That gave her some hope. Trujillo undoubtedly knew about her photographic memory, and the attack meant he was pulling out all the stops to get her back and force her to tell whatever she remembered. Of course after they were finished, they’d kill her, just like they had Hastiin Sani.
Dana kept moving-slowly, and in a crouch-and stayed in the shadows offered by the nearly vertical fifteen-foot-high sides of the wash. Her chances were slim, especially if she was forced into a sandy part of the arroyo that would show her tracks, but she refused to give up. She stood still and listened. Less than a hundred feet away was the man with the pistol searching for her footprints on the hard ground, and the one with the rifle was at the top rim of the arroyo, watching with binoculars.
Before she could decide what to do, Dana felt a stirring in the air and, out of the corner of her eye, saw a fleeting shadow. Suddenly Ranger stepped out of a narrow crevice in the arroyo, less than three feet away.
Her heart was hammering frantically but before she could say a word, he placed a finger to his lips. He indicated with a thumb the approximate location of the two men, then gestured ahead to the center of the arroyo. It was piled high with windblown tumbleweeds the size of washing machines.
Ranger moved into the bramble and Dana followed. It had seemed impassable but, somehow, Ranger found a pathway through the thicket.
They made headway quicker than she’d thought possible, circling and ducking beneath the sticky barrier. She could hear the men behind them, feeling their way along, cursing constantly, but still closing in. Her heart pounding, she looked ahead for Ranger’s truck, but it was impossible to see any farther than ten feet ahead.
“Through there,” he said and pointed.
They reached the truck moments later. He’d parked in a wide, shallow part of the arroyo, near where the road paralleled the wash. Ranger dove behind the steering wheel as she climbed in and fastened her belt. In a heartbeat they were on the move.
She kept her eyes on the road behind them, but no one pursued. “I don’t understand. Why did you come after me after I took off? You don’t even trust me, yet you risked your life for mine again.”
He paused for a moment before answering her, searching for the right words. “You’ve been holding out on me,” he said at last. “I’ve known that all along. But I still trust my instincts about you.”
Tears of frustration stung her eyes. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t tell him what she knew. Her dying friend had trusted her with his biggest secret and she wouldn’t let him down.
“How did you find me?” she asked at last, her voice as unsteady as she felt.
“I was ordered to give you a chance to run away. I’ve been tracking you for hours. I didn’t know where you’d go, but I was sure it wouldn’t be to Trujillo,” he said. “And I know you didn’t stop to call him, either.”
“Who ordered you?” she pressed.
“I can’t tell you. In fact, I’ve probably said too much already.”
She nodded slowly, understanding. From everything she knew about him, he was a man of honor. She had a feeling that Ranger’s name had been on the portion of the list she hadn’t seen. But there was no way for her to know for sure. If Ranger really was a part of the Brotherhood of Warriors and she asked him outright, he’d deny it. He had his own loyalties and oaths to honor, too.
“ Trujillo wants me-and it’s not because I’m his friend,” she said at last.
“I know.”
When they reached the crest of the tallest mesa around, Ranger reversed directions and parked where they could see for miles in every direction.
“Let’s see if we can spot where they’re headed. Hand me the binoculars from the glove compartment,” he asked.
By the time he had the binoculars, all he could see was a tail of dust fading away in the distance. “I was hoping they’d follow us, and we could set our own trap, or follow them,” he said. “But they’ve gone in the opposite direction. We’ll never catch up to them now.”
Ranger shifted in his seat and faced her. “But there’s one point I want to make right now. If they’d captured you, you would have been forced to give up whatever information you carry. Then they would have killed you, and by then, it would have been a mercy. I want you to be very aware of what you’re up against-and why you need me.”
She’d already come to that conclusion, but hearing it out loud made her start trembling. Dana clasped her hands together and took a deep breath, willing herself to stop. “I know all that, but there’s nothing I can do right now to change the situation. The most I can tell you is that there are things I have to do by myself.”
“Like finding Hastiin Dííl?”
“Jonas told you?”
“He trusts me more than you do. And he also knows me very well and realizes the information is safe with me.”
“I gave my word to a man who meant the world to me-your tribe’s medicine man,” she said, fighting the tears stinging her eyes. “I’ve got to find Hastiin Dííl.”
He shook his head. “Can’t be done, at least not right now. Too many bad guys are trying to find him, too, so he’s gone underground. But if you’ve got something important to say to him, tell me, and I’ll do my best to see he gets the message.”
They were at an impasse, but she needed help to finish what she’d promised Hastiin Sani she’d do. Dana closed her eyes for a second, searching her heart for the answer.
A moment later she opened her eyes and met his gaze. Her instincts about Ranger couldn’t be that off the mark. Everything she’d seen assured her he could be trusted.
Making her decision, she took a deep breath. “The kidnappers forced the medicine man to give them a list of names. Hastiin Dííl’s was the first one written down. Maybe that’s why the killers remembered and passed it on to Trujillo.”
“Did you see the list?” he pressed.
“You know about loyalty and about honoring your word. You should understand why I can’t tell you anything more.”
“ Trujillo and his people want Hastiin Dííl because they remember his name. But they also want you because they’re assuming you know the other names. The list must have been lost at some point, so your photographic memory is the only record they can access. Am I close?” he asked.
“They’re overestimating my worth,” she said, then held up her hand and shook her head. “That’s all I can say.”
Ranger considered her words for a long time. “ Trujillo ’s men won’t go back to Hastiin Dííl’s hogan. There were two vehicles following you before, and one of them went in another direction after leaving the trading post. If I’m right, those goons went directly to his hogan. By now they’ve had time to break in, search the place and leave. They wouldn’t have had any reason to stick around, because the medicine man isn’t there. Why don’t you and I go over to Hastiin Dííl’s place and see if we can pick up a clue that’ll lead us to him?”
“So you don’t know where he is, either?”
“No, and no one’s going to give me that information based on what I have so far,” he said.
Ranger was risking all that he held dear for her. “Thank you for trusting me.”
“We’re part of something bigger, you and I. That means rules have to be broken.” He picked up his cell phone, checked and realized he had service. “This is Wind,” he said identifying himself in a way that would tell his brother he wasn’t alone. “I’m going to Hastiin Dííl’s hogan.”
“He’s not there. You know that,” Hunter answered. “No one can reach him where he is now. He’s safe.”
“Can you?”
There was a pause. “No. I don’t have that information.”
And that was what he’d wanted to know. “I’ll be in touch.”
“You still haven’t told me why-”