chapter Sixteen
“Xav!” Ash hissed his name. “What if I’d killed you?”
“You wouldn’t have, darling. I’m the man of your dreams.” He smiled, big and sexy, and Ash repressed the desire to bean him. “So what’s the plan?”
“Why are you here?”
“I told you. I’m always going to take care of you. And Fiona gave me the heads-up that I might want to follow you. Said you had a distinctly wild look in your eyes that seemed like you had something on your mind.”
Well, she couldn’t fault the busybody aunt for that. “I’m going to find Wolf. It’s something I have to do alone.”
“All right. Whatever you say.”
He grinned, and she glared at his big-shouldered self. Why did she have the sudden urge to kiss him? She should be mad at him for anointing himself her bodyguard. She was a well-trained operative, and he was a hot, sexy company-owning geek who’d worked for her family for years.
“Come on,” she said finally. “But if I find Wolf, you have to let what happens happen. In other words, it’s my mission.”
“Got it. Believe me, I understand.” He took her gun from her holster and checked it. “Good girl. You look sexy when you’re prepared.”
“I have four children. Disorganization doesn’t fly when you have four babies.” She returned her gun to her holster and proceeded down the tunnel, her footsteps soft on the dirt floor.
“What makes you think he’s down here?” Xav whispered.
She thought of her vision, and that Loco Diablo was where she had to find Wolf. “Just a hunch.”
She could feel him behind her, pressed tight to shield her. “This place is a bunker,” he said. “Looks like it could withstand Armageddon.”
“I think that’s why law enforcement has left it alone.”
“Or they got paid off to do so,” Xav said.
She whirled to face him. “Sheriff Cartwright is a friend of our family!”
“Different county, babe. Different jurisdiction altogether. Plus the feds have been in control of this operation for months. For all you know, there’s a reason they decided not to do anything about this fortress.”
She’d never considered that the law might not be on their side. But Xav was right; bribes had been known to change hands.
“I can’t worry about that,” she said, and pushed on.
But it angered her. This was her land—her family’s land. Bought and paid for. Intended for the good of the community one day.
They must have walked for miles without coming across anyone, yet there was evidence that indicated people had been there recently. “I don’t understand. It’s like it’s been abandoned.”
“I was thinking the same thing, angel face.” Xav put his ear against a cave wall and listened, put his hand against it to feel vibrations. “I don’t hear anything. Feels inactive. Deserted.”
She closed her eyes, reached to divine human movement, or spirit force. There was nothing but silence.
“It’s like a tomb,” she whispered.
“So is it kinky if I suggest this is one cave we haven’t made love in?” Xav asked, pulling her to him.
She wanted to melt in his arms, but the memory of the terror of her vision was too real. “This place isn’t for making love. It’s made for war.” She pulled away, regretfully letting go of him.
“Rats,” Xav said. “My problem is I’m always on Go around you.”
She smiled, batted away a cobweb. “Wolf’s not here. My vision was wrong.”
Xav kicked at something near the cave wall, sending up a plume of dust. The musty smell of the cave was almost overpowering. He shone his flashlight on something huddled in the darkness. “Look. A tarp.”
“Covering what?” She swept off a few handfuls of the dirt disguise which overlaid the tarp and pulled it up.
A pile of dynamite and other explosives lay neatly, and ominously, stacked.
“Damn,” Xav said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think Jace had already been here.”
“No. Jace does a different kind of party favor.” She shone her flashlight over the stacked pile surrounded by a metal casing. “He’s more into detonating IEDs and enjoying the select grenades.”
“This is quite a marker.”
“Yes, it is.” She folded the tarp down carefully, restored the dirt disguise.
“Why would they put in the work for these tunnels and then lay in enough explosives to send Loco Diablo to the moon?” Xav asked.
A chill spread over Ash, stealing her breath. She felt the prescience roll over her, fogging her vision, the way it had earlier—felt the heat of fire and smelled the acrid burning smoke.
The magic wedding dress had been warning her.
Xav put his arms around her, and she felt stronger for his warmth. “If you’re right about my uncle being a lone wolf now, would he destroy Rancho Diablo rather than see the Callahans keep it forever?”
Xav was silent a moment. “There’s no way this dynamite is federal property. They wouldn’t put in this much explosive material. It’s enough to take out a small city, at least a good bit of Loco Diablo.”
A sudden realization came to her, foreboding in its powerful suggestion. “It’s enough to destroy Rancho Diablo, and everything Running Bear and his two sons and their wives worked for. All the years of hiding would have been almost for nothing. Molly, Jeremiah, Carlos and Julia might have saved their lives but Wolf would win by destroying the spirit here.” She took a deep breath. “It would kill my grandfather to know he’d fathered such evil.”
“We’ll fix this,” Xav said.
She shook her head. “This isn’t your battle.” It shouldn’t have to be his fight.
“Babe, I signed on for the war long before I knew I was going to reel you in. Trust me, I’m not about to leave the Callahans high and dry now. With or without you, I’m staying in this to help your family win.” He kissed her, comforting and sexy, a strength she was learning to rely on.
“But now that you have a good idea of what might be coming to your family’s home,” Xav said, kissing her tenderly, “you’re going to have to leave, babe. You and the children are going far away, where I should have left you in the first place. I should never have brought you back.”
“That’s a fine way to talk to the woman you want to marry,” Ash said.
“It’s the way it’s got to be. We can’t endanger the babies. Now let’s get out of here before we’re discovered. That would really put the capper on our wedding plans. You might get kidnapped, and I might get—”
“Don’t say it,” Ash said quickly. “Don’t even speak the words. The evil spirits listen closely.”
“Okay, babe. No worries. Let’s get out of here.” He dragged her back the length of the tunnel, and Ash had never felt such a driving compulsion to run in her life. The very thought of losing Xav put life to her feet, forcing her through the dark passageway.
But at the same time, she knew she was coming back for those explosives.
Just not with Xav.
* * *
“I CAN’T DO ANYTHING. He follows me everywhere, my virtual shadow,” Ash complained to her six brothers when she finally gathered them together in the upstairs library the night before Christmas Eve. “My overly protective shadow. He’s obsessed about small details, like the fact that I haven’t yet bought a wedding gown for tomorrow.”
Dante looked at her. “I would call that a huge detail.”
“I’m getting married in a regular dress,” Ash said. “The chief is giving me away, or at least Xav asked him to. Xav’s wearing jeans and a black jacket with a lariat.”
They all took that in with nods.
“I’m just telling you, so that you know and understand why I’ve invited him here tonight.”
They scowled a bit. “This isn’t his first rodeo here,” she said. “He’s been a good warrior for us, and he’s going to be part of this family. From now on, I say Xav should be part of any family conversations. Xav,” she called down the landing, “come up. We’re all in agreement.”
“Whatever little sister says,” Jace said when Xav walked in. “Welcome.”
“Here’s the thing,” Ash said, taking a deep breath. “This is the last family meeting in this library we will ever have. I know this.”
They all stared at her, astonished. Tighe passed around the whiskey decanter, and they topped off their crystal tumblers, eyeing her.
“When you’re through hoping I’ll disappear and that what I said isn’t a foretelling of the future, you’ll figure out that I am telling you exactly what is going to happen,” Ash said quietly. “Our assignment is nearing its end.”
“I’m not sure how you could know this, little sister,” Galen said. “And yet, I know that if you’re saying it, it’s probably true.”
They all looked at each other, not doubting her. She knew she wasn’t wrong. Every moment, the power became stronger inside her.
She reached to take Xav’s hand. “I might as well tell all of you this at the same time. There’s a lot to go over. You’ll have to stand in for Grandfather tomorrow. He won’t be giving me away.” She looked at her brothers. “In fact, all of you will give me away.”
They blinked, not sure what to say for a moment.
“I’ll stand in for Running Bear in a heartbeat,” Jace said. “But how do you know he’s not coming?”
“He’s not coming because he can’t,” Ash said with certainty, briefly closing her eyes. “He hasn’t come to see my children. He’s gone away.”
“What’s going on with you, sister?” Falcon looked at her carefully. “Are you having visions?”
“I’ve always known some things,” Ash said, and they all nodded, “but after the babies were born, it was as if everything became sharper for me. And then I sat with Grandfather, and the visions came even more often. It’s like I live between a spirit world and this world. Don’t worry,” she said, looking at her brothers’ concerned faces, “most of the time it’s a really beautiful place.”
Sloan rubbed her shoulder. “Little sister, you have to do all the hard work in this family.”
“It’s not hard,” she said quickly. “There’s so much love that I always know I’m supported.” And then there was Xav. He always said he supported her. “I have nothing to fear,” she said quietly. “I’ve never been alone.”
A flash of intuition hit her. She remembered saying those very same words to Fiona. And she remembered Mallory McGrath urging her to keep fighting. “Our parents are alive and well,” she said suddenly. “And so are the Callahans.”
They waited, and she could feel them hanging on her every word. She listened, waiting for the words and pictures to settle in her mind. Nothing more came.
“Will we see them?” Sloan asked.
“I don’t know,” Ash said. “What I do know is that we have plans to make.” She took a deep breath. “I went to find Wolf in the tunnels at Loco Diablo. I know he’s hiding there.”
“Without us?” Dante demanded.
“You let her do this?” Tighe demanded, glaring at Xav.
“Xav went with me,” Ash said, and they passed the whiskey around for a final topper, looking as if fortification was quite necessary.
“You do realize,” Galen said, “that you have four children relying on you. And both of you were in enemy territory.” He scowled at Xav. “Brother, have you lost your mind?”
“It wasn’t planned, believe me.” Ash sighed. “Xav believes his mission is to take care of me. None of this can be blamed on him.”
“Damn right,” Sloan said. “He should take care of you somewhere other than Wolf’s territory.”
“Why weren’t we informed?” Falcon demanded. “One of us could have gone with you.”
“It was safe,” Ash said. “We didn’t find anyone there.”
“You didn’t know that would be the case.” Jace crossed his arms. “Sister, you’re off the case.”
“Off the case?”
They nodded, their gazes determined.
“You’re off the case, you and your traveling Romeo,” Tighe said to Xav. “You had no right to involve her in anything dangerous.”
“You’re fired,” Dante agreed. “Fired like a chicken on a grill.”
“Don’t think it works quite that way, bud,” Sloan said. “Not that kind of fired.”
“Well, then fired, fired, fired,” Dante said. “Off-with-his-head kind of stuff!”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Ash sighed again. “You guys are so easily freaked out.”
“It’s okay,” Xav said quickly, rubbing Ash’s fingertips in his hands. “I agree with everything you’re saying.”
“Well, you damn well should. And, Ash, you’re channeling some kind of intel we don’t want you ever channeling again,” Galen said. “You don’t walk this journey alone, Ash. We’re in this together. All-for-one-and-one-for-all kind of together.”
“The family that fights together stays together,” Dante chimed in.
“I walk this journey with Xav,” Ash said, suddenly more sure of that than anything she’d ever felt certain of. “He’s walking it with me, in spirit, in the flesh.”
They grumbled about that, but Xav silently nodded.
“You can’t change it,” Ash said, looking into Xav’s eyes. “We’re two of the same spirit.”
“Let’s get back to you searching for Wolf in the tunnels,” Jace said. “Did you find him?”
“No.” Ash took a deep breath. “We found no signs of life underground to speak of. What is there is heavily fortified, but at the moment, quiet. As if the cartel is waiting for the feds and the reporters to lose interest.”
“So where’s Wolf?” Galen demanded.
“I don’t know. But I can tell you where there’s enough explosives to light up the town of Diablo.”
The room went deathly silent.
“You found explosives underground?” Sloan asked, his voice low and serious.
“Enough to make Jace’s heart sing,” she said. “And I don’t think they belong to the cartel.”
“You think that cache belongs to Wolf,” Dante said slowly, “and you think he plans to blow Loco Diablo.”
“I think he plans to blow Rancho Diablo,” Ash corrected. “The dirt overlay was fresh. The explosives have been recently moved there. Difficult to predict the mind of a madman, but that’s my greatest fear.” What else could the magic wedding dress have been foretelling, except that Rancho Diablo was in danger, might burn to the ground and never rise again?
“Call the feds. They’ll get the ATF and several other agencies involved. Get that crap moved out of there,” Jace said. “Consider it solved.”
“Not so simple,” Ash said. “More explosives can be easily bought.”
“Not without raising red flags all over some government computer somewhere,” Tighe pointed out.
“My suspicion is they’re smuggled. That much explosive material should have flagged computers like crazy. But it didn’t. And you know that the right palms can be greased with silver.”
“It would buy us time if we let the feds take care of it.” Sloan shook his head. “But Ash is right. Wolf will strike again. We just won’t know when. At least this time, we know what’s being planned.” He looked at his sister. “Good work, sis. Even if we’re not happy you went there, you did good work.”
“I can’t believe Xav allowed you to do that, though.” Galen’s scowl went deeper. “You should be stronger, Xav. Withstand her wild side.”
Dante snickered. “Good luck with that.”
“Probably he should be as strong with Ash as you are with Rose,” Sloan pointed out. “Kind of bad if you’re looking in your own mirror, bro.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ash said, “and in spite of all your well-meaning flapping and acting like roosters, you know I’m going to do what I think is best for Rancho Diablo. And since I’m the only one who has visions, I have to go with it.”
“You have Grandfather’s spirit,” Jace said, and she nodded.
“I know. And I have the strangest feeling Skye has it, too. Sometimes she has the sweetest expression on her face, like she knows all is right with the world, and I think she’s seeing beyond what any of us can see.”
They all looked at her with deep concern.
“It’s okay,” she told her brothers. “I’m not afraid.” She took a deep breath. “Xav knows, too. He has my back.”
“Good thing we like him,” Sloan said gruffly, eyeing Xav. “Otherwise we’d have to kick his tail up between your ears, Xav.”
“I’m doing the best I can to not bring evil here,” Ash said. “I need you all to understand that. Quit being my big brothers and start being—”
“Your platoon,” Sloan said. “We get it. Done.”
“That’s right,” Dante said. “Consider us your team.”
“Whatever helps,” Tighe said. “Ash’s army reporting for duty.”
“Okay.” She looked at them, knowing the next step would be difficult. “You’re not going to like this, but I suggest we detonate those explosives under Loco Diablo.”
“Oh, good,” Jace said. “I’m always in the mood for a party.”
“We discussed this before—” Galen began, and Ash waved him quiet.
“They’re not our explosives. Nothing can be traced to us. They can, however, take out those tunnels, and maybe, just maybe, run the cartel off. They’ll blame it on Wolf, for starters,” she said, “and that alone may be worth the price of admission.”
“Brilliant,” Falcon said. “If that’s the way we get rid of our uncle, I’m all for it.”
Ash looked at Galen, who was ruminating doubtfully.
“If it meant that our parents could return one day,” she said softly, “what price would you pay?”
Galen looked at her, looked at all of them. “Hell, I’d do it just so our Callahan cousins could bring their children back and live here safely. Just think—they could come home.”
She nodded. “Since I’m the only one here right now with children on the premises, I agree. Sawyer, too, would agree, Jace. She stays here as much as possible with your children. But we’re all either operatives or bodyguards. Our Callahan cousins’ wives are good people, but they’re not trained. They need real lives to come home to. And that is what we agreed to when we took this assignment.”
She couldn’t help the persuasion in her tone. Her brothers nodded.
“For that, I’d light the match myself,” Galen said. “You’re sure the tunnels are deserted?”
She understood the doctor in him coming to the fore. “Totally deserted. No animals, no people. We’d check again before we detonated. I mean, I don’t really want to endorse that, I’m just saying it’s an option if we find ourselves with our backs to the wall.”
“I’m all for it,” Jace said. “That place is going to go sky-high, and those tunnels will be history.”
“And when it’s over,” Ash said, “we roll that land with cement. We put good back where there was bad. Hospitals, libraries, schools. Anything that would make our parents proud. They were all about protecting the community, and that’s the mark we’ll leave here when we’re gone.”
“Where will we go?” Tighe asked.
“Probably where Grandfather sends us,” Ash said. “I hope one day to show my children to our parents.”
The library went silent.
“Me, too,” Galen finally said, and all her brothers nodded.
“That’s our next stop, then,” Jace said. “But brother’s keeping a secret about that.”
They stared at Galen. Ash noted he didn’t seem all that comfortable suddenly; her big brother doctor looked out of sorts and disgruntled. “What’s the secret, Galen?”
“He knows where our parents are,” Jace said quietly. “I remember hearing Grandfather tell Galen that he was the keeper of the secret when we were boys. The secret being our parents’ whereabouts.”
“Do you know, Galen?” Ash demanded, shocked.
Galen sighed. “I’ve always known. Grandfather told me long ago. In case anything ever happened to him, one of us needed to know.”
“Why not me?” Ash demanded.
“Because you were, like, a baby,” Dante butted in unhelpfully.
“He could have told me later,” Ash said. “I have his spirit.”
“Too many burdens dampen the spirit,” Tighe said. “Don’t question Grandfather’s ways. He knows more than any of us ever will.”
“This is true,” Falcon said.
“So can we go to them?” Ash asked, excitement filling her.
“You have to ask Grandfather. Even though I knew, I was never given permission to go. However, two of us were closer to them than you realized.”
Ash felt wild flutters in her heart. “That’s cruel, Galen! You have to tell us!”
“I can’t. It’s not my story to tell. It’s our parents’ story, and Grandfather’s. I was just the keeper of that one secret, in case anything ever happened to him.” Galen sighed. “I can tell you one more thing. That website Running Bear launched is him getting technological.”
“In what way?” Sloan asked.
“He used to leave photos of the babies under the rock in a cave, and a runner took them to the Callahan parents. As technology became easier to use and access, Running Bear hit on the idea of constructing a Rancho Diablo website, which detailed the history of the ranch, the tours that are conducted here in the fall, and any operations we offer, such as horse breeding. But,” Galen said, “certain passwords were given out to access a part of the website that contains family photo albums. All baby photos, and photos of the children as they’ve grown, are in the private family photo albums, designed for our parents.”
Ash was hurt. “Grandfather hasn’t even been to see my children.”
“So you think,” Falcon said. “I know for a fact he was here one night. I saw him slink out the back. At first I thought it was a shadow, but then I realized Grandfather had paid a call to Fiona. And remember, Fiona took pictures of your babies when we had our first meeting after they were born.”
“Fiona and Running Bear!” Ash was miffed. “Those two are thick as thieves. Someone should tell us something every once in a while.”
“Who would benefit if they did?” Sloan asked.
Disgruntled, Ash waved her hand. “I’m just complaining. I want to see our parents. I’m tired of living driven by Wolf.”
“Ashlyn!” Tighe stared at her. “Do you realize our parents have lived it much longer? Forever? We’ve given up nothing compared to them.”
“I know, I know. Ignore me.” Ash drew a deep, shaky breath. “Motherhood has hit me funny. I have all these emotions I didn’t have before.”
“You want to show your beautiful darlings to their grandparents,” Dante said, coming to sit by his sister. “We understand. You got some real peaches, thanks to Xav.”
“Thanks to Xav, nothing.” Ash knew she was being horrible and couldn’t seem to stop herself as she looked at Xav. “For the first time in my life, I don’t feel like an operative. I feel like I’d clobber Uncle Wolf if he walked in the door right now. I’m just not able to think rationally and unemotionally anymore. I’m at the end of my tether as far as my training. I know I’m well prepared for anything, military training does that, but I’d still smack him into the next county.”
They laughed at their sister.
“You’re braver and tougher than all of us combined,” Galen said. “You’ll feel better when you blow Wolf’s underground rabbit warren to pieces.”
“I don’t think I ever forgave him for shooting Jace,” Ash said fiercely. “I never forgave him for trapping the Diablos. I never, ever will forgive him for destroying our families. And that’s why I’m the hunted one. Because I don’t understand forgiveness. That makes me dark in my soul.”
They stared at her, inscrutable.
“I like dark,” Sloan said cheerfully.
“Think of all the good stuff that’s dark,” Tighe agreed. “A dark room, for one. I like to sleep.”
“Dark meat,” Galen said. “Tasty stuff.”
“Black is the essence and inclusion of all colors, for example, if one is speaking strictly of the color spectrum,” Dante said, sounding like a total nerd, a show-off, which all of her brothers could be when they went rogue nerd-ball.
Ash scoffed at him. “Even if you have all your facts straight, Dante, you’re all just trying to make me feel better because I’m actually a horrible, vengeful person.”
“I’ve never told any of you this,” Jace said, his tone professor-thoughtful, “but I’m actually a film noir buff. I like the old black-and-white movies, the darker the—”
“She said she gets that we’re trying to make her feel better,” Falcon interrupted. “Don’t be a total jackass.”
“I’m not! I’m merely chipping in with my two cents’ worth,” Jace said cheerfully. “All this talk of darkness is making me want to break out some Bride of Frankenstein, circa 1935. You have to admit, the bride the scientist created for Frankenstein had quite a do. It’s worth watching the whole movie just for her.”
They all looked at him. Xav shrugged at Ash, looking as if he was trying not to laugh.
“Jace, you might want to put the bats back in your belfry. Pretty sure they’re flying around up there unchecked,” Galen murmured. “But I’ll add Black Diablos, because they’re at the top of my list of dark things I live for. Now, can we get on with the meeting? Or have we completely exhausted anything of importance we could ever possibly discuss?”
“Probably,” Ash said. “Although if you think about it, we’ve had some doozy discussions up here.”
“We’re not going anywhere, yet, Ash,” Dante said. “We’ll probably have more family meetings up here.”
“No.” She looked out the window, staring into the darkness. “No. We won’t. It’s time.”
And just as she spoke those words, the sound of the Diablos running through the icy, snowy canyons came to them, an audible specter, louder than ever, guiding them to their destiny.