They needed an ally in this town.

They would be taking a risk, but she had the feeling time was short.

Doug had a radio in his car and he heard the call. Marty had been attacked and had called for him.

'She needs you.'

Those words echoed in his head. But Marty had asked for him. She was in poor condition, according to the dispatcher. Perhaps she had something more she had to tell him.

Torn, he finally stopped, turned around and headed back to Bisbee. Liz should be safe enough where she was. As sheriff, he had covered all of Cochise County at one time or another. He'd patrolled for illegals and smugglers as well as caches of stolen Indian artifacts. Otherwise he wouldn't have known of the cabin's existence.

He put the flashing light on top of the Jeep and pressed his foot down on the gas pedal. Ten minutes back. Then he would return.

Who would have hurt Marty? Every one in Bisbee respected her. Some might argue with her defense of down-and-outers or her opposition to many of the newcomers who wanted to change Bisbee. But crime--particularly violent crime--was not a major problem in the city.

He knew it had something to do with the three tourists and Liz.

He wanted to talk to them again. He should have pressed the point when he'd seen them. But he'd realized from the first day he'd met Liz that she was running from something. He had not wanted to excoriate the wounds. Now he wished he had.

He reached the hospital three minutes later.

He parked in front of the emergency room and ran through the doors. He stopped only briefly at the desk. "Marty?"

He didn't have to elaborate. Everyone knew Marty.

"They took her up to one of the operating rooms."

"Her condition?"

"Critical. There's been bleeding in the brain."

His heart sank. She couldn't help him now. Still, he decided to go up to the waiting room to see whether he could find out anything more. He walked in and saw the same three people he had seen in the bar.

He went to the desk, heard the same information as he had below. "How long before they will know anything?" he asked.

"I don't know," the nurse said.

Then he went over to the two men and woman. "What do you know about this?"

"I found her," the tall detective said. "After going to her house as you suggested, we returned to the store. The sign still said CLOSED, but the door was unlocked. We went in and found her."

"You didn't see anyone there?"

"No, but it looked like someone had searched the place."

Doug remembered her jotting down directions to where Liz was hiding. Sometimes imprints remained on the next page of the pad.

"Do you want to tell me why you are really here?"

Dom stepped forward this time. "As we told you, we're looking for Meredith Rawson's sister, Holly. She's my daughter. I didn't know about it until a few days ago. It's a long story, but there's been several murders surrounding Ms. Rawson's search for her sister. If you know a woman with a small boy and who sculpts in metal, she could well be Holly Ames. And if she is, there are some people who would do anything to keep us from finding her."

"A husband?"

"Yes, a state senator. And her father is a justice on the state supreme court. Both men are powerful in Louisiana."

"And your role in this?" Doug stared straight at Gaynor.

"I'm here for Meredith."

Doug quickly made up his mind. He felt he was a good judge of people, and he instinctively trusted these three.

"Let's go," he said to Gage.

"I'm going, too," Dom said.

"So am I," the woman added.

He didn't have time to argue with them. He turned to Gage. "You have a gun with you?"

"No."

"I have an extra one in the car."

He started toward his car at a jog. He had a sick feeling in his gut. They reached his Jeep. The older man got in the front without asking. The other two piled in the back. Doug screeched off, putting the siren back on top of the Jeep.

Holly waited for Marty to either call or return. Her friend had promised to do so if she heard anything from the mysterious sister.

She also knew Marty would call Doug. She continued to keep her ears turned to the phone and her eyes on the nearly invisible road that led to the cabin.

Harry was quiet. More quiet than she had seen him since they had reached Bisbee. Even Caesar moved around with his tail between his legs.

She had explored the area behind the cabin, the mountain it backed up to. Marty had said it was full of hiding places. It had once hidden Apaches for months.

Holly fixed some pork and beans for herself and Harry, then looked back outside. It was late afternoon, and the sun was falling, casting shadows over the desert landscape.

Holly shivered with loneliness.

She looked outside again. She saw a trail of dust rising up from the distance.

Doug?

Her heart flip-flopped at the thought. She dreaded telling him the truth but it would also bring relief.

She should have told him earlier. She knew that. She'd allowed fear to overcome her instincts.

She looked back outside. The vehicle was closer. Not a Jeep. Not Marty's old Bug.

That fear she'd been trying to mask flared into full terror.

She grabbed the dog's leash and clicked it on. She couldn't leave the animal here and break Harry's heart once more. "Come on, Harry," she said. "Let's play a game of hide-and-seek."

"I don't want to," he whined.

That was so unlike him that she stopped for a moment. But urgency propelled her ahead. "Don't you want to come with Caesar?"

He stared at her for a moment, then slid off the sofa. "I suppose so. But I would rather go riding with Sher'f Doug."

She would, too, but instead she hurried him out the back, trying her best not to frighten him. She held his hand with her left hand and guided the dog with the other, moving as quickly as she could. They scrambled up to a ridge. She gave the leash to Harry and pointed out a direction. "You go ahead," she said. "Then I'll find you."

He gave her a dubious look but pulled the leash and stumbled forward. She looked at the ground they'd just pa.s.sed over. Footprints.

She took a branch from a shrub and backtracked, brushing away their signs. Then she caught up with Harry, who had stopped and was waiting for her.

She wished she had the cell phone with her. But in her frantic escape, she'd left it inside.

"Doug," she whispered. "I need you."

They went across the ridge, then started climbing again. She heard some shouts in the distance.

Her car was still parked in front. Perhaps she should have taken it and made a run from Bisbee.

Too late now. Panic had driven her. It drove her now.

She wished with all her heart she had a weapon. Why hadn't she taken a kitchen knife? Anything.

She did know she wouldn't surrender without a fight.

"Faster," she urged Harry. "Faster."

Meredith told as much of her story as she could, then Gage took over, and finally Dom.

The sheriff said little yet she realized he was fully absorbing everything even as he drove.

"Why?" he asked. "Why is she running?"

"I don't know," Meredith said. "Something terrible must have happened. We do know that an employee of Senator Ames was killed about the same time she disappeared."

"You never met her?"

"Yes," she said, "though we went to different schools. I met her at some fund-raiser or another."

"No recognition?"

"No. We don't look that much alike. I see more resemblance between her and my mother than she has with me. Since I never knew I had a sister, I never thought about it."

The sheriff was grim. His fingers were nearly white where they clasped the steering wheel.

"Should you call for help?" Meredith asked.

"Not until I know what in the h.e.l.l is going on," he said.

"I did ask for a patrol car to patrol an area just north of here. They can be here within four minutes."

He loved Liz Baker. That much was obvious. He was going to do his d.a.m.nedest to protect her. She glanced at Gage, and he nodded. He had caught it as well.

It was odd how well they communicated. They didn't need words.

They left the main road and turned onto something that barely resembled a trail. They bounced over rough terrain and Gage's hand tightened around hers.

Despite the dust that rose and smothered them in gray fog, she saw a small building. Then two cars.

One man was at the front door of the cabin. He held a rifle in his hands.

The sheriff uttered a curse, then took the radio in one hand and called for help. He turned on the siren, obviously to intimidate.

The man in the doorway stood his ground and leveled the rifle. He pointed it at the oncoming car.

The windshield shattered, and gla.s.s flew throughout the car. Meredith felt a sharp sting.

The sheriff turned the car suddenly as the shooter aimed again. Menelo zigzagged, and Meredith heard the report of the rifle again. But this time it didn't seem to hit the car.

"There's an extra pistol in the glove compartment," Sheriff Menelo said. "There's also a rifle in the trunk."

"I can shoot," Meredith said.

"So can I," Dom said.

Menelo slammed the car to a stop and jumped out, taking his pistol from his holster as he did so. Meredith spilled from the other side of the car and took cover behind it. Dom rolled on the ground with the pistol he had taken from the glove compartment, and Gage grabbed the keys Menelo threw to him and opened the trunk, taking out the rifle.

Meredith could have believed it was all ch.o.r.eographed ahead of time.

The window in the cabin broke and a rifle poked out.

Meredith glanced over at the sheriff. His face was like stone.

"Liz and her son might be inside," he said. He hollered out, "Liz?"

No answer.

Then, to the gunman, "There's no way out. More cars are coming. Come out with your hands up."

Silence. Then the rifle moved, obviously searching for a target. But the shooter didn't seem to aim at them.

"Go," Menelo said.

They ran for cover. Gage followed Meredith to a shallow gulch and shielded her body with his. Dom and the sheriff followed.

Dirt rose as bullets peppered the ground in front of them, but the gulch protected them.