Ranger pulled up as close to the cliff as possible, then turned the pickup sideways to the mountain, coming to rest between a grove of pines and the rock wall. They’d be hidden from anyone coming up the mountain, at least until they got very close.
“We’ll camp here for the night. It’s safer than anywhere else I can think of,” he said, “and any approaching vehicles will make quite a bit of noise coming across that rubble below.”
Dana got out of the truck and looked around, taking a deep breath. The view below them in the reddish, late-afternoon sun was beautiful, with the desert valley spread out for many miles to the north, and the Chuska Mountains to the west. It felt as if they were sitting on top of the world.
“My cell phone is operable up here, thanks to all the mining operations just to the south,” he said, after checking to verify.
As Dana drew closer to the edge of the cliff, she got a glimpse of a rare sight. “There’s an eagle’s nest up here,” she whispered quickly. “Maybe we should move back down the mountain a little. I’d hate to disturb it.”
As Ranger looked down at the eagle perched on her nest, his voice rose in a soft chant that seemed to warm the cold breeze. It was a haunting song that reverberated with power and mystery.
The eagle didn’t move, and Ranger smiled. “Her children have already left the nest and are on their own. The eagle knows it has nothing to fear from us. She’ll be our eyes, and if anyone tries to come after us, she’ll let us know.”
As Dana looked at the eagle the huge raptor stirred in her nest, but didn’t fly away. Moving back slowly, Dana gazed at Ranger. “It’s almost like you have a connection with her. I can’t believe she’s so calm.”
He reached into the jish he carried on his belt and brought out an eagle fetish carved of stone. “The eagle and I are linked spiritually.”
It fit him-that boundless love of freedom, the ability to survive despite the odds. “You’re two of a kind,” she said at last.
Dana zipped up her jacket, and rubbed her arms for warmth. The altitude, the breeze and the fact that it was November promised a cold night.
“Come here,” he whispered, opening his jacket, then pulling her against his own body. “I’ll keep you warm.”
As he held her, they watched the eagle fly off, spin and turn gracefully in the air, swoop down, then return to her old nest, her dinner clutched in powerful talons.
“Graceful, isn’t she? She can gauge the currents and soar above them effortlessly,” he said.
It was then that she truly began to understand Ranger. He saw his ability to challenge the winds of change as the road to harmony and happiness. In contrast, she’d always seen home and her familiar routines as the path to security and well-being. But all those had ever given her was the illusion of safety.
Before she could think about this further, she heard Ranger’s cell phone ring and saw him answer, clutching the small phone hard in his hand. A heartbeat later, he grinned widely and Dana knew Ranger’s brother was alive.
EXCITEMENT AND RELIEF swept through Ranger as he heard his brother’s voice.
“I’m in one piece” came the announcement from Hunter.
“What’s happened?” Ranger asked. “All I knew was that your cell had been found next to an unidentified victim.”
“The sniper took out one of our people. I was there, managed to follow and track them, and got the spotter-the other half of the sniper team. But I lost the cell phone and, until now, I didn’t have a way to contact you.”
“The spotter…is he dead?”
“He died from his wounds, but not before he talked. He said you’re not the target, the woman is, which means they haven’t confirmed who you are. But they’ve been tracking you via the GPS system in your truck. They have an informant in the company that manufactured it, courtesy of Trujillo ’s money. They know exactly where you are now.”
“We’re in a secure location,” Ranger insisted.
“I know how you think, and I’ve got a good idea of where you are. But, Wind, this sniper is good. He’s got military training-the way he teamed up with a spotter proves that. He’s also a master at camouflage. I only saw him after he’d taken the shot. If he comes after you, you may never see him coming.”
“Did you?”
There was a pause. “No, but I sensed him, which is why I’m the one who survived his attack.”
“I’ll be ready.”
After he hung up, Ranger pulled Dana down into a shady spot, lowering their profile by half, and filled her in on the conversation. “The best way to survive a sniper’s attack is to be more patient than he is. We’ll need a good hiding place where we can lay low. He can only shoot at what he sees. A sniper keys on your movements. If we can outlast him, it’ll be his own movements that’ll reveal his location.”
“You have a rifle with a scope. How accurate are you with that thing?”
“I can hit a soup can at three hundred yards nine out of ten times. I’m accurate on larger targets beyond that range, too, depending on the wind, the lighting and other variables. But keep in mind that this man will have a lot more experience than I do factoring in the conditions. He’s supposed to be a master when it comes to camouflage, too. He won’t be easy to spot, and forget about hearing him. He’ll move slowly and carefully once he locates the pickup.”
Ranger brought out his binoculars and surveyed the area below.
“Do you see him?” she asked after several minutes had gone by.
“No, but I can feel him down there. He’ll work his way up slowly through the rockslide, from shadow to shadow. It’s what I would do.” He took a deep breath then chanted softly. “In the trail of beauty…” he began and as his voice rose above a whisper, the eagle stirred and took flight.
She soared free, turning in a tight circle, then swooped down over an outcropping where boulders the size of truck tires had tumbled down the mountain. She dove almost to the surface, then turned sharply, catching an updraft and spiraling up into the sky. She then glided back to her cliff-side nest with little effort.
“Ahéhee’,” he said, thanking her, but his words were nothing more than a stirring in the wind.
“Did you…did she…no, that’s impossible…isn’t it?”
Ranger never answered. He trained his binoculars on the area the eagle had pinpointed for him. He watched for perhaps five minutes, holding perfectly still. “Got you now,” he muttered at last.
“You saw him?”
“He’s hidden among the rocks at the lower end of that outcropping. All I caught was a flicker of movement as he crawled from one shadow to the next. But that was enough. My guess is that he already knows where we are, too, or at least where we went, and he’s angling for a clear line of sight.”
“So what do we do? We can’t stay up here forever,” she said, “and if we drive back down, we’ll go right past him.”
“We’ll need to draw him out. I won’t be able to get a shot where he is right now.”
“I can’t shoot, but I can get his attention,” she said, forcing her voice to remain firm and clasping her hands together so he couldn’t see them shaking. “When he gets close enough to take a shot at me, just get him first.”
“No.”
“Is there another way?”
He paused. “Not that I can think of right off the bat.”
“Then we have no choice,” she said.
“It’s too risky. Forget it.”
“I’m not a risk taker. You already know that. But I trust you. We can set him up. To take a shot at me he’ll have to expose himself. You won’t miss. Now tell me how to make that happen,” she said.
He said nothing for several long moments. “There’s one way to do this without placing you in any more danger than you’re already in. We’ll go up onto the ridge, letting him see us only long enough for the movement to register in his vision-a second, nothing more. We’ll have to make it look casual, like we don’t have a clue he’s out there and we’re just talking. Once we’re behind cover and can’t be seen anymore, I want you to keep talking, like we’re still together. And light a small fire, too-like we’re keeping warm, so he can register on the smoke and the sound.”