busted neck.”Dukane took a key from his pocket.“Don’t,” Lacey warned.“We’ll cuff him in front.”“No! For Christsake, he’ll get loose!”“It’s risky,” Scott said. “He’s stronger than you’d think.”“Okay. I’ll lay down. How’s that?” Hoffman asked, dropping to his knees. “Can’t run if I’m lying down, right?” He fell forward, landing on his side, and rolled to his belly. “Just put the cuffs in front. That’ll be okay. You oughta try walking in this fuckin’ desert with your hands behind your back, see how you like it.”Dukane crouched over him.“Wait!” Lacey said. “Maybe he tripped on purpose. Just so he’d have an excuse for you to take off the cuffs.”“Shut the fuck up,” Hoffman snapped.“He didn’t have much trouble before. Now, when we’re in easy shot of a pickup truck, he suddenly can’t stay on his feet.”“Stupid cunt.”“Lacey’s right,” Scott said.“Yeah. Okay, up.”“Up yours. I’m not taking one more step till you change the cuffs. You want to drag me? Go ahead. Have fun.”“What happened to your spirit of cooperation?” Dukane asked.“You can fuckin’ carry me.”“Is that your last word on the subject?”“Damn right.”“Sorry to hear that.” Dukane stepped close to Hoffman’s head.“Are we gonna carry him?” Scott asked.“I think he’ll decide to walk.”“Think again, asshole.”Dukane stomped on his head, smashing his face into the gravel floor of the gully. Lacey cringed, shocked by the sudden violence. As she turned away, Scott took her into his arms. She pressed her face to his chest. Behind her, Hoffman’s yell of pain became hysterical gasping.“You…you…oh you bastard! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you!”“You’ll walk with us,” Dukane said, his voice quiet and calm.“I’ll tear out your heart, you motherfuckin’…”Lacey heard a thud, a grunt.“You…!”“Time to go,” Dukane said. “You won’t like it, if I lose my patience.”“It’s all right,” Scott whispered. He eased Lacey away, and she saw Dukane jerking the man to his feet.“My f a c e !”“Not much loss, Hoffman. Nobody can see it, anyway.”Hoffman turned to Lacey. She stared at his moonlit face, its eyeless sockets, its snarling mouth, gaps in its forehead and left cheek where the makeup or skin had been scraped off, a few patches of tinted flesh hanging like torn cloth. “Your fault,” he told her. “I’ll get you for this.”“You’ll get no one,” Dukane said, and shoved him toward the slope.They climbed out of the gully. The house seemed no closer than before. Lacey wondered if its occupants had heard Hoffman’s outcries. Noise carries far in the desert, just as it does over water. But the windows were still dark. Perhaps the walls of the gully had contained most of the sound. Or maybe those in the house were heavy sleepers.Lacey hoped the house was deserted. That seemed unlikely, though, with a pickup parked in front.Along the way, Hoffman fell several more times as if to prove his point. Each time, he cursed the handcuffs that stopped him from catching himself. But he didn’t stay long on the ground. He struggled quickly to his feet, looking around at Dukane.Finally, they made their way up the low hill to the house. They took a path through the cactus garden at its side.“Give me your shirt, Scott.”Without hesitation, Scott took off his shirt and handed it over. Dukane draped it over Hoffman’s head and used his own belt to cinch it around the neck.“Want me to go around back?” Scott asked.Dukane shook his head. “Let’s play it straight.” Holstering his pistol, he took Hoffman’s elbow and led the way to the front door. He pressed the doorbell. From inside the house came a quiet ring of chimes.They waited.He rang again.A light came on above the door.“State your business,” called a voice from inside—the voice of a young woman.“Our car broke down,” Dukane said. “We’d like to use your phone.”“I don’t have one. Go on, get out of here.”“We’re worn out,” Lacey said. “At least let us have some water. We’ve been walking a long time.”“Use the tap by the garden,” she called. “You’re not getting in here. I saw you coming. You’ve got guns.”“We’re FBI, ma’am,” Dukane told her.“Sure. And I’m John Edgar Hoover.”“She hasn’t got a phone anyway,” Lacey whispered.“Okay, Scott. Get over there and hotwire the pickup.”With a nod, Scott turned away.“All right, lady,” Dukane said. “We’ll leave.”“That’s just fine.”Lacey turned to follow Scott, and grabbed his arm as a woman with a double-barreled shotgun lurched upright in the pickup’s bed.“No you don’t!” yelled the woman.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The front door swung open. A woman stepped out with a revolver. She was slim, no older than twenty, with black hair cropped short. Though she must have had plenty of time to dress, she wore only a short pink nightgown. Apparently, thought Lacey, she’d been determined to keep them out.“Put down your guns,” she said.Dukane nodded to Scott. They set a total of four pistols on the ground: two of their own, plus the two they’d taken from Trankus and his partner.“They were planning to make off with the truck,” said the other woman, climbing down. “Otherwise, I would’ve let them go.” She was larger than the one in the doorway, with broad hips, and breasts that swung loosely inside her T-shirt.“What’ll we do?” asked the smaller one.“Let’s get them inside and call the police.”“You do have a phone,” Dukane said.“Of course.”“Okay, inside.”The small one backed into the house, waving her revolver. The one with the shotgun took up the rear. When they were all inside, she shut the door.“Okay, Nancy, call the cops.”“Don’t do that,” Dukane said. “Here, look at my credentials.” He handed his wallet to the girl with the pistol.She slipped it open and stared. “Says he’s FBI, Jan.”“Anybody can get a fake ID.”“We were escorting our prisoner to Tucson when our car broke down.”“What’s he doing with a shirt on his head?” Jan asked.“He’s deformed,” Dukane explained. “We put the shirt over him to spare you the sight.”“Bullshit,” Jan said.“It’s true,” Lacey told her.“They covered my head’cause they kidnapped me and don’t want you seeing who they’ve got. They snatched me this morning. I’m Watson Jones, vice president for Wells Fargo…”“Can it, Hoffman.”“Let him talk,” said Jan.“They’re holding me for two million bucks. The three of’em, they’re in it together. Look, get these cuffs off me, huh? Dukane, he’s got a key.”“Heard about a kidnapping?” Jan asked Nancy.“No.”“They ain’t released it to the news.”With relief, Lacey saw a wry smile on Jan’s face.“For the vice president of a bank, buster, you ain’t got such good grammar.”“He’s a rapist and murderer,” Dukane said.“That’s a con! Get his fuckin’ key before he grabs your guns.”“Nobody’s going to grab your guns,” Dukane said. “This is your house. Fine with us if you want to hold the artillery. As I said before, we just want the use of your telephone. I need to call headquarters so they can pick us up.”“We’d better call the cops. Nancy?”“You don’t want to do that,” Dukane said.“Yes, I think we do.”Nancy walked backward across the red ceramic tile of the living room, and lowered herself onto a couch. She reached out for a telephone on the lamp table.“Where’d she go?” Hoffman blurted. “What’s she doing? Don’t let her call!”“If you make that call,” Dukane said, “it’s quite possible we’ll all be dead by morning.”Nancy looked at Jan.“Explain yourself,” Jan said.“Our friend here belongs to a certain organization—a cult that wants him back. They have connections inside the Tucson police.”“Suppose we call the Highway Patrol?”“They may or may not be infiltrated. I don’t know about that. But I do know this: if you phone in, they’ll dispatch a car to this location by radio. Any joker with a Bearcat scanner will know right where to find us.”“We’ll be dead meat,” Hoffman said.“What do you think?” Jan asked her friend.Nancy shook her head, looking confused.“It’s all too damned fishy for me. Go ahead and call the Highway Patrol.”“Don’t,” Dukane warned.Nancy lifted the receiver and dialed for the operator. “Hello? I’d like the number…”“Please,” Lacey said, starting forward. “Put it down.”Jan swung the shotgun toward her. At that instant, Dukane leapt. He caught Jan around the hips, throwing her backward. The shotgun fired.As its roar stunned Lacey’s ears, she saw the base of the phone jump from the table, exploding, crashing into the lamp behind it. Phone and lamp flew against the blasted wall. Dukane and Jan hit the floor.Scott rushed Nancy. The girl, frozen by the blast that barely missed her, offered no resistance. She sat on the couch, phone receiver still in her right hand, gazing at the splintered table surface as Scott freed the revolver from her left hand.“What happened?” Hoffman yelled. “Somebody take this fuckin’ shirt off my head! Who got shot?”Dukane, on top of Jan, shoved the shotgun across the floor. She stopped struggling. As he pinned her arms, they both gazed toward Nancy.“She’s okay,” Dukane said.“Get off me,” Jan muttered.He climbed off, and went for the shotgun. Jan hurried to the couch. She sat down and put an arm around the girl. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I almost…” She began to cry. The daze left Nancy’s face. Her chin trembled, and she lay her head against Jan’s breast.“Why don’t you all just get out of here,” Jan blurted. “Get the hell out. Take the pickup. Just get out of here.”“Where are the keys?” Dukane asked, his voice gentle.“My purse. In the kitchen.”He went for them, and returned a moment later. “I’ll see that the truck’s returned to you,” he said.“Just get out.”“Come on,” he said.They went outside, leaving the two women on the couch. Dukane lowered the tailgate. He and Scott lifted Hoffman onto the truck bed. “I’ll ride in the back with him,” he said, climbing aboard with the shotgun.They closed the tailgate. Scott lifted the two attache cases over the side panel. He took the pistols off the ground, and gave two of them to Dukane.“You take this,” he said, handing Nancy’s revolver to Lacey.They climbed into the cab.As Scott started the truck, Lacey saw Jan gazing out one of the front windows of the house.“They’ll be all right,” Scott said.“Now that we’re gone.”“Yeah.” He pulled the truck away from the house, with the headlights off, and sped up the long, narrow road. The deep blue of the sky was lighter in the east. Lacey wondered at it, for a moment, then realized the night was nearly over.She leaned back and shut her
