had the chance…They were thirty yards away.“Go back!” she yelled, but she knew it was too late.The men kept coming, jerking and swaying as if the beast between them fought to free himself.Twenty yards.She could see the grim, determined look on Scott’s face.Ten yards.A low laugh came from the woman. “Bring him Tome,” she called. “I have waited a long time for Samuel Hoffman. And for you, Matthew Dukane. This will be a great day for me.”“Every dog has its day,” Dukane said. One side of his mouth curled into a smile.He and Scott sprang apart, diving sideways and rolling through the dust. Four pistols appeared from behind them. They stopped rolling, and their gunfire stuttered through the stillness in a deafening roar.Bodies whirled and flopped. Dirt exploded around Scott and Dukane as their fire was returned. Screams tore through the din. A man clutched his belly and sat down hard. The ball cap and bloody matter flew from the head of the teenaged girl as she fired at Dukane. He tossed a pistol aside and kept firing his automatic. A man spun, crashed into the side of the car, and fell.Dukane yelled as he was hit.Scott rose to one knee, not even glancing at him, shoving a fresh magazine into the handle of his.45. Gravel kicked up beside his foot, but he didn’t flinch. He worked the slide and resumed firing.Dukane was on his knees, his left arm hanging limp, firing with his right.A man raced forward, shooting. A bullet slammed him down.Abruptly, there was silence.Jerking her head from side to side, Lacey saw no one still standing. On both sides of the car lay crumpled bodies.Scott ran forward in a crouch. Far off, a rifle cracked. Dirt spouted in front of him.As Dukane dropped and crawled forward, Scott dived to the ground near a fat man. He grabbed the man’s rifle. It had a telescopic sight. Settling himself in a prone position, he aimed toward the far left of the house.A distant shot. The top of a cactus near Dukane exploded. Scott fired, then made a thumbs-up sign at Dukane. He swung the barrel to his right.Dukane scurried forward. He reached the front of the car, and began to cut the rope at Lacey’s foot.A shot thunked the grill.Scott fired. “Watch it,” he called. “Still one out there.”Dukane freed Lacey’s left hand, then rushed around the rear of the car and came up at her other side. As he sliced through the rope, a shot rang out. The bullet smacked the windshield inches above her head.He scurried to the front.Scott fired. “Got him!” he yelled. “That oughta be it.”Lacey sat up. As soon as her right foot was loose, she scooted off the hood. Scott, hurrying toward her, passed the rifle to Dukane and pulled off his shirt. He draped the shirt over Lacey’s back. Holding her by the shoulders, he looked down at her torn body. “Oh God, Lacey,” he murmured. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”With blurry, tear-filled eyes, she stared at his tormented face. She kissed him. Then she managed a smile. “Who do you think you are, James Bond?”“Max Carter and Charlie Dane.”Dukane came up behind him. “I think I deserve a kiss, too.”He got one. Lacey hugged him, ignoring the pain of her own wounds, and kissed his dry lips.“You guys are nuts, coming out like that.”“The best defense…” Dukane said.Lacey gasped, her joy suddenly turning to cold fear. “Hoffman! You let him…” She staggered back, clutching the shirt tight to hide her nakedness, looking behind her as if she might somehow see him sneaking up.“Hoffman isn’t with us,” Dukane said.“I know. You let him…”“He’s still in the house,” Scott interrupted. “Securely handcuffed in the bathroom.”“You mean…?”“Pretty good act, huh?”“Now,” said Dukane, “how about attending to my arm before I bleed to death?”“Oh,” Scott muttered. “Forgot about that.”“I didn’t.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The bullet had smashed a bone in Dukane’s forearm. Scott broke the stock off a rifle, and made ungainly splints from it. He used strips of Dukane’s shirt to bandage the wound and lash the splints into place.“We’d better get you to a hospital,” he said. “Both of you, and Nancy.”“All in good time. See if the car works.”Scott helped Lacey inside.“Right with you,” Dukane said.As Scott climbed into the driver’s seat, Dukane wandered from body to body, crouching over several of the women for a closer inspection.Scott turned the ignition key. The car came to life, blowing cool, welcome air onto Lacey.“What’s he looking for?” she asked.Scott shook his head.Finally, Dukane climbed into the backseat. In each hand, he held a large gold band, the bands Lacey had seen on the arms of the woman who’d whipped her. “I know I hit the bitch,” he said. “Saw her go down.”“Who?”“Laveda. But she’s not here now. Just her damn jewelry. Did you see anyone run off?”“No,” Scott said. “I thought we got them all.”“Okay. Let’s pick up Hoffman and Nancy, and get the hell out of here.”The car sped forward, bumping over the rough earth, down a gradual slope, and up a rise to the flat area in front of the house. Scott turned off the engine. “You can wait here if you want,” he told Lacey.She didn’t want to be left alone. “I’ll go in,” she said.Scott pulled the key from the ignition and stepped out. Lacey opened her door. Stifling heat wrapped her like a blanket as she climbed out. She glimpsed the body of the man under the broken window, hammer still clutched in his outflung hand.She entered the house behind Scott. Dukane followed and shut the door. The house was silent.“Nancy?” Dukane called.No answer.He suddenly broke into a run, vanishing down the hall. Scott and Lacey rushed after him.The bedroom was empty.“Nancy?”From the closet came a muffled sob.Dukane jerked its door open.Nancy sat crouched in a corner, half-hidden behind hanging dresses. Her black hair clung to her face with sweat. Though the room was hot and she wore jeans and a wool shirt, Lacey could see her shivering.“It’s all right,” Dukane told her. “It’s over. Everything’s fine.”“No,” she gasped, batting away his hands as he reached for her. Her wide eyes blinked. “Not over. Wanta hide.”From behind them came a scream that washed over Lacey like a vile, chilling flood. It was the scream of a man.“Get Nancy out of here,” Scott snapped, and ran after Dukane.Lacey dropped to her knees. She tried to grab the girl’s flailing hands. “Stop!” she cried. Then she clutched a foot and dragged Nancy from the closet. She pulled the girl to her feet, tugged her into the hall.From there, she saw Dukane slam the bathroom door, shutting himself and Scott inside.Screams filled her ears as she led Nancy through the living room. “Wait in the car,” she said.Then she raced to the hall.The bathroom door flew open. Dukane staggered backward through it, and fell. The wooden hilt of a butcher knife stood upright in his belly.As she ran toward him, she heard a
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Lacey circled the block twice, watching for strangers, then killed the headlights and steered the Firebird up the narrow driveway to her garage. She put it into the garage, and entered her house by the back door.The lights were off. She left them that way.Searching the dark house, she remembered how she and Cliff had gone through it that night so long ago—only a few days ago. They’d found no one then. Lacey found no one now. But she couldn’t be certain she was alone: she could never be sure of that again.Though filthy, she was afraid to use her tub.Though dazed and weary, she was afraid to use her bed.She arranged blankets inside her walkin closet, and lay down there. It reminded her of the nest in the hallway that she’d shared with Scott.Thoughts of Scott swirled through her mind as she tried to sleep. Other thoughts, too. Bad ones that made her shake.Three times during the night, she heard sounds in the house that made her sweat and hold her breath. Afraid to investigate, she lay there rigid until exhaustion forced her to fall limp and gasp for air.Once, as she drifted off, the closet door swung silently open. The dark figure of a man knelt over her. She quaked with terror until he spoke.“It’s just me,” he said.“Scott?”“I had a hard time finding you. What’re you hiding from?”“Everything.”“Don’t be afraid.”“Oh Scott, I thought you were dead.”Then he came down and kissed her, and his charred lips crumbled and filled her mouth with ashes.She bolted upright, gasping, and found herself alone in the closet. Its door was still shut.After a moment’s hesitation, she pushed open the door. She studied the familiar, night shadows of her bedroom, then crawled over the carpet to the alarm clock. Four thirty.Time to begin.Lacey tiptoed through the dark silence of the house. She searched cupboards
