Diaz blew out a sigh. “No, of course not.”
“Where’s your vehicle?” Jacob asked.
“Hidden behind one of the boulders not far from where you saw me.”
Without being told, two of Zeke’s men left the meeting room to find the vehicle and bring it back here.
“So you waited until first light to search for the Jeep’s tracks,” Kele said, “when the wind would have blown many of them away.”
“Many, but not all,” he countered.
“And what did you intend to do once you found our stronghold?” Kele asked. “Wait some more for Liz to come out?”
“I hadn’t thought that far. I had to find the entrance first. That was my main concern at that point.”
Jacob leaned up in his chair, presumably to ask his own question. Zeke spoke first. “Why are you looking for Liz?”
An anguished look swept across Diaz’s handsome face. “Carreon’s men have been recruiting the clan’s boys to fight your people. They offer them money they’d never had, a chance to lead a good life, or so they believe. They approached Pedro. He’s a sweet kid. He refused. You don’t do that with Carreon’s men.”
He paused to swallow, his body shuddering visibly with whatever his mind pictured. “They cut Pedro up pretty bad, made him an example to force the other boys to do exactly what they said. They dumped Pedro on my aunt’s doorstep and warned that if she tried to find one of the clan’s healers—or worse, if she took him to a hospital or doctor, they’d know—they were watching—and would stop her. They’d then finish Pedro off. They’d done it to another boy earlier in the year.”
Diaz leaned against the table toward Zeke, agony in his expression. “If Pedro was going to survive, my aunt couldn’t defy them. She’s been taking care of him ever since. But she’s no healer. He keeps getting worse. She finally got word to me. Pedro needs help or he’ll die. I’ve heard Dr. Munez has refused to heal any longer. That only leaves Liz. I know of no other healer in our clan.”
Although Zeke understood Diaz’s pain, he didn’t want to face it. His vision returned of Liz weakening, then possibly dying as she healed. At first, Zeke had thought she was tending to Diaz. Now that he thought of it, he wasn’t certain. It might have been Pedro he’d seen. He’d been too focused on Liz to notice whom she’d been trying to save.
Jacob bumped his shoulder.
He looked at his brother, then past at Isabel. She continued to regard him, her expression blank, her thoughts inscrutable. “What?” Zeke asked Jacob.
Leaning close, he whispered, “Clearly, he’s lying.”
If he was, then Zeke figured Diaz was the world’s best actor. He saw unfathomable terror and sorrow in the young man’s eyes, the same Zeke had experienced when he’d cradled Gabrielle’s lifeless body and then Liz’s. His gut churned at the memory. A sour taste filled his mouth. He swallowed it down. “I’m sorry, but we can’t help you.”
Diaz pushed to his feet. Samuel clamped his meaty hand on the young man’s shoulder and forced him back into his chair.
“You have to let me talk to Liz,” he begged. “I’ve been in hiding long enough that I know how to evade Carreon’s men. I can bring her to Pedro when they’re not watching. She can heal him; then she can come right back to this strong—”
“No,” Zeke interrupted. He couldn’t risk that. Wouldn’t. It killed him to let a young boy die, but he wasn’t about to trade Liz’s life for anyone’s.
Kele turned to Zeke. “Maybe we could bring Pedro here.”
Isabel frowned.
“No,” Diaz cried, “the trip would kill him.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Jacob said.
Diaz shouted, “How can you say that and claim to be a man?”
“Easy,” Jacob said, unfazed by the outburst. “Even if your cousin dies, Dr. Munez can reanimate him.”
A moment passed before Diaz reacted, his eyes rounding. “What?” He gripped the lip of the table and leaned forward. “He and Liz can bring back the dead?”
“Not Liz,” Zeke said. “She can’t help you.”
“Yes, I can.”
Zeke turned at her voice, stunned to see her standing in the doorway to this room. How long had she been there? How had she even found this spot? It was supposed to be impenetrable behind a maze of halls.
He pushed out of his chair so quickly, it rolled away from the table on its casters and smacked into the limestone wall. The lighting in the room brightened momentarily from the furniture’s contact with the stone.
Liz’s expression noted that and the stains on Zeke’s jeans from Carreon’s man spitting at him, before she again focused on Diaz. “Where is Pedro?”
“No,” Zeke snapped. “You’re not doing this.”
“I want to,” she said, her voice achingly soft.
It drained Zeke’s anger, turning it to desperation. “No.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, “but you can’t stop me.”
“You actually believe that?”
“What are you going to do, Zeke? Lock me up? You want me to let a child die? Not even try to heal him or bring him back?”
His vision said otherwise, unless…
Zeke recalled something Liz had said days ago when he foolishly believed she could help the clan’s little ones if they fell ill or got injured. It was what he’d told his people when they were deciding whether to let her and her father stay. “You don’t heal children, remember? You don’t know what your power will do to them.”
“Pedro’s no child,” Liz said. “From what I overheard, he appears to be in his early teens.” She asked Diaz, “How old is he?”
“Thirteen.”
“What difference does that make?” Zeke muttered. “He’s still a kid.”
“He’s already reached puberty,” Liz explained. “It’s not the same as if he was an infant or a toddler. His body’s changing, maturing. That should give him some protection against the force of the gift.”
“And what if it doesn’t?” Zeke argued, going to her. “I can’t let you do this. You know damn well why.”
Diaz spoke to Jacob. “What are they talking about?”
“Quiet,” Samuel growled.
Liz touched Zeke’s mouth. “I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try. You understand that, don’t you?”
Of course he did, but that didn’t change anything.
Liz brought back her hand and went around the table to Diaz. “How far is Pedro from here?”
Before he could answer, Zeke spoke to his men. “Liz doesn’t leave this stronghold, understand?”
Some nodded immediately. A few of them glanced at Isabel before doing so.
Liz pleaded, “We have to help the boy.”
“We can bring him here,” Kele said as she had earlier.
“No,” Isabel said. She leaned up in her chair. “The woman needs to go to him.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Zeke countered. “Not while I still lead this clan.”
Isabel’s expression darkened. She pressed her lips together as though to keep herself from saying anything further.
“You’ll regret stopping me,” Liz murmured to Zeke. “Allowing Pedro to slip away.”
Everyone looked at him as they awaited his decision. Zeke wanted to take Liz’s hand and run. To go somewhere no one would ever be able to find them.
Where he wouldn’t be responsible for a kid’s death.
Seeing no other choice, Zeke blurted, “If we bring Pedro here, one of us would have to go with Diaz to
