Tainted Mountain Read Online Free Page A

him, her shining black hair and turquoise necklace catching the sun and tossing it back for everyone’s delight.
    Ester.
    He sucked in air, fighting for reality. Ester, in her velvet skirt, silver earrings, Concho belt …
    But this girl on the steps wore jeans. No turquoise and silver glinted.
    And Ester would never set foot in this plaza or anywhere else again.
    Slowly it started to make sense. The girl amid the mob advancing on Nora Abbott was his Heather. Not Ester. Heather. He didn’t know the black-haired delinquent she followed, but he would find out. No Native American jerk-off, angry at the world and looking for a handout, was going to get near his Heather. The boy would disappear from her life.
    And that damned Scott Abbott needed to disappear too. All in a day’s work for Barrett.
    He was a virtual magician when it came to vanishing people.

Four
    A hand shot out, the blade aimed for Nora’s belly.
    She lost her balance. One foot slid and she crashed to her knees. She was saved from that thrust, but she had no hope of avoiding the next.
    She squeezed her eyes closed, expecting the burn of flesh as the knife sliced between her ribs into her lungs. Instead of the pain of the blade stabbing through her skin, a hand closed around her wrist and jerked her to her feet. She opened her eyes and looked into the face of the enviro who’d knocked against her in the hall and accosted Barrett McCreary. Probably some Earth Firster who would turn her over to Big Elk and his henchmen.
    He shoved her behind his back and faced outward. “Back off!” he yelled at the crowd.
    The cops finally infiltrated the mob and shouted orders to move back. Nora focused her frightened eyes on the crowd, but the slasher was nowhere in sight. He’d vanished from the courthouse steps as completely as he had from the bathroom. Other hate-filled faces glared at her, still thirsty for blood.
    The enviro pulled her through a break in the crowd and down the steps. As they ran across the street, she stumbled on the curb, reaching for his arm.
    The kachina doll splashed into the gutter and her twenty dollar bill fluttered away on a breeze. Nora’s fingers clutched at the sudden emptiness in her hand. Losing her last twenty stung, but seeing the kachina, its mask broken and floating in the filth of the gutter, punched a hole in her heart. Even if she didn’t believe in its supernatural powers, the old man probably carved his heart into the doll, and it felt wrong to abandon it. She tugged away from the enviro, determined to save the kachina.
    He closed his hand around hers and dragged her down the sidewalk into a parking lot. He gently pushed her into the shade next to a building and stood in front of her. “Are you okay?”
    If okay meant terrified, shaken, and mad enough to spit bullets, then yes, she felt okay. She nodded, trying to catch her breath.
    He studied her and bent down to wipe the line of blood from her ankle with the cuff of his sleeve. He stood. “I’m Cole Huntsman.”
    From murder attempt to garden party introductions in a matter of seconds. The day went from weird to bizarre. Still, the impeccable manners she was raised with surfaced. “Nora.”
    â€œHey!” a voice shouted.
    Cole swung around, stepping in front of Nora.
    Scott strode up to him. “Who are you?”
    Of course Scott would be protective against a stranger. Nora hurried to explain. “He helped me get away.”
    Scott didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t start swinging. “Well, thanks. But I was on my way.”
    â€œCole, this is my husband, Scott Abbott.”
    Cole squinted as if assessing. “Scott Abbott.” He stood in awkward silence for a moment, then said, “Well, you don’t need me hanging around here so … ” Cole started to walk away.
    Nora jumped forward. “Wait.”
    A smile, more in his eyes than on his lips, lit Cole’s face.
    â€œI