Protector (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 5) Read online

  It was excruciating, to say the least, but Caitlin knew there was no point in complaining about the time they were wasting. They couldn’t change the traffic patterns — although she thought that would be a handy talent for an urban witch to have — and eventually they did come out on the other side, leaving the suburbs and their planned communities behind them as they headed into the open desert.

  The sun blared right into her face and she raised a hand to block it, as it was now low enough that the visor wasn’t doing much good to protect her. Alex glanced over and asked, “You managing okay?”

  “It’s a little bright. But I’ll live.”

  “There’s a spare pair of sunglasses in the glove compartment. One of the arms is a little loose, but it’s better than going blind.”

  She opened the glovebox, and, sure enough, there was a pair of somewhat wobbly Ray-Bans in there. “Thanks,” she said gratefully as she settled them on her nose. They were heavier than the cheap drugstore sunglasses she usually wore, but they’d do.

  Alex nodded. “I probably should’ve thought of them sooner. Sorry about that.”

  “It’s okay.” He had enough on his mind; he shouldn’t have to worry about babysitting her. And really, she had been all right until the sun dropped just low enough to be a problem.

  Seemingly abandoning that topic, he said, “We should be getting into Blythe right around dinnertime. You want to stop there and get something to eat?”

  Part of her didn’t, just because she wanted to get to Pasadena as soon as they could. But that was silly, because they wouldn’t be able to see Simón Santiago until the following morning anyway. They’d grabbed some tacos at a hole-in-the-wall place not too far from the motor vehicle office, but that had been hours ago. By the time seven o’clock rolled around, she knew she’d be starving. “Sounds good. Any ideas?”

  “Not really. I’ve never been this far past Phoenix before. Uncharted territory.” He glanced over at her, the warm western sun flashing off his teeth as he grinned.

  Even though impatience was still dancing through her, to the point that she’d had her feet pressing against the footwell, as if that would make the SUV move faster, she couldn’t help smiling in return. “Well, I guess we’ll have to take our chances.”

  Another grin. “Or hope that I get a good enough signal in Blythe that I can find something promising on Yelp.”

  “That works, too. My powers of divination aren’t really designed for picking out restaurants.”

  He nodded, still smiling. That smile slowly disappeared, though, as he stared out at the road ahead. “Do you feel like we’re missing something here?”

  Caitlin didn’t bother to ask what he meant by that. “I feel like we’re missing out on a whole lot of somethings. Do you want to be more specific?”

  “Matías. What’s his endgame? What’s he using all this dark magic for?”

  “Besides getting laid?” A grimace pulled at her mouth. The words had slipped out before she could stop them.

  His tone grew gentle, as if he knew just how much that part of her friends’ current situation upset her. “Yes, besides that.”

  “I don’t know.” She stared out the side window so she wouldn’t have to look directly into the sun. The golden-brown landscape rippled past, broken by manzanita bushes and cactus and the odd ocotillo, its strange undersea-looking branches tipped by bright orange flowers. “That is, I don’t know if these are the same guys who had a run-in with Connor and Angela a few years ago, because obviously they didn’t exchange names. If they are, it might just be a grudge thing — I mean, they kidnapped witches from both clans, so that has to send some kind of message. But….” The words trailed off, because she knew deep down that this wasn’t anything as simple as a grudge, that Matías’ actions spoke of a far deeper motivation than merely trying to get back at the prima and primus of the McAllister and Wilcox clans.

  The thought tickled at the back of her mind. Was Matías somehow behind Maya’s mysterious wasting illness? But she’d been sick for months, according to Alex. Then again, they really didn’t know how long the warlock had been lurking in de la Paz territory. Caitlin waited to see if she’d experience that strange inner nudge, the one that told her that her suspicions might be right, but she felt nothing. Probably better to tuck the idea away for now. They were already doing everything they could to find Matías, and adding to Alex’s worry wouldn’t help anything. Besides, those inner twinges weren’t infallible; so far she hadn’t experienced anything she could call a false positive, but they also didn’t chime in on every single notion or idea she might have.

  He spoke then. “But you don’t really think it’s just a grudge.”

  “No.” She turned back toward Alex. By then the sun had begun to slip down behind a range of jagged mountains to the west, so the light wasn’t quite so painful. “I can’t say why for sure.”

  “Another feeling.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes. So far those feelings have been mostly right, so I’m willing to go with following this one for now. I just wish that one of these stupid visions would show the front of the house or apartment or wherever it is they’re holed up. Something where I could see a street number or an address. That would be a hell of a lot more useful than seeing them — ” She broke off then. No point in going over it again. Alex knew what she was talking about.

  He gave her a grim nod. “That’s the tough thing, I guess. Some powers are easier to control than others. Mine’s pretty concrete — I mean, all I have to do is imagine that shield coming up around me, and it just appears. But when you’re a seer…when you’re tapping into time and space and all that…it’s a lot less cut and dried. So I don’t think you can give yourself too much grief over not being able to pinpoint it the way you’d like. At least we know more than we would have if you didn’t have that power at all.”

  True, Caitlin thought. And maybe I could have lived a long time without knowing some of it. She didn’t say that to Alex, though. Instead, she pulled in a breath and looked ahead, at the unending ribbon of black pavement that lay ahead of them, and hoped they wouldn’t reach their destination and discover this had all been a colossal waste of time.

  * * *

  The signal on his phone kicked back in as they entered the town limits of Blythe, so Alex handed it over to Caitlin. “Can you find us someplace to eat?”

  “You like barbecue?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  “Then how about this place?” She angled the screen toward him so he could see some images from the restaurant she’d selected. The pictures various Yelpers had added to the site showed barbecued ribs and brisket sandwiches and an assortment of other dishes, all of which looked pretty damn good to him, considering he’d only had a couple of meager street tacos to keep him going for a good chunk of the day.

  “Sounds good. Can you get the navigation started?”

  She pushed the screen to start them on their route. Her fingers just barely brushed against his as she gave him back the phone. Even that light touch made his heart start to pound, but he did his best to ignore the way she’d gotten his body to react. No, that wasn’t even fair. He was getting himself all hot and bothered. Caitlin probably had no idea that even her lightest touch was enough to make his blood seem to boil.

  The restaurant was just off the freeway, and he pulled into the last remaining parking space before shoving the phone into his jeans pocket. Thank God the bulge had subsided. “Did you bring a jacket?” he asked, looking at the thin knit top Caitlin was wearing. It might have been fine for a bright, sunny day in Tucson, but now that the sun was down, it would be much cooler here.

  “Yes,” she said, then pulled on the handle to open the door. “It’s in my suitcase, though, so you’ll need to pop the back so I can get to it.”

  “No problem.”

  They both headed to where their luggage was stowed, and he watched as she opened up the larger of her two suitcases and got out the jacket. After shrug
ging into it, she said, “What about you?”

  The air was cool, but he thought he could manage. “I’m fine. Let’s go eat.”

  She raised her shoulders, as if to say, your funeral, and then followed him into the restaurant. Well, diner. It was the sort of place where you ordered at the counter and then had someone bring you your food. Not fancy, but it definitely smelled good in there.

  From the way Caitlin took an appreciative sniff, it seemed she felt the same way. And although she had to be even more apprehensive about what they were going to find in California than he was, it didn’t seem to have affected her appetite. She ordered a pulled pork sandwich with a side of mac and cheese, while he opted for sliced tri-tip with steak fries.

  “Obviously you’re not one of those girls who only eats salads in front of guys,” he joked as they sat down.

  She rolled her eyes. “Nope. I like to eat.”

  Alex couldn’t help wondering where she put it, since she was fairly slender, except for her chest. Built like a swimsuit model, he thought, wondering what she’d look like in a bikini. He had a feeling he wouldn’t find out anytime soon, even if they were headed to California. No beach trips in their future, that was for sure. But if this had a happy ending, maybe he could convince her to stay a few days more at his place, swim in his pool, before she went home. Or would that even work? She was on break from school right now, but he didn’t know for sure when she had to go back.

  His phone rang then. Frowning, he pulled it out of his pocket, then looked at the number on the display. He didn’t recognize it, although the number did have a Phoenix area code. “I’d better get this,” he said apologetically, and Caitlin nodded.

  “It’s fine.”

  He accepted the call before putting the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Alex, it’s Miguel.”

  “Oh, hey, Miguel,” Alex replied. Across the table from him, Caitlin lifted an inquiring eyebrow, and he shrugged. “What’s up?”

  “I have a little more information. I don’t know how much of it’s going to help, but I figured I’d pass it along.”

  “Anything would be great. We haven’t been able to get much more on these guys.”

  Caitlin seemed to tense, and she leaned forward slightly, as if she expected by doing so that she’d be able to overhear what Miguel was saying. Alex wasn’t sure it really worked that way, but maybe she’d be able to pick up a little bit.

  His cousin said, “Well, I went back to the neighborhood where the McAllister girl says her friends were taken. I did some asking around, and it turns out that someone down the next street did actually see them as they were leaving. Thought the girls must be high or something because of the way they were wobbling around.”

  Not high…just under some really nasty mind control. But it was better that the neighbors thought Danica and Roslyn were on drugs. A couple of loaded college girls was a lot easier to explain away than dark spells and darker talents.

  “Did the person who saw them notice where they went?”

  “They got in a black late-model car. Sporty. One of those updated muscle cars. Wasn’t sure if it was a Mustang or a Camaro or what. But flashy enough that they noticed. The neighbor, a Mrs. Herrera, said she thought they were drug dealers because of the car and the tattoos and the way the girls were acting. Anyway, because she lives around the corner from the house the guys were using, she really didn’t see where they were headed. Back out to the main road, obviously, but after that, who knows?”

  Who knows? That was for sure. Alex wondered if the car was really theirs or if they’d stolen it. They wouldn’t even have to do something violent like a carjacking. No, Matías’ talent would lend itself pretty well to walking up to someone in a parking lot and asking for their keys. Maybe eventually the vehicle would be reported as stolen, but by then they could have ditched it or switched out the license plates or something.

  “Any way to figure out if the car was stolen?”

  A chuckle, and Miguel said, “Already ahead of you. I did search the stolen vehicles database. Cars like that are a tempting target, so they do tend to get ripped off. But Mrs. Herrera also said it had paper temporary plates, although the car was parked far enough away from her house that she couldn’t see the actual numbers. That narrows it down, because it means the car was stolen somewhere in Arizona. They don’t use paper licenses like that in California. Turns out the car is a Dodge Challenger and was taken from an auto detailer three days ago. Tucson P.D. is on it, but I have a feeling that the paper plates on this car were taken from someone else’s, and they probably haven’t even noticed. I mean, most people don’t memorize those temp things the way they do a real license plate.”

  No, they probably hadn’t. Alex knew that when he’d bought the Pathfinder, he couldn’t have read back the code on those temporary plates if his life had depended on it.

  “So anyway, unless those boys get pulled over for some kind of traffic violation, I doubt the police are going to catch up with them. I let our guys know to pay extra attention when they see a vehicle like that, and word’s gone out to the rest of the clan to keep an eye out. If they’re holed up someplace and not venturing out much, they might still be hard to track down. But if they go out for beer — well, someone might notice.”

  “Thanks, Miguel,” Alex said, and he meant it. That wasn’t just “some” information; it was extremely valuable information. And it might just lead to someone finding those bastards.

  “No problem. If I find anything else, I’ll let you know, but that’s all I’ve got for now.”

  “It’s plenty. Thanks again.”

  Miguel hung up then, and Alex set down the phone. Caitlin gave him another one of those expectant looks. He loved how one of her brows was just slightly more arched than the other, giving her a sort of charmingly quizzical expression.

  “So someone saw them in a car?”

  “Yeah, a stolen Challenger.” Speaking quickly, he filled her in on Miguel’s side of the conversation.

  “And when he says ‘your guys’ are going to be paying extra attention, he means the de la Pazes in Tucson?”

  “Well, them and the people we actually have on the police force.” Both her eyebrows went up at that reply, and he continued, “We have a couple of clan members with the Tucson P.D., and then more in the Phoenix area. It’s kind of cheap insurance to make sure any witchy things we don’t want noticed get swept under the rug. Don’t you do that in Jerome?”

  “Not really,” she said. “I mean, Roslyn’s older sister Jenny worked in dispatch for the Cottonwood police department for a while, but she decided she really didn’t like it that much, so she quit. I think the Wilcoxes might have some of their family in law enforcement, though. I can’t remember for sure.”

  Alex figured if the de la Paz family was canny enough to make sure a few of its members were carefully placed in the local police and sheriff’s departments, then you could bet the Wilcoxes would have done the same thing. Simple insurance. He wasn’t sure why the McAllisters hadn’t done something similar, but maybe they figured they were isolated enough in their little hillside town that such measures weren’t necessary.

  Lifting his shoulders, he said, “Well, it just means we have some eyeballs in places that count. I don’t know if that’s going to be enough, though. It depends on how often they might crawl out from wherever it is they’re staying.”

  Caitlin didn’t appear to like that notion very much. She seemed to slump in her chair, and some of the hopeful light went out of her eyes. Alex was about to reach out to her, maybe to lay a comforting hand on her arm, but the waitress showed up right then with their food, so that was the end of that idea.

  They ate quietly after that, Caitlin apparently preoccupied with her own thoughts, while Alex worked at the problem in his own mind, attempting to see if there was some angle he hadn’t thought of, something else the clan members back in Tucson could do to track down where that stolen Challenger had been taken. Other than
blanketing every street lamp and stop sign with “stolen car” signs, or maybe taking out a bunch of Craigslist ads, he couldn’t think of anything. And even that wouldn’t really work. All it would probably do was alert Matías and his boys that the de la Pazes were closing in on them.

  As he and Caitlin were winding down to eating the last of their sandwiches, she finished chewing and asked, “How far is it from here to Pasadena?”

  He paused to think about the route, then replied, “Couple hundred miles, I think. So…around three hours left to go.”

  A nod, and she ate the rest of her pulled pork before lifting her napkin to her mouth and dabbing at it, then wiping off her hands. Actually, for as messy as that sandwich looked, she’d done a pretty good job of not getting it all over herself.

  He finished his sandwich as well. Since they’d paid for the food when they ordered, all he had to do was dig in his wallet and get out a five for the tip. After he laid it on the table, he asked, “Ready?”

  For a second, Caitlin hesitated. Then she said, “Yes, I’m ready.”

  Unfortunately, she didn’t sound very sure of herself.

  14

  Spending this much time with Alex — being in the car with him for hour after hour — was turning out to be more difficult than Caitlin had expected. She seemed to be acutely conscious of everything he did, even if it was something as mundane as asking her if she wanted him to turn on the heater as the night deepened and the drive across the desert became increasingly chilly. The sound of his voice, the way his strong fingers wrapped around the steering wheel…everything. She even fancied she could detect the faintest hint of whatever aftershave he used, something very light, sort of citrusy. Clean-smelling.

  Are you trying to drive yourself crazy? she thought with some irritation, shifting in her seat for what felt like the hundredth time. It wasn’t the Pathfinder’s fault; the car seats were extremely comfortable. No, it was only her, reacting to Alex in a way she knew was just wrong. Wrong. Bad enough that they’d kissed, when they should have been focusing all their energies on locating Danica and Roslyn and bringing them home. But that kiss seemed to have kindled a fire in Caitlin, and she had no idea how to put it out.