Native Born Read Online Free PDF Page B

Cassidy.
    â€œPlease?” asked Amanda.
    Cassidy tucked the covers back in place. “I have to go pack and you have to go to sleep. Good night, sweetheart.”
    Amanda kissed her mother and then flopped to her side. She said nothing more as Cassidy walked to the bedroom door and waited.
    She was about to give up when Amanda flopped back to face her.
    â€œBe careful up there, Mom.”
    â€œI will. I love you.”
    â€œYou, too.”
    Cassidy closed the door and headed to her bedroom to pack. She was good at packing. A tour of duty with the US Army had taught her that. And also how to fly helicopters. She’d put in for a transfer from her first assignment with the FBI after Gerard died because she couldn’t stand to live in the home they had chosen together. They’d ended up in Southern California.
    After she had finished in her room, she carried her suitcase, briefcase and duffel down to the hallway. She told Diane all she could about where she was going. But she didn’t tell her that after this assignment she would finally get her transfer. Would Diane come with them or would it be just the two of them again?
    She didn’t know. What she did know was she needed the custody decision so that Amanda could tell the judge she wanted to be adopted again by her mother. Then she needed to get away from this part of the country. As far as possible from the Apache tribe. Until then, she was keeping her daughter away from the Cosen brothers.
    * * *
    â€œS O YOU WON ’ T change your mind?” Clyne asked Gabe.
    â€œDo you know how many officers I have?”
    Clyne did, of course. Twelve officers for twenty-six hundred square miles. Only it was eleven since he’d lost a man in January.
    â€œI need help, Clyne. Not just on processing evidence in the Arizona crime labs. I need investigators. Because if you think this is over with you are mistaken. All we did was slow them down. They’ll be back and I don’t want my guys killed in gun battles with Mexican cartel killers.”
    Clyne did not want that, either.
    â€œBut why her?” He meant Agent Walker.
    â€œDo you know anything about her?”
    â€œAll I need to know.”
    â€œThat’s bull. She’s highly qualified and she knows what she is doing. She knows all the players. You have to trust me on this.”
    Clyne tried for humor. “She’s a real company man, huh? She probably wears that FBI T-shirt to bed.”
    That gave him a strong image of pale legs peeking out from beneath a navy blue T-shirt that ended right below her slender hips.
    Clyne growled. He stood with his four brothers, all now wrapped in blankets and perched as close to the fire as possible as their uncle Luke added the stones to the fire. The stones were among the Great Spirit’s creations and so had a life force and power like all things in nature. Luke would be tending the fire and passing the hot stones into their wikiup for the ceremony of purification. Their uncle was the only one dressed appropriately for the chilly night air, warm enough to unzip his parka and remove his gloves.
    â€œWhen will she be here?” he asked.
    His uncle took that one. “Tomorrow morning. Late morning, I think. In time for the BIA presentation.”
    Their people had a love-hate relationship with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who oversaw business on the reservation for the federal government. But the BIA had money Clyne needed for their water treatment facility so he would do his best to play nice.
    Luke poked at the coals, judging the heat. “Almost ready.”
    Clyne began to shiver and Clay was now jumping up and down to keep warm.
    Kino nudged between Clay and Gabe. He still had a white bandage on his throat. A visible reminder of how close they had been to losing him. Clyne remembered Gabe’s words about not wanting to lose any more officers to this war with traffickers. He knew from Gabe that his men had been