INVITING FIRE (A Sydney Rye Novel, #6) Read Free

organization, force him to change his ways and those of the men who worked under him. But first, we needed to know exactly what they were doing. It was important to know how many people they were moving over the border, to have an understanding of the size and scope of their organization.
    Frederica wore cheap-looking jeans and a purple T-shirt. Dust from the floor of the car soiled her pants and left a smudge across her cheek. She climbed out of the Land Rover and looked past the trees. A fly landed on her shoulder and she whacked it. The small iridescent black body fell into the grass. Blue leapt to the ground and took a long stretch, yawning his giant jaws wide, showing off white sharp teeth and a pink tongue that he extended and curled along with the rest of him.
    Malina came around and lifted up the floor of the back seat. Dirt slid down the metal and pooled near the door. She reached in and pulled out binoculars. I reattached my machete. Frederica looked over at us. "Do you have other weapons?" she asked Malina in Spanish. In answer Malina reached back in and pulled out a handgun, passing it to me. I checked the clip, safety, and chamber. Bullets in all the right places.
    Malina pulled on a shoulder holster over her tight black T-shirt and filled each sheath with two more guns. She handed me a holster and I unbuckled my belt, sliding the holster along its length until it sat on my left hip, keeping the machete on my right. We didn't have silencers and were not supposed to kill anyone. But the last time a plan went the way we expected... well, fuck, that never happened.
    I gave Blue a bowl of water before we set back off on foot. His chin was still dripping as we made our way through the fields. The sun was a little more west, the absolute hottest part of the day about a half hour behind us. Frederica wore flip flops. They slapped at her bare feet. A breeze started up, rustling the long grasses. The field was filled with steep, short hills, Dr. Seuss-like in nature. Large trees dotted the landscape. We passed under one, the shade a short reprieve. The bark was lined with spikes, gray and sharp. Not a tree you could climb.
    In the shade was a water trough for the cows, its cement interior lined with emerald green algae. Blue lapped at it, causing the algae to wave languidly with the movement of the water. I soaked my bandana, wrung it out and tied it back around my neck. Droplets trickled down my spine.
    Frederica told us that the place her friends were being kept wasn't much further. Malina drank from her water bottle. A baby cow watched us with curiosity. Its mother, her udders swollen and hanging low, ignored our presence. There were about six cows all grazing nearby. Frederica approached them and the closest raised it head, jaw still working. As she got closer the cow backed away.
    Blue figured there was a game in this and went around to help Frederica herd the animals. "What are you doing?" Malina asked Frederica.
    "If we take the cows they are less likely to hear our approach," she said. Malina translated for me.
    "Smart girl," I said.
    "Probably why she's still alive," Malina said.
    I watched as Frederica worked with Blue to move the cows out in front of us. Malina and I stayed close. As we climbed up one of those steep little hills Frederica began hunching forward, staying close to a large cow. I picked another one and copied Frederica's movements. She paused before we crested the top and Blue ran out in front stopping the cows. "We should be able to see it from up there," she said pointing at the top of the hill. Malina translated for me as Frederica lowered herself to the ground.
    "We're crawling now?" I asked.
    Malina shrugged. "Looks that way."
    Blue ran over to me as I crouched down. He licked my cheek and wagged his tail. Loving this new game even more than the herding-the-cow fun he'd been having. I calmed him down, telling him to heel. He fell in line next to me as we followed the cows up the hill.