asked.
Logan ignored the question as he made his way gingerly around the car. She was not in the front seat. A pile of blankets obscured his view of the backseat. He hardly noticed Autie’s babbling.
“I have a keen sense of time, much like General Custer himself.”
“You’re not Custer,” Logan snapped. “You’re Oscar Birch and you’re not working on some noble cause. You’re a criminal like your father.” He eased open the back door, keeping Autie in his peripheral vision.
“That was most uncalled for. I do not believe I have ever slung insults at your family.” Autie’s tone was cold. “It hardly matters at this point. As I was saying, I have a keen sense of time, and I would estimate it’s been nine minutes since you heard the shot and made your way down here with impressive speed and skillful rope work. Would you agree with my estimate? Nine minutes?”
Logan reached one hand in to pat the blankets, skin gone cold at the thought of what he might find there. He felt nothing, so he reached in farther.
“Yes,” Autie continued. “I would imagine it to be approaching ten minutes right about now.”
Logan’s fingers closed around a familiar shape that took him a moment to place. He saw Autie’s smile, laced with anticipation, lit by a sudden flash of lightning.
Logan had been right about the ambush.
The last few seconds on the timer ticked away.
Somewhere in her pain-fogged mind, Isabel heard an explosion. Perhaps it was another round of thunder. Autie’s shot had grazed her shoulder, causing her to drop her phone into the abyss. The pain was intense, and a warm sensation told her she was bleeding. With gritted teeth she ripped a sleeve from her jacket and tied it firmly around her shoulder, using her teeth to pull the knot tight. Then she crawled under a sheltering rock to catch her breath.
She couldn’t stay here. Autie knew her location and he would be after her. She allowed herself one more minute to steady her breathing, and then she crawled out of her hiding place into the stinging rain.
From rock to pointed rock, she made her way along the cliff like the bighorn sheep she knew made this area their home. She supposed she should be terrified, but the blood that seeped from her wound seemed to take the terror with it. Now there was only numbness and the overwhelming need to move on, keep going.
She guessed it to be about four in the morning when the rain finally stopped, leaving her sodden and cold, teeth chattering. The sun w
ould be up in a few hours. As enticing as it was to think of the warmth it would provide, she knew it would also take away her only defense. Autie would be able to spot her quickly as she moved clumsily along, without even a phone to call for help.
She crawled up to the base of a bizarrely twisting hoodoo that gave her a view of the terrain.
It offered few choices.
An endless vista of moonlit spires and cliffs stretched in all directions. Below was a pocket of ground thick with trees, and she concluded it could be Century Grove, one of the stopping points on the Moonlight Ride. Instinct told her to head for the trees rather than risk more climbing than necessary. The light was not sufficient to show her the uneven ground and twice she fell, tearing her pants and causing her shoulder wound to start bleeding again.
It was foolhardy to continue. She would have to wait for predawn and take her chances on being spotted.
Muscles groaning, she tucked herself under an outcropping of rock.
The night seemed alive with noises. Some she recognized, coyote and the whine of insects.
Some she did not. Strange whispers and the scuttling of night creatures she didn’t want to contemplate. Her mouth was raw and dry, her water still in Blue Boy’s saddlebag. When her stomach growled, she realized the impact of being separated from her supplies. She could survive hungry, but if her blood sugar dropped too low, she would be at risk of losing consciousness.
Lord, help me. Help me out of this terrible place.
She thought of Logan and, though she hadn’t seen a glimpse of him, she knew he’d heard the shot and he was out there, coming for her.
I do hope so, Autie had said.
The thought chilled her further. Autie relished the game, the mission. He would draw Logan out, using her as bait, and kill him.
A lump formed in her throat and she bit her lip until she tasted blood.
The only way to help him was to try to somehow find her way back to one of the Moonlight Ride groups and call for help. Or get out into the open if a search plane flew over. Eyeing the jumble of columns slicing through the air above her, she doubted anyone would spot her.
In books she’d read that people started signal fires, but she hadn’t the faintest idea how to go about doing that in this sodden territory. She pulled her good arm around her knees and tried to warm herself.
If she just had a phone, she could call Logan, warn him.
But he would come anyway, just as she would do for him.
The thought gave her comfort as she pictured his green eyes, the laugh lines around his mouth.
Be careful, Logan. Stay alive.
Sleep was unthinkable. The time ticked away in an endless freezing passage until the sky lightened from black to slate-gray. Isabel forced herself to her feet. Her limbs felt wooden with cold, and fiery pain shot through her shoulder.
Her stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten in a while. Patting her pockets, she found only a package of peanuts. She ate a few, hoping the protein would be sufficient to stabilize her blood sugar, and carefully refolded the package.
The ground was still damp, the towering spires around her sparkling with drops of dew. From somewhere close by, a bird started up a repetitive bell tone that set her nerves on edge. The Badlands was awakening and Autie was, too. She tried to hurry, but her clumsiness hampered any quick movement.
One foot more, another step or two, she counted the agonizing progress in inches. The almost risen sun painted the rocks in strange shadow and, with a terrible rush of fear, Isabel realized she was disoriented.
Spinning on her heel she saw behind her only the same twisted pillars rising up, caging her in. The rock blocked her view of the panorama and she had no idea which way led to the pocket of green below.
Tears started in her eyes and her breath burned in her lungs. She forced her mind to stop reeling and considered what Logan would do. Her destination had lain to the east. All she had to do was wait for the sun to rise and head that way.
The minutes passed painfully until the first beam of sunlight broke across the horizon. Isabel wasted no time in plunging downslope toward that rose-colored light. She came to a large hoodoo barring her way. The eerie stone bore an almost human form, the chunk of rock resting at the top defying all odds of gravity. Gingerly, she drew to the very edge of it. On one side was a sheer wall that she could never hope to climb. On the other, a narrow ridge of rock that fell away into an uneven slope, dotted with jagged rocks and scrub.
Clinging to the hoodoo, Isabel began to inch around along the ridge, pressing her body to the damp rock. She dared only creep, shards of sandstone pulling loose under her feet and rolling down. The rough surface dug into her face, but she kept her cheek pressed there, embracing the rock as best she could.
The sun burst forth in full glory and her eyes were momentarily dazzled by the glow. There were only about ten steps more. Her outstretched fingers touched something that might have been branches.
A blackbird shot out of a crevice, screaming at the disruption of her nest.
Isabel jerked backward and the movement was enough to send her tumbling.
Pinwheeling faster and faster she tried to spread her arms and legs to slow her descent, but she continued to slide, cascading on a carpet of falling debris until she lost consciousness.
TWENTY
Logan continued to chide himself as he applied pressure to the wound on his forehead. Dumb, Logan. Almost getting yourself blown up by a guy who thinks he’s General Custer. Autie was crazy, but smart, just like Bill had said. He knew exactly how long to keep Logan talking until the timer reached zero and the dynamite detonated. He’d been outwitted, plain and simple.
Only Logan’s surge of adrenalin got him far enough away from the car as the bomb exploded. He must have been out for a while, because it was now sunrise and Autie was gone. With a start, Logan realized his gun was, too. At least Autie had left him the backpack. He wiped off his face as best he could and drank some water from a bottle in his pack. Did Isabel have any water with her?
He looked at the sky, ripe with the promise of an August scorcher. The temperature had dropped low enough in the night to have made her uncomfortable, but not enough to induce hypothermia. It was the heat that would be deadly if he didn’t find her soon. Rising slowly to fend off a wave of dizziness, he moved past the burned-out wreck of the car and into the canyon, wishing again that Tank was with him. The dog wasn’t any good at following directions, but he had a nose that wouldn’t quit.
Logan moved toward the location he thought he’d heard the rifle shot the previous night. The rocks had nothing to tell him. Struggling with a surge of frustration, he started to turn around when he noticed a pile of fallen rock. The pieces lay in a mound, still sharp, showing no signs of weathering to indicate they’d been there for any length of time.
He got out his binoculars and traced a path directly upward from the pile.
The stain of something had dripped down the rock, no more than a spot or two, but clear in his high-powered lenses.
Blood.
His gut tightened.
Stowing the binoculars, he climbed.
By the time he reached the spot where he found the bullet imbedded in the rock, the temperature was already approaching ninety. He worked out the scenario in his mind. Isabel had gotten free of Autie somehow, made a run for it and he’d shot her. She was bleeding, scared. She must have tied up the wound with something because the blood trail tapered off. Either that or Autie had caught up to her.
Somehow, he didn’t think so.
The shot had happened around 1:00 a.m., and fleeing into the Badlands in pitch darkness would be impossible. She’d holed up somewhere, he was sure of it.
Hope surged inside him.
There were many routes ahead that crisscrossed and some ended abruptly, but only one offered significant cover from the cliff for the first couple of miles. He moved as fast as he could, considering as he went.
By now, the Moonlight Ride p
articipants would have summoned the police and the Tribal Rangers, who would mount a search and rescue. Civilian volunteers would be limited, since Mr. Quinn had no doubt filled in the cops on Autie’s deadly intent.
He checked his watch. 9:00 a.m. Bill would have had time to get from the airport to the Badlands by now and the man was an excellent tracker, but Logan couldn’t stop himself from wondering.
Would help reach them in time?
He cut off the doubts.
Doesn’t matter. I will find her and keep her alive.
Picturing her wounded and terrified was more than he could deal with, so he quickened his pace. Sweat poured down his face, stinging the laceration on his forehead and washing grit into his eyes. He didn’t dare put on sunglasses in case the glare gave him away. Shade was nonexistent here, except for small pools created by the rocky monuments that rose around him.
A movement from the cliff wall ahead tipped him off before he heard the deadly sound carried along by the thin air, and dropped to his belly.
A bullet skimmed past his shoulder and drilled into the rock behind him, the report of the gun echoing madly through the canyon. Instinctively, he reached for his own gun before he remembered Autie had taken it.
“You are a worthy opponent, Captain Price,” Autie yelled from someplace deep in the shadows. “I am impressed that you have survived to this point. I could have killed you after the car bomb, of course, but you provide such good sport.”
Logan eased back toward the rock and tried to pinpoint Autie’s location.
Probably behind a pinnacle of rock at the top of the trail. There was no way Logan was going to be able to circle around and take Autie by surprise.
Another bullet zinged into the ground, sending up a puff of dirt.
“The level of training they give to you and your pararescue brothers is impressive. Still, I find you in my crosshairs yet again. Perhaps you need a retraining session, Captain.”
