Chapter Twenty-Seven
A car engine cut through the quiet. Too close.
Caleb’s eyes flew open. He found his gun on the nightstand, slipped out of bed, and crept into the living room to peer through the blinds.
Snow had dusted the ground overnight as he and Gia slept, turning the beige earth white and frosting the desert scrub. The sandstone buttes blazed brighter than usual in the early morning sun—vibrant red-orange and stark brown.
A dark blue SUV braked in front of the cottage. From it emerged a tall, shaggy blond wearing a red Hawaiian shirt under a brown Carhartt jacket, faded jeans, and white Nike high-tops.
I’ll be damned.
Caleb ducked into the bedroom, tugging on jeans and a black t-shirt.
Gia had burrowed deep beneath the covers, her dark hair spilling over the pillow.
He kissed her cheek. “Wake up, baby. Get dressed. We’ve got company.”
Not waiting for a response, he headed for the front door.
Outside, Danny Mayhew lifted both hands and flashed a grin full of pearly white teeth. His blue eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Don’t shoo t me, bro.” He gestured to Zach's Dodge Charger. “That the car in the pic? Hella sweet ride. Looks like your taste is finally improving.”
Caleb stepped outside and clasped forearms with his Dìleas teammate. “My cousin’s—I’m borrowing it. What are you doing here?”
“The bosses sent me. Officially, I’m on vacay visiting family in California.” Danny winked. “No law says I can’t swing through and check on my buddy while I’m at it.”
We’ve got your six. Always. Nathan’s words.
Help is on the way. Ryder’s voice in his ear.
Caleb cleared his throat, the sudden tightness unexpected. “Thanks, man. Come on in.”
Gia stood in the living room in jeans and a navy sweater that made her eyes even bluer. With her hair in a ponytail and no makeup, she looked more like a college student than a seasoned doctor.
Mine.
“Gia, this is Danny Mayhew—one of my colleagues at Dìleas.”
“Ma’am.” Danny gave her a respectful nod, then shot Caleb a sideways look.
“Nice to meet you, Danny.” Gia offered the former SEAL a polite smile.
The glance she sent Caleb brimmed with questions.
Understandable. Danny’s tousled hair and surfer-dude vibe didn’t exactly scream executive protection. But that laid-back exterior masked lethal skills—and gave him the advantage of blending into a crowd. A valuable trait in close protection.
“Danny’s here to help,” Caleb said. “He’s former Naval Special Warfare.”
That earned him a more appraising look from Gia.
“Navy SEAL?”
With a flourish that would’ve made a middle school drama teacher proud, Danny brought a hand to his chest and offered a dramatic bow. “At your service, ma’am.”
Caleb didn’t bother hiding his eye roll.
On duty, Danny was all business.
Off duty?
The guy flirted with anything female.
A smile teased the corners of Gia’s lips, some of the shadows in her eyes lifting.
“I’m going to take a shower while you two catch up.” She excused herself and disappeared into the bedroom.
“Very nice. I can see why you’ve stuck around.” The frank appreciation in Danny’s gaze made Caleb want to smash his fist into his friend’s face.
“Keep your charm to yourself,” he growled. “How’d you get here so fast?” He hadn’t even called Ryder yet to tell him about the timeline he’d set for the meetup with Lopez.
Danny barked out a laugh, not the least bit offended. “Just finished a job and had leave coming. Ryder asked if I was game, so I booked a flight last night.”
He grinned. “Don’t worry—Lachlan and Nathan sent goodies.”
Goodies . Weapons and gear.
“Show me.” Caleb followed him out to the SUV.
Danny popped the cargo hatch. Tactical vests, hard-shelled gun cases, and a black duffel filled the back.
“SCAR-Heavy rifle, a couple of Glocks, plenty of ammo.” He patted one of the cases. “None of it officially tied to Dìleas, by the way.”
He unzipped the duffel and handed Caleb a radio with an earpiece, then held up a small brown envelope. “Tracker tags. Same model Nathan used on Emily in Paris.”
Danny’s grin faded. “Ryder filled me in. This feels familiar—bad guy wants your girl and he’s willing to kill you to get her. We good on support? I’m assuming we can source anything else we need?”
“My cousin Zach can.” Caleb peered inside at the flesh-colored trackers, then lifted the rifle from its case. “This isn’t official Dìleas business. It could get ugly.”
Not could. Would.
“Dude, you know me. I’m always up for a party.”
Caleb shook his head. SEALs . There was a reason Green Berets were called the quiet professionals and SEALs…were not.
“Gia’s ex is high-ranking in Espina Negra. He kidnapped one of her friends to force her return. I offered a trade—Gia for Jennie—but only if Lopez shows up in person to make the swap.”
He met Danny’s eyes. “I was going to call Ryder for backup. We’ll need more triggers on target. Lopez won’t come alone.”
Danny folded his arms, leaning against the SUV. “I’m going to assume you’re not actually trading one woman for the other.”
“Not a chance. I want Jennie back, and I want Gia free of this asshole for good. Once Zach confirms the location, I’ll text it to Lopez. The meet’s tomorrow—late afternoon. He’ll come armed, but he won’t know the terrain like we do.”
Danny’s brow lifted. “So… what’s the play? Capture and hand him over to the police?”
Caleb let his silence speak for him.
“Got it.” Danny scanned the horizon. “If anyone’s going to disappear, this is a good place for it.”
Both men straightened at the sound of a vehicle.
A white Tahoe barreled toward them, tires flinging mud instead of dust thanks to the thawing snow. The temperature had begun to climb and was supp osed to reach seventy, but as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon, it would plummet.
Danny’s hand hovered over one of the Glocks. “You expecting anybody?”
“My cousin.”
Zach parked behind the Charger and stepped out, dressed in desert camo pants and a tan T-shirt. His gaze flicked to Danny, narrowing.
“Danny Mayhew,” Caleb said. “From Dìleas. He’s here to help. Danny, my cousin, Zach Blackwater—Navajo Nation Police.”
The two men shook hands.
Caleb gestured to Zach’s outfit. “Take the day off?”
“A couple of days,” Zach said. “I can’t do what we’re about to do in uniform.”
The words hit harder than expected. Caleb hadn’t fully let himself feel it until now—the risk his cousin was taking. The line he was crossing.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be there when this goes down.”
Zach’s eyes flared. “Maybe you should go fuck yourself.”
Danny barked a laugh. “I like this guy.”
“You would,” Caleb muttered, then turned and led them inside.
Gia stepped out of the bedroom, her damp hair pulled into a ponytail, wearing the same jeans and blue sweater—both hugging her frame.
Still no makeup. Still gorgeous.
Her expression tightened as she took in the three men in the cramped living room. “Do we have a meeting site?”
Even with fear in her eyes, she stood tall—ready to face Lopez again if it meant getting Jennie back.
It made Caleb’s chest swell with pride.
She was tougher than she gave herself credit for.
Zach spread pho tos across the coffee table. “Aerial shots.”
Caleb leaned in and tapped on one. A crumbling hogan of pinon logs and packed earth sat tucked in a valley between two plateaus.
“Isn’t that Old Joe’s place?”
The mud-thatched roof had partially caved in, exposing wooden beams. Scrub, cactus, and tumbleweeds pressed in on all sides.
“It was,” Zach said. “He died there.”
“So it’s abandoned.”
Caleb remembered the old man—Vietnam vet, hair-trigger temper, haunted eyes. The kind who only came into town for liquor and supplies.
He smirked at his cousin. “You actually went inside?”
“Hell no.” Zach made a face. “I’m not trying to get cursed by a chindi .”
Danny squinted at the photo. “Why won’t you go inside? I mean, aside from rattlesnakes and a dozen other things that want to kill you.”
“The Navajo believe when someone dies inside their home, their spirit can linger—unless their belongings and the dwelling are destroyed.” Caleb kept his expression deadpan, though the corner of his mouth threatened to lift. “You’re the Anglo. We’ll let you use the hogan as cover.”
A high, piercing howl cut through the stillness outside.
Caleb froze. His gaze found Zach’s.
Coyote.
The trickster. The bringer of death.
Their grandmother would’ve called it an omen.
He forced the chill from his spine. Just a male during mating season, staking territory. That’s all.
“Gee, thanks. ” Oblivious, Danny held up another photo—this one showing the sloping base of the plateau. “Guess I’m the dumbass in the horror movie going into the basement. I thought I was on overwatch.”
“That’s my job,” Zach said. “My MOS in the Marine Corps was scout sniper.”
“Damn,” Danny muttered. “Here I thought with Nathan not being around, I’d get to be sniper for once.”
Gia gave them all a wide-eyed look. “Hopefully, no one gets shot and we get Jennie back unharmed.”
Caleb exchanged covert glances with Zach and Danny.
Yeah. Getting Jennie back unharmed?
That was the hope.
But as for no one getting shot?
That wasn’t the plan.
“It’s a perfect spot,” Zach continued. “Isolated. Abandoned. There’s a place for a sniper to set up on the eastern slope, and”—he pointed to a dry channel masked by sagebrush beside the home—“this arroyo is deep enough to provide cover for my guys to spring the trap when the time comes. As far as the cartel boys will know, only you and Gia will be waiting.”
“Your guys?” Caleb asked.
“Roy and Ford. I spoke to them last night. They wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Caleb frowned. “It’s going to be dangerous. Did you tell them that?”
Zach met his gaze without flinching. “They don’t like outsiders messing with our people.”
A twinge of pressure settled beneath Caleb’s sternum. He could accept the danger himself. Zach and Danny had trained for it. Dìleas would send reinforcements.
But civilians? Even with prior military experience?
All these men, stepping up. For Gia. For him.
Dìleas. The Diné. His family.
His throat tightened. He swallowed hard, breath hitching before he forced it steady.
To ground himself, he rapped his knuckles on the stack of photos. “Let’s get this plan mapped out. Once it’s solid, I’ll text Lopez the coordinates. Set the meet for tomorrow afternoon.”
When they wrapped, Zach gathered the photos and stood. “I’ve asked Roy and Ford to meet me at the site.”
“I’ll go with you,” Danny said. “Then I need to find a hotel. This place”—he glanced around, sly—“is a little too cozy for my taste.”
He squinted at Zach. “That Charger outside yours?”
A rare smile creased Zach’s face. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”
“You should see my baby,” Danny said. “A 2016 Mustang GT California Special in Deep Impact Blue. Coyote V-8 engine.” He grinned. “I call her Consuela .”
Caleb rolled his eyes for the second time since Danny’s arrival.
“We’ll grab breakfast and find you a room after the ground assessment,” Zach replied.
Danny held up his phone. “You know how to reach me,” he said to Caleb. He nodded to Gia. “Ma’am.”
Caleb walked them to the door.
“Cousin.” He clasped Zach’s forearm—a warrior’s gesture. “ Ahéhee .”
“You’re welcome, shi? na’aash —my cousin.” Zach held his stare.
Something passed between them. Respect. A flicker of the bond they’d once shared as boys.
A new one forming now, as men.
Outside, the sn ow continued to melt away. The next few days promised unseasonably warm February sun. Zach would have to contend with the glare on his sniper scope, but at least the wind wouldn’t be a factor.
Caleb waited until the vehicles disappeared down the road before shutting the door.
“That bastard’s bringing his Miami weather with him,” he muttered, low enough that Gia couldn’t hear.
She still sat on the couch, forearms on her thighs, her hair a glossy curtain veiling her face.
But he knew exactly what she was thinking.
“You’re scared.”
“I’d be a fool not to be.”
He nodded. True.
“The thing is…” Her gaze lifted. “I’m not afraid for myself so much as for Jennie.”
Her eyes glistened in the light. “And for you. Vincente will know we’ve been together the moment he sees us. He doesn’t like anyone touching what’s his.”
His jaw flexed, rage coiling tight beneath his skin.
“You’re not his. And if I have to kill him to prove it, I will.” He already planned to.
Gia flinched.
Caleb stalked to the sofa. Lifted her to her feet. Folded her into his arms.
She shuddered. “I should have gone to the DEA right away.” Her voice was muffled against his shirt. “None of this would’ve happened if I’d just done the right thing.”
He smoothed a hand along her back, anchoring her. Soaking in the feel of her in his arms.
Everything in h im centered on this—keeping Gia safe. Making sure she could live her life without fear.
A life that included him.
If she’d have him.
“When this is over,” he said, the words slow and cautious. “Do you want to stay? Keep working on the rez?”
She raised her tear-streaked face. He saw the answer in her eyes before she spoke.
“I love it here, Caleb. I feel needed in a way I never have before.”
His heart thundered in his ears, his throat dry as a desert. “What if I stayed? I’d still need to travel for assignments, of course, but what if I decided to make this my home? At least for a little while.”
Surprise lit her face. Hope, too. Something that settled the last of his nerves.
“I’d love that. And your family would, too. They love you.” She rose on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. Her eyes softened.
“ I love you.”
The words hit Caleb like a grenade. Joy detonated in his chest.
“I love you, too.”
Pleasure bloomed in her eyes and on her cheeks. “You do?”
He laughed. “Yeah, I do.”
On impulse, he gave in to a bit of whimsy and swung her around the tiny living room.
So this was what it felt like to walk on the moon. His body felt so light, his boots barely touched the ground.
A shadow chased across her beautiful face.
Heart stuttering, he stilled and set her down, searching her face. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m so happy.” She caressed his cheek. “And that scares me. I don’t want to lose you now that I’ve found you.”
The shimmer in her eyes sliced through him like a blade.
“You won’t lose me.”
He kissed her, deep and sure, sealing the promise with everything he had.
But even as he held her close, a chill crept down his spine.
Life had just served him a bright future with an amazing woman.
With one giant caveat.
They had to survive.