Protector

by Diana Palmer

  “Unfasten his cuffs!” she directed Pepito.

  “But, señorita, I do not have the key!” he exclaimed.

  Hayes was laughing. “I don’t damned well believe it!” he exclaimed. “Minette!”

  She backed away from Pepito. “Desperation drives us in odd ways,” she said. “Pepito, I want you to lie down on your stomach with your hands behind you. Over there.”

  “They will kill my family!” he wept.

  “I will kill you if you don’t do what I tell you to!” Minette exclaimed. “Do it!”

  “Sí,” he groaned. “Very well.”

  With an audible sigh, he spread out on the floor with his hands behind him. Minette searched for something that would do the job. She found a piece of discarded duct tape, which had been used to gag her. She twisted it into a long string, knelt over Pepito, who hadn’t moved, and quickly tied his thumbs together. It was a neat and simple but effective way of binding a prisoner.

  “How the hell did you learn that?” Hayes asked with admiration.

  “I interviewed this merc,” she explained. “God, how do we get you loose before they get back?” she exclaimed.

  “Mendez’s enforcer took the key with him,” Hayes muttered. “These are the best cuffs money can buy. I ought to know. I paid for them.”

  “Maybe a hairpin,” she muttered, looking around frantically. “I’ve never picked a lock in my life, but...”

  “Just get me on my feet,” he said heavily. “Leave the cuffs for now. We have to get out of here before his crazy boss comes back!”

  “I agree.”

  She took the jeweled toilet-roll holder from her pocket and went to work on the nylon cord that bound Hayes’s wrists to his feet.

  “What the hell is that?” he exclaimed.

  “Vanity,” she explained, and managed a grin. “It brings us all down in the end.”

  She finished cutting the cord. Hayes stood up and almost fell. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m a bit unsteady.”

  “Not to worry, gramps, lean on me,” she teased.

  “We have to get going.”

  “I know.”

  “Señorita, my family, my poor family!” Pepito was crying openly. “They will kill me but Lido will torture my wife and my babies!”

  “Lido?” Minette queried.

  “The man who was here, with the gold-plated weapon,” Pepito said miserably. “Lido is the enforcer of Pedro Mendez and his cousin Charro, who is mayor of Cotillo.” He took in a shaky breath. “Lido likes to do bad things to women....”

  Minette looked at Hayes and grimaced.

  “Go ahead,” he said heavily. “But give me the AK first. I can manage it with the cuffs, I think.”

  And he did. He held it with some difficulty while Minette got Pepito on his feet.

  “I’m not untying you,” she told him curtly. “And if you make trouble or try to betray us, I’ll shoot you. Deal?”

  He hesitated. “Deal. But my family...”

  “Pepito, I can’t storm an armed camp,” she pointed out. “I’m sorry. I can save you. I can’t save any more people today, I’ve hit my quota.”

  He sighed sadly. He nodded.

  “Let’s go. Quickly!” Hayes said.

  “Provisions,” Pepito said. “We must have food and water.”

  She muttered a curse, but he was right. They were miles from civilization and they had to keep up their strength. Even in cold weather, the desert was dry.

  She gathered up what she could find in the kitchen in a knapsack and threw it over her back. She grabbed a couple of blankets off the worn bed and draped them over Pepito’s shoulder.

  “Now let’s go, while there’s still time!” she told them.

  They followed her cautiously out the door. She took the AK from Hayes, because she could see the pain it was causing him to carry it. She hoped he hadn’t done irreparable damage to his shoulder on this unexpected and painful journey. She hoped she wouldn’t cause more. But they had to escape. They only had one chance, and this was it.

  She looked at Pepito. “I have to trust you. Which way to the border?”

  He bit his lip. He was considering his options. Really, he had none, but he knew this country and they did not. Chances were very good that if he didn’t speak, they would wander around lost until his boss, who had an excellent tracker, hunted them down. Perhaps the boss would consider Pepito a victim and be forgiving...

  “If we get caught,” Minette said in a steely tone, “I’ll swear on my life and honor that you helped us escape.”

  “And I’ll swear with her,” Hayes added coldly.

  Pepito ground his teeth together. “They will kill my wife and children!” he sobbed.

  “If you survive this, you might still be able to save them,” Minette said.

  He looked at her through tear-filled eyes. “With what?” he asked heavily. “I have no money, no weapons, nothing!”

  Minette was thinking fast. “Pepito, do you know why they kidnapped me?”

  “Because they wanted the sheriff and you were with him,” he said.

  “No. It’s the other way around.” She lifted her chin. “My father is El Jefe.”

  He laughed. “It is a joke, no?”

  “It is no joke. You heard the boss say that he was going to videotape himself killing me and send it to my father. My father is his worst enemy. El Jefe.”

  Pepito would have crossed himself had his hands been free. “El Jefe could save my wife, if he would,” he ventured.

  “And your children,” she agreed, nodding. “If you help save me, you could ask for any reward, anything at all. Couldn’t you?”

  He seemed to come to a decision all at once. He nodded. “It is this way. Through here. Move quickly. It will not take the boss long to get here. He has a tracker who will find us if we are still in the area.”

  “Stop talking and start walking,” Hayes advised.

  “Good advice. Take it,” Minette seconded.

  * * *

  They walked for a long time, through scrubby undergrowth and across dry stream beds. They walked into the mountains and around for what seemed hours. Hayes was weakened by the ordeal. He was shivering, too.

  “How much farther is it?” Minette asked anxiously.

  Pepito sighed. “It is very far, señorita,” he replied. “Miles and miles, and we cannot get there in one day, not when the sheriff is so weak.”

  She groaned. But when she looked at Hayes, she knew Pepito was right. Of course, he could also be lying, buying time for his boss to hunt them down.

  “Is it really such a long way?” Minette asked the shorter man. “It didn’t take us very long to get here in the SUV.”

  “Yes, it did,” Hayes said heavily. “I’d say we were more than thirty miles from the border.”

  “Oh, dear God,” Minette burst out worriedly. “It will take forever to walk that far!”

  “We don’t have a choice unless we can steal a car,” Hayes said facetiously. He looked around. “Good luck finding one in the desert, too.”

  She groaned out loud. Hayes might not make it that far. He was already moving like an invalid. The trip and the rough physical treatment might have caused him even more problems that weren’t visible.

  They stopped in the shelter of an overhanging rock.

  “Could we risk a fire?” Minette asked Pepito, because Hayes looked bad.

  “Yes, if we make one that has little smoke,” he replied. “But I cannot gather wood like this.”

  Minette hesitated. She didn’t trust him not to run away and leave them.

  He stared back at her, holding out his hands.

  “If you betray me,” she promised him, “my father will hunt you down.”

  He swallowed. “I know that, señorita. You must trust me.”

  She looked at Hayes, but he was sitting on the ground, his back to a rock, so exhausted he could barely move. “All right. Give me your word you won’t run.”

  “I give you my mo
st solemn promise,” Pepito told her.

  She drew in a long breath and finally used the jeweled toilet-roll holder to cut away the duct tape she’d used to bind his hands.

  “I will return shortly. I give you my word.” He hesitated. “Your father, you are certain he will help me?”

  “I am absolutely certain,” she replied. “Please, hurry,” she said, glancing worriedly at Hayes.

  “I will be quick.”

  He walked away into the darkness. Minette sat down beside Hayes and put her arms around him, holding him close, warming him with her body.

  “It will be all right,” she whispered. “We got away. We’ll make it to the border. I swear we will!”

  He sighed and slid his good arm around her. “You are the stuff of legends, lady,” he chuckled softly.

  “I had this wonderful inspiration...a sheriff who’s afraid of nothing and walks right into gunfire,” she whispered.

  He brushed his lips against her hair. “Thanks. I feel all better now. Hurts my pride that you had to save us. I wanted to save you.”

  “Next time,” she promised. “Here. Lie down.”

  She coaxed him onto the hard ground and curled into his body, as close as she could get, to warm him with her own body heat.

  “Miss Raynor, what do you have in mind?” he murmured at her ear. “I’m not that kind of man!”

  “Oh, yes, you are,” she chuckled. And despite the ordeal of the past few hours and the threat of danger, she was happier than she’d ever been in her life.

  He curled toward her. “I guess I am, after all,” he mused. His good hand slid into the back of her jeans and down, curving around her hip. “Soft.” He groaned, because the cuffs were still on and it pulled the sore muscles in his injured shoulder. “Crackers and milk,” he muttered as he drew his hand back.

  “Isn’t this easier?” she whispered, sliding it into the front of her blouse. “This way, it won’t pull the muscles in your...oh, my gosh...!” she gasped when he bent his head and worked his way under the blouse, onto her soft breast. His mouth worked on the hard nipple, creating a tender suction that lifted her off the ground. She moaned as his mouth moved up to her lips and he rolled onto her, nudging her long legs apart. They strained together in an agony of need, blind and deaf and dumb to their surroundings.

  “Oh, God, I can’t...damn this shoulder!” he groaned, when he realized that what he was trying to do was impossible while he was wearing handcuffs.

  Minette clung to him, straining to breathe, while she fought down a hunger that threatened to undo them both. “Later,” she promised. “I’ll get those cuffs off if I have to shoot them off. Then I’ll ravish you!” she whispered huskily, pushing her mouth up into his.

  “Minette,” he groaned.

  “Sorry.” She managed to draw back. “Really sorry. Depraved virginity,” she whispered. “Got the best of me.”

  “Depraved...virginity,” he burst out laughing.

  He rolled onto his side, wincing, and looked into her eyes. “That’s a condition I would very much like to remedy for you.”

  “Would you, really?”

  “But only if you marry me,” he continued, his lips pursed. “After all, I’m a public figure. I have my reputation to consider. I have to set an example.”

  She wiggled both eyebrows. “Okay. How soon can we get married?”

  “If I bribe a public official...”

  “You’re a sheriff. Can’t do that,” she replied.

  “Damn. Well, we’ll get a license and get married at the end of the week. How about that?”

  She smiled and kissed him softly. “That’s assuming that we last until then.”

  A loud noise in the distance caught their attention. It was followed by a second. It sounded oddly like explosions. That was when Minette realized that their prisoner hadn’t returned with any firewood. Had he found some way to alert the others to his presence? Did he have hidden fireworks with him, perhaps, some way to signal his boss and the men who wanted to do away with the prisoners?

  She looked around. “Did you hear those explosions? Pepito!” she groaned. “He’s sold us out!”

  He frowned. “That didn’t sound like gunfire. It sounded like a grenade going off. Maybe more than one.”

  “Maybe Pepito had one that we didn’t know about. I’ll bet he’s just signaled his boss.” Minette sighed. “So much for expecting him to keep his word. He’ll lead his boss back here.”

  Hayes indicated the AK solemnly. “So we make a stand,” he said. “And pray for reinforcements.”

  She searched his eyes. She nodded slowly. “A last stand. Together.”

  He smiled, very slowly, and with great pride. “That’s my girl,” he said huskily.

  * * *

  Night was closing in fast. It was cold. Minette huddled together with Hayes, because it was stupid to wander off in the night in a desert, where anything could be waiting. They knew that the United States lay to the northeast. If they could find a constellation they recognized, it might help them navigate.

  “I never studied astronomy,” Hayes groaned when she suggested it.

  “Neither did I,” she replied.

  “Back to the drawing board.”

  “Moss grows on the northern side of trees,” she said helpfully.

  “Good luck finding it in the dark. In fact, good luck finding a tree,” he pointed out. “There are hardly any where we are.” He nodded toward the long expanse to the horizon, barely dotted with an occasional mesquite tree.

  She nodded, despondent.

  They were freezing. She wrapped blankets around them and opened their last bottle of water. They had to drink sparingly. There was a little beef. They ate some of it, as well. Every minute, they expected armed company to show up and surround them. But so far, there was no indication of people coming after them.

  “I’m sorry I trusted Pepito,” she told Hayes.

  In essence, they were trapped. They couldn’t go anywhere because they didn’t know where they were. They had a rifle and a few bullets. Pepito’s boss had a small army and the arms to go with it. Against that might, two lone people, one of them injured, had little hope.

  “I trusted him, too,” Hayes reminded her. “What else could we do? I thought he might wait to see your father before he sold us out. I guess that was wishful thinking....”

  She hugged him gently. “Thanks. So what do we do now?”

  “I suppose we try to get a little sleep and then start walking. With luck, we might find a better hiding place or someone in law enforcement who would help us.”

  “Okay,” she said. She curled up against him with a long sigh. “I wish we’d never gone to your office.”

  He smiled, closing his eyes. “Me, too. I’m really worried about the computer tech,” he added. “Eb Scott won’t take that lying down. He’ll send men out to find him, and he won’t be gentle with his abductors.”

  “I hope he finds them.”

  “Well, I do, too, as long as he turns them over to me for prosecution,” Hayes stated grimly.

  “That’s my sheriff,” she said, and she closed her eyes, too.

  Chapter 14

  “What if Pepito decided to go and try to save his family?” Minette opened her eyes and wondered aloud.

  “I suppose, in his place, I might do the same,” Hayes replied. “It would be hard to put the lives of children below the lives of people you don’t even know.”

  She smiled, pulling the blanket closer around them. “I was thinking about Shane and Julie,” she said softly. “It will be hard for them, if we don’t make it back. They’ve already lost both their parents—”

  “Let’s just go one step at a time,” he interrupted. “We’re free, thanks to you.” He shook his head. “Imagine using a toilet-paper-roll holder to cut yourself free.”

  She grinned. “Thanks to Pepito’s boss,” she chuckled. “Imagine having something like that in an outhouse!”

  “I’ll have to remember
to tell my deputies about that when we get home. It will tickle them, when they remember the guns we confiscated that were gold-plated and studded with diamonds.” He grimaced. “What a haul. The feds confiscated them. I imagine they’ll put the proceeds to good use, tracking down the people who bought those weapons.”

  “I hope they can.” She drew in a long breath and looked around. There was a sliver of a moon. They had no fire. She heard coyotes howling somewhere nearby.

  “Coyotes won’t attack people, will they?” she wondered.

  “I don’t think so,” he told her. “Actually Native Americans have some fascinating stories about coyotes protecting wounded people alone in the wilderness.”

  She pursed her lips. “Perhaps we should talk to the coyotes and see if they’d be willing to give us a hand,” she laughed. “Or, rather, a paw.”

  He linked her fingers with his and shifted closer. “It gets damned cold in the desert at night,” he said. “I’ve had to spend a night or two outside, on the other side of the border, hunting fugitives.”

  “You’re in a very dangerous line of work,” she murmured.

  “Yes. I never thought about it before, but I am.” He glanced down at her. “I love my job, but maybe it’s time I thought about putting on a new deputy and paying more attention to administration.”

  Her heart jumped. “You’d do that?”

  “I think I would,” he said.

  She reached up and kissed him, very softly. “I’d like it very much if you stayed alive for a long time.”

  He laughed and kissed her back. “Okay. I’ll do my best.” He turned her gently and slid down beside her on the hard ground. “I don’t want our children to be orphans,” he whispered.

  She pulled him close, hungry for the feel and taste of him. As he kissed her, his hands wandered slowly over her body, making it swell, making it ache for more.

  Her mouth opened under his, tempting him. She slid her hands under his shirt, against his back, where the scars were from other wounds. They didn’t bother her at all. They were marks of his bravery.

  He felt her hands, felt their gentle stroking, and relaxed. She didn’t find his scars repulsive. That made him feel really good. He nudged her legs apart, knowing that this was a very bad idea, and lowered himself so that they fit against each other almost as close as possible.