Restless Wind

by Aimée Thurlo

  “No, it was something like Gone to the Dogs. He smelled funny, too, come to think of it, like a wet dog,” he added with a smirk. “Maybe he owns a kennel.”

  “Did you tell him where the hogan was?” she asked.

  “No, I said I didn’t know. There was something…off…about him and I trust my instincts. But I noticed that he spoke to some of the other customers, so it’s possible someone else gave him that information.”

  She got directions to Hastiin Dííl’s medicine hogan, then stood up and thanked Jonas.

  “Dana, you be careful out there,” he said. “I know you’re in the thick of things right now, and from what I heard on the news, you have some bad people looking for you.”

  “One of those bad people might be the guy in the baseball cap. If he’s still hanging around, will you try to delay him?”

  “You bet I will.”

  When they returned to the store area, the man in the cap was no longer in the building. Dana hurried out to the sedan and was soon on her way. As she pushed the car along the pothole ridden road, the Carrizo Mountains ahead and just to the west, she began to wish that she’d taken Ranger’s truck instead. The sedan might have been able to do one hundred on the highway without a problem, but on this type of road, she needed the suspension system of a truck. The car bounced along in protest, sounding as if it were ready to fall apart any second.

  As she came out of an arroyo, Dana caught a glimpse of a plume of dust rising high into the air behind her. Someone was following her. Maybe the man in the cap had spotted her, waited within sight of the parking lot, then gone after her once she’d left.

  Despite the danger, there was one bright spot. If the guy had managed to get Hastiin Dííl’s location, he wouldn’t have been following her now. He would have taken the lead.

  There was no way she was going to lead him to the Singer, so she pulled off the road where it crossed a shallow arroyo, then drove down the center to a spot where it curved. Slowing down to a crawl, then coming to a stop, she turned off the engine, got out of the car and waited where she could see the road from behind cover.

  Soon, a brand-new, red pickup roared past, traveling at a fast clip. Though it was a test of her patience, she returned to the car, climbed inside, then remained stationary for another twenty minutes, listening. Nobody came back from the direction she was heading, so the red truck had continued on.

  Finally, not willing to wait any longer, she drove back out to the road, grateful she hadn’t gotten stuck in the soft sand. This terrain was difficult and, since she’d been without a cell phone, she would have had no way of calling for help if she’d become stranded.

  Watching the ground ahead anxiously, Dana flinched when she heard a loud bang, like a gunshot. Almost simultaneously she heard a loud pop just to her left, followed by a whoosh just outside. The steering wheel nearly jerked out of her grip as the car abruptly pulled to the left.

  Her left front tire had obviously gone flat and it was no accident. Stopping now would be suicide. She was under attack. Struggling to maintain control, Dana let off the gas, fighting the impulse to hit the brakes as the vehicle slid downhill at an angle. She couldn’t afford to roll the car.

  Glancing in her side mirror, she saw a man running after the car, rifle in hand. Another one carrying a pistol was coming from her left, running to intercept her car. She stepped on the gas pedal and the engine roared but the car just fishtailed. There was no way to pick up speed on this terrain with a flat.

  It was time to bail. Dana swerved hard to her right, hit the brakes and jumped out. She raced up the canyon, hoping the car would block her from any more gunfire. All she had to do was make it around the curve in the big wash. Hearing the distinct whine of a bullet passing overhead, she ducked and ran even faster.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Dana tried her best to stay on hard ground and not leave a trail as she searched for a place to hide. She wasn’t armed and although she could defend herself, her chances against two armed men weren’t good.

  The only thing working in her favor was that they clearly wanted her alive. Otherwise, they would have both blasted away at the car when she slowed down to enter the arroyo. They wouldn’t have aimed for the tire, either.

  That gave her some hope. Trujillo undoubtedly knew about her photographic memory, and the attack meant he was pulling out all the stops to get her back and force her to tell whatever she remembered. Of course after they were finished, they’d kill her, just like they had Hastiin Sani.

  Dana kept moving-slowly, and in a crouch-and stayed in the shadows offered by the nearly vertical fifteen-foot-high sides of the wash. Her chances were slim, especially if she was forced into a sandy part of the arroyo that would show her tracks, but she refused to give up. She stood still and listened. Less than a hundred feet away was the man with the pistol searching for her footprints on the hard ground, and the one with the rifle was at the top rim of the arroyo, watching with binoculars.

  Before she could decide what to do, Dana felt a stirring in the air and, out of the corner of her eye, saw a fleeting shadow. Suddenly Ranger stepped out of a narrow crevice in the arroyo, less than three feet away.

  Her heart was hammering frantically but before she could say a word, he placed a finger to his lips. He indicated with a thumb the approximate location of the two men, then gestured ahead to the center of the arroyo. It was piled high with windblown tumbleweeds the size of washing machines.

  Ranger moved into the bramble and Dana followed. It had seemed impassable but, somehow, Ranger found a pathway through the thicket.

  They made headway quicker than she’d thought possible, circling and ducking beneath the sticky barrier. She could hear the men behind them, feeling their way along, cursing constantly, but still closing in. Her heart pounding, she looked ahead for Ranger’s truck, but it was impossible to see any farther than ten feet ahead.

  “Through there,” he said and pointed.

  They reached the truck moments later. He’d parked in a wide, shallow part of the arroyo, near where the road paralleled the wash. Ranger dove behind the steering wheel as she climbed in and fastened her belt. In a heartbeat they were on the move.

  She kept her eyes on the road behind them, but no one pursued. “I don’t understand. Why did you come after me after I took off? You don’t even trust me, yet you risked your life for mine again.”

  He paused for a moment before answering her, searching for the right words. “You’ve been holding out on me,” he said at last. “I’ve known that all along. But I still trust my instincts about you.”

  Tears of frustration stung her eyes. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t tell him what she knew. Her dying friend had trusted her with his biggest secret and she wouldn’t let him down.

  “How did you find me?” she asked at last, her voice as unsteady as she felt.

  “I was ordered to give you a chance to run away. I’ve been tracking you for hours. I didn’t know where you’d go, but I was sure it wouldn’t be to Trujillo,” he said. “And I know you didn’t stop to call him, either.”

  “Who ordered you?” she pressed.

  “I can’t tell you. In fact, I’ve probably said too much already.”

  She nodded slowly, understanding. From everything she knew about him, he was a man of honor. She had a feeling that Ranger’s name had been on the portion of the list she hadn’t seen. But there was no way for her to know for sure. If Ranger really was a part of the Brotherhood of Warriors and she asked him outright, he’d deny it. He had his own loyalties and oaths to honor, too.

  “ Trujillo wants me-and it’s not because I’m his friend,” she said at last.

  “I know.”

  When they reached the crest of the tallest mesa around, Ranger reversed directions and parked where they could see for miles in every direction.

  “Let’s see if we can spot where they’re headed. Hand me the binoculars from the glove compartment,” he asked.

&nb
sp; By the time he had the binoculars, all he could see was a tail of dust fading away in the distance. “I was hoping they’d follow us, and we could set our own trap, or follow them,” he said. “But they’ve gone in the opposite direction. We’ll never catch up to them now.”

  Ranger shifted in his seat and faced her. “But there’s one point I want to make right now. If they’d captured you, you would have been forced to give up whatever information you carry. Then they would have killed you, and by then, it would have been a mercy. I want you to be very aware of what you’re up against-and why you need me.”

  She’d already come to that conclusion, but hearing it out loud made her start trembling. Dana clasped her hands together and took a deep breath, willing herself to stop. “I know all that, but there’s nothing I can do right now to change the situation. The most I can tell you is that there are things I have to do by myself.”

  “Like finding Hastiin Dííl?”

  “Jonas told you?”

  “He trusts me more than you do. And he also knows me very well and realizes the information is safe with me.”

  “I gave my word to a man who meant the world to me-your tribe’s medicine man,” she said, fighting the tears stinging her eyes. “I’ve got to find Hastiin Dííl.”

  He shook his head. “Can’t be done, at least not right now. Too many bad guys are trying to find him, too, so he’s gone underground. But if you’ve got something important to say to him, tell me, and I’ll do my best to see he gets the message.”

  They were at an impasse, but she needed help to finish what she’d promised Hastiin Sani she’d do. Dana closed her eyes for a second, searching her heart for the answer.

  A moment later she opened her eyes and met his gaze. Her instincts about Ranger couldn’t be that off the mark. Everything she’d seen assured her he could be trusted.

  Making her decision, she took a deep breath. “The kidnappers forced the medicine man to give them a list of names. Hastiin Dííl’s was the first one written down. Maybe that’s why the killers remembered and passed it on to Trujillo.”

  “Did you see the list?” he pressed.

  “You know about loyalty and about honoring your word. You should understand why I can’t tell you anything more.”

  “ Trujillo and his people want Hastiin Dííl because they remember his name. But they also want you because they’re assuming you know the other names. The list must have been lost at some point, so your photographic memory is the only record they can access. Am I close?” he asked.

  “They’re overestimating my worth,” she said, then held up her hand and shook her head. “That’s all I can say.”

  Ranger considered her words for a long time. “ Trujillo ’s men won’t go back to Hastiin Dííl’s hogan. There were two vehicles following you before, and one of them went in another direction after leaving the trading post. If I’m right, those goons went directly to his hogan. By now they’ve had time to break in, search the place and leave. They wouldn’t have had any reason to stick around, because the medicine man isn’t there. Why don’t you and I go over to Hastiin Dííl’s place and see if we can pick up a clue that’ll lead us to him?”

  “So you don’t know where he is, either?”

  “No, and no one’s going to give me that information based on what I have so far,” he said.

  Ranger was risking all that he held dear for her. “Thank you for trusting me.”

  “We’re part of something bigger, you and I. That means rules have to be broken.” He picked up his cell phone, checked and realized he had service. “This is Wind,” he said identifying himself in a way that would tell his brother he wasn’t alone. “I’m going to Hastiin Dííl’s hogan.”

  “He’s not there. You know that,” Hunter answered. “No one can reach him where he is now. He’s safe.”

  “Can you?”

  There was a pause. “No. I don’t have that information.”

  And that was what he’d wanted to know. “I’ll be in touch.”

  “You still haven’t told me why-”

  “Later.”

  She looked at him. “Is Wind your nickname?”

  “I use it in business. It’s a name that seems to fit me.”

  She nodded in agreement. He could be fierce or as gentle as a breeze in summer. He could move in total silence and leave no evidence of his passing. Wind was the perfect code name for him.

  Despite knowing the red truck had gone in the opposite direction, Ranger was very cautious, stopping often to make sure no one was on his tail.

  Satisfied after a long circuitous route, they finally drove to Hastiin Dííl’s. Two log hogans, their joints sealed with clay, were side by side, but one was considerably larger than the other. From what she’d read, Dana knew that the larger hogan with the smoke hole and the blanket over the doorway was the medicine hogan.

  “Don’t,” he said, as she started to open the door. “I’m not even going to turn the engine off. Let’s wait a bit and make sure we’re not getting suckered into a trap. They could be on foot, inside.”

  Parked behind a cluster of trees, he left the engine idling. They waited for over ten minutes before he finally pulled the key out. “Keep your eyes open and stay sharp,” he said, his gaze never resting.

  “This place looks completely deserted,” she said, looking around as she opened the passenger’s door.

  “Don’t trust anything. Expect the unexpected and it won’t broadside you.”

  He walked over, then crouched down by a set of vehicle tracks. “A large pickup was here,” he said.

  “Probably Hastiin Dííl’s, don’t you think?”

  “No, here are his vehicle’s tracks. He drives a VW bus. It’s ancient, but he loves it. His tracks are a few days old, considering the amount of dust that settled over them,” he said.

  “These others, the ones from the pickup, must be fairly new then,” she said, taking a closer look.

  “We have no proof that the truck belonged to Trujillo ’s men, but I’m almost certain it did. Those are brand-new tires, and it’s a six-wheeled pickup. Most of our people can’t afford the fancy stuff.” He stood. “Stay put. I’m going to take a look at the residence.”

  “Do you have a key?” she asked.

  “Traditionalists don’t generally lock doors,” he said, then added, “But all things considered, he may have decided to start. I’ll find out soon enough.”

  He strode off to the hogan being used as a home-the one with the stovepipe passing through the center of the roof and the solid wooden door.

  Dana watched him go around to the front. Finding the door partially open, he stuck his head inside. While he was busy with that, she kept watch for trouble. A cottontail rushing about caught her eye and, as she watched him scamper off, she spotted a set of footprints.

  Following them, she realized they came from the arroyo and led almost directly to the medicine hogan. From the absence of windblown dust over them, she could tell the visitor had been there today. She followed the tracks to the medicine hogan, then, looking up, saw Ranger walking in her direction.

  “I found some footprints, so I’m going to take a quick look,” she called out to him. Since women also had Sings done, she knew she wouldn’t be violating any taboos by peering inside. She drew the blanket aside about a foot, then stuck her head inside.

  A click followed by a thud caught her attention immediately and a roundish object rolled by her boot. Ranger leaped forward, scooped it up, then hurled it toward the arroyo. Spinning around, he knocked her down, and covered her with his body.

  The ground shook from a deafening blast and the air was alive with screeching, flying debris. She heard thumps all along the log sides of the hogan. Hearing a thud to her right, she shifted her gaze and saw a jagged, foot-long splinter of wood jammed into the ground inches from Ranger’s head.

  He kept her pinned for several more seconds as debris continued to rain down, then finally rolled clear. A cloud of dust was sta
rting to settle around them. “From now on, I go in first. To heck with the Anglo ladies’ first custom.”

  She was shaking so hard her teeth were chattering as he helped her to her feet. “Are you hurt?” he asked, looking her over.

  She looked down at herself, unable to even mutter a simple yes-or-no answer. Now that it was over, the reality of what had just happened slammed into her with a vengeance. Tears stung her eyes, and she couldn’t stop shaking.

  He pulled her into his arms and she didn’t resist. The gentleness of his embrace gave her an anchor and a haven in the midst of the violence that surrounded them. “That wooden spike could have killed you.”

  Before he could answer, she drew his mouth down to hers. A verbal thank-you for all he’d done would have never been enough to convey what she was feeling. She needed to show him what was in her heart. She wanted him to feel what she did, that crazy swirl of gentle emotions edged with fire.

  Dana pressed herself into the kiss, tasting him tentatively, then more boldly. His welcoming tenderness made everything inside her melt. Flickers of delicious pleasure that started at the pit of her stomach and wound downward ignited a more desperate need, and she felt herself drowning in its intensity.

  With a deep groan, Ranger eased his hold. “We can’t, not now. We have to get going, and I’ve got to let others know what happened here.” Ranger turned to look at the heavily damaged medicine hogan. “I’m going to find the lowlife who did this. Count on it.”

  When Ranger looked back at her, Dana saw that his earlier gentleness had vanished and been replaced by a ruthlessness she’d never dreamed he possessed.

  “A quick death here and now would have been more merciful than what they have planned for me,” she said in a barely audible voice.

  He pressed his palm to her cheek, forcing her to look at him. “You may walk away from me freely someday, but I’ll die before I let anyone take you. I will keep you safe.” He held her gaze for a brief eternity.