Lonestar Homecoming

by Colleen Coble

  “Do as he says,” Zita said.

  She did.With the heat baking her cheek again and the stink of the engine in her nose, she tried to think. Had Sam learned from Cid that she had a child? Hope was being used as a pawn, but Gracie couldn’t quite ferret out how. She hoped Zita might turn out to be an ally.

  Cid grabbed her bound wrists again and thrust her toward the backseat of the car. “Get in.”

  She half fell onto the seat, then crawled the rest of the way. “Hope,” she croaked. “Are you okay?”

  “Mommy!” Hope crawled into her lap. “The bad man hit Poppy. He had blood on his head.” She started crying and pressed her wet face into Gracie’s neck.

  Gracie wished she could embrace her daughter. “It’s going to be okay, honey,” she whispered. She kissed her daughter, tasting the salt on Hope’s wet cheeks.

  The car shifted as both men climbed in. Cid glanced in the back. “Better get comfortable.We have a long night ahead of us.”

  Zita opened the door and got in back with them. She didn’t look at Gracie.

  “Where are you taking us?” Gracie asked Cid.

  “To visit the kid’s grandpa. One look at her face and he will do whatever we tell him.”

  “What do you want him to do?”

  “Nothing that concerns you. A few hours and it will be all over.” He leaned over the seat. “Turn around and I will untie you. Do not try anything.” His gaze flickered to Hope.

  Gracie caught his unspoken threat. She turned around and he loosened the ropes. If only there was some way to leave a message for Michael. She had no doubt he’d come looking for her.

  27

  “WE’VE BEEN DRIVING FOR HOURS.” MICHAEL HIT THE STEERING WHEEL with his hand.“We’ve scoured the lodge and driven every mile of roads. The last call I made to the sheriff was useless too.They haven’t seen a thing.”

  Rick leaned forward with an intent expression. “I thought maybe she’d be at the observatory.” He glanced at his watch.“We need to get out of these mountains so I can check voice mail. Just in case Allie needs something for the kids or. . . or if Gracie called.”

  Fat chance of that, Michael thought. He turned the car around and headed out of the valley. He passed a turnoff to a picnic area that had been closed the last time they came through.

  Rick turned his head to stare down the drive to the parking lot. “That had a chain and a closed sign on it two hours ago.Turn around. That’s one place we haven’t checked.”

  “Okay.” Michael turned the car around on the deserted Skyline Drive and approached the turnoff. One of the car’s tires bounced over a hole, then out again. “It sure wasn’t closed to fix the road,” he grumbled. His car’s headlamps pierced the darkness. “There’s a car parked here,” he said, squinting.

  “It’s Allie’s!” Rick threw open his door before their vehicle rolled to a stop.

  Michael slammed the gearshift into park, then hurtled from the car. Not bothering to shut the door behind him, he approached the driver’s door, where Rick stood peering inside. “Anything?”

  “Nope. Empty.”

  Michael cupped his hands to his mouth. “Gracie!” His voice rang into the trees. “I’ll get a flashlight. I have a little one on my key ring.” He jogged back to his car and retrieved it. Starting toward the picnic area, he flipped it on.The tiny beam of light touched something on the ground, and he paused.A flip-flop. He picked it up and shone the light on it. “This is Gracie’s,” he said. “Look. Here’s Caesar’s teeth marks.”

  The dog woofed beside him, and he realized Caesar had gotten out of the car. He held it to the dog’s nose. “Find Gracie, boy.” Caesar whined, then trotted toward the woods. “Come on,” Michael said.

  He’d only taken two steps when his cell phone dinged its voice mail notification. “We must have cell coverage here.” He hoped Gracie had left a message. He scrolled through the calls and saw one from Lister.

  “Gracie’s dad called while the cell phone was out of range,” he told Rick. He returned the call. It seemed to ring forever before Lister picked up. “Mr. Lister? It’s Michael Wayne. I saw you called. I didn’t bother to listen to the message. Is everything okay?”

  “No, son. No, it’s not.”The older man’s voice was weak and thready. “They took Hope.”

  Michael closed his eyes, then opened them again. “Who took her?”

  “I don’t know.Two guys. Hispanic, both of them. I was packing a few things to take to town, and they busted in here about two hours after you left. It’s all my fault. I should have moved faster, but I had livestock to care for.”

  “It’s not your fault.What happened?”

  “One of them scooped Hope up and started for the door. I grabbed a vase and was going to cream him with it, but the other smashed the butt of a gun against my head. I fell and was out a few seconds. Even when I came to, I was so disoriented, I couldn’t move. I think they thought I was still unconscious, because they wouldn’t have talked like that if they’d known I was awake.”

  “Like what?” Michael prayed for a clue, any clue to the men’s— and his daughter’s—whereabouts.

  “They told her to quit crying. Said they were taking her to see her grandfather. I’m her grandfather and I was lying right there, so I’m guessing it must be her dad’s father.”

  “Sam Wheeler,” Michael muttered. “Anything else?”

  “That’s all I heard.” His voice trailed away.

  “Are you okay? Where are you?”

  “In the hospital.They tried to take my phone away, but I wouldn’t let them. Not until I talked to you. The police have been and gone. They’re looking too.”

  “If the doctor is keeping you, it must be serious! What’s wrong?”

  “I have a slight concussion but I’ll be fine. Find my Gracie. And my granddaughter. I have a lot of lost time to make up for.”

  “I’ll do my best.When I find them, I’ll call you.” He hung up his phone and repeated the conversation to Rick.

  “Her other grandfather?” Rick said. “Any idea who that is?”

  Michael nodded. “Sam Wheeler. He’s been trying to get hold of Gracie for days.The first time she talked to him, he asked her if she’d had his son’s child. She didn’t know how he found out. It appears he’s all wrapped up in this.”

  “Any idea where he lives?”

  “No, but I can find out.”Michael dialed Pickens’s number and got his voice mail. He left a message asking for Wheeler’s address.When he hung up, he dialed Estevez. This time the call was answered. He told Estevez what was going on.

  “Hold on,” Estevez said. “I’m right by the computer.”

  Michael heard the clicking of a keyboard. He didn’t dare move from his spot in case he lost the signal. “Hurry up. My wife’s and daughter’s lives are in the balance,” he said.

  “I can only go as fast as the computer will let me,” Estevez grumbled. “Got it.” He rattled off an address. “He’s the governor of Arizona,” he said. “Did you know that?”

  “Yeah, I did.” He rubbed his chin. “Hmm,Vargas is locked up in Arizona.”

  “Yeah. So what?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s interesting.”

  Estevez gave an impatient huff. “That all you need? I have to go.”

  “One more thing.” What he was thinking was crazy. “Look up Vargas’s bio.What’s his background? Does he have any kids?”

  “Got it,” Estevez said. “He’s got a son. Cid Ortega. Must be illegitimate since the last name isn’t the same.”

  Nausea rolled in Michael’s gut. He didn’t see the full puzzle yet, but the pieces showing were enough to terrify him. “Thanks for your help,” he told Estevez.

  “You need backup?” Estevez asked.

  “I don’t have time to get to you,” he said. “We’ll need to head to Wheeler’s right now.”

  “I can call agents in Arizona, and I’ll get on the road myself. Let me call Fishman and get his authorization.”

>   “All right.Thanks.” He closed his phone. “Rick, we need to get to your plane.This beast has tentacles I didn’t see until now.”

  AFTER A FAST CAR TRIP FOLLOWED BY A PLANE RIDE, THEN ANOTHER CAR ride, Gracie could barely keep her eyes open. Her feet throbbed from the cuts and bruises she received on her run through the forest. Her throat was parched, and her tummy rumbled. Hope had eaten the sandwich Cid handed to her, but Gracie hadn’t been able to choke down a morsel. She had to find some way to save Hope.

  She shifted and crossed her ankles. When she did, the holster rubbed against her leg. Somehow she managed to maintain her expression. If she could get out her gun, they’d have a chance. But she didn’t dare try it with Zita watching. Cid’s sister had given her no indication that she’d help. Gracie hoped once Sam Wheeler did what was asked of him, Cid would let them go.A futile thought. He’d be more apt to kill them and bury them in the desert. She could only pray she had the opportunity to try to use the gun.

  She’d been so stupid.Another wrong choice.Would she never learn?

  “What about King? Did you take him home?”

  Cid laughed. “He has a new home. At the rendering plant.”

  Her fingers curled into her palms and she struggled not to cry. They may all be in the horse’s shoes before the night was over.

  They reached the gated drive back to the ranch house, and she suddenly recognized the place. It was the Wheelers’ ranch getaway, where she’d gone four-wheeling with Jason a lifetime ago. She’d been to the Wheelers’ big house in Scottsdale more often than this remote spot near Douglas.Was Sam even here?

  Douglas. She remembered Jason telling her about the underground passages to Mexico tunneling this area. It was a dangerous place.

  A shadow moved inside the small guardhouse and a man stepped out. He wore a revolver at his hip. Gracie put her hand to her mouth when Cid’s cohort pulled out a gun and rolled down the window. She clutched Hope to her so the child wouldn’t see and closed her eyes when a shot rang out. It was more than she could bear to watch. Cid’s partner got out of the car and took the electronic opener from the guard’s belt. Moments later the gate slid open and the car pulled through. Cid paused for the other man to get in, then drove to the ranch house.

  “Not a word from you,” Cid said, opening her door. He dragged her from the seat. She turned to help Hope out, and he shoved Gracie away. “Zita will get her.”

  Curling her hands into fists, she stood back while Zita pulled her daughter from the car and pushed Hope toward her. Gracie lifted her tired daughter in her arms.

  “Go back to sleep, Hope,” she murmured.

  The little girl relaxed in her arms, and Gracie shuffled the weight a little as she followed Cid to the house.The door opened, and a man stood silhouetted in the light from inside the house. Sam had aged. His dark head of hair was shot through with gray now. Lines etched the skin around his mouth. He’d suffered.

  His eye shifted to Hope in Gracie’s arms. “Is that her?” he asked, his voice trembling.

  “Hi, Sam. Let’s let her sleep for now. She’s had a rough day.” Gracie stepped past him with her daughter in her arms. “Is there anywhere I can lay her down?”

  Sam didn’t take his eyes off Hope. “The first bedroom on the left in the hall was Jason’s,” he said.

  Gracie started for the hall, but Cid stopped her. “We’re all staying together.”

  “She’s tired, Cid.You’ve dragged her halfway across the country today. She’ll sleep and we can talk,” Gracie said, keeping her voice reasonable.

  He hesitated. “I’ll go with you.”

  “Fine.” But her gut clenched.

  She’d hoped to awaken Hope and tell her to sneak out the back door. Conscious of Cid’s narrowed gaze, she entered the bedroom and laid her daughter on the twin bed covered with an Arizona Cardinals spread. Jason had made so little impact on her that it seemed to be a stranger’s bedroom. She brushed a kiss across Hope’s forehead before backing out of the room.

  Cid pushed her toward the living room. Had he always been so aggressive? What possible joy could he get from shoving her around? Her jaw hurt from clenching her teeth so tightly. When she entered the living room, both Sam and Cid’s partner were sitting in chairs pulled close to the sofa. Zita stood behind them. Cid directed her to join everyone. He sat beside her and kept the gun in his hand.

  Sam leaned forward. “Look, just let them go, okay? You and I can do what needs to be done.”

  “Yesterday we might have agreed, Governor,” Cid said. “But today is a day too late.You will do exactly as I say or they will both die.”

  Wheeler nodded. “Whatever you want. Just don’t hurt Hope.”

  Another person who didn’t know Cid might have believed him when he assured Sam they would all live if he did as directed, but Gracie saw the flicker in Cid’s eyes. He had a plan, and it didn’t include letting them walk away to report him to the authorities. She had to figure out a way to get Hope free.

  “Here is how we will do this,” Cid said. “You will place a call to the warden at the prison and tell him new evidence has come to light and you are overturning the sentence of Lazaro Vargas. You will instruct the warden to turn him over to Teo, who will be waiting to pick him up. In the meantime, a truck loaded with guns is on its way here. When Vargas arrives, he and the truck will cross into Mexico unhindered.Then our business is over and we will be on our way.We will leave and never see you again.”

  Vargas. The man who had ordered Michael’s death. “You’ll kill us,” Gracie said flatly. “There’s no need, Cid.We know if we tell anyone, the cartel will kill us. I won’t say anything. Neither will Sam. Right, Sam?”

  “I wouldn’t do anything to endanger my granddaughter’s life,” he said, twisting his hands in his lap. “You can count on me.”

  Cid’s eyes were as dark as the night outside and just as soulless. “When we are all safe, you will be free to go.”

  Lies, all lies. Gracie tried to signal Sam with her eyes to tell him to do something, anything to get Hope away, but he wasn’t looking at her.

  “I’ll make that call right now,” Sam said. He reached for the cordless phone on the table beside his chair, then grabbed for his pocket, but Cid waved the gun at him. “I have to look up the number of the prison,” Sam said.

  Cid sat back again, and Sam pulled out his cell phone, then scrolled through it. He punched in the number on the cordless. “This is Governor Wheeler. I’d like to speak to the warden, please. I realize he’s gone home for the day, but I need you to patch me through to his house. I’ll wait.”

  Gracie bit her lip. The die was about to be thrown, and she had no way of seeing how it could turn up okay for her and Hope. If only Michael were here. She glanced at Zita, who was biting her lip as well.

  Then she turned accusing eyes to Cid. “Vargas is your father? You don’t share the same name.”

  His eyes gave a sullen flicker. “He never married my mother.”

  “Is he the reason you got involved in the cartel?”

  Cid paced to the window, then came back.“What does it matter?”

  “Why do you let him use you this way?” Zita burst out in Spanish. “I do not know you anymore.”

  “Shut up,” Cid answered her in the same language.

  Zita waved her arms. “Never do you hear from him until a year ago, and you become a crazy man.This father’s love is not worth earning. He is using you, but you are too stupid to realize, my brother.”

  Cid’s mouth worked. He turned his back on his sister and went to stand by the window. “We will wait in silence.”

  28

  TWO HOURS LATER, HEADLAMPS SWEPT ACROSS THE ROOM FROM A TRUCK rumbling by outside. Gracie tensed and scooted to the edge of the sofa cushion.Whatever was going to happen was about to start. Cid’s cell phone rang, and he answered it. He spoke a few words in Spanish too softly for Gracie to hear, then closed it.

  “Your husband will be joining you soon,” he said.
“This will be faster and less painful than divorce.”

  Gracie gasped and started to stand until he stepped to the sofa and shoved her back down. “This has nothing to do with Michael. Please, Cid, leave him out of it. He has two kids to raise.”

  “He has no one to blame but himself. He should have stayed out of my business.” He glanced at his watch and spoke to Sam. “The warden said two hours.The time is past. I think you should call him again.” He motioned with his gun at Sam, who nodded and picked up the phone.

  Gracie heard a cry from the bedroom. “Hope is awake. I need to go get her.”

  Cid was watching the truck through the window. “Fine. Just hurry up.”

  This might be her only chance. She had to save Hope and get help for Michael. She quickened her step and rushed toward the bedroom. She paused a moment to glance down the hall. Only bedroom doors. Maybe one of them had a sliding glass door to the outside. Or a window big enough to climb through. Hope wailed again, and Gracie hurried into the room.

  Rubbing her eyes, Hope sat crying on the edge of the bed. “It’s okay, honey. I’m right here,” Gracie said. She took Hope’s hand and helped her from the bed, then leaned down and whispered in her ear. “We have to try to get away. Can you be very quiet, sweetheart?” Hope’s tears dried, and she nodded.

  Gracie lifted Hope in her arms and stepped to the doorway. “I’m taking Hope to potty. I’ll be right there,” she called.

  “Five minutes,” Cid barked.

  Carrying her daughter, she stepped down the hallway and stopped at the bathroom door. She flipped on the light and the exhaust fan, then shut the door harder than necessary. Tiptoeing away, she went down the hall and peered through each doorway. The first two rooms only had windows that were too high for her to lift Hope through.The last one was the master bedroom, and it had a sliding glass door out onto a backyard patio.