Unbridled

by Diana Palmer

  Her eyebrows levered up. He had some nerve! “What if I was?” she asked. “Have you already forgotten that you tossed me out of your life?” she added with a cold smile. “You don’t want me. What do you care if someone else does?”

  He was good for five minutes of pure, unadulterated fury. He let her have it in two languages. She was nothing but a two-timing, faithless hussy who wouldn’t know a serious relationship from a squash. He was well rid of her. He couldn’t believe he’d thought of getting serious about her.

  “Just as well, under the circumstances,” she bit off, flushed and hurt. “You weren’t serious anyway.”

  “No, I wasn’t,” he lied, wounded and hitting back. “I got what I wanted from you,” he said with a sarcastic smile. “Nice, but not worth giving up my freedom for. Maybe Hollister’s more your type.”

  She forced a smile. “Maybe he is,” she said in a haughty tone.

  He let out a furious curse, turned on his heel and stormed back to his vehicle. He’d never been so angry in his whole life. And he’d risked his son for that faithless flirt. He couldn’t believe it!

  She watched him go with dead eyes. She’d saved her pride, at least. That would be cold comfort in the years ahead. But at least now she knew where she stood. It had all been a means to an end. He’d just needed a body. Hers was handy. Nothing could have been more humiliating than what she’d just endured.

  Or so she thought, until the next morning, when she started throwing up and couldn’t stop.

  THIRTEEN

  John was so miserable that he didn’t even question where Tonio had obtained the new video game he was playing. He kept busy at work, and at home, during the holiday break. He’d sent Adele shopping for Tonio, but mostly what the boy was getting was educational software and a new jacket. He didn’t have the heart to go to town himself. He didn’t want to go shopping in San Antonio for fear that he might run into Sunny.

  His heart was breaking. He’d lied to her about wanting her only out of desire. She’d become such a part of his life that he felt like half a man. He’d deleted her phone number and contact information in the heat of anger. He’d have given a lot to have it back. He might have tried to text her. But he doubted that she’d even answer him.

  Apparently she and Hollister had discovered a mutual attraction. The man drew women, but John had been sure that Sunny belonged to him alone. Had he driven her away by not calling after they’d been intimate? Women were sensitive about intimacy, after all, and he’d only hinted of a shared future. In fact, he’d told her that there was no hope of them being together in the near future because of his son. He hadn’t meant that it was hopeless; only that he had to get his son to accept her. But she’d taken it for a goodbye and she’d gone out with the only other man in her life. He hated knowing that Hollister was dating her. He didn’t know how he was going to live if they got involved.

  And still, above all, there was the matter of Tonio and Rado. The gang leader couldn’t get to Tonio on the ranch, but after the holidays he’d be back in school, vulnerable. John would have to make sure that he was watched around the clock.

  Tonio avoided him, even just after presents were opened on Christmas morning. He stayed in his room. He wouldn’t even go out to see the horses, and he loved them. He did sit at the table for Christmas dinner, but he hardly said two words to his father and those had to be dragged out of him. John felt like a castaway. He’d managed to alienate the only two people on earth he loved, and he had no idea how he was going to get them back.

  * * *

  Christmas was lonely. Sunny had hoped she’d be going places with John. But that had been an illusion of love. He’d only wanted a night in her bed, not forever.

  She wondered if he even had a son. It was probably a line he used to push women away if they got too close. He was very handsome. He could have any woman he wanted, women much prettier than Sunny. All that talk about the future, about children. Had it really all been just a means to an end? He hadn’t called since he’d blown up at her over Cal Hollister.

  She grimaced and placed her hand on her flat stomach. The nausea was ongoing. She was tired all the time. She felt and saw changes in her body that she knew all too well meant she was pregnant.

  She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t go to a clinic. That was impossible. Even if she hadn’t been a person of faith, she couldn’t step on an ant, much less terminate the tiny life inside her.

  She thought of having a child, and she felt warm all over. A child of her own. It was something she’d dreamed of. Of course, the dream had also included a husband and a home together. She looked around at her lonely apartment. This wasn’t her dream of happiness.

  She walked to the back to do laundry and grimaced at the back window whose screen still hadn’t been fixed. The lock was wonky, too. Sometimes it didn’t quite catch. She’d have to contact the superintendent again. He was overworked, especially during the record cold snap, so she’d have to wait in line for repairs. He had bigger issues, including a fire in one of the apartments that meant major repairs. Fortunately it was at the other end of Sunny’s building and didn’t affect her.

  She wondered if Hollister had found the bad apple in his department yet. She grimaced as she recalled John’s fury that she’d gone dancing with him. If she’d had the chance, she would have told him that she’d only done it because Rado would think it was a date, not that she was imparting confidential information to the captain of detectives. But she hadn’t had the chance.

  Once, she’d been tempted to text John, just to have any contact with him. But she’d chickened out at the last minute. He’d made his position crystal clear. She’d been a bit of fun and now he was off to new conquests. She had just enough pride not to throw herself at his feet. It wasn’t easy. She missed him terribly.

  * * *

  Christmas came and went. So did New Year’s. Sunny faced the new year with a home pregnancy test that was decisive. She wasn’t showing yet, so there was time to make decisions. She wasn’t sure that she was going to stay in San Antonio. There were nursing jobs in Houston, and even Hollister admitted that she might be safer far away from Rado. She didn’t tell him why she wanted to leave, however.

  But Hollister seemed to understand that her breakup with Ruiz had spoiled things in the city for her. He didn’t understand what was going on. Ruiz was obviously crazy about her, and vice versa. But all of a sudden, they were enemies. He hoped they could work it out.

  * * *

  Colter Banks was poring over an arrest report when John walked into his office the second week in January. His fellow Ranger had called and asked him to come over, because he thought they might have a break in the cold case.

  “What’s new?” John asked.

  Colter grimaced. “Something hopeful, something else that’s pretty bad. Hollister’s got a rogue cop in his department. He doesn’t know who it is. Very likely it’s one of Rado’s men, and he’ll do anything he’s told.”

  “How did Hollister find out?” John asked, frowning.

  “He has a contact,” Banks said. “I don’t know who, but somebody who has a friend in Los Diablos Lobitos and is willing to risk his life to betray Rado. Hollister’s known about it for a few weeks, but he hasn’t been able to track down the informant. He’s got an old comrade helping him, from what I hear. They may turn him up.”

  “Brave so-and-so, whoever gave him the information about the bad cop,” John commented.

  “Very brave. The word is that he’s a kid,” he added. “Which makes it an act of very rare courage.”

  “Considering Rado’s reaction to anyone talking about him, yes, it is.” He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “How about anything connecting Rado to our cold case?”

  Banks grinned. “That’s the only good news I have. We’ve had a backlog in the forensics lab because of the holidays and several mo
re gang shootings. But forensics found dog hairs on our female victim’s clothing. They were brown. I understand that Rado keeps a brown pit bull chained outside his house to ward off unwelcome visitors. They also processed a partial tread print from a pair of sneakers and a cigarette butt of the type Rado is known to smoke.”

  John felt lighter. “That’s probable cause.”

  “Yes, it is, although it’s largely circumstantial. But I found a judge who was willing to sign a search warrant.” He waved it. “I’m waiting for Marquez to send two patrol officers over to go with me to take hair samples from the dog. We’re taking Animal Control along as well. The warrant also allows me to obtain biological samples from Rado himself, look for the pair of sneakers that might match the tread pattern and look for samples of the cigarettes Rado smokes.”

  “That’s going to cause some problems,” John remarked.

  “I hope it’s going to cause Rado some,” came the dry reply.

  “I mean, for anybody Rado suspects of selling him out,” John amended, and he was thinking with cold fear about his own son. Rado wouldn’t hesitate to kill a child. Only the fact that Tonio was watched made him hopeful that the boy would be safe. He frowned. “Damn! I forgot to get with Longfellow on the note Hayes Carson found!”

  “It won’t help,” Banks said. “I phoned her, just to check. She said it was a telephone number. The victim’s.”

  “Damn.”

  “Yes. But when we serve this warrant on Rado, we may get all we need. I’ve put everything but the kitchen sink on the list of things I want to search.”

  John chuckled. “Wise man. Need backup?”

  “Not really.” Banks grinned as he stood up. “The two patrol officers are also on the SWAT team.” He raised his eyebrows. “It would be totally cool if Rado decided to resist.”

  “Bad Ranger,” John said, shaking his finger at the man.

  Banks just chuckled.

  * * *

  John was working on an assault case. A young woman’s boyfriend had gone after her at the restaurant where she waitressed after they broke up, argued with her and assaulted her with his fists. Customers broke it up, but she was bruised and broken and terrified. He’d been pulled off her by customers and the manager just in time to save her from being strangled to death. The boyfriend yelled that he’d kill her next time as he ran out the door. The manager had called 911. SAPD, overwhelmed with gang violence, had requested a Ranger to help find the young man.

  The boyfriend had fought free from the customers as soon as he heard sirens coming closer. John had interviewed customers, along with the patrol officer who’d responded and a detective assigned to the case. He was tracking the boy down, slowly, through friends and family.

  He sat at a traffic light with the engine idling. Out the window, he saw a blonde woman in nursing scrubs walking along the sidewalk toward a clothing store. Blonde, like Sunny. His heart jumped. The light changed and he moved slowly ahead. But when he got even with the woman, it wasn’t Sunny. He ground his teeth together and drove on. He’d missed her so much. It was like losing an arm. If only he hadn’t jumped to conclusions and shot his mouth off.

  He really was the way Tonio had once described him: an avalanche when he got going. Looking back, he knew that Sunny had no real attraction to Hollister. They were friends. He’d been the detective on her case. They’d had years to get involved if there was any interest there. But there wasn’t. He’d let jealousy prod him into an unwarranted outburst, and now he’d lost her. Maybe if he’d been less judgmental, maybe if he’d tried to talk to Tonio instead of at him about Sunny, maybe, maybe, maybe...

  He’d had to go by the children’s hospital one night on a case. Sunny had been in the hall when he walked toward the emergency room. She’d seen him and gone straight into the women’s restroom to avoid him. His heart had sunk into his boots. The look on her face had been one of shame, embarrassment, anguish. He’d hurt her so badly that she wouldn’t go near him anymore. That was when he lost hope.

  It could have been so different. He drew in a long breath and drove on to the next witness’s house. Looking back would serve no purpose. He had to go on, no matter how much it hurt.

  * * *

  Tonio had noticed that Sunny hardly smiled anymore. She had hot chocolate with him after school most days when she was working. She worried about Rado and gossip that he was about to be interrogated in the murder cases. She didn’t want anything to happen to Tonio. But she was sad.

  He wished he could do something to cheer her up. His dad had been morose lately, too. He never smiled. He went to work. He came home. He watched the news and went to bed. He made no more overtures toward Tonio. It was as if he lived alone now.

  Adele had remarked about the sad change in Tonio’s parent. He’d been so happy lately, she remarked, as if he had the world at his feet. Then, so suddenly, he was quiet and somber and dead inside. She wondered what had happened to change him so much.

  Tonio knew. His father had loved the woman, whoever she was. Tonio had made a scene and acted like a spoiled brat. He’d run away, scared his dad. Now his father had given up the woman he wanted. Tonio had what he thought he wanted. But he didn’t. He and his father were so apart that they hardly spoke to each other. Tonio felt guilt like a brand on him. He could have given the woman a chance. She might not have been like the other one. He’d never know. And he still had no idea how he could introduce Sunny to his father. If he could just meet her, he might find her as fascinating as Tonio did.

  “You’re very quiet,” Sunny remarked.

  He grimaced. “I did a stupid thing,” he said. “My dad liked this woman. I made threats. I ran away.” He made a face. “Now Dad won’t even talk to me. He walks around like a zombie. He never smiles. It’s like his heart died or something.”

  Sunny knew exactly how that felt. She was the same. “We hope for things in life,” she said quietly. “But sometimes, God has other plans for us.” She smiled sadly. “Tonio, I may be moving soon.”

  “What?” he exclaimed. His expression was one of pure horror. “Sunny, you can’t,” he said miserably. “You’re the only real friend I’ve got. What will I do if you go away?” he asked, fighting a lump in his throat.

  That was very flattering. She managed a smile. “It isn’t definite,” she said, trying to wipe that horrible expression off his face. She didn’t want to hurt him. But she couldn’t stay here once she started showing. “It’s just an idea...”

  “Please don’t go,” he said, and his big brown eyes glimmered with unshed tears. “Please don’t.”

  “Tonio,” she began, grinding her teeth together. “Things have happened in my life,” she began. “I’m not sure what I’ll do. But I have to make some changes. Listen, even if I go, I’ll be as close as the telephone. We can text each other. We can talk. I’m not leaving you. Honest.”

  The panic died down a little with those words. He drew in a breath. It might not be as bad as he feared. “Okay,” he said after a minute.

  “Don’t worry so,” she said. “We don’t control anything, really. Life just happens, you know?”

  He sighed. “I guess it does.”

  * * *

  The next day after school, Rado confronted him in the parking lot. The man was raging mad.

  “Somebody ratted me out,” he said icily. “They took hairs from my dog. They got blood and a pair of my sneakers. If you had anything to do with this, I’ll make you pay. I’ll make everyone around you pay!”

  Tonio’s heart raced. “Please, don’t hurt Sunny,” he pleaded. “Do anything you want to me, but leave her alone!”

  “The nurse?” he laughed coldly. “I owe her already, for threatening me. She talked to that cop. Didn’t think I’d find out, did you? I got people everywhere! She went on a date with him, but it wasn’t a date. She was passing information. Where’d she get it, Tonio? From y
ou? And where the hell are David and Tina Lopez?” he added, moving closer.

  “I don’t know,” he said, flustered.

  Rado kept coming. He grabbed Tonio by the front of his jacket and drew back his fist. “I ought to—!”

  “Let him alone!” Sunny said, moving toward them. She had her phone out. “I just put in 911,” she said, holding it up. “I push the button and you go up for assault! I’ll testify! So will Tonio!”

  Rado let Tonio go with a jerk of his hand. His eyes danced with fury. “I’ll get you,” he said harshly. “And nobody will know. I got ways. I can off you and make it look like suicide. I know how!”

  “Be my guest,” Sunny dared. She even smiled.

  He threw off a couple of curses, motioned to his friends in the distance and stalked off.

  “He means it,” Tonio said worriedly. “Sunny, he’ll hurt you!”

  “I’ll call Cal Hollister,” she assured him. She was shaking inside, but she forced a smile. “Now let’s have some hot chocolate. It’s cold out here!”

  Tonio went with her. He worried all the way into the hospital. If anything happened to Sunny, he’d just die.

  * * *

  “Rado did what?” John asked the man he had watching Tonio.

  “He was about to hit the kid,” Chet Billings, one of Eb Scott’s men, said coldly. “I started toward them when the blonde woman pulled out her phone and threatened Rado with the police. He cursed her and Tonio and went off with his gang.” He shook his head. “He means it. You watch that boy on the ranch. Rado really does have people everywhere.”

  “I’ve got good people on the ranch,” John said. “Some were feds. They know how to secure the place. A blonde woman?”

  He nodded. “Tonio seems to know her.”

  “He mentioned a woman to me. She got him in touch with a policeman,” John recalled. “He told the cop what he wouldn’t tell me, about Rado and his connection to the Lopez boy and his sister,” he added coldly.