He threw the truck into Reverse and backed onto the shoulder, giving himself plenty of space between his tires and the edge of the ridge that fell away about fifteen feet.
He left his headlights on and grabbed the flashlight from his truck. He exited his vehicle, planting his boots on the shifting gravel. Peering over the side of the road, he aimed his flashlight in the area where he’d seen the smoke.
The beam of light picked out the skeleton of a car, burned down to bare bones. “Damn.”
Torched cars did occasionally appear in this part of the desert. Sometimes car thieves dumped the fruits of their labor here after stripping them of usable parts. Sometimes coyotes got rid of their vehicles after transporting their human cargo across the border. And sometimes people had accidents.
Rob edged sideways down the embankment, wedging his boots in the dirt and rock with each step. He called out for the hell of it. “Anyone here?”
If anyone had been in that car, he or she would’ve perished in the fire. The car hadn’t crashed that recently, so even if someone had survived the impact and the inferno, that person probably wouldn’t have survived exposure to these harsh elements.
When he reached the car, he kicked at the frame with the toe of his boot. It collapsed with a squeal. Walking around the vehicle, he searched for the VIN, license plate and any other type of identifying information. He couldn’t even tell what kind of car it had been.
As he turned toward the embankment leading back up to the road, a rustling sound stopped him in his tracks. He glanced over his shoulder. It could be anything.
He eyed the paloverde tree and a few scrubby bushes to the right of the car. He’d probably startled an animal holing up there. Running his flashlight over the vegetation, he squinted at the outlines of the tree’s low branches. Something bigger than a longhorn sheep could be hiding out there, something as big as a person.
“Hello?” He started walking toward the tree. “Anyone there?”
Something decidedly human coughed, and a shape emerged from behind the tree.
“Are you all right? Is that your car?” He swept the beam of his flashlight over the figure.
A woman stepped forward, blinking in the light. She raised her arm, her hand gripping a knife, and said, “Take one more step and I’ll gut you.”
Chapter Two
Rob stumbled back, the light from the flashlight crisscrossing over the woman’s body. His hand hovered over his gun holstered in his belt. He couldn’t shoot an accident victim. She’d probably lost her senses out here alone.
His gaze darted past her. She was alone, wasn’t she? Maybe he’d walked into some sort of ambush.
He flexed his fingers near the butt of his .45. “I’m not going to hurt you. Are you injured? Is that your car?”
“I’m fine. You can keep moving.” She flashed the knife, and it glinted in his beam of light.
She’d clearly lost it. “Keep moving? No way. You’re not fine. You’re a bloody mess.”
She touched her hair, clumped with blood, and then drew back her shoulders. “It’s nothing.”
“Look, ma’am, you don’t have to be afraid. I’m a Border Patrol agent. My truck’s on the road above.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in case she’d forgotten the direction of the road.
“Border Patrol? What border?” Her eyes gleamed in the dark like some feral creature’s.
He pulled his badge and ID from his pocket and extended his hand toward her. “Mexican border.”
He couldn’t tell in this light if she were Latina. Could that car have belonged to a coyote transporting people across the border? That would explain her skittishness. She didn’t have an accent, but that didn’t mean anything.
She darted forward and snatched the ID from his hand. Cupping it in her palm, she squinted at it.
He aimed his flashlight at her hand so she could see his ID.
She read aloud, “‘Roberto Valdez.’”
He raised his right hand. “That’s me. I can take you to the hospital right now, or if you don’t want to ride with me, I can call the police, an ambulance.”
“No cops.” She threw the billfold containing his badge and ID back at him. It landed at his feet. “No cops. No ambulance. No hospital. I’m fine.”
“Ma’am, I can’t leave you out here. You’ll die. It’s miles from the nearest town. There’s a hodgepodge collection of campers and RVs closer than town, but it’s not safe there.”
“I’m not going with you to the cops or hospital.” She dropped the knife and put a hand to her throat. “Please. I—I don’t think I’d be safe there.”
He tilted his head. “Why not? Did you come across the border illegally? Did a coyote bring you?”
“What? No.” She shook her head, and the tangled strands of her hair whipped back and forth. “Nothing like that. Please. I-it’s my husband, my ex-husband. He’s after me, and I’m afraid.”
Rob swallowed. If she just lied to him, she’d picked the best lie to tug at his heartstrings.
He waved his arm toward the burned-out car. “Did he do this?”
“I think so. I think he caused the accident and then made sure the car went up in flames.”
“Why didn’t you go up in flames with it?”
“After the accident, I saw him coming for me, so I hid behind the tree and clump of bushes. He set the car on fire and took off. He never saw me. He thinks I’m dead, and I want to keep it that way.”
“If we call the police...”
“No cops!” She dipped down and scooped up the knife. “I swear, you’ll have to shoot me with that gun you keep touching, or I’ll run off into the desert and you can forget you ever saw me.”
“I’m not going to shoot you, but I’m not going to let you run away, either. What’s your name?”
“J-Jane.”
He narrowed
