Soldier's Promise Page 5

  “Isn’t it against the law to take plants from public land?” Carmen asked. She knew it was, though enforcement was lax, considering the other crimes the Rangers had to worry about.

  “This place is full of cactus,” Starfall said. “Who’s going to miss one?”

  “Who was this guy?” Carmen asked, joining Starfall in searching the ground.

  “Some old German. A tourist. He said he collects cactus. It sounded like an easy way to earn twenty bucks. But maybe not. I’ve been looking all morning and haven’t seen any of these.”

  “Starfall!”

  Sophie ran to them. “I think I found one of those cactus you’re looking for,” the girl said.

  “Really?” Starfall brightened. “Show me.”

  Carmen followed the two of them to a spot near the canyon rim but away from the berry thicket. Sophie squatted down and pointed. “It’s not very big,” she said. “But it looks like your picture.”

  Starfall pulled out the paper and held it beside the cactus. “I think you’re right.” She patted Sophie’s shoulder. “Thanks, honey.” She straightened, then put up her hand to shield her eyes as she stared in the distance. A sly smile spread across her face. “Well, what do you know?”

  Carmen followed the other woman’s gaze and recognized the tall figure striding toward them, just as Sophie shouted “Jake!” and began running toward her brother.

  Jake hugged Sophie, then the two continued arm in arm toward Carmen and Starfall.

  “What are you all looking at?” he asked when he joined them.

  “Why, you, Soldier Boy,” Starfall said, while Carmen said nothing.

  “Hello, Carmen,” he said.

  “Hello.” She kept her expression and her voice cool. She still hadn’t made up her mind how she felt about Jake. On one hand, she admired his devotion to his sister and mother, and his courage and determination to do the right thing. But he also struck her as quick-tempered and a little mysterious. She appreciated a strong man, but she didn’t want to have to wonder if he was on the right side of the law.

  “I told Mom you’d come back,” Sophie said.

  “Where is she?” Jake looked past his sister toward the other women, who had moved down the rim of the wash to pick more berries.

  “I talked her into sitting down under a tree and resting.” Sophie pointed to a shady spot where Phoenix sat. Just then, the older woman looked over to them, smiled and waved.

  “How is she feeling today?” Jake asked.

  “She says she’s better.” Sophie shrugged. “I guess she is. She came back to the trailer about suppertime and went straight to bed and slept all night, so maybe she was just really tired.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “What brings you to see us, Soldier Boy?” Starfall lightly touched Jake’s shoulder and smiled.

  “I was out hiking and saw you all picking berries and thought it would be a good opportunity to visit with my mom and sister away from the camp.”

  “You’re not afraid of the Prophet’s enforcers, are you?” Starfall said. She squeezed his bicep. “You look like a man who knows how to handle himself.”

  Jake shrugged away from her. “What were you ladies looking at just now?” he asked.

  “We were looking at cactus,” Sophie said, ignoring Starfall’s frown.

  “What kind of cactus?” Jake focused on the ground where Sophie pointed.

  “Starfall knows,” Sophie said. “Show him the picture.”

  “I don’t think so.” Starfall hugged her arms across her chest. “Why don’t you go back to your mother, and let us adults talk?”

  Sophie pouted. “Jake’s my brother. I want to stay with him.”

  Jake put his arm around her. “Sure, you can stay with me.”

  Starfall tossed her head. “I was hoping I’d run into you again soon,” she said.

  “Why is that?” he asked.

  She glanced at Carmen. “I wanted to talk to you. Alone.”

  “You can say whatever you need to say here,” he said.

  Now it was Starfall’s turn to pout. But Jake’s expression sent the clear message that he wasn’t budging. “I have something that belongs to you,” she said. “Something I found when I was out walking yesterday.”

  He tensed, and it was as if the temperature around him dropped a few degrees. “What is it?” he asked, the three words sharp with anger.

  Starfall twirled a lock of hair. “Something you wouldn’t want to fall into the wrong hands.”

  “Give it back.”

  Sophie cringed at his sharp tone, but Starfall only laughed. “Oh no,” she said. “If you want it, you’ll have to pay for it. Or I could hand it over to the Prophet. He might be very interested in it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sophie asked before Carmen could voice the question.

  But neither Jake nor Starfall answered. They glared at each other, then his expression cooled, and he seemed to shrug off his anger. He turned his back to Starfall and squatted to get a closer look at the cactus. It was a clear dismissal. Starfall glared at him, hands fisted at her sides, and Carmen braced herself to pull the other woman off him if she decided to attack.

  Jake had to be aware of Starfall’s anger, but he continued to ignore her. “I think that’s a Colorado hookless cactus,” he said to Sophie.

  Starfall glared at Carmen, then moved over behind Jake. “Don’t you want to know more about this item I found?” she asked.

  “Right now I’m more interested in this cactus.”

  “How does a guy like you know anything about cactus?” she asked.

  “It’s a hobby of mine.”

  “That’s the same thing the guy said who asked me to find these for him,” Starfall said. “Since when are cactus such a big hobby?”

  Jake stood. “You might be surprised,” he said. “Who was the guy?”

  She opened her mouth to answer, but her words were drowned out by the loud crack! of gunfire. Granite shards exploded from a nearby boulder. Sophie screamed, and Carmen reached for her weapon but was shoved hard as Jake forced her and Sophie to the ground and then pulled Starfall after them. “Stay down,” he ordered, even as he drew a gun.

  Chapter Six

  Jake fought to slow his breathing and control his racing heart as a second shot struck the dirt in front of the boulder he and the women were sheltering behind. Movement from an outcropping of rock fifty yards distant caught his eye, and he aimed his pistol and fired. No return fire came, and seconds later a car door slammed and an engine roared to life.

  Staying low, he moved from behind the boulder and raced in the direction of the shooter’s hiding place, cresting a small rise just in time to see the rooster-tail of dust that trailed the vehicle’s retreat. Cursing his bad luck, he kept moving toward the rock outcropping where he thought the gunman had been positioned.

  He had knelt to examine the area when the pounding of footsteps announced he was not alone. “It’s just me,” Carmen called before he could raise his weapon once more. She came around the largest boulder, holding her own gun and a little out of breath from running. “Did you get a look at the license plate?” she asked.

  He shook his head and shoved his gun back in the waistband of his jeans. “No. And I didn’t get a look at him, either.” He picked up a stick and nudged a brass casing. “Some of these are still hot.”

  She moved in beside him, and he caught the clean herbal scent of her hair. “A .223-caliber,” she said. “Probably an AR-15.”

  “That’s what I thought,” he said. “Pretty common ammo. Tough to trace.”

  He didn’t have to look to know she was pinning him with the kind of gaze designed to make guilty suspects squirm. “What are you doing out here?” she asked.

  “I’m here to get my sister and mother away from Metwater, to someplace saf
er and more suitable for a child.”

  “And you carry a gun to do it? And what did Starfall mean—she has something of yours? What is she talking about?”

  He blew out a breath. He’d known this was coming. In fact, he’d planned to tell her as soon as he had clearance from his supervisors. There wasn’t time for that now. He needed help, and she might be the only one he could turn to. He met her gaze with a hard look of his own. “Can I trust you?” he asked.

  “I guess that depends on which side of the law you’re on.”

  He liked that answer. “I’m on the right one. I’m a cop, too.”

  She sat back on her heels, her expression telling him she hadn’t seen that one coming. But she recovered quickly. “Let me see your badge.”

  “That’s the problem. I don’t have it with me. Someone stole it out of my pack yesterday after I left Metwater’s camp. I think it was Starfall.”

  “How did she manage to steal it out of your pack? What were you doing?”

  He checked their surroundings to make sure they couldn’t be overheard. Sophie and Starfall were back at the canyon rim, surrounded now by the other women. “Is Sophie okay?” he asked. He had been in such a hurry to pursue the shooter he hadn’t had a chance to check on his sister.

  “She’s fine,” Carmen said. “More excited than scared. Tell me how Starfall could have gotten your badge.”

  “I came back to my camp yesterday after I left you and found an old German guy rifling through my things. I took off the pack and left it on the ground so I could sneak up on him. Starfall must have followed me and gone through the pack while I was dealing with him.”

  “She said an old German guy was the one who wanted her to collect the cactus for him,” Carmen said. “He told her he’d pay her twenty dollars apiece for them.”

  “They’re worth hundreds on the collectible market. Even thousands.”

  Her eyes widened. “For one little cactus?”

  “It’s an endangered species. Collectors—especially in Germany and Japan—are fanatics about adding rare specimens to their collections.” He stood and offered his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, she took it, and he pulled her to her feet.

  “Why didn’t you show me your badge when I asked you for your ID yesterday?” she asked.

  “Because I’m undercover and the fewer people involved the better,” he said. “I’m a special agent with the Fish and Wildlife Service. I’m part of a team that has been tracking the German, gathering evidence. He’s part of what we suspect is an international team of smugglers. We’re hoping he can lead us to some of his partners. When he gets ready to leave the country, we’ll confiscate his collection and file charges.”

  “Where do your mother and sister come in?”

  “I volunteered for this job when I learned they needed an agent to come here and follow the German around. I had heard Sophie and my mom might be with Metwater, and this was the perfect opportunity to see if the rumor was true. I had a week’s personal time saved up, so I took it before my duties started.”

  “Are you on the job now?”

  “I wasn’t supposed to start tracking my suspect for another two days, but obviously he’s changed his itinerary and showed up earlier.”

  “When were you planning to tell the Ranger Brigade about your investigation?” she asked. “You can’t operate in our jurisdiction without us knowing about it.”

  “That part is up to my supervisors, not me,” he said. “Though I’m sure you’ll tell your bosses about me now.”

  “I will, but not right away,” she said. “Unless there’s trouble, I only check in by phone when I can get close enough to town to get a signal.”

  “You’re not worried, being out here on your own?” he asked.

  “I told you, this isn’t a high-risk assignment. I’m just observing, making sure everything is on the up-and-up with the women and children. Now about your suspect, is he the one who fired on us?”

  “I don’t know.” He looked down at the shell casings again. “This really isn’t his style. He hasn’t shown any tendency toward violence before.”

  “And why would he shoot, if he’s the one who offered to pay Starfall for the cactus he wanted?” she asked. “Then again, when there’s money involved, even passive people can turn mean.”

  He nodded. “I need to go after him. But I need my badge and credentials. I can’t risk them falling into the wrong hands.”

  “Maybe you should just pay Starfall to give them back.”

  “I’m not exactly rolling in funds here, and I need the savings I have left to look after Mom and Sophie.”

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  “I was hoping you would help me.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “Do you want me to arrest her?”

  “Wouldn’t that blow your cover?”

  “It would. But I’m about done here. I haven’t found any evidence of mistreatment of anyone in the camp—by Metwater or anyone else. They aren’t living the way most people would probably think is safe and hygienic and all that—but people always said the same thing about Native Americans, and they managed to survive okay.” She flashed a smile, her teeth very white against her tanned skin.

  “I could arrest her,” he said. “But I’d rather use her contact with Werner—the German collector—to build my case against him.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I want you to steal my badge back.”

  She blinked. “How am I going to do that?”

  “You live in that camp. You know where she lives. There can’t be many places for her to have hidden something like that.”

  “And what are you going to do while I’m rifling through her belongings?”

  “I’m going to distract her.”

  “How?”

  He shrugged. “She’s obviously been flirting with me. Maybe I’ll let her think I’m interested.”

  Did he imagine the spark that fired her eyes at this suggestion? She looked away before he could be sure. “That would probably work,” she said.

  “Does that mean you’ll help?”

  “It’s my duty to come to the aid of a fellow law enforcement officer.” She spoke with a perfectly straight face, but he thought he caught a glimpse of teasing in her eyes.

  “When do you think is the best time to do this?” he asked.

  “Tonight. There’s a bonfire at dark. Most people are away from their homes then. It would be easier for you to lure her away then, and easier for me to slip into her tent.”

  “I’ll see you tonight, then.”

  She started to turn away, but he stopped her. “Have you had a chance to talk to my mom about coming with me?” he asked.

  “No. She isn’t going to listen to me.”

  He looked past her, toward where his mother and Sophie now sat together in the shade. “I’m going to talk to her. She should at least see a doctor.”

  “I agree that’s a good idea,” Carmen said.

  A few of the berry pickers looked up when Jake and Carmen approached, but no one said anything as he joined his mother and sister in the shade. He sat beside Sophie and patted her hand. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Who was shooting at us?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. But they’re gone now.”

  “Maybe it was a poacher who mistook you for a deer,” Phoenix said.

  Jake could have pointed out that he and the others with him in no way resembled deer or any other game animal, but he kept quiet. If it made his mother feel better to believe the shooting was an accident, he wasn’t going to try to dissuade her.

  “Too many people have guns who shouldn’t,” Phoenix said. She scratched her neck. “The Prophet is wise to ban them.”

  Jake ground his teeth together to keep from t
elling her what he thought of her Prophet. “How are you feeling today?” he asked instead. “Did something bite you?”

  She stopped scratching. “It’s nothing. And I’m feeling much better. I’m sure it was just too much sun yesterday. You see I’m being careful today. I’m staying in the shade and resting.”

  “Maybe you should see a doctor,” he said. “Sophie said this wasn’t the first time you’ve fainted recently.”

  “Sophie is like you—she worries too much.”

  “But Mom, I—”

  Phoenix waved her hand to cut off her daughter’s words. “I’m feeling a little hungry,” she said. “Why don’t you pick some berries for me?”

  Jake could tell Sophie wanted to protest but, after a moment’s hesitation, she rose. “I’ll come with you,” Carmen said and earned a grateful look from the girl.

  Phoenix watched them leave. “Carmen is a good young woman,” she said. “She has a very peaceful aura.”

  Jake wouldn’t have described Carmen as peaceful. If anything, being around her made him feel more unsettled. “About the doctor, Mom,” he prompted.

  “I don’t need a doctor. I don’t trust them.”

  “If Sophie was sick, you’d take her to the doctor, wouldn’t you?” he asked.

  “Sophie is never sick. We live a very healthy life here. Much healthier than if we lived in the city.”

  “But you obviously aren’t well. Well people don’t faint for no reason.”

  “If you think you’re going to use my health to try to take Sophie away from me, it isn’t going to work.” She shoved to her feet and stood glaring down at him. But even this stance failed to make her look strong. She was so small and pale she made him think of a child—or a ghost.

  “I don’t want to take Sophie away from you,” he said gently. “I want us to all be together again. As a family.” Not the pretend family Metwater had made in the wilderness but a real one where he could keep her and Sophie safe.

  “I want us to be a family, too.” She squeezed his hand, excitement lighting her eyes. “I’ll ask the Prophet if you can come live with us here,” she said. “I know you got off on the wrong foot with him, but I’m sure if you apologize and promise to work on controlling your temper, he’ll allow you to stay.”