Skeleton Canyon

Half a mile beyond the second fence, they found themselves in the middle of a small herd of panicked goats.

“Those don’t look like mountain goats to me,” Voland said.

“They’re not,” Joa

“If they don’t get the hell out of my way,” Dick Voland growled, “I’ll be happy to introduce them to an u

Once the Blazer made it through the herd of panicked and milling goats, there was no sign of the Hummer. “Where did they go now?” Dick demanded.

“Let me out again,” Joa

She found it, eventually, but it took time-time they didn’t have. The sun had disappeared completely. Dusk had deepened even more before Joa

This time the tracks led off across rugged terrain where there was no hint of a road. Voland had to pick his way slowly, concentrating on every move, while Joa

In Spanish, the word peloncillos means “little baldies,” These mountains had been given that name because of the distinctive volcanic outcroppings and knobs on top of almost every hillock, ridge, and mountain in the range. The Hummer’s driver had led them up to the crest of one of those knob-crowned ridges. Still following the trail, the Blazer rounded a semitruck-size boulder only to have the Hummer, headlights doused, roar out from behind that same rock.

The enormous, almost-armor-plated front end of the Hummer smashed into the Blazer on the driver’s side, tipping the smaller Chevy over onto its side and sending it tumbling down a steep bank. As the Blazer tipped to the right, the shoulder belt clamped tight across Joa

By then the Blazer had come to rest. Looking across the seat, Joa

Joa

“All right,” she shouted, cupping one hand to her lips in hopes of making her voice carry better. “You’d better give yourselves up. Now. Before someone else gets hurt.”

The answer to her challenge came in another well-aimed blast from the shotgun.

Joa

Needing a decoy, she clambered over the backseat and found a loose gym bag full of clothes. Holding the gym bag ready at the window, she called out again.

“We’ve got reinforcements on the way. You’d better give up while you still can.”

It sounded like empty saber-rattling, even to her, but when the echoing cliffs of the Peloncillos played the last word back to her, “can… can… can”-it sounded more like a bad joke.

Joa

The diversion was enough to give Joa

Hoping to keep the gunman off base by having to keep watch in more than one direction, Joa

Once the latest shotgun blast stopped reverberating through the rocks and mountains, Joa

Joa

This time there was no answering shotgun blast. He’s getting smarter, Joa

As the helicopter drew nearer, she could see the widening beam from a searchlight as the helicopter pilot and passengers sca

After a moment’s consideration, she shrugged her way out of her jacket, blouse, and bulletproof vest. Once she had her bra off, she slipped the vest, blouse, and jacket back on. Reaching down, she felt around for a few small rocks. Feeling a little like a modern-day David battling an armed and dangerous Goliath, she tucked three small rocks into one cup of the bra to give it some added weight. Then, swinging the bra around her head, she sent it sailing through the air.

Months of throwing the Frisbee for an absolutely inexhaustible Tigger served Joa

With her own ears ringing from the blast and suspecting that the gunman’s would be equally affected, Joa