Aimée Thurlo - Restless Wind

Glint looked around the room like a trapped man, then finally focused on Agent Harris. Wild-eyed, he signaled for some paper. “I’m not talking,” he said, directing his words at the flowers.

Won’t matter. You’re a liability, Dana wrote.

Ranger, who’d looked in the basket, moved to pick it up, but Harris held up his hand, warning him away.

Agent Harris nodded to Dana, and she handed Glint her notepad and pen.

Do you know Ignacio Trujillo? Harris wrote.

Just Ernesto, and he’s dead, came Glint’s reply.

Harris brought out three photos, one being of Ignacio Trujillo, but Glint shook his head at each photo.

Who were your contacts? Harris wrote.

Marc Finch and a guy named Del. Don’t know his last name, the injured prisoner wrote back.

Harris took the pad. Describe them.

Take the flowers out of here first, Glint wrote back, looking nervously at the flowers.

I’ll put them in another room, Dana wrote. Your boss won’t catch on right away.

Once Ranger had made a show of taking the bouquet out of the room, Glint began to give them detailed descriptions.

AFTERWARD, they met outside in the hall. After walking some distance away from Glint’s door, Harris looked at Dana through narrowed eyes.

“What the heck was that all about?” he asked. “I looked right into the middle of that flower arrangement, but didn’t see a thing. Where was the bug?”

“Actually, I think it was somebody’s button. I just decided to play a bluff,” she said. “You learn to do that in a classroom when you’re tracking down which student hid the handle to the pencil sharpener.”

“Inspired tactic, Ms. Seles,” Harris said. “Now stay out of my case. Law enforcement officers will take it from here. Good night.” Harris strode back to Glint’s room.

WITH HARRIS GONE, Ranger grabbed Dana’s hand, and led her back outside in a hurry. “I need to make a phone call. Let’s see if I can get some information on Marc Finch and Del,” he said, punching out a number.

Ranger reported in to his brother quickly. “Do we have any information on these guys? More specifically, did Ernesto Trujillo ever use them?” There was a long pause at the other end.

“Wind, you still there?” came Hunter’s voice two minutes later.

“Yeah.”

“The two guys weren’t connected to Ernesto, according to our former inside man. We know Ignacio must be hiring new talent. Finch is a low-rent hood, according to my best source, but he doesn’t have an arrest record beyond high school. Nothing on anyone named Del. If I had a last name…”

“Can you track down a photo of Marc Finch for me?”

“Might take awhile. We’ll put feelers out, but our manpower is limited. Only those currently known to Hastiin Dííl are in play.”

Feeling frustrated, Ranger hung up and hurried back to the truck with her. “Let’s put some distance between us and this hospital. I don’t want a second team sneaking up on us.”

“Every time we get close to Ignacio, he slithers out of our grasp. All we get is hired muscle.”

“Ignacio is smart, and deadly. But we’ll get him,” Ranger said.

“How? By going after this Finch guy?”

“We don’t have squat on anyone named Del, so that makes Marc Finch our best lead,” he answered. “I want to check all the cheap motels in this area. Let’s see if they’ve got a guest using the name Finch, or something close to that.”

“These businesses aren’t just going to hand us their guest lists-we’re not the police, and we don’t have a warrant.”

“There’s a faster way. I’ve got a laptop beneath your seat that’s got all kinds of special software and hardware for satellite access. I can hack into the servers that control most reservation and ticketing venues. It’s a read-only connection, but that’s all we need. It’ll just take me a few minutes to get set up.” He pulled off the road then and taking the laptop, moved his seat back and began to work.

“Will you be able to retrieve the information before they catch on to you?” she asked.

“Probably, but there’s a certain amount of risk involved. It isn’t exactly legal,” he added, giving her a quirky grin.

“Neither is kidnapping and murder. Go for it,” she said.

He smiled. No wonder he was crazy about her. “You’re terrific.”

“I’m just tired of playing by the rules. For the first time in my life I’m willing to get a little reckless. Think you’re a bad influence?”

“I hope so,” he said with a grin, then grew serious. “But, for the record, I’m never reckless. I’m willing to take calculated risks. There’s a difference.”

She nodded thoughtfully, then said, “The biggest difference between us is that I’m willing to do what has to be done, but you love the danger.”

“Danger is all around us. Somebody has to meet it head-on so others can walk in beauty.”

She was beginning to understand him. Like Icarus, he soared high, letting the winds carry him dangerously close to the sun because everything in him demanded he try, even when the odds were against him. It was courage in its rawest and most dazzling form. She was more sure than ever that he was a member of the Brotherhood of Warriors.

Dana watched him work, questions racing through her head. At long last she spoke. “That’s some special software. How did you get it?”

“Friends,” he answered, his gaze never leaving the screen.

“These friends…are they part of the Brotherhood of Warriors?” she asked, then, to her horror, realized she’d spoken the question out loud. But it was too late to take it back now.

“What do you know about the brotherhood?” he asked, again not taking his eyes off the screen.

“Not much more than their name, and the fact that they stay in the shadows.”

“Then asking about it would be pointless, wouldn’t it?” he countered with a trace of a smile.

“Yeah.” There it was. That constant reminder that no matter how close they became, there would always be barriers between them.

“What’s bothering you-your secrets or mine? Nobody can know another person completely. In your heart, you already know all you need to.”

“Maybe so.” Loving a man like Ranger meant accepting that a part of him would always remain hidden…out of her reach. Yet the closeness her heart yearned for, the kind that would form a bond that could never be broken, would demand more from both of them.

“I got a hit,” he said suddenly. “One of the lodges near Stoner, Colorado, northeast of Dolores, recently rented a room to a guest named I. M. Finch.”

“I’ve been to that lodge a few times. It’s only an hour’s drive from here. So what now?”

“I know the lady who works the night desk…well, her sister. Let me call and see if the description is a match.”

Ranger dialed and after exchanging some pleasantries got the information. “It’s a match to the description we got from Xander Glint,” he told Dana. “Definitely worth the drive.”

“When do you plan to tell Agent Harris?” she asked, then reading his expression added, “You are planning on telling him, right?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to take a chance on losing this guy. Finch is the closest lead we’ve had to Trujillo so far, and the only reason we have it is because I cut corners. The FBI plays by the rules and that ties their hands. The first question Harris will ask me is how I got this information. If that happens, things will get complicated and it could end up costing us a very important lead. Will you trust me and let me handle this my way?”

In her heart, she longed to say yes, to agree totally and, for once, let go of all sense of responsibility. But she’d always followed her highest sense of justice, and this was no time to turn away from that. “How about a compromise, one that’ll keep us from obstructing the law?” she said at last. “You can wait awhile on Agent Harris, but sometime before we get there, one of us will make the call.”