Texas Outlaw (Rory Yates #2)(67)

“Yes,” he says, nodding gravely.

I don’t know what to say. I’m about to argue, but if what I’m showing him doesn’t speak for itself, I don’t know what will.

“I’m disappointed,” he says again, then adds, “with myself.”

His stone-cold expression breaks into a smile.

“I’ve been a horse’s ass,” he says. “You’ve done good work here, and I’m sorry I haven’t helped you. A lieutenant is supposed to help his Rangers, not stand in their way.”

He extends his hand, and I take it, surprised and relieved.

“I’m going to make it up to you,” he says.

He claps me on the shoulder. I feel like Dale must have felt last night. I’ve been carrying a heavy burden on my own, and now I finally have help. With Kyle on board, we can bring the full power of the Texas Rangers down on Rio Lobo, not to mention a handful of other state and federal agencies.

But there’s still the question of how to make that happen.

“What do we do next?” I say.

“You’ve been doing all right on your own up till now,” he says. “I defer to you. What’s our next step?”

I start by waving Ariana and Dale down from the hill. As they make their way toward us, Kyle and I climb down the ladder to the ground and discuss what we should do. We’re still trapped in the open space, with McCormack’s men guarding the exits. The difference now is that Kyle is here on official police business, whereas Ariana and I were—and technically still are—fugitives.

We might be able to drive the tanker to the highway and have Kyle talk our way through. But I’m afraid they might very well start shooting, especially if they see us taking one of their tankers, no doubt full of drugs, with us.

Another possibility is that Kyle drives back on his own, like nothing has changed. He could act like he didn’t see anything—no sign of me or Ariana—but as soon as he gets a cell phone signal, he could call in the cavalry. But this is risky because that leaves Dale, Ariana, and me out here with the tanker. Now that it’s daylight, I imagine McCormack’s men will be scouring these hills. Besides, once Dale doesn’t show up this morning with a truckload of drugs, McCormack will start to suspect something, if he hasn’t already.

Ariana could hide Tom Aaron’s Land Cruiser, but there’s no way we can hide Dale’s tanker.

Once McCormack gets wind that we have this truck—and the millions of dollars of evidence inside—along with a witness who will tell us everything about the trafficking operation, he could move heaven and earth to try to cover his ass before we can get a warrant to bring an army of detectives to his property. Given enough time, he could move all the drugs off his property, start destroying evidence, maybe make a run for it himself. All he and Gareth would need to do is get across the border and hook up with their cartel buddies and we might never see them again.

All of this is why I think our best course of action is strength in numbers. Kyle, Dale, Ariana, and I should all take the tanker south together, not splitting up. As soon as we get into cell phone range, Kyle and I will start making calls. We’ll bring in reinforcements from Company E in El Paso. We’ll work on getting search warrants. We’ll notify the DEA. We’ll call the sheriff’s office and highway patrol and tell them that the roadblocks set up for Ariana should now be on the lookout for any and all vehicles associated with Carson McCormack.

We’ll put as many wheels in motion as we can, as fast as possible.

“Sounds good to me,” Kyle says.

When Dale and Ariana arrive, they look unconvinced of Kyle’s trustworthiness, but he quickly wins them over.

He shakes Ariana’s hand and congratulates her on a job well done.

“You started this investigation all by yourself,” he says. “There are about to be a hundred detectives on this from half a dozen agencies, but no one will forget that you’re the one who started it all. I’ll see to that.”

When he meets Dale, Kyle claps him on the back and says, “Coming forward must have been very hard, but you’ve done the right thing. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re a protected witness through the whole legal process.”

Dale, embarrassed, smiles and adjusts his ball cap.

For a moment, it feels like everything is going to work out. We’ve finally broken the case open and it’s just a matter of time before all the bad guys are in jail and all the good guys are safe.

But then Dale opens his mouth to speak and instead of words coming out, blood and teeth explode from his lips. His body collapses into the dirt, blood spilling out of a hole in the back of his skull.

His Dallas Mavericks cap lies in a growing pond of gore.

As I stare in disbelief, I finally hear the shot, trailing at least two seconds behind the bullet that killed Dale Peters.





Chapter 85



I SCAN THE hillsides, looking for the sniper, but all I can see is sagebrush and rocks and the occasional desert tree.

Gareth could be anywhere.

I feel panic around me—Ariana and Kyle are shocked and unsure what to do—and I tear my eyes away from the landscape.

“Take cover!” I shout at them. “Underneath the tanker!”

Ariana and Kyle move in that direction, and as I’m backing that way myself, I let my eyes dart back to the hillsides.