Courage Under Fire (Silver Creek #2) - Lindsay McKenna Page 0,82

She blotted her eyes.

“I hope the day comes,” he told her quietly, holding her gaze, “when it will be me kissing those tears away. You’ve been alone in this fight for a long time by yourself.” He brushed a few red strands of hair away that had stuck to her temple. “I want to be the one who is there to protect you when it’s needed, love you until you know how much you are a part of my heart, and then, we can face this world of ours together, stronger than ever . . .”

June 17

“Are you ready?” Chase asked Cari as they neared the ranch truck they would be driving to the Madre Tierra Raptor Center. She had worn her normal ranch outfit, her baseball cap on her head, a pair of sunglasses sitting on the front of her cap, and a short-sleeved dark green T-shirt with jeans. He was pretty much wearing the same type of clothing, although he always wore tough canvas long-sleeved cowboy shirts with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows.

It was cool at four in the morning, the stars twinkling above them in the darkened heavens. The weather was good, a front having passed through the area yesterday, giving them rain. He had put two jackets in the rear seat, just in case. Valkyrie was quiet in her travel cage, the specially made tarp covering all of it so she couldn’t see out and get her feathers in a ruffle. She had drinking water in the cage, so she was set. Chase had put rubber ties to the bottom of the cage and anchored them so it wouldn’t slide around, frightening the raptor unnecessarily.

He had transported raptors before, and Jenny had a special cage for just such events, made a long time ago. All of the hawk’s food—mouse and quail meat—were in a small ice chest, on the floor in the rear of the cab.

“Am I ever,” Cari said, opening the door and climbing in. She shut the door quietly so as not to scare the raptor, and belted up. Chase slid in, also careful to shut the door quietly, as well. “This feels like I’m running away, but I don’t care.”

He nodded and started up the super cab. “Dan said the FBI is still collecting data from the military drone that went online yesterday and stayed on station for five hours above the area where they think Hauptman’s gang is. We aren’t going to know much for a while, so I’m glad we’re leaving. Tracy will take care of the ranch and Mary is always there in case something happens. My mother will run the place until we return.”

He eased the truck out of the gravel parking lot, the parking lights on, but not the headlights. At this time of morning, there was no traffic on the ranch at all and Chase was in security mode where Cari was concerned. If Dirk did know she was at the ranch, he would probably have someone, if not himself, watching the place for anyone coming or going from Three Bars. He’d told Cari what he was going to do and as they neared the main highway, she unbuckled and lay down on the seat. Chase had taught her that druggies often had infrared or other night-seeing devices that could pick up how many people were inside a vehicle. He wasn’t taking chances. He had Cari lie down on the seat so it would appear that he was the only person in the truck. No one would suspect that Cari was in the truck, if they were being watched.

Once he made a turn to the right, heading out of town toward the interstate, he told her she could sit back up. Glancing often into his rearview mirror for any headlights following him, the place remained dark behind them. That was good.

Cari turned in the seat, making sure that Valkyrie’s crate was fine. The hawk was quiet, but she ran her fingers across the fabric to make sure. Everything was perfect. She turned around and sat down. “Oh!” she whispered, pointing upward, “I love looking at the stars through the sunroof.”

“It’s a pretty pre-dawn sky,” he agreed, setting his cruise control.

Cari moved her feet around. “Tell me what these ‘go-bags,’ as you call them, really are.”

“Why? Are they crowding your foot space?” he asked.

“No, they’re fine. Just big and lumpy.” They were two tan canvas knapsacks that Chase had filled last evening. She’d been