Tribal Blood

Kacey frowned and rested her hands on her belly. How could Zella deliver a white baby? Did he mean the baby was a mix of Apache and Caucasian or what some here called a mix-up? Was Zella like her and the rest of the captives? Had this happened to her but somehow she had evaded capture? “Does Zella have a boyfriend?”

“No. She told us she has never been with a boy.”

Kacey gasped. Just like her, Marta and Maggie. She needed to speak to Zella. Kacey turned to Colt to tell him that Zella might be one of them and she noticed he was trembling.

Colt’s eyes were darting about and his leg was bouncing like that of a junkie coming off a high. She pressed a hand to his knee.

“You okay?” she whispered.

He jumped at her touch and then clutched her hand so hard she winced. Colt had not even visited his family since his return from Afghanistan. Now he was surrounded by people.

“I need to get out of this car,” he said. “We’re trapped back here.”

“Pull over,” said Kacey.

Bear Den glanced back at them in his rearview mirror.

“What?” said Bear Den.

“We can’t stop,” said FBI agent Rivas.

Colt’s gaze flashed to the closed door.

“The baby. Pull over,” said Kacey.

He did and the line of cars behind them stopped, as well. The lead car drove a few yards on and then noticed the delay and also pulled over.

Kacey tried the handle and found it locked.

Bear Den was quick for a big man. He had her door open an instant later and Kacey slid sideways, legs out of the SUV. Colt bolted past her and ran a few feet. Then he stopped, facing them, panting. His complexion was gray and his eyes were wild.

“Colt?” said Jake, hands raised.

Colt had his hand on his pistol.

“Take your hand off the weapon. No one is going to hurt you.”

“I have to go back,” he said. His eyes were wild as he searched for escape.

“Colt. Kacey needs you,” said Rivas.

Colt stared at her, his expression tortured. “I’m sorry. I thought I could...”

“It’s all right, Colt. You don’t have to go,” Kacey assured him.

“Don’t get in that Humvee, Kacey,” he said, pointing at the SUV. “Don’t go. They’ll take you.”

Kacey’s blood iced. It was her greatest fear, to be taken again, by the Russians, the feds, the Darabee police. Her throat went so dry she couldn’t even swallow and she wanted to go with him.

“Not a Humvee,” said Bear Den, his words an aside to Tinnin.

“Colt,” said Rivas. “You’re scaring Kacey.”

Kacey headed toward Colt. She needed to touch him. Bring him back and save herself from the terror now crawling over her skin like scorpions.

“Don’t,” said Bear Den, clasping her arm and holding her back.

Colt made a feral sound between a snarl and a roar as his eyes were pinned on the place Bear Den touched Kacey.

“Let go,” said Kacey.

Bear Den’s hand dropped away. Kacey continued forward to Colt as he drew his pistol, holding it down and at his side. Behind her, she heard handguns leaving their plastic holsters. When she reached Colt, she took his face in her hands and pressed her forehead to his.

“I’m here, Colt. You’re safe. You’re home.”

His body relaxed and his breathing slowed. “Stay with me,” he said.

“It’ll be all right.”

“Don’t go with them.”

“I have to. I promised them, my friends, that I would send help. I have to go. Can Jake take you home?”

He nodded. The pistol slid from his fingers, thudding to the ground.

“All right. Wait for me. I’ll be right back.”

It was what he had said to her before he shipped out for boot camp. I’ll be right back. That had been nearly two years ago.

He shuddered and turned to Jake, who was already holding his brother’s abandoned handgun. The two brothers walked back along the line of cars to Jake’s police unit, which had been driven by Chief Wallace Tinnin. Jake helped Colt into the rear seat and then shut him in. Colt’s eyes darted about the closed compartment. What had happened to him? Kacey wondered. Jake hurried behind the wheel as Colt locked his fingers together behind his head and ducked like an airline passenger preparing for impact. The vehicle made a U-turn and sped away.