Kino forgot what he was saying as he jumped to his feet, staring up at the cloudless sky. He could hear that a helicopter was near. It was likely one of the border patrol units searching for traffickers. But it might be someone looking for them. He didn’t know. What he did know was that Lea was failing. Her color was bad and her breathing was worsening. He had to get her out of here and that meant the chopper had to see them.
Kino grabbed the pole he had used to collect saguaro fruit and dragged it across the soft sand, making a giant X. Then he traced it again as the chopper appeared in the distance. If they saw them, they were saved. Unless it was Barrow’s men.
Kino drew his pistol.
He didn’t want to scare Lea, but her admission that she loved him had scared him right down to his gut. It was exactly what he’d wanted to hear, but he wondered if it was the pain and the fear talking and not her heart. Did she think she was dying? He knew he loved Lea and that to him her origins mattered not at all. She was more Apache woman than anyone he knew, except for possibly his grandmother.
If he could get Lea to safety and see her well and if she still had feelings for him when she was not staring down her own mortality, then he would be only too glad to take her at her word. The number of ifs in that line of reasoning frightened him almost as much as having the chopper miss them altogether. But the helicopter headed right for them almost as if they were the object of search and the pilot knew exactly where to look.
Clay, he realized. Only Clay could have tracked them through this sand. The high winds would have all but obliterated their tracks. But not to his older brother. Kino knew how good Clay was. But how would he have known where to begin? How could he possibly have found the SUV, their origin?
He didn’t know, but the certainty took route and bloomed as the chopper hovered and then made for a landing some fifty yards off on a flat stretch amid the saguaros. Kino holstered his pistol and returned to Lea. Then he shielded their eyes as the chopper touched down and the dust spiraled outward in all directions.
He had expected Clay but found Nesto Gomez and Rick Rubio hopping down from the interior compartment and running in their direction. Kino’s grip on his gun tightened. Was it possible that Nesto and Captain Rubio were working with Barrow, too?
“Where’s Clay?” asked Kino.
Gomez noted the position of Kino’s hand and kept his hands in plain sight.
“Tracking on foot,” said Rubio. “Should be here in about thirty minutes. Anyone hurt?”
“Yeah. Lea’s ribs are broken. Barrow was snake bit and Anthony DeClay was stunned.” Kino gestured over his shoulder.
“Barrow?” said Rubio, his voice echoing surprise.
“Captain Barrow?” asked Gomez.
Kino nodded.
“He did this?” asked Rubio.
Kino understood the astonishment he saw reflected in their faces. He’d never seen it coming, either. “Yeah. He’s been trafficking through here for years. Used to work up in Tucson and they moved him here. Thought having a man in border patrol would help their success rate.”
“No wonder we were always in the wrong place,” said Nesto. “He was sending us on wild-goose chases.”
“Explains why he was always trying to get me to check in,” said Rubio. “I thought he was just a control freak.”
“He put homing devices on all our vehicles,” said Kino.
The two Shadow Wolves exchanged a glance.
Rubio lifted an arm and gestured. “Come on, son. Let’s get you two out of here. We’ll bring Miss Altaha to the hospital and then swing back for DeClay and Barrow.”
Kino took a look at the helicopter and realized it wasn’t one of theirs. It was larger and it was armed. One of the pilots glanced at him and nodded. The sleeve of his navy blue jacket was emblazoned with yellow letters. FBI.
“Whose chopper?” he asked Rubio.
“A Fed. Luke Forrest. He your boss?”
Kino had always thought of Gabe, Clay and his uncle as his bosses. But not anymore. Now he saw them for what they were and had always been. The most important thing a man could have—his family—and they had his back in good times and bad.
“He’s my uncle.”
Clay again, realized Kino, or Gabe, getting him what he needed, as always. And his uncle, who had helped him so many times, had now sent him the resources to get Lea out fast. The gratitude choked him and his vision blurred.
Kino wiped his eyes on his shirt and then helped Lea into the chopper. They lifted off a moment later. The journey that would have taken hours would now be only minutes.
“Destination?” asked the pilot.
“Regional hospital in Pima,” answered Kino.
“Yes, sir.”
Below them, Kino spotted Clay on the ground and waved. Clay signaled back and turned around. Clearly, he was interested in finding his brother and not the man who had abducted him. It was Kino who had come here for the Viper. Clay had come here only to watch over his little brother. Family first, his father had always said. Why hadn’t Kino realized that meant the living? Clyne, Gabe, Clay, Jovanna, his uncle Luke and now Lea. That was who mattered because that was who he loved.
They reached the road and Kino looked down to find a legion of vehicles including DEA, FBI and border patrol. Even if Barrow had succeeded in his plan, he was not getting away this time.
Nesto handed Kino his radio and Kino spoke to Clay.
“Heading to the hospital,” Kino said.
“Meet you there, little brother. How is Lea?”
“Banged up. Clay?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks, brother. You saved me. Out.”
Lea’s color continued to drain from her skin and now she had a cough. Each spasm made her sweat and grimace. He tried to get her to drink, but she said she felt too nauseous. They touched down in the parking lot and a crew rushed out to meet them, transferring Lea to the gurney.
At the ER, Lea was stripped of clothing, hustled into a hospital gown and wrapped in white sheets that emphasized that her usually cinnamon skin was an unnatural gray. He knew she was dehydrated and was relieved when they started the IV. They tried to usher him to the waiting room, but he said she was his witness. But now she was not just a witness. She was the love of his life and he would stay with her through this and anything else that threatened her.
Her condition scared him more than snakes or guns or the dangers of the desert. Because Lea was the one thing he could not afford to lose.
Kino did leave her briefly to give the FBI agents a quick rundown of events before he left them so they could board the helicopter back to the scene. In his absence Lea had been taken to Radiation. He found her in a familiar curtained cubicle. He searched her face and noted her color returning.
“What did they say?” he asked.
“More of the same. The fractures are a little worse.”
That news caused him physical pain.
“But the lungs are fine. It’s just hard to breathe and talk.” She smiled and her eyes seemed less bright. “They gave me something for the pain.”
He took hold of the hand that was clear of medical equipment and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I’m so sorry.”
He pressed his forehead to the place he had just kissed. She squeezed his hand.
“I’m not.”
Kino pulled back, surprised.
“We got him. You did it. You avenged your father and your family, caught the bad guy and a second one, to boot. You should be so happy.”
Kino frowned.
Lea narrowed her eyes. “So why don’t you look happy?”
“Because I was all wrong. Chasing after that guy. You almost died, and convincing my brother to come down here with me and join the Shadow Wolves put him in danger, too. What was I doing it for? You heard him—my father was exactly the kind of man that I arrest. Why couldn’t I see what was right in front of me?”
“He was your dad. It’s natural to put him on a pedestal.”
Kino now recognized what he hadn’t been willing to admit, even to himself. His dad had loved him, but he had been one of the bad guys. Kino thought of all the people who had tried to tell him that and the fights he’d got into because of their words. Yeah, he had a blind spot where his dad was concerned and it had almost got Lea killed. How would he have lived with that?
Kino sat on the stool beside her bed and pressed her hand to his face. “If anything had happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”
“You got him. He won’t be hiring any more men and women to risk their lives as mules, and they won’t have those filthy drugs to sell, either. You did that.”
“There will be another one to replace him.”
She nodded. “That’s true.”
“So what have I accomplished?”
“You saved my life.”
He smiled. If he never did a thing again, it made everything worth doing.
“And it’s a life to be proud of,” he said.
Her smile faded and she looked tired and drawn once more.
“I don’t know what to do now. The migrants will keep coming. They need water. But I don’t think I belong here anymore. What does the military call it? Shell shock?”
“PTSD—post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“Yeah. Well, just thinking about going out there now makes me feel sick.”
Kino knew what he wanted and he prayed that what she’d said to him out there in the desert hadn’t just been the pain and the fear and the exhaustion. Lea had said she loved him. He sucked in a breath, determined to find out if she meant it.