a fast-running stream. The sun that hit them full in the face did not touch the opposite bank. Afternoon then or morning. He tried to make sense of his surroundings.
It all came back to him, up to and including the air bag punching him like a prizefighter.
“Where are we?”
“About ten miles outside Pinyon Forks,” she whispered. Then Amber cocked her head. Now he heard the voices.
“Down here,” said a male voice. The way he spoke made Carter think he was Anglo, Southern.
Who? he mouthed. She shrugged. Then she moved up close to his ear and whispered.
“I called your brother. He’s coming. But the Subaru was leaking gas, and he told me to get you out.”
And she had. How the devil had this little woman moved him?
Her lips brushed his ear as she spoke again. “I have their guns. Those guys. But someone else is here now.”
“Jack?” he whispered.
“I don’t think so.”
From the top of the bank, seemingly right above them, came the voice again.
“Where is she?”
That one sounded Anglo, he thought.
Next came another voice, deeper, with a speaking pattern that lacked the Texas twang.
“They got away.”
“They can’t have gone far,” came the reply.
Amber flattened into the warm earth beside him, covering her mouth with one hand and retrieving a gun from the waistband of her slacks. She looked like she knew what she was doing. She rolled to her side and then reached behind and beneath her blazer, laying a second gun on his chest. He took it, and their eyes met. He saw no fear now. Only a cold determination and willingness to do what was necessary. She would have made a good soldier. His gut twisted, so damn glad she had not been there with him in the Sandbox.
“They’re right on our tails,” said the first voice. “We have maybe another two minutes.”
“But she’s right here!” said his companion.
Amber’s eyes widened. She was the only “she” out here.
“No time,” repeated the first man. “Get my brother. We’ll have to come back for her.
“Hurry up,” said the first man.
A car door opened, the metal groaning a protest.
The same voice again. “Let’s go.”
Carter looked at Amber. Her hand was pressed to her mouth again as if to keep from screaming. Her eyes were wide. Seconds ticked by, and then two more doors slammed and tires patched out on the gravel that lined the shoulder of the road.
Amber slid her hand away from her mouth. “Are they gone?”
Carter nodded. “I think so.”
“Should I check?” she asked.
He shook his head. There was no reason for her to see this. He could protect her from that image, the kind that stuck in your mind and flashed back like a thunderstorm.
They said they had two minutes.
“We wait,” said Carter.
Insects buzzed in the grass above them, and the wind brushed through the long needles of the ponderosa pines on the opposite bank. Amber returned her gun to her waistband and then gripped his arm with two of hers as she huddled close.
“How did you get me out?” he asked.
“You walked, mostly.”
“Mostly?”
There was a whooshing sound, as if from a strong gust of wind. Black smoke rose up behind them, billowing in a dark column in the bright blue sky.
“Fire,” said Carter.
Had the men retrieved Muir and Leopold before setting the Subaru ablaze?
Tires crunched on sand. Amber’s grip tightened, and she ducked her head.
“They’re back,” she whispered, her voice strained.
“Carter? Amber?”
He knew that voice. It was Jack.
“Here!” he yelled. When he stood, the dizziness came with him, clawing at him and making the ground heave. Amber was there beside him, steadying him, holding him so he didn’t fall.
“Slow,” she said. “Go slow.”
She could have run to his brother. But she didn’t. She helped him walk, leaning into him as she wrapped an arm about his middle and gripped his opposite arm, now draped over her narrow shoulders. Then he scrambled up the steep bank on his hands and knees toward the road topping the rise and saw the SUV consumed in flames.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
