Ryland by Kathi S. Barton

want to. I would rather take you back out to the barn and make love to
you. All night. Probably into tomorrow too. But they want us inside.”
    “We can’t…we shouldn’t do this.”
    He shook his head.
    “They’re going to come for me. I don’t
want you hurt.”
    “If you leave me, Bronwyn, it’s going to
hurt me more than anything they can do to me.” He took her hand and they went
inside. Dinner was served as soon as they sat down. Christ, she was in big
trouble here.

Chapter 9
     
    Eli Cunningham looked over the lab
findings from the day before then tossed them on the desk. It wasn’t working. None
of it was. And not only that, it was costing more money than he had coming in
right now. Making a synthetic drug was not as easy as he’d thought it would be.
He glanced at the file he’d been avoiding since he’d had his encounter with Bronwyn.
If only the bitch would cooperate he’d have his money.
    He thought about the tigers there. He’d
been told that all of them had been run off. And that those who hadn’t been run
off or killed were now a part of another ambush, Crawford’s ambush.
    But she’d had them. And she protected
them as well. One had nearly taken his leg off and probably would have if he
hadn’t gotten the door opened when he had. Christ, that fucker was huge. He
leaned back in his chair and wondered what to do about them and her when
Crawford walked in.
    “That little bitch you said was hot for
me is dead.”
    Eli looked at him, trying to remember
when he’d ever said that to any man before, much less him.
    “I think she was just trying to make
that boyfriend of hers jealous. He’s not anymore.”
    “You killed them both.” Crawford nodded
even though it hadn’t been a question. “Did you happen to get rid of the bodies
this time, or did you leave them to be found by some nosey landlord?”
    “Nah, I had them put out at the airport
in their car. Somebody will think they were killed there. I even remembered to
wipe shit down this time.”
     Eli looked out the window and counted
to ten. How this man had gotten to where he was without someone killing him was
mind boggling. And the fact that he had about fifty cats in his ambush was even
more astounding. The man was nothing but a bully and not even a smart one, at
that. Eli turned back to him. “When was the last time you made a sweep for cats
in this area?” He waited while Crawford pulled out his little notebook. Eli had
often wondered if he was actually writing in it or simply drawing pictures
because he couldn’t read. He waited so long he was ready to rip it out of his
hand and read it himself.
    “Nearly three months ago. Didn’t find
much more than a passerby. He’s not passing no more. At least passing alive.”
    Eli started to ask what the hell that
meant, but didn’t bother. “I had a run in with an ambush of them a week ago. If
you had a cell phone worth shit, I could have told you then.” Crawford sat up
straighter in his chair as Eli continued. “About half a dozen of them. Big
fuckers too. And you’ll never guess who had control over them.”
    Crawford looked confused. Eli wanted to
hit him. He started to tell him it was a rhetorical question, but didn’t want
to have to explain that too. Having a brute force was great, but not when the
leader was no smarter than the paper he wrote his assignments down on.
    “It was Bronwyn Lawrence. She was protecting
them so I would imagine that she can tell you where they are when you find her.
You are still looking for her, aren’t you?” He nodded. “Well, what’s the
progress?”
    “Progress? Oh, you mean what have I been
able to figure out. Why don’t you just say that? Any hoo, she isn’t in that
building no more. It’s gone. Somebody went and bulldozed it right to the
ground. I went there twice and it’s still gone. And that girl friend of hers,
she’s gone too. I wish you had have given her to me when her mate come up dead.
But that man we left in charge