by Jenna Kernan
Clyne cursed.
“You got Hare?”
“Not yet.”
“What about the second lab?”
“Still on Leekela’s place.” Gabe figured he’d give it to him all at once. “Clyne? FBI and DOJ are on-site.Luke and his partner are headed over to pick up that second lab with a team right now.”
Clyne muttered something in Apache.
“And I’m bringing in CID,” he said, referring to the state’s criminal investigations division.
“Keep me informed,” said Clyne. “Doctor’s here. Gotta go.”
“When you see Kino, tell him...” Gabe’s throat was burning and the words just stuck.
“Yeah. I’ll tell him. Stay safe.”
Gabe looked at his mobile and the next thing he knew he was calling Selena. Her phone rang in his front pocket. He’d never given it back to her. He disconnected, wondering if they had made it to the hospital all right.
Clyne called in at ten in the evening with a report. Kino was out of the OR. A thoracic surgeon had repaired the damaged artery in his neck. Kino had lost a lot of blood but was stable and alert. His wife, Lea, and his grandmother were both fussing over him.
“Where’s Clay?” asked Gabe.
“Here with his wife. First ones here.”
Because they were already in Phoenix, Gabe realized.
Clyne said that Frasco had a through-and-through in his upper thigh and was under armed guard until they could sort out what had happened. Clyne had stopped in to say hello and spoken to his family, all four of his girls and his wife.
“Where’s Tomas?”
“I didn’t ask.”
Salva called in from Piñon Lake, verifying that the barrels had been stored there. Juris had seen some evidence of old tracks and they were expanding their search.
Through the night, Gabe received updates. His uncle called to say they had seized the meth lab and made arrests with no shots fired. Sergeant Salva and Juris returned from the cave site to lend a hand at the scene. The new snow and the darkness were making tracking difficult and so they had decided to wait for morning. It was a long, cold, tedious night collecting evidence at the Piñon Lake road site. At sunup, his uncle returned without Agent Walker. She was pursuing leads to locate Hare and now working with Tribal Chief Red Hawk. Better him than me, thought Gabe.
A little later, his men were joined by CID. Arizona’s criminal investigations division had a specialized unit just for narcotics investigations. His department would be using their labs for all evidence processing.
Another agent from DOJ showed up, making it a three-ring circus with Gabe as the ringmaster.
The rising sun was turning the snow pink when Salva phoned from the cave site. Using a metal detector, his team had found bullet castings just outside the entrance, a tree with several bullet holes and depressions in the snowpack where someone might have fallen.
Had they found Officer Dante Chee’s secret hunting spot?
“What do you need?” he asked.
Salva requested an additional team from CID to help collect evidence.
They were wrapping up at the scene and there were still a hundred things that needed doing. But Gabe didn’t want to do any of them. Instead he felt an unexpected detachment from the investigation. It didn’t seem as important as visiting his brother, seeing his grandmother and telling Selena that he was the biggest fool in Black Mountain. He called Detective Juris over.
“You okay?” asked Juris.
“Yeah. You’re lead. I’ve got to go see a man about a horse.”
“Chief?”
“I’m going to Phoenix.”
Detective Juris nodded. “Tell Kino we’re thinking about him.”
“Will do.”
* * *
IT HAD BEEN almost twenty-four hours since Selena had nearly slid off that embankment. She sat in her father’s hospital room in Phoenix with her sisters and mother, waiting for someone from the Department of Justice to verify that her father was not in violation of his parole. She rolled her sore shoulder and shifted, trying and failing to find a comfortable position. The clinic said her ribs and shoulder were bruised from the accident. She considered herself lucky to have walked away with only bruises.
Her father was in high spirits. His leg was bandaged and they learned that the bullet had just punched through muscle, narrowly missing the main blood vessel. He had an IV drip of antibiotics and a Phoenix police officer stationed outside his room.
“And you’re a hero,” said their mother to her father.
Her father smiled. “I don’t think Gabe Cosen will forgive me. Sneaking around behind his back.”
“He might.” They all turned to see Gabe standing in the door.
Selena was so surprised she was speechless. He was in the middle of the biggest, most important case of his life. What was he doing here?
Gabe stepped forward and shook Frasco’s hand. “I’m glad you’re all right, sir. Thank you for your help last night.”
“How’s Kino?” asked her father.
“I just came from his room in ICU. He’s going to make a full recovery.”
Selena breathed out a sigh of relief.
Gabe turned to her family. “I need a moment alone with Mr. Dosela.”
Selena felt a stab of sorrow. He was here on business, of course. Why had she thought he had come all this way to see her? Mia, Paula and Carla headed out the door. Selena lingered a moment and then followed. He heard Gabe tell her mother that he would like her to stay.
Mia was hungry, so they headed to the vending machines in the waiting room down the hall.
“Will the insurance pay for our truck?” asked Paula.
“She was transporting drugs,” said Carla, her tone exasperated.
“At gunpoint,” said Mia, her words muffled by the large bite of chocolate bar she had stuffed in her cheek.
“I don’t know what will happen,” said Selena. “I’ll call them in the morning and put in a claim.”
“The Department of Justice should buy us a new one. It’s their fault. You could have been killed,” said Paula.
For some reason, though she had known that all along, the entire thing hit her right then. Her knees went rubbery and Carla just managed to grab her elbow and guide her into a well-worn sofa.
Selena cradled her head in her hands as the crash replayed in her mind. She trembled and Mia sat down next to her, then gathered her up.
“We got you, Leenie. We’ve all got you.”
Selena sagged against Mia and let the tears flow. Paula patted her knee and Carla furnished a wad of paper towels so she could mop her face and blow her nose. The tears didn’t last long. And when they were past she looked up at her wonderful sisters. She felt so lucky to have them.
“It’s just a stupid truck,” said Paula. “We’ll get another.”
“The important thing is that you’re all right and Dad’s all right,” said Mia.
“And he’s not a criminal,” said Carla.
“He’s a real live hero,” added Paula.
“Not everyone thinks working with the Feds makes you a hero,” said Selena.
“Well, I do. He stopped that poison from reaching its destination,” said Paula.
“Selena did that,” said Mia.
Paula continued as if Mia hadn’t spoken. “I can’t believe that his parole officer was working with the cartels. I hope they catch him and revoke his membership in the tribe,” said Mia.
“And lock him up,” added Paula.
“And throw away the key,” said Mia.
Their mother joined them, her face seeming younger now, as if all the stress of the last few weeks had finally passed. She looked happy.
“Girls, could you come
with me?”
They stood to follow, but their mother turned to her oldest daughter. “Not you, Selena. Wait here a minute. All right?”
What was going on?
Selena’s sisters filed out after their mother. Mia looked back, her brow wrinkled and lines of concern flanking her mouth. It was only then that Selena had a terrible thought.
Was Gabe here to arrest her?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Selena watched her sisters depart, trailing behind their mother toward her father’s room. They passed Gabe who was heading in her direction. Selena’s mother only nodded at him in passing. Gabe continued on, turning his attention to Selena and fixing her with an intent stare that straightened her spine. His grave expression only increased Selena’s rising panic. She had driven that truck. It had been loaded with barrels of chemicals used in making drugs. What if Ronnie was dead and there was no one to corroborate her story?
Selena’s breathing came so fast she grew dizzy again and had to drop back down on the sofa before she fell. Tiny spots swirled before her eyes like snowflakes. Maybe she should tuck her head between her knees.
“Selena?” Gabe said, his voice serious. “I have something I need to discuss with you.”
The slammer, she thought. Handcuffs, police lights, her name in the paper beside her father’s. She couldn’t go to jail. But maybe Paula and Carla could take over her morning route now that their truck...
“Selena?”
Her head popped up from her hands and she stared at him. He was standing right before her so she had to crane her neck to see his face. What was he saying?
“Are you listening to me?”
She hadn’t been. She’d been too busy wondering what she’d look like in an orange jumpsuit.
“He made me drive. Hare. He had a gun. It wasn’t my fault.”
The harder she scrambled for solid ground, the farther she slipped backward. It was like running on ice.
Gabe cocked his head. He looked so handsome in his blazer and jeans. He’s cinched up his turquoise-and-silver bolo and removed his hat. He gave the Stetson a little spin and then dropped it on the sofa beside her, brim up. Then he offered his hand. She took it, hoping he wasn’t going to slap a steel handcuff on her wrist. Instead, he led her to the window. Her knees were a little rubbery, but they carried her. They were on the fourth floor and so the windows gave them a view of the parking lot and emergency room entrance beyond. The world down here at lower elevations was completely devoid of snow, and the trees and vegetation ringing the lot all looked dry and thirsty.
He kept hold of her hand.
“Shouldn’t you be back at the crime scene?”
“Yup. I should be. I ought to be leading the investigation and fending off the Feds who are trying to take over. I should be helping Clyne take on an FBI field agent who looks like she could eat us for lunch and who happens to be the woman who adopted my little sister. I should be looking for a fugitive. But I’m not, because this can’t wait.”
“I didn’t know about the drug stuff. Swear to God.”
Gabe actually smiled and her heart did that little twist it always did when he looked at her like that. She had to squeeze her free hand into a fist to keep from reaching out to caress his handsome face. Selena noticed the fatigue now, there in the circles beneath his dark eyes.
“Selena, I want to start with an apology. Five years ago, when you said it wasn’t going to work, I should have argued. I should have fought for you. But I was afraid.”
Afraid? Had she heard that right? Gabe Cosen was not afraid of anything or anybody.
“I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true.”
She angled her head, trying to understand. “Afraid...because of your reputation?”
He nodded. “That was part of it and I’m ashamed to admit that. After I arrested your father, I was more concerned about what others would say about us. That our relationship would compromise the trial. I was so sure that I couldn’t do my job and have you. I thought I had to choose.”
And he had picked the job. She lowered her head.
“It’s an important job,” she managed to say.
“No, it’s not. Not as important as loving you. Selena, I thought my work was everything. But seeing you almost go over that cliff, well, it shook things into place. The job is nothing if I lose you. You don’t threaten me or make me vulnerable. You make me...” He switched to Apache. “Sunflower Sky Woman, you are my heart.”
Tears leaked down her cheeks. “I am?”
He nodded. “And I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to earn your forgiveness for the time it took me to recognize what you knew all along.”
“You’re not here to arrest me?” she asked in a quavering voice.
He blinked down at her and then he had her by each elbow, his touch light and firm. His scent filled her senses and made her dizzy with need.
“Arrest you? Selena, I’m trying to propose to you.”
“Pro...pr...” She couldn’t get the word out.
Gabe released her and sank to one knee. She looked down at him with amazement as he reached around behind his neck and under his collar. He untied the medicine bundle he always wore. Then he held the small beaded leather pouch in one hand. She knew his mother had made it for him. She had made one for each of her boys when they were still too young to undergo the initiation into the Black Mountain tribe.
He upended the pouch. Into his palm tumbled a clear, naturally faceted stone, the claw of a bear, the tooth of an elk and a familiar diamond engagement ring. He plucked the solitaire from his palm and returned the other sacred objects to his medicine bundle. He had kept her ring here, beside his heart, all these years.
He held the ring between his thumb and index finger, extending it to her.
“Selena, will you marry me?”
She reached for the ring and then hesitated.
“Selena, I have thought about you and dreamed about you and longed for you every day since I took this back. I need you. Please take it.”
“Me?” she squeaked.
“Yes. I need your wisdom. Your love for your family. Your pride. I am not weaker with you. I am stronger because you give me balance. I need more than my job. I need joy, too. Be my joy.” He offered the ring. “Say yes.”
“But your reputation. You’re the chief and I’m...”
“A hero. A miracle. The bravest woman I’ve ever met. I know why you gave this back, Selena,” he said, lifting the ring. “It was to help me in my career. And, fool that I was, I let you and it worked. I’ve done well. But none of it matters without you.”
“What about your job?”
“I don’t need it. I need you. I told Clyne the same thing when I resigned.”
She stepped back. “You did not!”
He nodded. She stared at him, in shock. He’d resigned his job as chief of police for her. But she didn’t want that. Everything she had done was to prevent that very thing.
“Can you take it back? Your resignation?” she asked.
He smiled. “If that’s what you want.”
“I do.”
He held up the ring and the diamond flashed in the light.
“I love you, Selena. Be my wife.”
She offered her left hand and he slipped the ring over her knuckle. It still fit.
“Is that yes?” he asked.
“Yes!” She threw herself into his arms and he stood, sweeping her into a spin as he whooped for joy. Then he lowered her until their lips met. Her toes curled with the delicious pressure of his mouth possessing hers. He deepened the kiss, rocking her over his arm so she arched back, letting his tongue dance over hers. Finally, when she had begun to tug his shirt from the waistband of his jeans, Gabe groaned and set her aside.
It took a moment for the cloud of lust to recede and when it did, she leaped back into his arms again.
“We’re engaged,” she chirped. “Again.”
“But this time we’re getting married. The sooner the better.”
The phone on his belt vibrated and she glanced at him. He didn’t reach for it.
She lifted her eyebrows.
“What? I have a second in command. He can handle it for a few more minutes.” He offered his hand and said, “Let’s go tell your parents.”
And then it made sense. Why he’d wanted to speak to her father and mother.
“You were asking them for my hand, weren’t you?”
He nodded. “I can’t believe you thought I was here to arrest you. You have a guilty conscience.”
She grinned up at him and they walked down the hall. “You know what would be great?”
“What?”
“If you gave me something to feel really, really guilty about.”
Gabe blew out a breath. “I’d like that. But after we get married.”
She groaned. “Killjoy.”
“Hey. This time I’m doing it right. I want that marriage certificate and a church service and a reception with the entire tribe so that everyone knows you are mine.”
Everyone? That sounded perfect to her.
“Oh, so you are here to detain me.”
He grinned. “I’m taking you into custody—my custody.”
“I deserve it.” And then Selena kissed him again.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from SMOKE AND ASHES by Danica Winters.
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