Texas Outlaw (Rory Yates #2) - James Patterson Page 0,66
he thinks he does.
“And if I find out you’re aiding and abetting Ariana,” he says, “I’ll make sure you never wear this again.” With that, he flicks the tin star on my chest.
I turn to leave. When I’m at the door, I stop and ask, “Who are they sending to replace me, Chief? Tell me that much.”
“They’re sending in the big guns,” Harris says. “Your lieutenant, Hendricks, volunteered to come clean up your mess.”
I should have known. Kyle sent me on this fool’s errand in the first place. Now he’s going to make sure I play the fool. He’ll declare Susan Snyder’s death an accident, and he’ll put his stamp of approval on Harris’s decision to arrest Ariana for the murder of Skip Barnes.
End of story.
Kyle Hendricks isn’t corrupt, but he’s the perfect puppet to bring in to put an end to this investigation. He won’t be in town twenty-four hours before he declares the cases closed and heads home. And life in Rio Lobo will be back to normal.
Which is just what the person—or people—who killed Susan Snyder and Skip Barnes want.
“Oh, and Rory,” Harris says as I’m about to leave, “if I see you in Rio Lobo after sunset tonight, I’m going to arrest you for interfering with a police investigation. I’ll put the cuffs on you myself. You’ll never wear that tin star again.”
Chapter 71
ARIANA HEARS THE whine of four-wheelers making their way through the desert hills.
Those are McCormack’s men, she thinks. Looking for me.
She spent most of the morning trying to hide the Land Cruiser by throwing tumbleweed and other kinds of brush on top of it. The camouflage wouldn’t bear close inspection, but from the vantage point of an ATV cruising by, the vehicle might be pretty well hidden.
Now she does the same with her possessions, tucking her sleeping bag and canned goods into a hiding spot in a clump of sagebrush. She hides behind the oak tree next to the river as she hears the four-wheelers get closer. They are so near she can make out voices.
“Where to now?” someone calls, shouting to be heard over the idling motors.
“Let’s go down by the river.”
“Shit,” Ariana whispers.
She’s hidden from view where she is, but if they come closer, she doubts she can stay out of sight. She looks around, frantic to find a hiding spot.
The only place she can think of is the river itself.
She creeps to the water’s edge. Fully clothed, she lowers herself over the cut bank that she and Rory jumped off a few days ago. The cold water embraces her, and she drops down out of sight just as the ATVs pull up next to the tree.
The cut bank creates an overhang, and she backs as far into its shadow as she can. Tree roots twine into the water around her and she grabs one to stay afloat without kicking her feet. The smell of moist earth fills her nostrils. A spider crawls through her hair, and she fights the urge to brush it away. She can’t afford to make any sudden movements.
“These tire tracks look pretty fresh,” a man says.
“Probably kids coming out here to go swimming,” another replies.
“You guys want to take a smoke break?” someone says, and then they shut off the engines.
It sounds like there are two ATVs, maybe as many as four guys. Ariana can hear them setting objects down on the ATVs or leaning them against trees—metal objects that she imagines are guns.
One of the men approaches, so close to Ariana that when a clump of dirt falls into the water from his boot step, it passes only inches from her face. She hears a zipping noise, and a few seconds later, a jet of urine comes down from above, splashing into the water.
Ariana turns her face in disgust.
“You ever seen this girl we’re looking for?” the man urinating says.
Some of the others have, some of them haven’t.
“She’s a knockout,” the guy says, finishing and zipping up.
Ariana’s arm is starting to cramp. She feels another insect crawling on her forehead. She closes her eyes, breathes through her nose.
The men smoke for a few more minutes, talking about what they’d like to do to Ariana if they find her. Hearing the disgusting things they say makes Ariana appreciate Rory even more. He’s as tough as they come, but she’s sure he would never talk about a woman this way, not even if he was in the company of only men.