by Aimée Thurlo
“Not alone,” Paul clipped and, seeing his brother approaching, added, “Preston, I’m backing up Kendra.”
“Go. My people will check the surrounding buildings. Maybe we can locate Thomas out there above ground, or find his vehicle,” Preston said.
“Copy,” Paul said and followed Kendra down.
They were only about ten feet into the three-foot-high, horizontal metal culvert when Kendra entered a side tunnel. Glancing inside, she saw several big metal, ex-military ammo boxes but no suspects. She then heard shuffling ahead and a moan. Though it was hard to see, she could make out a figure leaning against a metal pipe perhaps twenty feet ahead.
She inched forward on her hands and knees, gun ready, and found an injured man pointing a pistol toward the opposite end of the tunnel.
“U.S. Marshal, put down your weapon,” Kendra said.
The man eased his grip. The pistol slid out of his hand and clanked onto the metal floor. “Needed to stay alive till you got here...knew you weren’t far,” he managed in a raspy voice.
“Who are you?” The second Kendra saw the knife still imbedded in his chest, she knew help wouldn’t arrive soon enough to save him.
“Use...your cell phone...record...my last words.”
Kendra had her phone out and recording within five seconds. “Go ahead,” she said, holding the phone close to him.
“My name...Louie Genaro. Thomas, Marshal Thomas, stabbed me. Had the knife hidden in his sling. Traitor...to both sides. Wanted me dead, so he could get away with it, but...not his lucky day.”
Genaro’s eyes fluttered, but he forced himself to focus again. “Thomas...tried to kill Judge Yolen. I provided...the gun barrel...to replace one on his service weapon just for the kill. Supposed to destroy it later...but kept it...for leverage. Has his prints. My address...in wallet. Look in closet.”
She started to ask him more, but Genaro gasped, then his eyes glazed over, and his head sagged onto his chest.
Kendra felt the pulse point at his neck. There was nothing. Aware that Paul had come up from behind, she looked back at him and shook her head. “Did you hear what he said?”
“Yeah. We need to move fast. Thomas isn’t getting away this time.” His voice, echoing in the tunnel, had grown stone cold.
Kendra placed the cell phone with the recording back in her pocket. “Thomas made a critical mistake when he failed to finish off Genaro. That’s going to cost him his freedom and maybe his life.”
Paul, taking point, continued down the tunnel and soon pushed up a manhole beside a trash bin. “We’re between two buildings,” he called back to her, then gave Kendra a hand up.
They ran to the sidewalk and looked around. They were now across the street from the dry cleaners.
“Hey, bro,” Preston said, coming up to them.
“Any sign of Thomas?” Paul asked.
Preston shook his head. “Maybe he ducked inside one of the other buildings.”
Kendra pointed back to where they’d reached the surface. “We found a small stash of what looks like ammo down there in the tunnel. I didn’t see any weapons, though.”
“I’ll send in an ordnance officer to check it out ASAP,” Preston said.
Kendra looked around and located a surveillance camera at the smoke shop just beyond the tiny alley. “Thomas isn’t around, so I’m going to assume he drove off. Let’s go check their surveillance footage.”
The smoke shop owner, who’d gone to high school with one of Paul’s brothers, was happy to cooperate.
“There’s Thomas,” Kendra said, pointing to the image. “Can’t miss the sling on his arm. He went straight to that SUV, then headed east.”
“I’ll put a BOLO out,” Preston said. “We’ll catch him.”
Paul walked outside with Kendra. Just then, Daniel drove up and came to a stop at the curb beside them.
“I’ve been monitoring police calls and following the events. Don’t worry about finding Thomas. He’ll find you.”
“What do you know that we don’t?” Kendra asked.
“If Thomas turns himself in, he’s facing the death penalty, so that’s not his best option right now. The cartel isn’t going to forgive him for bringing the cops here either, and Thomas knows that better than anyone else. The only chance he’s got is to convince the cartel that he’s still got something to offer. Then he can negotiate a quid pro quo and get their help leaving the country.”
“Contacting the cartel at all will be extremely risky for him now, particularly if they find out what he did to Genaro,” Kendra said.
“That’s my point. He’s going to need something really big to convince them of his loyalty and usefulness—like delivering both of you on a platter. The cartel could use two captive marshals as bargaining chips and buy time for the leaders to go to ground.”
Kendra drew in a breath. “You’re right, Daniel. It’s the only deal he’s got left.”
“That means he’ll try to contact us and arrange a meet,” Paul said. “I’m guessing he’ll approach us with an offer to testify if we can offer him life instead of the death penalty.”
“Evan tried to kill a federal judge, and in the process murdered a U.S. Marshal—one of his own. He doesn’t have much room to bargain,” she said.
“We know that and so does he, but I still think he’s going to try. He’ll either set us up to be captured or killed by the cartel or maybe convince them he’ll do it himself.”
“Which means we need a plan,” Daniel said. “Come back to my place. Preston will join us there as soon as possible. When Thomas calls, I’ll try to zero in on the signal. My equipment is better than what they have at the police department. If you can keep him talking long enough, I can get a location.”
“We’re assuming he’s going to call,” Kendra said. “He may decide to go underground on his own.”
“If he ends up running from the cops and the cartel, his life expectancy goes down to zero,” Daniel said.
Paul agreed. “Makes sense to me.”
“If he does come after us, we can count on one thing—he won’t be alone,” Kendra said.
“Neither will we,” Paul said. “We’ll have all the backup we need.”
“Count on that. No way the rest of us guys are going to miss all the fun,” Daniel said with a lethal grin.
* * *
WHILE PAUL, Gene, Daniel and Preston studied the large, aerial view of Copper Canyon on the computer display, Kendra went into the kitchen for some coffee. She needed to stay completely alert to face what lay ahead.
Paul joined her a moment later. “Preston heard from the DC police. They went to the address Genaro provided. It didn’t look like anyone’s lived there for a while, but he was telling the truth. They recovered a rifle barrel wrapped in paper and Thomas’s prints are on it. If ballistics matches it up with the bullet that killed Judy, Evan’s going down.”
“I’ve got some other news,” she said. “Tim checked out Evan’s whereabouts when your partner was shot and killed. Evan was in DC, ostensibly on personal leave. He wasn’t called to respond to the incident, either. He just showed up. Big coincidence, huh?” She placed a hand on his arm. “Looks like you’re finally going to have the closure you wanted.”
“I know, and there are things I need to say to you once this is over, but until then, there’s something I want to give you.” Paul reached into his pocket and pulled out a small leather medicine pouch. “I had Daniel pick this up for me. It’s from the same Zuni carver Hosteen Silver used to craft our fetishes.”
She pulled the tiny figure out carefully. “It’s a...deer?” she asked, running her fingers over the delicate carving. It was made from turquoise and beautifully detailed.
“It’s Antelope. Antelope people see with their hearts and have the ability and inner strength to accomplish whatever they set out to do,” he said. “Antelope will guide you through the fight ahead and beyond.”
“I will always keep this with me,” she whispered.
/> “No matter where life takes you, whenever you look at it, think of me,” he said, then brushed her face with the palm of his hand.
She leaned into him, allowing herself to bask in that moment of gentleness. “I—” She never got to finish her thought.
Her phone rang, and as Kendra reached for it, Paul’s eyes held hers. “If it’s Thomas, remember we’ll only meet him at Copper Canyon.”
Kendra answered, and noting that Paul’s brothers had come in and were now watching her, she put the caller on speaker.
“It’s Evan,” a familiar voice said. “You’ve always played it smart, Kendra, so think about what I’m going to offer. I can hand over the leaders of the cartel, plus enough evidence to bring them down. In exchange, I want a deal that includes a new identity.”
“Go to the Hartley Police Station on Airport Drive right now. We’ll meet you there,” Kendra said, following the strategy they’d mapped out.
“No way. The cartel’s got informants everywhere, including the local P.D. I can’t risk showing my face. I’d be as good as dead.”
“That’s your problem. You betrayed the marshals service. If you want to talk, those are my terms.”
“What I’m trading is worth the price I’m asking. You can make your career on a collar like this. Don’t throw it away,” Evan said. “If you’re worried, bring Grayhorse as backup. I’ve already got a site picked out. Meet me west of Hartley, about a mile down the power plant road.”
“No. I’ll choose the place,” she said, then waited several seconds, as if trying to decide. “Meet us at the end of the road that goes up Copper Canyon—that’s Grayhorse’s old place. There’s a big metal gate there. I’ll make sure it’s unlocked.”
He hesitated. “That’s a long drive and I’ll be a sitting duck every foot of the way.”
“Not unless you tell someone where you’re going. That area gets only locals and a little oil worker traffic. That’s my offer. Take it or leave it.”
“All right.” There was a brief pause, then Thomas spoke again. “Meet you there tonight at nine.”
As the phone call ended, Kendra looked over at Daniel, who was standing beside his computer. He shook his head. “All we could get was the nearest cell phone tower. At least we know he’s still in the area.”
“But we knew that already,” she said. “At least we got the meeting place we needed.”
“I’m bringing two top-notch officers from our tactical unit,” Preston said, “and Daniel will provide a few security people and some of their special gear. We’ll be ready for whatever surprises Thomas throws in our direction.”
“Trust me, and trust us,” Paul said. “Tonight you’ll have all the trained backup you need, Kendra.”
“I know.”
As she looked into Paul’s eyes, she saw an emotion she didn’t dare name reflected in the intensity of his gaze. Everything feminine in her yearned to call it love, to know that her name was forever written in his heart. Yet as a woman and a marshal, she knew that wishes didn’t always come true.
She swallowed hard and focused back on business. “Let’s go over those plans again.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Traveling at breakneck speed on the gravel roads, Thomas arrived fifteen minutes early. Paul and Kendra heard him long before he showed up on their night vision goggles. The old pickup he’d probably stolen bounced hard on the gravel track and barely made it across the cattle guard of their open gate, clipping a post on the passenger’s side.
Despite only having one good arm, Thomas was driving as if the devil himself were chasing him. He nearly wrecked into the trees before he slid to a stop outside the main house.
Paul and Kendra were hidden outside, on the north flank behind some bales of old hay. They stuck to the plan and stayed behind cover, watching as Thomas jumped out of the pickup while it was still running, grabbed something from behind the seat, then sprinted toward the main door. Through his lens, Paul could see Thomas had a handgun at his waist and was carrying his department issue sniper rifle.
Atop the two hundred foot high mesa to their left, above the entrance to the narrow, horseshoe-shaped blind canyon, stood his brother Gene, watching with a powerful spotting scope. “Two SUVs are closing in on Copper Canyon now,” Gene said into the mike of his headset. “They just left the highway.”
The ranch house door opened just before Thomas reached it. One of Preston’s officers greeted Thomas and motioned him into the darkened interior.
“They know what to do with him, right?” Paul spoke quietly into his mike.
“Copy that,” Preston said. “Disarm Thomas before he catches on, check him for bugs, then handcuff him and put him in a corner so he can’t move or call out until the op’s over.”
“That’s the bad cop part,” Kendra whispered, not taking her eyes off the narrow entrance into the blind canyon. “The good part is telling him that if he lives to testify, he might avoid lethal injection.”
Paul didn’t answer. He was looking to the left, across the floor of the narrow canyon to where Daniel and his two companions were making final preparations.
“The two vehicles have stopped about fifty yards outside the gate,” Gene reported. “They’re apparently going to advance on foot.” There was a pause, then he spoke again. “Four men, wearing ball caps, body armor and night vision gear. I don’t see radios, but they could be connected via headsets. All four have assault rifles and spare clips on their belts.”
“Copy,” Kendra said.
Kendra listened as Daniel and Preston confirmed they were up to speed and ready. Gene, from his overhead observation post, was going to be their eyes and ears. Inside the canyon it was often darker than dark, especially on a night when a moonless sky and the high canyon walls created the deepest of shadows.
“At the gate. They’re splitting up, with two men advancing down each shoulder of the road. They’re spaced about twenty feet apart,” Gene said.
Paul looked over at Kendra, smiled, then pushed his goggles away from his face and clicked on the night scope of his M-4 clone—an assault rifle descended from the old AR-15. Daniel had provided them with the equipment, standard issue for his security training operation. Those, and a few more surprises, would be available if needed.
Paul watched as the first two men walked briskly up on opposite sides of the road, apparently eager to get this over with. He kept his sites on the man farthest from them, knowing that, according to plan, Kendra would be targeting the closer of the two.
Paul spoke into the headset and signaled the house. Behind him a light came on in the cabin. An image silhouetted by a lamp crossed in front of the kitchen window.
The two men closest to them stopped, as did those across the road. Soft words were exchanged, too low to understand, then all four men picked up speed. Soon they were across the road, crouching low and angling toward the house.
A noisy generator started up just then, and three large strobe lights came on, flashing in the faces of the advancing men, blinding their night vision devices. Two of them cursed, raised their weapons and opened fire on the lights. The other two ducked down behind some brush.
Daniel turned on the floodlights next to his position, illuminating the two trying to hide and drawing more misdirected gunfire from the confused attackers.
“We need prisoners,” Kendra said. “Don’t shoot to kill unless there’s no other option.”
The spotlighted men fell prone and returned fire, but they were caught in the crossfire, trapped out in the open.
Daniel added hand-directed lasers to his regimen of confusion, forcing the assault team to tear off their night vision devices.
Preston, speaking from beside the house, called out from a bullhorn. “You’re surrounded and outgunned. Lay down your weapons.”
One of the gunmen whipped his weapon around and fired toward Preston, but someone near Daniel’s position took him out with one shot.
Two of the remaining assailants put their weapo
ns down and sat on the ground, hands locked behind their heads. The fourth set down his rifle but, instead of sitting like the others, suddenly spun around and raced toward the gate.
Kendra jumped up to cut him off, Paul right behind her. The man was fast, but Kendra was between him and the gate. She stopped and fired into the ground right in front of him.
The man tried to dodge, tripped on a prickly pear cactus and fell facedown on the ground.
“Careful now,” Paul said, rushing forward, his weapon aimed.
Kendra, barely ten feet from the fallen man, turned her head for a second as Paul came up.
At that instant the man yanked a pistol from his jacket. Kendra caught the motion out of the corner of her eye and swung her weapon around.
Paul fired first. The wounded man clutched his side, dropping his pistol.
“You knew before he even reached for the gun,” Kendra said, this time not looking away from the target. “I’m glad you had my back.”
“Always.” Paul stepped in front of her, standing between her and the gunman, his eyes and weapon still on their assailant.
Kendra and Paul helped the rest of their team collect the captives as a medic tended the man who’d pulled the pistol on Kendra.
After all the prisoners were secured, Kendra went inside the cabin. Thomas was sitting, handcuffed, on the floor, his back against the kitchen counter. “It’s over,” she said.
“I still want to cut a deal,” he said.
“Forget it. You set us up again, but now we have the evidence we need. You’re going down this time, Evan, and there won’t be a way out.”
* * *
THREE PHONE CALLS later, however, Evan Thomas had struck a deal with the federal prosecutor and had been flown out by state police helicopter to Albuquerque.
“The ones responsible for your partner’s death are going away for a long time,” Kendra said.
“The fact that Thomas cut a deal doesn’t make this feel like a win.”
“I know, but he’ll still spend life in prison for killing your partner, and look what we got in return. Thomas gave up the names of all his contacts in the weapons cartel and revealed the location of the Colorado mountain hideout used by Garrett Hawthorn, the leader of their operation. He also pinpointed two weapons stashes on a Google map and the entrance of a smuggling tunnel that leads into a Mexican warehouse just across the border. Combined agency strike teams are already en route.”
