Bones reached over and laid a hand on her shoulder. He hated it when women cried, and hated it even more when it was his fault, which was frequently the case.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m all right.”
“You’re an ass is what you are,” Amanda said, slapping his hand away and sitting up straight. Anger had replaced the fear in her eyes, and Bones was stunned to see that she was not crying. This woman was something else. “You could have given me one of those guns and I could have shot him instead.”
Bones was momentarily speechless. She wanted to do what?
“Forget it,” Amanda said. “I know you’re trained and you can probably shoot better on the run with your left hand than I can when taking aim with both hands. I just wanted to help you. It sucks being scared for someone, and it’s worse when you can’t do anything for them.”
“You were great,” Bones said, trying to deal with the torrent of emotions that surged through him. “Tell you what. When this is all over, I’ll take you sidearm shopping. I’ll even train you.”
“Promise?” Amanda’s tone made it clear that she would hold him to it. “And you’ll let me use it to shoot people?”
“Do you have certain people in mind, or just random people?”
“You know what I mean. If something like that,” she tilted her head back in the direction from which they had come, “ever happens again, are you going to let me fight, or are you going to make me run away?”
“I…” His first instinct had been to tell her what she wanted to hear. He knew, though, that Amanda would detect his lie. She was the sharpest woman he’d ever known. Plus, for the first time in his life, the idea of lying to a woman really bothered him. “I promise that if it makes sense for you to… shoot people, I’ll let you fight. But you’re going to have to promise me that you won’t argue if I tell you otherwise.” He could tell she was going to protest, but he raised his voice. “I’m not old-fashioned about much, but your safety comes before mine. Always.”
“Why? Because I’m a woman?”
“Because I like having you around. It would kind of suck if something happened to you.”
Amanda unbuckled her seat belt, scooted up next to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“You really are an ass,” she whispered, and laid her head on his shoulder. They stayed that way, silent and content as they hurtled through the darkness toward the unknown.
Chapter 22
The bouncing vehicle jolted Dane to full alertness. He scanned the barren landscape. Red rocks and sparse hills surrounded them, morning light casting their surroundings in a faint, golden hue. There was no road in sight.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to doze off on you,” he murmured, rubbing his eyes. It was not like him to fall asleep like that, especially after the startling revelations from earlier. “Where are we?”
“We’re close to Zion,” Jade said. She sounded oddly subdued, so unlike her excited, almost manic behavior of earlier. Of course, she had been driving since early morning and was operating on very little sleep. “I had to go off-road a bit. This will take us in through the back door. Assuming, of course, you’re up for a bit of a hike.”
“Always ready,” he said, though his head still felt thick from his nap, as if his brain was filled with molasses. “Just need to finish waking up.”
“If you don’t have any coffee left, you can have the rest of mine.” Jade inclined her head toward the two Styrofoam cups in the console.
Dane swirled the contents of his cup before drowning the three remaining lukewarm swallows. One glance at the clock told him he had been asleep for only about a half-hour.
Jade brought the vehicle to a halt and hopped out before reaching into the back seat and grabbing a paper bag she had brought from the convenience store. Dane assumed it held bottles of water for their hike.
They started walking. There didn’t seem to be any distinct landforms by which to pinpoint their location, but Dane trusted that Jade knew where she was going.
“There’s a cleft in the rock over there.” She indicated a spot in the distance where a dark, vertical line cleft the sun-illuminated stone.
He had to turn sideways and exhale in order to squeeze through the narrow opening, but on the other side it widened enough for two people to walk abreast. The way was strewn with loose rock and choked with cactus, but the slope was gentle and the path straight.
He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. The moment of alertness he had felt when he first awoke was long gone, replaced by a feeling of increased heaviness, as if his head was slowly filling with cement. He stumbled and barely caught himself before his face hit the path.
“You all right?” Jade asked. His sluggishness and heavy feeling made her words sound cold and flat.
“Yeah,” he replied. “I think… I think I need to sit for a minute.”
“There’s an outcropping up here where you can get out of the sun. Come on.” She took him by the hand and guided him like a child up to the sheltered overhang where she settled him against the bare rock. “Close your eyes,” she whispered.
He fought to stay awake, but his eyelids drooped, and Jade faded from sight.
It was hot… dry… he was in the depths of a canyon. A winged, skeletal figure hovered over him, spreading its arms to welcome him into its deadly embrace.
“Aaah!” Red light flashed across his vision as he bolted upright and cracked his head on the low-hanging rock. “Stupid!” He rubbed his head and looked around for Jade, but there was no sign of her. He searched the defile, calling her name. No luck. Had she gone on ahead? Surely not, but who could say? Perhaps she had left a note in the car.
Utterly confused, he made his way back the way he and Jade had come earlier. Heat ripped up from the parched earth, the late morning sun hung angry in the sky. He rubbed a dry palm across his equally parched forehead. He was dehydrated. The single cup of coffee he had drunk hours ago was not remotely enough in this climate. On the positive side, he felt much more alert than he had upon arrival. His relief was short-lived, as he squeezed out of the rocky cleft to discover that their car was gone.
His mind raced. What had happened to her? She wouldn’t have just left him. They must have found her, and she had hidden the fact that he was with her. That was the only possible explanation. So what was he going to do about it?
He considered his options, which were few. He didn’t know how far it was back to the road, or exactly which direction they had come. For that matter, there was no telling how many back roads Jade had taken before leaving the road entirely. Were he to make it back to any sort of road, he wouldn’t know where to go from there. The wide open spaces of the American southwest meant one could seemingly go forever without a glimpse of civilization. That had, for the most part, appealed to him until this moment.
The only thing that made sense to him was to keep on going. Jade had indicated that their destination was within walking distance. His limited examination of the map on the way here, and his estimation of the distance they had traveled provided a degree of confirmation. If Jade had been kidnapped, they would expect her to lead them to whatever waited in Zion. His only chance was to find her there. He checked his cell phone just in case, but he had no coverage, as usual.
His thoughts flew unbidden to a moment, years ago. He remembered the sound of Melissa’s voice, the scream the crash… He had stood there staring numbly at his cell phone, knowing his wife was dead, and he could do nothing about it. It had been completely beyond his control, but this was not beyond his control. He would find Jade and bring her back. Setting determined eyes on the horizon, he set off.