Taking Aim (11 page)

He had a rifle in his scabbard and an old-fashioned revolver in a holster slung around his hips. The man could have been a gunslinger in a former life, he looked so natural. They left the ranch compound without speaking and nudged their horses into a gallop as soon as they cleared the last gate.

If all went well, they’d be at the ridge of the canyon in less than an hour. Then Jacie would have to decide what next. She didn’t know where the Los Lobos hideout was in the maze of canyon trails. Hell, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. Right now anywhere closer to the canyon where her sister disappeared and Zach had gone to find her was better than waiting around her cabin with someone trying to break in.

* * *

Z
ACH
AND
J
UAN
raced back to where the trail led up out of the canyon. As Juan started up the narrow trail, two motorcycles emerged from the shadows Zach had just left. Two more shot out close behind.

Zach turned on his horse and fired at the lead cyclist. His bullet went wide of its target and the cycle continued straight for them.

Four to one wasn’t the best odds. Zach could take them, but then he’d waste time. Time was something he couldn’t afford to give up. The longer Tracie remained in the clutches of the cartel, the more torture she’d have to endure. And the longer he was in the canyon, the longer he was away from Jacie.

He spun his horse, aimed at the closest pursuer and fired.

The rider jerked off the bike and landed on his back on the ground. The next rider swerved to miss him and slid sideways on the rocky surface. Two down, two more to go. Without cover and concealment, Zach would be at a disadvantage defending himself and if he tried riding up the trail to the top, he might as well paint a target on his back and Juan’s. The two pursuers at the bottom only had to dismount and take aim.

Out in the open and out of options, Zach leaped off his horse and slapped the animal’s hindquarters, sending it up the hill after Juan.

Zach dropped to the ground, drew his weapon and aimed at the nearest man. When he pulled the trigger, nothing happened.

The men on the motorcycles drew steadily closer.

Zach pulled the bolt back and ejected the bullet inside, then slid it home, aimed and pulled the trigger again.

Nothing.

On the ground, his gun jammed, Zach lay still, hoping to surprise the two men with the only other weapon he had on him. Juan’s switchblade.

Chapter Eleven

Jacie and Richard neared the ridge at a trot, glad for the full moon and the near-daylight conditions in which to maneuver the Texas landscape.

The closer she got to the canyon, the faster Jacie’s heart beat. She sensed trouble. A nudge to her gelding’s flanks urged the animal into a gallop.

Almost at the edge, her horse ground to a halt and reared, his whinny filling the sky. Up over the top of the ridge sprang another horse and rider, charging straight for them.

The horse and rider skirted Jacie but didn’t make it past her boss. Richard headed him off, leaned over and snatched the reins out of his hands, jerking the horse to a stop.

A string of Spanish curse words rolled out of the rider’s mouth, and Jacie recognized him as Juan, the man who’d been with Zach when they’d taken off on their reconnaissance mission.

Jacie calmed her gelding and joined Richard and Juan.

“Where’s Zach?” she demanded.

“I don’t know. He was behind me.”

The sound of engines carried up to her from the canyon below.

A feeling of déjà vu washed over Jacie and she whirled her mount, heading for the canyon. Before she reached the edge, another horse topped the trail and headed her way. This one was riderless.

Damn. Damn. Damn.
Jacie sank her heels into the gelding’s flanks, sending him hurtling over the edge and down the trail. Below on the floor of the canyon, two motorcycles were nearly at the base of the path leading upward.

Zach was nowhere to be seen.

Then a shadow sprang up from the ground beside the first motorcycle and the rider was yanked off his seat, landing flat on his back.

The trailing bike veered straight for the two figures grappling on the ground.

Jacie pulled her rifle from the scabbard and, one-handed, fired off a round above the head of the attacker. It didn’t deter him a bit. Either he couldn’t hear over the roar of the motorcycle engine or he wasn’t fazed by gunfire.

Now that the second motorcycle was practically on top of the tangled shadows of the men on the ground, Jacie didn’t dare shoot at him for fear of missing and hitting Zach instead.

The rider leaped off his bike and joined the fight.

Jacie let her horse pick his way down the treacherous trail, while her heart hammered against her ribs. She prayed she wouldn’t be too late to help.

A shot rang out from below.

Jacie’s gelding sidestepped, nearly taking them both over the edge.

One of the shadows fell, lying motionless on the ground. The other two continued the struggle. One of them had to be Zach.

Jacie reached the bottom and charged toward the dueling pair, leaping out of the saddle before the horse came to a complete stop. Still holding her rifle, she pointed it at the pair.

Zach knocked the man to the ground and staggered back, bleeding from a gash on his cheek. The man on the ground rolled to the side, grabbed his fallen weapon and rolled to his back, aiming at Zach.

Jacie fired off a round, hitting the man square in the chest before he had a chance to pull the trigger. His gun fell to the side, and he lay still, his eyes open, staring up at the full moon.

Zach dropped to his knees, breathing hard. “I thought I told you not to come,” he grumbled.

“And if I hadn’t, you might be dead.” Jacie laid her rifle on the ground and knelt beside him. “Are you okay?” She studied the gash on his cheek and searched him for other signs of injury, wishing she had a flashlight to work with.

“I’m okay.” His lips twisted, then straightened into a smile and he shook his head. “Thanks.”

“Now, was that so hard?” She pulled his arm over her shoulder and helped him to his feet.

“I’m really okay, just winded.”

“Shut up and let me help.” She led him to her horse. “Take the saddle. I’ll ride behind.”

Zach dragged himself up into the saddle.

Jacie assisted with a firm hand on his rear, shoving him upward. She couldn’t help thinking that he had a nice behind. Some kind of thought to have when she’d just killed a man.

Holy crap. She’d just killed a man.

Her knees wobbled. The finality of her actions hit her, and her heart nearly stopped.

Zach moved his foot out of the stirrup and reached down for her hand. “Come on. We have to get to Hank’s place.”

Jacie didn’t have time to go soft on him. So she’d killed a man. A man who would have killed Zach if she hadn’t. And her sister was still missing.

She straightened her shoulders, dragged in a steadying breath and put her hand in Zach’s, her foot in the stirrup.

As he pulled her up, she swung her leg over the horse’s hindquarters and landed neatly behind the saddle and Zach, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Zach reined the gelding around and sent it up the trail at a slow, steady pace, letting the horse choose his steps, given that it was carrying double the burden.

Jacie leaned into Zach’s back and inhaled the heady scent of dust, denim and cowboy, letting his strength and courage seep into her. She didn’t look down, just closed her eyes and let the horse and the man get her out of the hell she’d just experienced.

Richard waited at the top of the hill with the reins of Juan’s horse tied to his saddle horn. “I would have come down, but you had it all under control before I could. I take it we need to report a couple of deaths?”

“We’ll hit the ops tent on the Raging Bull and let them handle things.” Zach glanced around. “Have you seen my horse?”

“He’s halfway back to the barn by now.”

Jacie couldn’t be sorry about that. It meant she didn’t have to drive. It gave her an excuse to hold on to Zach a little longer without revealing how needy she actually felt. What was it about this man that made her want to be strong for him at the same time he turned her knees to jelly?

Richard rode ahead with Juan.

Zach and Jacie allowed the gelding to take his time. Moonlight streamed over them and they were alone in the stark Texas landscape.

After a few minutes, Jacie swallowed her disappointment and bucked up the courage to confirm, “I take it you didn’t find Tracie?”

“No.” The word was terse, almost angry.

“What did you find?”

“Juan was correct in that Los Lobos had a rendezvous point in a cave in the canyon, but they were in the process of relocating because of all the activity in the canyon with the FBI and DEA looking for Tracie and the people who killed their agents.”

“Did you find out where they moved Tracie?”

Zach shook his head, staring straight ahead. “Every man I questioned said the same thing. Los Lobos didn’t kidnap anyone and they didn’t kill the two La Familia Diablo
s
men.”

“If not Los Lobos, who?”

“They think that whoever killed the men wanted it to look like Los Lobos to throw the FBI and DEA off the trail of the real killers and to stir up trouble for Los Lobos with La Familia Diablos
.
”

Jacie leaned her forehead into Zach’s back. “Then we’re back to square one. We don’t have a lead and we don’t know who took Tracie or where.”

His hand rested over hers, warm and gentle. “We’ll find her.”

“Are you thinking it’s someone internal to the FBI or DEA who set this all up?”

“I can’t be certain, but I’d bet it is.”

“Where do we go next?”

“I’m not sure. First, I need to talk to Hank and an old buddy of mine I trust from the FBI.”

“No. First we need to have your wounds tended.” Her arms tightened around his middle for a second before she realized he might have been hit in the ribs. She loosened her hold.

“I’m fine. I just need a shower. I can get that back at the Big Elk and you can get some rest.”

They rode into the Raging Bull compound and were immediately surrounded by the agents and local law enforcement personnel manning the night shift.

Richard and the groggy ranch foreman took their horses. Richard would borrow one of the Raging Bull trailers to get the horses and himself back to the Big Elk.

After reporting on the two dead men and filling them in on what Zach had discovered, Jacie was so tired she could barely stand.

“Out and about again?” Bruce appeared at Jacie’s side. “I thought you’d given up and gone back to the Big Elk.” Her sister’s boyfriend stood close behind her, his breath stirring the stray hairs resting against her neck.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Jacie took a step away from Bruce, tucking the loose strands of hair behind her ear and praying Zach would wrap up what he was doing. She was too tired to talk with anyone, especially Bruce.

“Your sister always pushes her hair behind her ear like that.”

“What has the FBI come up with so far?” Jacie changed the subject, her gaze still on Zach, willing him to look up.

Several feet away, his head tilted toward the sheriff who’d been giving him the lowdown on retrieval of the two bodies in the canyon, Zach glanced across at her and frowned.

“Not as much as I’d hoped. Whoever took Tracie didn’t leave much of a trail.”

“At least we can rule out Los Lobos. And if it wasn’t Los Lobos, either La Familia has some inside traitors or someone else took my sister. Any guesses?” Jacie finally pinned Bruce with her gaze, her eyebrows rising up her forehead.

Bruce shook his head, his eyes shadowed. “You are a lot like your sister. Get down to the business at hand. That’s what I love about her.”

“Where is she, Bruce?” Anger fueled by frustration and exhaustion bubbled up inside her. “You have two federal agencies and the local law enforcement on this rescue effort and what have you found? Nothing.”

An arm slipped around her waist. “You ready to go, darlin’?”

Zach’s resonant baritone washed over her like a soothing warm wave. The tension that had held her upright for the past hour slowly seeped out of her and left her oddly boneless and ready to collapse. Her chin tipped upward and she gave him the hint of a smile. “Yes. I’m more than ready to go.”

Zach pulled her against him and stared across at Bruce. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to steal my girl away and get her home to bed.”

Heat flared in Jacie’s body at Zach’s words, the images they generated making her tingle all over. Her nipples hardened into tight little buds rubbing against the lace of her bra.

“Take me home,” she whispered, leaning into him, grateful for the added support when her knees turned to jelly.

As he drew her away from Bruce, Jacie whispered, “Did you talk to Hank about our next steps?”

“He called it a night an hour ago. I hate to wake the man when there’s nothing more we can do tonight.”

“Good point.”

“We can do that in the morning. Right now I need that shower and some shut-eye.” He glanced over at the young Hispanic seated on the ground beside a parked vehicle, his head in his hands. “Come on, Juan. We’ll take you home.”

Juan scrambled to his feet and followed Zach and Jacie.

Jacie was past exhaustion, and the worry about her sister weighed so heavily she wanted to burst out crying. But that wasn’t the way she worked. The thought of going back to her cabin and collapsing into bed sounded wonderful.

Except her mattress was still on the floor and someone had tried to break in while she’d been in the shower.

She glanced at Zach. No, she wouldn’t put that on him, not after all he’d just been through. Jacie could handle a gun and take care of herself for what remained of the night.

Zach promised the sheriff he’d fill out a police report the next day, then he grabbed Jacie’s arm and led her to his truck, Juan following.

Without uttering another word, they left the Raging Bull and headed for Wild Oak Canyon then the Big Elk Ranch.

* * *

Z
ACH
’
S
RIBS
HURT
and the gash on his cheek stung from where one of Hank’s employees had cleaned and applied antiseptic ointment to his wound. He’d passed on a bandage, but now was second-guessing that decision.

“Dude, you’re one crazy son of a b—”

“Please.” Zach cut him off. “I owe you an apology for dragging you into that. But thanks. At least it ruled out Los Lobos as the people who kidnapped Tracie.”

“Can I have my knife back now?” Juan asked over the backseat.

“I might be crazy, but I’m not stupid.” Zach chuckled. “I’ll give you back your knife when I drop you at your home.”

Juan leaned back against the upholstery. “Whoever killed the two from La Familia must have wanted this woman really bad. No one messes with La Familia without retribution. As many as there are, someone will pay soon.”

Jacie turned sideways and peered over the back of the seat. “If you know anyone around here associated with La Familia, now would be the time to tell us.”

“What? Or you’ll shoot me?” Juan shook his head. “
No estoy loco.
If I tell you who, everyone will know it was me. I’d be a marked man.”

“Give us a hint?” Jacie begged.

“No.” Juan stared at Zach in the mirror. “Your woman can shoot me dead, but it would be better than what La Familia would do to me.”

Zach nodded. La Familia was known for its brutality with public beheadings and hangings. Los Lobos was no better, a fact Zach knew from experience. “Leave him alone. He’s done enough.”

Jacie settled back in her seat, her lips tight. “What about Tracie?”

“I have a contact that might be able to help. And I’ll get Hank on it, as well.”

Zach dropped Juan at his trailer and handed him his knife. “We’re square now?”

Juan peered through the truck’s open window at Jacie. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t know your sister would be a target. She asked when the next shipment would be handed off. All I did was tell her. She gave me five hundred dollars for that information.” He snorted. “I should have asked for a lot more.”

Jacie’s mouth twisted. “And I shouldn’t have let her go on the trail that day.”

Zach drove out of the little town of Wild Oak Canyon in silence.

The back of Jacie’s head rested against the seat, her profile one of natural, wholesome beauty. Unfettered, unblemished beauty that went deeper than skin. “Do you think Juan really knows someone in La Familia?”