Jenna Kernan - Shadow Wolf

“They’re people. Not Mexicans. Not illegals. People. Women, children, desperately poor who have it so bad back there—” she gestured south “—that they’ll take their lives in their hands to cross this. That’s who I am helping.”

“And drug smugglers and the cartel.”

“They have trucks, planes and ATVs.”

Kino pointed at the bodies just past her line of sight. “Not those four. They stopped here, for water. A natural meeting place.”

She stared him down. “And a place for hunters to overtake their prey. Always has been. Isn’t that right?”

Kino glanced down the road to where it disappeared into the scrub and cactus. Where was his brother and the damned truck?

The buzz of insects dragged his attention back to the bodies. The flies had already found them. Buzzards would be next. He had to call it in.

He lifted his radio and relayed to the captain the important details, including their location. These bodies meant that border patrol would have to be called because they were the ones with the body bags and the refrigerated truck to transport them. His captain was thirty minutes out.

“What are you going to do with me?” she asked.

“I’m detaining you for questioning.”

Kino turned to Lea and offered his hand. She took it and slid off the seat, bringing with her a shower of broken glass. Her grip was strong, as if he were all that kept her anchored. He walked her to the rear of the pickup, watching her as she scanned the ground, getting a closer look at the bodies.

“Holy smokes,” she whispered.

“Yeah. You’re a lucky woman. But you should think about carrying a gun. A rifle at least.”

She did not take even an instant to consider it but shook her head.

“A pistol, then. Not just for traffickers. There are rattlers out here. Big ones. And Gila monsters. Though you have to be pretty slow to be bitten by one of those.”

She shivered and folded her arms across her as if that could protect her from bullets. It wouldn’t.

“If I hadn’t stopped him, you’d have joined them. I can get you a rifle, help you pick one out. Teach you how to shoot, if you like.”

“No, thank you.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a pacifist.”

“You’re a what?”

“I don’t believe in violence of any sort. And I don’t believe in shooting at people for any reason.” She stared right at him as she spoke, her words an accusation.

The ungrateful thing, he thought. “So you would have just let him shoot you? Wouldn’t even fight back?”

“That’s right.”

Kino shook his head, still disbelieving. How could anyone just stand there and let someone kill them without making even the most basic attempt to save themselves?

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“Most folks don’t.”

She dusted away the shards of glass still clinging to the folds of her T-shirt. He retrieved a glittering piece from her hair. Then he lowered the truck gate and grasped her lightly around the waist before boosting her to a seat. His hands lingered on her until she glanced at where he held her. Then he pulled away, stepping back. What was wrong with him?

“The water,” she said, looking back at the barrels. “I have to fill them.” The clear plastic water tank that occupied the last third of her truck bed looked as though it held 200 gallons or more and she had additional barrels, a pump, hose and electric hose reel.

“Nice setup.”

She scrambled to her feet to retrieve the hose.

“Lea?”

She paused, yellow hose in hand.

“This is a crime scene. You can’t fill those tanks. Plus, I know from one of the tribal council leaders, Sam Mangan, that the Tohono O’odham requested that all stations on tribal land be removed.”

Her shoulders slumped but she released the hose and returned to him, sitting on the open gate.

“Why did they do that? Some of their tribe lives on the Mexico side.”

In answer he pointed toward the bodies. “The smugglers leave a mess.”

“They’re not all smugglers.”

“I know that. But they’re all uninvited.”

“Like the Spanish and the Americans?”

Just then Kino picked up the sound of an engine. A moment later he saw the rooster tail of dust. He dragged Lea unceremoniously off the gate and shoved her behind the side of the truck bed. Then he swung his rifle out in front of him and rested it on the running board, taking aim.

“Stay behind the tire,” he ordered.

“Is he coming back?”

Kino gazed through the scope at the approaching vehicle. Was that his brother Clay or the Viper?

Chapter Four

The SUV emerged from the maze of sage and cactus. Kino blew away a breath and straightened as he recognized the vehicle.

“That’s my big brother Clay,” said Kino.

Lea stood on wobbly legs and he gripped her elbow to keep her from losing her balance. He held her long enough for her to regain her equilibrium and for him to lose his. She was a witness, an aid worker and a pacifist. Any one of those should be enough to send him running in the opposite direction. But they weren’t. Not even close. His hand tingled at the point where his fingers circled her bare arm, sending an electric sizzle of heat through him. He told himself to let go and didn’t.

Their eyes met and held. She could be only his witness, nothing more. He knew that, because he wasn’t getting mixed up with someone who spent her spare time breaking the law and wandering the desert alone without even a rifle for protection.

“You all right?” he asked, his hand relaying the softness and smooth texture of her skin.

“No,” she said and reclaimed custody of her arm.

Was she coming to the realization that her efforts might be helping the drug smugglers? That the reason they were in this very spot was because of her water station? Or was she just now realizing how close she had come to oblivion?

“I’m taking you in to headquarters at Cardon. We need a statement.”

She stepped farther away and rubbed the place where he had touched her as if to remove all memory of the contact. He noted the flush in her cheeks. Was it the heat of the day or their contact that caused that bloom of color?

“You’re detaining me?”

“Until we have your statement. They’ll interview you at Cardon.”

“Who will?”

“Border patrol.”

“I hate those guys,” she muttered and then said to him, “I’ve got to radio Oasis.” She patted the back pockets of her jeans and came up empty. Her eyes widened. “Oh, no, I was talking to her when this happened.”

She rushed back to the cab and searched for the radio from where it had fallen behind the driver’s seat as Clay pulled up, covering them with a fresh wave of grit and dust.

Kino went to speak to Clay, leaving Lea to her radio and check-in.

Clay pulled up in front of her truck.

“Any sign of him?” asked Kino.

“I’m sure there is. Everything that moves leaves a sign. But he was gone by the time I found the access road. What do you want to do?”

What Kino wanted was another shot, to go back in time and have Lea arrive ten seconds later. He looked toward the woman, scrambling in her truck to retrieve her radio. She’d seen the shooter’s face. The Viper. She could identify him.

Clay followed the direction of Kino’s gaze. “She okay?”

“Shaken.”

Clay nodded. “Understandable. So, do we chase him or question her?”

The need to hunt warred with the need to protect this woman who seemed to have no self-preservation instinct of her own.

“Her,” he said.

“Okay, then. We can wait for BP and then go cut for sign.”

Clay’s and Kino’s radios came alive simultaneously as their captain called in.