Thanksgiving Protector
They hurried past abandoned buildings and others painted with colorful murals depicting scenes from the Bible and famous Mexicans.
A man jumped out in front of them, his eyes wide and round.
Austin stepped between the man and Kylie, squaring his shoulders and offering his move-it-along look, furled eyebrows, chest out, hand hovering over his weapon.
The man hung his head and stumbled away into the darkness.
More people appeared in doorways as they drew near to a paved street. Because they were law enforcement, they were viewed with suspicion in a neighborhood so close to the border. It made them vulnerable to attack. Them...and the precious cargo in Kylie’s arms.
Guilt gripped his chest. He didn’t like the idea of putting the baby in so much danger. They would have been okay if they could’ve jumped in the car and left the neighborhood quickly.
The dirt road turned into pavement again. The orange glow of lights increased as did the traffic whizzing by on the streets.
Kylie’s gaze darted everywhere looking for threats as she held the baby close to her chest.
Austin put his phone away. “Brent, one of the other rangers, will meet us on South Mesa Street,” Austin said. “We only have to walk a few more blocks.”
“Right now that feels like a million miles.” Though she spoke in an even tone, Austin picked up on the terror threaded through her words.
He put his hand on her elbow. “Just keep moving.”
He appreciated that Kylie seemed to have nerves of steel even if she might be afraid on the inside. He felt it too. It was unsettling thinking about the bad things that might happen to the baby and to them.
“It’s not that much farther,” he said, hoping to sound reassuring.
A car squealed its brakes. Both of them instinctively jumped a little closer to the brick building—not that it would provide any protection. There was no safe zone here. People could come at them from the street. Men could bring a car up to the curb and snatch them. Someone could shoot them from a distant building.
The shots back at the apartment building bothered him most of all. He was sure they’d been targeted deliberately, but why? Was it just because they were law enforcement?
Under normal circumstances, this would have been exciting, but not with the baby to think about. Why had Kylie agreed to such a crazy thing? Raising a kid by herself. He had to admire the size of her heart, but still. She was a border patrol agent, which meant long crazy hours. Had she really thought this thing through?
He could see the lights of a busy thoroughfare up ahead. “Brent should be waiting there for us. Just up ahead.”
He hoped his words helped calm Kylie. If she was tense, Mercedes might pick up on it and get upset. Or were babies not that perceptive? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t know anything about babies or families.
Austin had never known his biological father, and his childhood hadn’t offered many decent examples. He’d been four when his older sister died in a car accident. His mother, overwhelmed with guilt because she’d been driving, developed a drinking problem that caused them to move often. Unless he counted the string of violent boyfriends his mother attached herself to—the best of which ignored him, and the worst of which were actively cruel to him—he had no frame of reference for what it meant to be a dad or a husband.
Gunshots sounded behind them. More squealing tires. More racing cars. He heard a car with a loud motor zoom up behind them. The owner revved the engine.
Austin wrapped an arm around Kylie and the baby and pulled them toward the shadows of the building.
Men got out of the car and paced the street. Some were shirtless, revealing gang tattoos and the guns shoved into their waistbands. Austin didn’t bother looking around to see if there was anyone he could appeal to for help.
If any violence erupted in this neighborhood, the people around here would just look the other way.
Mercedes cried. Kylie shushed her and bounced a little.
One of the men stepped toward Kylie and Austin, fixating on the baby.
“Ah, gringo, you have a niña bonita with you.” He tilted his head as his voice filled with menace. “Out here in the cold night.”
“We don’t want any trouble.” But despite his words, Austin was looking for an opening to land a good punch. So much of fighting was about psychology—especially with a group like this. If Austin seemed weak, they’d fall on him like vultures. But if he seemed strong, he and Kylie might be all right. Sizing up his opponent, Austin decided he could handle this guy.
The man looked down his nose at them and narrowed his eyes in a threatening way.
Austin landed a single blow to the man’s stomach that doubled him over. The other men took several steps back, raising their hands in a surrender motion as Austin directed Kylie and the baby back toward the edge of the sidewalk.
“Well, that takes care of that.” A note of amusement danced through Kylie’s words as they hurried along.
“Sometimes quick and clean is best. We don’t have time to play diplomat with thugs. We need to get this kid to a safe place.”
Kylie stopped and looked Austin directly in the eyes. “Yes, we do.”
Maybe it was just the light, but he thought he saw admiration, maybe even affection, in her eyes. He kept walking. Yeah, it was probably just the way the light was hitting her face. Someone like Kylie wouldn’t be interested in someone like him. She probably had Thanksgiving with twenty relatives around and lots of laughter. He spent his holidays at the retirement home with the former cop who had been his saving grace. Robert Wilson had been his parole officer when he was fourteen and in trouble. Old Bob had seen a potential in Austin that he hadn’t seen in himself. Since his mother’s death, Old Bob was the closest thing to family Austin had.
He shook his head. Why was he even entertaining thoughts about Kylie?
Kylie looked up at him. “Why are you shaking your head?”
“No reason.” His cheeks flushed with heat.
“Talking to yourself because it’s the only time you can have an intelligent conversation?”
He laughed. “Yes, that must be it.”
He had no idea she had such a great sense of humor. Chalk it up to the tense situation. Just one of those things you learn by helping someone rescue a baby out of a bad neighborhood.
Kylie bounced the baby. She pressed her lips together as she looked up ahead. “Where is he? Where is Brent?”
Austin scanned the street. “He’ll get here as fast as he can.”
Another car with music pounding eased past them. The back window rolled down and one of the gang members sneered at them, forming his finger into a gun and pointing it at him. The car sped up as the gang member rolled up the tinted window.
Austin’s chest squeezed tight as though it were in a vise. They could not stand around waiting for long.
Up ahead he saw one of the ranger vehicles park along the curb. Brent McCord got out and leaned against it, offering them a quick nod of recognition. They were safe.
Austin glanced over beside him to the auburn-haired woman and her blanketed bundle. Tension knotted at the back of his neck. Maybe the shots at the apartment building had not been personal and had been aimed at them only because of their uniforms. He hoped that was the case. The other possibility was far too worrying.
Garcia’s contacts were abundant on both the American and Mexican side of the border. If Garcia wanted them dead, he would see to it they were taken out.
FOUR
Kylie could feel the fatigue settle into her muscles as she and Austin rode horses through a remote part of the desert. The last twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind of getting Mercedes settled in and starting the legal process for adoption. Kylie’s neighbor, an older woman named Gloria Espina who she’d known for years, agreed to watch the baby for now. Kylie had put in a request to be moved to more monitoring work once the Garcia mission was complete. The risk to her well-being in that position would be much lower than going out on patrol.
Austin put the binoculars up to his eyes. “What have we here?”
In the fading light, she could see the glint of metal in the distance, a vehicle of some sort.
Austin had requested to work with her again. Two teams consisting of a ranger and border agent had gone out to search the desert for where Garcia might have crossed over. Colt Blackthorn and Greg Gunn had taken a section of land to the east.
She was glad she’d been paired with Austin. They were both invested in finding Garcia. They would need to see this case to the end...together. And yet she hadn’t told him about her request to be put on more monitoring work after the case closed. There hadn’t been much conversation between them at all. It hurt her feelings that they’d been on duty for a couple of hours and Austin hadn’t asked anything about Mercedes. She was struggling with her own doubts. His support would be nice.
She pulled out her binoculars. “No sign of activity.” This could be the van Garcia had used to get across.
“All the same, let’s move in slow.” Austin slipped off his horse.
The rougher terrain and the need to be quiet made horses the better option in this remote part of desert. Growing up a ranch kid had served her well in that before she’d even trained as an agent, she knew how to ride and shoot.
Mexican surveillance cameras had photographed the van with a passenger who looked like Garcia. Now it was up to them to figure out if they were on the right trail. The van was generic in appearance, favored by the cartels for that reason.
Kylie caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She whirled around but saw nothing.
“Something wrong?”
In the desert twilight, she could have just been seeing things. Still, she hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that they were being watched.
Trust your instincts.
That’s what her training told her.
She dismounted. “I’m not sure.”
“I sense it too,” said Austin. “It looks quiet. But something feels like it could explode in our faces.”
They moved in slowly, stopping to watch the area around the van and in the hills that surrounded them.
Both of them dropped to the ground, scanning the landscape with vigilance. The driver’s side door was flung open. Someone had made a speedy retreat.
After several minutes of seeing no movement or potential threats, they closed in.
Austin reached for the handle on the back door of the van. Kylie held her breath. It wasn’t unusual for coyotes, men who transported Mexicans across the border for a fee, to leave people to die if they feared getting caught.
The door wasn’t locked. That was a good sign.
Kylie pulled her gun while Austin flung the door open.
She let out her breath, whispering a prayer of gratitude when there were no dead bodies, no rotting stench.
Austin crawled inside, shining his light all over. “Let’s see if we can find anything that indicates this is the van Garcia came over in.”
Vans like this were used all the time by cartels for a variety of reasons. It would be a waste of manpower for Forensics to go over it if it couldn’t be clearly and directly linked to a crime, preferably directly to Garcia. Kylie crawled in as well, lifting seat cushions and checking the glove compartment. Chances were the van was stolen, so tracking it back to the owner might be a dead end.
Again she thought she spotted a flash of light out of the corner of her eye, but when she stared through the windshield, she saw only the bushes and hills behind them. Her heart beat a little faster. She talked to calm her nerves. “So have there been any more sightings of Garcia’s sister, the one he wants dead?”
Austin pulled a panel out of the van and shone his light inside it. “Nothing new. We know Adriana got across the border. We know she’s hiding from her brother. All of that we know because of Carmen.” Austin’s voice faltered at the mention of the female ranger’s name.
Carmen Alvarez was deeply embedded in the Garcia drug cartel. After relaying the message about the date—but not the location—of Garcia’s crossing, Carmen had not been in communication with the team. Kylie knew the other rangers were worried about their fellow officer. It had been Valentina who had provided them with the place of Garcia’s crossing. Her one last courageous act.
“I’ve got drug residue in here.” Austin rubbed his fingers together. “That’s enough to take it in. Even if it doesn’t link back to Garcia, it could open something up on a different case.”
Austin jumped out of the van.
Kylie climbed out as well, remembering something she’d noticed in one of the surveillance photos. She moved toward the back bumper of the van. “The paint is scraped off here just like in the photo.”
In the dusk of evening, Austin shone his flashlight on where Kylie pointed. “Good work. I’d say this was the van Garcia used.” He clicked off his light and turned a half circle. “Let’s see if we can figure out where these guys went.”
Kylie located the tracks leading away from the van. “Three men, steady and quick in their steps. Headed northeast.” She increased her pace, still shining the light on the ground. “I wonder when they got picked up. If it was Garcia, I can’t see him suffering the indignity of walking too far.” She hurried toward the brush where some of the grass had been flattened. “Looks like they sat down to wait about here.”
She loved this part of the job, reading the tracks. At the academy, they called it cutting sign, a skill border patrol picked up from Native American tribes.
Lights flashed off to the side, unmistakable this time. Gunfire cut through the night. Kylie’s eardrums hurt from the blast coming so close to her. Austin’s arms went around her, leading her away from the brush and the direction the shot had come from.
Both of them dove to the ground and crawled commando-style toward the horses. Another shot whizzed over them close to Kylie.
Kylie’s heart raged against her rib cage. She could see the silhouette of the horses up ahead. More gunfire tore up the ground in front of her. She gasped but kept moving.
They were close enough to hear the metal bridle parts clinking as the horses, agitated by the shots, jerked their heads up and down. Kylie and Austin rose to their feet and sprinted the remaining distance.
Both of them mounted up and spurred the horses into a gallop. Off to the side, she saw the lights from someone following them on an ATV.
Another rifle shot zinged through the air. Kylie’s horse reared up. She held on, tightening the reins. More gunfire. The horse reared again and overbalanced, falling to the ground. Kylie’s leg was pinned under the weight of the animal.
The roar of the approaching ATV assaulted her ears.
She fought to free herself as the horse struggled to get back up. The horse got to its feet and galloped away, uninjured but frightened by the gunfire.
Austin helped her to stand. She was on autopilot as she rose to her feet. Her leg hurt, but she didn’t think anything was broken. An image of Mercedes’s sweet face flashed through her head. She had to stay alive for that baby.
Austin had already mounted up again. He held out his hand. “Why is he only shooting at you?”
“I’m not sure.” She stuck her foot in the stirrup and swung on behind him wrapping her arms around his waist.
There was no time to radio in. This spot was far away from everything and everyone. Backup couldn’t get out here fast enough anyway. They were on their own with an assassin nipping at their heels.
* * *
As Kylie’s arms wrapped tight around his waist, Austin could hear the ATV gaining on them. The guy was using a rifle and clearly had some sniper skills, but he’d have to stop to touch off another round. Aiming a rifle required two free hands.
Plus, shooting a moving target from another moving target would be a challenge even for a highly trained sniper.
If the guy was willing to hunt them down like this, the assault wasn’t just about scaring them away from the van.
In the fading light, Austin scanned the terrain up ahead. The horse could go places where an ATV would struggle. He headed toward the foothills where the ground would be rocky. The nimble horse skirted through the boulders.
Kylie rested her head against his shoulder. Judging from how tightly she held on, she was still afraid. Like the good agent she was, she held it together. The sound of the ATV dimmed as he made his way into deeper, thicker brush.
He could no longer hear the ATV, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t tracking them on foot. The man had either been lying in wait by the van or had followed them out, waiting for the time when they were most vulnerable and farthest away from backup for a targeted killing. All the more reason to think the van was most likely used by Garcia.
The horse slowed as anything resembling a trail disappeared. The thick brush hid them well but also made it hard to make progress.
Austin dismounted and pulled the horse along. His ears tuned in to every sound.
“I should get down too,” Kylie said. “The tall brush provides some cover.”
Austin nodded. It bothered him that the shooter had only fired at Kylie as though this was personal. Carmen had told the team that Garcia had vowed to kill any ranger or agent who got in his way. Why hadn’t this sniper taken shots at him, too?
Something rustled in the brush behind them. Kylie pressed close to him. The noise died away. Could be a nocturnal animal.
They worked their way through the brush and out into the open desert before radioing for help. When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw intermittent lights moving toward them from where they had just escaped. They were still being pursued.
“We better mount up. Help will meet us at the road.”
Kylie swung on again. The warmth of her touch permeated his shirt where she wrapped her arms around him.
“Watch behind us and let me know if he’s getting too close. We’ll find a hiding place and ambush him.” He spurred the horse into a gallop. They rode hard until the horse tired, and he slowed into a canter.
After some time had passed, Kylie spoke over his shoulder. “I don’t see lights anymore. He must have given up.”
A ranger with a horse trailer came to pick them up just as morning light warmed the desert.
They waited at the ranch where the ranger horses were kept for their ride into town. Though it was the ranch hand’s job, Kylie insisted on cooling down the mount that had served them so well.
He watched her brush the animal as the morning sun caught the coppery highlights in her auburn hair. She spoke soothingly to the horse.
“Any news on the other horse?” She stroked the mane. Her voice was tinged with sadness.
“They’ll send someone else to look for him. He was in good enough shape to run off. I don’t think he was hit, just frightened. They should find him.”
Kylie led the horse out to the corral. She was a natural with them. He was a city boy who had grown up on a skateboard. Riding was a skill he had had to learn for the job. She slapped the animal’s back flank and he galloped away.
She came to stand beside Austin where he rested one foot on the lower rung of the wooden corral.
Another long night over for both of them. Their work felt a lot like two steps forward and one step back. He was glad to make those steps with someone as good at her job as Kylie. At least they’d found the van.
A dust cloud up the road told him their ride had arrived.
Colt Blackthorn rolled down the window and rested his elbow on it. “You two again. We have to stop meeting like this.” The breeze ruffled his dark hair. “Heard you guys did better than Greg and I. Good job finding the van.”
Kylie climbed into the front seat and Austin got in the back. As they drove away, Kylie glanced out the back window. “Hey look, it looks like the other horse came in on his own.”
Austin checked his side-view mirror to see a ranch hand leading their runaway horse to the corral.
“They always know their way back to where the food is,” Kylie said.
They drove for several miles on a dirt road.
“How’s that new baby of yours?” Colt offered Kylie a warm smile.
The ride into town consisted of Kylie talking about every nuance of her hours with Mercedes. Her voice took on a light lilting quality.
Austin felt like he was a stranger in a foreign land. He didn’t understand a mother’s joy in talking about her child. He supposed his mother had loved him before the accident and before the drinking, but those memories were covered over by the years that followed.
He leaned forward in the seat. “Drop Kylie off first. I want to make sure she gets home safe and sound to that little girl.” His voice sounded a little stiff. As happy as he was for Kylie, he just wasn’t sure how she was going to be able to do her job and be a mom.
Kylie’s apartment complex was in a middle-class neighborhood next to a park. Kylie phoned ahead telling her babysitter that she was on her way.
Kylie nearly jumped out of the car as Colt pulled up to the curb.
Austin got out and climbed into the front seat. He peered in the rearview mirror at the scene unfolding behind him. The sitter, an older woman, had come outside pushing a baby stroller with Mercedes in it. He had to admit, the sight of that sweet baby face and round brown eyes had tugged at his heart the first time he’d seen Mercedes.
As Colt gained speed, something else in the mirror caught Austin’s eye. He craned his head. There it was, the glint of a rifle on top of the apartment building. A sniper with his sights set on Kylie.
* * *
When she was a few feet from Kylie, Mrs. Espina leaned over to unbuckle Mercedes from her stroller.
Kylie’s heart leaped when Mercedes kicked her legs with glee.
“That’s my little girl. You make coming home that much sweeter.” The bright eyes tugged at Kylie’s heart as her voice grew sadder. “I wish your mom was here. I know you must miss her even if you don’t totally understand what happened.”
The sound of squealing tires caught her attention.
She looked over to see Austin and Colt turning around in the road at a high speed. Something was wrong. Her heart seized up as she hit the ground and crawled toward Mercedes to protect her.
She heard the rifle shots nanoseconds before she covered Mercedes with her body.
She couldn’t put Gloria at risk. “Mrs. Espina, run, get to your apartment.” The older woman backed up and then hurried away. No shots were fired at her.
Kylie gathered the baby in her arms.
Austin was beside her almost instantly, lifting her while she held the baby, directing her toward the cover of the building.
She caught a flash of Colt running toward the neighboring building, probably to apprehend the shooter.
“Where do you live?” Austin’s voice was in her ear.
The question clarified her fuzzy thinking, and she answered as she kept running. Mercedes cried as she pressed herself against Kylie’s chest. Kylie raced toward her apartment. Once inside, her only thought was to comfort Mercedes.
Austin paced the room then drew back the curtains to peek outside.
A moment later, Austin’s phone rang.
“Yes, Colt.” Austin drew the curtain back again still looking for threats.
Austin listened for a moment, nodding. “Thanks.” He listened some more. “Let us know. We’re in apartment fourteen.”
He clicked off his phone and turned to face Kylie. “Colt couldn’t catch him, but he saw which way the guy ran. The police have been called. There’ll be half a dozen cops looking for him.”
“So he’s still out there.” Still fighting her own agitation and fear, Kylie bounced Mercedes and made soothing noises. No child should be put through that kind of incident. Especially after the trauma of losing her mom.