Books by Linda Conrad

by Conrad, Linda

  “Sunnie, wake up now,” Cisco’s voice intruded on the darkness. “I’m right here. You’re okay. You’re having a nightmare.”

  Opening her eyes, she looked up into the concerned gaze of a man who wanted to help. The man who had suddenly become like a drink of water in a dry desert where she had long been thirsting.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on, waiting for the dizzying effects of the dream to wear off.

  When she could breathe easier, she fought to find her voice. “We have to do something to help Tory,” she said with a groan. “I can’t sit here, safe and warm and happy, while the Skinwalkers kill her. I can’t.”

  “What can we do, míja? The Brotherhood is looking.”

  “We have to try to find her. We must. I must.”

  Cisco shook his head and leaned back to look at her. “Do you have any new ideas? ’Cause if you don’t, we can’t just go…”

  “Maybe I can remember how to get to the Navajo Wolf’s hideout. It’s been years since I was there. But if I really try, if you help me, maybe together we can locate the place.”

  “Sounds like a long shot. And even if you manage to find it, that doesn’t necessarily mean Tory is being kept there.”

  “I think she is. The dream…”

  Sunnie stopped herself and stared up into his eyes, letting her own eyes plead with him. “Help me. Come with me. Don’t force me to stay here doing nothing while Tory is dying. It will kill me for sure this time.”

  He eased her against his chest and enfolded her in his arms. “What do you mean by ‘this time’?”

  She couldn’t face the truth yet. Sunnie had avoided talking about the horror to anyone and had even managed to sometimes forget about it. But she’d known the time for speaking the words aloud would someday come. And someday drew closer.

  Cisco was the last person she wanted to shock by telling him of her actions—her inactions. But he would end up being the one, she felt sure of it in her heart.

  Just not now. Another little while of keeping him as a friend, a lover. That’s all she asked. Just a few more hours of pretending everything would work out in the end.

  Sunnie was well aware Cisco hadn’t been thrilled at the idea of driving them around outside. Especially not this close to sunset, and in the Plant Tender’s SUV, which he’d never driven before. But at least the rain had stopped for now.

  “You believe the place was on a cliff overlooking the San Juan River?” he asked her. “Why don’t you try visualizing the route in your head. Close your eyes and…”

  “Quit the New Age stuff,” she mumbled irritably. “It’s not like I haven’t been trying. I’ve tried for months.”

  The annoyance and frustration were clear in her voice, though she’d thought to hide them. Tilting her head, she stared over at the last of the ponderosa forests on the high plateau and then glanced out the windshield toward the peach-colored sandstone ramparts straight ahead.

  Glad the rain had stopped for now, she looked at her homeland through the glass and hoped it wouldn’t snow again. But as it was the season when thunder and snakes sleep, she was surprised at seeing so much color and life in Dinetah.

  They drove past a hogan surrounded with green piñon and golden grasses. Outside, under a basketball hoop, youngsters dressed in lipstick-red jackets used the opportunity to take a few shots while the rain slacked off. One of them bounced the ball on the wet granite below the hoop.

  An old grandmother who looked as though she’d shriveled from the rain stood on the porch nearby with a baby in her arms. Sunnie’s stomach gave a quick jitter at the sight of the infant, and she wondered what it would feel like to hold such a tiny one. Her mind wandered off to thoughts of diapers and bottles and cute pink outfits with tiny feet sewn right in.

  She snuck a glance at Cisco’s profile and wondered if he’d ever thought of having children. Well, as more than just a mistake of not being prepared, that is.

  Silly idea, she thought glumly as she turned to look away from the dangerous bounty hunter dressed in a black leather jacket. It was just plain stupid to think of him in any way that might include a future. He wasn’t a tomorrow kind of guy.

  “There,” she shouted as she pointed. “Turn right there.”

  “Hell,” Cisco muttered as he swung the wheel and felt the tires slide against the pavement. “Next time give me a few seconds’ notice, will you?”

  “Sorry, but things are finally starting to look more familiar.”

  Cisco scanned the scenery just as the moody dove-gray skies gave way to a hint of waning sunlight. Then a rainbow suddenly appeared over towering buttes to the north, and the sight gave him a jolt.

  “Look,” he said as he gestured toward the pastel-striped sky. “That’s the direction where we’re headed. You think it’s a sign that we’re on the right track?”

  “How very fanciful of you, Bounty Hunter.” She gazed out the windshield, then turned her head and rolled her eyes. “I didn’t know you had an artistic streak.”

  “I don’t.” But he did appreciate a beautiful picture and had a couple of rooms full of expensive artwork to prove it.

  Shooting a glance in her direction, he compared her rare beauty to all the art and natural wonders he had ever beheld. None of them even came close.

  He would gladly give up every one of his paintings, the houses and all the bank accounts he possessed if they could find Tory alive and well. The idea that this search might be a fruitless waste of time kept nagging at him. He didn’t really understand what losing a friend would do to Sunnie. But he knew what seeing her devastated and heartbroken would do to him.

  Sunnie twisted her hands as they lay in her lap. “I think we turned left from here.”

  “You think?”

  “I was only there once and I wasn’t driving. Everything about that trip is fuzzy. The land is all starting to look the same.”

  The minute she’d said the words, the sky grew wild with raspberry and plum streaks from the setting sun. A reddish glow cast everything in strange and eerie fire streaks. It was different and disorienting.

  “Now nothing looks the same,” she said with a hitch in her voice. “What are we going to do, Cisco? We’ll never find it in time.”

  “Take it easy. I’ve often read of the ‘enduring Navajo’ and thought you people were supposed to be good at patience and waiting.” His own voice was becoming hoarse with concern and frustration. “Have I ever told you about tracking down Slick Mancusco, the art forger?”

  “No. But the sun has dropped below a cliff now and things seem familiar again. Turn left up ahead, beside that house with the green roof and the Russian olive trees.”

  He guided the SUV toward distant mesas as the last of the sun’s rays disappearing behind the mountains turned the environment to dusky blue. “You want to hear about how I couldn’t follow old Slick by tracing his money so instead had to start buying up his forgeries until he came to me? That took months of steady endurance.”

  “You bought forged paintings? Had you ever bought good art before?”

  “Some.” He flipped on the headlights and slowed down.

  “But how did you know what was real and what wasn’t?”

  “I was an Art History major in college. Eventually took several classes on the old masters and various oil techniques in Florence.”

  “Oh.” Sunnie seemed lost for a moment, but he could sense her mind at work. He could only hope he’d taken her focus off her friend for a little while.

  “What’d you do with the art you bought from him?”

  “I kept some of it. A few of the better pieces.”

  “Are they hanging in your home? Uh—where is it that you actually live, anyway?”

  How had the conversation turned to home? He had houses, lots of them. But he’d never lived in a real home. That was one of the many things they didn’t share in common.

  He dragged in a breath. “I own several places. Most of them have big, cold rooms with book
s, paintings and sculpture. Can’t say I spend much time in any of them.”

  She made a face as if she didn’t care for the picture he’d drawn. He should have known she would feel that way. With all her clan and family, any place she went would soon feel full of life, warm and safe.

  He had no life. What could he offer her? Nothing but cold, empty rooms, endless vacant nights and sterile holidays. She needed the heat and color that came from being near the people who loved you most.

  Out of the darkness several white-tailed does appeared and gracefully bounded across the road in front of him. He stepped on the brakes and slowed, stopping until the last of them had disappeared again into the thick brush on the other side.

  He took a deep breath and smelled wet sage and animal musk. Just then the cell phone in his pocket rang.

  Answering, Cisco was surprised to hear a low, sensual female voice on the other end of the line.

  “Mr. Santiago,” she began hesitantly. “You don’t know me. I’m Michael’s wife, Alexis Ayze. I got your phone number from Hunter Long. I…um…well, I have a message for Sunnie if she’s with you.”

  “What kind of message?”

  “You’re going to think this is crazy, but…” Her voice halted again as if she didn’t dare tell the truth.

  At this point, he wouldn’t think anything she said was crazy. Or maybe it was more that everything that had happened so far had been nuts anyway. So whatever she said would sound tame.

  “Go ahead,” he said wryly.

  “The Brotherhood knows me as the Message Bearer. I receive messages from the ancestors and take them to those who will find them useful.”

  “Messages. Like dreams? Or ghost sightings? And you have a message for Sunnie from one of these ancestors?”

  At the mention of her name, Sunnie turned her head with questions swimming in her eyes. That wasn’t all he spotted in those deep, liquid browns. Fear lay buried in there, as well.

  The fright was what moved him. He’d wanted to save her from it but saw now that he could do nothing to help. Perhaps this woman on the phone would say something to quiet Sunnie’s fears. Even if it wasn’t logical or true, a word of encouragement from a friend couldn’t hurt.

  “Hold on,” he told Alexis and handed the phone to the beautiful woman who sat tensely beside him.

  Sunnie put the cell phone to her ear and held her breath, hoping this call wouldn’t be the worst news.

  “Sunnie, this is Lexie Ayze. I’ve just had a visit from the Old Plant Tender, Shirley Nez.”

  “You can’t have. The Old Plant Tender died several years ago.”

  Sunnie listened to patient silence coming over the earpiece and decided to keep her mouth shut for the time being. Lexie Ayze was one of the most down-to-earth people she’d ever met. Questioning her didn’t seem smart.

  “You must have heard that I am the Message Bearer,” Lexie finally said. “Over the last year I’ve been receiving warnings and special assistance meant for the Brotherhood from their Navajo ancestors. A little while ago the Old Plant Tender came to me with a message for you.”

  “What could she possibly need to tell me? I’m not in the Brotherhood. I can’t…”

  “Shirley Nez wants you to save the New Plant Tender, Little Sister.”

  Sunnie remembered that Shirley had given her the name “little sister” when she’d been a teenager. No one else was still alive who would know about that. Suddenly everything Lexie Ayze had to say became extremely urgent.

  “The Old Plant Tender has given me the directions to take you to the New Plant Tender,” Lexie went on. “And she has sent a personal message meant to make the difference in Tory’s life or death.”

  Sunnie panicked. “Why don’t you give these directions to the Brotherhood? Or to the Bird People? They can do more to save Tory than I ever could.”

  “It’s not my decision or choice,” Lexie told her. “If you wish to share the instructions with the Brotherhood or anyone else, then it’s up to you.”

  Great. Just what she needed. Another responsibility. Another dire choice to make.

  “What’s the message?” Sunnie asked but wasn’t sure she really wanted the answer.

  “Shirley Nez said to tell you, ‘When the time comes, you will hear the cock crow three times. Take up your arms. Ignore your reservations but trust in your heart.’”

  “That’s it? That’s the life-or-death message?”

  “Word for word. Now I’ll give you the driving directions. The Wolf’s mansion’s hidden from view by Skinwalker magic, but Shirley said you are on the right track. The New Plant Tender is at the Wolf’s mansion.”

  As Lexie told her the various turns to reach the Skinwalker’s hideout, Sunnie relayed them to Cisco. She figured that between the two of them they should be able to memorize it all. Most of the directions were fairly simple, like a turn at the large, lone tamarisk tree and another before the bridge over Salt Creek Wash.

  When Lexie completed forwarding the instructions, she had one more thing to say. “Be careful, Sunnie. I want Tory saved as much as anyone, but there’s something the Old Plant Tender wasn’t saying. Not with words, anyway. I have the feeling the New Plant Tender’s rescue may be more than what it seems. It was almost as if Shirley Nez knew Tory’s kidnapping would be the start of something bigger.

  “Or…maybe Shirley was trying to say this rescue would be an ending. Just don’t let it be the end of you.”

  After Sunnie thanked Lexie and hung up, she turned to Cisco. “Tell me what to do. The Old Plant Tender insisted the message was for me. She must’ve had some good reason. But the Brotherhood should know about this, too, right? I mean, we can’t rescue Tory all by ourselves.”

  “It’s possible. But I agree it doesn’t sound likely.” Cisco didn’t like her turning to him for the responsibility of making such a huge decision. “Why don’t we follow the directions first and see where they lead? If they really end up at the Wolf’s mansion, then we can call in reinforcements. Let’s not bother the Brotherhood until we’re sure.”

  He could see Sunnie nodding thoughtfully in the dregs of twilight. It was going to be slow going, picking their way over gravel roads and around sandstone pinnacles at night. She was bound to dwell on all the wrong possibilities if they didn’t carry on a conversation while they traveled. He needed another distraction.

  “If it turns out not telling the Brotherhood first was the wrong move, I hope I die along with Tory.” Sunnie had opened up a whole new topic herself. One that stunned him and nearly took away his breath.

  “You don’t mean that,” he whispered after a gulp of air.

  “After last time, I swore to give my life before another loved one could be taken at my expense. I mean every word.”

  “That’s the second time you’ve referred to the ‘last time.’ Can you tell me what happened then?”

  She looked down at her hands, barely visible in the darkness. “It was six months ago. I’d been hiding from the Skinwalkers for over a year. We all knew they would never give up searching for me. But I couldn’t stand the idea of moving off the reservation entirely. Not while my…father was still alive.”

  Cisco didn’t say anything. Just waited quietly for her to continue.

  “The Skinwalkers tricked me. I’d thought I was so smart and knew everything about them. I didn’t know they had someone who could change voices and sound like others. One day my father got a call from me—supposedly. He was told to meet me at a trading post in the mountains. He came without question.

  “In the meantime, I got a call, too. From someone who sounded like my father in trouble. I ran out of the house, never taking a moment to contact the Brotherhood.”

  She stopped speaking as he heard a bubble of hesitation welling up in her throat. He’d wanted her talking, but this…not about this.

  “Sunnie…”

  “No,” she interrupted with a half sob. “I have to tell you. I must say it out loud.

  “I reached him
too late. I’d had enough presence of mind to sense trouble even though I hadn’t called for help. So when I saw his car parked there, I crept up to the abandoned trading post on foot. I heard…”

  She covered her face with her hands but kept talking. “I heard the most horrible sounds. Not the screams or cries of pain and suffering from my father. But noises more like the ripping and tearing of flesh and skin, primitive and greedy. The growling sounds of wild animals after a kill.

  “I wanted to run to him and I wanted to run away. Instead I froze in terror at the sight of all that blood. They hurt me, too. But I didn’t die. I didn’t.”

  “Stop it,” he said more sharply than he’d meant. “Stop seeing that in your mind. Come back to the present. It’s not the same. It won’t happen again.”

  “How can you say that?” She sobbed softly. “How can you be sure?”

  “Because this time you have a secret weapon. This time you have me.”

  Chapter 15

  W ithin a mile of the cliff where the Navajo Wolf’s mansion was supposed to be Cisco pulled over onto the gravel shoulder and turned off the SUV.

  “You couldn’t have saved your father. Not even if you had thought to call the Brotherhood. There was no way any of you could’ve known the truth.”

  He shut off the interior overhead light and opened the driver’s door. “But this time we’ll be smarter together. I’m going to call the Brotherhood now, give them the directions. Then I’m heading over the mesa on foot to check it out.”

  Sunnie unbuckled and jumped out as he did. She set her jaw and stepped closer to him, waiting while he called Hunter. Only able to hear his side of the conversation, she still knew when they talked about her. Knew when Cisco promised his half brother that he would keep her safe.

  As Cisco hung up, he turned to her. She saw his face clearly through the crisp night air and by the light of the stars. His expression was one she would never forget.

  Without a word, he reached out and yanked her to him. He said more with the smoldering, drugging touch of lips and tongues than he could’ve ever said aloud.