He almost stepped on her.
Hedwig had taken shelter beneath the ragged boughs of a big juniper bush. Will spotted the white of her jeans. Probably the only white patch left.
He squatted, keeping a wary eye on her hands. She was clutching a thick, short branch, and he didn’t think it was to chew on during labor. “All right. Come out of there.”
“I…can’t.”
He controlled himself, but it wasn’t easy. Every time he thought about Taylor wandering around in that underground cavern, he felt he felt the rein he was keeping on his emotions slip. “Kelila, get your ass out of there, or I’m coming in after you. Believe me; you don’t want that.”
She stared back defiantly. “The baby is coming.”
“We’ve all heard that before. Tell the baby she needs to postpone her flight.”
“He. It’s a boy.”
“I don’t care what it is.” He felt a warning prickle down his scalp, that sixth sense that had kept him alive and in one piece as a marine and later in the DSS. Turning, Will spotted two dark-clad figures switchbacking down the golden hills behind him. From the way they seemed to study the ground, he didn’t think they’d spotted him yet.
“Company’s coming, so unless you want an audience for the delivery, you better get moving.”
Kelila half crawled, half rolled out from under the bush. Will helped her to her knees.
“Don’t stand up. Where the hell did you think you were going?”
“Mexico.”
“On foot?”
“Plenty of people do it on foot.”
“I don’t think most of them are ready to drop a kid any second.”
“I could make it.”
He was beginning to believe she could.
He felt her stiffen as she spotted the sleek figures moving down the hill in the fading light. “You recognize them. Who are they?”
“Gretchen and Victor Hart. They work for Mikhail.”
“Let me guess. Not bill collectors?”
“No. Mikhail must have found out about the baby.”
“You mean it would be news to him?”
“I left when I realized I was pregnant. I didn’t tell Mikhail.”
Will had been helping her crawl along from bush to rock perpendicular to their pursuers, but at that he stopped. “I thought you left when you realized your life was in danger from someone highly placed in the DEA.”
Kelila nodded. “Yes. That was why I knew I had to run. I had to think of my baby at that point.”
“And who were you thinking of before then?”
She looked confused, throwing nervous glances at the figures still relentlessly combing the hillside blocking their way back to Taylor.
Will said, “You had a thing about Bashnakov from the time you were in high school. You apparently broke up his marriage —”
“He was widowed.”
“But then before you ever know you’re pregnant, you start working for the DEA as an informant. Why?”
“Why? Because I learned my husband — my wonderful, charming, handsome husband — was a murderer and a drug dealer.” Will must have looked as baffled as he felt. She spat out, “That’s not okay!”
“I know it’s not okay. Are you saying you went voluntarily to the DEA?”
“Yes.” She met his eyes unswervingly. Not that that meant much. Will had met plenty of bald-faced liars in his time.
“You volunteered to act as an informant for the DEA?”
“Yes.”
“And what’s the name of the highly placed DEA official you believe set you up?”
“Deputy Administrator Ted Bell.”
If it wasn’t the truth, it was a damn good facsimile. Even Will had heard the rumors about DA Ted Bell.
She said, suddenly alarmed, “Where’s your — Where’s Agent MacAllister?”
“He’s waiting for us. I hope.” Will scanned the hills. The Harts had reached the flatland now. If they could circumnavigate them, if Will could get Kelila up the hill without being seen…
That still left the problem of Taylor.
One thing at a time. Getting up that hill unseen. That was the first thing.
And it was liable to be the last thing. They’d be sitting ducks all the way up that hillside.
He glanced at Kelila’s drawn face. If ever a girl was game, it was this one.
* * * * *
Hiking down, the hills had seemed reasonably gentle. Climbing up felt like scaling Everest. Their progress was agonizingly slow. Hedwig labored ahead of him, mostly on hands and knees, panting hard. The bare stretches with only the gold-tipped grass swaying in the breeze for cover seemed miles long.
It was inevitable that they would be spotted. Will knew it, was prepared for it, but the first blast sent his heart into overdrive. Kelila let out a shriek and scuttled away.
“Get down!” Will yelled.
She was a slow-moving target, awkward as an anteater, but for some reason neither Gretchen nor Victor took the shot. In fact, all their firepower seemed to be trained on Will. Bullets chewed up the earth around him, took bites out of the sparse vegetation, nibbled at the rocks and sent them flying.
Will flattened himself to the warm soil, locked both hands around his SIG, and laid down a steady return barrage. It was only a matter of time before one of them nailed him, but he would give Kelila every possible second. He was aware of her making her spiderlike way up the slope to the left of him. Panic in slow motion.
Will changed clips.
Sorry, Taylor. Sorry, sweetheart. If it was going to end like this, Will was actually glad Taylor was safely trapped belowground, no chance of him doing anything stupid and suicidal until the danger was past.
His finger tightened on the trigger, squeezing — he was down to his last rounds.
Like a thunderclap from overhead came the loud bang of a .357 SIG.
Will’s heart jerked with each bullet crack.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
That rapid, even staccato was as familiar, as welcome as like the voice of a lover calling down the mountainside.
It was his ticket home. He turned, relying on Taylor to cover his retreat, and sprang up the hill in a couple of bounds, catching Kelila a few yards ahead and half dragging her along with him.
They reached the top. Taylor was lying in the deep grass, looking remarkably unruffled. He had that tight-jawed, implacable expression Will recognized from other tight corners, and though his eyes flicked briefly over Will, making sure he was still whole, his attention was focused on the two he had pinned down below.
“Can she make it to the car?” he asked.
“She’ll make it.”
“I’ll cover you.”
“Don’t be too long about it.”
“I’m right behind you.”
By now Kelila had reached the end of her strength and all the panic and adrenaline in the world couldn’t drive her any faster. Will put an arm around her waist and towed her along over uneven ground. A few yards from the SUV, he picked her up and carried her, his back muscles screaming protest.
Reaching the SUV at last, he tumbled her into the rear seat. Hair spilled over her face, she sprawled on the pseudo leather gasping out little moans and convulsively rubbing her belly.
Will ran around to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel. He patted frantically for the keys. Christ. He could have dropped them anywhere at any time…
No. There they were. He jammed them in the ignition. He had just long enough to wonder how badly the SUV had been damaged by the sedan crashing into it and then the engine roared into life.
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Taylor cresting the hill and running for the SUV.
Will reversed sharply, rolling back a few feet. He lunged across and shoved open the passenger side door. A second later Taylor jumped in, hauling the door shut behind him.
“They’re right behind me. I think I winged the guy. Go.”
“Gretchen will kill you for that,” Kelila panted.
“Gretchen wants to kill me anyway.” Taylor was reloading quickly, throwing hasty looks out the side window.
Will jammed on the accelerator and the SUV shot forward. The tires spun on gravel and they bumped onto the highway. The vehicle seemed to be responding okay. Will spared a quick look at the gauges. No red lights. The left rear was dragging a little.
He gave her a little more gas and they sped round the first bend only to see the black sedan parked squarely across the narrow road.
“Shit.” Will braked hard, steering into the skid, a tight hand over hand so that the SUV rocked to a halt lined up parallel a few inches from the bullet riddled sedan blocking their way.
There was a long wooded drop on the left and a steep rocky climb on the right. No way around the sedan and no way through.
“We’ve got to go back.” Taylor gave voice to Will’s thoughts.
Will nodded tightly. “Get on the floor,” he ordered Kelila.
She obeyed, moving with what seemed to him clumsy, shaking slowness.
Taylor rolled down his window and scrambled to sit on the ledge, bracing himself. He thumped the roof of the SUV. “Go.”
“Hang on for Christ’s sake.” Will reversed, yanked the wheel, and they spun out, hurtling back down the narrow road.
As they swung around the curve he saw Gretchen and Victor waiting for them. At the same moment Taylor opened fire.
Will floored it. He felt the thunk of bullets hitting the side of the SUV, heard Kelila screaming, felt the burn of glass on his neck as the side window behind him shattered.
Taylor was still firing in quick succession.
And then they were around the next bend and flying down the road back to Carrizozo.
The sound of shots faded. Gretchen was a tiny dark figure in Will’s rearview, running out to the blacktop to fire final, wild shots after them.
Taylor slithered agilely back through the window and dropped heavily into the seat beside Will.
Will threw him a quick look. “Okay?”
Taylor assented. He wiped his forehead. His eyes met Will’s “You?”
Will nodded. He looked in the rearview. “Everyone okay?”
No response from the backseat.
Taylor half turned, reaching down to Kelila. “You all right?”
She groaned. “I think the baby’s coming.”
“You always say that.”
“My water broke.”
Taylor returned to facing forward in his seat. “Did you hear that?”
“Roger.”
“Do we try to make it back to Carrizozo or try to find a ranger station?”
“What’s a ranger supposed to do?”
“What are we supposed to do?”
“How long before the baby comes?” Will called back to Kelila.
She was carefully picking herself up from the floor and lying on the seat. “I’m not flying anywhere till this baby comes.”
“That’s not what I asked you. How long till he comes?”
“It could be anytime. It could be twelve hours. It could be twelve minutes.”
Taylor said suddenly, like a student recalling the answer to a tough exam question, “Are you having contractions?”
“Yes.”
“How often?”
“Often enough.”
Far down the road Will spied another vehicle. The first they’d seen other than the Hart’s sedan. “Let’s head for Carrizozo.” He threw another look at Taylor who looked about as tired and disheveled as Will had ever seen him. “How did you get out of that cave?”
“I walked. It turned out not to be Carlsbad Caverns, after all.”
“It could have been.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t.” Taylor sighed wearily. He ejected the magazine, removed the clip, squinted at it. “Two rounds left.”
“Did you nail Victor?”
“It looked like it.”
“Gretchen will kill you,” Kelila offered by way of comfort.
“Been there, done that.”
Will reached out to pat Taylor’s thigh. The approaching car was black. An SUV. Taking the winding road very fast.
Too fast.
“What I want to know is how they found her.”
“Who?” Will asked.
“Victor and Victoria. They didn’t track us from Colorado. I can accept that we missed one tail. But two? No way.”
“Reuben,” Kelila said. “Reuben must have called Mikhail and told him about the baby. And Mikhail sent Gretchen to bring us back.”
“Nanny get your gun,” Taylor said. “If you knew Ramirez couldn’t be trusted, why the hell did you run to him?”
“I didn’t know where else to go. My parents believe all the lies the government has told about me.”
“Oh right. Like the fact--”
“Trouble,” Will snapped.
Taylor was instantly all attention. He observed the vehicle speeding their way. “Black SUV,” he said thoughtfully. “You think it’s Nemov?”
“I think I don’t want to depend on coincidence.” He threw back to Kelila, “Get down and hold on.” Will craned his head as Taylor leaned across him to grab his shoulder strap and fasten his seatbelt.
Taylor sat back, buckling himself in. His pistol rested between his hands, relaxed and ready.
Will spared him a crooked grin. His gaze returned to the road. Tinted windows, heavy duty roof rack. Nemov. But what did the crazy bastard think he was going to do?
Wait. Had Nemov recognized them? He wouldn’t expect them coming this direction.
Maybe…
There was a turnout a couple of yards ahead. Will slowed.
Taylor cast him a quick look. “What are you doing?”
“He’s speeding trying to catch us. He thinks we’re miles ahead. He may not even know what we’re driving. Is there a map in that glove compartment?”
“I picked a map up at the motel.” Taylor shook out the folds.
Will braked and they swung neatly into the turnout. Will grabbed the map, holding it up. Taylor leaned forward, keeping his head beneath the dashboard as Nemov screeched past.
Will watched the black SUV disappear around the bend.
“Go,” Taylor said, sitting up. “He’s going to run into that sedan in about four minutes and it won’t take him long to figure out what happened.”
Will hit the accelerator and they sped out of the turnout.
Neither of them spoke as they wound their way back down through the golden shimmering hills. The squeal of the tires picked up a kind of rhythm as they banked into the curves and straightened out once more.
Taylor sat half-turned to watch the road behind them, but the road remained empty.