Page 6

CHAPTER SIX

Pain seared up her back and into the base of her skull.

“Get her to the truck. He’ll want to deal with her himself,” a voice said. “Leave the agent and the dog. Let the flames have the bodies.”

A glow penetrated the seam of her eyelids. Too bright. Too hot. Charlie fought to shake off the haze clouding her head. She was moving. Not being carried. Dragged. Gravel and rock cut through her thin T-shirt, her arms stretched above her head. The voice was too low to put a face to. Him. Who was him ? Her father?

She wasn’t going back to her father. She wouldn’t help him in another attack. No matter what he threatened her with this time.

Movement registered in her mind, growing more distant.

Charlie forced herself to come around, struggling to escape that addictive pull of unconsciousness. Heat burned along one side of her body. Blistering enough to kick her brain into gear. Kill the agent.

Panic swelled in her throat as her mind processed the meaning of each of those words. They’d escaped her father’s house. Granger had been grazed by a bullet. She’d treated the wound as best she could and secured it with her jacket. And then…they were running. A flash of red shot across her mind. The flare gun. Someone had shot at them with a flare gun. “Granger.”

“Tranquila,” that voice said. Quiet.

Grabbing for a half-buried rock, she tried to wrench herself out of the man’s hold, but it was no use. He was too strong and had too much leverage. She secured her hand around the base of the next tree and kicked with everything she had.

Her boot slipped free in her abductor’s hand. He turned on her, his features aglow in the flames spreading fast through the woods. Charlie rolled out of reach and dodged his attempt. She grabbed for her ankle holster, coming up empty.

“Looking for this?” The clarity of her attacker’s features diminished with the appearance of her knife in his hand. He tossed her boot out of sight. “There’s nowhere for you to run, chica . No one escapes Sangre por Sangre .”

Sangre por Sangre? The cartel? Understanding hit. These men didn’t work for her father. The cartel Granger and Socorro had warned her about had finally found her. How?

Smoke burned down the back of her throat. The heat intensified, beading sweat along her hairline. The fire was consuming everything in its path. And sooner or later, it would consume her and everyone left in these trees. Charlie turned her attention on a way out, but the man holding her at knifepoint was blocking the only escape. She would have to go through him. “What the hell do you people want from me?”

“To restore Sangre por Sangre to its original glory,” he said.

Charlie dared a step back. Her heel landed on a smoldering branch. The wood cracked and sent embers around her legs. “I’m not doing anything for you or the people you work for. Understand?”

A low laugh crackled over the flames. “Not even when your father’s life depends on it?”

“What are you talking about?” A thread of cold worked through her. “How do you know my father? And where is Granger?”

“We know everything about you, Charlie Acker.” The man with her knife stepped to his left, forcing her to counter as he attempted to circle behind her. He was giving her an opportunity to run. Almost as though he was daring her to take the risk, to give him the chance to hunt her down. The steel of her blade glimmered in the reflection of flames. He was all that was standing between her and freedom from this place. “The work you did for your father. Where you’ve been hiding all these years. Did you really think my superiors fell for your ruse?”

He tsked, shaking his head. “You planned the attack on the Alamo pipeline. It was you who put Acker’s Army on the map. Not your father. And now, you’re going to do the same for us.”

The need for answers battled with her survival instincts until paralysis held her in place. The fire would be seen for miles. Vaughn didn’t have a large fire department, but the people of this town were prepared for any disaster, natural or not. Someone was coming. Charlie spotted a downed, rotted-out branch between her and the only escape. “Did your cartel kill my sister?”

“You’re wasting time,” he asked. “Pretty soon neither of us will be able to walk out of here alive.”

“Then I suggest you answer the question.” The sweat was almost suffocating now, prickling along both sides of her face, but the worst was at her back, where the blueprints poked into her skin. “Did the cartel have her killed? When Sangre por Sangre couldn’t get to me, did they kill her and leave her to rot in these woods to draw me out?”

“Come with me without a fight, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know about your sister’s death.” The promise hung between them for two seconds. Three. Her attacker closed the blade in his hand, offering it to her. It would be so tempting to believe she could just reach out and take it. That she could escape, but Charlie had learned to recognize false promises long before the cartel had come into her life. He was trying to establish a rapport, trying to take the fight out of her. He wasn’t going to give her any information. Instead, he and the people he worked for would dangle that carrot and the lives of everyone she cared about in front of her until they forced her to do what they wanted. Because that was how power worked. “Or…start running. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a challenge, but I can’t promise how our game will end.”

Charlie had been controlled enough in her life.

“That’s it? I come with you willingly, you leave my family alone and you tell me what happened to my sister?” She took a step forward as though to accept his offer, one hand stretched out.

“That’s it.” That voice eased through her. Trusting, confident.

“Why don’t I believe you?” Charlie lunged for the downed branch at her feet and swung as hard as she could. The tip of the rotted wood slammed against her abductor’s head, and he shot off to one side. Her blade hit the ground in a burst of embers. She grabbed for it, burning her hand on the growing flames, and ran.

His scream bellowed behind her as she raced for the only clearing of trees not on fire.

“Get her!” Anger replaced the trust and confidence in her attacker’s words, and Charlie pumped her legs faster.

Her pulse skyrocketed with the added pressure on her lungs to keep up, but she couldn’t stop. Not until she found Granger and Zeus. Shouts bled through the trees around her. There were four of them. Maybe five. All closing in on her position.

Shadows shifted up ahead, and Charlie darted to the left to avoid contact. She had no idea where she was. No idea where the cartel would take Granger and Zeus. A tremor vibrated through her legs the harder she pushed. She was running on empty and most likely suffering from a concussion, but experience told her all those punishing laps she’d run around the farm would keep her on her feet for hours if necessary.

Charlie heard the snap of wood behind her.

A force she’d only ever encountered in the aftermath of the Alamo pipeline explosion slammed into her. She hit the ground face first. Air crushed from her chest as the weight on her back increased.

“I told you. No one escapes Sangre por Sangre .” Her attacker dug his knee into her back to make a point.

Flashes of memory—of being pinned beneath a man twice her size and struggling to breathe—forced their way to the front of her mind. A training exercise. One in which she’d lost consciousness as rain pounded on her back. Her father’s face in the center of her vision. Only she wasn’t twelve years old anymore.

The glow of flames grew brighter. Ash collected around her face. Sweat collected on her upper lip. She could hear the roar of the fire drawing near. This was her last chance.

Charlie threw her elbow back as hard as she could. Bone connected with her attacker’s shin, taking away his leverage as his knee flared in the same direction as her momentum. She rolled hard and fast. One kick to his groin. That was all it took to bring him down. He landed face-first as she crawled to her feet. Her lungs had yet to get the message to inhale, but she couldn’t wait.

She darted for a tree big enough to hide her.

Just as a bullet punctured the bark.

“You won’t make it, Charlie!” The cartel soldier had lost that smooth manipulation in his voice. Instead, a demon seemed to be trying to tear free from his chest. “You’re in too deep now.”

Pressing her skull into the bark, Charlie finally caught her breath. He was right. She wouldn’t make it as long as she’d brought a knife to a gunfight. She closed her eyes to calm her fight-or-flight instincts. She had to think. She’d grown up on this land. Knew more about it than anyone else. There had to be something here…

The shed. The one she would run to when training, or dealing with two sisters, or losing her father’s approval hit a little too hard. It was nothing compared to what she kept on hand in the safe houses she’d built over the years, but there were supplies. Weapons. She just had to remember where it was. And hope her father hadn’t demolished and raided it.

Footsteps cut through the chaos in her head.

Charlie scanned the trees up ahead. They were thinner. If she ran, she’d lose her cover. But it was worth it.

“There’s nowhere to run.” His voice had regained some of that control she’d noted earlier. “Whether you like it or not, you belong to Sangre por Sangre now, Charlie. You are going to change everything for us.”

She picked a spot through two pine trees ahead. And ran.

The second bullet whizzed past her by a couple of feet.

But the third hit its mark.

* * *

Zeus’s bark punctured through the haze of unconsciousness.

Granger tried to get past the roll of nausea in his gut, but he lost the battle. Turning onto his side, he emptied his stomach as the bull terrier tugged on the cuff of his pants. The K9’s whine was nothing compared to the heat blistering along Granger’s back. “I’m up. I’m up.”

He planted both hands on the ground and shoved to stand. Facing off with a ring of fire closing in. “Oh, hell.”

Zeus backed into Granger’s leg.

There was no escape. Every tree around them had caught fire, and they had nowhere to go. The flames inched forward every second Granger tried to come up with a plan, but they were out of options. Acid lingered in his throat. The wind kicked up, aggravating the wall of heat. Tendrils danced and flickered toward them. He collected Zeus from the ground as embers flared at their feet. The K9’s added weight pulled on the wound along his ribs. “It’s going to be okay, buddy. We’ve been through worse.”

A crack of wood pierced through the raging fire growing louder. A tree off to their right groaned a split second before Granger caught sight of the top tipping toward them. “Hang on, Zeus!”

He lunged out of the way. They hit the ground with a hard thud. Granger’s shoulder screamed as the shard of bullet left inside took the impact. Rolling onto his back, he could barely make out the stars through the thickness of the smoke. An ember burned through the sleeve of his shirt and down to skin. Searing pain kept him in the moment when all his brain wanted to do was give up. Granger swatted at the ember as Zeus climbed to his feet. “We got to get out of here.”

Reaching for Zeus, he hit the emergency tracking built into the K9’s collar. He didn’t know if the signal would go through without cell service, but he had to try. It would take the Socorro team at least an hour to arrive on site. Granger just hoped to hell and back there was something left here for them to save. Sweat dripped into his eyes as he maneuvered onto all fours. The ring of flames was closing in fast, giving them less than eight feet in circumference to work with. And they were the only ones inside. “Charlie.”

Granger scoured the base of the flames around them. Looking for a sign of something that would tell him she’d gotten out of this alive, but it was too hard to determine with the wind aggravating the fire. No. She had to be alive. Nothing else mattered. “Charlie!”

Zeus called after her with a low howl.

No answer.

“We can do this, boy.” Tearing through the knotted denim Charlie had tied around his ribs to hold the raw cactus against his wound, Granger secured the denim over his mouth and nose and tied another knot at the back of his head. A single layer wouldn’t do much, but it was better than nothing, as the oxygen decreased this close to the ground.

Granger searched his holster. Empty. The men who’d attacked them with the flare gun must’ve taken his firearm. Damn it. They were going to pay for that. If they ever got out of this alive. He searched for something—anything—that could be used as a weapon. Every second he wasted wondering if Charlie was alive was another second he was stealing from himself and Zeus. If he didn’t get out of here, there wasn’t anything he could do to keep her out of the wrong hands. He’d already failed her once. He wasn’t going to lose her again.

Another gust of wind drove the fire into the protective circle around them.

Whatever he was going to do, he had to do it now.

“Where is she, Zeus?” Granger ripped the denim off his face and positioned it under the K9’s nose. The dog buried his dry nose in the fabric as his tail went wild. He had the scent. A low gruff said Zeus knew exactly where Charlie had gone. Or where she’d been taken. The bull terrier lunged across the circle, kept inside by a wall of fire. “Good boy.”

Granger kicked a four-inch dead pine branch free of its trunk. It wasn’t much, but it could get the job done as long as he used it well. Closing the distance between him and the spot Zeus had alerted to, he faced off with the flames. He pushed the K9 behind him in case a rogue flame lashed out. Zeus was the only one who could find Charlie. Granger was going to do whatever it took to make that happen. Firemen trained for moments like this in full gear and armed with containers of oxygen. He didn’t even have gloves. Still, this had to work. “This is going to hurt, but we’ve got no other choice.”

He hauled the makeshift weapon overhead. Then slammed it down on the tree slowly burning to ashes. The branch he hit fell to the ground, taking the flames consuming it with it. He did it again, then again, breaking the tree to pieces. Embers lit up with each strike and attached to his skin and clothing, but he couldn’t stop. He was almost through. He just needed another foot to get through the wall of heat.

A whisper of warning sizzled up his spine.

Granger turned just in time to watch as the ground he’d once stood on caught fire. Grabbing for Zeus, he pulled the K9 through the too-small opening he’d made by taking down one of the burning trees.

Just as the circle closed.

The dog was shaking in his arms, and Granger had no assurances he’d done anything to extend their lives. Because the fight wasn’t over. They’d made it out of a small section of woods, but this entire place was on fire. Granger set his forehead against the dog’s shoulder. “Take me to Charlie, Zeus, and let’s get the hell out of here.”

The bull terrier locked onto the same direction he’d indicated a few minutes ago and bolted ahead as far as the next obstacle in their way. A headache pulsed at the back of Granger’s head with every swing of the branch to clear their path. Pain radiated up his arms. Dehydration was setting in. Not to mention the blow to the head he’d taken earlier. But he couldn’t stop. Not yet. Not until they located Charlie.

Granger pushed through pain and exhaustion, and memories of that night at the Alamo pipeline refused to let go. He’d tried to get to Charlie then too. Studying every body the coroner had bagged before he’d gotten onto the scene. Searching for some clue that his grief was lying to him. The fires had raged much like this one with the combination of pure oil and explosives. Even from beyond the perimeter the fire department had set, it’d been so hot; he could still feel the warmth on his face.

She’d lost faith in him. He knew that now. Despite everything they’d been through and the intel she’d stolen from inside Acker’s Army, Charlie had felt like she’d had no other choice than to run. Not just from her father. From him. He’d put her in an impossible situation as a confidential informant: against the family who protected and raised her. And he hadn’t been there for her.

Granger wouldn’t make that mistake again. Pooling a decade’s worth of loss and shame into his next swing, he took down the tree in front of him. All her life, Charlie had been used—by her father, by Homeland Security, by him. Considered nothing but a tool rather than the strong, charismatic woman she was. Something to be discarded when she outlived her use. But she deserved to have someone in her life that fought for her. Just once. And he wanted to be that someone. “I’m coming for you, Charlie. No matter what it costs me.”

Zeus charged through an opening ahead, out of sight.

“Damn it, dog. Wait for me!” Granger struggled to keep up.

A yip cut through the pound of his heart beating between his ears. Granger went on alert as he shoved through a barrier of trees the fire hadn’t burned through. Smoke blunted his vision, and he tightened his grip on the branch. “Zeus?”

The K9 didn’t respond.

He whistled in a tone only he and Zeus understood. And waited.

There wasn’t a single time in Zeus’s training that dog hadn’t answered his call to heel. The glow of fire intensified behind him but barely cut through the haze of smoke ahead. Granger took a careful step—slow, calculated—as he relied on his senses.

Too late.

A glint of metal caught his attention.

Just before the blade of an axe sliced in front of his face.

Granger countered by throwing his weight to one side. Saving himself from losing a limb.

A growl escaped his attacker as the oversized frame of Henry Acker spun toward him. Something feral and dangerous bled from the man’s eyes. The patriarch had lost all sense of age as he rushed Granger, axe at the ready.

Granger countered the onslaught. His back hit the tree behind him.

Charlie’s father embedded the blade of the weapon into the bark of the tree beside Granger’s head, then clamped a strong hand around Granger’s throat. “I told you to leave, Morais. I warned you two to leave when you had the chance. So where is she? Where is Charlie?”

Latching onto the old man’s wrist, Granger could’ve sworn his feet were coming off the ground. Given his size, weight and combat experience, it shouldn’t have been possible. But this wasn’t the same man who’d warned Charlie to leave town. This was the general of the most dangerous army in the country: one that’d taken its time shoring up its resources and didn’t answer to the US government. The man was running on pure adrenaline. Granger struggled to breathe around the grip on his throat. Two more of Acker’s soldiers left the safety of the trees, weapons aimed at Granger. “Shouldn’t you…be asking your men who attacked…us?”

Henry Acker pressed his weight into the palm against Granger’s throat with far more strength than should’ve been possible. “I never issued an attack order. My men are fighting to put out this fire.”

Granger didn’t have time for this. He slammed the base of his palm into Acker’s inner elbow. The old man might’ve studied combat techniques, but there was no way in hell that experience matched Granger’s government or private contractor training.

Acker’s arm folded. Granger twisted his wrist one-hundred-and-eighty degrees and locked out the man’s elbow, forcing Acker to his knees. All in the span of three seconds. The homegrown military general kept his scream to himself. Impressive. “I have a bullet graze on my ribs that says different, Acker.”

Both of Acker’s Army soldiers moved in to protect their leader.

Granger turned Acker to face them, using the old man as a shield in case this went south. “You shoot, and you’ll only be killing him. Understand? Now where the hell is my dog?”

“You won’t get away with this, Morais. She was safe, and you dragged her back. For what? To get to me? Something happens to her, I’ll kill you,” Henry Acker said. “I give you my word.”

“You knew she was alive,” Granger said. “How?”

Two gunshots echoed through trees over the roar on encroaching flames.

Granger loosened his hold on Henry Acker. “Charlie.”