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She picked up on it right away. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Not nothing. You don’t think they’re going to find him alive.” Tears began to spill down her face. “How can you believe that? He’s all I have. He’s the only person in the whole world who…” She kept her face turned to him, the agony written plainly there.
He grabbed her hand to stop the anguished flow of words. “That’s not what’s on my mind, Anita. I’ve got a strange feeling, is all, but I don’t want to mislead you.”
Her mouth opened in a shocked gasp. “What? What do you think? Please tell me.” Her voice dropped to a whisper and she squeezed his fingers. “Please.”
He picked his words carefully. “Something’s wrong. This road.” He pulled his hand away to gesture to the desolate stretch. “It doesn’t lead to town or to the Painted Cliffs. There’s really no reason for Drew to be here. The spot where the bike went over. It’s not a sharp turn, wouldn’t have been a problem for an experienced biker to manage.”
She nodded. “And?”
“And there’s nothing in his saddlebags. No provisions, work stuff, camera, anything. No backpack found at the scene.” His eyes scanned the horizon. “Williams says it looks like the gas tank was empty.”
“So you think maybe the accident was staged? That Drew isn’t dead?” Hope sparkled in her eyes.
“Listen. I’m no cop. Just a gut feeling. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”
“Too late, they’re up,” she said, flinging her arms around him and kissing his cheek. “Please help me figure out what happened to my brother. I know I’m the last person in the world you want to be with, but I’m asking, anyway. Please.”
The pressure of her body pressed to his made his head swim.
You’re in it deep now, Booker.
Anita let go of Booker and hastily slid to the other side of the seat. Her cheeks burned, but she could not ignore the heady feeling of hope that had sprung up inside her. Drew might be alive. Alive. She pressed her hands together and breathed a silent prayer. Please, Lord. Please don’t take my brother from me.
She opened her eyes to find Booker watching her. “We need to go to the Painted Cliffs.”
Booker arched an eyebrow. “What will that accomplish?”
“I don’t know, but my brother was headed there, according to Gershwin. He might have left some kind of a clue to his whereabouts, maybe spoken to someone about his situation.”
“There’s no one there to speak to. The police should handle the search.”
She tried to keep the impatience from her voice. “They’re busy with the crash investigation. Besides, my brother didn’t involve the police in whatever problem he was having. He must have had a reason.” She looked closely at him. “Do you trust the police around here?”
“Williams is okay.”
“How about Rogelio?”
Booker shifted on the worn seat. “He’s tight with Cyrus Leeman. I don’t trust anyone who buddies up to that snake.”
She jerked. “I wasn’t anyone’s buddy, if that’s what you’re implying. Leeman came to me on an environmental issue that happened to impact your land. I did my job, and so did he.”
“Yeah? So you think he’s just a great guy out to save the earth, huh?”
The anger in his eyes made her falter. “We did the right thing.”
“Glad you can sleep easy at night.”
Sleep easy? She’d not had a peaceful night’s rest since she left Rockridge. Thoughts of Booker and the dangerous feelings he’d awakened in her had made that impossible. She’d done the right thing, but the cost had been high. She looked at his profile: strong, proud, lined with fatigue and worry. What had her decision cost him?
She pushed the feelings away and took a deep breath. “I’ve got to focus on the here and now. I need to figure out what happened to my brother. Will you take me? If not, I’ll find someone else.”
He gazed at the brilliant blue of the sky. “It’ll take an hour to drive out there. Won’t have much time. We’ve got to head back before sunset.”
“What happens after sunset?”
He didn’t look at her as he pulled onto the road. “Desert comes alive.”
FIVE
Anita tried not to dwell on Booker’s ominous warning as they headed farther away from civilization. She was a wildlife scientist, after all. Nothing in this desert would send her screaming for help. She busied herself checking her phone for any kind of message from her brother. Who would be after him? His salary was good, she imagined, but knowing her brother he hadn’t socked away enough fortune to tempt anyone. At times he didn’t even make the rent payments. He must have heard something, seen something. Maybe he photographed something he shouldn’t have?
She wished she had someone to discuss her wild theories with, but Booker remained silent. It was just as well. They should avoid anything that would rekindle old feelings. Remember Jack and what could have happened. Drinking, partying, making stupid choices that would have ruined your life if God hadn’t saved you. Don’t put yourself there again.
A massive saguaro cactus thrust prickled branches into the late-afternoon sunlight. In the spring, it had been crowned with showy yellow blossoms, a treasure for the bat species she’d been studying. Now it was bare of blooms, a patch of green against acres of chollas and creosote plants with their fuzzy seed capsules thrust out like fingers. There were no cars here, no tourists crazy enough to venture out into the sizzling nowhere.
Booker pulled off down a narrow path that she never would have noticed. It led to the mouth of a mesquite-lined wash on one side and a massive cliff rising up on the other. The cliff outline was broken up by piles of roughened rock that had broken away and tumbled down, leaving mountains of rubble dotting the ground.
He handed her a bottle of water and grabbed binoculars for them both. “There.” He stabbed a finger at a gap between the cliff and a massive rocky outcropping. “Good view from there. Let’s go.”
She followed him. The heat immediately soaked her in sweat and heated her face until it felt like it would burst into flame. Grateful that she’d remembered to wear a hat, she struggled to match his long strides.
They climbed the sandy cliff trail until they reached the gap. Binoculars ready, Anita scanned the view below. The Painted Cliffs, striped with shades of gold and pink, had earned their name. The recent rain made bits of mica glitter and shine as she strained to see any signs of human presence there.
Nothing.
The only movement came from a golden eagle that soared down to land on a jagged rock far above them. She sagged, head whirling. What had she expected? That Drew would pop up around some rock pile, a smile on his face? She groaned at her own stupidity. That was exactly what she had hoped.
Booker lowered his binoculars and looked at the sun sinking into a swirl of sherbet colors behind the cliffs. “We’ve got to go. Gonna get dark fast now.”
She nodded. “Okay. I just want to climb to that lower ridge there first. I’ll have a view of the whole place.”
He frowned. “Bad idea.”
“I’ll be careful. It will only take a minute.” She saw his jaw tighten.
“Really bad idea.”
“I’m familiar with the outdoors, Booker,” she snapped. “I don’t need your permission. As a matter of fact, why don’t you head back to the truck and I’ll meet you there?” She didn’t wait for his answer, instead spinning on her heel and charging down the path that spiraled toward the ridge. Keeping up a brisk pace, she covered a half mile of twisting path before she ventured a look back. Booker was nowhere in sight.
The rock walls rose up around her, muffling the sound of any approaching feet. It was indeed growing darker by the minute, she thought ruefully. Resolutely, she continued on one of two paths that now snaked downward into a shadowed canyon. She made another half mile before the trail widened into a sort of cathedral-like cave, ribboned with veins of color and illuminated only by the faint light that still shone through a crack of rock above her.
It was the kind of scene Drew would wait hours to shoot, until the light was perfect. Fear shook through her again. There was no sign of her brother here, just as there had been none at the crash site. If he was alive, why hadn’t he contacted her? Or the police?
The cave grew suddenly dark. Anita knew she had stayed too long. Skin prickled in goose bumps, she realized there was still no sound of Booker’s approach. He must have taken her at her word and returned to the truck.
Fine. I can make it back there by myself. She was so intent on picking her way across the floor of the rubble-strewn cavern, she did not hear someone fall in behind her.
A hand, hard and calloused, grabbed her and she was jerked backward off her feet. In a moment she was sitting on a patch of loose gravel, looking into the dark face of a man who held her mouth closed with one hand and kept an arm pressed firmly across her throat, pinning her to the rocky wall.
He slowly moved his arm away from her throat and a knife materialized in his hand. Her blood froze as he held it in front of her eyes. His voice was softly tinged with a Spanish accent. “If you scream, you die.”
Fighting to keep the panic from totally overwhelming her senses, she managed a slight nod. He slowly withdrew the hand from her mouth, knife still hovering close to her face.
He was short, dressed in jeans and a vest that bulged with pockets. A radio clipped to his belt made soft static noises as he stepped back slightly to examine her. “Who are you?”
“My name is Anita Teel.” She was surprised her voice worked at all over the fear that seemed to infest every nerve. “Who are you?”
A tiny smile curved his lips and he pushed back the black hair from his face. “It does not seem to me you are in a position to ask questions.” He turned the knife so it caught the last remaining light. “Why are you here?”
She forced herself to sit up straight. “Why is that your business?”
He did not smile this time. “Everything that happens in this part of the desert is my business. I ask merely for curiosity’s sake. It would be much easier to kill you and be done with it.”
She gasped. “I’m looking for my brother. He’s a photographer. He was working in the area and he’s disappeared.” Her phone beeped, but she didn’t dare answer.
He ignored the ringing, cocked his head slightly, black eyes studying hers. “I have seen you before, further south. You were here, taking pictures, in the spring. Yes?”
“Yes, I was. But I didn’t ever meet you.”
“As I said, it’s my business to know what goes on here.”
The thought of him watching her from a distance all those hours she’d spent without the slightest idea she was under surveillance made her shiver. “Look, I don’t care what your business is, and I don’t care who you are. I just want to find my brother. Have you seen him?”
“Not…recently.”
She leaned forward. “When?”
“He was photographing the cliffs. Perhaps I have seen him since, perhaps not.”
The coldness of the rock seeped into her body as she considered. This man might be telling her the truth. Then again, he might be responsible for her brother’s disappearance. A distant sound startled them both. The man tensed, listening.
Anita sucked in a breath. It was Booker, and he’d walk unawares into the situation. She opened her mouth to scream to him, when her captor fastened a piece of duct tape over her lips. Frantically, she tried to peel it away but he deftly secured her hands behind her, tying them with a section of nylon rope from one of his many pockets.
He leaned close. “If you will not stay quiet, things will go badly for the person who approaches. And for you.”
Eyes round with terror, Anita watched the mouth of the cave, praying that Booker would somehow hear her thoughts.
After Anita’s abrupt departure, Booker took a few moments to calm himself down. It wasn’t easy. The bullheaded woman was going to get herself killed. Figuring he’d have to sling her over his shoulder and force her back to the truck, he’d headed down the trail until he was stopped by a phone call.
“It’s Sergeant Williams. We’re going to call off the search for the night. Still nothing to report. Search and Rescue will be back before sunrise to start again.”
Booker thanked her and continued on his way to find Anita. After another fifteen minutes, there was still no sign of her. He retraced his steps and took the second trail.
On the way he alternately berated himself for getting involved and worried that she might have slipped and fallen down the steep cliff side. He tried dialing her phone without success. Calling her name again and again, he hurried his pace.
Something about the cavern entrance ahead made his body tense. If she’d taken the lower path he’d have been able to spot her. That left the cavern ahead, but she should have heard his calls by now. Why hadn’t she answered him? His pulse quickened.
Lord, please let her be okay. He took a breath and plunged into the dim cavern.
He saw Feria instantly, standing ready with his knife and poised to strike.
Booker froze, his hands away from his body. He frantically shot a glance around the space for Anita and saw her, gagged, staring at him with pleading eyes. “She’s no concern to you, Feria.”
Feria did not lower the knife. “Maybe no. Maybe yes. She does not belong here.”
Booker nodded. “That’s what I tried to tell her.”
The gleam from Feria’s toothy grin shone in the darkness. “She should have listened. You are connected with this lady, then?”
“Just helping her out.”
“I see. I do not like intruders.”
Booker didn’t move. “Neither do I, but that hasn’t stopped you from trespassing on my property.”
“You will be compensated.”
“So you say.”
Feria considered. “Most men, I would not let walk out of here. But since we may have business in the future, I will allow you to go.”
“And the girl.”
He shook his head. “No. She stays.”
Booker took a step closer. “She comes with me. She’s got no interest in your life, only her brother. She won’t make trouble for you. You have my word.”
“I am not sure what your word is worth yet, Mr. Scott, but if I find out it’s only talk, you will pay the price.”
Booker’s stomach tensed in an angry knot. His voiced hissed through the cavern before he could think better of it. “If you hurt Anita in any way, you will answer to me.”
Their eyes locked until finally, with a slight smile, Feria lowered his knife. “I admire a man with courage.” He stepped away from Anita.
Booker went to her, quickly untied the ropes around her wrists and peeled away the duct tape.
As he helped her stand on unsteady legs, Booker noticed that Feria was gone. He gathered Anita in his arms and tried to still the violent trembling that shook her body. “It’s okay.”
She kept her forehead pressed to his chest and he buried his cheek in the soft down of her hair. Thinking about what could have happened made him squeeze her tighter. If he had been moments later…He didn’t allow himself to finish the thought.
She pulled away and took a shuddery breath. “I got the feeling he might know something about my brother. Who is he?”
“I only know him by Feria. He’s a drug smuggler, operates caravans of product that come over the border. He routes them through this area to distribution points where the cargo is shipped out.”
She gaped. “He’s a drug smuggler? How does he know you?”
