Cowboy Delirium

“They manhandled her. That’s all I saw but who knows what they’re capable of. You have no choice but to cooperate with them.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” Langston said. His voice was firm. He was the oldest brother, the leader of the family, a responsibility he took seriously.

Zach didn’t question his intelligence or abilities, but kidnapping was a criminal act and that put this squarely in Zach’s saddle. Besides, Jaime was his twin. As different as they were in many aspects, he shared a bond with her that none of the others did.

“Start at the first, Mr. Arredondo,” Zach said, “and tell us every detail. Leave nothing out, no matter how unimportant it may seem.”

“Please, call me Buerto. And I think you should know that I am not only your sister’s boss.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We’re in a relationship, a very close relationship. I care a great deal for her. This is as hard on me as it is on you.”

Zach didn’t fully buy that, but all that mattered now was getting Jaime home safely. Whoever the sons of bitches were that abducted her, they’d just taken on the whole Collingsworth clan, and even Buerto Arredondo had best not get in their way.

LENORA WOKE TO THE SOUND of male voices coming from the kitchen below her bedroom and the odor of freshly perked coffee. She rolled over and checked the time on her bedside clock. Twelve twenty-eight.

It wasn’t all that unusual for her sons to talk past midnight. With Zack working on that new task force, it had been weeks since they’d all been together. But she didn’t recall their ever making coffee this late—unless something was wrong.

That fact forced the last dregs of sleep from her eyes. Kicking back the sheet, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and padded to her closet for her robe.

She picked up on the unfamiliar voice as she approached the kitchen. A cold shudder stampeded through her nerves when she heard him mention Jaime’s name. Had there been a wreck? Had she been riding that motorbike Lenora hated so much?

Pushing through the door, Lenora planted herself in the center of the kitchen and stared at the stranger sipping coffee from one of her blue pottery mugs. Her gaze left him to scrutinize each of her sons, reading the turbulence that clouded their eyes.

“What’s wrong? What’s happened to Jaime?”

Langston wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Sit down, Mom.”

She yanked from his grasp. “I don’t need to sit down. Was there a wreck? Is Jaime in the hospital? Is she hurt?”

“She’s been abducted.”

Lenora’s chest contracted until she could barely breathe. There had to be some kind of mistake. Everyone loved Jaime. No one would hurt her. She stared at the stranger again. “Who are you?”

“This is Jaime’s boss,” Zach said. “He was with her when three men attacked them and left with Jaime. He’s only here to help.”

Lenora grabbed the man’s arms. “You let them take my daughter? You let them take Jaime?”

“I tried to stop them,” he said.

Matt pulled his mother into his arms. “He’s here to help, Mom. We’ll get Jaime back. You can count on that. Just try to stay calm while we think this through.”

The empty words of reassurance roared in her head and a pain so intense it blinded her jabbed through her heart. Her chest exploded, and her mind went off in a million fiery tangents.

The pain hit again, and this time she felt herself crashing against the table. Jaime’s face appeared for a second and then vanished in a frigid swirl of black.

TWO HOURS AFTER THE ABDUCTION, the black sedan turned onto an isolated, muddy logging road that didn’t appear to have been used in years. In the backseat Rio Hernandez was still fuming at the turn of events and the lack of warning he’d had about what was going down. Not only did this not advance his own agenda, it put a serious kink in it.

“Where the hell are we going?” Rio demanded. “Or is that top secret, too?”

“There’s an old fishing camp at the end of the road,” Poncho answered from the driver seat. “You two beasts and the beauty will hold up there until we hear otherwise.”

The front right tire plunged into a deep pothole and the car shuddered and jerked, throwing the semiconscious prisoner against Rio’s shoulder.

He steadied her, aware of the softness of her skin beneath his hand and the silky texture of her hair as it brushed his rough cheek. His insides revolted at the quick stir of attraction. Definitely not the time for his libido to get into the act.

The woman’s eyes fluttered open and she looked up, meeting Rio’s gaze. Confusion clouded the deep blue of her irises, making her appear far more vulnerable than she’d looked when sinking her sharp white teeth into the sinewy tissue of his shoulder.

A gurgle resonated from deep in her throat, capturing the attention of the other passenger in the car. From the front Luke turned so that he could see into the backseat. “You two getting all cozy back there?” A croaking laugh punctuated what he saw as an amusing comment.

“What’s it to you?” Rio quipped.

“No one gave you first dibs on her,” Luke retorted.

“She ain’t up for dibs,” Poncho said. “She’s not entertainment. She’s collateral. Get it?”

“Yeah, we get it,” Rio said. “So is this hottie worth going to prison for?”

“No one’s going to prison on her account, not unless you guys foul things up. Then you still won’t have to worry. You won’t live long enough to face a judge and jury.”

Two miles farther and the road played out completely. Poncho finally pulled to a stop in a cluster of towering pine trees. Just beyond them, a ramshackle cabin with a leaning chimney and a half-rotted stoop waited unwelcomingly.

“This is home for the next few days,” Poncho said.

Rio opened the car door and stepped into a soggy bed of pine straw. “This dump? No self-respecting rat would stay here.”

Luke screwed his lips into a scowl as he climbed from the front seat. “I’m not sleeping with rats.”

“You’ve slept with worse,” the driver commented.

Luke worried the scar on his face and stepped over a downed limb. “You aren’t going to leave us stranded out here in the middle of nowhere, are you?”

Poncho reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring with one key attached. He tossed it to Luke.

“There’s a car parked out of sight behind the cabin, but you’re to stay put until you get word to drive the woman somewhere. When you do, tie her, gag her and lock her in the trunk. There’s rope and duct tape ready and waiting.”

“Looks like the end of the friggin’world,” Luke said. “Phones aren’t going to work out here.”

“Your phones will work. It’s all been checked out. They’re essential to the plan’s execution.” Poncho scratched his balding head and swatted at a mosquito feeding on his cheek. “Help the lady inside,” he ordered, directing his command at Rio.

Rio tugged the woman from the car and half carried, half dragged her toward the cabin. She was in no shape to offer resistance, but she didn’t help, either.

It was more like dragging a dead weight along beside him and he had to be careful not to let her feet get caught in the scratchy brambles that had overgrown the path. Once inside, he let her slide from his grasp into a faded arm chair.

Luke went to the kitchen corner of the main living area and started rummaging through nearly empty cabinets, slamming the doors in disgust as he went. “What are we supposed to eat?”

“Those boxes in the trunk have food and water in them.”