White Hot: A Patrick & Steeves Suspense by Kate Fargo

battered.” His eyes rested on the blood on her thigh. “It’s not deep,” she said.
    “What’re you folks doing out here?” He slid his eyes over to Dal’s, his mouth set in a thin line.
    “We’re on our way to visit friends at a ranch farther on,” Dal replied, jutting his chin toward the hills.
    “Fernando’s?” His eyes narrowed, his suspicions roused.
    Stepping forward, Emily said, “My father’s friend is visiting a ranch a few miles from here.” That statement was mostly true, she thought. “We were heading that way, but with the truck blocking the main road, we were trying to get there overland.”
    “Walking?” Disbelief clear in his expression, he dropped his gaze to the burnt skin on Emily’s arms. “Pretty hot day for walking.”
    “We had a bike,” Dal said. “Your dog there startled us and we fell into the ravine.”
    Tilting his head back, his eyes hardened. “What my dog does on its own property is my own concern.”
    “It was nobody’s fault,” Emily rushed in, flashing a bright smile. “We’re going to continue on, if that’s all right.” She tugged at Dal’s arm and tried to step away.
    “Hang on there, little Miss,” the man said. “What happened to your leg?”
    She looked down at her thigh. Blackened blood, starting to flake like hardened mud in the desert, caked her skin. “I took a stick in the leg when I fell down the crevice into the gorge.”
    “You walking okay on it?”
    “Mostly,” she said, shifting her weight onto the leg. She winced as the pain shot up her thigh.
    “And where you say you’re going again?”
    Em glanced at Dal who lifted a shoulder. “To the Bar-U Ranch ,” she said. “Like I said, my—”
    “I’m gonna put you folks on this horse,” the man interrupted. “You’ve still got a ways to go and this young lady isn’t going to make it on foot.” Grabbing the reins he guided the horse along the fence. “There’s a gate up ahead,” he said, turning his shoulder to them as he led the animal away.
    Em sighed in relief and raised her brow at Dal in question. He nodded enthusiastically and they followed the rancher to the gate.
    “What about you?” asked Dal, as he helped open the gate.
    “I got a herd of horses to choose from over that rise.” He jutted his chin back the way he’d come.
    “Now look,” he said, as Emily and then Dal mounted the horse. “Another hour it’ll be pitch dark. You head directly for that hill,” he extended his arm, “the one that looks like an old volcano, and you’re gonna ride right into the Bar-U.”
    “Any more gorges to worry about?” Em asked.
    Patting the rim of his hat lower, he shook his head. “Straight on, you’ll be fine. You bring that horse back whenever it’s convenient.” He jammed his hands in his pockets and turned away.
    “Wait,” Dal said, “we don’t even know your name.”
    He turned back. “Names aren’t important in these parts. You be sure to tell your ‘friends’ at Bar-U that one of their neighbors helped you out.” A shadow flicked through his eyes as he turned away and strode off.
    “That man look nervous to you?” Dal said quietly.
    “His whole attitude changed once I mentioned the name of the ranch,” she said, a shiver running up her spine. “Apparently he knows exactly where we’re going and what’s going on at that ranch.”

21
    D al peered over the crest of the hill down to the buzz of activity below. He counted the ten men they’d seen earlier on the highway and at least four more. The large door of the old company store, now acting as warehouse for the cache of weapons, was wide open, light spilling into the yard. Jack paced frantically back and forth as two men at a time labored in with the large boxes of arms.
    “They’re still loading the weapons they transported over earlier?” Emily asked, watching the scene unfold.
    “It doesn’t make sense,” he said. “What were they doing all this time?”
    “Maybe they just finished