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

Frederica flattened herself to the ground when she reached the top. A cow continued down the other side, its gait lazy and slow.
    I belly-crawled, the grasses hiding me from any view but the birds. When I reached the top I could see a cinderblock structure below us. Frederica looked over at me. The girl was young, early 20's maybe even late teens. Her eyes were wide and there was determination in the set of her lips.
    I listened for sounds of people but only heard the buzz of flies, the wind rustling in the grasses and the steady chewing of cows. Blue lay next to me, panting. I motioned for Frederica and Malina to stay put and began to inch forward. But Frederica grabbed onto my arm. I shook my head, letting her know I didn’t want her coming with me. She turned to Malina and began to speak.
    The conversation was cut short when we heard voices. Two men stepped out of the structure. I pulled out my binoculars and peered through them. The men were smoking cigarettes. One of them was on the phone. We couldn't make out the words but he seemed upset. Pulled on his cigarette with gusto, his face red, sweat trickling down from his dark black hair. Neither of them was big but they had that scrawny strength. The kind that comes from being small in a big bad world. I looked over at Frederica again. She had soft curves, plump cheeks, long hair pulled back into a ponytail. Those men down there would own her.
    The man on the phone hung up and turned to his friend, dropping his cigarette on the ground. They went back inside. The structure didn't have any windows on the side we could see. I began to move around, to check for other exits. How was I going to get a look inside? I wondered. Then the man who'd been on the phone came back out. He was pushing a bound man in front of him.
    Frederica grabbed my arm harder, her fingers clamping down like the jaws of a vise. She said something to Malina. I waited for the translation, keeping my eyes on the men below us. The one who'd been on the phone pulled out a gun. Oh shit, I thought. "That's one of her friends," Malina said.
    Frederica gasped when she saw her friend get knocked to his knees. The man who'd been on the phone raised his gun. I could hear the prisoner pleading in Spanish, his voice choked as he faced away from the weapon. He raised his hands and placed them together as if to pray. The other smoker came out, pushing three men in front of him and one woman.
    The woman stumbled and knocked into the captive already on the ground. Her face was streaked with tears. The cows continued to munch grass just down the hill from us. Frederica shook my arm, urging me to do something. I looked back at Malina. Her sunglasses hid her gaze from me but she gave me a small nod. I turned back to the scene below and one of the men laughed. The other joined him. I couldn’t just watch them kill these people. It’s not what I did. It’s not who I was.
    ”Blue,” I whispered. His ears perked and he stared at me. I didn't have a command for telling him to herd cows down a hill, so I simply pointed at the cows and said, "Go." He seemed to understand. Staying low, just the tips of his ears and tail visible above the grasses, he moved toward the cows. The bovines saw him coming, and one mooed as they began trundling down the hill.
    Blue picked up speed and nipped at one of the cow's heels. It raised its head, eyes rolling in their sockets and kicked out at Blue, who dodged deftly to the side, staying low, out of view of the people below. I moved down the hill, staying wide of the cows, Frederica and Malina right behind me. I saw the two men with guns look up as the cows broke into a run, their mooing growing in volume.
    I was coming down the slope and moving right at the same time. Trying to flank them. The cows were keeping their attention away from the three of us. I paused and whispered to Malina to keep moving around, to come in behind them as I came in from the right. There was a moment when she would