Native Born

by Jenna Kernan

  “There it is,” she said, spotting the hangars. There were three in this private facility. Clyne knew this facility was best known for the gliders that were towed from it and dropped so they drifted down on the updrafts on the mountains.

  “Close enough. Start slowing down. I’m going on the turn. He can’t tell your speed if you’re coming straight at him.”

  She took her foot of the gas. “Clyne. Be careful.”

  He reached over and stroked her cheek with the knuckles of his first two fingers.

  “You, too.” Then he gripped the door handle and kept his eyes on the speedometer. He waited for the middle of the turn and when the needle dropped below thirty, he counted to three, threw open the door and threw himself into space.

  * * *

  CASSIDY WATCHED IN her rearview as Clyne tumbled over and over, gripping his case tight to his chest. So fast. Had he made it? She finished the turn and lost her line of sight to Clyne. She was alone now except for the eye in the sky and the mic that she wore and the camera/mic combo on the hood of her car grill.

  Her hands were slick on the wheel. He’d be able to see her, but Clyne would watch her back as long as she stayed outside the hangar. What if Parker made her go inside? Clyne would have no shot and she would have no weapon.

  Either way, she’d know soon. Three hundred yards did not take very long to cross. Had she given him enough time to get in position?

  The gate was drawn open. Cassidy knew little about gliding except that it required a tow plane and the correct weather conditions. The place looked empty and she wondered if there was some season for this hobby or if it was just not economically feasible to be open seven days a week.

  The still gliders looked like dinosaurs or some mechanical army waiting deployment. Most gliders only had two wheels and they sat one behind the other, so the planes tipped at an angle with one wing resting on the sandy ground. She glanced at the helicopter on the square pad of concrete. The rest of the field including the runway was graded, compact dirt.

  The helicopter was gray-green and tiny. One of those Robinson R22 models with a single drooping flexible blade. The color made the resemblance to a dragonfly almost perfect. Compared to what she had flown, this was no more than a toy.

  Beyond, the hangar yawned open and she just knew Parker was in there. Her earpiece came on and she heard the voice of Luke Forrest.

  “They have Johnny Parker in place. He’ll think he’s across the river in Mexico, but he’ll be about thirty miles short. Should be easy to pick him up again.”

  “Good,” she replied. “Approaching the gate.”

  “Yeah. I see. Where is the little jerk?”

  “No idea. Can you see Clyne?”

  “Yeah. He’s all set up on the hill behind you. He’ll have a shot if you’re not inside.”

  Cassidy set her jaw and drove into the airport and parked well away from the hangar and then stepped out of her vehicle and into the range of the camera on the grill.

  “Parker?”

  She was a sitting duck. There was just as much chance he meant to kill her while she stood here as that he intended to actually make the exchange.

  “Mama!”

  Cassidy turned toward the sound of her daughter’s voice and saw Amanda in the seat of one of the gliders. The plexiglass cockpit had been wrapped with cable and clipped with a combination lock. Jovanna pounded a fist on the clear plastic capsule. Her face was sweat-soaked and flushed. How long had she been out in the blazing sun?

  “He’s got her in one of the gliders. Number Alpha Brava Two Four Six.”

  “Got it,” said Luke in her ear.

  She took a step in that direction and heard a male voice.

  “Far enough.”

  Cassidy turned to see Lamar Parker standing in the hangar doorway. From that position she knew Clyne did not have a shot.

  “Any closer and I blow the plane.”

  Cassidy’s heart shot right into her throat and her entire body went as cold as ice water.

  “Whole backseat is filled with gas cans. Simple spark will set off the lot.”

  Cassidy repeated what he’d said so that Luke and the others would know of this new threat. Parker might be lying but she was not going to take that chance.

  “I’m here,” Cassidy said, lifting her arms and facing Lamar. That should give Clyne the direction of his target, if not the sight line he needed. “Let her out.”

  “Not until I hear from my brother.”

  “I have a phone so you can speak to him.” She reached in her front pocket.

  “Stop!”

  She did.

  “Anything but a phone comes out of your pocket and I will shoot you now.”

  Now. Instead of later. Parker did not plan on letting Cassidy live.

  She glanced back at Jovanna, trapped in that glider. If there were gas tanks behind her, the smell of vaporizing gasoline should make her sick but she looked bright-eyed and really hot.

  Cassidy lifted the mobile phone and set it at her feet. Then she backed away.

  “You think I’m stupid. Bring it here.”

  She did think he was stupid. She’d read every scrap of paper they had on him from his failed attempt at a GED to his current job as a mechanic in a quick-lube place in Phoenix.

  The phone rang and she carried it to Parker, fully expecting him to shoot her when she got within ten feet. He didn’t and she tossed him the phone noticing that his weapon of choice was a shotgun. Terrible range, but you could make a mess of anything nearby without having a spectacular aim.

  Parker took the call. His expression brightened.

  “Johnny? You free?”

  A pause.

  “I did that. You in Mexico?”

  Another pause.

  “They give you the money? Well, that’s fine. Just walk south. I’ll meet you in that place by the beach in a day or two.”

  Cassidy narrowed her eyes. Either he could fly that bird or he thought she would fly it for him.

  Parker slipped the phone in his pocket.

  “Anybody else in that car?” he asked.

  “Have a look.”

  He didn’t, which was unfortunate because it would have required him to step from the protection of the hangar. Instead he disappeared from sight. She took the opportunity to walk back toward her daughter.

  “Jovanna, are there gas cans behind you?”

  “Yes.”

  Her heart gave a flutter and then squeezed with such an ache she had to press a hand over it.

  “I’ll get you out.”

  “Be careful. He’s mean. Mama, he killed Buster.”

  “Buster is okay. He’s at the vet.”

  And that bit of news was the straw that made her brave little girl begin to cry.

  Parker reemerged from the hangar driving a postal truck that had the driver seat situated on the opposite side. He now wore a helmet and something that looked like body armor. He made for the helicopter pad.

  “Deals a deal,” he yelled. “Go on and let her out.”

  Cassidy wondered if he meant to blow her and Jovanna to pieces and then fly himself off. But she still ran to the glider. She was now separated from Jovanna by only a thin piece of plastic and the cable that held the glider like a steel boa constrictor.

  “Combination!” Cassidy shouted.

  Parker had reached them now but he provided the numbers and Cassidy spun the dial back and forth until the mechanism released. She threw the lock and cable over the top of the glider and then hauled it from below, repeating the action again and again until the cable finally dropped to the ground.

  “Mama?” Jovanna said and pointed.

  A glance behind her told her two things: Parker had the shotgun aimed at her
back and Clyne still had no shot. She knew her body armor would stop most of the birdshot, but not any that hit her head. But she could at least protect Jovanna from the blast.

  “Pull the toggles up front,” she said.

  Her daughter did and the capsule flipped open like a clear burger container. No smell of gas. She glanced to the small space surrounding the single seat, spotting gallon jugs that looked like water. She didn’t know what was in there and didn’t want to know.

  Cassidy hugged her daughter tight and dragged her clear, keeping her back to Parker.

  “Let her go,” he ordered.

  She did, dropping her on the far side of the glider as she whispered to Jovanna.

  “When you can, run for the gate and keep running. Clyne is out there waiting for you.”

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “I’ll follow.” She hoped that would be the case.

  Cassidy released her child, who ducked behind the glider. Parker didn’t seem to notice or care.

  “Get in,” he ordered.

  She did, knowing that when he turned the truck, Clyne would have the shot. But Parker put it in Reverse.

  “So what’s the plan?” she asked.

  “You fly me out of here, is what.”

  “I can’t fly that.”

  “You can. You said you were a pilot in the Middle East. I heard you.”

  So he had been in court that day.

  “My daughter goes free. You promised.”

  “She is free.”

  “You expect her to walk back to Tucson?”

  “You think I don’t know they’re out there? I ain’t that stupid.”

  If that were true he wouldn’t be dressed in a combination of body armor and hockey gear driving a mail truck, she thought.

  “Fine. Let’s go.”

  He stopped the truck as if he knew where the sharpshooter might be and managed to get into the chopper without making himself a target.

  Cassidy took her seat and started flipping switches. “So what happens when we reach Mexico?”

  Parker gave her a chilling look. “You stop breathing and I meet my brother.”

  “Not much incentive for me.”

  “Or,” said Parker, “I run your daughter down with the mail truck and shoot you here and now.”

  Cassidy started the engine and the damned prop rotated. She considered tipping the bird and dropping Parker to the ground, but he clipped himself in tight before she was off the ground. And then it came to her and she knew exactly what she would do.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Come on, Cassidy,” Clyne whispered. “Give me the shot.” The cheek piece touched his face like an old friend. He had the sights adjusted and the target, well that was the trouble. Damn little weasel wouldn’t pop his head out of the burrow. Clyne cursed under his breath.

  Jovanna huddled behind the glider and Cassidy was in the chopper preparing to lift off. But he could tell by the slight inclining of her head that she’d heard him. He waited, knowing this was a shot he could not miss.

  The chopper lifted a foot off the ground. She swung it around, hovering so that the large clear plastic windshield gave him a perfect view of them seated side by side. He aimed and squeezed the trigger.

  Parker jerked in his restraints and sagged. What was left of his head sagged forward. Cassidy set down the chopper and slipped to the ground, running bent over and low to keep clear of the whirling blades. She ran to her daughter, shouting her name.

  “Jovanna! Jovanna!”

  They met and clasped each other, sinking to their knees in the dust and he wondered how he had ever thought to pull them apart.

  Gabe had been right and he had been a fool. But one of the good things about mistakes was that you could often make amends. Above him one of the FBI choppers roared across the clear blue sky toward Cassidy and Jovanna.

  Clyne stood and dusted the sand from his shirt. Then he disassembled his scope and tripod from the rifle and stowed them neatly away. For the last time, he hoped.

  Number thirty-seven, he thought. But somehow he knew that this kill would not haunt his dreams.

  Clyne started walking toward Cassidy. He had an important question for her and for Jovanna.

  * * *

  CASSIDY SAW CLYNE walking along with his rifle case looking like a soldier coming home. She left Jovanna with Luke and ran the last thirty feet that separated them, throwing her arms wide and leaping at him. He dropped his case and caught her easily, whirling her around and round until settling her against him in a bear hug of an embrace. Kisses followed, raining down on her eyelids and cheek and finally finding her mouth.

  She drew back, her hands still locked behind his neck and his clamped behind her lower back. She didn’t care that every single member of her field office was there or that her daughter was seeing her kissing her brother. None of that mattered. Just this and her daughter’s safety. It was more than enough.

  “You did it!” she said.

  “Thanks for giving me a target.”

  “We make a good team.”

  He nodded. “But I think you are blowing your transfer.” He inclined his head toward her boss, who regarded her with hands on hips.

  “I’m not accepting a transfer,” she said.

  “No?”

  “Nope,” she said and kissed him again.

  Clyne drew back as Jovanna made a tentative approach. Clyne scooped her up in his arms, making her squeal with delight. Then he settled her on his hip and touched his head to hers, speaking in Apache.

  “What did you say?” she asked.

  “I said that you need to learn Apache!”

  Jovanna’s brow furrowed.

  “And I thanked the one above for your return.”

  She grinned. “So...you and my mom.”

  “Yeah. What do you think?” he asked.

  Cassidy held her breath and her daughter’s gaze went from Clyne to her and then back to her eldest brother.

  “I’m good with it.”

  Cassidy blew out a breath and her shoulders sagged a bit. Clyne set Jovanna down. But she kept a hold of him and reached for her mother. The three embraced and Cassidy began to cry.

  “It’s okay now, Mom.”

  It was and that was precisely why she was weeping.

  The Bureau took them by helicopter back to Black Mountain, where they were greeted by Glendora, Clay, Izzie and Kino’s wife, Lea. Gabe and Kino were driving back and would be arriving soon. Johnny Parker had been retrieved and had already been returned to federal custody to await trial.

  “Catalina’s for lunch,” said Clay after his grandmother had finished fussing and weeping over the return of her granddaughter.

  Cassidy set off with them, walking the short distance from tribal headquarters to Catalina’s restaurant but slowed to take another call. She listened, finger in opposite ear, nodding and then said a quick thank-you. She tucked away the phone.

  “That was Luke. He heard from Red Hawk, the police chief on Salt River. The council met last night and voted to turn Hare over to federal custody.”

  Clyne absorbed that news. She knew it was a difficult thing for a tribe to release one of their own.

  “We will have a much better chance of getting his cooperation now,” she offered.

  “We? So you’re staying?” he asked.

  “It’s my case.”

  He smiled.

  “Yes. I know,” said Clyne.

  Cassidy glanced toward his family, who were just disappearing into the restaurant. Clyne did not move except to shove both hands in his coat pockets and sway from side to side.

  Cassidy eyed him suspiciously. “What’s wrong?”

  “Why does somethin
g have to be wrong?”

  “Because I know you and you’re nervous.” She pointed at his sweating upper lip.

  He wiped it with his sleeve and tried for a calming breath. “I went to see someone, as you recommended.”

  “A therapist?”

  He nodded. “And he is also a medicine man. I’m going to go twice a week and try to work out my issues.”

  “That’s great. I’m proud of you.”

  “You were the one who made me realize I had issues. Maybe in time the nightmares will go away.”

  “Mine have.” She made a face. “Mostly.”

  “You said down there that you aren’t taking the transfer. What did you mean?”

  “Just that. Jovanna is happy here, so I’m staying.”

  “Even after she makes her choice?”

  “I don’t think she should have to choose.”

  He felt the knot in his stomach ease. “Neither do I.”

  “That’s a switch,” she said, her smile bright as sunlight on Black Mountain.

  “I’ve made a lot of switches lately. I want you here with us. Not just for weekends or when Jovanna has a nightmare.”

  She cocked her head and her smile faded. He was making an ass of himself. Babbling. He was usually so composed, but Cassidy just stripped him bare.

  “What do you have in mind? Joint custody?”

  “Not exactly. I want to marry you, Cassidy.”

  He’d succeeded in shocking her judging by the way her mouth dropped open as if it was on a hinge. She snapped it shut and her pale brows lifted on her forehead.

  “I’m not an Apache woman.”

  He chuckled. “Yes. I noticed.”

  “But what about your position on the tribal council and in the community?”

  “Cassidy, my heart has to come before my position and my ambitions. And you are my heart.”

  “Your what? Clyne, I don’t understand.” She glanced in the direction his family had gone. “What about your brothers? Your tribe? What will they think?”

  “Cassidy, I still care about their opinions, but they come second now to my own. I know what I want. The only question left is what do you want?”