Free Red Hot BOX SET: Complete Series 1-4: A Patrick & Steeves Suspense by Kate Fargo Page B

a cactus and cursed the situation he was in. Those two thugs were definitely cartel.
    He knew enough about cartel - and suspected Emily did too - to realize that if they found them, there would be no room for negotiations or explanations. Neither he nor Emily would be of any value to them, and since they weren’t useful in any way and had already established themselves as threats, they would simply kill them and move on. It was more efficient that way.
    What he couldn’t figure out was why they were pursuing him so aggressively. He’d seen something he wasn’t supposed to, but he had no way to connect the bodies in that truck to anyone. He didn’t understand who they were, why they were dead or who was behind any of it. They could just as easily write him off, let him go back across the border and tell interesting stories to his buddies over beer at his favorite sports bar.
    So why spend the time and resources to shut him up? It didn’t make sense. He shot a look over at Emily. Did she know more than she was telling? Why did they even send someone from the Embassy to get him? Was it standard Embassy practice?
    Earlier, on their way back to the house, he’d paced off the trail in case they needed it tonight. They were close to the cleft. He took the light from Emily and panned the rock walls until he spotted it. Pulling Emily with him, he scrambled up the slope and leaned his back against the rock next to the opening. “We’ll wait here?”
    She nodded. “They may not come this way.”
    “Maybe.” He cursed that his voice sounded as unsure as he felt. “They’ll probably keep coming. Let’s be prepared for that.”
    “What more can we do?”
    “If they know about this tunnel, and I imagine they do, we can hide on the other side of the trail and take them by surprise, instead of waiting for them.”
    “Take the offense, instead of the defense.” She peered into the dark toward the other side of the trail. “I like it, but I don’t think we’ll have much cover over there.”
    “We won’t. We’ll have to count on them being focused on getting inside and not looking around them.”
    “I don’t like it.”
    “I’m open to other ideas.”
    She rocked against the wall behind them. “We can go down the hole.”
    “Not a chance. We have no idea where it goes.”
    “Then we’ll have to hide on the other end.”
    “If they come that way first—”
    “We’ll be prepared for that. If they come that way first, we’ll shoot them.” He was shocked at how dry and matter-of-fact she said this.
    The idea of gunfire in so small a space made him sick. There was no telling how it would turn out for them.
    “You know I’m right,” she continued. “In that space, we’ll need to shoot them before they shoot us.”
    “I have another idea,” he said. “Come on.” He moved into the tunnel with Emily close behind him. He led the way to the hole.
    It was pitch black in the cavern; they stood together in a small beam of light. A heavy musky smell permeated everything. Passing her the flashlight, he pulled a pen knife from his pocket and used it to slash one-inch notches in the drop cloth along the edge of the seam. Once the cut was started, he tore long strips from the cloth and threw them at Emily’s feet. “Tie these together.”
    She did as he asked while he continued tearing strips. When he was done, he picked up one end of the long rope she was creating and started tying on at that end.
    She looked up at him, eyes wide. “So we’re going down?”
    He shook his head.
    “You’re going down alone? I won’t be able to pull you back up —”
    “No.”
    “You want me to go down?” Her eyes widened further, and she took a step backwards.
    “No, Emily, not that at all.” He tied off the last piece and extended his hand for the flashlight. He tied an end through the metal ring at the end, and started to thread the rope down the hole. “Bait,” he grinned at her. “If they see the light, they’ll