“They have injured to attend to.”

Of course. How could she have forgotten about that? The three of them moved as one to the stronghold’s enormous door. The width of a tank, it was made of the same material as the walls.

Zeke laid his hand on the control panel so it could read his palm and grant him entrance.

Liz waited for the remembered series of clicks, then the door sliding sideways, disappearing into the wall.

Nothing happened.

Zeke frowned.

She squeezed his fingers. “What’s the matter? Why didn’t it open?”

“It will.” He rubbed his palm against his jeans as though he needed to clean it of dirt and blood or wipe the sweat from it. Again, he placed his hand on the control panel.

The door didn’t move.

From behind them, the sound of a motor neared. Its brakes squealed briefly.

Alarmed at the thought of Carreon’s lieutenants, Liz turned and saw a van. The three men who’d been at the tunnel’s entrance exited the vehicle.

The stockiest of them—Ike, Liz recalled—studiously ignored her and her father as he went to Zeke. “What’s the matter?”

“The damn thing won’t open.”

Ike’s broad face flooded with concern. “You’re sure?”

Zeke inclined his head to the still-closed entrance. He’d once told Liz the barrier couldn’t be breached with blowtorches or the most powerful explosives on this planet. The damn thing was impenetrable…and they couldn’t get inside.

“Try again,” one of the other men said from behind.

Zeke had yet to move his hand from the panel.

“I’ve never stopped,” he said, then spoke to Ike. “Are all of Carreon’s men accounted for inside?”

“Yeah.” Ike stared at the control panel as one would an instrument they’d never seen before and didn’t understand. “We did a sweep. They’re dead except for the two we’ve taken prisoner.”

“Did you capture them anywhere near the computer systems?”

“No.” Ike frowned. “They were in the hall outside Jacob’s room.” His features went slack. “You think one of Carreon’s men actually changed the settings on this? When would any of them have had the time? Even if they did, how could they have known what to do?”

“I don’t know,” Zeke muttered. “What else would explain the damn thing not working?”

Despite the mild night, perspiration broke out on the back of Liz’s neck and between her breasts, making her feel oddly chilled. Holding back a shiver, she looked behind herself, the endless expanse of tunnel, those sickeningly bright lights. Similar to a hospital’s ER filled with gore and death. “Are we trapped out here?”

“No.” Zeke lifted his hand. “You try it,” he said to Ike.

The man’s thick black eyebrows inched up. “You’re sure?”

Given how Zeke tightened his fingers around hers, Liz sensed his mounting irritation and worry.

He kept it well hidden from his men, his tone nonchalant. “Yeah, go on.”

Ike slung the strap of his assault rifle over his left shoulder, then placed his hand on the device.

The expected clicks sounded—one, two, three. Silently, the door slid sideways, disappearing into the wall, showing the stronghold’s interior. Mahogany walls, electric torches, Comanche blankets, Indian art, the staggering buffalo totem, its size matching that of the stronghold’s massive door.

Although it was now possible for them to go inside, Zeke didn’t move. Nor did Liz or her father.

Yards away stood numerous members of Zeke’s clan. The men were in back, the women in front, led by Isabel. An older woman who’d never wanted Liz here…who’d frowned on Zeke’s desire for her.

She and the other women had their arms crossed over their chests, their bodies blocking entry into their domain.

Chapter Three

At a speed reaching one hundred miles an hour, Carreon raced north on I-25 through New Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert. The bleak landscape might as well have been on the moon, it was that barren, colorless in the thin moonlight.

Given the hour, there was little to no traffic, certainly none from his enemies. Nor did Carreon worry about cops on this lonely stretch of road. His only desire was to put as much distance between himself and Zeke Neekoma as possible.

Bastard.

Carreon pressed harder on the Escalade’s accelerator, pushing the vehicle to one hundred and five, one hundred and ten miles per hour.

Because of Zeke, Liz was dead.

Had Dr. Munez died too?

Back at Carreon’s stronghold, the elderly man had kept shouting his daughter’s name and fighting to exit the Escalade.

“You can’t keep me from her!” Munez had cried.

Carreon had separated them in the past and, with her death, he’d made certain to do so in the future. He’d gripped the doctor’s arm to stop him from escaping, determined to keep him prisoner for his healing gift.

Hadn’t turned out that way. The same moment Carreon fled from his goddamn stronghold, Zeke had driven up to it. No doubt to rescue Liz.

“He won’t let her go,” Kele had said of Zeke, her words laced with heartache. She’d wanted Carreon’s men to bring Liz back to her own clan where she rightfully belonged so Kele could have Jacob for herself.

Clearly, both Zeke and Jacob had been enjoying Liz. Mounting her, driving their stiffened cocks into her moist, heated flesh.

“He knows keeping her is dangerous to our people,” Kele had continued in her confession about Zeke, “but he claims to love her as much as she loves him.”

That fucking love had been Liz’s greatest downfall. Carreon relished the memory of his hands around her throat, ending her life. For her betrayal. For wanting the enemy rather than him. For returning tonight with only one purpose—to see him dead.

Carreon bristled at her stupidity, the utter audacity of her plan. He’d shown her where infidelity led, but even then Liz hadn’t simply died as she should have. She’d fought hard. His earlobe still throbbed from her ripping out his earring, the pain deep, constant, making that part of him feel three times its size. The skin on his cheeks and throat burned from where she’d raked him with her nails.

He let out an infuriated growl, wishing she were still alive so he could make her pay once more for harming him.

This time, he’d have Roberto torture her slowly. He’d savor her screams, her pleas for Roberto to stop.

Carreon wouldn’t allow it. He’d take over eventually and would kill her as he had the first time, even if it was a stupid move. No matter what she’d done, how she’d angered him, he still needed her healing gift. However, his rage had also demanded a target. First, with her. Then with her father when Carreon had pushed him from the vehicle.

“You want out, then go,” he’d said, shoving him.

As Carreon had sped away, one of the last things he’d seen was Munez’s body rolling down the drive toward Zeke’s Jeep.

Had Neekoma driven over the man before he could stop his vehicle? Probably.

A mixture of pleasure and renewed indignation burned in Carreon. He hit the heel of his hand against his steering wheel, having no other target at the moment. He’d lost two healers tonight, the strongest in his clan. Neekoma had driven him from his stronghold. His. No one else’s. The SOB had forced Carreon on this wild drive through the darkness.

At this speed, if he lost control of the Escalade, Liz and her father wouldn’t be available to heal him.

The thought persuaded Carreon to ease up on the gas pedal. His vehicle dropped to one hundred, then ninety, eighty…

It felt as though he were crawling toward his destination. He glanced into his side-view and rearview mirrors. No one was behind him. In particular Zeke. No doubt he was still in the safe room, grieving over Liz’s death, holding her body.

Fool.

Accelerating again, Carreon grabbed his cell phone and dialed Ernez, one of his lieutenants. A man who’d murdered his own cousin on Carreon’s orders, for no other reason than Carreon had wanted to see if Ernez would obey the command.

He had without hesitation. Money, not blood, ruled Ernez’s decisions. He’d left poverty behind when Carreon’s lieutenants had recruited him. Few in the clan were educated and successful like Liz and her father. If they wanted wealth, they came to Carreon, and he put them to work. If they chose another path, they were on their own.

None of his men were about to turn away from the riches Carreon had shown them, not even for family.

Tonight, Ernez hadn’t been involved in the conflict at Zeke’s stronghold. There’d been other matters for him to attend to.

The call rang once. A second ring wasn’t necessary. The young man had already picked up and said what Carreon most wanted to hear, “What do you need?”

Carreon told him.


A wave of resentment radiated from Zeke’s clan, especially the women. Liz sensed many of the men behind them were only going along with the program, not wanting to enrage the females further.

Most of them glared at her and her father, their hatred evident.

Not wanting to make the situation worse than it already was, Liz eased her hand from Zeke’s.

He countered by slipping his arm around her waist, drawing her into him in clear opposition to what his people surely wanted. And then her father tightened his arm against hers, a protective gesture.

Oh, Zeke. Oh, Papa.

Liz wanted both of them to tell her everything was going to be all right even as she gave her own assurances. The words wouldn’t come. She didn’t have enough hope.