Soldier's Promise

Jake fought to slow his breathing and control his racing heart as a second shot struck the dirt in front of the boulder he and the women were sheltering behind. Movement from an outcropping of rock fifty yards distant caught his eye, and he aimed his pistol and fired. No return fire came, and seconds later a car door slammed and an engine roared to life.

Staying low, he moved from behind the boulder and raced in the direction of the shooter’s hiding place, cresting a small rise just in time to see the rooster-tail of dust that trailed the vehicle’s retreat. Cursing his bad luck, he kept moving toward the rock outcropping where he thought the gunman had been positioned.

He had knelt to examine the area when the pounding of footsteps announced he was not alone. “It’s just me,” Carmen called before he could raise his weapon once more. She came around the largest boulder, holding her own gun and a little out of breath from running. “Did you get a look at the license plate?” she asked.

He shook his head and shoved his gun back in the waistband of his jeans. “No. And I didn’t get a look at him, either.” He picked up a stick and nudged a brass casing. “Some of these are still hot.”

She moved in beside him, and he caught the clean herbal scent of her hair. “A .223-caliber,” she said. “Probably an AR-15.”

“That’s what I thought,” he said. “Pretty common ammo. Tough to trace.”

He didn’t have to look to know she was pinning him with the kind of gaze designed to make guilty suspects squirm. “What are you doing out here?” she asked.

“I’m here to get my sister and mother away from Metwater, to someplace safer and more suitable for a child.”

“And you carry a gun to do it? And what did Starfall mean—she has something of yours? What is she talking about?”

He blew out a breath. He’d known this was coming. In fact, he’d planned to tell her as soon as he had clearance from his supervisors. There wasn’t time for that now. He needed help, and she might be the only one he could turn to. He met her gaze with a hard look of his own. “Can I trust you?” he asked.

“I guess that depends on which side of the law you’re on.”

He liked that answer. “I’m on the right one. I’m a cop, too.”

She sat back on her heels, her expression telling him she hadn’t seen that one coming. But she recovered quickly. “Let me see your badge.”

“That’s the problem. I don’t have it with me. Someone stole it out of my pack yesterday after I left Metwater’s camp. I think it was Starfall.”

“How did she manage to steal it out of your pack? What were you doing?”

He checked their surroundings to make sure they couldn’t be overheard. Sophie and Starfall were back at the canyon rim, surrounded now by the other women. “Is Sophie okay?” he asked. He had been in such a hurry to pursue the shooter he hadn’t had a chance to check on his sister.

“She’s fine,” Carmen said. “More excited than scared. Tell me how Starfall could have gotten your badge.”