The barn was about two hundred yards inside the perimeter, favorably located across the property from the ranch house. But the only access onto the property was from the gravel drive that passed right by the house. Seeing no sign of life on the ranch, and no cars approaching on the road, Cole leaned out the window and instructed Savannah to leave her car and join him.

She reclaimed her position on the steps inside the bus. He gunned the engine and drove straight for the fence. The barbwire gave way with ease. He sped across the pasture and pulled up close to the barn’s large double doors. Cattle snorted with curiosity, but Cole saw no indication that anyone had been alerted to the presence of the bus.

Savannah stepped out and tried the barn doors on the outside chance that they were unlocked. They weren’t. Cole told her to step aside and revved the engine again.

“Hold on, you moron!” Savannah yelled.

“What is it?”

“Guys. Always gotta do things the hard way, don’t you?”

He backed up a few feet as Savannah walked around to the side of the structure. She jumped up and took hold of a frayed end of rope. Cole followed the rope up with his eyes. It hung near a ventilation gap, about eighteen inches wide, just below the roof. Before he could protest, Savannah started climbing hand over hand. She was inside the barn in less than a minute. Twenty seconds later the double doors opened before him, revealing Savannah inside, extending a welcoming arm.

“Not bad,” he said as he drove past.

She shrugged. “Brownies. Took the blue ribbon in the rope climb three years running.”

Cole pulled forward until the back end was clear of the door, then he killed the motor. Savannah shut and relatched the doors.

“So what now?”

He peered out in both directions. Horse stalls flanked the bus on both sides. About half of them were occupied. Dusty shards of light shone through cracks all around them. The musty air smelled of wet straw and manure, and it felt no warmer inside the barn than it had outside.

Movement caught Cole’s eye in the mirror. His teammates were coming slowly up and looking vacantly out the windows.

“I suppose we should let them stretch their legs a little, shouldn’t we?”

Before Savannah could answer, Cole saw a shadow move across the wall behind her.

Then he heard a shotgun cock.

“Who the fuck are you two?”

CHAPTER 25

IT had been a sleepless night.

Nina Hernandez’s humiliating rejection had left Booker feeling as sexually frustrated as he was pissed off. At dawn, after tossing and turning through the wee hours of the morning, he had finally said to hell with the written pledge his coach had made him sign about abstaining from personal gratification.