Lone Rider (5 page)

Three pills.

She looked up, hoping for a sign, receiving none. Instead he shoved his hand even closer. Confused, she opened her mouth and took the small, bitter pills. She could have sworn he said he was giving her six pills. Had he practically shoved them down her throat so the others wouldn’t see there were only three?

As soon as she swallowed Duke moved up and replaced her gag. Just that quickly Duke pulled her away.

Dallas
watched her leave, careful to keep any emotion from showing on his face. He knew she felt betrayed. He’d purposely tried to cultivate her trust and now this. She had to be out of her mind with fear, imagining the worst.

What she didn’t know was how important it was for him to play along with the game. There were more lives at stake than just hers.

             
“I’m eager to hear your side of the story,” Bogen began when they were alone. “Duke says you found her on
Pitmann Highway
and Snake’s staking a claim on her. Seeing as you both know the rules, I’m curious why she’s even here.”

             
“She’s not local. She ran out of gas
,
and I stopped to help her. She was demonstrating her gratitude when Snake crawled along. I had planned to roll her, then give her a lift to Jeb’s, which would have been the end of the story. Except Snake had to horn in.”

             
Bogen shook his head. “That jackass.”

             
“He said he’d take her if I didn’t. By then she had 9-1-1 written all over her face. I knew I couldn’t let her go and risk the chance she’d call the sheriff.”

             
Swearing, Bogen moved back toward his desk, the chair groaning loudly as he settled his bulk. “That damn sheriff’s dying for a reason to come back out here. Where’s her car? And where the hell is Snake?”

             
“The car’s in
Lake
Summer
. Snake said he had business in
Jordan
.”

             
“Blast him!”  Bogen slammed his fist on the desk, the sound echoing in the room.

The silence swelled for a moment
,
then Bogen cleared his throat. “Under the circumstances, you did the right thing. We’ll ship her to
Canada
and let Sanchez handle it. I--”

             
“I’m keeping her, Bogen.”

Dallas
’ statement stretched between the men like a taut rope in a game of mental tug-of-war.

             
Bogen fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette
and lighter
. Inhaling sharply, he blew out a geyser of smoke. “I’ll be damned. I was beginning to wonder about you, Haynes. One of ‘em finally got under your skin.”

             
Dallas
snorted. “She has me intrigued. That’s all.”

             
“You’ve never shown much interest in the women here.”

“I don’t share.”

             
“So you’ll want her for yourself?”

             
“Completely.”

             
“That means you’re responsible
for her. She’s a piece of high-
class ass, which spells pure fucking trouble.”  Bogen leaned forward, propping his elbows on the desk. “We both know I owe you one. This would even the score.”

             
Dallas
nodded once.

             
“I’ll think about it,” Bogen said finally. “Grab a beer and let’s hear the news from Sanchez.”

             
Dallas
made his way through the dining room and into the kitchen, relieved that Bogen hadn’t flat out denied his request. He eyed the heavy padlock on the pantry door as he opened the refrigerator and grabbed two long necks.

The pantry served as a makeshift prison. She was in there he knew. Asleep, he hoped. The drug he’d given her would be kicking in right about now. If it didn’t knock her out, she’d be sleepy as hell. He would have liked to go to the door and offer reassurance. But he didn’t. Too damn risky.

             
Instead he slammed the icebox door and hurried out of the kitchen. He hated this part of the job. Taking care of business whether he wanted to or not. In a perfect world he would have preferred to take Tess back to his cabin, try to soothe her fears privately. Hell, in a perfect world they would have met under different circumstances. But his world was far from perfect.

             
After handing Bogen a beer,
Dallas
recounted the details of his meeting with Sanchez. Bogen and Sanchez were both hard-core criminals, but Sanchez called the shots, monitoring Bogen’s illicit activities in the
Pacific Northwest
. Sanchez, however, was not the top man. That man, the cartel’s leader, operated out of
South America
.

             
Bogen listened as
Dallas
repeated the message, the onl
y clue to his tension the white-
knuckled grip he kept on the beer bottle.

             
“So Sanchez knows we’ve got a leak, but he’s still not sure where?”  Bogen laughed bitterly. “We’ve known that for months. How the hell does he intend to fix it?”

             
Dallas
shrugged. “He didn’t say. He said he needed additional time to flush the pipes and that he’s holding off on future shipments until the problem is resolved.”

             
“That sonofabitch! How long does he think that will take?”

             
“A few weeks at the most. He wants you to l
ie
low until he contacts you again.”

             
Bogen leaned back from the desk, his face a mottled crimson. “So now he thinks he can tell me how to run my operation. Bastard! Did you tell him where to shove it?”

             
Dallas
shifted, hooking one leg over the arm of the couch. “I considered it, except I know you don’t like anyone putting words in your mouth. I figure if you’ve got a message for Sanchez, you’ll see that he gets it.”

And
Dallas
hoped he’d be the one sent to deliver it. If Sanchez were going into hiding
,
Bogen would be the one man who’d know where.
Dallas
knew Sanchez would hide at the cartel’s South American headquarters. Which was the last piece of the puzzle.

             
Draining his bottle, Bogen stood. “You’re right, as usual, Haynes. But the girl stays here until I talk with Snake.”

             
Dallas
took a pull of his own beer. Disappointment soured the taste. “Just do me a favor and keep Snake away from her. That bastard’s interfered in my life one time too many.”

             
Knowing there was nothing more he could say,
Dallas
strode out of the house and into the night.

*     *     *

Tess had no idea how much time passed since she’d been locked in the pantry. Earlier she’d heard someone in the kitchen. Muf
fled voices had floa
ted
in
from the living room, but she couldn’t distinguish the words. Then the house grew quiet. Eerily so.

The pills she’d been forced to swallow were making her drowsy and once again she wondered exactly what drug she’d been given. It was difficult to focus. She struggled against the mental fog, afraid that if she drifted off
,
she’d never wake up. Or wake up in a worse predicament.

And certain scenarios were indeed worse than ot
hers. The thought of being gang-
raped was abominable. Especially since she was a virgin. Such cruel irony to lose something brutally t
hat she’d been saving for a non
existent Mr. Right.

The idea of Snake and his cronies touching her made her want to vomit. Death almost seemed preferable. Almost...

Dallas
! If ever she needed to believe he might help her, it was now. He seemed her only hope of salvation
,
and the thought of not seeing him again was unbearable. She wouldn’t survive if left at Bogen’s mercy.

She shook off a wave of lethargy, fighting the effects of the drug, forcing herself to concentrate on her physical discomfort to stay awake. Her head throbbed where she’d slammed against the water heater when Duke shoved her inside the pantry. Her jaw hurt from the gag; it interfered with breathing, swallowing.

She shifted, trying to move her cramped arms to a more comfortable position. Drugged or not, she needed to be ready to bolt at the first opportunity, taking any avenue of escape.

A sound caught her ears and she strained to listen, pulse drumming. The sound repeated itself. It took a moment before she realized someone was coming in a door, probably the back door. When the kitchen light snapped on, thin lines of light shone through the louvered pantry door.

             
She drew her legs closer. Who was it? Were they coming for her? Oh God, what did she do now?

             
Heart hammering, she listened as new sounds, heavy footsteps on creaking boards
,
caught her ear. Someone approached the pantry.

             
“Don’t touch that door.”  She recognized Bogen’s voice.

             
“She’s in there.”  The sound of Snake’s voice made her stomach contract painfully.

Fighting vertigo, Tess managed to ease noiselessly to her knees and scoot closer to the door. Though the louvered door had been reinforced on the inside with steel braces, a large crack ran close to the bottom
,
where a slat was missing. Bending low, she peered out. Snake and Bogen
had moved to
the opposite side of the kitchen
and were
standing nose to nose.

“The girl,” Snake said. “What are you going to do with her?”

“I’m giving her to Haynes. For now at least.”

Relief poured through Tess. Bogen would return her to
Dallas
!

             
“That’s not fair. I want a piece of her.”

“Not fair? I tell you what’s not fair,” Bogen ground out. “Sanchez has lost his nerve. He doesn’t want any shipments until the rumors of a leak are gone. You got any idea what that will cost?”

“Screw Sanchez. We did fine without him
,
”
Snake said.

“No, we didn’t. We’re making ten times the money and with a lot less bullshit.”

“If I fix the problem with Sanchez, will you give me the girl?”

Tess shook her head at Snake’s words, partly in denial, partly to clear it. She had no idea who Sanchez was or what they were discussing. She did know she didn’t want to go anywhere with Snake.

Bogen snorted. “You? How?”

“That leak we talked about earlier. I’m plugging it tonight.”

“What are you talking about?”

             
“Matt Michaels. I confronted the bastard in town. He put up a pretty good fight, but I nailed him. Now he’s gonna pay.”

             
“Christ! What have you done now? Where is he?”

             
Snake hiked his thumb over his shoulder. “Out by my bike.”

“You stupid idiot! I ought to--”  Bogen exploded. “Why the hell didn’t you check with me first?”

             
“You weren’t here. And I heard Michaels had an appointment with the sheriff in the morning. I knew we couldn’t let that happen.”

             
“Do you know why he had an appointment?”

             
Snake didn’t answer.

             
“Imbecile!”  Bogen snapped. “There could have been a hundred rea
sons for them to meet. Michaels
does repairs on the sheriff department’s motorcycles.”

             
“He’s also a prime suspect for ratting on us
,
and you know it,” Snake shot back. “We never should have let him past the front gate.”

             
“There are several people considered prime suspects. What are you going to do? Kill them all? The sheriff would have the goddamned FBI swarming this place. He’s just looking for an excuse to harass us.”

             
Bogen paced away. The refrigerator door opened and a bottle cap clinked as it hit the floor.

             
“He’s the one,” Snake insisted. “I know he’s guilty.”

             
“Whether he is or isn’t doesn’t really matter now, does it? Bring him in.”