Bran urged her to lie back on the bed and rest, then used his phone to find a pizza place that delivered. But Jessie was too tired to eat. He was sure her head was still pounding like a hammer inside her skull.
“Get some sleep, baby.” He smoothed her hair back from her face. “I’ll wake you every once in a while so we know you’re okay.”
“What about you? You were up all night last night. Today has been exhausting. You need sleep as much as I do.”
“I’ll sleep once we’re safe.” Which they wouldn’t be until they were long gone from the Mountain Pines Motel.
Jessie stirred as Bran gently shook her awake for the second time that night. “I’m okay,” she said groggily, then yawned, curled up, and closed her eyes. Her head still throbbed, but she was so exhausted she was able to ignore the pain and go back to sleep.
At dawn Bran nudged her awake again. It was barely light outside. “You have to get dressed. We’ve got a ride coming to take us to the jet. It’ll be landing at the Cuchara Valley Airport in half an hour. That’s about a twenty-minute drive from here.”
She tossed off the covers, swayed a little as she rose to her feet.
Bran caught her waist to steady her. “Easy. You don’t have to rush. The jet won’t leave if we’re a few minutes late.”
She took a deep breath and the dizziness receded. “I’m all right.” Making her way into the tiny bathroom, she hurried through her morning routine, then dressed in a clean sweater instead of the bloodstained one she’d worn on the plane, with the same jeans and boots. She noticed the boots felt a little better.
“I took a hammer to them,” Bran said. “Old army trick. Usually helps.”
She smiled. “Thanks.” She drank a cup of hot water instead of the coffee he’d made in the small pot on the dresser. No caffeine, he’d said, until her head felt better.
She was definitely not looking forward to another plane ride, but a run-in with the men who were trying to kill them would be far worse.
Ten minutes later, dressed and ready, she jumped at a knock at the door. Bran drew his weapon, checked the peephole, and pulled it open.
“I’m Alejandro Nunez,” the man on the front step said. “Your brother Reese asked me to pick you up.” He looked like a local, midfifties, fine threads of gray in his thick black hair, a sun-browned, weathered complexion.
Bran holstered his weapon. “I talked to him. He said he was sending someone. How do you know my brother?”
“I own the Double Eagle Ranch. A couple of years ago, Reese came to the ranch to go fishing with my son, Luis.”
Bran tipped his head in her direction. “This is Jessie Kegan. We appreciate your help.”
Nunez smiled, digging lines into his sun-darkened forehead. “Your brother gave Luis a job when he first got out of college. He is a friend.” Nunez reached down and grabbed the carry-on sitting just inside the door, while Bran picked up his duffel and slung the strap over his shoulder.
Since the room had been paid in advance, they crossed the parking lot to a newer model, extended cab Dodge Ram pickup with mud on the tires. Bran helped Jessie into the front passenger seat and climbed into the backseat behind her.
The radio played country music as the pickup rolled along the road to the rural airport, apparently the closest around with a runway long enough for the jet to land.
The plane was waiting when the pickup drove onto the airstrip, a sleek white jet with a red stripe down the side. Its powerful engines were running, the steps down, waiting for its passengers to arrive.
Nunez extended a weathered hand to Bran and then to Jessie. “Perhaps you will come back sometime and go fishing. It is beautiful up here in the spring.”
Jessie glanced at Brandon. With luck, their investigation would be over long before spring. She would be safe back in Denver and Bran would be at work back in Dallas.
His eyes found hers an instant before his attention returned to Nunez. “You never know,” he said. “Maybe we’ll do that.” But they both knew it wasn’t going to happen.
“Thanks, Mr. Nunez, for everything,” Jessie said.
“It’s Alejandro and both of you stay safe.”
A young blond steward met them as they started across the tarmac. He took the carry-on and Bran’s duffel and fell in behind them. Jessie’s gaze went to the black-haired man who appeared at the top of the stairs, quickly descended, and enveloped Bran in a big bear hug.
“Damned glad to see you, Bran.”
“Reese! What the hell, bro? You didn’t have to come.”
Tall, with a lean, solid build, eyes an even more intense shade of blue than Brandon’s, and the face of a fallen angel, Reese Garrett, CEO of Garrett Resources, exuded power and authority.
