The Cradle Conspiracy

Daniel stumbled, and they went down hard, just a few feet outside the cave’s opening. Dirt and dust spewed from the mine, raining down on them, but Raven didn’t care. They’d made it.

Trouble bounded next to them, barking until Daniel finally rolled onto his back, his face screwed up in agony. He sucked in several gulps of air, then glared at Raven. “What were you thinking? I told you to get out.”

“I wanted to help—”

“Are you always this obstinate?” he growled, shifting his leg, his jaw tightening.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I really don’t.” The blankness in her mind scared her, terrified her. She rubbed her temple. Why did everything seem like a foggy void, one she couldn’t see past?

His lips thinned into a grimace, then he sighed. “It’s a miracle we made it out in one piece.” He scanned up and down her body. “You look like hell. I don’t suppose I look much better.”

She gazed at his dirt-covered figure. He looked great, actually. His dusty clothes didn’t take away from the fact that he appeared every inch the hero. From the stubble on his chin to the mussed light brown hair kissed with sunlight, to the V-shaped body, there wasn’t anything to complain about. When he walked over and grabbed a brown Stetson from the ground, dusted it off and settled it on his head, the look was complete.

She didn’t know what kind of guy had attracted her before, but this one was doing it for her now. She struggled to a seated position. Actually she was seeing two of him now, which couldn’t be a good sign.

“Let me help you up.” Daniel held out his hand to her. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, my canteen is behind a wall of rock, and you need a doctor. We have to get moving.”

She placed her small hand in his and stood beside him. “I can make it.”

He glanced over at her. “I have no doubt of that, honey. We just have to walk to my phone and call the sheriff who patrols these parts. I’d like to try to get you into the shade.”

She took a step and swayed into him, then bent over, resting her hands on her knees. Her stomach roiled, and she swallowed down the nausea.

He snuck his arm around her waist. “We’ll go slow,” he said softly. “It’s been a tough day.”

She leaned against him but tried to mostly stand on her own two feet. Daniel hadn’t said anything, but the hitch in his step told her that he’d been injured. Maybe it was because he’d come to her rescue, but the closer she looked at the scar on his face, she could tell his skin was still healing from recent wounds. He looked like he’d had a rough year, not just a rough day. War veteran, maybe?

The bright sun in the clear blue sky blinded her after the dark mine, so she stared at her feet and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. That’s all she had to do.

One step.

The world spun a little.

Another step...gray clouded her vision. The darkness enveloped her, blocking out the sun.

From far, far away she heard a loud curse and watched the ground tilt toward her.

Then all went silent.

* * *

THE BLAZING SUN hung low in the sky. Daniel’s leg protested with every step, his body apparently not thrilled with carrying Raven’s extra weight, no matter how slight. Shards of pain dug through the spots where the plate and screws held his bones together. All he could do was keep walking.

He’d tried dialing 9-1-1 for help, but signals in the middle of nowhere were hard to come by. Once he thought someone answered, but he never could connect. Hell, he couldn’t even reach Information to get the local sheriff’s department number.

Trouble had taken up his customary position out of reach, though instead of ten feet away, the mutt had moved closer. More like six feet, eyeing the woman in Daniel’s arms the whole time.

“If you were a horse this would be a lot easier,” Daniel groused to his traveling companion.

The dog just quirked his ear and kept walking.

With a quick shift of his arms, Daniel adjusted his burden. Raven had scared him when she’d keeled over. She hadn’t responded when he’d attempted to revive her. Head injuries were nothing to mess with, and for a moment, he’d feared the worst.

When her chest had risen and fallen, his heart had restarted. At least she was breathing, even if her face had taken on the color of buttermilk.

He’d debated whether to turn back to Trouble, Texas, or go forward to Nickel Creek, just south of the Texas–New Mexico border. But he knew Trouble had a medical clinic, so for the first time since leaving Langley, Daniel retraced his steps. He still had a good ten miles to go. Even one more seemed impossible right now.

His foot snagged a rock, and he stumbled forward. Daniel’s arms held Raven snug against his body, but a sharp pang pierced his knee. Something had stabbed or bitten him. He hadn’t heard a rattler. He backed up and righted himself, a long, slow breath escaping him at the sight of the devilishly sharp plant at his feet. The lechuguilla resembled the base of a yucca, but its three-inch-long black spikes at the ends of the flat leaves could spear through leather or skin with ease. Thank God, he’d been moving slow. Those suckers could do some real damage.

He was lucky he hadn’t dropped Raven.

The jostling hadn’t caused a gasp or the slightest movement from her, and he didn’t like it. She’d been out too long. He glanced behind him. As dusk approached, the merciless sunlight dimmed somewhat. Even when he’d been in top shape, it would’ve taken him until full dark to reach Trouble. His leg wouldn’t hold out much longer.

A siren sliced the silence. Daniel tamped down the irrational urge to run in the opposite direction. He had to remind himself he wasn’t in a country where the national police could stuff you into a dungeon, and people forgot about you like you were never born.

He waited as the sheriff’s vehicle pulled a few feet from him.

A cop stepped out and rounded the car. Not your average small-town sheriff. This guy walked with precision and a determined quiet. He had the look of some of CTC’s operatives, and his narrowed expression took in the three of them. “You the one who tried calling 9-1-1? We caught the tower location, and this is one of the only paved roads around. You need some help? Your lady’s not looking too good.”

“She needs a hospital,” Daniel said, shifting her in his arms so the sheriff could see her head wound. “And I need to talk to you.”

The man took one look at the blood on her head and ran to his car. He opened the back door and helped Daniel slide inside the idling vehicle with Raven still cradled against him. The dog hesitated by the side door.

“Come on, boy.” Daniel tapped the backseat.

The dog hunkered back, then scampered into the desert.

“Trouble!” Daniel called.

The mutt didn’t stop, just disappeared behind a shrub bush.

Daniel sighed and gazed at Raven. The cop shut the door on them. “You want me to go after him?”

With a pang, Daniel scanned the empty landscape. Yeah, Daniel wanted the sheriff to go after the dog. Trouble had no water, no food, and it would be dark soon, but Raven was still unconscious. “She needs an emergency room. The dog lands on his feet.” At least Daniel prayed Trouble would.

“He yours? Will he go home?”

“I’m not sure either of us currently has a home,” Daniel said. “We met on the road.”

“I see.” The cop pulled onto the road and studied Daniel through the rearview mirror. “You wouldn’t be that drifter Milly mentioned who came through town yesterday?”

Daniel stiffened. He didn’t like the fact that someone had noticed him. He prided himself on being invisible to most, but the waitress had been way too friendly in that small-town-nosy kind of way.

“She didn’t mention you had a traveling companion. You gonna tell me what happened, and why you’re carrying an unconscious woman down a county road? Or did you find her along the way, too?”

At the suspicious tone in the sheriff’s voice, the hairs on the back of Daniel’s neck straightened. He didn’t need any more problems, so he told the man what he knew.

The sheriff cursed. “Those mines have been abandoned for years. I occasionally find some kids out there playing stupid games of truth or dare. One kid died because he couldn’t find his way out. The state should seal them up.”