“Why would he take them to a ruin way out here?” Ginny asked with a frown. “It would make more sense to take them to the house he has near the mine.”

“No one would notice out here.” Steve palmed the coin. “It’s away from everything.”

They rode slowly up through the rocks, horses carefully picking a path through jumbled rocks and brush-studded earth that melded from dun to ocher to red. Steve found three more coins. Shadows grew short, hugging boulders as the sun rose higher. The clink of bridle chains and creak of leather accompanied the dull thud of hooves against hard rock.

He heard Ginny unscrew the lid to her metal canteen and drink from it, the sound loud in the natural acoustics of the rocky canyon through which they rode. Paco slapped at an insect and his horse shied.

Steve heard a faint sound and put up his hand to halt the others, uncertain what had made the noise. Then he heard it again—the treble of a child’s voice.

Ginny had heard it, too. Her head came up, and her eyes focused on the ridge just beyond. Lips parted, she waited, motionless, but the silence stretched unbearably.

Steve gestured for them to dismount. They would go the rest of the way afoot. Boots scraped over rock, dislodged pebbles that slid down the slope in a light patter. The wind blew across the ridge in hot waves, wafting the scent of sage.

“Wait here until you hear gunfire,” he told Paco, his eyes warning Ginny not to protest. She offered no objection, but only nodded, her posture rigid.

“If you need help, amigo, just yell for me.” Paco grinned, but his eyes were strained.

Steve climbed the ridge, his boots sliding slightly on loose gravel as he descended the other side and disappeared from sight.

Alone with Paco, Ginny’s nerves were stretched taut to the breaking point. A hawk soared overhead, its sharp cry drifting down through a searing sky. The smell of sage and dust was sharp and suffocating.

“This is suicide,” she said finally. “They’ll kill him.”

“Maybe. Though I think they’ll be too surprised that he’s walking in alone to think of that at first. I don’t think the senator wants him dead. That would create too many problems.”

Ginny slumped against a rock. The horses tore at clumps of brown grass, teeth grinding loudly.

“I still can’t understand why he would do this. It makes no sense. I’ve never thought the senator was foolish, but this borders on lunacy.”

“Greed and desperation make men do strange, stupid things, Ginny.” Paco pushed his hat back on his head, his eyes scanning the horizon. “I sure as hell hope Steve knows what he’s doing.”

She glanced at him sharply. “You just said he’ll be all right!”

“Yeah.” Paco grimaced. “I know. Sometimes I let my mouth get ahead of me.”