Rider on Fire & When You Call My Name: Rider on Fire / When You Call My Name

Now Adam was feeling off-kilter.

“You have seen all of this…in dreams?”

She shrugged, then nodded.

“The Old Ones have been playing with you,” he said softly.

“Who?”

“Never mind,” he said. “If you want to meet your father, then follow me.”

“I need gas.”

“I will wait.”

She reached for the nozzle to the pump, quickly filled the tank and then dashed into the station to pay.

Adam saw Franklin in every movement she made, from the cut of her features to the way she moved when she walked—with her toes pointed inward just the tiniest bit and with the grace of a young filly at one with the world. She was a woman with copper-colored skin and long legs that life had saddled with a hefty portion of defiance. She and Franklin would get along just fine.

When she came out and mounted her bike, Adam was already rolling out of the station and onto the street.

She stuffed her hair back beneath her helmet, then fired up the engine. She was on Adam Two Eagles’s tail before he passed the city-limits sign.

Chapter 6

Sonora was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that not only was the man she’d dreamed of actually real but that she was following him up a mountain without knowing where she was going. It was against every safeguard she’d been taught, and against every instinct she had. And yet she was doing it.

It was the first time in her life that she’d questioned the wisdom of having no personal ties. Before, it had been not only convenient but wise. Without family, bad guys had no leverage against agents like her. But she’d never been faced with this particular situation. She wanted someone to know where she was and what she was doing, if for no other reason than to have a place to start looking for her should she suddenly disappear.

Even as she was thinking the thoughts, something told her she was overstating the obvious. Adam Two Eagles had made no threats toward her. She didn’t feel uneasy around him and she was a good judge of character. She wasn’t afraid of Adam Two Eagles, but she was uncomfortable with what he represented.

Frustrated by thoughts that just kept going in circles, she began to focus on the beauty of the mountain, instead. Pine and cedar trees grew in great abundance, as well as knobby-barked blackjack trees—a cousin of the oak. Every so often she would see a bird fly out from among the branches of a tree and then disappear into another.

She thought of what it would be like to live up here, so far away from the conveniences of city living. One would have to be very secure to live so alone. Then it occurred to her that she lived in a city among thousands and was as alone as anyone could be. It was an eye-opening realization to know that it wasn’t where you lived, but how you lived, that made lonely people.

Obviously, Franklin Blue Cat was alone, but if he was as secure within himself as Adam, she doubted that he was very lonely.

Just when she thought they would never arrive at their destination, Adam began to slow down, then came to a complete stop.

Sonora was forced to stop daydreaming and focus on the immediate. Up to now, the road had been blacktop, but she saw that at the fork it became dirt. She realized she was about to eat dust.

When Adam leaned his head out of the window and waved her over, it became apparent he was concerned with the same thing.

“If you follow me too closely, you will be covered in dust.”

She flipped up the visor on the helmet so that she could more easily be heard. “I’ll manage,” she said.

“Still, if you want to lay back a little, I thought I’d tell you where we’re going so that you don’t miss a turn.”

Sonora thought about it and decided that a serial killer probably wouldn’t give her a chance to get away like this. His offer went a long way toward easing her already suspicious mind.

“Yeah, okay, I see your point,” she said.

“Good,” Adam said, then pointed to the left. “Four miles down this way, you’ll come to another fork in the road. Take the right fork, which goes up the mountain, and follow it. Franklin’s home is at the end of the road. You’ll see a couple of signs along the way that say Blue Cat Sculptures.”

Sonora frowned. “Really? Does he sell arts and crafts from his home or something?”

“No.” Then he grinned. “I think there are a few more surprises in store for you. Your father is world renowned for his carvings.”

“The bird,” Sonora muttered.

Adam frowned. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing,” she said. “Let’s go. I need to get this over with. I don’t want to have to find my way off this mountain in the dark.”

Adam’s frown deepened. “There is no need for that to happen,” he said. “Your father will welcome you.”

“How could he when he didn’t know I existed?”

Adam eyed the woman, accepting her defensiveness as understandable, yet wondering how much of the spiritual world of the Kiowa she would be able to accept.

“It is your father’s story to tell,” Adam said. “So, are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she muttered, and waited for him to drive away. As soon as he’d gone about a half mile down the road, she revved up the engine and followed.

* * *

Franklin was sitting on the porch when he heard the sound of a car coming up the road. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for people to come unannounced, but he wasn’t in the mood to cater to strangers. Still, his good manners bade him to deal with it, just as he was dealing with the leukemia ravaging his body.

When the truck appeared at the curve in the road, he breathed a sign of relief. It was Adam. He was always welcome.

Franklin stood, then lifted his arm in a greeting as Adam pulled up to the yard and stopped. He was partway off the steps when he realized that someone had been following Adam’s truck.

Stifling a frown, he took a deep breath and put on his game face. When he saw that it was a rider on a motorcycle, he paused politely.

“Adam, it’s good to see you,” Franklin said, and then pointed down the road with his chin. “He with you?”

Adam stifled a smile, and then nodded.

Franklin sighed. “This has not been a good day.”

Adam put a hand on his old friend’s arm. “I’m sorry to hear that, old friend, but I have good news. That’s about to change.”

Franklin flinched. The eagle had warned him a change was coming. Was it already here?

The rider pulled up beside Adam’s truck and then parked. It was when he started to dismount that Franklin realized the he was a she. Even in black leather, the body was definitely feminine.

He glanced at Adam, but Adam only smiled at him, then shrugged as if to say wait and see. Franklin sighed. These days, he was not so good at waiting for anything.