Black Rock Guardian

by Jenna Kernan

  In other words, the body was found off the rez, making it a matter for the Arizona Highway Patrol. By the time Beth discovered that they had a body, Ford’s remains had already been moved to the morgue in Darabee Hospital. Beth met with the medical examiner, who had made only a preliminary check. The ME had experience with several suicides from each of the series of four dams and told her that, based on the visible injuries, he believed the death was caused by a fall and not drowning. He said the autopsy would determine if the deceased had water in his lungs or if he survived the plunge, only to drown. Beth took charge of the records and the body, waiting until after 9:00 p.m. for someone from the Phoenix office to arrive to take custody of Quinton Ford’s remains.

  Beth suspected the manner of death would be listed as homicide, not suicide. The worst part, aside from having one of their informants killed, was that there was no one to notify. Quinton Ford’s mother was dead. No father was listed on his birth records and he had no siblings. It seemed Ford had only the Wolf Posse, and his betrayal of that family had come with swift retribution. Now she needed to prove it.

  For now, she would concentrate on the case that would get her noticed—breaking up the surrogate ring.

  When she returned to Ty’s home, it was after midnight. She had expected to be locked out, but saw the bay door open and the lights on.

  Hemi sprinted out to meet her and escorted her in, her barking muted by the sound of Beth’s bike. The dog waited until Beth cut the engine and dismounted before jumping up on her hind legs to wave her front paws in the air as if to say hello. Beth laughed and gave Hemi a scratch as she fell back to all fours.

  Beth walked with Hemi to the open bay door to find Ty working in his garage. He wore jeans and a tight gray muscle shirt that revealed the white gauze now covering his shoulder injury. Sweat and grease mingled on his defined muscles, his arms raised as he worked beneath a car he had driven up onto a lift using ramps.

  The mobile light, complete with cage and hook, was fixed to the undercarriage of an automobile she recognized as belonging to his mother.

  “You’re going to pull out those stitches again,” she said by way of greeting.

  He ignored the warning and spoke without looking at her. “Busy day?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hungry?” he asked.

  She hadn’t realized just how hungry she was but now recalled she completely missed dinner. “Yes.”

  “I’ve got steaks, steak fries and mini Snickers.”

  She lifted her brows in confusion, thinking chocolate an odd choice as a side dish.

  “It’s Halloween,” said Ty, and glanced at the wall clock. “Or it was.”

  She’d been reminded by the medical examiner’s necktie, which had been covered in skeletons. She really thought he could wear that any day. Beth glanced toward the road.

  “You get any trick-or-treaters out here?” She looked back at the highway that threaded down the lonesome stretch between Koun’nde and Piňon Forks, thinking a kid would have to be crazy to come down this drive.

  “I got them for you. Trick-or-treat,” he said.

  She managed a weary smile. “Have you eaten?”

  He should have, hours ago, but he shook his head. “Not yet.”

  Had he been waiting for her? That thought pleased her far more than it should have because it made them seem like a real couple. The disturbing feeling of intertwining her work and her personal life wiped away her smile. Ty had become much more than a way in to the Wolf Posse, a way to make her case.

  “Been busy,” he said by way of an excuse, and headed for the stairs with Hemi at his heels.

  Ty flipped on the oven to preheat it, then returned several minutes later, after showering and putting on a clean shirt. She’d managed to set the table in his absence. She offered to make a salad, but Ty had opted to just slice a head of lettuce into quarters and drizzle blue-cheese dressing over the wedges, then sprinkle bacon crumbles on top. It was all she could do to keep from scooping it off her plate and into her mouth as he dropped the frozen potato wedges onto a cookie sheet and tucked them into the oven.

  She told herself that steak did not take long to cook and she could wait, as she followed him downstairs on weary legs. He turned on the gas grill, which sat tucked under the stairs. Beth rested in a lawn chair feeling like a pencil worn down to the nub. The steaks hit the hot grill with a satisfying sizzle. The smell of cooking beef made her mouth water. When she next trudged up the stairs, the kitchen was filled with the homey aroma of roasting potatoes. She sighed with pleasure.

  “Beer or water?” he asked.

  Beer sounded good, but she was still on duty. “Water is fine.”

  Ty stopped at the open refrigerator. “I have one ice tea.”

  “Sold,” she said, raising a finger as if at an auction.

  Hemi curled in her bed by the door. Clearly she did not subsist on table scraps, which was good because Beth doubted there would be any left, at least from her plate.

  Ty handed over the bottle of tea and set a glass of water beside his own plate. Then he served the steak, medium rare, with Worcestershire sauce and ketchup for the fries. For the next few minutes Beth was completely occupied with the meal. She paused when she noticed Ty was not moving. She glanced up and found him smiling at her.

  “Good?” he asked.

  “Great. This is the best steak I’ve ever had.”

  His head tilted to the side and his eyebrows lifted in a look of skepticism.

  “No. Really.”

  “Well, hunger makes the best spice.” He lifted his fork and stared down at his plate. “I think I see why my mom still likes having us all over for Sunday dinner. There’s something satisfying about feeding someone...” He seemed like he was about to say more, but his mouth snapped shut.

  Someone...you cared about? Beth wondered, silently finishing the sentence. She gave him a wary smile. In another time and place he would be exactly the sort of man she would find appealing. He clearly loved his family. He worked hard. Was a risk-taker and took excellent care of his other female companion, Hemi. But the list of problems could not be overlooked. Ty had committed armed robbery at only eighteen. His father was a career criminal and abused his wife. Such things ran in families, didn’t they?

  “Well, it’s excellent. Thank you for dinner.” She returned her attention to her plate to finish the last bite of steak and the three remaining fries.

  He waited until she set aside her fork and knife before speaking again.

  “Snickers?” he asked.

  She smiled, hands on her stomach. “No room.”

  Beth finished the last of her ice tea.

  “Did you find Quinton?” he asked.

  She lowered the bottle to the tabletop and nodded, her smile gone. “We did.”

  He didn’t ask her if he was alive. It seemed to her that he already knew. He tucked his chin and was silent for a long time.

  Finally he spoke without meeting her gaze. “Where?”

  “Below Red Rock Dam.”

  His steady gaze seemed to accuse her of something.

  “You’re a witness.” She stretched her hand across the table. “You can testify that Faras fed you false information.”

  His eyes rounded. “You didn’t go to Deer Kill Meadow?”

  “No. After the intel you supplied, we felt going there would compromise you.”

  She didn’t say aloud that Quinton’s death was on their hands. They had moved on the intelligence Quinton had provided, even though it had no bearing on the case they were supposed to be up here investigating, exposing him as their informant. Ty had held the information and she was so glad.

  “I’m sorry about your friend,” said Beth.

  “He wasn’t my friend. None of them are my friends.”

  “But...” Her words trailed off. She di
dn’t know what to say. It seemed clear that he had chosen to join the gang at some point. He had acted on Faras’s order. And he had branded himself with their sign. She glanced at the four eagle feathers forming the letter W on Ty’s forearm. She lifted her attention to find Ty’s gaze sharp and intent.

  “You’re a member of the posse,” she said.

  He did not argue. “I joined when I was eighteen. When I came back from Iraq, I partially severed that relationship. But we’re still connected.”

  “I’ve never heard of anyone leaving the gang. I don’t think it’s possible.”

  “It is.”

  “How?”

  “If I tell you something about that day I drove the getaway car with my father, can you use it against me?”

  “Not on that one. Statute of limitations is up and you were offered a deal. Right?”

  “Yes.”

  “So I can’t use anything you say against you unless it is related to a crime without limitations, like murder.”

  Ty nodded his understanding, still not meeting her gaze. She waited, praying that whatever he might tell her would not incriminate him, that he had never killed someone. She realized with a sinking feeling she did not want him to put her in the position to have to arrest him.

  Gangs had entrance rituals. For boys it was usually crime. For girls it was sex. What crime had Ty committed to join?

  His chin lifted and his eyes narrowed. The expression made him look dangerous. “I joined the Wolf Posse because of him.”

  “Your father?”

  He nodded, sending his hair over his forehead, where it hung across his eyes.

  “Why?”

  “My father was the next in line to head the Wolf Posse back then. He was thirty-nine and second in command. Then Gerome Hessay was shot in a drug deal gone wrong. They lost their leader and the product. So nothing to sell. After Gerome died, my father moved to take his place. So did Faras Pike, but he was young, only twenty. The members were leaning toward my dad.”

  “Faras was a classmate of yours back then.” Beth sat forward, interested in what he would tell her.

  “Yes and no. Faras was a classmate of Kee’s, but he’d been left back. He was in my grade for a year or so. Then he dropped out. Encouraged me to do the same. Almost did.”

  “So what happened between Faras and your dad?” she asked.

  “Gang was short on funds because of the drug deal falling through. A robbery was a way for my dad to establish dominance, be the hero and fix the problem with our distributors. They don’t care if we sell the drugs or lose them or smoke them, just so long as they get paid on time. I offered to drive my dad, and then I called Faras.”

  She sat back as the implication of what he was saying sank in. Beth met his intent stare and saw that her suspicions were correct. But she had to hear him say it. “You set up your father?”

  Ty did not answer the question at first. Finally, he inclined his head, admitting it. Hard to blame him. His father was a petty crook, a known gang member, and by all reports, a brutal man.

  “Faras had the police there waiting,” said Ty. “Tipped them before my dad even cleared the doors of that liquor store.”

  “And you made sure he didn’t escape. Crashed the getaway car.” She should have known if for no other reason than that Ty did not crash cars. He was a good driver. No, a great one. “But you were arrested as well.”

  “Worth it. He broke my mother’s arm that January and still she wouldn’t press charges. Jake called the cops, but my dad was back the next day. So I went to Faras. Two months later my father went to prison. They blamed him for picking me. Young kid. Stupid choice for a getaway driver. And Faras became the gang’s new leader.”

  Ty gained respect in her eyes. He’d been dealt a hard hand and done what he could.

  “Why wouldn’t your mom press charges?” she asked.

  He rested his forehead in his hand, elbow on the table, and peered up at her as if talking about this gave him a headache. But he answered her.

  “Because he said it would only be worse if she did. He threatened us, his kids, used us as collateral to keep her from leaving him.”

  “And you made him go away without killing him.”

  “For that, I would have gone to jail.”

  “But instead you went free.”

  “They let me join the US Marines.”

  “And you distinguished yourself.”

  She recognized the look of sorrow as his eyes changed the direction of their focus, drifting off to some unknown place.

  So many of the pieces of the puzzle that were Ty Redhorse fell into place. Ty had used his Big Money, the portion of the tribe’s revenue from the casino profits distributed to members on their 18th birthday, for Kee’s education. He had provided Colt with a vintage Chevy pickup truck that was distinctive, in that the colors he chose were not the ones favored by the Wolf Posse. In fact, the only one he had not provided transportation for was his brother Jake.

  “Did you want to stay away, Ty?”

  His gaze drifted back to her. His jaw was set tight. She reached across the table and took his free hand.

  “What difference does it make?”

  “It matters to me.”

  His fingers curled around hers, and his thumb stroked the skin on the top of her index finger. She ignored the stirring of desire, but it was there, banked but burning brighter each time he touched her.

  “Everybody over there in the sandbox talks about coming home. About the girl they left, about the family they left. I just wanted to stay there. Stay so far away that they could never get to me.”

  “The gang?”

  “Yeah.” Ty drew back his hands back and sat straight in his chair, both palms now flat on the table. His shoulders sagged and he looked like a man defeated. “I stayed away as long as I could, but Colt joined the service. Wanted to be like me. If I’d been here I could’ve stopped him.”

  Beth knew what had happened during Colt’s tour of duty in Afghanistan. He had been taken prisoner and tortured and was the only survivor among his unit. Was that burden also on Ty’s shoulders?

  “Jake called me. Told me that Colt was in Walter Reed. They released him on the psych discharge. I picked them up in Phoenix. What a mess. He couldn’t drive in the car. Stopped talking. Walked all the way from Phoenix to the rez. I helped him get situated in the mining cabin that belongs to my family.”

  “You came back to take care of your little brother.”

  “Yeah, that’s about it.” Ty put his hand on the top of his head and ruffled his hair. “But I made a mistake. Stopped by to see my dad down there in Phoenix. Couldn’t resist.”

  “Why was that a mistake?” she asked.

  He cast her a look filled with pain and she felt a stab of grief cut across her middle. Understanding struck.

  Beth’s eyes rounded. “You told him?”

  “No, but he knows.” Ty’s answer was just above a whisper. “Figured it out. Just needed to see him behind bars and...” His words trailed off. He pushed his plate out of the way.

  “He guessed.”

  Ty met her stare. “At first glance. Don’t know how. But he knew. No one in the gang guessed.”

  “He can’t get to you.”

  “I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about my mom because he knows the best way to hurt me is through her.”

  “He can’t touch her from prison,” Beth assured him.

  “He’s scheduled to be paroled.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Beth sat back in alarm. Ty’s father would be paroled and his father knew that Faras had used his son to snatch the gang’s leadership and his freedom. Ty was right to be worried. She needed to speak to Forrest about this. “When does he get out?”

  “I don’t know. Soon.”

  “I’l
l find out and I’ll speak to Forrest about this. We’ll come up with something to keep your family safe.”

  Ty heaved a heavy sigh. “Already lost Colt. He can’t come back until you take down that Russian organization.”

  “We’re making good progress on that. The Antelope Lake house where they held Ava Hood and Louisa Tah has yielded good evidence. We’ve identified all the men recovered and connected them to the Kuznetsov crime organization.” She used the word recovered because all the men found at the temporary holding facility, where Ava Hood had been held, were all dead. They’d had a chance to capture Yury Churkin, a hired killer sent to murder Kee’s fiancée, Ava Hood. Unfortunately, Churkin had put a bullet through his brain before they got to him. Still, Churkin’s presence on the rez had been connected to at least one death here, Dr. Richard Day, a FEMA physician. Now they needed to connect Churkin’s actions to Usov’s orders. The head of the southwestern region, Leonard Usov, was Beth’s target. If she could implicate him, she’d have a chance to shut down the western arm of the surrogate ring.

  They had only one suspect in custody, Anton Igoshin, the man who had fallen chasing Kacey Doka and broken his back. He was now a wheelchair user facing multiple charges, including kidnapping.

  Ty laced his hands before him on the table.

  “Faras wants me back in the gang. Seems I passed the test. He found his snitch and he requests me as his second.” He lifted his chin. “Congratulations, Agent Hoosay. You’ve got your informer.”

  This was what she had wanted, wasn’t it? The bureau finally had a man inside the Wolf Posse. Unfortunately, that man was Ty and she no longer saw him as just her informant. She’d read about agents who went undercover and got all mixed up with the people they worked with and lived with. They lost objectivity and began to see the people who trusted them as friends and confidants. She saw that happening to herself right now and did not know how to stop it. If she was honest with herself, she’d admit she had feelings for Ty. It hurt her to use him and endanger him.