Heart of the Storm

by Lindsay McKenna

  “Thanks,” he declared, a look of pride on his face. “Now get Colby free. He’s coming with us.”

  “Okay,” Dana said breathlessly, glancing once again at Fast Horse. He could awaken any moment. If he did, he’d come for her. She ran to Colby, knelt and repeated the process of releasing the cuffs. The man groaned as he slowly, with stiff, robotic motions, tried to move his arms.

  Chase was already on his feet and heading toward Rogan. Reaching him, he pulled the man’s limp arms behind his back and snapped the cuffs in place.

  Dana brought over the second pair. “Cuff his ankles, too. I want to make sure he doesn’t follow us.”

  Grinning, Chase did as she asked. “Throw away the key when we leave, Dana. He and his women can sit here figuring out how to release him while we make a getaway. Get your pistol. They took mine and I don’t know where it’s at.”

  “Right.”

  Chase stood. He was dizzy but fought it off. “The pipe safe?”

  “Yes.” She looked up into his glittering, narrowed gaze. Even though Chase had been wounded in the head, he looked wonderful. Dana turned. “I found a way to sneak in here without being seen. Come on, we gotta leave.” She looked at her watch. “It’s 5:00 a.m. We have an hour before dawn.”

  Chase nodded. He went to where Colby was standing, near the desk. The FBI agent could barely walk. He’d been beaten repeatedly, and chained to that pole for a long time.

  Despite his battered state, Colby opened a drawer of the desk. “There are more pistols in here.” Picking up two, he handed one each to Dana and Chase. “Any way you can get me out of here?”

  “We will,” Chase assured him. “Can you walk?”

  “I’ll make it,” Colby muttered. He eyed Rogan, who lay motionless, far less lethal-looking than before. “I need to contact the FBI office in Carson City. I’ll need backup.”

  Chase nodded. “I’m sorry for the loss of your partner. Come on.” He gripped the man’s shoulder and propelled him toward the exit. “Dana? Can you lead the way?”

  Already at the door, she opened it. Of the three, she was the only one who wasn’t injured. The person with the least experience was now responsible as never before. Adrenaline still coursed through her system, keeping the fear at bay. “This way! Hurry!” At any moment, Blue Wolf and her women could find them.

  Colby shuffled along with a decided limp, his left leg dangling as if it were broken. What pain he must be in! Chase put his arm around the man’s waist and hurried him along, half carrying him. They hustled through the door. Dana gestured for them to enter the room on their left. “There’s a side entrance to this lodge, through here. It opens with the compound wall three feet away. We can sneak between the lodge and the stockade to the gates.”

  “Good going!” Chase whispered. He was worried about the agent, who was barely able to walk. Fast Horse had probably broken his bones with the bat as he’d interrogated him. Anger churned through Chase. He’d like nothing better than to take Rogan prisoner, but right now, the odds were against that. Those women guards were killers and there were a lot of them. No, best to get out of here and plan for another time when he could find Rogan and bring him to justice.

  The darkness was complete, and the rain came down at a steady pace. Slipping out the side door, Dana quickly led them to the end of the lodge. Another building six feet away was her next objective. She pulled on her night goggles and looked around. She saw no one. Beckoning for the men to follow, Dana leaped forward. Because the mud was slippery, she nearly fell, but caught herself just in time. From the shelter of the next building, she turned and saw Colby floundering along, with Chase’s help. With each step, they were moving forward, out of this nightmare.

  The rain was cleansing and cold, from yet another storm cell approaching. Dana almost dared to feel hope that they might actually get out of here, when she suddenly heard voices. She froze. Holding up her hand in a silent signal for Chase and Colby to halt, she sneaked to the end of the building. In the grainy green glow of her goggles, she saw two women bearing M-16 rifles standing at the open gates. Two more ran toward them, reentering the compound from outside. There was some kind of argument going on, their voices rising in anger as the four of them shouted angrily at one another.

  A lightning strike just outside the gates stopped the four women’s screaming. Instantly, they scattered and ran back into the compound. The gate was now unguarded! Dana silently thanked the thunder beings, who were clearly helping them. Gesturing again for Chase and Colby to follow, Dana raced across the next space. There was a log cabin next to the gate. When she’d come back in, she’d dived behind it and worked her way between the buildings and the stockade to the main lodge. Now, she was retracing her tracks.

  The wind picked up, pushing against her, but she surged forward to the end of the cabin. The men weren’t far behind. Dana could hear the agent gasping in pain, and suspected he was rapidly weakening. That wasn’t good. But given how badly beaten he was, Dana figured he was doing remarkably well.

  Closing her eyes for a moment, she prayed to the advancing thunder beings.

  “My brothers, please aid us. We need your cover. Hide us from these women who would take our lives. Please, have pity upon us.” She added, “Thy will be done.”

  Chase felt as if he were falling forward, a result of his head wound. Despite this, he kept his arm around Colby. His job was to get the agent out alive. The man was in bad shape and needed the nearest emergency room. “Hang on, Colby,” he urged. “Once we get out of the compound, we should be safer.” Or so Chase hoped.

  He watched Dana turn and gesture to run for the gate. But before she moved, Chase heard a loud, thunderous crack. The reverberation of lightning striking the center of the compound shook the ground beneath his feet. On instinct, Chase glanced over at Dana to make sure she was all right. And that’s when he saw her white teeth glitter in the dark. She was smiling.

  He realized belatedly that Dana had prayed and asked for help from the thunder beings. He watched her burst from behind the building and head for the gates. Chase gripped Colby and gathered his strength. “Hang on, we’re going for it.”

  The sharp smell of ozone permeated the air as Dana raced for freedom. Just as she passed the gate, she glanced back. Chase was running hard, Colby flapping along beside him like a puppet, without control of his legs. She knew Chase was strong and that Colby wasn’t extremely heavy.

  Once they were outside the compound, the rain began to fall in sheets, making it nearly impossible to see three feet in front of them. Dana joined the men, moving close to the agent and draping his free arm across his shoulders. Together, she and Chase hurried down the slope, the badly injured FBI agent between them.

  The storm was violent now. Water ran down the road in a river, making it impassible. Sliding and stumbling, they continued at a trot along the shoulder. When they reached the bend near where she’d halted and turned back, Dana stopped them.

  “I’ve got to get the pipe, Chase!” she shouted through the teeming rain. She released Colby and hurried across the meadow. Once she reached the clump of sagebrush, she was relieved to find the pack was still there. The moment Dana picked it up, she felt the pipe’s warmth thrum through her shaking hands. Mentally welcoming it and asking it to remain silent, she quickly donned the pack, strapped it tightly to her body and hurried back up the hill.

  Colby hung off Chase Iron Hand like a wet rag. His legs were numb. He could barely stand, he was so weak. Yet the Indian’s strength, his ability to keep Colby on his feet, was amazing. Relief started to thread through the agent. For the last several hours, he’d thought he was a dead man. “You have a plan? A car?” he asked Chase.

  Chase divided his attention between Dana, who was scrambling up the hill, and the agent. “Yeah, about a mile from here, down at the base of the mountain.”

  “And a cell phone?”

  “That, too. But we’re taking you straight to the nearest hospital. You’re in bad shape, Col
by. Besides, cell phones don’t work out here. You’re gonna have to wait until we get closer to Carson City.”

  “I want that son of a bitch,” Colby growled weakly. “Drive me to the FBI office in Carson City. Can you do that? I’ll get medical help later.”

  Chase watched as Dana moved quickly back to them. He was proud of her abilities. She’d saved their lives. All that training had paid off, more than he ever would have realized. Dana had the heart of a warrior. And any doubts Chase had had earlier about her abilities under fire were gone. The deep love he felt for her welled up in his heart and spread through him. That feeling eased the throbbing pain at the side of his head, at least momentarily.

  “Got it!” Dana yelled through the cacophony of the rain. She quickly took up her position again.

  “Great!” Chase grinned at her and they continued their descent, with the injured agent between them. All the way down the mountainside, the thunder beings kept up their work, hiding them from Rogan and his women. Chase breathed a grateful prayer of thanks. Clearly, Dana had her mother’s abilities, for few medicine people could work with these powerful sky spirits.

  The rain lightened as they spotted the rental van parked off the road in a grove of pine trees. Dana ran ahead to the vehicle. By the time Chase arrived with the agent, she had opened the side door so he could put Colby inside. His legs barely working, the agent groaned and grunted, but managed to gamely haul himself inside it. After shutting the door, Chase followed Dana around to the driver’s side.

  “You take the wheel, woman of mine.” He gripped her by the shoulder after she’d shucked off the pack. Dana had pushed the goggles off to hang around her neck. Her hair was plastered to her scalp, her eyes shining with triumph—and something else that Chase didn’t have time to decipher.

  Dana gripped her pack as Chase opened the door for her. She saw the glint in his narrowed eyes. A thin, gray dawn was beginning to creep across the eastern horizon, and the rain slacked off completely. Thunder rolled in the distance, moving away from them. As she wiped her wet face, Dana held Chase’s warm gaze. His intimate expression spoke volumes, and his hand felt so comforting. She began to tremble in earnest now from the adrenaline letdown. And cold. “Chase…”

  “Not now, woman. Let’s get this FBI agent back to his people. After that, we’re hightailing it to a nice, comfortable hotel to lick our wounds.”

  Did that ever sound good. Dana slid in and Chase shut the door. Once he climbed into the passenger seat and strapped in, she handed him the pack that contained the pipe. “I want you to hold her,” she confided, her voice quavering with feeling. “You’ve earned the privilege, Chase.” Dana knew that a man could hold a woman’s ceremonial pipe bag. He just couldn’t open it or handle the pipe itself. She saw the shock registering on Chase’s drawn, glistening features. Reaching out, he took the pack as if it held the most fragile treasure in the world.

  Once the handoff was accomplished, Dana started the van and turned on the heater. They were all wet and cold from their experience. Hands shaking, she slowly drove out of the pine grove. In a matter of minutes, they were on the highway heading toward Carson City.

  Relief started to leak through Dana. They’d done it! They’d rescued Colby. They’d located the Storm Pipe, stolen it and now it was going home. Home! Oh, how wonderful that word sounded to Dana. Hot tears welled up in her eyes. She tasted the salt as they slipped silently down her dirty face. Home…It held so many more meanings to Dana than before. Most important, Chase was here, beside her. He had been her teacher, her partner and now she wanted nothing more than time to talk to him, about her and him, and a possible future together….

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  COLBY FRANTICALLY WORKED the cell phone as Dana drove toward Carson City. Having lost several teeth, he could barely talk. Not to mention his jaw was broken and his lip split in several places. Dana felt sorry for the agent, but there was little she could do for him. He seemed grimly determined, and she heard the banked rage in his voice as he ordered the Bureau into action. An FBI SWAT team would move in as soon as possible. Colby ordered them to capture everyone in the compound, and to retrieve the body of Annie Ballard, the CIA remote viewer. Dana felt badly for the loss of the woman’s life. It confirmed even more how dangerous Rogan Fast Horse was.

  As the adrenaline left Dana’s system, she began to feel exhausted. Chase must have sensed her fatigue, for he ran his hand gently across her shoulders.

  “A little tense?” he teased her in a husky tone. Just kneading her shoulder fueled Chase’s desire. Her hair was drying in the welcome heat of the car, tendrils curling softly against her temples.

  Her mouth twitched with a slight smile. “Just a little. I feel like I’m falling apart internally, one jigsaw piece at a time.”

  Nodding, he said, “That’s how it is. The adrenaline is leaving and you begin to realize just how close to dying you really came.” He squeezed her shoulder, then eased his hand away. “It makes you appreciate life with a new sense.”

  “That’s the truth,” Dana whispered. Traffic was light at this time of morning. The sun had crested the horizon. The moody sky and thunder beings were slowly dissipating. Dana had already sent many, many prayers of thanks to the sky spirits. Without them, she realized, Rogan would have found them for sure. The mighty sky beings had played offense to allow Chase and her to get the Storm Pipe.

  She heard Colby get off the phone and snap it shut. Cutting a quick glance over her shoulder, she noted how exhausted he was, how battered.

  “Don’t you want us to get you to the hospital, Agent Colby? You look and sound awful.”

  “No, thanks. I’ll give you directions on how to get to the FBI office. I want to be there to hear our team taking those people prisoner up at that compound.” His mouth became grimmer. “And I want Annie’s body retrieved. She didn’t deserve any of this.” He closed his eyes, as if the emotions overwhelmed him.

  “I’m sorry, truly sorry,” Dana told him. “Fast Horse is a dangerous, crazy man. It must have been an unending nightmare for the two of you.”

  Sighing raggedly, Colby whispered, “All we were doing was following up on her dream. And the man at the antique store, I’m sure, didn’t realize how dangerous Fast Horse was.”

  Chase turned in his seat, resting his arm on the back of it. “Agent Colby, you’re dealing with someone who hates white people. Fast Horse is a man with a mission. He’s a homegrown terrorist as far as I’m concerned.” Chase wasn’t going to tell the agent about the Storm Pipe’s involvement. Nor would he divulge that Rogan had killed the vice president with it. The FBI agent surely wouldn’t understand or accept that explanation. Because Rogan had murdered the CIA psychic, he and his rabid band would be caught and put into prison, anyway. And that’s all that mattered to Chase—an end to Rogan’s hateful ways.

  Right now, Chase wanted to drop the agent off at his office and hightail it out to the Navajo reservation to give Grandmother Agnes the Storm Pipe. And he wasn’t interested in the FBI agent knowing why they’d been at the compound. Chase would stay out of this investigation as much as possible. That way, he and Dana could go to the winter hogan, rest up, heal and have quality time together. He had to play his cards right to avoid getting ensnared in the escalating investigation Colby was putting into play.

  The agent looked out the window at the desert, which was green with vegetation here and there, the closer they got to town. There was some farming south of Carson City. “I’m going to need you to stick around,” he told them. “You’ll have to give me the name of a local hotel where you’ll be staying.”

  Dana started to speak, but she felt the energy around Chase subtly change. Instead, he spoke for them. “Sure, no problem.”

  Dana frowned and kept quiet. Their agreement was to get the Storm Pipe back to Grandmother Agnes. The agent didn’t know that, and she didn’t want to divulge anything more about the pipe. If Colby found out it had been used to kill the vice president of the United
States, he would take it away from them. And that couldn’t happen. Colby was a white man, and he’d never understand the pipe’s history, its use or why it had to be put in the hands of the right individual once more.

  Drawing in a deep breath, Dana concentrated on driving. In another thirty minutes, they’d be in the capital of Nevada.

  “Chase? Before we find a hotel, can we get you to an emergency room to check out your head wound? I don’t think Agent Colby will mind if I take you to the nearest hospital?”

  Colby said, “No, I don’t mind at all. There’s a hospital about ten blocks from the FBI office. I can give you directions. Once you’re done there, just call me at this number and report where you’re staying.” He scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to Chase.

  “Of course,” Dana said, playing along. Colby had Chase’s name. He did not have hers. There’d been no time for introductions during the rescue. She worried that if they disappeared, they’d be breaking some kind of law. But which one?

  Once Rogan and his women were captured, Dana wondered what they would admit to. Killing Annie Ballard? Rogan would probably get some smart lawyer who would tell him to keep his mouth shut and plead not guilty. Would the secret of the Storm Pipe remain just that? Her mind was spongy and whirling with different scenarios.

  Tightening her hands on the wheel, Dana ached to be alone with Chase. To be in his arms, to be held. To let this entire nightmare slide away into oblivion…She knew it wouldn’t happen, but she didn’t have the stamina to even look at other possibilities right now.

  When they arrived at the FBI office, the agent got out very slowly. Chase offered to help him, but he refused. He thanked both of them for their help. There was a dark determination to Colby that Dana admired. He was met by two men in dark business suits, who helped him inside the three-story, redbrick building on the busy street.

  Chase said, “Let’s get the hell out of here. As far and as fast as possible. I want Colby to think you’re taking me to the E.R., but that’s not gonna happen.”