Chosen Prey Read Online Free PDF Page B

and snapped the phone shut.
    "Why did you just do that?" Lyra's mouth was dry as she spoke. "Who did you talk to?" Her words nearly stuck in her throat as she added, "Do you really think they have a branch here?"
    "That was my partner, Nick Donovan." Dare stuck his cell phone in a small holster at his side. He eyed her head-on. "When the man named Ryan Holstead contacted me, he mentioned being stationed in the Huachuca Mountains. There's no military station in those mountains. Fort Huachuca is on the other side of Sierra Vista. I want Nick to track them down. I need to know as much as possible about these sonsofbitches who are after you."
    "Thanks, but it's not necessary. I'll be out of here before they can find me again." She had to force back more angry tears as she clenched her fists. "I should have planned better. I got so comfortable that I started to believe I was safe."
    "It'll be dark soon." He glanced through the window up at the sky before looking back at her. "It ought to be safe enough then to head out to my ranch to grab my gear and change vehicles." He paused. "Why do they want you so bad?"
    "Where's your place?" she asked instead of answering him.
    "I have a little spread a good fifteen miles from here."
    She couldn't take her eyes off his harsh profile. He looked like a real cowboy, tanned and weathered. Not just some guy who wore the gear. "A ranch?"
    "Yep."
    "I've never been on a ranch." Heaviness settled over her. "The People raised some livestock and vegetables. It was kind of like a farm, I guess. How do you know they haven't already gone there?"
    "It's not easy to find someone in the valley if you don't know exactly where they live,"
    he said. "Not too many people know where my place is, and it's not likely the bastards could find it. It would be damn near impossible to. They'd have to track down the right folks, who'd have to give detailed directions, which even then would take some time. A lot more time than I need to get in and out."
    When it was dark, Dare drove the El Dorado out of Bisbee. Lyra remained silent and he focused on driving. They must have gone fifteen, maybe twenty miles when they reached a pair of open gates.
    Panic seized Lyra's chest. She was alone. In the desert. Far from civilization. With a stranger.
    She clenched the strap of her backpack and took a deep breath. Okay, her brain had short-circuited and she hadn't fully thought this thing through.
    What was wrong with her? She was letting an absolute stranger take her out in the middle of the desert.
    But he had saved her from The People. And she hadn't had a lot of choices.
    Dare turned onto a rough dirt road and the tires thrummed over a cattle guard before they shimmied on the ruts.
    The El Dorado bottomed out and she saw Dare's frown in the glow of the dashboard lights. "Manny'll be pissed if I even scratch the muffler," he muttered.
    They pulled up to the sprawling ranch house and her heart beat a little faster as they climbed out of the El Dorado.
    It's going to be okay. Calm down!
    A pair of border collies raised a ruckus and greeted Dare with enthusiasm. They sniffed Lyra and she jumped back just before she and Dare walked up the porch steps.
    "Don't worry about the girls." Dare pointed to the ground at his feet. "Darby. Xena.
    Stay."
    The dogs sat and looked up at him, but their tails still waggled like crazy, brushing the dusty ground in half-moon arcs.
    After he opened the front door with a key on a ring filled with multiple keys, Lyra took a deep breath before walking into the ranch-style home. He closed the door behind them and she jumped again. She swallowed hard as she looked at Dare.
    "Hungry?" he asked as he tossed his black cowboy hat on the seat of a recliner.
    She pushed her hair out of her face. "Not really." She couldn't eat now if she tried.
    "I'll make a couple of sandwiches after I see what I can do to get the rest of that pepper spray out of my eyes." He strode toward an archway, cast a look over his